1986 Galway Rally

The 1986 Galway Rally was an Event that was to change the way Safety was to be approached going forward for Rally Events in Ireland,the Rally was the opening Round of the 1986 Tarmac Championship and Billy Coleman was back in the Rothmans Porsche 911 to compete against the Opel Manta 400's of Austin McHale and Bertie Fisher,also competing was Saeed Al Hajri in another Rothmans Porsche along with John Coyne Manta 400,Frank Meagher in the ex Richie Heeley Escort RS1800 with Heeley out in a new Escort G3,Bill Connolly was out in a Chevette HSR for the first time and was joined by Cyril Bolton and Ian Donaldson in there Metro 6R4's,dry but icy conditions greeted the Crews as they set out to tackle the Galway Roads with Coleman being the master of the slippery conditions encountered,he took an early lead and never looked back,Bertie Fisher and Austin McHale had a troubled Event in there Manta 400's and both retired with Fisher having complete Brake Failure and as a result failing to stop as he went down an Escape Road which had parked Cars and Spectators in his path with Fisher miraculously steering the Manta through the escape road thankfully narrowly missing everybody in his path and preventing a potentially dangerous incident,this would change the thinking and approach of how Spectators would be controlled particularly on escape roads at junctions,Billy went on to win by over 6 min from his Teamate Al Hajri after a controlled drive with Donaldson 3rd,Hugh O'Brien in his Escort 4th and Jim McDonald ending up in 5th place in a Sunbeam Lotus,again we thank Pat Sullivan Carrignavar for the use of this superb RTE/UTV Production,Enjoy.