In this page, I have taken some articles from the successful years such as 1974, 1984, 1985 and more. Some articles have come from the Irish Motorsport Annual and others have come from various sources. Makes some interesting. Unfortunley the 70s years have been hard to come by but if I get anything on them I will post them up or if any of you have some information please let me know. 

1974 Championship Wining Year

Winning Championships is never easy  and national ones are really tough. Even when your name is Rodger Clark and you have the might of a huge oil company behind you , you need just a little more than luck to get you to the top. And when you don't have the might of a huge oil company behind you and you do not even live in the country of the championship concerned there is plenty of hard work to do. And even when you have the staunchest group of fellows you could ever find and eventually the great Ford Motor Company deign to assist you just a bit it's a hell of a slog and mightily costly business. But it is something that can be done. You do not need  shiny equipment and large luxurious service barges for the job. A lock-up behind a semi-detached in North London and an old Mk2 Cortina estate are enough, together with an unswerving determination to succeed and just a touch of good luck.

Meet Billy Coleman, farmer from Milstreet, the current RAC Rally Champion, successor to the great Rodger Clark. He had long become a legend the other side of the Irish Sea, from the when he chose to challenge Rodger Clark on the Circuit of Ireland. It was natural for and Irishman to want to win his country's major event of the year, but it was almost unknown in those days to take special stage time off a person like Clark, and if you took one look and the car Billy was driving, you would have said it was downright impossible. We all know that the Circuit did not limit the modification rules demanded by more major internationals, but the little green Escort Billy drove defied all the rules. Indeed the moment it appeared for a rally in England, the scrutineers threw it out as being dangerous. Persistence enabled that little hurdle to be over come, and persistence from those early days right through to now have brought Billy from a reputation of being a crazy Irishman to the man to beat. The Escort kept Billy rallying off and on for another four years. The next major episode in his career was a Renault Alpine that was acquired through persistence and the persuasion of Smiths of Dublin, the Irish Renault folk, and this needed all of Billy's mechanical sympathies to keep going. It suffered the old Alpine trouble of weakness in the front suspension. He was however the only person in the British Isles to make any positive use of it, but gradually it started to go the same way as the green Escort so much so that the Escort was hastily pressed back into action again. In 1973 Billy came to terms with himself. The best way to go rallying was with a proper car, and when he saw  Chris Sclater's Kleber Wheelbase scholarship RS1600 for sale he bought this and prepared himself for the RAC. It only has an 1800cc engine which did not have anything like the torque of the 2-litre and was cammy as well, but all the same he finished 20th overall, which in view of the predominantly bad conditions was significant. He had his eye in the 2-litre cars that Boreham used, and started the long process of acquiring one. The fuel crisis clamped down on rallies that Winter but nevertheless he managed to go to Finland where he was excluded for speeding. and despite the intercom failing he finished 6th on the Firestone.

Although he had several times enjoyed rallying ( he had done the 1971 Swedish with Fergus Sager, who had navigated folk Bo Lungfedlt earlier in his career, he wanted them to do the Monte which he thought they could win, and the Geneva which he found was to take place that weekend whilst in Dieppe) he had his major objective the British Championship. He had often rallied on the loose here at home so the forests did not hold quite the mystique that many had assumed. He had often competed in the forests of Britain with the Escort and the Alpine as well. The 2-litre would be just the job! But things do not always happen smoothly. The car was not available for the Circuit , the first round of the series. He was able to make delivery of many pieces of the car, the struts, the axle and so on, and these were duly fitted to the Kleber car. He took Leo White, Greg O Connor's usual navigator with him and although they finished third behind to Carreras they had a lot of trouble. the car did not handle as well as the green one (nor did the 2-litre when that materialized). they bumped both the front and the rear of the car on the Sunday run at Slea head, they had a puncture, they had an oil pipe burst and to cap everything off the dash fell off on one stage an neatly knocking off the on/off switch.!

