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Rally News - March 29, 2009
Rally News and Border Bites
Bulldog Rally, Wales
David Bogie and Kevin Rae finished fifth overall in their Mitsubishi Lancer EVO10 at the weekend on the Bulldog Rally in Wales, but perhaps even more impressive was Dave Weston Jnr and Neil Shanks’ sixth place in the Subaru Impreza N14. Stevie Brown Andrew Roughead finished 9th Ford Fiesta ST and 23rd overall despite almost running out of fuel on the last stage, but sadly, Euan Thorburn and Claire Mole retired the Revolution Wheels Subaru Impreza on Stage 3. John Boyd and Fred Bell Ford Fiesta ST finished an excellent third overall in the Bulldog Challenge Rally, but Neil Coalter and Hannah Cessford were forced out in the third test with gearbox failure in their Ford Fiesta ST
Fix Auto Swansea Tour Of Epynt
Ross Hunter and Eildon Hall finished 13th overall and 7th in class in their Mitsubishi EVO4 on last month's Tour of Epynt and would have been well inside the top ten had it not been for a transmission problem with the car. But Ross was back in action on the Border Counties - servicing for sister Sarah. She had a new Peugeot 205 for her rally debut and had a wee bit of a test before the rally. Unfortunately, the wee car did a woopsie on the first stage, but Ross and Dad, Ian, soon had her back on the road and she finished her first rally.
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Ken Wood needs a contributing co-driver for the forthcoming Granite City Rally. If there is someone out there unafraid of high speed and unlikely to blush at the sound of coarse language, then few could provide more thrills per mile than the three times Scottish champion. If you want proof, check out the 'Snowman Gossip' page in the 'Rally News' section of this very web site!
Contact: Ken@kenwood4.wanadoo.co.uk
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Even though it was announced at the Drivers Briefing on the Friday night before the Border Counties National B Rally start, some folk missed out. At the rally start on Saturday morning they headed off to Stage 1, whereas they should have started their rally on page 23 of the Roadbook and headed out to Stage 3, which was the actual start of the rally for National B runners. By the time they had realised their mistake, they were out of time! The moral of this story is read the Regulations carefully, attend the pre-rally Drivers Briefing and double check the Roadbook at the Rally Start. It's not just the penalties that are embarrassing, think of the slagging you'll get when your mates find out!
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Who'd have thought it? Jock 'Call me Janice' Armstrong is a right big softie. He appeared at the start of the Border Counties with a new sticker across the boot lid - 'Happy Mother's Day' it said. As for the new nickname, he reckons he was driving like an old woman first time out in his new Subaru. Just don't let on I told you.
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Dave Tennant says he is building a Murtaya kit car for Kris to drive on the Tunnock's Tour of Mull Rally in October. The Bitz Motorsport team is expecting a competition Murtaya shell soon and they already have a Subaru which can provide the donor parts.
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John McClory was in all sorts of action at the Border Counties. He ran Course Car on the National A stages on the Friday evening and despite wild rumours to the contrary, he didn't actually go off. No, the real truth is that he stopped to help another car which was stuck, but as he stepped out of the Honda, it rolled back into a ditch. "I didn't realise just how dark it is in the forest at night," said John, "I didn't realise I was so close to the ditch, I didn't even see it - and maybe I didn't quite get the handbrake full on!" Yup, old age doesn't come itself. He also managed to get himself out of the after rally prizegiving. Apparently the shy and retiring McClory roped in big John Fife to stand in for him - as if folk would notice! And no that wasn't another brand new service barge he had on the road. As sponsor of the Brick and Steel 205 Ecosse Challenge, John presented Digby and his team with a brand new Merc Sprinter to help support Scottish rallying's fledglings. Rallying needs more folk like him.
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It's bad enough when I meet up with the sons and daughters of rally folk that I know, but when it gets to the stage grandchildren competing on rallies, I really am starting to feel my age. Caroline Will had a run on the Snowman with stage rally debutant Stuart Walker and the duo were out again on the Border Counties. But while chatting with Bill Davidson at the finish he let slip that Caroline was his grand daughter - surely I can't be as old as Bill? Anyway, 16 year old Caroline is doing the Granite City with Stuart again, only she won't be 16 any more. She celebrates her 17th birthday on the Granite. Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better!
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Ivor Clark missed out on the Border Counties, although he was actually in Jedburgh at the weekend. He was in fact, baby-sitting. Jaggy spotted him with the kids throwing stones in the Jed Water. Next thing you know he'll be building dams with stones, sailing paper boats and going for a paddle with rolled up trousers.
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Jovial Jim McDowall had a new car at the Border Counties. Yes, I know it was a Mazda, but it was another Mazda. After his bump on the Galloway Hills with his first Mazda he needed bits. Eventually he found a complete car in Preston, but he was fast running out of time to repair his own car, so he refettled the new one and finished 50th on the Border. Now he's got two rally Mazdas!
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Young Alec Brown managed to prize the Talbot Sunbeam Suzuki out of his Dad's hands for the Border Counties. He did Crail with the car last year, but this was his first forest event. Despite the exhaust falling off twice (and he blamed Donald's dodgy welding!) Alec finished 65th overall and 4th in class. Crivvens, it took his Dad years to get a result like that!
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How did we ever manage before without duck tape? When the gear linkage started to fail on his Nova on the Border Counties, Fraser Wilson taped up the bushes to stay in the rally.
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And finally. I had to laugh. Bob Morland asked what I thought of the "game of skittles" on the Border Counties. He was of course referring to the cones which the organisers used to mark out the chicanes rather than use some more intimidating obstacles. The trouble is, it is quite costly to transport bales or tyres or drums in and out of stages to build chicanes, but it's a lot easier just to put out cones and apply penalties for any which are knocked over. It wasn't a popular solution in some quarters, but if anyone can come up with an affordable alternative, I'll pass it on to the clubs.
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