AFTER the fall of the Iron Curtain, I was invited, with other Irish motoring hacks, to the Czech Republic by Skoda. The company was then a source of massive local pride, even if it was an automotive joke elsewhere.

A CHANGE of retail brand is on the cards, with the planned €4m sale of a modern supermarket in Cork harbour town, Passage West.

Up until yesterday the S14 Subaru WRC didn’t perform well on Irish tarmac roads, but that has changed with Fermanagh’s Garry Jennings guiding the car into the lead after yesterday’s opening leg of the Topaz Donegal International Rally.

A MUSICAL chairs set of changes among Cork city’s motor dealers is continuing — with a temporary new base for Toyota found in Wilton, while a longer-term site is being sought.

THREE goals in a game that could barely be described as a contest would not normally be the cause of gushing optimism but different rules apply in the case of Theo Walcott.

Japanese car manufacturers swept the board in a major reliability survey published by Which? Car magazine today.

The Irish pair of Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle in their Peugeot UK-backed Peugeot 207 S2000 have finished second in the Rally Principe de Asturias in Spain, round nine of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

Ireland's Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle lie in seventh place at the end of the first leg of Rally Principe de Asturias in Spain, the ninth round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

Marcus Gronholm was victorious on home soil as he won a seventh Rally Finland title to extend his FIA World Rally Championship lead to 13 points.

ON the night of February 13, 1945, Dresden was drenched in bombs by the Royal Air Force. Raids by the Americans followed on the 14th and 15th.

Irish football legend George Best was arrested today after an allegation of assault.

Peugeot’s Marcus Gronholm rounded off Rally Australia with a flourish, setting the fastest time on the final stage in Perth to confirm his fifth win of the year.

Pressure is mounting on Ford’s Colin McRae in Kenya as the Scot hangs on to a diminishing lead in the Safari Rally.

Frenchman Sebastien Loeb faces an anxious and lengthy wait before discovering if his likely maiden world championship victory in today’s Monte Carlo Rally is confirmed.