Posted May 5, 2025 by leonulty Motormouth

Motormouth’s Mutterings – We Tackle the TDC’s Irish Classic Retro!

As I get that bit older, and am no longer racing, I have a hankering to try some other disciplines. I bought an Autotest car a few years back but when dates just kept clashing with my commentary commitments, it was taking up space in the lock up and had to go. In recent years, I have taken up Sporting Trials (or Mudplugging) and both I, and longtime buddy Donal Loughrey, are completely hooked. He has managed to crack it though, having taken two outright wins already, while I, despite getting it right on occasion, can’t seem to maintain the consistency for the entire day. Perhaps its the healthy banter and tasty lunch provided by Conor Power that distracts me, who knows!

Anyway, Mick O’Shea and myself have been having fun on a few different adventures lately. Mick is also an ex racer but still competes on the Hills in his immaculate MGBGT. Previously though, he navigated on Retro events in Ireland and Europe, not without success. After a glass of wine one evening, it seemed to make perfect sense to have a go at the TDC’s freshly announced Irish Classic Retro. Google is your only man at times like this so we searched for “classic road rally car for sale!” After a couple of results, we spotted it. A hearing aid beige coloured 1972 Saab 99, with plenty of bits already done and a big history of doing UK events. We contacted Tim, the owner and he was extremely helpful, explaining that the car had a bored out 2.1 engine with a cam, full tubular manifold and system, air horns, spotlights, full competition belts, wiring for for a trip meter etc. All sounded very exciting. He was located just outside Southampton so once again Google was pressed into service. An Aer Lingus flight to Southampton was a mere €51 each and then it was a short train ride to where the car was. After a close one when we jumped on a departing train as we were trying to purchase tickets online and met an Inspector, we got there and met Tim, who picked us up in the Saab and drove back to his house. He was happy to supply a big screwdriver for me to have a good prod around underneath. There were a few patches and bubbles, but overall it seemed to be solid and started and drove beautifully. It also sounded superb, which was a bonus. After a friendly haggle, the deal was done and we were ready to point her for Holyhead. Tim also gave us a further 6 Minilite wheels, four with knobbly tyres, so we loaded them up, threw in our bags and headed off. 500kms, and a few Greggs pitstops later, we arrived at Holyhead.

As soon as we got the car back home, we called Steve Griffin, who was happy to take the car for a twiddle and tune. As ever, he found a few bits that needed fettling and it was running even better with a far better brake pedal when it came back. Next up was D&R in Naas to get bearings and some wiring on the alternator. I ordered ball joints, shocks and discs but they didn’t arrive before the event so it would have to do as was. We put in the entry online, using Rallyscore. All new to me but remarkably easy, made sure both of our licences were ok for the event, and I got IRDS insurance on the MI website. Driving the car back from the UK had shown us that it was incredibly comfortable but once it had been checked over, I wasn’t afraid to give it a squirt and happily, it wasn’t slow. Seemed to handle well too but one big issue was that Saabs, like an Alfasud, have the handbrake on the front wheels. (Every day is a schoolday!) This wasn’t what we needed to tackle the tests, but there wasn’t time to fit an aftermarket hydraulic handbrake so we pumped the rear tyres well up and said we would try our best. Ray Cunningham in the Galway Mini Centre came up trumps with a used Terratrip, which plugged straight in and looked relatively straightforward to use. Ted Gaffney had offered to help us calibrate it and so I headed over to Summerhill, where he has a four mile circuit that he has used for this purpose for years. After many many laps, changing the calibration number each time, we managed to get a reading of 4.02, so it was time for a celebratory 99! Thanks for your help Ted! (I’m sure the people enjoying a pint outside Shaw’s pub on a sunny Friday afternoon were wondering what the odd looking car was doing driving by every every ten minutes for most of the afternoon!!) After that, it was just a case of dropping into Neil in Siltex Safety to pick up the mandatory First Aid kit and Hi Viz vests, and Murray Motorsport for an OK/SOS board, and we were good to go!

