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Ireland, the Last Bastion of Road Racing · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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John Summers is the motoring historian.
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He was a company car thrashing, technology sales rep that turned into
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a fairly inept sports bike rider.
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Hailing from California, he collects cars and bikes built with plenty of
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cheap and fast, and not much reliable.
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On his show, he gets together with various co hosts to talk about new
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and old cars, driving, Motorbikes, motor racing and motoring travel.
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Good day.
0:39
Good morning.
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Good afternoon.
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And welcome to the motoring historian with John Summers.
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And today with John Garcia, who you might remember from the snake
0:49
shopping with a porn star episode from about, I think that was episode
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number three or something like that.
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This time I've set the microphone up.
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So you're actually going to be able to hear.
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John speak a bit more clearly than before.
1:01
We didn't do a very good job.
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I didn't do a good job with the, uh, with the mic before, but look, we're not about
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professional recording here, are we?
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Um, guys, if we hit in, listeners, if you hear heavy breathing
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in the background, it's dogs.
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We've got dogs.
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So this episode's on Irish road racing.
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And really it's because John had an experience recently, which
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made me want to do this episode.
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Well, it's good, good to be back here again, surrounded by all these guys.
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Good motoring history.
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Yeah.
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Legends.
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Yeah, well, Eric, Eric, the producer guy, apparently Patreons get the video version
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of some of the pods, whereas I only do an audio version, so I don't, I don't know.
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It's all right.
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Mr.
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John Garcia, let's, let's position you a little bit.
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First of all, um, we first met about 200 yards away from here, didn't we?
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Yeah.
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Um, The story of that first meeting is is worth sharing and we'll go into that in
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a moment But but look where we're where we're coming from with this particular
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episode of the pod is many people are familiar with the Isle of Man TT What
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we want to do with this pod is look a little bit deeper than just the Isle
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of Man TT and and look at the Irish road racing community which Supports
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the the Isle of Man TT guy So in other words, right the people who race at the
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Isle of Man TT tend to be drawn from Ireland, Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
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and Northern England less so Southern England, you know, it's not a coincidence
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that John McGinnis is from, you know, the Dunlop brothers were from Ireland.
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John McGinnis is from Morecambe in Lancashire in, in Northern England.
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Whereas Barry Sheen was from London, right?
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Sheeny naturally would do, because, because they didn't, because people
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in London didn't look at the Isle of Man TT in quite the same way.
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Certainly not by the, by the 1970s.
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The dog's rolling on his back in the most ridiculous way.
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Ridiculous way at the moment.
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I mean I'm gonna try and trim the sound but basically you can't
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do it You like you like the rug.
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Do you Remus you like the rug good good for you
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So my interest in what we're talking about at the moment is grassroots motorsport.
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You might want to think of this as the Irish version of The American
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dirt track on the edge of every town.
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And I guess the, the important thing and the reason why I wanted to do this episode
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is, is with that, um, sort of recognition that in the world of motorcycle road
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racing, there's the peak of the Isle of Man TT and events like Macau.
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And then there are races in countries like Estonia, but, but.
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primarily, um, traditionally in, in Southern Ireland.
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And I think it's worth talking about this because I do feel like it's, it's going
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away, um, because of insurance reasons and safety and all of this kind of business.
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So, um, yeah, this is the last bastion of, of real open road racing.
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And that's why I wanted to do this, this, this episode.
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Um, so let's begin, um, at the beginning, John, and, and with, with how we, how we
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met, um, I did an ethnographic interview with Olly, Olly had to do an interview
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with a, with an immigrant to America.
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And I'm the obvious person to choose.
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I emigrated to America in, in 2004, I knew one person, um, Mark Newton,
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he's the Mexican guy on the, uh, on a.
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Uh, like a episode.
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Um.
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I'll talk over myself and let you know what episode that is in a moment.
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Um, but Newton was the only person that I knew when I first moved to California.
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Um, I contacted him.
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I met him at the Italian Grand Prix.
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Um, at Monza the year before we got on really well, he'd lived in America.
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He came back here.
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He's from Santa Rosa, just north of San Francisco.
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And when I first met him, Move there.
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I called him and said to him, um, you know, I'm, I'm here and he went,
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do you want to ride motorcycles?
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I've got a spare one.
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And I went, all right then.
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So, so I did.
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I, and that first weekend that I was here, we went out on his two bikes.
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He had at the time a Honda super Hawk and a, the ex Berkeley police, 1969 Harley.
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Custom bike.
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Wow.
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Now that bike, at the time, at the moment it's in this army kind of colour.
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At the time it was in, it was in black, black and chrome, it had
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these big ape hanger fairings on it.
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It's a foot clutch and a hand shift.
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And it was a police bike in the bay area.
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So you think about that when you stop at some traffic lights, you have to, you've
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only got one foot to put down because you have to have the other one on the clutch.
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So you have to have really good balance to be able to ride it.
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And for that reason, Mark never let me ride it.
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The other thing about that bike was the speedo always over read.
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So Mark would think you were doing 65, but actually you'd be rolling at 85
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because the speedo I'm under read on that.
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Um, So that was that very first, uh, the very first weekend.
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And the only person that I, uh, that, that I knew it, well, Mark was
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like, do you have any transportation?
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And I was like, no.
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And he went, do you want this Yamaha XS 650?
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I've got, I went, yeah.
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All right.
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And typical Mark's style, it didn't run and it had been outside his shop because
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it had pissed him off because he'd put a battery on it, but it had still, it worked
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for a little bit, but it had not run.
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This is a recurring theme with said 78 Yamaha XS650.
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Yeah, I really wish I still had that bike, man.
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I've been looking forward to, I remember your face when I told you I
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sold it when I was moving to Hawaii.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, so we should, so we should join up the dots here.
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So one day, it's Fleet Week, and actually it's Fleet Week in
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San Francisco just this weekend.
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It was Fleet Week, and Newton and I rode from Santa Rosa.
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We came down 101, across, and across the Golden Gate Bridge, splitting lanes.
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When I came out of the gas Fucking thing died.
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Well, I just bump started it on the bridge, right?
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And we got off the bridge and into the Marina District.
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And at the big intersection at the Marina District, it had nothing more, right?
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It had no spark.
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And so there's me at the intersection.
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I, I, like, limped it into the middle of the intersection, but then it stalled.
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And, and I, uh, was kicking it, and I fell off, and it pinned me,
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there's this recurring theme with me with motorcycle stories of the bike
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pinning me and me being, so Mark, park the Harley up on the curb, the
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cop's like, you can't park there.
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Mark's like, I'm parking there to help my friend.
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The cop's like, you can't park there.
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And they're at fisticuffs with each other.
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Meantime, I'm pinned under the XS650, blocking three ways of traffic.
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This is Marina Green on Fleet Week Sunday.
