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Rally News - April 12, 2010 First, the Good News There will be a closed road rally on Mull this year over the weekend of 8/9/10 October, so don’t score out that date in your diary yet! Ahead of the recent public meeting at Craignure, Mull Car Club had staged an EGM in Salen the night before to discuss hopes and plans. Their suggestions were put forward at the ensuing public meeting and since then a more formal plan has been put in place to ensure the continuation of rallying on the island. The working proposals include a route similar to that last run in 2008 and comprising a Friday night Leg, one on Saturday afternoon, with the third and final Leg taking place later on Saturday evening and night. The Friday night run will start from Tobermory while the other two Legs will start from Salen. Key officials have already been identified and named. Clerk of the Course will be George Hay with three deputy Clerks of the Course – Colin Smith, Chris Woodcock and Steve Davies. Secretary of the meeting will be Philippa Dale and Entries Secretary, Tula Rowley. The Chief Safety Officer will be Dr Neil Bowring with Dr Ben Shippey acting as Chief Medical Officer while the appointment of Ron Cowan as Safety Advisor is to be welcomed to ensure continuity. For the same reason, the appointment of Roger Whitaker as Chief Scroot is also to be welcomed. Two more appointments reveal the strength in depth of the new team. Brian Thompson of the ‘Flying Finish’ results service will be the Chief Results Officer and will bring to the event his vast experience of running an excellent service on the Hankook Scottish Championship series. The icing on the cake must surely be the appointment of the MSA Steward, one Bill Troughear, no less. A fairer minded man would be damn near impossible to find. A Chief Marshal has yet to be found and this will undoubtedly be a thankless task, but already the main team is looking good. Gaun yersels lads and lassies. **** More News from Charterhall It was good to see Kenny Hall back behind the wheel of a car on home soil at Charterhall. He only does the annual Barbados Rally each year but ahead of this year’s event he had gone out and gotten himself an ex-works Ford Puma, once driven by Guy Wilks and more recently by Barry Clark. That means the Suzuki Swift engine Opel Corsa will be pensioned off after a lifetime of abuse. Kenny has been a regular Hall visitor to Barbados for the rally missing out only once since he started going in 2002. He has won the ‘Modified 5’ class three times in Rally Barbados, with co-drivers Colin Smith (2004) then Holland’s Fenny Wesselink (2007 &’09), the duo also winning the award for highest-placed crew including a female in 2007. Prior to packing the car up for shipping out for next month’s rally, Kenny drove Zero car duties at Charterhall. Afterwards he said: “The car is good, but very, very different! Everything’s in the wrong place, you don’t use the clutch, don’t take your foot off the throttle when you’re changing gear, pull for up, push for down . . . and the handbrake’s next to the gear lever. It was okay, though, with just a minor bump on the front, thanks to pulling the gear lever and going up a gear, rather than snatching the hand brake for a tight hairpin through tyres. As the day went on, I realised that it was not the same as the Corsa - I can’t even see the wings, the car’s so wide . . . so, the next test will be King of the Hill. I can’t wait to see how it goes on the dry stuff. It certainly took the wet well – we were hanging on flat in sixth on some long sweeping curves at Charterhall.” The boys at Craigiebank Garage were giving Stuart Paterson a hard time at Charterhall after his gearbox broke. He always seemed to have problems with the old Peugeot 205 and then again with the Fiat Stilo so the arrival of the Subaru with its ‘unbreakable’ gearbox’ was heralded as a major advance in Stuart’s career, with the boys thinking they could sit back with their feet up between runs after checking the oil and water. On the Snowman Rally he broke a selector fork and with the new part not yet arrived from Australia, they welded up the old one – and what a wonderful job they made of it too. So when he broke the gearbox again at Charterhall, there were dark mutterings within the ranks. The general consensus seems to be the fitting of an automatic gearbox to remove the human element from the technical challenge of changing gears! Fast turning into a grumpy old git (a bit like me I suppose) is Gary Adam who turned up at Charterhall with the MkII, still grumping. The gearbox in the double-entered car had broken at Crail last time out and when the propshaft came loose on the first stage last weekend, he moaned that it was Neil Ogilvie’s fault. He was overheard by some of the crew at this point who pointed out that it was Gary who was originally driving at Crail at the time it broke! Unfazed Gary