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Rally News - March 2, 2010 Snowballs With the Brick & Steel Border Counties event just a couple of weeks away, those competitors who are running Group N cars are advised to check eligibility. There was a bit of a stooshie as Scrutineering drew to a close on Friday night at the Snowman. The area under question is the upgrading of previous model Group N cars to current model Group N. For instance, if someone has a Group N EVO8, it would appear to be impossible to update it to EVO9 Group N spec even if all the right Group N bits are used. Apparently, it all comes back to the chassis plate or VIN number. If the vehicle was originally registered as a Lancer 08 it can’t be turned into a Lancer 09. Any attempts to change chassis plates or VIN numbers could contravene the Road Traffic Act as well which brings in the question of legality for public use on the public road. If anyone has any doubts about the eligibility of their cars they really should try and resolve before the Border, and that means speaking to the Scroots. There was something else going on behind the scenes at the Snowman, unbeknownst to many folk who were competing or spectating. The organisers were using GPRS phones to help with the rally timing. Phones were hooked up to the Stage Start Clocks and the Finish Clocks with actual times being sent automatically and ‘live’ to Brian’s Flying Finish Rally Results service back in Rally HQ. All the marshals had to do was key in the competitor car number. This was the first time the system had been tried and although it worked well during the pre-event testing, there were a couple of glitches on the day with phone signals dropping out, no doubt due to ethereal traffic with folk updating their Facebook or Twitter pages while out in the woods. Anyway, the system offers a lot of potential as the sport is dragged into the 21st century. A similar system (but more expensive and with more kit including the use of satellites) is used on the WRC and was used on Rally Scotland, so Highland Car Club were first to use a cut-down version on a national event. And here’s the educational bit. Did you know that voice calls take priority over data calls when using mobile phones, hence the reason that sometimes, texts are not received the instant they are sent? The things you learn, eh? Hoping to run Course Car duty on the Snowman was John MacCrone, but the car isn’t ready yet. He’s half way there in his plans to do the BRC in a Ford Fiesta R2 this year but it doesn’t look as though he’ll have the car much before the first round of the series on the 27th of March, the Bulldog. Some sponsorship for the assault has been obtained but more is needed, can anyone help? Speaking of MacCrone, there was no sign of Alasdair on the Snowman. The Corsa is still in Steve Davies’ workshop on Mull but it will be the Granite City before it is ready. The irrepressible Ken Wood combined a visit to the Snowman with the collection of his latest acquisition. Whilst scouring Ebay recently he came across another pristine Dolomite Sprint – and found it was residing only 8 miles from Inverness! That makes 13 Dollies in various states of composition parked up in his secret fleet! He reckons he’ll have his original white car rebuilt and ready for the Granite City. Jimmy Girvan and Mike Ramsay were spectating at the Snowman – but they also registered for the Hankook SRC, so something is afoot! Jimmy says Mike has his eye on a car but they are still in mid-deal as it were so to speak. If they get it before the Border Counties they will do the full series but if not they are not bothered and will just pick and choose from there. But Jimmy still fancies a full season, so perhaps next year if not this. The ingenuity of our rally crews never fails to amaze me. Stewart Davidson appeared at the Snowman with a 5 speed sequential gearshift fitted to his Proton! He and the boys had modified a Mitsubishi Lancer seq shift linkage and adapted it to fit the Proton gearbox. And it worked! They even fitted a ‘shift light’ in the dash so Stewart knew which gear he was in. One of the biggest joys of the Snowman was seeing Andy Horne and Jim Howie crossing the rally finish line in that damn Dam Gti. It was an almost flawless run despite a last minute change of engine ahead of the rally. In fact, Andy had only managed 5 miles in a quarry too make sure it worked. But it’s not a V8 any more, it’s Jaguar V6 that has been stuck in the back. Despite the potential that the motor-racing derived V8 offered, the production spec V6 with its standard wiring loom offered something more attractive – reliability. It’s down on torque and power compared to the V8 and it’s 35 kgs heavier, but a top ten finish first time out can’t be sniffed at. It’s maybe something that Sandy Abuthnott will need to consider. His Metro didn’t finish the Snowman despite an all-nighter before the Snowman. In fact he managed only 4 hours sleep all week after two engines and a second head gasket change on number two engine only for it to go again after Scrutineering. When he reached first service on the Snowman he reckoned that was a major achievement. At least it’s progress – of a sort! Speaking of Metros, what was John MacKenzie’s secret on the Snowman? Fifth overall? A career best in difficult conditions. Admittedly Andy Horne had cast a spanner over the works during the Winter, but maybe there was more to it than that. At first service, a couple of bags of sand were spotted under the bonnet in the Metro’s nose – but maybe that was just to ballast the car when it was up on the jacks! Dougal Brown came away with more than he started with in Inverness. First time out in the Subaru he finished 12th overall. No bad, but if he hadn’t gone off and damaged the radiator he would have been well inside the top ten. But when he did go off he managed to borrow a bucket from a householder to top up the radiator and then hung on to the bucket in case he needed more water on his way to service. He has however promised to return the bucket but is wondering if there was a hire charge! Gareth MacMillan was just pleased and relieved to reach the Snowman Rally. The Subaru was on its third engine – inside a week! Lachlan Cowan in the wee Peugeot 106 was just as relieved and pleased to finish after head gasket failure on the Thursday night, and then lost 10 minutes on the rally with an ‘off’ and a bent track rod end. Andrew Falconer was lucky to make the rally start in Inverness, when the Nova blew its engine on the Thursday Press Day. Overnight the car was up at the MacKay clan’s place in Brora where anther engine was sourced and fitted ready for Friday scrutineering. And surely that’s what rallying is all about, rallying around one another to help out. Jim Aitken was the only competitor in the 1 litre class having acquired a 1 litre Nissan Micra to try and kick start the junior class in Scotland. Not that he is a junior, he last rallied some 32 years ago with his brother Walter and before wee sister Louise got started. He finished 66th overall in a field of 93 finishers with his Welsh co-driver Alistair Dodd who had driven 9 hours just to do the rally and was driving back immediately afterwards. And just to finish on a happier note. Doug Bryden had a nasty at the end of Stage 3 on sheet ice and the resultant accident stopped the stage. As a precaution, Dave O’Brien was taken to hospital in an ambulance for a check up, but as a sign of how bad he must have been he was making phone calls all the way while tucked up in blankets on the trolley in the back of the wagon. Or maybe he was cancelling the flowers and grapes and ordering a cairry-oot! **** |