When the term Frank Kelly is named, many people would think of the actor who played Father Jack in the Father Ted series. However, throughout the last 5 – 6 years that named has been making all the headlines in the rallying genre.
The term ‘win it or bin it’ could have been coined with Irish rally star Frank Kelly in mind. Well known to rally fans around the world thanks to YouTube videos of his impressive performances in a Ford Escort Mk2. Frank brought his iconic “Baby Blue” to Irish tarmac rally and from that moment on it revitalised classic rallying back on the map.
“Some people say flamboyant. Most of the time I think I’m slightly out of control. It’s when I’m completely out of control that things go bad,”
Frank Kelly
Baby Blue
Baby Blue is packed with a 2.5ltr Series Millington engine, Samsonas 6 speed sequential gearbox powering over 300+ BHP and when that is being transferred to the rear end of a MK2 escort it normally results in a lot of sideways actions!
A Family Affair
Kelly’s family are heavily involved in his rallying with wife Rosemarie, daughter Lauren, who is currently Franks Co-Driver and son Jack. Kelly was the subject of a project Lauren was doing for her media studies course and she is responsible for his subsequent internet fame, which has seen him amass millions of views online and nearly 30,000 Facebook followers alone.
Nowadays the Kelly team are participating across the world. From New Zealand to San Marino the Kelly Family and thanks to team they have revitalised classic rallying in a big way!
Thank You Frank
Personally, from The Motorsport Hub I personally want to thank Frank Kelly for making the content on his YouTube account. It was thanks to him that helped raised our social media accounts especially on Facebook. Back in 2019 we created the first maverick video which was a short homage of some of the best rally moments from Frank throughout his rallying career.
3 years later and 5 more videos later they have generated hundreds and thousands of views on Facebook and gradually increased our social media presence online. If anyone wants to see all of his content then I would strongly recommend viewing it all on his YouTube account.