The following year, the rules of the RAC championship changed. Previously the best 6 RAC licenses holders would score 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 - and on an event like the RAC you could go down to the twenties until all the points scorers were found. Now the points were to be allocated to any of the top ten finishers who had licenses, according to the overall positions in which they finished. And how did he acquire a license in the first place? Bu agreeing to surrender your own country's license and providing an accommodation address in Britain anyone can have a British competition license. The RAC stated that Marku Allen did the same. The effect of the points scoring changes meant that third place provide eight points against the winner's ten, and it was quite an encouraging start. And then came the Welsh and second place overall. This was his best placing of the year.

The car was MEV36J, a registration with quite a competition history having been built originally for Rodger Clark on the Safari, and then used by a host of regular as well as guests drivers, but was completely rebuilt with a new shell (A memoir of that year by Steve Mills). The car was collected the day before the rally and Billy beat all the British drivers, having only Allen ahead at the end. He had little trouble, the worst being the gearbox sticking in gear, although you will recall he had used the running equipment before so that only the actual body was new to him. And what of the dreaded Eppynt? "We just motored round", Dan O'Sullivan explained, never for an instant saying what they made of the endless blind brows which either you knew or didn't. The first time they came to Eppynt they nearly died with fright. After the Welsh, MEV was saved for the forest rallies that predominate in the latter part of the season, and the older Kleber car would be used in the tarmac rallies that followed.

Billy had two rallies back in Ireland in two weekends which was quite a challenge, and as all the equipment was kept in England there was a first class panic when the gearbox broke on the Donegal and one of Billy's service crew had to fly back to London to take the spare out of the other car and bring over for the Ulster Rally (Texaco Rally) as hand luggage. That would not have been so bad but for the troubles in the North. The Security Guards nearly took it apart out of suspicion. It was lucky that the gearbox failed on Donegal which was a non-championship round of the British Series, for Billy one the Texaco with Peter Scott aboard. Then the Kleber car was taken over to Scotland for the Jim Clark, another RAC round. Twice in the yea Billy showed brilliance. This time it happened in the forest area in the border country between England and Scotland. On the Jim Clark he had the electronic ignition fail on a stage, mysteriously to revive minutes or so, and despite such a depressing start he fought back to finish 6th overall - with another point. The way Billy reeled off fastest time after fastest time showed who had the will to win.

August saw a lull, and preparation for three events in September, all of different character. When the Competition Department at Boreham saw that Clark was not having the success he was accustomed to and Billy was the only person likely to ensure that the championship honors stayed with Ford they agreed to help look after the car, and this happened after the Burmah. This was the other occasion that Billy showed real brilliance but this time it was to no avail. After 17 stages and in particular after one stage where the bonnet became detached in a disconcerting fashion he finished just one second behind Rodger Clark, until both navigators misunderstood the regulations and incurred their drivers in hefty road penalties. As for their driving on the stages, spectators on that rally had seen nothing like it. Clark was white in concentration. Coleman confided afterwards  that he hoped that he would never again have to drive like that. Tony Pond, now that regular Dealer Opel Team Driver won the event by default and became quite a close threat to the championship, though Billy retrieved a little of the situation with a fourth place on the Manx, again with Peter Scott ( whom Billy  rates highly for pacenote event.)

On the Manx, Boreham had urged Billy to concentrate on finishing rather than winning. For Rodger Clark the situation was becoming desperate, as this was one event that Fords knew they were most unlikely to win. Cahal Curley (CB) had entered two internationals of a similar nature so far this year, and won both, and he was due to take this one aswell. Rodger Clark did the best he could and came third, with Billy fourth, the best result they could wish for. Later that month came a shock, when Billy entered the Dukeries. Up to this point had predictable stages, with natural tarmac roads or forests. This was different, horribly different ! Farm-tracks of terrible roughness that the other drivers seamed to accept. ( Remember Billy had a lot of mechanical sympathy for every car he drove- see later on the Manta 400 days) One pot-holed horror, Pond took twenty seconds off him. Then came the airfields, vast expanse of areas with obvious lines to follow. It was like a nightmare. There were forests and on these he showed who was the master, but these were short and were soon over. Seventh was the result with Pond finishing second. Rodger retired for the second time on an RAC round that year with a blown head gasket. But better days lay ahead, and the next weekend his third place on the Lindis farne clinched the series after Tony Pond had crashed. But he was not without his troubles, for a throttle jammed several times on the opening stages, where the opportunities for service were very restricted. Driving with the ignition key for an accelerator is hazardous enough at the best of times, but over territory strewn with hummocks and sudden firebreak turns it was dangerous. It was one of those firebreak turns that Pond ended his championship chances.

