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PJ O’Dowd and Ray Stack in San Marino with the Suburu they drove from Ballyheigue.
TWO rally-mad men drove a car 2600k from Ballyheigue to San Marino and back so that a friend could drive it in an event.
Ray Stack from Ballyheigue and PJ O’Dowd from Tralee drove a friend’s Subaru S12C across Europe so he could race in a Rally Legends event in the Northern Italy principality of San Marino.
“I was approached by Thomas Fitzmaurice from Tralee,” explained well-known DJ and events manager, Ray Stack.
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“Thomas Fitz said I have a mission for you. He wanted me to take his rally car to San Marino so he could take part in the Rally legends event. I needed a co-driver for the trip so I got on to PJ O’Dowd from Tralee and asked if he would be on for it? PJ didn’t even have to think and said yes,” said Ray.
PJ and Ray were a two-man service team for driver Fitzmaurice and co-driver Fionn Foley. They were cheered on by around 35 supporters who travelled from the Tralee area, as well as many from around the rest of the county.
On Sunday, October 2, the pair set off from Ballyheigue for Rosslare port, they began to document their adventure on Snapchat and within a few hours they had gained a bit of a following.
“We had an overnight on the ferry and the craic was good with more snaps being posted. In the morning we both had more friends added. We began to drive on for Paris and on to the Alps where we would go into the Mont Blanc tunnel.”
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“From there we went to Milan and on to Modena, finally reaching San Marino. The rest of the rally team joined us later that night. We covered around 2600kms and brought half of north Kerry and many others with us thanks to Snapchat,” said Ray.
The rally went better than the lads could expect, Thomas Fitzmaurice and Fionn Foley commanded their Subaru on the stages in a very entertaining fashion.
On Tuesday morning Ray and PJ took off from San Marino to make the two-day journey home across Italian and French motorways. They finally returned back on home soil on Thursday night
“I would go again in the morning if I could,” said Ray. Now that’s dedication to the sport.
I’ll have to get ye a medal !!!