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Anyway, so I was, uh, so when that whole situation resolves
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itself, Mark didn't get arrested.
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The policeman, uh, Was able to focus on the important thing of me
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being pinned under the, uh, anyway.
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So I left it parked up in the Marina for about a week, hating on it, then got it
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going again and was riding it around.
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However.
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I won the free motorcycle, didn't I?
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I'll put a link into that story.
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I, uh, won a Suzuki GSX R.
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But I had no way to keep it, because the XS had been street parking
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just, uh, just a couple of hundred yards from, uh, from where we're
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sitting, making this recording, where I live, uh, where I live now.
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Um, so, uh, So yeah, so it got to that winter time where it rains a
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lot in, uh, in San Francisco and I'd, I'd won the Gixxer, had nowhere
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to keep it, had a temporary place where I was, uh, cause it was with
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Bobby for a little bit, wasn't it?
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Or maybe it was with Bobby after seeing her, I can't remember.
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Anyway, uh, long and short was this XS650 was somewhat forgotten,
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kept on being knocked over on the street and John put a note.
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on it.
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And I don't remember exactly what the note said, but it had three paragraphs.
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I remember it was like three and he felt bad for the motorcycle.
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And as I was reading the note, I'm thinking to myself, I don't
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want this motorcycle anymore.
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This bloke clearly loves it.
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I wonder if I can do some deal where I can give him the bike in return
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for him storing the motorcycle.
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The new one because, uh, he clearly lives just like up the road from
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where I'm living at the moment.
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He did.
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He lived three doors up the, up the, up the, uh, up the hill.
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So that was, uh, that was how we met.
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So, um, an increase.
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And over the years I've had a lot of motorcycles.
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My best motorcycles in fairness, uh, are ones that, that
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John's, uh, previously owned.
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Um, he has a nice feel for, uh, he's a good mechanic, not a
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candid bad one like, like myself.
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That's the, uh, that's, that's the bottom line.
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He's So let's try and tie this up a little bit and move towards talking
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about these Irish road racers.
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Some years ago you had a neighbour,
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I'm not sure if we should name him given we're gonna talk about
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probably Illegal activity in terms of speeding and that kind of stuff.
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But you had a neighbor who was an Irish guy who was in construction
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who did who at the time when you were friends with him was doing really well
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in the Suzuki SV 650 championship.
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A.
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M.
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A.
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Yeah, so to tie up the dots, um, when I, when I moved to Hawaii, After I'd gotten
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your XS650, I had to sell the XS650 and move to Hawaii for a couple of years.
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Fast forward two years after, I moved back to San Francisco and
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lived in a sunset in 2009, 2010.
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I had a neighbor named Neil that lived two houses from me.
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And the first time we met, he handed me a vice grip.
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It's like, you want this?
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Someone tried to steal my RV and they left it.
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And then he saw that I was working on motorcycles.
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And then like, yeah, it's like, yeah, just simply like humbly like, yeah, yeah.
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I ride motorcycles too.
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It turns out that his RV was the one that he uses when he goes around races.
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Right.
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And he's a, he's a contractor.
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So Monday through Friday work.
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And 9 to 5, I'd leave early around 10, he'd be out of the house, I'd be back
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at 5, have dinner with family, work.
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At that time, he didn't have a family yet.
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He had a girlfriend.
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And he would work on the bikes to race for the weekend.
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Right?
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And little did I know that, you know, he was the champion for AFM for 2009, 10, 11.
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And 2012, he was leading the race, right, in points, in
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Thunder Hill, and the race itself.
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When he high sided.
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Got helicoptered out.
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He was in the wheelchair for mines.
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Titanium disk.
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Titanium disk.
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I remember this because he had a young family at the time, didn't he?
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His wife.
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I saw his wife and this is how I found out that he had a crash.
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It was a bad one too.
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He got helicoptered.
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Um.
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Because he broke his femur and there's a thing when you break your femur It's
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one of the major arteries that goes to your heart so you could actually
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literally die if that gets clogged It gets pierced by the bone, by your femur.
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But anyway, I found out from his wife who was at that time three months
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pregnant with a second child It's like, yeah, Red had a bad crash.
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Broke this, broke that, broke this, broke that.
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So he's gonna be in a hospital for a long time.
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And oh, yeah, by the way If you see him, he's not giving you a finger.
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He broke his middle finger as well.
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Just like that, and I was just in shock.
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I was just in shock.
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And we actually talked about this the last time I saw her.
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I was just in shock.
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But, you know, nine months after he was started to heal, a month after, a
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month and a half, or three months or however long, He came back to house.
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Next day,
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I was walking next to his house, and I saw his garage open.
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He was on a wheelchair.
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His bike was dangling from a lift.
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He was trying to get the engine up.
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Give me a hand here.
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I need to sell this thing.
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I need to make money, you know, pay for bills.
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Yeah, so the engine was When you knock it off dude We just walked you to
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make you settle down and then you are barking and interrupting The recording
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the engine that needs to be sold.
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The engine that needs to be sold is about five grand I wish I really
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regret not buying his bike because he had two bikes A and B and the B
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one was still in one piece But the A1 Oh, this was selling the race bikes?
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Yeah, this was selling the race bikes.
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I really wish I would have gotten it.
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But anyway, we've been friends ever since.
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He's up several times.
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Um, if I'm stuck somewhere, he'll come in and do it.
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And 10 minutes.
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You know, like he'd always help me.
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He's always there to like, one of the nicest guys I've ever met.
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Help you out and like, his timing is always perfect.
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So if I ever get stuck, he's always there.
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So I met him when he was selling a Hayabusa, and it was a 99 Hayabusa,
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and I looked at the bike and nearly bought it, even though I'd not
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ridden for years and years and years.
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I dismissed it, because I was like, I'd not ridden for Five years or so at
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that time and it didn't feel like that was a sensible bike To be like, you
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know coming so I I didn't buy bitterly regret not buying that bike Yeah, do
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you remember the story that you told me about the guy who did buy the bike?
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Yeah No, he told me a story again when I saw him.
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I reminded him.
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It's like yeah that guy who bought the bike The story you told me was that
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the guy had come to look at the bike and Neil said, do you want to ride?
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The guy said, I don't have my helmet.
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Neil went, that's all right.
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You can wear mine.
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And the guy's riding pillion with Neil's helmet on and Neil
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is riding without a helmet.
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And on that part of your street where there's the little
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divot, Neil pulled a wheelie.
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Yeah.
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And the guy, when they got, came back from the test ride Didn't even negotiate
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and his hand was going like this his hand was shaking and he didn't even
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negotiate on price Yeah, yeah, and and i'm reminded of of uh bugatti Um a biography
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is written by a guy called chumley chap tapper um British guy and it's the, it's
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a story of, remember I've told you that story of that office that I worked in
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the city of London, uh, by the Royal exchange by the Bank of England, Cornhill.
