Over 400 people attended a special event in Killarney Racecourse on Saturday evening to raise funds for the Jack and Jill Foundation.

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Champion Rally Driver Mickie Galvin member of Killarney District and Motor Club at the Prodrive celebration charity night at the Killarney Racecourse. . Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Local rally drivers and co-drivers Robert Duggan Martin O'Riordan Joe O'Leary Noel O'Sullivan abd Mikie Galvin at the Prodrive celebration charity night at Killarney Racecourse.Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Members of Killarney District and Motor Club at the Prodrive celebration charity night at the Killarney Racecourse. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Stalwarts Pat Healy left and Pat O'Sullivan members of Killarney District and Motor Club at the Prodrive celebration charity night at the Killarney Racecourse. All proceeds were donated to the Jack and Jill Foundation which provides support and special care to children across the country. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Organised by Killarney and District Motor Club’s new youth forum called KDMC2, the night celebrated Prodrive’s connection with the Rally of the Lakes.

A selection of the British firm's cars including several Rally of the Lakes event-winning Subarus and BMWs were on display outside Killarney Racecourse all day Saturday ahead of a question and answers session with star drivers on the main stage later that evening.

Stars included 2003 World Rally Championship-winning co-driver Phil Mills who spoke about his early career and his first visit to Killarney 40 years ago.

Under the watchful eye of MC Alan ‘Plum’ Tyndal, the voice of the famous RPM Motorsport television programmes, other drivers like Kenny McKinstry, Eugene Donnelly, Gary Jennings, Denis Cronin, and Alastair Fisher shared their stories of their times in Killarney.

Former WRC co-driver and local man Paul Nagle spoke about his early memories of Prodrive cars competing in Killarney and recalled how the late Bertie Fisher recorded the first sub-ten minute time on Moll’s Gap in a Prodrive-built Subaru in the mid-1990s.
Siobhan Reen, the local Jack and Jill Foundation nurse, spoke about the great work that organisation does too.

The night was not all about the past either, KDMC2 is all about fostering youth within the club and several newcomers gave an insight into the future of the sport.

They included club member Meabh Griffin, better known for her volunteer work within the club, who has recently taken up co-driving and Galway’s Aoife Raftery, who is a member of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy and the first Irish woman to commit to the FIA European Rally Championship since Rosemary Smith 50 years ago.

“What a fantastic night with a huge crowd turning up in the end to see some of the most valuable and spectacular Prodrive Subaru and BMW WRC and Group A rally cars in the world,” said Killarney and District Motor Club’s chairman Thomas Randles.

“We must congratulate our club vice chairman Mike O’Shea and all the KDMC members involved but especially Mike for the massive effort he put into getting all these drivers and cars down to Killarney this weekend. It was an extraordinary achievement and it will be hard to match but I know in KDMC it will happen again.The positive feedback is brilliant for our club.”