We arrived at the Druid’s Glen complex in Wicklow at the ungodly hour of 7am where we joined an eclectic bunch of cars for scrutiny. We had remembered everything, except the mandatory groundsheet, which needed to be placed under the car at the start, lunch halt and finish of the event. In typical TDC spirit though, someone produced a spare and was happy for us to use it.

The Saab passed scrutiny with flying colours and we were off to sign on, where we got the road book and some very cool Irish Classic Retro decals for the doors. We also got a lovely Dermot Carnegie sticker to put on the car and the club had made the lovely decision to keep number 1 free in his honour too. A classy tribute to a motorsport hero.

Our “time out” (forgive me if I get the terminology wrong, I am a roundy roundy circuit racer!) was 9:37 so we lined up with the rest. Mick has done it all before and was used to it but I have to admit getting all excited when the marshal said “30 seconds……..15, 10 seconds” and then “5,4,3,2,1 away you go!” Off we headed on a road section, but not, as Mick explained, a regularity section. To explain further, the event, which covered some 270kms, made up of Road Sections, Regularity Sections, where you need to try and maintain an average speed, which can vary mid section, and of course the Special Tests.

These take place on private lands, generally quarries, Industrial Premises and even the odd Golf Course! With all the running around getting the car ready, I hadn’t really driven it in anger, so wasn’t sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised at one of the early tests to find that it had a bit of go, and with the high rear pressures, handled superbly! It was bigger than most of the others though and had no power steering and as I already said, no handbrake on the rear wheels. In fairness to the TDC though, the tests were generally quite open and no reversing was required so we immediately started having fun!

We had decided before the event, that although we would try as hard as we could, we were not expecting to be at all competitive, and we just wanted to have fun and, above all, get to the finish. We also decided not to confuse matters by using the speed tables, so we just followed the tulip diagrams, with Mick manning the Terratrip and taking charge. As a result, we managed to follow the route with no mistakes and (I think) managed to get all the code boards and checkpoints on the way.

Lunch was at Russborough House, just outside Blessington, with Sandwiches and bottles of water supplied. Stories were exchanged and the cars all looked great covered in dust and mud after a hard morning. All too soon it was time to go again, with tests in the grounds of the estate, before heading back out onto the road again for an afternoon packed with road sections and even more tests! The Saab, as I already said, had plenty of go but also had good front end grip and traction. By the end of the day we were really enjoying the tests and, even though the lack of a rear handbrake hurt us on a few of them, we were right on it on some others. We were credited with a fastest time on one, but I’m not sure about that one, but we were delighted to be fourth on another one, up against RS2000s and Mini Coopers, with some highly talented pilots aboard. Mick was also really getting into the navigation side of things so all in all, we were making a far better fist of it than we had expected.

It was almost 6pm when we arrived back at Druid’s Glen after a long, but very very enjoyable day all across the “Garden of Ireland” as Wicklow is known. We had said our aim was to finish, so having achieved that, we were absolutely delighted (we were 19th overall, so as they used to say in school, “Must work harder!”). To find out we had been reasonably competitive on some of the tests was a very pleasant surprise too. The entry fee of €375 was amazing value for money considering we were on the road for about 8 hours, and it also included lunch and delicious food after the event. I have long been a fan of the TDC, and I can only imagine how much work must have gone into the event beforehand. Certainly the PR team must have done a great job because there were loads of families and kids waving to us from their gardens all along the route- and a few ladies having a glass of wine or two under the spring sunshine! The other thing that, from our point of view, there were plenty of TDC stalwarts offering help and advice all day. Big thanks to Peter Lynch, Damien Phillips Philip O’Reilly, Eamonn Byrne and many many more. Congratulations also to overall winners Mark Doran and Mark O’Neill in the beautiful Mk1 Escort Mexico.

So, another discipline tried, and enjoyed. Mick and I have decided we will do a few more events in the Saab, when the opportunities arise and we have ordered a load of bits to give it some TLC after a good thrashing for a full day! For more information about the TDC (Trials Drivers Club) and their various events, click on the image below.