In 1991, Letterkenny man James Cullen achieved a childhood dream and won the Donegal International Rally.
Cullen and his co-driver, the late Ellen Morgan, won in the legendary Ford Sierra RS Cosworth – ‘The Pink Panther’
Now ten years after his last competitive rally, Cullen will compete once again this weekend in ‘The Pink Panther’ in the Historic section of the Donegal Rally alongside Sinead Canny.
Thirty-five years have passed since that famous success in 1991, so Aidan Caddye decided to catch up with James and relive the memories.
Aidan Caddye: What’s your initial memories of it?
James Cullen: Well firstly 35 years? Where did the time go? It’s great because I would say you remember the good times better, so I remember a good bit of it. So at the time it was great. Donegal Rally, Donegal born and lived here, ran the Rally and everything. (The) Donegal rally was a huge influence on your life. And to have actually won it against the people that we won it against was very special
AC: And is it something you thought was achievable growing up or is it something you focused on? Did you think as an ordinary guy from Letterkenny, I could maybe do this?
JC: I think when you were an ordinary guy from Letterkenny growing up you’d think about different things. But you never really believed you could do it. You know, to get gathered up to go rallying was always a struggle. This was a very expensive sport, still is. But I think, it was the closeness of the rally to here and the influence the rally had in the town. And that just, I suppose, awakened something to me. And, you know, everyone would go to Trentagh to watch the rally in the Seventies. And I remember going on a bicycle to watch before I had access a car. And going down to McMahon’s garage to scrutiny and seeing all these really class cars coming to race.
AC: And when Vincent Bonner won in ‘83, that really was huge for the county. A special win. But, I suppose Letterkenny had become kind of the home of the rally. So, it was special, too, for a Letterkenny driver to win it as well.
JC: For Vincent and Seamus, when they won, that was huge. Then you start to think, this could be possible. And I was a big fan of Curley’s as well, like, and he won the rally, and he’s a Derryman, but there’s that proximity that people, like, from here can win. It’s not all about Ari Vatanen and Achim Wormbold and Coleman and all those people. Vincent really opened the door, I think, to say, this can be done. I was a COC that year and you were close to the rally. And I thought, okay, this is the way to go. So, we were fortunate enough to actually end up buying that car off Vincent.
AC: That’s right, you had that Escort in 1984.
JC: Aye, that started the ball rolling, like. No, I think from then on, you thought, this could work. Once we got out and once we got driving we thought, okay, like, we can go maybe as hard as anybody, so why could we not win it if we can get everything to come together?
AC: And, after Vincent won it, that was in 83, it didn’t take long for you to start to shine. You were already second by 1986 in the Nissan. You were knocking on the door since then.
JC: We didn’t let ourselves feel we could win it then because, well, you weren’t going to beat a Metro anyway, especially with Billy Coleman driving. But second was a big result at the time and okay, you started to think why can’t we win it, sort of thing.
AC: Second again in ‘88 in the Ascona against Ford works driver Mark Lovell. I really felt it was coming at some stage. I know at the time, you felt that’s the one you should have won.
JC: When you get that stage, you think, are you not going to win this? Could have, should have won it in ‘88.
AC: You were on the podium again in ‘89, I think?
JC: Yeah, aye. And then, 1990 was the big one. I started that rally really thinking I could win it.
AC: Ah, you’d bother early on with turbo issues. That was a big race between Bertie, Austin and Vincent.
JC: Saturday lunchtime there were six seconds between the top three.
AC: You’d lost that much time on Friday, but you were still setting fastest stage times.
JC: We were, we were. But we weren’t part of it. Like, you’re there, you’re doing the rally, but you know, you’re not at the top. I think we lost two minutes, 40 seconds in the first two stages or more.
AC: And Ellen Morgan, she sat in with you from, what, ‘86?
JC: Yes, That was a big transfer. That was a big help too.
AC: And Ellen essentially was a professional navigator too.
