Bertie Fisher won more Irish Tarmac championship rallies than any other driver. And included in his total of 20 victories are three on the Circuit of Ireland. Those, he often said, were more important than all the rest.
Fisher, who died in a helicopter accident in 2001 along with his son Mark and daughter Emma, was much more than a rally driver. He was one of Ulster’s most prominent businessmen, the managing director of the family engineering business in Fermanagh and a key player in the construction of some of Northern Ireland’s landmark buildings like the Waterfront Hall and the CastleCourt Shopping Centre.
It was in this role that the Circuit of Ireland often proved an ice-breaker in business meetings.
He once recalled:
"The people I meet on occasions like this usually have no idea about rallying or what it entails. But I've lost count of the number of times when I’ve been introduced someone has said: "Oh, you’re the man who won the Circuit of Ireland".
"They don’t mention that I’ve won the Rally of the Lakes six times or the Donegal International three times. The only one that registers is the Circuit of Ireland."
"It always demonstrated to me that the Circuit of Ireland was one rally which reached beyond the motorsport community and struck a chord with the general public."
The name is still iconic and with a new organising team now in place, led by rally director Bobby Willis and clerk of the course Gordon Noble, the challenge is to re-build its international status.
It remains an integral part of Ireland’s premier rally series, the Citroen Tarmac championship, but Willis and his team are looking beyond home shores.
An important step in this direction was to align the event with the Intercontinental Rally Challenge which has become an attractive alternative to the World championship. The Circuit of Ireland was granted supporter status for 2010.
Willis is in no doubt it was the Circuit of Ireland’s name, and its history, which played a significant part in the IRC’s decision.
"Jean Pierre Nicolas, the IRC’s development manager, and Xavier Gavory, the general co-ordinator, were very receptive to the idea of the Circuit of Ireland becoming part of the IRC family," he said.
"They had heard of it, of course, but were surprised to learn about its colourful history and the part it had played in not just Irish but British and European rallying too."
News item by Circuit of Ireland. |
