Dermot Carnegie 1944 – 2025

Irishman Dermot Carnegie was a talented all-rounder who scooped championship titles from Autotest to Rallycross and Rallying where he demonstrated his skills in abundance and made so many friends and admirers along the way. He was always helping others, and in the spirit of Motorsport Ireland’s great efforts to bring on young talent into the sport, he was latterly a great source of help and advice.

HERO-ERA extends its sincere sympathies and condolences to Dermot’s daughters, grandchildren and close family who all adored him.

After his hectic frontline motorsport career, he turned to historic rallying in Ireland and then became a top competitor in Europe on HERO-ERA rallies such as the Winter Challenge to Monte Carlo and the most competitive on the UK calendar, the RAC Rally of the Tests. RoTT provides the great challenge of driving and navigation as it was on the RAC Rally before it became a forest special stage event.

For example, in the report on the 2016 Winter Challenge to Monte Carlo, the rally report recorded, ‘Another crew in contention were Dermot Carnegie and Paul Bosdet’s 1959 Volvo PV544, who were always snapping at the heels of Ebus and den Hartog. The Time Control section of Tuesday night gave them some problems as they picked up a one-minute and 45-second penalty for checking in 17 minutes late to the start of the Time Control section, dropping them down the order, but they fought back to to third overall.’ A classic fighting drive by Dermot.

Other strong results for Dermot with Paul Bosdet alongside him, were on RAC RoTT 2016 when they won the class in the wonderful Volvo PV544 and again on RAC RoTT 2018 when they were 4^th OA. In 2019,  they were 11^th OA once more in Dermot’s distinctive 50s Volvo PV544.

Dermot was a six-time British Rallycross Champion, his final crown was in 2004, but he finished his front line WRC and Group B derivative car career in 2008, to continue competing in historic rallies.

He had an enviable record of British Rallycross wins (32) and Dermot won eight RIAC/MI National Irish Rallycross titles and two Northern Irish titles. The 1998 Ulster Rally X GP at Nutts Corner proved to be one of his most outstanding achievements in his famous Ford Escort WRC as he battled with the likes of Denis Biggerstaff and Lawrence Gibson’s Metro 6R4s in dire conditions to score a magnificent double victory.

A great all-rounder and a member of TDC (Trials Drivers’ Club), Dermot started Autotesting in the early 1960s and becoming a ten-time National Autotest Champion between 1967 and 1986. Dermot was successful in rallies in Ireland as well, winning the Castlereagh Trophy when the Circuit of Ireland was a five-day marathon.

His career spanned seven decades, but it is for his achievements in Rallycross that Dermot will be best remembered. He was a great ambassador for the sport, supporting and advising younger drivers for which his contribution was acknowledged when he was awarded the Ivan Webb Memorial Trophy for services to motorsport in 2006.

He will be sadly missed by the motorsport community of Ireland and the UK and by his daughters, grandchildren and close family. HERO-ERA will remember a great competitor and friend. RIP Dermot Carnegie.