Galway Motor Club has confirmed that there arein excess of 140 teams entered for next weekend’s Carlton Shearwater Hotel Galway Summer Rally.

The competing teams, their sponsors and crews, and the hundreds of spectators that will line the route will bring a welcome late season boost to tourism and visitor numbers to Galway city and county over the weekend. The event is Round 5 of the Dunlop National Championship of Ireland and Round 4 of the Top Part West Coast Rally Championship.

The place to be on Saturday 30th August is Ballinasloe. The rally will start with afternoon scrutineering of cars at the Headquarters, the Carlton Shearwater Hotel, from 2pm. There follows a Ceremonial Start at 7.30pm for the top seeded cars and local drivers.  These are ideal opportunities to see the rally cars and drivers up close prior to the start of the competition. Entertainment continues with a Barbeque and Tractor Build event at 9.00pm that evening in The Carlton Shearwater Hotel.

The organisers have chosen the Galway Parkinson’s Association as its charity partner. The charity’s volunteers will be promoting awareness at various locations along the route and all support will be much appreciated by them.

The entries have been seeded by the organisers and the rally winner is likely to come from one of the top 10 seeds. The number 1 seed will be reserved for last year’s winner, Hugh Hunter from Wales in his Subaru WRC. He will be co driven by Andy Marchbank. Other top seeds in similar Subaru World Rally cars are current Dunlop National Champions, the Donegal cousins, Declan and Brian Boyle, Steve Wood (Wales), Paddy Mc Veigh (Dungannon), Kevin Barrett (Maynooth), and Alan Ring (Kerry). Driving a Ford Focus WRC will be the current Irish Forestry Rally Champion, Michael O Brien, (Cork), while former National Champion, Peadar Hurson from Newry will drive an Escort WRC. Roy White from Clonmel will be driving the unique MG ZR, also capable of taking a win, while the leading Group N car is that of Monaghan’s Josh Moffett.

There are a total of 10 crews from outside of Ireland taking part in this year’s event, some travelling from Australia, USA and Canada, others from London, Wales and other parts of the UK.

Members of Galway Motor Club taking part in the event will be seeking to put their name on the Conroy Cup. This cup has been presented annually for the past 25 years to the highest placed Galway Motor Club crew. Winners in 2013 were Eamon Dervan from Loughrea, co driven by Brian Mc Namara, in his Escort Mk2. The event will also include an Escort Mk2 Challenge, sponsored by Galway company GRP4 Fabrications.

The rally route on Sunday August 31st will cover 9 closed road stages in east Galway. The rally Service Park will be in Ballinasloe Mart, the cars will visit the service park on three occasions during the day.  Sunday evening will see the Ceremonial Finish at the Carlton Shearwater Hotel at approximately 5.00pm.  Admission to all events on Sunday is free.

The Official Rally Programme contains full listings of all of the entrants, all stage times, service area times, detailed Ordnance Survey Route Maps and all of the information required to locate the many spectator access points. The programme is available from the Headquarters and from various filling stations, newsagents and outlets in the city and county. These outlets are listed on the rally website, www.galwaymotorclub.ie.

Results and regular updates will be available over the weekend on Galway Bay FM (96.8), on the rally website: www.galwaymotorclub.ie. and also through links on www.rally.ie.