Here you'll find a few reports from various rallies that Coleman competed in 

  Rally of the Lakes 1983

1983 marked another milestone in the history of the Lakes, which had now become an International Rally and the Final round of the STP Tarmac Rally Championships. Suddenly out of the blue came a provisional entry for the 'retired' Billy Coleman in an Opel Ascona. Details began to emerge that the car was to be hired from Sydney Meeke and partly funded by STP and others. Con Murphy was entered as co-driver and all the paperwork was in order at the Friday scrutiny but one vital matter was still missing: there was no car! As the long hours of Friday night went by frantic phone calls revealed that customs officials had stopped the Meeke team at the border and were demanding a bond of ten thousand pounds in cash before the car could come south. Paddy O'Callaghan, the father figure of the motor trade in Munster heard of the demand and set about getting the cash together late on Friday night, long after all banks had closed up for the weekend. From filling stations, supermarkets and others the cash was collected, and following high level political intervention, the customs people, at four in the morning, relented and agreed that the cash could be delivered, not to the border post, but to the Customs at Cork Airport. And so the weary convoy, after fourteen hours at the border, moved on south, eventually reaching Killarney as the cars lined up for the start. The scrutineers examined the car as it stood in line to the start ramp while at the same time Sydney Meeke explained the location of the various switches and knobs to Coleman who had never seen the car before.

(The car was eventually got across the border when Tom Walsh had to go find the head customs officer in a pub in Dundalk) 

    Rally of the Lakes 1984

1984 saw Coleman, now in the Dealer Opel Team Ireland Manta 400 take his place as the No.1 seed with the Tarmac Championship already under his belt following wins in the Circuit, Donegal and Cork and a third in Galway. Team mate Austin McHale in the second DOTI car followed at 2 and the battle was really between the team mates in two identical cars. The rally too had a brand new image with a sponsorship deal from Carling Black Label, a deal which was to last until 1990.

Coleman went into the initial lead but a puncture in Churchtown, three stages from the end of the Saturday run, saw him fall behind his team mate by almost a minute. Over the following bumpy Liberty Hall stage he pulled back eighteen seconds and on the final Saturday stage over Molls Gap from Kenmare to Killarney, starting 30 seconds after McHale, Coleman put on a display of sheer speed which scared even co-driver Ronan Morgan as Billy totally disregarded the notes and took everything on the absolute limit. Those spectators who were lucky enough to be on the lower end of the Gap on that frosty moonlit night will never forget the spectacle of two Mantas in full flight, side by side at over a hundred miles an hour for several hundred yards before Coleman finally squeezed through to finish the stage three seconds in front of McHale, who it transpired had failing brakes at the start of the stage and none at all at the finish.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny and McHale, with a different ratio axle fitted in the morning, was back on the attack with fastest times over the opening stages putting him back into the lead. Then disaster struck for McHale when he went off after the finish line of Zetland Pier and although he lost no stage time the back of the car was wrecked and it required a superhuman effort by the Dubliner to nurse the battered Manta into service in Castletownbere where the service crew virtually rebuilt the entire back end and sent him on his way, still in second place and still attacking. Coleman however now took a firm hold of the rally and with a string of fast times reasserted his authority, and whatever chance McHale had of fighting back disappeared with his oil pressure three stages from the end. However, such was the lead that the two Mantas had built that he was able to nurse the car home and hold on to second place in front of James Cullen and Seamus Gormley who coaxed their RS1800 home with both back springs broken and the bodywork sitting on the tyres at every bend.

