West Cork Rally organisers announce expansion of event for 2024

The annual West Cork Rally, which receives the largest number of overseas entries of any rally in the country, is to expand in 2024.

The rally takes place on St Patrick’s weekend in Clonakilty, where it has been based since the first event in 1977.

Traditionally a two-day event run over 14 stages on the Wild Atlantic Way, the organisers at Cork Motor Club have announced that The West Cork Rally will now run for three days, from March 15-17 2024, Friday to Sunday, while previous years’ rallies have been held on the Saturday and Sunday only.

Cian Donnellan from Cork Motor Club told The Echo that initially “the idea came from a financial standpoint" saying that a three-day rally is more cost-effective to run. 

"Then it boiled down to seeing if there was support from the various stakeholders and members," he added. 

“Everybody that we went to was supportive,” he said, explaining that they surveyed over 300 competitors in the rally and the idea of a three-day event was well received.

Discussing how the extra day will affect the layout of the event, he explained that it will still run in West Cork as it has done since 1977 and that it will have the same format and same start times for the sessions.

Friday afternoon and night stages will be added. 

They have yet to decide if the three-day event will continue in future years, with Donnellan explaining, “It’s always been a thing in the club that we’ll try something new, after every West Cork Rally we have a debrief where we sit with the stakeholders and see if there were any learnings – the aim is that it will become a future runner but we’ll have to see how the first year goes first.” 

There has previously only been one three-day rally in Ireland, in Donegal, so the Cork Motor Club is excited to “join that rank”, saying “it’s always been an exclusive thing, the three-day event.” 

Motorsport Ireland is aiming to bring the World Championship to Ireland next year, so the Cork club has reached out to international teams inviting them to participate in 2024’s West Cork Rally to get acquainted with Irish tarmac, and the representative confirmed “there’s interest from the continent.”