BY BRIAN McDAID
WHEN Hubert Valkenborghs got two of the latest safety rally seats for his last birthday from his son, David, he knew his son who is working on the other side of the world was homesick.
A different type of homesick! A Donegal rally in June homesick!
The father and son team have one complete Donegal under their belts back in 2009.
David also had the privilege of navigating of the late PJ Wilhare when he made a return to rallying back in 2013 in a beautiful Mk 1 escort.
Talking to the Donegal News on Tuesday evening in the workshop of Barry Mc Laughlin (McL Motorsport) near Glen village where the car is being prepared, Hubert said: “I always wanted to do the Donegal one more time but it was my son David who had the push on. I have the Sunbeam rally car a long time. I bought it from the late Jim Croizer over twenty years ago. One of the big issues was the updates in safety with the spec on seats etc so when two new seats arrived on my birthday from my son David, I knew the push was on him to get us ready for the Donegal one more time.”
It’s 10,294 miles from Brisbane in Australia to Cresslough and it took David two long-haul flights, a full day and seven more hours to make the journey.
David smiles and feels it was all worth it.
“I go to watch the odd rally in Australia but it’s not the same. Donegal is Donegal.”
If you’re into rallying you know there is nowhere better to be than in Donegal in June. The buzz is magic.
Don’t be fooled by David’s foreign sounding surname. His grandfather came to Donegal from Belgium in the 1950s to set up a veneer factory beside Ards Forest Park in Cresslough.
His father Hubert was born in Letterkenny in the Old District Hospital on the High Road before the new General Hospital was built.
This weekend Hubert will be swapping the steering wheel of Boyce’s mini-bus which he drives part-time for the wheel of his old Sunbeam.
His son David who works in the construction business in Brisbane will be calling the notes, and they are hopeful their 1600 Sunbeam will make it through scrutiny on Thursday and fit to start their rally on Saturday morning on the first run through Glen.
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