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I watched a guy wheelie a CBR up there and it was one of the things
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that made me think I need to get out of the, uh, the corporate world.
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Up Cornhill, a, that guy bought his first Bugatti.
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This is like over a hundred years ago now because they did.
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70 miles an hour up Corn Hill early one morning him and the dealer and he was
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like I was so excited I didn't negotiate on price and it always reminds me of
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the guy buying the Hayabusa If you do a test drive that that is where the car is
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really fast People do just they're just like I fucking want this straight away.
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They don't negotiate on price.
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It's uh, It's a definite sales technique for the For the test drive, not to
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be a drive around the block yawn for the test drive to be a like a bam.
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That's why you're not buying a Hayabusa because you want to get from A to B.
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You're buying a Hayabusa to thrill the shit out of you.
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Yeah.
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That's uh, no, that's a pretty nice bike.
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I'm still in the market for a Hayabusa.
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How many, when Neil moved back to the Emerald Isle, how
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many did he take with him?
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He had four
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copper.
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First generation 97, unrestricted, in mint condition.
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I helped him create it up in Bayview, at the warehouse.
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And uh, yeah, among others.
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So you, you fell into riding with him and his friends, like on a Sunday morning.
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And this is not like, there's a, There's a, like, a Bay Area Riders Forum, like
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a bath ride, isn't there, every Sunday?
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And my sense is your ride with the Irish guys was a little bit
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more wild than the ride, than the normal bath Sunday morning cruise.
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We would go on the weekends.
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We'd do a, like, a three day run.
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We'd do a tour of California.
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Go up Eureka, 266, 36, all that route.
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Go there.
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It would, it would, it would be a, a proper blast.
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How many of you?
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Um, the last time I went over to Death Valley, there's only four of us.
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Because everyone's going back to Ireland.
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You know, Gas is going back, went back to Ireland.
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Neil went back to Ireland.
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Now there's two of us.
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Yeah, now there's only John Toey.
19:14
So on the subject of Gaz, um, Remind us of that, or remind me of
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the story of Gaz and the bandit.
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So I have the bandit now.
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It's the same thing.
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1998, unrestricted, um, first generation.
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If you ever get a chance to get one of those spike, I mean,
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you can get them fairly cheap.
19:36
I saw one somewhere here for like 25.
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Yeah.
19:38
They are cheap bike.
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They are a bargain bike.
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It's a GSXR 1100.
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Anyway.
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Um, I have one and gas gave it to me.
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Burgundy if you want to picture it guys.
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Yeah.
19:50
The red, uh, the red bandit.
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1, 200.
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1, 200 S with the fairing.
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But anyway, we were chasing Yeah, 1, 200 S.
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Yeah, so he's got a line, yeah.
20:00
That was just a normal ride.
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Um, Peter, Towie, John Towie's brother was there, which is rare because
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they don't really ride together.
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Um, a catch for safety reasons.
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You know, they own a company.
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But anyway, after having coffee in Marin, equator coffee, in the
20:17
first five minutes, Peter crashes.
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He crashes.
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He low sides and he's on the sidewalk.
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So Sparks, one of the first left turns, right?
20:27
And this was a time where Daniel Cooper was riding with us for the first time.
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It's the first time he's meeting the Irish guys.
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I told him about the Irish guys, too.
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He's a more proper by the book kind of type of guy, but he's also fast.
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He's on a 1290 Super Adventure.
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Right, and this is the first time everyone's meeting each other.
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So on the takeaway, when we took off, not even five minutes, Peter Toey
20:51
crashes on the side of the, the ditch.
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I just saw sparks.
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So I have to lift it up and test, test the tire pressure.
20:59
It was like 10%.
21:02
I'm thinking to myself, these are the pros, you know.
21:07
Thankfully, the guy with the BMW had all the equipment, right?
21:10
I had the pump, so I pumped it up and You know, we're riding, and in my head,
21:14
I'm thinking this guy just crashed, he's probably gonna calm down, so he's like
21:17
next to me, he's behind me, he's probably checking the bike to see if it's alright.
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But as soon as he got the confidence again, he passes me,
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right, so it's that kind of like feeling already, like everyone's
21:30
trying to pass each other, right.
21:32
So we go up Marshall, and Gas is behind me, right.
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So I'm trying to chase.
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Um, the guy in front of me who was Toi and Daniel Cooper toy's riding, I, I,
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I, I don't a Gs uh, TOI is riding a rt.
21:50
Okay.
21:51
B-M-W-R-T.
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He likes it 'cause it slows him down.
21:54
Mm-hmm . You know, and then Daniel Cooper is riding a 12 man adventure, but he
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can ride that RT like no one's business.
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And then.
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You know, Peter crashes already.
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We saw a cop, a sheriff.
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Um, I passed by a cop.
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And gas is like chasing me.
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You know, I can tell this day had a faster pace.
22:12
Right.
22:12
I see him behind me.
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He's like standing up because it's kind of martial, uh, the, the area that we
22:17
go to is like the, it's kind of rough.
22:20
Right.
22:21
So I'm looking at him in a side mirror and I see him standing up
22:24
because that bandit doesn't have the same suspension as the newer bike.
22:27
He doesn't understand that.
22:28
Right.
22:29
So I know what you're writing, your BMW, our team, uh, I'm writing the R okay.
22:34
BMW are the one I have now my daily.
22:38
But I'm, I'm looking at him, he's like bouncing around, right, chasing
22:42
after me on a downhill slope, and I'm like, this guy is not going to
22:45
stop, he's just going to hit me.
22:46
So I let him go.
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I'm like, you know what, someone already crashed, I saw a sheriff,
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I listened to my instincts, right?
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So he passes me, right, on the straightaway, he passes me, I'm
22:56
like, alright, well, after he passed me, I just kind of chase him up.
23:00
You know, that's like the natural reaction, it's like you chase him, right?
23:03
Yeah.
23:04
He just, that day he just had a faster pace, cause he
23:07
wanted to chase Daniel Cooper.
23:09
Alright, so Daniel Cooper was next.
23:11
And like, trying to chase him, he's trying to chase after Daniel Cooper.
23:16
Daniel Cooper's trying to chase after John Tobey.
23:19
Right?
23:21
And then all of a sudden, I just see smoke, dust, right?
23:27
The bikes inside the farm.
23:33
And then Gas is looking for his wallet.
23:35
He's like limping, he's looking for his wallet.
23:37
And I'm like, this guy's on third gear.
23:39
He's just like So what kind of a turn?
23:41
It was a right turn, downhill right turn.
23:43
At what sort of speed?
23:47
I don't know, I don't know what the speed is, but I didn't see him.
23:49
I just saw the aftermath.
23:51
I didn't, I didn't, I have no idea.
23:54
But I know this.
23:56
There was three crosses.
24:01
I forgot the names but I did research on it.