Billy was unlike any other driver at that time on the British rallies, but then he was the only Irish one . He had an undoubted flair for driving and had exceptional reactions. He had an astute vision and had a lovely manner of talking to his car as he drives. If he came to a corner that proves a little nastier than expected and it took longer before the is fully straight he used to  murmur "Come on, Come on will you?", as he strived to straighten it out. He fires incessant questions at the navigator as to their position on a rally and has an incredibly lax idea of the passing of time. His mind darts from subject to subject, with faming uppermost in his thoughts. Dan O'Sullivan remembered the Granite City in Scotland one year when a marshal was counting down the seconds at the start of a stage" Orr no" Billy said, undoing his harness and getting out. He retuned shortly with a clod of earth which he carefully placed beside his seat, readjusted the harness and invited the marshal to count down for the next minute. Eventually when the stage was over even Dan's curiosity expired and he asked Billy what all that was for. " IT was because I want it analyzed when I get home." he said.

The operations for the year are based in a house in North London where Dan lived with Evan Hughes and Steve Mills, fold that Dan referred to as the "Tweakers", for they have been responsible for all the servicing and practically all the work on the cars. That whole house was given over to Billy's rallying. The front room was what is known as "the stores". It was piled high with tires, axles, springs, gearboxes and the million and one things that you must have available. The dining room was where the planning is done and the single garage at the rear, which leaded on to a narrow service road, was where Evan Steve worked. "We had a couple of lockups at Cheswick but it was too far away," Dan mentioned. The three of them completely managed things, leaving Billy to fly back to Cork after each event an picking him up from Heathrow the night before the next. The phone kept them in contact midweek but only in the middle of the night because the telephone service was not that good during the day. It was an incredible team of devotion that they had for their friends endeavor. The number of people who have become their national champion without ever driving on their roof at least once in their career cannot be great. Billy was quietly gaining an incredible amount of experience of driving on all kinds of surfaces.

So what was the next step after winning the RAC British championship? Now having his foot inside the door at Ford, although Ford had a reputation for achieving for only themselves. However Billy had a drive in the Clarke and Simpson team car on that year's Sherry, which he led with Henry Liddon until mechanical trouble intervened. For the 1975 season Billy was given what was supposed to be a works Ford drive which was eventually sub-contracted to Thomas Motors, whom had no experience of rallying at that time.

Irish folk hero Billy Coleman is considered by many to be the King of Irish Rallying.

But is the crown slipping a little?  And if it is, what's Billy doing about it?  Billy gave one of his rare interviews to Rally Sport's Chris Drake a few days ago immediately after he returned from Paris and serious talks about running a works Renault 5 Turbo in the UK.

Q:        What's this we hear about you being difficult to interview?  People have been telling me that you’re impossible to get hold of. Are you a sort of rallying recluse? 

Billy: I've competed on quiet a few rallies, so 1 can't see hot& I've been that difficult to get hold of!

Q: Have you actually got telephones on your farm.  One of the stories is that there are no phones there.

Billy:     Yes, there are two telephones, but/ live separately from the phones (laughter) because 1 like quiet, and peace.

Q:   Peace from What?

Billy: Over the years, many people have rung me at home.  It's something 1 shouldn't avoid really.

Brendan: People generally are much more accessible than they are in England.  Over here you wouldn't find Roger Clerk, if he won a rally getting lots of calls from people, just to say 'how are you Roger?' or just to chat. Billy could spend all his time talking to people about rallying, and anything else for that matter.

