Benson & Hedges Circuit of Ireland Rally 1980: Ari Vatanen vs Jimmy McRae, the event’s greatest ever epic duel

The battle between Jimmy McRae and Ari Vatanen on the Benson & Hedges Circuit of Ireland Rally 1980  must go down as the greatest duel in the rally's illustrious history. 

Vatanen was in the Rothmans Escort Mk2 which had caused controversy even before the start of the rally as Benson and Hedges (event sponsor) weren't to keen to have a rival tabacco company competing. Also, the car couldn't carry Rothmans logos in the south due to the Republic of Ireland's strict tabacco advertising laws. So the car could only be seen with Rothmans decals in the north and then have them removed for the southern stages. Luckily, the car ran on the event and became part of the epic duel with the Vauxhall Chevette of Jimmy McRae.

Jimmy McRae had the latest DTV Chevette HSR at his disposal and the car looked very purposeful at the start of the event. The rally began in  Belfast that year and contained it's usual high quality line-up, with being in the British Open Rally Championship. However, there were to be some high profile casualties on day one which included the 1977 and '78 winner Russell Brookes in his Andrews Sunbeam, Toivonen (Talbot Sunbeam), Stig Blomqvist (Saab Turbo) and Alan Carter (Toyota GB Celica).

Highlights of the McRae/Vatanen duel on the 1980 Circuit of Ireland: 

Billy Coleman led the rally after day one in an Eaton Yale Escort (GVX 489T), as he was drafted in to deputise for Hannu Mikkola who was on Safari duty. McRae was second, Vatanen third, despite an off early on at the Knockagh hairpins and the big surprise of the day was John Lyons who was fourth in a relatively underpowered Downtown Radio sponsored Opel Kadett. Lyons also claimed fastest time on the Knockagh stage!

Ari's Rothmans Escort took a battering on the 1980 event:

Copyright John MacDonald

Coleman continued to lead on the second day on the way to Killarney but McRae had already dropped time early in the day by bouncing the Chevette over a hedge and into a field, luckily he only suffered superficial damage. Timo Salonen, in the works Fiat 131 Abarth, retired after an accident shortly after the McRae incident. Coleman then went out of the lead with a blown engine on Aughavannagh to leave the way clear for the start of the McRae/Vatanen duel.

Vatanen and McRae began The Great Race, which would continue over the next couple of days, separated by only a handful of seconds. On Sunday the gap was 18s between Vatanen and McRae with the Rothmans Escort in the lead. Behind them there were more retirements with Lyons (who had been as high as 3rd overall) hitting a Kerry wall and Bertie Fisher going out with a blown head gasket in his Castrol Mk2 Escort while lying third.

Ger Buckley scored a fine 3rd overall:

Copyright John MacDonald

Roger Clark, on his last Circuit of Ireland appearance, retired his Sparkrite TR7 on Monday morning with engine problems. McRae, meanwhile, dropped 17s to Vatanen as he got caught in Vatanen's hanging dust on SS44, due to the dry conditions, and felt his chance of winning had gone. He then decided it was definitely over after SS47 as he had lost control of the Chevette on a series of bumps and was fortunate in that the car didn't go off the road. At this point he decided to end his push and settle for second.

McRae was unaware that Vatanen had been off on the same series of bumps but hadn't been so lucky. The car clipped a bank and rolled over with Ari losing well over a minute. McRae didn't know they had know taken the lead until his co-driver Mike Nicholson checked the times and realised they had started the stage two minutes behind Ari. McRae and Nicholson had initially thought that Vatanen was 20s quicker than them on the stage but in fact they were 1m 20s quicker.

That was the defining moment as Vatanen gave up hope of catching McRae and McRae could cruise to the finish to win a rally which, in his words, was his greatest ever rallying achievement.

Jimmy McRae commented about his 1980 Circuit success:

This was the rally I always wanted to win and always felt I could win. I felt sorry for Ari but that's the way this sport is."

Wilson took fourth after a fraught rally:

Copyright John MacDonald

Billy Coleman's cousin Ger Buckley took third in a Ford Escort RS while Malcolm Wilson was fourth, in his Total backed Escort, after enduring a fraught rally which saw him tip the car on it's side on the Carragh Lake stage. James Logan won Group 1 in an Escort RS2000 and finished the five day marathon in 7th place overall.

A young Henri Toivonen had a nightmare rally suffering two accidents, and eventual retirement, on the first day:

Benson and Hedges Circuit of Ireland 1980 Top Ten Results:

Source: The Circuit of Ireland Rally Fifty Years On by Sammy Hamill

 

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

• Jimmy McRae driving the Lough Gill stage and Ari Vatanen on the Col de Turini in Colin McRae Vision charity drive video
• Benson and Hedges Circuit of Ireland Rally 1978: Russell Brookes wins after amazing comeback in the Andrews Heat for Hire Escort
• AA Circuit of Ireland Rally 1999: Bertie Fisher vs Andrew Nesbitt in another one of the Circuit’s epic clashes