24:02
It was recent, it was 2011, but there were three crosses where he crashed.
24:06
Yeah.
24:07
And then the owner comes out on his ATV, he's like, you guys are
24:10
going fast, blah, blah, blah.
24:12
And guys was like, how much is that fence?
24:14
I'll pay for it.
24:15
You know, like genuinely, like he felt bad that he caused destruction, but his wallet
24:21
was inside the fence, like 50 feet out.
24:27
What, come out of his pocket?
24:28
Came out of his pocket.
24:30
I mean, his gear was all ripped.
24:33
You know.
24:35
But he was walking around and talking?
24:37
Yeah.
24:38
He was limping around.
24:39
He's conscious, but Yeah, he's shocked that that happened.
24:43
Yeah.
24:44
I can tell because after that he kind of changed a little bit.
24:46
That kind of spooked him out a little bit, you know?
24:49
Yeah.
24:49
It can happen.
24:50
But the only thing is the next day he sends us this picture.
24:53
He says, yeah, I just got out of the hospital.
24:55
You know that X ray?
24:57
Yeah, yeah, we will post it if we can, uh, if we can find the exit.
25:03
The other thing I remember about that story was, was, uh, that he had said to
25:06
you afterwards, that was a near miss.
25:08
And you'd been like, if it was a near miss, what does the
25:12
actual fucking crash look like?
25:14
That was a close one.
25:15
That was a close one.
25:19
I mean, someone was definitely looking after him that day.
25:22
Yeah.
25:23
For sure.
25:25
Walk away from that was just Um, the other, the other story that I've got noted
25:29
down here from, from those uh, Irish rides was uh, I wrote down Swimming Pool Lady.
25:37
The swimming pool lady.
25:40
Oh, when he got pushed by John Tobey?
25:42
When you were, when there was a, the, the, the tradition in the group, and this
25:47
is why I'm right with the group, is the tradition in the group is, is that if
25:51
there's a cop, you're not going to stop.
25:54
Well, if you're not going to stop, you definitely don't want to be at the back.
25:56
Do you so this keeps the pace of the group ride?
26:00
Extremely high because nobody wants to be at the back to be To be pulled
26:06
over so in one of these situations I don't know if the cop was coming the
26:10
other way or something like that, but oh, I remember gas wasn't there It was
26:13
John Azarani the other guy we uh, we did the A loop, across Yosemite and
26:20
back Sonora, 108 to 120, a good pace.
26:25
And I told him too, you know, because we camped in Yosemite, and I told
26:29
him, once you get to Sonora Pass, you better slow down because cops
26:32
don't have anything better to do than to pull over people, and they will.
26:36
And sometimes people call it in.
26:39
But anyway, I was following him, he crossed the double yellow line on the
26:43
turn, and So I did the same thing, except that there was a cop in front of me.
26:50
You know, so, I mean, alright, you gotta pay to play, I get it.
26:53
So a cop turns around, pulls me over, right?
26:58
And he says to me, Follow me, let's go get your buddy.
27:02
So this greedy, this greedy guy wanted to get the, the both of us, right?
27:08
And the moment he passed me, I was like, you know what,
27:10
how stupid do you think I am?
27:12
I just made a U turn and just gunned it, you know?
27:16
And
27:19
I went up this driveway to just basically hide.
27:23
So I hid behind this tree and there was a swimming pool in the, in some
27:28
owner's, some homeowner's place.
27:30
There was a swimming pool, right?
27:31
And it was 94 degrees.
27:33
We have been looking for a swimming pool for the longest time.
27:36
So I'm just waiting for things to happen.
27:37
I'm waiting for his phone call, right?
27:39
I'm waiting there and it's super hot.
27:41
And I just figure, you know what?
27:42
What's going to happen if I ask the owner if I can just jump in the pool?
27:47
So I knock on the door, this old lady with grey hair opens the door
27:51
and I'm like, Hey, how are you?
27:55
You know what, I was riding, it's 94 degrees and it's super hot,
27:58
and I saw your swimming pool.
28:00
And I was wondering if I could just jump right in.
28:05
And she was like, go right ahead.
28:09
So I sent him a picture of me.
28:12
I don't do selfies, but this was one time, like, I did a selfie and I sent it to him.
28:16
I didn't get any response.
28:18
I was waiting for him, because I thought he was going to come back and, you know,
28:21
I thought he ran away from the cop.
28:23
I thought he gunned it and got away.
28:26
Because the moment the cop said, Come here, follow me, let's get your buddy.
28:30
He kept on going.
28:32
And I just didn't see him.
28:33
So I thought he went.
28:34
So I thought he got away.
28:35
But, turns out that wasn't the story.
28:38
Turns out he got a ticket.
28:40
And he was so pissed that I was, that I sent him that picture.
28:45
Because he said right after he got the ticket, the cop, the cop
28:48
followed him for like 30 minutes.
28:54
And then he checks his phone, there's a picture of you in the pool.
28:57
Yeah.
29:24
So just as an aside to complete the sort of Period of your life.
29:28
The other thing for us to think about is that through those Irish guys,
29:31
they're involved in construction, but everyone in San Francisco knows the
29:35
Irish moving trucks and through those guys, you had a storage facility down
29:42
in a not so nice part of San Francisco.
29:44
Where you shared a space with these Irish guys, there was a cool shop, there was
29:49
a snooker table, there was, you know, and, and there were, and as, as you
29:54
said, when, uh, when you had to move out of there, it's a shame because anytime
29:59
I was getting pissed off working on a motorcycle, I could just go and talk
30:03
with one of the Irish guys and have a game of billions or snooker or pool
30:07
or whatever that, whatever that was.
30:09
And we were at the same level too, so it was like a good, it was a
30:12
proper game, it was a good game.
30:13
It was a good match.
30:15
But that spot, I really missed that.
30:17
That was actually Butchertown.
30:18
It was called Butchertown back in the day in Bayview.
30:21
That's where they slaughtered the cows.
30:23
Oh, okay.
30:24
And it also became the storage space for the bombs after World War II.
30:29
Oh, okay.
30:29
It's a very historical place.
30:31
But I mean, it was a 25, 000 square feet.
30:33
Yeah, it was these old like World War Two kind of, they, they were, and I know
30:38
the buildings from the kind of, they were the kind of warehouse that Mark
30:42
used to be in, in East LA, where it was thrown up terrible building standards
30:46
in the 1940s and it had survived.
30:48
Well, it survived up until Amazon hadn't it?
30:51
Because that's why when Amazon moved in, we got kicked out.
30:54
So that's the story.
30:56
Yeah.
30:57
So, uh, And that's a Bay Area story, right?
31:01
Isn't it?
31:02
That's another piece of, you know, San Francisco history which has changed as a
31:09
result of the, uh, of the tech revolution.
