… News from the Service Area at Arbroath …
One thing struck me at Glenrothes MSC’s Memorial Garden Stages Rally, and no it wasn’t flying rocks or dinged door mirrors, it was the number of current rally drivers and co-drivers who were out marshalling and officiating. Even those who have not registered in the MSA Marshal scheme had volunteered to do set-up, no easy task at a single venue event these days with bales bigger than cars, tyre barriers to erect and cones to place, and then again when they undertook the stage directions changeover at half distance. I won’t try to name them all ‘cos I’ll miss some out for sure, but the high numbers were noticeable. A fine example to set, but I wonder if any others will take notice?
The cause of Ian Paterson’s loss of power steering during the first two stages at Arbroath had nothing to do with the electric pump or motor. The day after Ingliston when he was pressure washing the car, and under the bonnet, he inadvertently washed all the grease out of the top strut mounts. So the steering was working fine, but it was having to work harder ‘cos of the lack of lubrication. Naturally Mrs P was understandably sympathetic to hubby’s discomfort stating: “That’ll teach him, put that down to his OCD after each rally when the car is cleaned, washed and polished”.
Amy McCubbin is looking forward to her next Junior 1000 outing when she hopes to be at the wheel of her new car. She and her Dad, Marc are currently building a Skoda Citigo, but it’s a question of who is helping who. There are two different opinions on that view.
Ian Forgan was facing a busy weekend ahead of Arbroath, because after the rally on Saturday he was off to Knockhill Race Circuit on the Sunday. Nothing to do with cars though, his 11 year old son Kyle was entered in the ‘MacTuff Kids’ race and he had to have an adult running with him. Naturally Kathryn stepped back from volunteering so Ian was roped in. The 5k off-road course included such physical delights as the Muddy Crawl, Tyre Tunnel, Wee Bit Wet (!), Mud Pit, the Trench and the Rope Climb. Oddly enough I haven’t heard from Ian since.
And finally …
If it actually happens I will be impressed, although I have my doubts, but the three munchkateers were seen deep in plotting mode. Brian Watson had brought a set of scales with him to Arbroath upon which he, James Gibb and Nigel Feeney were each going to weigh themselves prior to leaving the rally and head home. They have each pledged to put 20 quid per week into a kitty with the winner taking all at the next weigh-in at the Solway Coast Rally on the first weekend of August. That’s about 14 weeks away, so you do the maths. The object of the bet is to see who can lose the most weight. So, a word of advice to all rally fans, best avoid these three over the next few weeks, there’s nothing more grumpy than a starving munchkin.