Killarney Racecourse, with its history and beauty, will hold that echo. And long after we leave, those who were present will ask each other: “Where were you when the R200 spat flames and the Quattros flew past?”
And otherwise honest enthusiasts will persuade themselves they were exactly where they needed to be.
An MG Metro 6r4 tore past, its V6 throat ripping through the morning air, Billy Coleman at the wheel.
Flames licked from Kalle Grundle’s Ford R200 as it shot past, followed by a procession of Audi Quattros, their all-wheel-drive fury bouncing off barriers and into the hearts of the crowd.
Yet even in this modern era, my mind drifts, as it always does, to the ghosts of other rallies: the 1986 Circuit of Ireland, the 1988 Manx, the 1987 Rally of the Lakes.
These childhood memories cling to the present like tyre marks on tarmac, impossible to separate from what is happening now.
Then, the BMWs arrive, and everything slows in reverence.
Legendary E30 M3s, the shape and soul of Irish rallying’s golden era, take their place like monarchs among the lesser machines.
GXI 9427, the most famous M3 in our history, shines under the sun; Denis Cronin now owns it, yet it carries the spirit of every stage it has conquered ad every drive that steered it.
Beside it, a double-sided Tuff Mac/Xtravision design honours Bertie Fisher’s 1990 Rally of the Lakes win and Austin MacHale’s Galway International triumph, while a Rothmans-liveried M3 from Coleman’s era gleams, courtesy of Aidan Long of Eamon Long & Co.
These are not just cars, they are living memories, mobile museums, each panel and wheel a nod to motorsport legend.
Patrick Snijers and Austin MacHale move among the machines, old rivals, old friends, their presence a reminder that every car has a story, every driver a place in history.
I watch them, I smell the hot engines, the tyres, the petrol, and I know that what we witnessed here is more thana spectacle.
It is the sound of history made tangible in speed and motion.
And long after the engines quiet and the dust settles, we will remember.
We will remember the flame-spitting R200, the roaring Quattros, and the noble M3s lined up like kings in the sunlight.
We will remember how our hearts raced and our eyes widened and, for a few perfect moments, we were exactly where we needed to be.
Kerry Motorsport News 