From the Australian Rally Championship last week to the Lone Star/Joe's Garage - Canterbury Rally, a round of the New Zealand Rally Championship this week. Back-to-back events on opposite sides of the Tasman.
Almost 20 years ago, I arrived in New Zealand with a backpack, chasing rally dreams. It was one of my first real rally adventures abroad. I was lucky enough to work with Rally Drive New Zealand in Hamilton and even got the chance to compete in a few North Island events including Rally NZ WRC.
Since then, Catherine Levis and I have rallied across the globe but it took a while to make it back to NZ. This was Catherine’s first time here. We almost made it for Otago in 2020, but Covid put a stop to that at the last minute.
New Zealand is absolutely stunning and the roads are even more spectacular. What better way to experience them than through the windscreen of a rally car?
Canterbury was a proper one-day rally: 9 stages, 140km of competitive mileage, no repeats stages, and service in different villages often roadside, just like the old-school Irish rallies. We were...
We made the trip down under to Western Australia for Round 2 of the ARC - Australian Rally Championship, taking on the legendary Forest Rally last weekend. We wanted to see what these iconic ball-bearing gravel roads from the old WRC days were really like — and they didn’t disappoint!
We were behind the wheel of a true Aussie rally icon, the Datsun 1600 (Dato). From the ceremonial start on the beachfront at Busselton Jetty to the twisty, technical, and slippery stages around the historic and charming town of Nannup, it was a top-class event from start to finish.
Despite a few technical gremlins, we made it through every stage and crossed the finish line with a smile on our faces. Fun fact: The Dato managed to complete the last three stages without any water pump — no mechanical or electric pump at all on the engine. 😮
I was expecting to see a handful of Irish ☘️ competitors, but it felt like every second car had at least one Irish accent onboard. Before the first stage control, a man from West Cork (Donagh O'Driscoll) climbed out of the co driver seat of the car in front, and a Cobh...
Patricia Denning and Catherine Shinnors will compete at the 2025 Rally Jameel; a 5-day navigation rally, which begins in Jordan on April 21st and concludes in Saudi Arabia, on April 26th. Rally Jameel is a demanding off-road endurance challenge that spans two countries and over 1,600 km of desert dunes, mountainous trails, and rocky terrain. The opening day’s challenge alone consists of a grueling 6 hour 40min stage in the day’s 300km of driving, starting in the historic city of Petra in Jordan. One of the most anticipated highlights of the route is the iconic Al-Ula Stage, a section used in the world-renowned Dakar Rally. This event will be a true test of endurance, off-road driving, and navigational skills, pushing both crew members to their limits in the intense heat and humidity.
Denning is one of Ireland’s top female rally drivers, with extensive experience across various surfaces. A two-time Ladies Forestry Rally Champion, her impressive track record includes multiple class championships in Rallycross, Autocross, Retrospective Rallies, and Endurance Trials. She holds the unique accolade of being the only female in Ireland to have won a Rallycross Super Final. Having successfully completed Rally Jameel last year with a second-place finish in...
AN incredible journey across five continents – and counting – for Bantry native Catherine Levis-Shinnors is woven by personal milestones, like engagement and marriage, into an international adventure of motorsport.
Not just from a sporting or tourism aspect, Catherine’s travels have immersed her and her husband Matt in the cultures and communities of each country they have visited.
Explaining the reason behind their various expeditions, Catherine laughed before joking, "It's probably madness between the two of us, I suppose! One of us is as bad as the other!"
Those personal milestones trip off her tongue with consummate ease. "The very first rally we did was Barbados in 2012, and we got engaged there," she said.
It also had a lucky omen. "I actually won €2,000 in the lotto and that covered the shipping of the car (a Ford Escort Mk. 2) on a banana boat!" Catherine said, and added, "Then, our second rally abroad was the Arctic Rally in Finland (2016) and we got married there just before the rally."
A sign on the rear of their BMW 325i E36M simply said "Just Married".
The obvious question of where they met and how it all began brought another rally event...
History maker Shinnors has now rallied on all six continents
Matt Shinnors, a member of the Cork Motor Club, has etched his name in Irish motorsport history by competing as a rally driver on all six continents—a feat that positions him as potentially the first Irishman to achieve this milestone.
His journey culminated recently at the Rally del Atlántico in Uruguay, the final round of the FIA South American Rally Championship.
Driving a Ford Fiesta with his wife Catherine as co-driver, Shinnors faced mechanical issues on the opening day.
However, the resilient duo rejoined the event under Super Rally rules and successfully finished the challenging rally. Shinnors was full of praise for the Uruguayan stages, describing them as “fast, smooth, and flowing gravel roads, some of the best in the world.”
A journey across continents
Over the years, Shinnors has competed in some of the world’s most iconic and even unheard-of events.
His career has spanned tarmac and gravel to snow and mud—and he has driven an array of vehicles, including front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, and four-wheel drive cars in both left-hand and right-hand drive cars.
At the Birr MC loose Autocross held in November 2019, the entry list included ten members of the Shinnors family from Bruff Co. Limerick.
Not an everyday occurrence in Irish Motorsport circles, we may need to scour the autocross archives to see if it is a record.
Left to Right: Austin Shinnors, Timo Shinnors, Catherine Shinnors, Alan Shinnors, Matt Shinnors, Greg Shinnors, Joe Snr Shinnors, Joe Jnr Shinnors, Elaine Shinnors and George Shinnors
Today, (December 4th) at the Champions of Irish Motorsport Awards in the Mansion House Dublin Matt recieved his award for the National Autocross championship.
On recce we came across a lot of different wild life on the stages, camels, zebra, monkeys, impala, Buffalo, jackal, cattle etc
We were told by the organizers not to stray too far from the car as there were Lions in the park also!
We did see lots of Zebra on the event and they are known cross the stage, I kept an eye on them as we passed them.
We had a challenging event, but I guess that part of the adventure, as they say if it easy everybody would be at it!
The weather was hot and 30 degC + and was challenging for us Irish in 3 layer suits!
There was some relief when the rain came it got cooler, but there were floods on the road knee high, a number of people were killed in the floods around Nairobi.
The rain had its own challenges with the mud pools, you need to trying and keep the car going and avoid breaking car parts due to water pressure, if you go to fast through the water/mud.
Catherine and myself competed at the Gorman Ridge Rally (20th of August) which was a round of the California Rally Championship. As the oldest consecutively running rally in California, the Gorman Ridge Rally is also the toughest rally in the United States. We drove a Toyota Corolla in the same team as former Irish Tarmac champion John Coyne.
The event took place in Hungry Valley State Park which was 65 miles north of Los Angeles. Hungry Valley was the location of the rally section of the X Games back in 2006 where Colin McRae famously rolled just before the finish line.
The rally consisted of 16 demanding stages run over the sandy and desert park with the last 5 stages at night. The stages had a mix of everything from narrow, twisty, to fast flowing to jumpy sections and some scary cliffs edges.
The outside temperature was over 35 deg C which made it hot inside the rallycars, the majority of local competitors had the T-Shirts which were cooled with ice water flowing through them.
There were some interesting vehicles competing the rally.
Ryan Millen was driving a Toyota backed RAV4. There was also a Yamaha 4x4 1000cc ATV and a...
Great days fun at the Kerry Rallysprint, after 4 runs of the Tar/Gravel track around the Tralee Race Course Catherine and myself ended up 2nd overall, behind former forestry champion Pat O' Connell in his Evo 9.
