Limerick Grand Prix 2010

Pagoda113

On Sunday August 1st 2010 the Limerick Classic and Vintage Car Club will be holding an event to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the first Limerick Grand Prix race. The event will include a couple of parade laps around the original street circuit, followed by a short run. Following lunch at Adare Manor the cars will return to a display area in the city centre. The event will also include an exhibition of photographs, information and memorabilia on the races.

Entries are currently being invited for Pre 1940 race cars or sports cars and spaces are strictly limited so early registration is recommended.

The 1935 race was the direct equivalent of a modern day formula 1 GP with many top international drivers taking part. Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Bugatti, Fiat and Austin marques were all represented.
The "Round the Houses Race", as it was known, was a huge success drawing 50,000 spectators. Luis Fontes driving an Alfa Romeo 8C2300 won the race in a time of 2 hours 21 minutes at an average speed of 65 miles per hour.

Limerick is one of only two motor racing street circuits still intact, the other being Monte Carlo ,home of the Monaco GP.
The race was run again in 1936 and among the participants was Prince Bira of Siam driving an ERA. However the event was marred by an accident in which the Duke of Grafton was killed. While on the first lap his Bugatti went out of control at the junction of Roxboro road and Sexton st. and crashed before bursting into flames. The final Limerick GP took place in 1938.

More details and entry foms are available from our website :-

www.limerickgrandprix.com

We would also love to hear from anyone who anyone who may have photographs, memorabilia, or any information on the races which might compliment our exhibition.

trevorbrady

Pagoda113 wrote: »

Limerick is one of only two motor racing street circuits still intact, the other being Monte Carlo ,home of the Monaco GP.

that's fascinating!! Best of luck with the event

geotrig

only heard about this today ,really fascinating stuff ! I hope itS more regular than every 75 years !!

unkel

Interesting to watch the video from the 1935 race!

Linky

There's a thread in the Limerick forum where the race is mentioned. Apparently the Duke of Grafton died in the 1936 race when his Bugatti went on fire after a crash.

h3000

Just said I would bump this up a bit. The event is taking place this coming Sunday.

limerickgrandprix.com wrote:

A selection of the Pre 1940 cars confirmed to date include :-


Alfa Romeo 8 C 2300

Fiat Ballia (Finished 4th Place in 1935 Race)

Bentley 4.5 Litre Tourer

Ford Smithfield Special (Finished 5th in 1935 Race)

T.R.S. (Finished 6th in 1938 Race)

Lagonda 3.0 Litre Tourer

BMW 328


Also, a selection of the Prestige cars confirmed to date include :-


Ferrari 308 GTB

Maserati Bora

De Tomaso Pantera

Ferrari Mondial

Ferrari 360 Modena

Aston Martin V8 Vantage

Kevin_Herron

If its not raining at 5:30am in Dublin on Sunday morning I'll be on my way!!

Justjens

Well done to the organisers, unfortunately I did not take my camera, well organised, well run and a great turnout of cars.

Can't wait for the centenary event!

mgbgt1978

Popped in this morning to watch the parade laps..great piece of nostalgia.
Then went out to Adare Manor to see them all over again at the lunch venue.
Some pics (and links to more) here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055981809&page=2

L-M

I didn't get a chance to go out and see this, but I heard one of the older Renaults crashed? I hope all parties involved are ok!

Seemed to be a big hit, but IMO it wasn't advertised enough. I've been talking to so many people are they were disappointed they didn't know that it was on!

junkyarddog

Limerick man wrote: »

I didn't get a chance to go out and see this, but I heard one of the older Renaults crashed? I hope all parties involved are ok!

Seemed to be a big hit, but IMO it wasn't advertised enough. I've been talking to so many people are they were disappointed they didn't know that it was on!

I saw it being loaded onto the back of a recovery truck,out the ballysimon road,there was a damaged modern car being recovered too.

L-M

junkyarddog wrote: »

I saw it being loaded onto the back of a recovery truck,out the ballysimon road,there was a damaged modern car being recovered too.

Aye, an Xtrail. AFAIK the Renault "t-boned" the Xtrail at a junction.

carchaeologist

Limerick man wrote: »

Aye, an Xtrail. AFAIK the Renault "t-boned" the Xtrail at a junction.

Nasty,was it badly damaged? The renault that is.

junkyarddog

Limerick man wrote: »

Aye, an Xtrail. AFAIK the Renault "t-boned" the Xtrail at a junction.

Hmmm,I saw them being winched up onto the trucks on a straight stretch of road,nowhere near a junction,it was outside someones gate/house though.

galwaytt

carchaeologist wrote: »

Nasty,was it badly damaged? The renault that is.

....Renault's are always good in NCAP's, though..............or, maybe, then N-Flat-Cap's...........:p


...interesting to see how it came off though.........

On another note: didn't see a single ad, anywhere, for this.......big opportunity missed imho.

junkyarddog

carchaeologist wrote: »

Nasty,was it badly damaged? The renault that is.

Didn't appear to be too bad,left front wing was crumpled,and the tyre was off the rim,so hopefully it isn't too bad.

MorrisCooper

The comment many people on the day was that if the cars had been parked on O'Connell St, they would have been mauled by Joe Public. Perry Square was off-the-beaten track location in a very nice setting. LGP wasn't a huge event in terms of number of cars and the location suited the numbers of cars and people perfectly.

jochenstacker

OK to post video?