31:12
Which, by the way, of course, I represent, right?
31:14
All my income's there.
31:16
Come from from text.
31:17
I don't want to be hypocritical about it, but there is a sense that
31:20
San Francisco's changed and no more.
31:22
So on that piece of town, uh, no, no more.
31:26
So in, uh, than in, you know, in, in that sense, trim that bit out, um,
31:31
the other thing I was going to say, John warehouse was that whenever
31:34
you do a GPS there, it puts you on the freeway and it used to drive you
31:38
on the freeway and you'd be driving on the freeway at 60 miles an hour.
31:41
And it would say you have arrived and it was because yeah.
31:45
Your warehouse was directly under that bit of the freeway and it would
31:49
guide you to Yeah, it's the best part of the neighborhood and that's why
31:51
Remus, my pit bull dog, came in handy.
31:54
Yeah.
31:55
I drove around with my truck, windows down, parked it,
31:59
keys in the car, ignition.
32:01
Yeah.
32:01
Never had any issues, you know.
32:20
The racing history in Ireland is something that I feel is slowly going away.
32:31
Well, okay.
32:32
So that we've so we've we've moved.
32:34
We've set the scene, haven't we?
32:35
And it's taken us about a half an hour to do it, but that's
32:37
how it's how it should be.
32:38
So you've the reason that we're doing this presentation today is this thing today.
32:44
Really is that the Irish guys by and large moved home.
32:47
Neil moved home, uh, and always said to you, come visit, come visit.
32:53
Obviously I'm English and always encouraged you to,
32:56
to ride in Europe as well.
32:58
And thanks to a new girlfriend, you actually did a European trip.
33:02
So a bit of time, a bit of time in England, a bit of time in Ireland
33:07
and some time riding with these, uh, With these Irish road racers.
33:12
Just before we, before I ask you about that, I just want to say, I just want
33:17
to say that when the Irish guys moved back, they did leave one motorcycle
33:21
in particular, which I think deserves special mention, which is the Yamaha R6.
33:27
Track bike, which has wide bars on it.
33:31
It has race plastic on it, and on the tailpipe it says nobody cares.
33:37
And that bike, I mean, how many Irish guys have crushed it?
33:44
I mean, well, I don't know how many, but there's a few.
33:47
Um, and it's funny you say that because right now it's in
33:49
the back of the Sprinter van.
33:51
Yeah, yeah.
33:53
I mean, this is the Ratt.
33:56
Uh, yeah, so it stayed and a bunch of, uh, of the other stuff stayed, didn't it?
34:01
But they've largely largely moved back.
34:02
So, all right, so let's, let's talk about your driving experience in Europe.
34:08
First of all, talk about, talk about what you did with cars.
34:11
First of all, and the whole business of driving on the other
34:14
side and how you found that.
34:16
And then we'll talk about the bikes and the ride that
34:18
you did with Neil in Ireland.
34:21
Yes.
34:21
What are you looking for?
34:22
My phone.
34:23
Trying to remember the, uh The brand of the car that I rented.
34:29
It was like a Spanish brand that just came out.
34:32
Saya?
34:32
No.
34:34
Oh.
34:34
You've never heard of it.
34:36
Initially when I, um, made my reservation, I wanted to get a Kia
34:41
Sportage because of the fuel mileage.
34:44
I didn't realize how economically it was to rent a car in Ireland.
34:51
There is an option for an automatic in a manual the manual is half the price
34:56
of an automatic I was Surprised and I'm like, of course, I'm gonna get a manual.
35:01
It's because lots of people can't do Can't drive.
35:04
I know manuals The other thing is is for somebody like even somebody who
35:08
can drive a manual if you're not used to driving if you're from, Texas the
35:12
The streets are so narrow and winding.
35:15
You just, you know, it's like a racing car.
35:17
Don't worry about the transmission.
35:19
Just concentrate on the basics.
35:21
Yeah, but that was a big deal because I'm driving on the left
35:26
hand drive on the left hand side of the road for the very first time.
35:32
Right.
35:32
So the shifting is on my left side, but I was like, you know what?
35:38
That's going to be not a big deal.
35:40
Like you said, it's going to be okay.
35:42
Which it was okay until I made my first left and muscle memory kicked in and I
35:48
was on the right side of the road and I'm like, yeah, muscle memory kicked in.
35:54
Yeah, but that was the first time and last time I ever did that because I'm
35:58
making a point to learn from my mistakes.
36:01
Yes.
36:01
You know, I, I remember the time I did that in a, when I, I, when I came here
36:08
for the first time in 95 with Mark Gammy and we, Bought and lived in a 79 Lincoln
36:14
town car and traveled around in that.
36:17
And I remember tired one night pulling out onto the wrong side of a dual carriageway
36:22
and seeing the oncoming traffic and getting straight over onto like, you
36:26
know, the service road at the side.
36:28
It was like in a sort of industrial area.
36:30
Yeah, it was a Cooper.
36:33
Oh, for a mentor it was a Ra Cupra for a mentor.
36:39
Yeah.
36:39
Yeah.
36:40
So Mark Gamy had a series of, say, lay on Coopers.
36:46
They were basically like nicer versions of golf GTIs.
36:49
He had two, 200,000 miles on them altogether.
36:53
Really?
36:54
Yeah.
36:54
And any car that can wear the, where that Mark GAMI, cause Mark
36:58
GAMI, he's not a abusive driver, but he drives hard and fast and
37:03
only does the required maintenance.
37:04
He's not like a washer or a tinkerer or a, you know, he gets driven and then he puts
37:10
it away and then it gets driven again.
37:12
So the, let's say, um, SUV thing.
37:20
SUV.
37:21
Yeah.
37:21
Super Cooper.
37:22
Yeah.
37:22
Yeah.
37:23
Cupra for mentor.
37:25
Yeah.
37:25
Uh, manual six speed.
37:27
Yeah.
37:27
It was great.
37:28
Diesel.
37:29
Diesel.
37:30
Yeah.
37:30
Yeah.
37:31
SUV.
37:32
Yeah.
37:33
Yeah.
37:33
I was, I was, um, comparable to X three.
37:36
So you got it in Dublin airport.
37:37
Yeah.
37:39
Yeah.
37:40
And then, um, I enjoy driving.
37:44
I enjoy where, how far away is Neil from Dublin?
37:47
I like Neil is about 45 minutes away.
37:49
Yeah.
37:51
And then Gaz is in Clare.
37:55
But uh, first night when we got, uh, first day when we got there, we went
38:00
to Galway and then Ennis and then met up with Gaz the first night.
38:05
Because we weren't thinking about staying there for a very long time.
38:08
We were just there for four days.
38:11
And then met Neil the last day, or second to the last day, and
38:16
coincidentally there was a rally, it was a motorcycle rally that was going on.
38:21
Sponsored by the, uh, Highsiders of Ireland.
