…Voyonic Grampian Stages Rally, Sat 13 Aug 2022 …
Rd6 (of 8) 2022 KNC Groundworks Scottish Rally Championship
Class Roundup
M7 (See main report too)
Fourth in class last time out, Mark McCulloch and Michael Hendry were winners this time in the Proton Satria Evo ahead of Angus Lawrie/Paul Gribben and Scott Beattie/Peredur Davies in their Evos. Michael Binnie/Claire Mole and Willie Paterson/Tom Hynd failed to finish as did Jock Armstrong/Cammy Fair and Scott McCombie/Murray Strachan. Joining that long list of retirements were Aileen and John Forrest in the Evo9 sliding off the road on the final stage just when an excellent finish was in sight although Kevin Crawford and Andrew Stevenson disappeared earlier in SS2. Chris Collie and Ricky Finlayson also non-finished after stopping at Willie Paterson’s accident. By the time they got out of the forest they were virtually last on the road and with no chance of ‘re-seeding’ and a decent result Chris thought he would save the car for the Galloway Hills.
Pro2
The pace of the Peugeot 208 Rally4 was once again superbly demonstrated by Peter Stewart and Harry Marchbank as they finished 18th overall and first 2WD with Peter saying: “The car is now for sale – we’ve got a new one coming for next season!” Richard Stewart (Snr) and Carin Tait-Logan were second in the sister car to Peter’s.
Pro4 (See main report too)
The finishing order here was Bogie, Henderson, Brunton and Carmichael who also managed to score maximum points in the BRC National class, with Wink 5th and Stephen Dickson and Dean O’Sullivan who finished 6th in class. First time out in their Fiesta R5 the former Lancer pilot was on a steep learning curve not helped by a sticking throttle on SS1. He managed to fix this before SS2 and survived a near off on SS4 to finish 16th o/a but more importantly he beat his Dad, Ashley Dickson and Des Sherlock who finished 22nd o/a and 8th in class. Apparently they were intent on cuffing the ‘youngster’ but on the first stage the Fiesta R5 slid off the road although they managed to reverse out, however any chance of beating Ashley had now evaporated. Sandwiched between the duelling Dicksons taking 7th in class was the Fiesta Rally2 of Bob Adamson and Jamie Edwards. Stuart and Marc Irvine were 9th in the Hyundai Accent WRC having survived a wee fright on the first stage when the ECU fell out and landed on Stuart’s foot as they approached the FF but managed to coast to the Stop line. Tom Coughtrie and Daniel Forsyth were 10th in the class with the only trouble here being finding a seat to fit the svelte figure of young Forsyth compared to the rather more robust figure of Tom’s usual co-driver Big Fraze! Bruce McCombie and Michael Coutts lost out with gearbox failure in the Focus and John Rintoul and Ross Hynd slid the Fiesta off the road in SS2.
H1
Stuart Egglestone and Brian Hodgson in their Historic spec Escort Mk2 were again on scintillating form finishing 19th overall just behind the top 2WD car of Peter Stewart. “We had to keep it tidy today,” said Stuart, “it was just too easy to get the rear wheels on to the loose and slide off.” Hugo and Arthur MacMillan wheeled out their Escort Mk1 into the sunlight again and finish second in class ahead of David McLeod and Eamon Boyle in their Sunbeam who managed to finish despite a slight panic when they lost the QuickRelease bolts holding the gearbox on to the flywheel housing.
H2
Steve Bannister and Callum Atkinson had another good run in the Mk2 finishing 20th overall just behind Eggy and ahead of the Subaru Legacy of Donald Brooker and Tony Booth. The mechanically sympathetic Ernie Lee broke his gear lever in SS1 and managed to cope with the stub through SS2 to reach Service before he and Patricia then survived a safari type off road excursion on the fifth stage when the BMW 325i took to the undergrowth. “We slid so far off on the outside of a fast right hander, that I thought, as a farmer, there is no way this will go back out the way it went in without a tractor, so I just pinned it, clearing a ditch and vaulting a banking to rapturous applause from the spectators!” And there is video footage of the incident out there somewhere on t’internet! Ian and Sandy Milne were 4th in class in the Escort Mk2 although Ian was moaning about the amount of stoor that he would have to shovel out the car when he got it home. It wasn’t a good day for Jim Robertson and Mike Curry, the Escort’s clutch failed on the very first stage! Still they don’t have so far to travel on the next round. The Galloway Hills is on their doorstep.
BRC1 (see also main report)
It could be argued that Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin had the best of conditions at the weekend with no dust clouds to peer through but then they were first on the road and had to clear the stoor and pebbles out of the way in their Polo. Even so they consolidated their leading British Championship points position. Osian Pryce and Noel O’Sullivan were second in their Polo but it was a close run thing as the Fabia R5 of Ruairi Bell and Max Freeman was hot on their heels – until a visit to the scenery in the final stage cost a chunk of time and they had to settle for third. James Williams and Dai Roberts got off to a good start in the Hyundai but brake troubles slowed them in the latter half of the rally and they lost ground to the leaders although stayed clear of Jason Pritchard and Phil Clarke in the Polo. Andy Davies and Michael Gilbey took sixth in their Fiesta R5 but admitted they still have a lot to learn about the new car. Garry Pearson and Dale Furniss were chasing the top three till the penultimate stage when the Fiesta simply ran out of grip and slid off the road. Elliot Payne and Patrick Walsh also failed to finish when the Fiesta developed a serious oil leak putting them out.
BRC4
There wasn’t much to choose between the Fiesta Rally4 of Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan and the Peugeot Rally4 of Kyle White and Sean Topping, both crews barely separated by more than a few seconds at any one time – until the penultimate stage. White ripped a brake pipe off the Peugeot and he was out. Johnnie Mulholland and Eoin Treacy were the main beneficiaries in their Fiesta Rally4 taking second in class ahead of Ioan Lloyd and Sion Williams who only managed third in class after SuperRally rules had to be used. Their Peugeot 208 Rally4 missed out on the first two stages because of a fuel leak which had to be repaired.