JC: Aye, she was professional in everything but being paid, you know. But excellent in the car and a massive help to me. And, she came through that thing with Louise Aiken-Walker and all that with Peugeot and Vauxhall. And it was through Nissan actually, that she was put in beside me to do the UK national championship. Roy Kernaghan started the year with me. He did Donegal with me in ’86 and one of the rallies clashed with him. That’s what happened and how Ellen came in.
AC: You did build a good wee team around you. You had Ellen sitting beside you. You had good backing from Tony Kelly and Frank Grimes from the Four Lanterns.
JC: And they went to all the rallies and they enjoyed it. There was a great camaraderie, a great team thing. It was nearly all Letterkenny people.
AC: And even the guys working at the car were all your friends.
JC: It was important, actually. It was my brothers George and Joe and all that sort. It was like a community. Like a Donegal thing. Great team spirit. You really felt everyone was there for you.
AC: It was kind of a David versus Goliath operation?
JC: It was kind of always a David and Goliath type of thing, you know. And then Ellen helped a lot with credibility. She was very well respected over there in the UK. So when she sat with this guy, that raised your credibility over there for lots of things. And that helped a lot with David Thomas and Shell. And then he actually came to Donegal. Shell UK, they put a lot of money into Donegal at the time.
AC: Moving specifically to the 1991 rally, it seemed everything was in place to launch a serious bid that year?
JC: Yeah, we started to think if not now, when? And thankfully the guy from here won it.
AC: It was so big. And the car, of course, that was so iconic. The pink Sierra. It was unique to say the least.
JC: Well, nobody would have taken a pink Sierra then.
AC: No?
JC: To be quite honest with you. It’s just the way it came about. It was Brooklyn Motorsport. Mike Hall was the guy. They were RS dealers and big, big rally people. And they ran Phil Collins.
They had a couple of works cars and stuff. I think they found Mr Tompkinson Carpets as a sponsor for the RAC or something that year. And Mike and people thought it would be great. We did make a big impact here. We had a pink car. We couldn’t afford to buy a car. There were very, very few cars for hire. Brooklyn had bought new cars. So this car became available for hire. And we did a deal with them for the pink car.
AC: Although you hired the car, you still had your own guys working on it, did you?
JC: Oh, yeah. We did nearly everything ourselves. Well, Brooklyn had two or three guys that came with it. But the rest of the team then was…your own guys. Our normal boys. It was Paul Shields and Joe and Noel Orr and all the boys. The normal crew.
AC: And then ‘91, after all the years of struggling and your second places and the hardship. Did you feel when you finally won it, that everything just fell into place?
JC: Because all the things that went wrong, yeah, particularly in 1988 when we really thought we deserved to win it.
AC: I was looking at the times. The first stage, you were fastest by 18 seconds. You basically did a Fisher to Fisher. You definitely laid down a marker. It was a real statement of intent.
JC: It was kind of the game plan. Maximum attack on the first one. And if you were away, then you defended it. But you knew where you were at the end of the first stage. Aye, it was a good bit on the first stage but then we then threw it away and spun on the Pluck stage.
AC:I remember the video of the car with the tape flying off it. There was also boost problems coming and going in the car. So on the Friday night, you were I think, eight seconds behind Bertie.
JC: We were only eight down then on Friday night. And then Ardrummond was the first one. We got four on him which only left us four off the lead. The race was on. There was going to be some battle.
AC: And then Bertie went off on Kindrum?
JC: Aye, he went off on Kindrum And that was kind of it.
AC: I think you were pretty much fastest all day Saturday. So, obviously no let up?
JC: No, no let up. But you knew the buffer was there. Frank Meagher was there that year too. And Jimmy McRae, Vincent and the boys.
All you could do was lose the rally. So we just had to play the game then for two days, for a day and-a-half, for whatever it was.
AC: And then the last stage on the Saturday was the iconic Ramelton. I think it’s the last time it was ran as a proper stage?
