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Rally News - Sunday 4th October Head to Head on Tour of Mull A father and son will go head to head next weekend, on one of the UK’s longest and toughest rallies in the British national motor sports calendar, the Tunnock’s Tour of Mull Rally. Twelve times winner of the event, Neil MacKinnon will be aiming for his 13th victory, but son Paul will be aiming for his second. When Neil retired early in the rally last year, Paul swept to his maiden win on this unique event, leaving the pre-rally question unanswered – just who is the best – the ol’ man or the young gun? Looking ahead to this year’s event, Paul MacKinnon talked about his main rivals: “If Dad gets a clear run, he’ll be a hard man to beat. He was quick over the first two stages last year before his car failed. And Calum will be quick again. His car’s well set up for the roads over here and he’s got a good tyre combination which was his weakness last year.” But Paul will be lucky to make the start this year: “Three weeks ago I wasn’t doing the rally. I had no car, no co-driver and no money, but Ewen MacGillivray who is co-driving for me next week was down to drive his own car, but it wasn’t going to be ready in time, so he said let’s pool our resources. My own car was up for sale (the yellow Impreza) so we decided to use that and it is currently being refettled, and Ewen has also managed to attract some extra sponsorship cash.” “It’s all been a bit last minute but we’ve got a new front brake set-up this year and the front brakes were the biggest problem last year, so at the moment we’re looking good!” Even more ‘un-ready’ is Paul’s Dad, Neil: “I haven’t driven my car yet. The first chance I’ll get is the Thursday before the rally!” Neil has been working on civil engineering contracts on the mainland for the past few months, but he’ll be using a McKinstry Impreza: “I’m not too sure how I’ll get on, the pair of them (Paul and Calum Duffy) went well last year. Calum’s got more power and better tyres, but Paul has a good head on his shoulders, he has a good feel for a car and understands suspension set-ups, so he’ll be good.” Neil also rates Dougi Hall: “He’ll be up there too. He goes well, and so too will young Dave Pattison. He’s got a good feel for a car and carries good speed. He was 5th on the Barum Rally in the Czech Republic on his first visit there and that was an excellent result. Willie Bonniwell has been preparing hard for this event too and then of course you can’t discount John Cope. He’s had a bit of bad luck with his car over the past few events, but two years back when he lost time on the first stage he made it all back up again. That was quick.” In fact the only person worried is Susan MacKinnon: “Aye, the wife would rather just one of us was doing it,” said Neil, “now she’ll be worried about the two of us. I don’t know how she’ll get on, but yes, she is very supportive.” However, the MacKinnons are only two of the top drivers attracted to the annual Tunnock’s Tour of Mull Rally. Three wins, one second and a third in the past 10 years mark out Dervaig’s Calum Duffy as another top contender, but it’s the way that Calum has scored his results that has seared his performances into the memory banks of legions of rally fans. In one of the closest finishes on record, he was only 9 seconds behind ‘MacKinnon the Younger’ last year after 150 miles of stages. The MkII Ford Escort has been completely rebuilt for this year’s event. The John Reid engine also has a ‘tad’ (that’s a technical term) more power and the change back to a 5 speed ‘box should make the most of it and provide added reliability. “We tested it in Donegal two months ago,” said Calum, “and seem to have cured the problem of the tyres going ‘off’. That was the big problem last year and hopefully we’ve solved it.” He finished 7th on the Donegal National Rally and was pleased with that: “The car’s as good as we’re going to get it. The encouraging thing is that it was wet at times in Donegal and the car and the tyres were still good, so that stands us in good stead for Mull next weekend.” The top English seed in the 150 car entry is Appleby’s Dougi Hall. He was 2nd in 1999 and 4th in 1997 and has led the rally in the past, but so far, outright success has eluded him. On the recent Pendragon Rally in Cumbria he was leading till his Mitsubishi Lancer punctured a tyre. Looking ahead to next weekend’s event, Dougi said: “Mull is the one I want to win. I’ve got to go faster than the others, have no mechanical problems and stay on the road – easier said than done!” Dougi is also a keen cyclist and each year before the rally he cycles the 22 mile rally stage from Gruline, round Calgary to Dervaig, in aid of the Bear Cubs charity. His target is to break the one hour barrier. Last year he took 1 hour 5 minutes 36 seconds, with an average speed of just over 20 mph, his best time yet! This year he aims to beat it. Anyone fancy joining him? Speaking of the Bear Cubs, this was a local initiative founded by local rally driver Steve Davies. He capitalised on a growing interest fostered annually by the rally organisers, Lancashire based 2300 Club, who each year contact and work with all the schools on the island to explain how rallies are run and contested. This has led to a growing passion for the sport amongst the island’s youngsters. Through his own garage business, Steve has put in many evening and weekend hours encouraging a group of nineteen 12 to 17 year olds to build their own rally cars and compete in them once they have reached driving age. This superb initiative has already helped to promote a ‘star of the future’ in young John MacCrone who currently leads the Brick & Steel 205 Ecosse Challenge in the national Scottish Rally Championship. The fun kicks off on Thursday evening (8th October) at the Aros Hall in Tobermory Main Street, when motor sports journalist John Fife hosts the annual Tunnock’s Rally Forum and among the guests this year are father and son, Neil and Paul MacKinnon – although neither of them know the other is on the panel. They will now, after they read this! Joining them will be other ‘stars of the special stage’ including co-driver Dave Cabena contesting his 40th Mull and his driver Chris Paton contesting his 39th – a remarkable achievement on this 40th anniversary of the ‘Best Rally in the World.’ The Route: Leg 1 - Friday 8th October
19.45 Hrs Leg 2 – Saturday 9th October
12 Noon. Leg 3 – Saturday 9th October
21.00 Hrs. To keep up to date with news and results from the rally, tune in to: www.2300club.org **
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