Heat is building under plans to bring a stage of the World Rally championship to Ireland, says Paddy Comyn
You could be forgiven for thinking that there is something a little eccentric about rally driving.
Crowds of wild-eyed spectators huddle together, their polyester jackets, bearing the logos of their favoured marques, struggling to keep out the biting wind.
Flasks of tea are passed between frozen fingers, before the frantic quest for a vantage point begins. Telephone poles, farm gates and - if you are lucky enough - your father's shoulders are used to good effect.
Then the chattering comes to an abrupt halt as the marshal's whistle slices through the air.
The headlamps can be seen in the distance, followed by a thunderous bark from an exhaust. There is a collective gasp as the car approaches and in a flash it's gone.
For decades rallying has been an integral part of the motorsport scene in Ireland. More than any other motorsport, rallying is the one discipline where spectators feel like they can relate to both the drivers and the cars.
Often the gladiators, strapped down to their snarling beasts, are regular guys albeit fortunate enough in many cases to enjoy a career successful enough to fund what is now, more than ever, an expensive pastime.
The sport has increasingly been perceived as a playground for the rich, and this is borne out by the work of motorsport photographer Roy Demspter: Ireland has more WRC prepared cars than any other country in Europe.
"There was always talk about Ireland having more WRC cars, but no proof. So I set about photographing them all and the number I came up with was 70, but that figure has dropped to 69 as of Monday," he said.
For those at the top level, the World Rally Championship beckons and this particular circus brings with it fame, fortune and to wherever it happens to land, considerable economic rewards.
Ireland is in the frame to win a round of the WRC, and the forthcoming Rally Ireland event next month will be Ireland's audition for a greater role on a much bigger stage.
We have a long tradition of coveting the sport in this country. Alan Tyndall, author of Mad for Road, a pictorial history of rallying in Ireland points out that Irish rallying can trace its routes back to 1903.
"That was when motorsport as a whole started in this country. In those days endurance was the main factor and the cars were owned by the very rich and the very few. The sport then split into racing and rallying as time went by."
Rallying continued to be more of a trials and endurance event before evolving in the late 1960s into the format we are familiar with now. Tyndall believes that we are currently enjoying our second "golden age" of rallying.
"We have undoubtedly the best championship in Europe at the moment with the Tarmac Championship and there are more World Rally Cars, which are the specially built, high-powered and very expensive cars taking part in this country than in any other country in Europe.
"There was another golden age in the mid-1980s when the Group B cars reigned supreme and there was the backing of cigarette manufacturer Rothmans who did a lot for the sport and helped to command huge television coverage."
There have been many names that stand out for special mention as heroes of the sport in this country. Paddy Hopkirk is one. Hopkirk made the initial mark for Irish drivers on an international stage by winning the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally in a Mini Cooper S.
Billy Coleman was another. Essentially an amateur, he was capable of outstanding results and then fall back into farming for a couple of years before returning to the top again.
More recently, names like the late Bertie Fisher, Austin MacHale, Andrew Nesbitt and Eugene Donnelly have dominated the domestic scene. Rosemary Smith also deserves special mention.
But there is a new generation emerging too. Drivers such as Gareth McHale, son of Austin and the winner of this year's Billy Coleman Award, who was an impressive 17th overall in his WRC debut in Monte Carlo.
Now is the time for this next generation to come to the fore.
Following a feasibility study and a successful pilot event last October held in Sligo, Leitrim and Fermanagh, the group leading the push for an Irish leg of the World Rally Championship is preparing for the 2006 Rally Ireland next month.
Rally Ireland, run by Seán O'Connor and Ronan Morgan, who have more than 35 years WRC experience between them, are leading this cross-border initiative.
In its WRC bid, Ireland is up against Jordan, Portugal, South Africa and New York but according to O'Connor, we have an advantage because of our technical competence and our safety record in prior events, and it is these qualities that the FIA nominated scrutineer Charles Reynolds will be scoring at the March event.
The Government has backed the Rally Ireland initiative through a grant from the International Sports Tourism Initiative and Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue is confident that our bid will be successful.
"Rally Ireland believes that Ireland would be the ideal location for the WRC - with a professional event team, a low-cost and accessible location, visually attractive countryside and the historical and current popularity of the sport in Ireland," he said in a speech launching Ireland's bid last year.
But support is coming from other quarters too, with WRC driver Marcus Gronholm backing Ireland's bid, stating that we should replace Rally Cyprus in the 2007 calendar. David Richards, the chairman of ISC (commercial rights-holders of the WRC), is also in favour of Ireland joining the WRC.
For now the organisers must wait and see, hoping that events like Rally Ireland will demonstrate to the decision makers the passion of Irish spectators who happily stand on wet ditches around the country for the sight, the sound and the fury of the sport.