38:26
And, um, he asked me if I wanted to go for a ride, go for a spin.
38:32
And it was kind of tricky because I really had to be I mean, when he, when
38:38
he asks you for a spin, it's like hours.
38:42
And it was hard for me to, uh, make a proposal to Paige.
38:45
But I just had to do it.
38:47
You know, we were gone for about five hours, six hours for a proper ride.
38:53
And, I mean, I'm really happy I was able to do that because it kind
38:58
of really put me in perspective.
39:01
Whenever I watch Northwest 200, Scarys, um, I know there's the Isle of Man and
39:08
there's Macau that I still want to see.
39:11
They're different from what there is actually in Ireland.
39:15
When I see those pictures of Michael Dunlop like inches away from the stone
39:21
hedges and stone walls, like now I know why they ride like that because that's
39:27
how you have to ride those narrow roads.
39:30
When I was following Neil, it was just like This is this Irish road racing
39:36
that it's and the reason that I love it is I feel that it's a very pure
39:40
old fashioned kind of motorsport.
39:42
It is pure.
39:44
It's pure than Macau, right?
39:46
Yeah, no sponsors.
39:47
There's no, it's really small.
39:49
So it's this business that's three communities.
39:53
close the roads between them and there's a triangular course and this is the race
39:58
course this is the the pattern in ireland it was the pattern in countries like
40:03
france and italy in the last century that that that's and i feel that's really that
40:07
these triangle courses between communities on um closed public roads they're
40:14
absolutely the essence of of really it is pure and there's no This was, um, we
40:22
were just talking about this like there's no um, sponsors, it's just pure racing.
40:29
Right?
40:30
Like John Toye was saying back in the day in the Northwest 200, which he
40:34
lives in Donegal, it's not that far from that place but you can actually walk
40:38
up and talk to Michael Dunlop and Joey Dunlop, it would just be like informal.
40:44
They're not winning big prizes.
40:47
And that's how he was.
40:49
Like early seventies where Neil was or is in chaos.
40:56
That four racing was just like, it's something else.
41:00
Cause he took me around a couple of times.
41:03
All right, I went around maybe around four times and the, uh, what a lap of, uh, lap,
41:09
it's like four corners and it's like 2.
41:12
3 miles or something short.
41:13
It's very short, but it's very trickery.
41:16
It's very tricky because it's narrow road.
41:19
And when we went, it was raining, it was dark.
41:23
There's literally pool on the road from horses or cows.
41:28
Yeah.
41:29
Yeah.
41:29
Just as a side, um, Mark Gami, once, uh, the worst fall he ever had off
41:36
his 90cc, you know, Honda Cub 90 was on horse shit on a country lane.
41:42
Yeah.
41:43
Cause that thing is slippery.
41:45
Right.
41:45
But if you have a good guy leading you like Neil, I mean,
41:50
I mean, I tried to keep up.
41:52
He was on the GSXR 1100, 90, 91, just like the one that, whoa.
41:57
You have the blue one.
41:59
He has the, you have the grey one.
42:01
He has the blue one.
42:02
He has the blue one behind.
42:03
Yeah, blue and white.
42:05
You said he wheelied.
42:06
Yeah, that's the first time I've seen someone do that on a GSXR 1100.
42:10
One of the first times when we took off.
42:12
In, in the wet?
42:13
In the wet.
42:15
What did he give you to ride?
42:17
So, he said, which one do you want to ride?
42:20
When we were at this warehouse, I mean, he has this really big
42:23
warehouse that's just like a museum.
42:27
And I was like, you know what, I'll go for the 1, 300.
42:30
Cause I know what's, I know what's gonna happen, you know,
42:33
I'm gonna try and chase him.
42:35
You know, if he's gonna be 1, 100, I might have a chance.
42:39
Or so I thought, you know.
42:41
But, it wasn't like that.
42:43
It was just like,
42:46
I was on a B King.
42:48
Um, it's the bike that has the same engine as a Hayabusa.
42:53
But, unlike the Hayabusa, this one doesn't have any fairings.
42:56
It's a limited, kind of a rare bike.
42:58
It's only a two year bike here.
42:59
It's like 2006 or 2007.
43:03
Yeah, I remember them, yeah.
43:05
Wide bars.
43:05
Wide bars, yeah.
43:07
So how did it corner?
43:08
It cornered really well.
43:10
Really?
43:11
Yeah.
43:12
Better than I did, I guess, but I'd always worry with a bike like that, it would not,
43:17
you'd struggle to, like, lean it over.
43:19
No, that's the other thing, right?
43:21
Like, I saw Neil, he was, like, tuning it up when I was there in the garage.
43:25
He was tuning it and, like Lubing the chain, checking the tire pressure.
43:29
So I was really confident with that bike and uh, Yeah, I know Neil and
43:33
his bikes But I mean that ride is something else man we went around
43:39
four and What four different tracks?
43:43
No four is the name of the place.
43:45
Okay F O U R.
43:47
F O R E.
43:49
Okay.
43:49
There's also four racing Okay, for racing starting in 73 and ended in 97.
43:56
Mm hmm.
43:57
All right, so when We stopped somewhere We went for a ride after
44:01
a few arguments with the bird.
44:06
I Just basically just Grabbed my ear and went it was great because I knew
44:12
that I wasn't gonna think be thinking about anything else after that I
44:15
had to it was just like that moment You know, and I was like, let's go.
44:20
If this is it, this is it.
44:22
You know, Neil was like, well, ride your ride, ride your ride.
44:26
Yeah, yeah, sure.
44:28
You know, but in my head, it's just like, I'm going to try and keep up with you.
44:32
I am going to try and keep up.
44:34
So I thought again, but no, but he's actually, he's, he's very, very smooth.
44:41
I think when it comes to that, he used to lead when you rode
44:44
together in California, right?
44:45
Yeah.
44:46
Yeah, yeah.
44:47
And he would set the pace.
44:48
He would set the pace.
44:51
But he would just like, drop down and like, keep up.
44:54
Just like nothing.
44:55
He would actually, sometimes you'd see him stop.
44:56
He'd just wait and just, just go.
45:00
And from the back he would just like, The way he rode is different.
45:05
The way he rode, like he could tell this guy is different.
45:08
Like he just like, He passes you in a different, with a
45:12
different sound, just all out.
45:15
Like he knows how to use the power of the engine.
45:17
Mmm.
45:19
Right?
45:19
Yeah.
45:20
And um, we went to this bar, right?
45:24
Really small bar.
45:25
We, you know, we go up to the counter and there was a lady
45:29
that was a bartender, right?
45:31
And he knows the person next to me.
45:33
He's like, chatted for a little bit, you know, what are
45:36
you up to, blah, blah, blah.
45:38
And everyone knows everyone.
45:39
He knows the brother, like they kind of grew up together.
