News & Gossip from Dumfries …
On their first visit to the UK, the Japanese crew of Motoharu Kaseya and Kohei Izuno finished 16th overall in the main event. They also won the ‘Spirit of the Rally’ award in recognition of their efforts in the EuroRallye Honda Civic Type R. When asked what he thought of the Scottish stages, Motoharu indicated that they don’t have big rocks in Japan! Both crew members are staying on in Scotland for a week to pursue two other ambitions, tasting haggis and sampling some of the more rarified brands of Scotland’s ‘water of life’. Neither of the crew spoke English very well (and didn’t comprehend Scottish at all) so discussions and interviews were conducted with much nodding, grimacing and hand waving. Thankfully, an interpreter was on hand, one Leslie Mabon Esq, formerly of this parish. The funniest thing was listening to Leslie talking Japanese. If you shut your eyes and just listened you would have thought he was wearing a bandana and carrying a sword.
BRC Challenge Round Up
Russ Thompson and Andy Murphy won the NGK BRC Challenge event taking their second win from three events, but taking his second runner-up position in two events were Ross Hunter and Josh Davidson in the Peugeot 205. Ross only registered at the Jim Clark and beat Thompson into second place, but his second place on the Scottish has put him in contention for the seven round series. In fact, Ross has now booked his annual holidays to coincide with the next round in Ulster!
Steven Smith and Daniel Johnstone made it two thirds in a row in their Peugeot 206. Coupled with his sixth place on the Pirelli, that has put Steven into fourth place in the Championship behind Thompson, Gareth White and Richard Sykes, but just above Hunter. “We had a puncture in the second last stage,” said Steven, “in fact that was our third of the day, but were more worried about the diff. It wasn’t working on the last two stages and it was knocking very loudly, but we got here.”
In fourth place and keeping his Championship title hopes alive were Gareth White and Mike Dickson in the Citroen C2R2. “That last stage was ‘ba’s oot’, but we had a couple of moments,” grinned Gareth, “that’s three fourth places on the trot – now for Ireland.”
Des Campbell and Alex Orr were on course to finish fourth overall in the Peugeot 206, but a 2 minute penalty dropped them to eighth place. That was a real shame as the mix-up in times came after an accident on the final stage and the following road section, but it could have been worse. “We fair enjoyed the rally,” said Des, “but we’re just losing out on power to the other boys.”
Our own Steven Brown co-drove Irishman John Byrnes and his Honda Civic into seventh place and both were pretty chuffed with that. John had missed the Jim Clark so was a bit rusty on the stages. “That last stage was fantastic,” beamed Steven, “but we had a puncture in the second last one.”
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An interested spectator at this year’s Scottish Rally was twice Scottish Rally Champion (1975 and 1977) Charles Samson. Like many ‘old hands’ he was rather dismayed to note that the winner of this year’s ‘modern’ Scottish Rally actually spent less than 36 minutes driving flat out over ‘only’ 5 stages to win this event.
When he won his first Championship title in 1975, he finished 11th overall on that year’s Scottish Rally. At that time everyone did the same route, both works teams and amateurs, and the same stages – all 44 of them! And this was an event which had been shortened to three days because of ‘economic and political considerations’ – some things never change, eh?
The winner of that Scottish Rally was one Roger Clark Esq who recorded a total time of 241 minutes and 56 seconds for the 44 tests. “I took a wee bit longer than that,” said Charles, as he recalled the fact that he rolled his MkI Escort in Whiteash Forest that year, “but we only lost 2 minutes.”
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As we all know, co-drivers are honest and truthful at all times. That’s how rally crews inside the car work. Apparently not. Peter Carstairs has come up with a ploy to gee up John Morrison: “When we come to the end of a stage he (John) always asks how John McClory did since he is in the same Group N class as us,” said Peter, “but during the Scottish I was giving him Alistair Inglis’ times.” They finished TWO seconds behind McClory on the Scottish. “Next time I’ll try him with David Bogie’s times,” said Peter.
One man who could have been in serious trouble on the Scottish was Richard Dickson. On the day of the rally it was his 17th wedding anniversary, so how did he get time off: “Nancy is in Barcelona with her pals,” said Richard at the finish, and added, “I’ve just texted her – Happy anniversary darling, missing you already.” As he headed off to the pub.
Alasdair S Graham was a bit dischuffed after the first two stages when he booked into Service at Heathhall – with a ‘shot-blasted’ front end. “We caught a Porsche in there,” said the Corsa pilot, “and had to follow him for 2 miles with the headlights on full beam – till he broke them! Eventually he pulled over to let us through but the windscreen was broken as well.”
First time out in the Ford Fiesta ST, Gary Macleod suffered a puncture on the first stage, but worse was to follow when he retired in the penultimate stage. I didn’t see him at the finish but faither was there waiting for Ruary and filled me in: “The gearbox mounting broke and he couldn’t get gears,” said Calum, “but when Malcolm (Proudlock) walked in to find him, he found the mounting bolt lying on the road 100 yards before he found the car!”
And now a cautionary tale from Grant Inglis who had cause to curse his forgetfulness: “The car fell off the road twice in the first two stages,” said Grant, but there was worse to come in the afternoon, “I put my helmet down waiting in the queue at the In-Control, and then when I put it on it was full of midges. I could feel the wee beggars biting my ears all the way through.” My skin is crawling just thinking about it!
A sheepish Jordan Black explained what happened when he went off in Ae: “I outbraked myself and slid off,” said Jordan, at which point, some of his ‘mates’ piped up: “Outbraked himself? He braked 50 yards later than every other bleedin’ driver, no wonder he went off.” It’s nice to have friends.
Allegedly, a certain competitor got a speeding ticket on the way out of Dumfries to the first stage. Apparently he overtook another driver who had slowed to turn left, so ‘the culprit’ had put on a spurt to get round it, when he got ‘gunned’. He was lucky, had the Police officially reported the matter to the rally organisers he would have been excluded, but since they didn’t, he was still in the rally.
Councillor Finlay Carson, from Dumfries & Galloway Sport and Recreation committee, presented the prizes and awards at the end of the Scottish Rally and stayed there till the bitter end, despite the delay for the ‘internationals’ arriving back in Dumfries. He also had a run with Euan Thorburn on the Focus WRC at the shakedown and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, so he’s a bit of a rally fan. More to the point, he was wearing a Jock Armstrong / Team Earsman rally jacket, but how did he get it? According to one reliable source, Jock had a bet with him. If he ran around the local caravan park naked, Jock would give him a free jacket. Finlay didn’t have to stump up for the jacket!
And finally …
Some folks just don’t take our great sport as seriously as they should. The driver should be committed to revs, gear changes and corners and the co-driver should be committed to his Notes and yelling words of encouragement to his driver. They should have time for little else in the white hot heat of battle. Not so in the Scott Peacock/Keith Riddick Peugeot 205. “I’m really disappointed. Keith beat me today, and at one point we were level pegging,” said Scott. When asked what the hell he was talking about, Scott explained: “We were playing ‘horse’ and Keith beat me 7 – 4.” Still puzzled I sought further elucidation: “When we’re bored flat-out in the Peugeot we count the horses that we pass in the fields, and Keith saw 7, I only saw 4!” I don’t think their parents should let them out unaccompanied.
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