- by Brian Byrne
KTK launches Super Saloon racer
05 April 2003: The newest entrant for the upcoming season of the Super Saloon Car Championships was unveiled last night in the Kilashee Hotel in County Kildare.
The KTK Sand & Gravel-owned car is powered by a 220bhp version of the Ford Zetec 2-litre engine, which in more mundane form powers the Mondeo. It was built bu Cliff Dempsey of Cliff Dempsey Racing, and will be driven by his son Morgan Dempsey.
The company had been sponsoring Cliff Dempsey and his son in single-seater Formula Renault for the last two seasons, but MD Kevin Keenan - who has been personally involved in motorsport since 1981 - decided that it would be better to build their own car for a series which also had the advantage of having most of its races close to home in Mondello.
"One of the reasons is that I don't like travelling much, and we had this car that was racing around England and I wasn't going, so I lost interest," he says candidly. "With this new car, we'll have nine races in Mondello this year, and two in England and two in the North."
At the event in Kilashee, which was well supported by family and friends from the business and motorsport worlds, Kevin recalled some of the adventures they'd had in their early days in the sport.
Morgan Dempsey, a former winner of the Leinster Trophy, said that he has never been as 'pumped up' for a racing season in his life. "When you're a teenager it's just a case of getting into the car and driving, but when you're the age I am now, you realise the importance of training and just getting your head in gear, and I'm working really hard."
Cliff Dempsey himself said they'd 'keep their heads down' and get on with the job. "I'm very privileged that KTK gave us this project, and I've done the best job I can. Let's see what happens."
The Super Saloon season kicks off at the end of this month in Mondello. Formerly known as the RT 2000 series, the cars are built on a tubular steel lightweight chassis provided by Sonny Howard of SHP in the UK and covered with a fibreglass body. Power comes from a 2-litre Ford Zetec plant prepared by Scholar engines and is delivered to the Dunlop slick tyres through a six-speed sequential Quaife gearbox.
The engine delivers 217+ bhp to a car/driver combination weight of 930 kgs. In all, there are 19 cars racing in the championship.
©2003 irishcar.com