Q:   Your folk hero recluse millionaire image is an interesting one.  Are you a millionaire ?

Billy: God no.  The farm's about 180 acres. 1 wouldn't be trying to make a quid or two out of Motorsport if I were a millionaire ...

Q:  Now, about your crown as King of Irish rallying.  What's your reaction to that title?

Billy: Well, no reaction really.  People can call me what they like.  But if I have a title, it is possibly as a result of my rallying in Ireland, in England and abroad. My biggest success was probably winning the British Championship, and then finishing third in the European series.

Q:  But back to the King of Irish rallying title, you have thoughts about getting the crown back now, I suppose.

Billy:  I've been hungrier for Wins more now than, I've ever been.  It's the need to I've got a bit stale over the past two years and now, for some reason or another I've got to get back in and win events.  It's been about four or five years since I've won the Circuit, and it would be nice to win it again

Brendan: It's not enough leading for half the rally and then going out.  You've got to be there at the end and get some results behind you.  At this stage in Billy's career it's extremely important. It is all right for young Malcolm Wilson an up and coming driver to absorb the odd retirement, but for Billy it's different.  For instance, it takes a lot of experience to win the Circuit.  Nobody has come to Ireland and won the Circuit the first time round because it's a specialised event and it's the result at the end that counts. 

Q: If the Renault 5 Turbo deal doesn't come off, what will you do this year?

Billy: Well, there are one or two other possibilities. I’m doing the Esgair Dafydd

Rallysprint in the Stratos, for instance

Q: Have you been approached by any other teams to drive for @them recent!y?

Billy: Rather then mention particular teams, I would say that we have been considering an Opel 400, and a Vauxhall, for this year.  We could still find ourselves in an Opel, possibly

for the West Cork and it could be an ex-DOT car. A left-hand-drive one.  LHD doesn't

worry  me unduly, as long as I'm not nipping backwards and forwards from RHD to LHD.

Q:  How would you sum up your rallying last year?

Billy: Well, we, had a brilliant car and a good set up all round, but the car let -us down once or twice, and then the programme ran out of money, what with the recession and that.

Q: Do you prefer tarmac rallying?  Your reputation is that of a tarmac man'.

Billy: I enjoy forest events as much as anything. I've competed in eight or nine RACs in the course of my career, and finished in the top half dozen a few times. I enjoy the imenssely. I don't think I'm any more competitive on tarmac than in the forests.

Q:  So you don't consider yourself a tarmac man.

Billy: No I don't.  I've probably had more successes on gravel, ice and snow than I have on tarmac.  I've certainly had more experience on gravel than on tarmac.

Q:  Supposing the Renault effort comes off, do you want to go back into Europe?

Billy: Oh yes.  Several years ago I finished third overall in the European Championship, and, it was basically a shoestring effort. I think  the Renault would lend itself to a series like this, with the right imagination, company and of course, the backing.  To answer your question, yes I would like to go into Europe, and do a few world championship events as well

CO: Do you feel you’ve got more speed to come? Are you still on the way up as it were?

Billy: It depends on how and where I channel my engeries.  With a good team behind me I think there’s a lot to come. If you know there's a good back up, as many tyres as you went and so on, it graves you a tremendous mental boost.

Q:        Have you driven the Renault 5,Turbo? 

Billy:  No I haven't, although I think it would be good for the Rothmans Championship if one appeared.  It would make things much more interesting but, of course the car would have to be devloped for the teirain.  While the French have done wonders for with the car on European asphalt, Irish Tarmac and forestry are completely different things again. Irish roads are much more bumpy. Although they are asphalt, they are quite a different thing. The car might need to be developed and strengthened to cope with the tight and twisty hairpins and keeping the car straight over extremely fast roads

Brendan: If some of the FISA people came over here to monitor some of the Irish events they’d be appalled by the speeds at which drivers travel at 120mph and 130mph straights. In Italy you might get a few hundred yards of a straight if you’re lucky.