commented: “A mere detail, he had done the damage, I was the victim!” I wonder if they still send Valentine cards to each other? It was good to see Doug Brydon and Dave O’Brien out at Charterhall after their big bump on the Snowman, but they had a new motor. “The ‘shell had a ripple behind the front seats,” said Doug, “so it was cheaper going for another car than trying to fix that.” When asked why he had gone for a Subaru instead of the Mitsubishi, he said: “It was all down to money!” It was his first time out in a Group A car and it sounded as though he liked it: “It’s easier to drive. There’s no dog ‘box and the brakes are bigger. I doesn’t feel as fast as the Lancer, but it goes well. “ Next event for the duo is their ‘home’ event, the Jim Clark. Dom Buckley Junior Junior was entered in ‘the family Subaru’ for last weekend’s event, but Dom Buckley Junior broke it when he was blowing the cobwebs out of the engine on the Saturday afternoon ahead of the rally. After a quick call to Rory Young, the Mitsubishi Lancer was pressed into service and apart from a few cosmetic alterations, it was handed back in more or less one piece. Mind you, I reckon Rory’s next outing will be a real cheap one! As for the boy, is this the start of a new career? Third overall on his first outing, and first time in a LHD car? Not likely by the sound of things. His first love is still rugby, although he’s been dropped by the first team after a disagreement with the Coach. No change there then, he’ll be used to dealing with ‘awkward coaches’ at his day-job in Hassington! Speaking of Dom Buckley Junior, Charterhall was the scene of his first ever rally win way back in 1988 when he won it driving the ex-Roddy Graham Escort with a certain Ewan Brewis co-driving. Martin Elsdon was out in a MkII at Charterhall after selling his Mitsubishi Lancer to Chris Singer: “It’s 24 years since I last drove a MkII,” said Martin, “and that was the ex-Donald Heggie 2.2 litre BDX. That was some engine. We should have kept it!” Hindsight is a wonderful thing, eh? Personally, I remember it well. Boy, could that thing sing! Michael Glendinning thoroughly enjoyed his run at Charterhall in the 2 litre Escort but was worried about the lads with the bigger engines catching him – till the rain came down. But he’s got something else in mind. He’s gone and got himself a Subaru again. It would appear to be something just a little bit out of the ordinary though and we’ll find out more when he does the Jim Clark with it. Billy McClelland was spectating at Charterhall. He had originally planned to do the event as a shakedown ahead of the Killarney International Rally of the Lakes at the end of this month, but he only got the car back from the bodyshop mid week. Last month he had a wee bit of a dunt on the West Cork Rally on the fifth stage. Pity that, his times were looking good at the time. Ross Hunter was another non-starter at Charterhall. Although he ordered forest suspension for the Civic ahead of the Border Counties, he soon found out it wasn’t. After the rally him and his Dad checked the springs and found they were tarmac jobs. They’ve got the right ones coming now and there’s a new ECU on the way too, so there was no point in running the car at the weekend. He wants it right for the Granite. Magic McCombie had the ex-Per Eklund Saab 99 out at Charterhall for the second time, but it’s a bit of a handful: “Nothing happens till 4000 rpm, then it takes off,” said Magic. He did the Roger Albert last year and plans to do the Historic RAC this year but he needs parts for the gearbox. Trouble was, it was a one-off for Eklund at the time and spares are about as plentiful as unbroken pledges from politicians. Carin Logan had some marker tyre marks on the Saxo when it was towed back in after driveshaft failure, but faither Logan, aka Ian or Ginge, the boss of Grumpy Motorsport was as caring and thoughtful as ever when he gently and kindly inquired of his daughter: “Whit came first, hitting the tyre or breaking the driveshaft?” A more concerned parent would be hard to find, eh? Graham ‘Grum’ Wilcock had to withdraw his Opel Manta from Charterhall because he couldny drive it. This is no reflection on his abilities as a driver, we all know he canny drive (only kiddin’), it had more to do with his strapped up right wrist. Naturally I asked the obvious question regarding the cause of this affliction but apparently it is akin to RSI which he has incurred as a result of his trade. He’s a builder and a brickie, so it had nothing to do with typing or the other thing! But it’s going to put him out of the driving seat for a few months. **** Now, the Not So Good News Bill Lymburn broke his neck in a road accident a couple of weeks back and is still in ITU in Newcastle. Fingers crossed it will mend, but when you think about the life he’s had and the bumps he’s endured in rally cars, and this happens on the road, eh. It ain’t fair. Get well soon Bill. **** |