JC: That was special then. That is so special. Like, the amount of people that actually got to drive a town stage. There are not that many. And to do it leading the rally on a Saturday night.
AC: I mean you weren’t the fastest but that was neither here nor there.
JC: I was there to put on a show like you know.
AC: And the footage of the pink Sierra going up through the streets.. Sideways and leaving black marks.
JC: It was a massive crowd. Thousands of people. One of the better memories by far. I remember doing the stage before Ramelton and it was remarkable how few spectators there were.
There was nobody there watching. Because everybody was in Ramelton. It’s great memories now. The crowds.
AC: And the Sunday then. I’m not even sure you had the fastest time on Sunday. I think you must have just cruised. You won the rally by three minutes twenty seconds.
JC: We really needed to bring it home. And the big battle was on with Jimmy and Vincent wasn’t it then? Keep your nose clean. Thinking of all the rallies before that where we could have won but something always happened.
AC: Just get her home?
JC: The last stage was Glen. Like a big cracker of a stage. Just to get to the end of that.
AC: It must have been very emotional to get over the line?
JC: It was. Because everything… Just the relief. And then that broke the bogey of saying like… You can’t win rallies. Something always happens.
You’re not able to cover all the things and then the car let you down. Or you’re on the wrong tyres at the wrong time or whatever. So that was great. And back at the Mount Errigal and in your hometown. Having been there for so many years.
AC: Going over the ramp second and third. Going to watch the rally.
JC: I always remember Ellen saying we should have, could have. But eventually we actually won it. And once you won it they can’t take it off you.
AC. No. She’s there forever. It was an amazing achievement then and still is.
JC: It hasn’t been done that often since. Declan (Boyle) and Manus (Kelly), God rest him. In fifty something years or whatever it is.
JC: So the question is who will be the next one?
AC: When you won the rally James, was the feeling as good as you thought it would be? Did you get a real sense that you achieved your goal? Or did you think… It’s a stepping stone to the next level?
JC: I think it was mostly a huge relief. And as you mentioned earlier. But for all the people involved in this on this journey. Most of them are locals. And they’re all rally fans. They all sponsored people on the rally.
They’re genuine rally people. And to get that opportunity to get the trophy. That’s special for all the people who made it happen.
AC: It wasn’t just you that won the rally. Everybody involved won the rally as well.
JC. That’s exactly it. It was great. It was a real electric effort. The weeks after. Like people were chatting about the rally. We were the top of the rally. We won… We actually won the rally.
AC: And the following year then, it just didn’t work. You hired a 4×4 car, was it?
JC: Fisher’s old car.
AC: Was that Fisher’s old car?
JC: Well… It was out of the R.E.D. I think it was Fisher’s old car. I had a right good test in it and it was some car compared to what we were used to. But the engine gave up early on Friday and that was that.
AC: The pink car, D540 UVW, you won in wasn’t used after that victory in ‘91 but by good fortune, it has re-emerged and is back in Donegal. I suppose we could call it the rebirth.
JC: The rebirth. The man from Frosses (Donagh Kelly) who makes dreams come true..
AC: You never would have thought in your wildest dreams you would have met that car again, like.
JC: Never… It’s been rebuilt. It never looked as good as that. We never had it that pristine.
AC: From what I hear, he’s doing a kind of a light touch restoration. They’re still leaving a few bumps and blemishes that are in the car.
JC: It’s very special to have it back here, you know. I think it’s very special. There’s some history of that car. Like Phil Collins and Gwyndaf and me.
AC: Oh, it’s very special.
JC: Really looking forward to seeing it in the flesh. She was a faithful servant. Think we finished almost every rally in it.
AC: Just to wrap up now James, can I ask you if you’ve any regrets in your career or anything you’d like to have done differently?
JC: Obviously, I’d have liked more than two Donegal wins but seriously how can you have any regrets? I’ve been very fortunate and so far one of only four Donegal rally drivers to have won our home rally and that can never be taken away. Question is, who’s next?