45:43
There's pictures of the Dunlop brothers at the bar.
45:48
And on the top, there's also a picture of Derek Shields.
45:53
Yeah, that's our guy.
45:54
He's from here.
45:55
It's just short racing in the purest form.
45:59
I didn't even know that.
45:59
The, the floor was like a really big um, raise.
46:02
Yeah.
46:03
And I'd never heard of the place before, but I was, when we talked, uh, when
46:09
we walked the dogs the other day, we talked about this the first time I
46:13
was conscious as I said to you before.
46:15
I feel like there's some places where motorsport ingrained in the culture.
46:20
I felt that in Italy, I felt that very much around Charlotte
46:26
and, you know, NASCAR countries may be faded now a little bit.
46:30
I.
46:31
It's awesome that you found it in Ireland.
46:34
That's really, really an awesome thing.
46:37
That's the bar.
46:38
Awesome.
46:39
We'll include that picture.
46:40
Send me that picture.
46:41
The seven wonders.
46:42
I wish I would have taken a picture inside by just like No, these experiences are
46:47
not necessarily to be digitally preserved.
46:50
That's the exact thing, right?
46:51
That's to be had there and then.
46:53
If you're in your phone, you're not building rapport.
46:55
That's the other thing why I didn't bring the GoPro.
46:58
I don't want to be fucking around with something when I really just
47:01
have to concentrate on one thing.
47:03
I just want to be back in one piece.
47:05
Yeah.
47:05
Because, mind you, this was at night.
47:07
Yeah.
47:08
It was raining, and my eyesight's not the best.
47:10
Well, you also said, you said something that really made me laugh when we
47:13
were walking, uh, that, that you were like, And these lanes, they're
47:18
all like, they're all stonehenge y.
47:20
at the side, you said.
47:22
I understand that.
47:23
And, and, and I, I was going to share, we, we call those dry stone walls.
47:28
I'm going to share a story with you now.
47:30
My friend from university, John Hopkins, leave the pub one night
47:34
in his dad's Sierra diesel station wagon on the way from the pub.
47:41
He's doing the thing that people do in that part of the country, where as you
47:45
approach a turn, you turn the lights off.
47:47
And if.
47:49
You can, if you can't see any light coming the other way, you know,
47:52
there's nobody around the turn.
47:54
So you then turn the lights back on and you can take a full
47:56
racing line around the turn.
47:59
So that's how people in the country in, in drive, drive like that.
48:03
Um, anyway, he did a bit of a Duke's a hazard moment, put the tail
48:06
into the, into a dry stone wall, knocked it down and we sped off.
48:11
We like left the scene of the crime.
48:13
The farmer followed us, fucking chased us down.
48:18
Made us come back the following day and rebuild it.
48:21
So whenever I see dry stone walls, I always think of that.
48:24
Um, obviously they're pretty unforgiving.
48:28
Um, you know, they're an unforgiving place to crash against.
48:31
Yeah.
48:32
That might be the last time you ever crash.
48:34
Um, you visited the memorial for Neal's brother.
48:40
Yeah.
48:40
So he explained to me when he was, um, taking me around the, the, the track,
48:48
um, or the roads, he was explaining to me, yeah, that's where it started.
48:52
And I know his brother had passed away from racing.
48:56
This is which, this is which circuit.
48:58
This is the fourth circuit.
48:59
This is the fourth circuit.
49:00
Yeah.
49:02
Yeah.
49:02
And he was explaining to me that that's where it starts and
49:04
I'll show you what happened.
49:05
And like, you know, and we park on the side of the road.
49:09
And, you know, I was taking a picture of the bikes and he was like trying
49:14
to clean up something on the side.
49:18
And I was like, what is that?
49:20
And he's like, yeah, this is where my, this is where my brother, um, got hit.
49:24
He lost control over there on the turn and over the crest someone didn't see
49:28
him and basically just hit him in 1997.
49:31
That was about the last time that they, they raced him before.
49:36
And then he shows me this, this stone dedicated to his brother.
49:41
It's headstone.
49:42
Wow.
49:45
And it's kind of funny because you remember how I described him?
49:48
How I described Neil?
49:51
And I can barely read it, but it says something, um,
49:56
Something about a helping hand.
49:58
For those who knew him don't understand, He's A willing smile and a helping hand
50:04
for those he loved don't understand the reason why you are gone but in my heart
50:11
you go on and on there's a neil o'reilly memorial that happens also yeah i didn't
50:19
realize he was a you know he was a big deal back then but yeah that's the
50:22
reason why it's going away it's going away and it's it's like you said it's
50:28
insurance reasons So meeting people that are raw and well, it's also it's the
50:33
triumph of the individual right but all of us feel like the individual is More
50:40
important than the event the attitude used to be that the event Was bigger than
50:48
the life of any one individual Do you remember that Cars and Coffee we went
50:54
to up in, uh, up in, um, Nevada, or?
50:58
Yeah, we went to a Cars and Coffee up in Nevada the first time I'm,
51:01
um, Well, the only time I met Gaz, the only time I met John Toey.
51:05
Yeah.
51:06
As we were walking away afterwards, Ollie was only, you
51:09
know, six or seven at the time.
51:10
And as we were walking away, we were holding hands.
51:13
And you know, do you remember what you said to him?
51:14
I may have told you this before.
51:16
You said to me, Irish people use the F word a lot.
51:31
And, and, you know, so I actually think we're going to leave it there because
51:36
I really, for a long time, have wanted to pay a meaningful tribute to the
51:40
awesomeness of Irish road racing, and I feel like your visit and riding with Neil,
51:46
and then the inadvertent discovery of that memorial, That's everything, isn't it?
51:50
It's, it's, uh, it's everything about the sport.
51:55
Um, Yeah, the dogs are just like spoiling the meaningful moment
52:00
here by wrestling with each other.
52:02
Um, John, thank you very much for appearing with me today.
52:07
Yeah, thanks for having me.
52:34
Appendix A, Gaz's second close one is from Sunday World Newspaper,
52:43
dated Monday, December 2nd, 2024.
52:49
Exclusive, Farmer shot 8 times by drunken neighbour.
52:55
Shocked, as shooter walks free.
52:59
A farmer shot by his drunken neighbor has said that he will
53:03
never forget the pain and that his attacker deliberately aimed his head.
53:08
Construction worker Adrian Collins, Gaz, 48, walked free from court with
53:16
a suspended sentence despite shooting innocent neighbor Andrew Cotter, 65.
53:22
eight times whilst the victim was out tending to his cattle in rural County
53:28
Clare on February the 26th last year.
53:31
Collins had been out drinking at his niece's christening in the
53:35
hours before he got his double barrelled shotgun and loaded it
53:39
with cartridges before he shot Mr.
53:41
Cotter eight times without warning, hitting him in the shoulder and head.
53:47
Astonishingly, Collins then gave out to Mr.
