Billy Coleman: How a farmer from Millstreet became Ireland’s first British Rally champion

Billy's father Paddy was the main Ford dealer in Millstreet and at the age of five Billy sat on his father's knee and learned to steer. 

Competitively, Billy's career began when he met Ballyvourney's Dan O'Sullivan when they both attended University College Cork where Billy was studying commerce. One of Billy's first events and victory was a navigation rally in a Ford Anglia - the family car - with Dan reading the maps. 

A Ford Cortina was his first rally car but it was a Ford Escort (TIU 250) purchased by the Colemans on the way home from a Munster Final that changed the sporting landscape. Of course, motorsport was not the only sport in the Coleman household, Billy's brother John played football with Millstreet and Cork, winning Munster and All-Ireland medals in Minor, Under 21 and Senior. He also played rugby with Munster and Ireland B.

In the 1970s, the British Rally Championship was akin to the modern day World Rally Championship. Luminaries such as Ari Vatanen, Hannu Mikkola, Pentti Airikkala and Stig Blomqvist all won the BRC and had successful rally careers.

When Coleman reflects on becoming the first Irish driver to win the BRC, denying the great Roger Clark a three in a row, it is a tale intertwined with regrets due to his love of farming and the land. Modest and honest, he admits these regrets mean he hasn't any great interest in the sport these days.

Prior to winning the series in 1974, Coleman competed in events in the UK and a few snow rallies in Scandinavia. "Then, out of the blue, I think it was Dan (O'Sullivan) suggested that we should have a crack at the British Championship. Dan had a house in north London and together with Steve Mills and Evan Hughes, they put it all together. I thought it would be a waste of time but they had other ideas. Dan was an amazing man. With him, the sky was the limit."

Throughout that season Coleman had a number of navigators (the term co-driver didn't really exist at that time).  Fellow Corkonians Dan O'Sullivan and Leo Whyte, along with Belfast's Peter Scott, Scotland's John Eyres, and Surrey's Martin Holmes were onboard for various rounds of the nine event series.

It began with the Benson and Hedges Circuit of Ireland, then a marathon five-day rally with almost 50 stages. 

"As a farmer, I was fit anyway," Billy recalls. "Cathal Curley was a serious driver. We were lucky and unlucky in that one really. We were 56s behind Cathal going into Slea Head (SS25) I slid and hit the rear of the Escort that knocked off the battery switch that was in the boot, it took us a while to actually find out what was wrong and we had lost almost seven and a half minutes to Cathal (Curley)." 

They finished third behind the Porsche 911s of Curley and another Ulsterman Ronnie McCartney.

One of Coleman's great traits was that his gentleness with the cars he drove, "Yes, people said that alright, I suppose it comes from building your own car which I did with the help of my father and the lads. There was a great buzz in the garage in Millstreet at that time. Maybe because of that I was more sympathetic to the car."

The British series was a mix of tarmac and gravel rallies, mostly blind (without pacenotes) events. "I would say the car was easier to drive on gravel, to be honest. When tar roads get wet, especially in Ireland at that time, there was a limestone surface used particularly in Leinster and it was very tricky to assess the level of grip. There were some fantastic forest roads in Wales. I used to love driving there, the high speeds, very smooth - a real driver's event. I remember it (Welsh Rally) started on a Friday afternoon, driving all night."

For the Welsh Rally, Billy had a different car from the one he campaigned on the Circuit. It bore the registration MEV36J and is still in existence. "That turned out to be a great car that year, it never missed a beat. We were second to Markku Alen - one of the real Flying Finns of the era." 

Again, Coleman underscores his achievement with the comment, "We were best of the rest."

Back onboard the Circuit of Ireland Escort, there's only a vague memory of the Texaco Rally (Round 3) win with Peter Scott navigating. "Scott was another good man on the maps, but then, a map will only take you so far, you would be watching out for the telegraph wires and the change of direction."

Throughout the season and indeed his career, Billy had that special aura. Shy yes, but everyone gravitated towards him. "We got on great with all the English people, the Ford mechanics, there were guys there that would do anything for us and the same with John Horton in Dunlop, help we shouldn't have got really. I suppose they all joined in the cause."

On the Jim Clark Rally in Scotland, that was won by works driver Roger Clark, electronic issues resulted in a sixth place finish for Billy - with Clark very much back in the championship frame.

Another Scottish gravel round, the Burmah Rally, is one Billy remembers well. "That was a sore one, Dan had recommended that John Eyres would navigate for that rally. We were well ahead, I had begun to get the measure of it and Roger (Clark) was the man to beat of course. We were flying that night, the car was buzzing, night time always suited me, my night driving was and, thankfully, is still good. 

"Going into to the second half of the event the bonnet started to lift about a mile into the stage, we spent the next couple of miles debating whether to stop and close it. In the interests of safety we stopped because if it came off it could have come in through the windscreen. I don't know how many seconds were lost tying it down and putting our belts back on but it had to be around 20 seconds anyway. 

"That was savage anger and frustration to live with for a while and we were lucky to stay on (the forest track) for the rest of the stage. I think from being around 25s up we were about two seconds down on Roger going into the final stage. When we finished the stage Martin Holmes said to me, 'What happened you there, on the final corner?' 

"Scotland is famous for midges especially in summer time. That night, the place was alive with them and one of them went into my eye. It distracted me, I slid wide and definitely two or three seconds went there. It ended up (on stage times) that Clark won by a second."

However, that wasn't the end of the drama. As they headed to the finish ramp, the organisers penalised both Coleman and Clark for clocking in late at the start control of the last stage - that unlike the other stages, had a different criteria. Clark was relegated to 41st and Coleman to 51st - neither claiming any championship points.

With Clark now out of the championship equation, a fourth place on the Manx International and seventh in the Dukeries (Nottingham) Rally edged Billy closer to the title. A top three finish on the penultimate event, the Lindisfarne Rally, would be sufficient to seal the title.

"It's so easy to let it fall in a greasy forest in Lindisfarne in October, the roads are quite wet. In my career, the only way I could perform was when I was under pressure."

Coleman did what was required and third place crowned him as the British Rally Champion.

"I was delighted, especially for the lads, I just turned up and drove, they put a serious effort into it. One of my failings, apart from my career, was that I was trying to do two (farming and rallying) jobs. Especially in my later career, you had the Finns and they were pretty full time at it (rallying) while I was trying to farm as well. I would (usually) arrive late and then I was a bad starter for that reason. Quite often the event was half over before I would get on the pace. It wasn't a very professional way to do the job, but that's the way it was. It was mainly due to the boys that we won that championship."

Even back then, Coleman had misgivings. "I knew that one day I would regret not concentrating on rallying, but you can't turn the clock back. I made some great friends but one of my failings from a career point of view was that I was a disastrous communicator. I couldn't keep in touch with people and probably lost opportunities in the sport because of that. Farming was my main interest really."

Modesty prevails once more, "I suppose in hindsight, I got away with murder really as I got opportunities I probably shouldn't have and didn't make the best of them. I couldn't wait to get out of it and go farming. I drove until my 40s and then when I was out of it, I kind of missed it really. I'm delighted to see the Irish fellas doing well but I couldn't get involved at all. I take no interest in the sport nowadays, probably because of regret more than anything, it's a strange situation really."

He adds another reservation: "There is so much money involved, the figures are frightening and the sad part about it is the driver with the most ability may never be heard of."

Coleman admits that the Ford Escort was the car of that era but remains far too modest to accept he was the best. He really was the "Millstreet Maestro."