Northern Ireland

Derek McGarrity and Barry McNulty in their Fiesta WRC took a convincing victory on the Circuit of Ireland National Rally, round two of the MSA ANICC McGrady Insurance Northern Ireland Rally Championship at the weekend. The two day closed road event traversed some revered stages such as Glendun, Torr Head and Hamiltons Folly and was running behind the ERC, BRC & ITRC. It provided a stern test for the N.I Championship runners, including the winner.

The iconic Circuit of Ireland Rally played host to the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Championship last weekend and the third round of the series has certainly shaken things up in the overall scheme of things. Heading into this round Keith Cronin had taken maximum points from both events to date and held a six point lead over Sam Moffett with Josh Moffett back in third place.

Irishman Josh Moffett and co-driver John Rowan won the second round of the MSA British Rally Championship today (April 8), after a weekend of attrition on the famous Circuit of Ireland. No fewer than four drivers held the lead during the two-day event, but the 23-year-old mastered the Belfast-based event in his Ford Fiesta R5 to claim a 27 second margin over Jonathan Greer and Kirsty Riddick in their Citroen DS3 R5. David Bogie and Kevin Rae made it three marques in the top three as they rounded out a Pirelli podium clean sweep in their Skoda Fabia R5.

Leading ever since a sublime drive on the longest stage of the rally on SS3, Breen had over half a minute in hand at service on Friday evening, but a spin on the subsequent Newtownards TT street stage was followed by further time losses at the start of leg two when the decision to run super-soft tyres left him unable to match the times of his 2015 ERC title rival Kajetanowicz.

In this blog post our resident reporter Graham Curry went to Monaghan Brothers. in Lisnaskea and asked Martin Armitage to give us a insight into the dealership…

Tuesday the 5th of April saw more than 100 of Northern Ireland’s used car dealers attend DealerConfNI at the Hilton Hotel in Templepatrick – the province’s first ever car dealer conference, hosted by Used Cars NI.com. They were treated to an information packed day of talks and Q&A’s with some of the UK’s automotive industry leaders.

DubShed 2016 has come and gone in the blink of an eye, months of stress and preparations for the organisers and show goers alike is now stored in the minds of everyone and as such we are now able to sit back, dreary eyed after a long weekend and reflect on what the lads and ladies from GTI NI put together for us this year.

Feast your eyes on this brand, spanking new Skoda Fabia R5. To date, less than 50 of these cars have been produced and this one – number 43 – is primed for an attack on both the British and Irish Tarmac Championships at the hands of Desi Henry…

Audi in Northern Ireland has for years has been a huge seller, the stigma that the infamous “rings” badge portrays along with the wide range of Diesel engines available and the specifications that can be ordered, have made the brand into one that is now seen on every residential street.

We recently received a little gem from French manufacturer Peugeot in the form of a reasonably practical 208 GT-Line. When the 208 range was launched a couple of years ago I was lucky enough to get a drive in one of the first GTi models that came into Northern Ireland and it impressed greatly, so with anticipation was keen to get driving this latest model.