Save The Speedway

This has been my livelihood for the past fifteen years,” Mike Barry says. “It’s putting my kids through school and college.”

It’s Sunday afternoon and the sun is shining, but Barry, the owner and promoter of Tipperary Motor Speedway, is in contemplative mood as he looks out over his racetrack. Located a few miles outside Cashel, the Speedway is one of only a handful of purpose-built motor racing venues in the country. As such, it is an important recreational and social outlet for the hundreds of competitors – and the thousands of spectators – who have been coming here for Irish and international stock car racing events since the track opened in the early 1980s.
In recent years, the Speedway has also become the venue for rounds of the Irish ‘drifting’ championship. A specialised form of motorsport that originated in Japan, drifting involves sliding cars sideways around corners at high speed. It has become extremely popular in Ireland in the past few years, particularly among young drivers, with almost 200 entrants taking part in each event this year.

Both stock car racing and drifting are considered ‘entry-level’ motorsports – although not ‘cheap’ in the conventional sense of the word, they nonetheless offer the best opportunity for those on an average wage to go motor racing. “This is the ordinary guy’s motorsport,” says Barry. “They don’t play soccer or Gaelic or rugby – this is their sport and their outlet. It’s what they do at the weekends and what they spend their money on.”
But the track where they race is now facing a High Court battle to stay open. Bob Lanigan, proprietor of the neighbouring Tullemaine stud farm, is seeking an injunction to stop car racing there. Lanigan is objecting to the level of noise – clearly an occupational hazard where any motor racing activity is concerned.
He began taking cases against the track to the Circuit Court in 2000, although he is believed to have been resident in the area since at least 1982. Sources say he was unhappy with the handling by the Circuit Court of an injunction to close the venue last winter. When contacted by hotpress, Mr. Lanigan would not comment except to say that he is taking a case against the Speedway ‘not necessarily to close it down but to find a solution to the noise emanating from it’. He would not elaborate on exactly what sort of solution he was seeking and refused to comment further ahead of the case.

The Speedway first opened in July of 1981 and proved an extremely popular draw, in the days before the internet and Sky Sports came to Ireland. Mike Barry has been involved with the track since 1991. “The racing had died down a bit in the late 80s, but we revived it during the 90s,” he says. A public go-karting track was added in 1996 and the advent of drifting in the early years of this decade brought a further lease of life to the venue. Barry purchased adjoining land with the intention of expanding and improving the track’s facilities: “We were going to extend the circuit and cater for other types of motorsport and do a lot of corporate stuff, he says. “But obviously those plans are on hold: there’s no point in spending money while this is hanging over us.” .
If the court does close the Speedway, the implications will be felt way beyond its gates. “There’s a whole industry built up around the racing that goes on here, from engine builders to metal fabricators to parts suppliers,” says Barry. “It has a knock-on effect in the local towns too, where it brings in a lot of business for B&Bs, restaurants and pubs.” In a time of heightened concern over road safety, the track is also one of the few places in the country where young drivers can come to enjoy the thrill of fast driving in a safe and controlled environment.
Barry says he is ‘not in the business of annoying his neighbours’. He would be willing to consider physical noise abatement measures if it would keep the track open. “I want it resolved one way or the other, open or closed,” he says. “If they curtail us too much it won’t be viable as a business and will have to close anyway.”

At the time of writing the case against Tipperary Speedway was scheduled to be heard in the High Court on October 17, 18 and 19. A round of the 2007 European Hot Rod Championship takes place at the track on Saturday and Sunday, October 13 and 14.