Q:        So you think the Renault 5 Turbo might bring you that Circuit win this year?

Billy: assuming we've got the car; it's got a good chance.

Brendon: It's got the potential, mind you it's not set up for tarmac - Irish Tarmac, that is and for the first rally it might well be a bag of troubles but as long as we can keep it running quickly and to the finish, it should have a good chance of winning.

Billy:   The Monte isn't hard on a car. The Circuit will take it out on transmission, brakes, suspension, steering because it's a dry tarmac event and not icy and slippery. So when. Brendon says it might be a bag of troubles, he means that any car could be, especially on its first time out on an event like the Circuit. The Monte doesn't prove an awful lot about a car. I've competed on the Monte, as you know, and I don't think there's a jump on the whole rally. The car doesn't leave the road at all - now that's the complete opposite to the Circuit of Ireland.

Q:        If the Renault deal is set up, how do you see it operating?

Billy:     I would think that Renault UK would own it and support would come from the Irish Renault distributors Smiths. The, program we wore talking about involved taking in an Irish and UK series of events, and hopefully in 1982 we would go abroad.

Basically we would be developing the car ultimately for the Lombard RAC. Renault wants to run a car and I think they start gravel testing this March with the RAC partly in mind.

Q:        Con you read us through your rally cars over the years?

Billy: I began with the Cortina GT and continued in 1968 with a very basic Escort with a Cortina GT engine in it, and then it was a twin-cam and subsequently a BDA Escort, In there somewhere I drove a Renault Alpine (again Irish distributors Smiths)

1600 in the early 70s – just before the BDA Escort actually. There were a couple of works Escorts, and the Fiat 131Abarth in which we did the 1977 Welsh and Scottish rally. The Fiat was a good car considering it hadn’t been fully developed at that stage for the forests. Among other things the suspension was a compromise. But I enjoyed, driving it immensely. It was broadly similar to an Escort, about the same weight and it felt basically the same. The steering lock was a problem though, and we felt this particularly on tight sideways bends where we ran out of lock fairly easily. The Ford and Stratos have balanced brakes and you could adjust them from the driver's seat. You couldn't do this with the Fiat - it had to be done at service points and each time it took about 10 minutes to adjust. The engineers reckoned the car was balanced perfectly and they were surprised that I should question this wisdom. Eventually they put an adjuster on the dashboard but at the time it was one of the difficulties with the car the engineers in the early days were adamant that their design and set up we're absolutely right. The main reason we were there, as far as they were concerned, was tyre testing. But I think they were quiet pleased with the results and Audetto was happy anyway.

Q:        What's your impression of the, Stratos, now that you've driven it over a period of several rallies?

Billy: It's difficult to say whether it is still competitive. The design is sophisticated compared with other cars, but the engine lacks something. So you need to have an edge in order to drive it competitively and to be that little bit quicker than everyone else. So it really, it’s only competitive when everything’s in its favour. When there are problems, or the conditions don’t suit it, it is not that competitive, like the final day in Galway when we lots of enormous puddles that made the Stratos difficult to drive.

Q:         What main modifications would be needed to turn the Monte Renault 5 Turbo car into a Forestry one.

Billy: I don’t know, but they did say that they could lose weight on the shell on a forestry car. Looking at the specifications I was surprised to see how heavy the car was – it way almost as much as a rally Escort which is a bigger car overall. Mind you, Renault quotes a dry weight, so I might be wrong, the R5 should be a lighter car. Another difference with the 5 is it has a considerably longer wheelbase than, say the Stratos, and this should make the car easier to drive.

Q:        Where does Chequered Flag fit in? Rumours are flying about a partnership continuing?

Billy: Well, I was out combining some wheat in a field one day, when I got a call from Graham Warner. But they don’t come into it at the moment.

Brendon: That’s right. Graham is interested in continuing his connection with rallying, naturally, and he knows the Stratos is becoming less competitive. He wants to be in the start of a very exciting car a rally programme. He is offering a sort of B Team arrangement, where the team would be run professionally by a known rally equip. But negotiations haven’t reached that stage yet.

