… Snowman Rally – Class Roundup …
Class 2
Angus Lawrie won the 1450cc Class in his Vauxhall Corsa by over 3 minutes from the Skoda Felicia of Craig Martin with Stephen Fraser’s genuine Mini 1275 GT masking it round to finish third. As for tarmac rally front runner, Ross Carbry, his first foray into the forests resulted in a roll on the first stage but managed to get the car out and carry on although he finished last. Angus MacQueen was spotted under the bonnet of the Nova at first service fixing a loose front strut top and was able to carry on.
Class 3
Chris Collie made a surprise appearance in the 1650 (16v) class and won by over 2 minutes from Scott MacDonald. “My pal had bought a Peugeot 205 last August and hadn’t used it yet, and asked if I would like to do the Snowman” said Collie, “so we blew up the tyres, got an MOT, and here we are.” The Lancer driver quickly acclimatised to the lack of power while MacDonald was delighted with second in class in his Nova having purchased a ‘new’ gearbox for 70 quid off Ebay! Donald Peacock was only 7 seconds behind MacDonald at the finish in his 205: “I think we were ‘off’ more than we were ‘on’,” he explained.
Class 4
Ian Cattanach won the 8v 1650 class in his Talbot Sunbeam navigated by fiance, Lisa Watson, but only after serious debate about raiding the wedding budget to buy snow tyres! Graeme MacVicar was second in his Fiesta with Andy Struthers scoring third in his Citroen C2. Thomas Gray was looking glum (as usual!) in fourth place in his new Fiesta R2 with bent back axle: “It was bent before the rally and I got a new one sent up, but it didn’t fit!”
Class 5
Paddy Munro won the 8v 2050 class in his Mk2 from the similar car of John O’Kane with Scott McQueen running virtually last car on the road taking third in his Peugeot 205.
Class 6
The auld skeezick was in a class of his own – literally. Ian and Sandy Milne (the boy!) were the only starters, and finishers, in the Historic class in their Mk2.
Class 7
Ruaraidh Stubbs was top 2WD runner in the 16v 2050 class with his Fiesta but there were only 11 seconds between him and Scott Burness in his Fiesta ST at the finish. Kevin Gray was third in his Astra but any hopes Caroline Carslaw had of a class win disappeared in the first stage when she lost 5 minutes trying to avoid another car which was already off. Then her Fiesta ST punctured a tyre on the second stage. No luck today, eh?
Class 8
Grant Inglis took the spoils in the RWD class for 16v 2050 cars in his Mk2 from the similar car of Dougal Brown but when Dougal’s clutch cable broke in SS1 he had to do SS2 with vicegrips in place till fixed properly at service. Sandy MacKenzie was third in his Opel Manta.
Class 9
Kevin Ronaldson and the Metro 6R4 won the class from the BMW 130i of Donald Brooker with Sandy Arbuthnott retiring his Mk2 in the third stage with engine failure – even without the Metro that boy has no luck at all!
Class 10
Reay MacKay was top GrpN runner from John Morrison and Fraser Wilson losing out with a spin and a stall on SS2.
Class 11
Dale Robertson was the class winner from Jimmy Christie and Steven Ronaldson while Mike Grant parked up his Subaru after the third stage with a blown turbo. Iain Wilson was off the pace but finished 7th in class after the Subaru’s front diff failed in the second stage but he carried on with RWD. Ross MacFadzean hit trouble on the first stage, when the Lancer slid off the adverse camber on the approach to the bridge near the stage finish: “It was stuck on the edge of the road and I couldn’t get out of the car or it would have slipped over the edge. Luckily some spectators arrived and pushed us out.” Just don’t tell the MSA about the helpful specs, eh?
Class 12
McDonald, Milne and McCulloch were the top three while Barry Groundwater was 6th and summed it up for most when he said: “I was so close to binning it lots of times today.” Ross MacDonald survived an incident on SS4: “I got sucked into a ditch and hit something solid. The sumpguard took the brunt of it and bounced the car back on to the road.”
Class 13
Pearson took the honours here from MacCrone and John Rintoul in the Hyundai.
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