Rally of the Lakes 1985

1985 saw Coleman back once again, but by now he had left Dealer Opel Team and his deal for the following year with Rothmans was still unfinalised. He was determined to do the Lakes and a car was eventually acquired. Sean Delaney very kindly lent his G3 Escort and a week of furious checking, adjustment and alteration followed in Coleman's garage in Millstreet before the G3, in a variety of sponsors colours, took its place at the start. Austin McHale in the Manta set fastest time on the Gap and it was clear that Billy was going to have a struggle in the vastly underpowered Escort but suddenly the Rally was virtually all over when, in a most unusual lapse on the second stage at Ballaghbeama, Austin slid wide on a bend, into the bog and into irretrievable retirement. The first day saw an unusually high level of retirements and as the remaining forty five crews clocked into Parc Ferme on Saturday night we had the unprecedented situation of three Millstreet crews occupying the top three places as John and Willie Moynihan had brought their Escort up to second place just ahead of Barry Duggan/Philip Moynihan in another Escort. Sunday changed little with Coleman showing once again his great ability to pace himself in a way that kept him far enough ahead to provide for the unexpected and yet conserve the car and the tyres. Indeed it must be somewhat of a record for a two day International Rally to be won on one set of tyres! John and Willie Moynihan duly followed home in second place and on the very last stage down Molls Gap James McDaid and Rory Kennedy in a Manta got ahead of Barry Duggan to take third place. Another piece of trivia was on the downhill sections Billy used to turn off the engine to save petrol and as he said himself she went faster in neutral.

1973 Circuit of Ireland

Jack Tordoff ran out a surprise winner of the 73 Circuit after one of the most exciting Circuits. Before the event, while opinion was more or less equally divided between Adrian Boyd and Cahal Curley as likely winners, certain knowledgeable folk were predicting that one of the three Carreras making their rallying debut on the event would arrive at Larne in first place.                                                                                 

As things turned out, while Boyd and and Curley both had the necessary speed to make it, reliablility won the day, and Tordoff's Porsche inherited the lead with only five of the fifty-four special stages left to run, and loped home to victory ahead of Eamonn Cotter's BMW 2002 and Ronnie McCartney's Porsche. The entry was down on previous years, but the quality was still there. The surprise entry and the equally surprise withdrawal of the works Lancias made little difference, and while the last minute of Pat Moss-Carlsson due to her Alpine failure to arrive from the factory, while disappointing did not detract from the closeness of the event. As befits of the winner of the last Circuit to be held, Adrian Boyd was running at number one with the Lombard and Ulster Ford Escort RS1600 fitted with a full 2 litre David Wood engine for the occasion. With number 2 and 3 being held for the Lancias up next was Cahal Curley in the Belfast Telegraph BMW 2002, now with Alpina power. Regular co-drivers Beatty Crawford and Austin Frazer were in attendence. Pat Moss-Carlsson was to have occupied the next spot, so Ronnie McCartney was next up at 6 in the first Porsche accompained by Mike Ford-Hutchinson. At 7 Billy Coleman was to have driven the J. C. Whiters Datsun 240Z, but this car found a new owner before the event, so Billy resurrected his old tatty green Escort (TIU 250), fitted it with an ex-Mick Barry Twin Cam unit. Frank O'Donoghue was screwed in to the left hand seat and the combination looked promising right from the start. However Coleman's Escort was in trouble at scrutiny, and firewalls had to be hurriedly fitted before he was allowed to start. On the first stage at Torr Head provided a great crowd of spectators with a first look at the rally. Boyd was fastest on the first stage

 ( Coleman retired with mechanical problems on the 6th stage)

1975 Circuit of Ireland Rally. (written by Paul Phelan)

Winner : Billy Coleman / Paul Phealan | Escort RS 000-96M

Two weeks before last year's Benson and Hedges Circuit of Ireland, I was making plans to spend Easter weekend taking photographs and covering Irelands premier rally for the Irish Independent little dreaming that on Easter Tuesday I would be arriving into Larne in the winning car - surely the ambition of every rally competitor. Orginally I was scheduled to co-drive Yorkshire's Jack Tordoff, the 1973 winner, in his 3 litre Porsche Carrer, but, a month before the rally, Jack decided that the pressure of business forced him to withdraw from the entry list, leaving yours truly to try and arrange a last-minute drive. With the days ticking away, the chances of success were getting ever more remote, until a fairy godmother in the shape of Malcolm Neill brought the news that Ford were sending a second car for three times winner Rodger Clark, and that Jim Porter had been switched into this car, leaving a possible vacancy with Billy Coleman. A couple of telexes later, and lo and behold, ten days before the start I found myself due to sit beside the reigning RAC Rally Champion from Millstreet, Co. Cork, in a works Escort 2 litre 000-96M. The couple of days immediatley before the start brought various dramas, with Billy's driving gear having gone astray somewhere between sunny Spain and bitterly cold Ballymena.                                                       

