Fifty years after winning the British Rally Championship in 1974, the name Billy Coleman remains synonymous with motorsport and not just in Ireland.
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.
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.
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. They finished third behind the Porsche 911s of Curley and another Ulsterman Ronnie McCartney.
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.
Back onboard the Circuit of Ireland Escort, there’s only a vague memory of the Texaco Rally (Round 3) win with Peter Scott navigating.
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.
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.
Coleman did what was required and third place crowned him as the British Rally Champion. 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.”
