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Rally News - Friday 25th July 2009 Kames Kalamities Bruce Edwards was using the Kames event as a shakedown for next weekend’s two day Mercury Motorsport Stages event at Ingliston. He had fitted a ‘new’ engine to the Darrian and wanted to put some miles on it. ‘New’ is a relative term in the Edwards vocabulary. This engine was in fact the original Honda S2000 engine which failed when the sump was holed nearly two years ago at Crail and had been replaced by another scrapped Honda engine (bought from a Scrutineer no less) as a temporary measure – which lasted almost two years. Finally he completed the rebuild of his original engine and installed it ready for the next round of the Hytorc Scottish Tarmack Championshp next weekend. Sandy Arbuthnott brought his Metro 6R4 to Kames to try and get some miles on the car. The car had been rebuilt following an accident at the Granite, but on the Scottish Rally it only got 100 yards before the ignition pack failed. “I was out on Tuesday night with the car, testing with Andy Horne,” said Sandy, “I hardly had time to get my belts done up. Within yards of him getting in the car, it was sideways, and he was looking across at me and saying ‘It was fine’, so I thought a run out at Kames just to get some miles on the car would be good.” Fastest time on the second last stage proved that things were going in the right direction at last. Bernie Rooney appeared at Kames with the ex-John Gray Ford Escort Mk1. The car still had its Vauxhall red-top engine, but Bernie is thinking of sourcing a Ford unit and perhaps doing some Historic events. However, Bernie changes his car more often than his underpants so who knows what he’ll do next. Still, his tyre-smoking antics at Kames provided a real treat for spectators. The next generation of Team McRae have entered next weekend’s Mercury Motorsport Stages Rally at Ingliston. After three seasons of autograss racing, 17 year old Kenneth McRae contested his first stage rally at the Ingliston April event, but the diff failed, so the 18 year old is celebrating his birthday by doing the next round of the Scottish Hytorc Championship. Co-driving will be older sister Janet, the first time the two have competed together. Prior to autograss racing herself, Janet co-drove for her Dad, Lanarkshire Car Club stalwart, Ian McRae on navigational rallies, but this will be her first return to the left hand seat since she was 14! The duo will use the family autograss Peugeot 205 which has been converted to rally spec. Peter McCallum had to get himself a new co-driver for Kames when son Peter deserted him. He had only gone and got himself a job at the Turnberry Golf Open for the week and was acting as a Steward at the practice ground. And yes, he got himself a stack of autographs. All the main ones except Tiger's – but he got the right one, Tom Watson's! Taking dedication to new heights was Peugeot 205 driver Steven Smith. He had cut short a holiday in Cyprus just to come back and do Kames. Mind you, he left Maw and Paw over there, so there was no parental guidance/interference at Kames! He finished 9th overall, so maybe there is a moral there. There was a bit of musical cars going on at Kames. Gavin and Karen Lloyd got married just a few weeks back and they were in different cars at Kames. Karen finished 10th overall, co-driving for Neil Thompson while hubby Gavin finished 12th, some 17 seconds adrift. Both crews had their troubles so it was a close run affair. Still, I wonder who made the tea when they got home that night? Speaking of marital status, Gerry McCafferty got married last weekend to Francine Mitchell, so it looks as though the Corsa will be staying in the garage for a few weeks yet. Gerry blew the rally budget on a honeymoon to the Maldives! Start as you mean to go on Gerry, why don't you. It's obvious the school holiday season is well underway in Scotland (earlier than Englandshire) because Iain Haining was telling me he had been to 5 theme parks with the weans in the past week before Kames. Apparently the best ride was 'Rita – Queen of Speed' at Alton Towers. Apparently, climbing back into the Nova was a bit of a comedown for the speed freak on his return. “And then I come back, step into the Nova. Acceleration? It's pathetic after that,” said Iain. Kames was Steven Bogle's first rally although he had participated in a Kames Time Trial last year. Naturally, Jaggy refused to believe that Steven was the younger brother of Jaqueline Bryson who was co-driving. After all, Steven is bald and Jacqueline isn't, so you can understand my scepticism. But I'll tell you what, the wee yellow Mini looks a treat. And he was going quick enough to spin it and put a dinkle in the chrome rear bumper. I had to laugh. When Fergus Gray took the roll bar off his Peugeot to help it handle in the dry conditions, he suggested to David Halley that he do the same. Only he couldn't. He sheepishly admitted that the bolts were seized on and he couldn't get them off. Apparently after his last event he just parked up the car at the back of the house and forgot about it. Well, he is a farmer after all, and a 206 is a wee bit different to a John Deere. I don't suppose many of you will know this, and some of the old hands will have forgotten it, but this year marks the 25th anniversary of the Kames facility which opened for business in April 1984. A lot of folk slagged it off at the time, but it has provided an essential service in Scottish motorsport, particularly at grass roots level. In fact a young Colin McRae cut his rallying teeth at Kames in the early days. Just talking about Kames, Robert Smith is currently compiling a history of the circuit and of East Ayrshire Car Club's efforts to get it financed and built in the early days. The success of the facility is down to the effort and sheer stubborn-ness of those early pioneers who could so easily have given up at times with all the forms they had to fill in and the hoops they had to jump through just to get it built and established. We could do with a few more enterprising rednecks like them. So when the book comes out make sure you buy a copy. It won't be ready till next year, Robert is Editor of the Speedscene newsletter for the hillclimbers and sprinters so that keeps him busy during the season. And before I go, I've just heard that erstwhile Corsa pilot Derek Masterton is recuperating after a fall. He broke his ankle when he fell off a roof. And no, he wasn't escaping from the Polis at the time – he's a roofer! At least he's got the stookie off, but the Doctor says it will be a few weeks before he can drive. That's a miracle eh? He couldn't drive before he fell – only kidding Derek. **** |