Jim Crozier RIP: The man behind the car that inspired the song
‘There is only one yellow Manta”
Sadness today to hear that Jim Crozier of Group Motors Rallying in Belfast left us after a battle with cancer.
Jim, a larger than life character, was a rally man to the core. Well-known all over Ireland and beyond.
He was known in Kerry too, he won the 2.0 litre class in National/Modified section of the Rally of the Lakes in either 1994 or 1995 in his famous Opel Manta 400.
The same Manta made its way to this part of the world shortly after.
In late 1996 John Danaher of Limerick acquired the car.
Co-driven by Sean Moriarty (owner of this website) the car remained in the Group Motors livery for the first few events in 1997.
For the 1999 season the car was painted yellow – the car the inspired the song “There is only one yellow Manta.”
Rally people of a certain vintage will recall singing this at several after-rally parties.
Those were the days , as they say, and Jim was very much part of those days when we did more partying than rallying and we did a lot of rallying!
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Kerry Motorsport News 