      Good Friday dawned with a thick coating of whiteness covering Co. Antrim, as the Clerk of the Whether decided to overrule the Clerk of the Course and give us snow at Easter for the first time in eight years, causing those who had the facilities to send to the corners of the earth for M and S type tyres ( ours came airfreight), in case these conditions lasted any length of time. With the 1300 hours start drawing close, briefing indicated that the first couple of stages were partly snow covered, so it was decided that both Escorts would run on rough tyres for these. As things turned out this was a mistake,as the snow was patchy, and racers would have been a distinct advantage. Thanks to an unfortunate mix-up, we had to stay on M and S's for the first 3 stages, dropping over half a minute per stage to the best time, and just about getting into the top 20 placings, so that things looked bleak for car number 2. The much publicised Chequered Flag Lancia Stratos of 1974 winners Cahal Curley and Austin Frazer, the centre of attraction for the huge crowd of spectators, was an early retirment with a blown engine, leaving the way clear for a battle between the Escorts and the Carreras. A change to wet racers brought and instant improvemnt in our times, and as the rally headed westwards and south, towards Omagh, prospects began to improve, as Nigel Rockey and Rodger Clark duelled for the lead. By the time Lough Key Forest Park, the first brief halt, was reached, we were second, behind Rockey, as team mate Clarks lightweight fuel injected car had expired in a cloud of smoke which signalled serious engine maladies. Shortly after setting again into the night, Billy, who was driving with characteristic determination, got past Rockey to take the lead. By the breakfast halt at Ennis, this had extended to some two minutes, but was the DTV Magnum of Will Sparrow which was now the closest challenger, and so it continued into Kilarney on Saturday at lunchtime, with the Vauxhall second, followed by a trio of Porsches. The world famous Sunday run began, as usual, with the ascent of Moll's Gap, tackled in drizzling rain, but four stages lator, Sparrow was gone with a broken oil pump drive, giving us a much more comfortable margin over new runner up, Dessie McCartney, who was leading the Porsche race. Despite easing up considerably once Will Sparrow was gone. Billy was still going quickly enough to take the Kilareny trophy for the best Sunday Run performance, but the presence of the Larne driver in second spot brought an uneasy memories of Galway two months earlier, when a failed drive shaft cost Coleman his first International win, handing the rally to Dessie on a plate.                   However, the car was completly trouble free so far, and the apperance of carrying on that way. Monday's start was at the now normal civilised hour of 1400, and the first stage of the day was Gortnagane, which was modified for the last few miles so that it didn't finish in Milstreet ! However the number of local fans who turned out to see their hero was enormous, and their were scenes reminiscent of the best Vaccarella traditions in hte Targa Florio, with banners hung on hedge, gateposts and anywhere else possible, proclaiming "Via Billy" and "Billy to win". Encouraged by the support, the lad proceeded to add a minute to our lead by the time the supper halt at Kilkenny was reached. It was somwhere about here that a rumour of serious clutch problems on our Escort became to spread, but happily it was unfounded although it spread far and wide - so much so that on arrival at the Miltown stage, near Banbridge, we were greeted with looks of disblief and told " we thought you had retired". Obviously, at such a late stage, we were hoping against hope that nothing would go wrong, but as each stage came and went, the chances of mechanical failure seamed more remote. Billy had by now eased right back, and we were content to let Dessie McCartney take time back from us as he liked with well over 6 minutes to spare.                                                                                

The second stage from home was the spectator special at Nutts Corner, where the enitire population of Northern Ireland appeared to gone and watched and then one final 4^1/4 miler before the gentle run to the finish at Larne. As the previous Circuit win for a crew from the Republic was in 1959, when Kevin Sherry and Seamus de Barra led seven Volkswagens home in the top seven places, it was with a tremendous feeling of achievment that we put the Escort into Parc Ferme. The win give Billy a clear win in the RAC series, he went on to lead the Championship right through the year, until the last event, when Roger Clark's second place in the RAC rally was good enough to give him the title for 1975.