Q:        What’s the next step?

Billy:     There are a lot of questions to be answered as yet. The Irish distributors Smiths have even offered to buy their own car and run separate programme.

Q:        What events would you want to do in the Renault 5 Turbo?

Billy: Bearing in mind the gravel development programme we would probably do the Rothmans events - those that are good forestry rallies and some of the nationals towards the end of the year in preparation for the RAC. I would like to do the Irish championship as well, of course.

Q:     How committed are you to rallying these days?

Billy:     Well, my farm is now geared to (almost) running itself nowadays, and I've fulfilled several of my ambitions in that area. Recently it certainly has distracted me from my Motorsport and this has been a direct result of business pressures. - I'm personally interested in farming as well.

Q:     How important do you consider publicity, in your rallying career?

Billy: I’ve never actively sought publicity in the way that perhaps I should, to further my career.

Q:        You haven't needed to?

Billy: I wouldn't say that. I've lost quite a few opportunities in my time. I've never really followed up that side of the job. I remember one time, about five or six years ago, when Stuart Turner wanted me to go to PR school.

I didn't refuse, but I just didn't go. I didn't think it would do me any good at the time because I didn't feel I wanted to be controlled by someone else. I just wanted to drive. Then I just didn't accept there was another important side to the job.

Q:        Do you drink?

Billy:     Not so much. A glass of wine with dinner now and again. I like a drop of

Guinness of course - but you can't put me down as an eccentric millionaire, recluse alcoholic now! Although I don't drink much, I certainly give it up before an event in any case. As far as other pre-rally preparations are concerned, 1 do quite a bit of physical exercise at home. I've got a bicycle, and I jog quite a bit. 1 would definitely avoid getting into a car if I wasn't fit or too tired. Rally tyres are big and heavy these days so you must be fairly fit to be competitive.

Q:        Any other pro-rally preparations?

Billy:     Well 1 don't go to bed particularly early before an -event, but 1 would make a point of not staying up all night immediately beforehand.

Q:     How many years do you think you've got left as a competitive driver?

Billy:     Drivers are at their 4est in their late thirties, and I'm only 33 so I've got a few years left. But that presumes the drivers started in the sport at an early age.

Q: Brendon, how competitive do you consider Billy to be?

Brendon: Oh extremely. He's proved that many times. But on his own ground, it's the Circuit of Ireland that sorts out the top boys. That's really where it all happens. Last year we were leading the Circuit with considerable ease; other people had been off several times and there was plenty left in our Escort. And even at our relatively slow pace we were leading the rally with plenty to come if and when we wanted it. Both in Billy and the car.

Q:     What makes Billy, the quickest in those circumstances?

Brendon:     Billy's got tremendous ability, and his experience over those roads well.

You've got to have enormous abilities to read the surfaces and know what the road might do over the next hump or round the next bend. We both know of the various points where trouble might happen. And Billy said to me on several occasions: "Vatanen will go off there, and McRae will have a nasty on that bend". And sure enough, it happened, just where Billy had said it.

Billy:     You can't underestimate the roads in Ireland. It's a really fast rally, and unlike the British forests where you can slide off into a ditch and get back onto the road, if you go off in Ireland, You'll go off in a big way.

Q:        Does Brendon scare in a car?

Billy:     Brendon doesn't scare at all (laughter), and apparently Alan Carter didn't scare him at all either (more laughter) a# though 1 , understand that Carter is a very consistent driver.

Brendon:            Alan on the other hand is not in Billy's class.

Billy:     Mind, you Alan was scared when Brendon was driving ...

Q:        If you were asked to advise a young driver how to get on and succeed in rallying, what would you tell them?

Billy:     Well, he or she has got to be ultra competitive from the beginning to succeed in the end. And if you're non-Scandinavian, then you’ve got an immediate disadvantage to start with. In most cases it's a matter of experience, also it’s easier for a gravel snow and ice driver-to be competitive on tarmac and forestry, than the other way round.