Background to James Foley Rally Sport
James Foley
James Foley has built a strong reputation among the Irish rally fraternity. The County Meath man's rally preparation business has grown to such an extent that he can stand shoulder to shoulder with the country's leading prep men. Today, the success of his business allows him to enjoy boating and water skiing, with his wife Ann, and 3 year old twins Hannah and Kaelin, and six-month old Molly.
Getting The Rally Bug
But it all started more than 20 years ago from much humbler beginnings.
During the 80's, James opened a crash repair shop and he went on to develop an interest in rallying. A short time after spectating at the Killarney Rally in 1994, James jumped behind the wheel after a conversation with another rally enthusiast.
"I was spectating in Killarney and a guy standing beside me told me I could rally my Mini, which was a road car" Foley recalls. "It was roll caged and 10 days later we started our first event, the Carlow Rally! My wife Ann navigated for me and we did 13 rally's in the Mini."
Our First Customer
James and Ann continued rallying and eventually progressed from their reliable Mini to a Honda Civic. With the new mount, they won the 1988 South East Championship and finished in the top 10 in almost all national events during the '98 and '99 seasons. They put a lot of 4 wheel drive machinery to shame and from there, James gained his first customer.
"Denis Nixon asked me if I would sell the car" James said. "But I told him there was no point selling it on, it had covered a lot of miles and was finished. So I bought a car from Japan, and built him a new one. From then on, every time I built a car, I competed in a rally and when we reached the finish, the car was sold. That's where it all started"
Mitsubishi
From Honda Civic, James turned his attention to Mitsubishi for the first time in 2000. He built an Evo 6 for a customer while he took his own '6' to finish third in Group N at the Rally of the lakes.
"After that, a guy contacted me looking for a car. He had been around the country trying to find someone who could build one for him quickly - we built one for him in 3 weeks. Since then we've tried to keep the reputation of being able to do a build in a short time."
More orders quickly followed and one year later, the rally preparation aspect of the business had overtaken the crash repair side. Soon James was building Evo 7s, 8s, 9s, and currently the Evo 10.
Ian Barrett, Adrian Quinn, Kevin McCarthy and David Roe are just a few customers who have used our services during 2005 season.
Irish Distribution Agent
James forged a deal with Clive White and is now the Englishman's Irish Distribution agent for the Evo 9. In 2005 has bought six Evo 9 rally cars and debuted one for the first time on Irish soil in the Cork 20 rally.
"There was a faulty connection on a fuel fitting and unfortunately the fuel pipe came off during the rally" James said. "But the times were there so it showed how competitive the car is. There is a mountain section at the end of one stage. I heard after the rally that Tim McNulty was recorded at 41 mph - we were at 152 mph. That's where the Evo 9 really shines - it has fantastic power"
James was the first man to use the Evo 9 in competition and although he admits it's great to be 'in at the start', it also bring it's own problems.
"They brought out the 9 with a magnesium turbo - it's bigger than the Evo 8 turbo but the compressor wheel on it is made of magnesium" James said. "When we first put a restrictor on it and put the car on a rolling road, the magnesium used to smash up and eat the turbo"
"We were the first company to come across this problem - two turbo's failed on the rolling road, so we contacted Mitsubishi. They hadn't come across it as none of their Evo 9's hadn't been converted to rally cars, so they referred us to Japan. They came back and said the problem was in the manufacture of the wheel, so we got an aluminum wheel made by Turbo Dynamics."
In Cork the car had the Evo 8 turbo on it and it had fantastic power, so with the bigger turbo it's going to have more power again. It's great to have a direct line to the top in Mitsubishi, and get instant support".
The Leading Independent Mitsubishi Rally Preparation Specialist
With the ability to build an Evo 9 rally car in 3 weeks, or any specification of Evo, James Foley Rally Sport Ltd. is the leading independent Mitsubishi rally preparation specialist in the world. Under Dominic Markey's management, their knowledge and expertise is second to none and with a 30,000 sp ft premise planned, the business and expertise can only grow.
"We are competitively priced and give customers a back-up which is second to none." James enthused. "We have a great team of lads and our cars never fail to finish a rally due to reliability problems. No matter what a customer wants, when they want it, they'll get it."
Irish Tarmac Championship
For 2006, James Foley Rally Sport Ltd. ran a 2 car team in the Irish Tarmac Championship, providing an opportunity for 2 young drivers to show their talents behind the wheel.
Pioneers of the Mitsubishi Rally World
We also intend to build a Group A Lancer which could potentially challenge the WRC men out there, and will certainly be a cheaper alternative to the expense of running WRC machinery.
Once again James Foley Rally Sport Ltd. will be pioneers of the Mitsubishi Rally world.
