What's the news?
Rallycross is blasting back to Mondello Park this weekend (July 22nd/23rd), and there's an extra spicy Ireland versus the UK edge to proceedings.
The Toyo Tyres British Rallycross Championship (BRC) is back after a year's absence but Mondello will also host the Parts For Cars Irish Championship at the same time, creating a 'festival of rallycross' in a unique double-header that will see competitors from the two series racing side-by-side.
On day one, the 17 four-wheel drive rallycross machines will take on an anti-clockwise track layout that has a start line under the main straight grandstand, while a Joker Lap will run from the exit of Southside to Irish Ferries on the tarmac circuit.
Day two will revert to the more familiar clockwise rallycross track, with spectators in the grandstand getting a great view of Turn 1 and the run up to the 'Hole in the Hedge'.
Irish European Rallycross Championship front-runners Ollie O'Donovan and Derek Tohill will head the 'Supercar' entry list in a pair of Ford Fiestas, while a strong line-up of BRC drives will include an old Irish favourite, Tony Bardy, who will race at Mondello Park for the first time since 2005.
The two-wheel drive Modified Division should provide lots of thrills and spills too, however, and BRC's Paige Bellerby will be competing. She's won all three races in the BRC so far in her Lotus Exige and will come to Kildare looking to continue that run, although leading Irish trio Willie Coyne, Padraig Leeson (both driving Opel Corsas) and Lloyd Spendlove (also in a Lotus) might have something to say about her winning at Mondello.
Anything else?
Tickets for the two-day festival of rallycross can be purchased from the Mondello Park website and are available at reduced online prices. Camping packages are also available and details of these can be found on the event page on the website, along with information on all of the weekend's entertainment.