As much a part of Dublin as Bloomsday - and considerably older - the Phoenix Park motor races were held over the triangular "Oldtown" circuit last weekend. Despite atrocious weather on the Saturday, which gave the organisers many headaches, a large crowd turned out on Sunday when the weather was somewhat kinder.
A highlight for many were the demonstration laps of the circuit by the first - and so far only - 1,000bhp Bugatti Veyron to be registered in Ireland.
Despite its long history, stretching back over 100 years to 1903, recent times have been difficult for the event, and it is only by a prodigious self-help approach that last year's and this year's event took place at all. Run entirely as a voluntary effort for many years by the Irish Motor Racing Club, by 2000 the event was in serious trouble with the level of personal commitment required for it to run being simply unsustainable by a small but dedicated group.
Recognising the danger to the event's future, the governing body of the sport in Ireland, Motorsport Ireland, stepped in. Working with the Irish Motor Racing Club and the Leinster Motor Club, they attempted to move the event forward, while at the same time providing some much-needed financial stability.
That direct involvement by Motorsport Ireland continued for five years, before they too came up against the same basic problem which had afflicted their predecessors. Namely, too great a reliance on a small core of volunteers. To a large extent the event was a victim of Ireland's new-found affluence, in that people who perhaps a few years ago would have been content to participate in motorsport as organisers now had the wherewithal to compete. Recognising this, according to Alex Sinclair, chief executive of Motorsport Ireland, what was needed "was the support of a much broader base, that being the competitors who raced in the Park".
Deciding that Motorsport Ireland had done as much as they could, and having ploughed a considerable amount of money into the Park races, the event was offered to competitors to see if anyone would be willing to take it on in the changed circumstances that now prevailed.
Enter Richard White and John Heavey, who were both already involved in motor racing and who stepped forward to re-establish the event on the basis of broad financial support from all the competitors who wanted to race there.
The 2006 event had to overcome many difficulties and finances were very tight, but the new team got through it and regrouped to return with this year's event. Once again, Motorsport Ireland gave some support but the responsibility for finding the money to run each class of racing now falls on the competitors in that class.
A package of races and qualifying sessions is sold by the promoters to each class and they in turn can then sell that package on to sponsors to make up the cost required.
One of the old chestnuts dragged out each year concerning the Park races is the fact that it's a 'free show' with the organisers being unable to charge the public entry to the event. But, many point out, recent years have seen pop concert promoters close large sections of the Park and charge hefty admission fees to concert-goers, so why can't motor racing do the same?
The answer is simple and practical. The level of investment needed to seal off an area of the Park to allow admission charges to be made is simply too large to be recouped by any foreseeable attendance at a motorsport event there.
SO THE FUTURE OF THE PHOENIX Park event is still shrouded in difficulties and uncertainties. There is, however, one alternative scenario. As Alex Sinclair is quick to point out, the OPW have been very good friends to the event down the years, and are very mindful of motorsport's place as an integral part of the heritage of the Phoenix Park. Given their support and working with the appropriate Government agency, the potential exists to develop an event in the Park more devoted to historic motor racing.
Phoenix Park is unique in that it is possible to race over the same roads used there for motor racing as far back as the 1920s. There is huge interest world-wide in historic racing, particularly where the event can take place in authentic surroundings such as exist here. The most successful of such events, the three-day Goodwood Revival, attracts almost 500,000 people, yet Phoenix Park has arguably much more to offer as a venue.
The sport has already shown what it can do with the right Government support by winning an Irish round of the World Rally Championship which will be held in the northwest in November; with a similar level of support, the Phoenix Park could be host to an an equally significant event, bringing competitors to Ireland from all over the globe and turning the Phoenix Park motor races into an event with a world-wide significance in motorsport.