irishcar.com - Hot Rodding in Ballyshannon, Co Kildare.

The sign says ‘Drive Slow’, but that’s only on the road before you arrive at the track. After that, there are no limits.

Well, there are, really, as the ‘race track’ in Ballyshannon, Co Kildare, is a dirt circuit around the lower part of a field. The higher part is where the spectators park to watch the ‘hot rod’ racing. Hot rod in this instance being old Fiat Ritmos, Nissan Micras, middle-vintage Ford Fiestas, and a number which were just unrecognisable under the mud and ironmongery.

Some 50 cars take part every second Sunday at the Ballyshannon track, and driver/owner Trevor Domican says ‘it’s a cheap way to go motor racing’. And he suggests that being able to get the speed bug out of the system of a weekend means the participants drive more slowly when they’re on the public roads the rest of the time.

It’s a cert, though, that the jalopies being skated around the dirt are a long way from being roadgoing, which is what makes them cheap for racing. They’ll never be asked to do an NCT test. Trevor reckons his season’s operations cost him at most around 1,500 euros. Depending on whether he blows an engine or not.

And if he’s lucky, and an engine does last him a summer, then he’s a a warp-distance away from the Formula One costs, where extremely costly engines last just the one race.

The organisers are a long way from those costs too, as there are no money prizes, just trophies, and at the end of the season there’s a ‘club champion status’ which is as eagerly competed for as Shumacher does his World Champion Driver status.

The Ballyshannon-based club goes under the name ‘Grass Track 2000’ and as well as its ordinary race days, it has a number of charity days as well, one of which recently meant they were able to give the local Red Cross 1,500 euros. The Red Cross provide the club with an ambulance service every race day, but in the time it has been in existence, nobody has been hospitalised. That’s not to say there haven’t been spills

The organisers make sure that the event is as safe as possible for the participants and the spectators, and every car must undergo a scrutiny before racing.

“It has to have a proper roll cage, a bucket seat and harness, mesh on the windows, and every driver has to have a good helmet,” says chief marshall John Broderick. “We’ll make sure that nobody goes on the track without proper safeguards.”

It’s not just a sport for men - there are several women drivers who regularly take part, sometimes racing with the men but more usually in races that are women only.

Spending the day at a track like this is a dusty event at the very least, as the cars speeding (actually not THAT fast, but putting each other under pressure nevertheless) around the circuit spin up a lot of dirt that on a sunny day spreads across the field and leaves a coating on everything and every one there.

That said, the track is regularly sprayed with water, even on a day when there has been earlier rain, by a slurry tanker thanks to the interest of a local farmer.

“It’s very necessary, because if the track gets too dry it just becomes too dangerous,” says John Broderick.

The marshalls are very conscious of spectator safety, and the fact that the spectators are considerably higher up than the track itself helps here. It is very much a family day out, and there are partners and children all around the place, but kept well away from the action. The youngsters also appeared to be very conscious themselves of being careful.

There’s another sign on the way down, warning that ‘Motor Racing is Dangerous’ and no responsibility is taken for any damage or injuries. The participants are well aware of the fact that they’re on their tod as far as insurance is concerned.

On a day when I had just seen (on TV) Michael Schumacher achieve his fifth world driver championship, the trip to Ballyshannon was a complete anthitesis to the glamour and the money of the Formula One circuit. But it seemed that there was just as much fun. At a fraction of the cost. And everybody could see the whole circuit.

And on the way out there were more signs, ‘Drive Slow’. Just in case anyone forgot where they were.