The Sun Always Shines in Ireland ! (UPDATE II: More about the Targa Florio Fiat)

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The right crowd and no crowding was Brookland's motto, but could be quite easily applied to today's 6th Annual RIAC Pioneer Run, Irelands equivalent of the London to Brighton, but without the congestion. Local man Pat Keenan's highly original 1909 Alldays & Onions (click) was joined by Jean Pierre Grondel all the way from France with his 1901 Darracq. Highly original too was the 1909 Renault AX .... in the McCoole family for over 50 years. The many UK entrants included first timer, John Hough in his 1902 Curved Dash Oldmobile(click), closely followed by local Jim Boland's 1904 Mercedes. Bill Sykes returned once again in the 1906 Fiat 40HP Targa Florina and Motorcycles are more than welcome too, including Arthur Jolley's Douglas Flat Twin and not to forget Dennie Cronins 1904 Minervette restored over 21 years.
(photos & text Keith English)
(editor: the organisation has promised to provide pure, clean Irish rain again for the 2010 Edition)

Update II by David Cochrane who ads to the history of the so-called "Targa Florio" 40HP FIAT: "Chassis Number 2538 was manufactured in 1906 by F.I.A.T., factory records showing that the car was originally sent in rolling chassis form from Turin to London on 1st June of that year. Its history becomes unclear until August 1910 when records in Ireland show that the car was registered in County Tyrone as a 4-seater tourer carrying the registration JI 188. The car was then used in different forms until being scrapped in 1913 and gently abandoned in the proverbial Irish bog. It remained there until extracted in the 1980s, some seventy years later. Mr Armstrong only owned the car very briefly - he was just a dealer who bought it after it had been found in the bog and sold it via Exchange & Mart.
At that point Graham Rankin began a seven year restoration and the car was fired up for the first time again in 1993. He designed & built the current body as an improvement based on FIAT's 1907 Targa Florio body. The car was used for historic rallies throughout Europe and competed in VSCC races and hill-climbs.
Although this car never competed in the Targa Florio, its specification is as per the race cars in 1907: 7.36 litres with T-head, bore and stroke of 125mm x 150mm, combined with low tension ignition, double chain drive on beaded-edge tyres and wooden wheels. The restoration was completely authentic and factory drawings were obtained from the records held in Fiat's vaults in Turin. It is worth pointing out that none of the original FIAT cars that ran in the 1907 Targa Florio is known to survive."
Update I: On our request Keith added about the Fiat, citing from the RIAC programme:" 1906 Fiat Targa Florio 40hp-Bill Sykes-Cambridgeshire " This massive 8-Litre Fiat was one of a batch of only ten cars built to qualify for the 1907 Targa Florio race in Sicily. Fiat records show the car was subsquently exported to London. Interestingly, the Fiat was reqistered in County Tyronne where it remained until the 1970's in the ownership of the Armstrong family who purchased it in 1918. This is the second visit of this exciting racer to the RIAC Pioneer Run"

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