53:50
Cotter and told him to move his vehicle from outside his property when the victim
53:55
called to his house in Enar, Kilkishan, covered in blood following the attack.
54:01
Despite having shot his innocent neighbor, drunken Collins then
54:05
went off to the pub while the armed response unit was dispatched from
54:10
Galway to deal with the incident.
54:14
I should say that John said to me that apparently it had taken them
54:17
more than an hour to get there, which was how it was Gaz had been able
54:22
to dispense with the trespasser on his property and return to the pub.
54:28
In an exclusive interview with the Sunday World, Mr.
54:31
Cotter said he'll never forget the pain of being shot in the head.
54:35
Jesus!
54:36
It's actually written J A Y S U S.
54:39
I'll never forget the burning.
54:42
I won't try and do an Irish accent.
54:44
I put my hand up to my head and it was all blood, he said.
54:48
He said there had been no personal animosity between himself and
54:52
Collins before the shooting incident.
54:55
He was off his fucking game.
54:57
He's an oddball now and that's the truth.
55:00
He never came to me to apologize.
55:03
I had no issues with that man ever.
55:05
It was just reckless.
55:08
If I followed the cow when the last two shots went off, I'd have had my sight lost
55:13
or I'd have been killed, one or the other.
55:15
That is definite.
55:16
Mr.
55:17
Cotter explains that he owns a field adjacent to Collins property
55:22
and was tending to his cattle on the night of the incident.
55:25
One of his cows was sick.
55:27
His vehicle, which Collins recognised, was parked on the road and, as it
55:33
was dark, he was using a headlamp.
55:35
The next thing, two shots went off and struck my shoulder, he said.
55:39
The innocent gun victim said he initially thought it was kids messing with a
55:44
pellet gun or something like that.
55:46
I thought it was young lads who was firing.
55:49
Mr.
55:49
Cotter said he was so concerned with his sick cow that he initially didn't
55:53
understand the seriousness of what was happening or that it was a real gun.
55:58
I was wired to the cows because she was sick.
56:02
I started to walk the cow towards where I had silage.
56:06
I didn't know who was firing.
56:08
I knew someone had fired, but it was dark.
56:11
I didn't realize at the time it was wheel shots.
56:14
Collins had fired two more shots, hitting Mr.
56:17
Cotter in the shoulder again.
56:19
Then I brought the cow into a circular feeder to feed her,
56:23
and two more shots went off and struck me in the shoulder again.
56:27
I could hear the pellets hitting the tin of the feeder.
56:30
Yeah.
56:31
At this stage, six shots had been fired and Mr.
56:35
Cotter said his cow wouldn't eat and moved in the direction of
56:39
where the shots were coming from.
56:41
She walked that way.
56:42
Luckily enough, I walked the other way to my gate.
56:46
I was ringing my son and the next thing two more shots went off and
56:50
struck me right here, in the head.
56:53
He said the pain was excruciating and the pellets from the blast
56:57
were lodged in his head above.
56:59
Beside and below his eye.
57:02
The burning was brutal.
57:04
I didn't think it was a real shotgun until the last two.
57:08
I was completely stupid in one way.
57:10
I put my hand up to my head and it was all blood.
57:13
Mr.
57:13
Cotter realized afterwards that Collins had been deliberately aiming at his
57:18
head using the headlamp as a guide.
57:21
His son who had been on the phone to him rushed to the scene.
57:25
He said to me, you're all blood.
57:27
I said, I'll go into Collins and see what the hell they're at.
57:31
Collins came to the door, but was far from apologetic.
57:35
He came out to the door.
57:37
I said, was that you firing shots?
57:40
He said, you were snooping around my house in the middle of the night.
57:44
I pulled out my phone and said, it's twenty to eight.
57:47
How's that the middle of the night?
57:49
I could smell the drink on him then.
57:51
I said to him, You knew where you, where, that where you were firing, I have cattle
57:56
in there, and they're only in there once a year, and I'm the only one who's using
58:00
that road in there in the wintertime.
58:03
He said, why didn't you notify me you were gonna be there?
58:06
I said, you could see my car there at the end of the road.
58:11
Mr.
58:11
Cotter's son called Gardai and paramedics, and Collins went back into his house
58:16
before coming back out angrily.
58:18
He came back out and said, MOVE THEM CARS OUT OF MY DRIVEWAY!
58:23
Unarmed guard I arrived, but couldn't approach Collins as he was armed.
58:27
So they had to wait for the armed response unit to come from Galway, which Mr.
58:32
Cotter said took some time.
58:34
My son went down with them, and when they did get down, eventually, they knocked
58:38
in, and the wife, she was there, and she said, Collins was gone to the pub.
58:43
They got the gun off her and asked if they could go, if they could go
58:46
in the back and see if there were any empty cartridges and she said no.
58:51
Mr.
58:51
Cotter said that given how long it took for the armed guard eye to arrive, he
58:55
had feared Collins could have shot more people due to the drunken state he was in.
59:00
If he went in after talking to me and the wife reared up on him, he could
59:04
have shot the wife and the children.
59:06
Guards went into local pub, guard eye went into local pubs looking for him.
59:11
I thought it was a brutal wait for the armed response.
59:14
It was his wife and children I was figuring.
59:17
They was fierce lucky.
59:18
A fella off his game.
59:20
Mr Cotter was treated by paramedics at the scene who removed as many pellets from
59:24
his face as they could before rushing him to the hospital for further treatment.
59:28
He said there was two that they couldn't get out above and below
59:31
his eye as doctors feared they could cause damage by removing them.
59:35
They said if they took the one out under the eye they could damage the nerve and
59:39
I could lose my sight or be disfigured.
59:42
Eventually, as a result of another medical issue, he had to have them removed.
59:47
I had to sign forms saying I was doing it at my own risk, he said.
59:51
The Sunday World called to Mr Collins home for comment, but his wife said
59:55
he didn't want to comment on the case.
59:57
She also claimed that her husband now gets on fine with Mr Cotter.
1:00:02
However, that was news to Mr Cotter.
1:00:04
Whatever few friends he had locally, he has none after this.
1:00:08
He never came to apologise.
1:00:10
He added that he was surprised Collins didn't get jail for the gun attack.
1:00:15
Even the solicitor told the guard he would get a gun sentence, he
1:00:18
would get a jail sentence over it.
1:00:20
He got off very light, he said.
1:00:23
Mr.
1:00:23
Cotter said he doesn't believe his neighbour's claim that he thought
1:00:26
somebody was snooping near his property.
1:00:28
However, Mr.
1:00:29
Collins wife said that being relieved not to be jailed, her husband was upset
1:00:35
that now he has a conviction which will follow him around and the fallout
1:00:39
from his unprovoked gun attack on Mr.
1:00:41
Cotter had been tough on her husband.
1:00:53
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