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Rally Report - February 18, 2009 Arnold Clark Thistle Hotels Snowman Rally, Saturday 14th February N'Ice To See You, To See You N'Ice Trying to predict a winner on this year's Arnold Clark Thistle Hotels Snowman Rally, was a bit like throwing darts at a dartboard in a windowless coal cellar during a power cut. Despite the heroic efforts of Highland Car Club's friends and stalwarts, the stages were slippier than Sunday night's 'Dancing on Ice' spectacular. That they only lost one stage (Glenurquhart) is testamount to their efforts, and this was only due to a dangerous build up of ice on the downhill stage exit. There was a danger that anyone losing it down here would have ended up as monster fodder in Loch Ness. The winners would require dexterity behind the wheel, delicate terpsichorean touches on the pedals and nerves of steel. The fact that Reay MacKay and Robert MacDonald had none of those (only kidding!) ensured that they scored a resounding and well-earned victory on this opening round of the national Hankook Scottish rally Championship. The other big surprise was the entry. 134 entries and 129 starters says something about the state of rallying in Scotland. Here's hoping it keeps up, and serves up more unexpected treats in the months to follow. SS1 - Meall Mor, 7.58 miles. Deep snow, snowploughed. Given the state of the stage, there was little surprise in midfield seeds doing well. Even so, the number 37 seed's performance raised a few eyebrows. Displaying deftness and maturity, 20 year old Alick Kerr was fastest (9m 59s) through the opening snowbank lined test in his Fiesta ST, some 16 seconds faster (10m 15s) than John Morrison in his Lancer. David Bogie was third quickest (10m 26s) from another Fiesta ST, this time Neil Coalter's car (10m 29s) which has replaced his Honda. Donnie MacDonald was fifth quickest (10m 32s) ahead of two drivers tying for sixth on 10m 35s. One of them was the number 50 seed, Brian Stephen in his Escort Cosworth and the other represented not so much a surprise, more of a shock to the system. We are simply not used to seeing this name in such exalted positions - John McClory, and no doubt he'll live on that story for years to come, faster than Malloch Nicoll and Willie Bonniwell. As for reigning Scottish Champion, Jimmy Girvan: "It was my fault. I caught a car in the first stage. He couldn't get out of the way and I couldn't get past. My concentration dropped and when he speeded up it caught me off guard. I tried to catch up again, slid off, and got stuck on a snowbank!" And there he stayed till the tow-truck came through. For sure, it was a real lottery in there. Rory Young got stuck in the middle of a gaggle of MkIIs and had to bide his time, but fared better than Kris Tennant who slid off and got stuck in a snowbank. John McKenzie had a misfire in the Metro and that continued through SS2 before it was fixed at service. That stage might have ended, or dented, many hopes but Dale Robertson was relieved just to make the rally start. The Lancer's plugs needed changing before the beast would fire up. SS2 - Millbuie, 8.95 miles. Hard packed snow and ice. The guy who laid out the roads in Millbuie obviously only had a ruler. There are very few curves in there which may have helped to keep most of the field on the straight and narrow, but braking for corners at the end of long straights was a real heart-in-the-mouth affair. Over a minute off the pace in the first test, Reay MacKay was back with a bang in this one stopping the clocks on 10m 30s. Jock Armstrong was second quickest (10m 44s) with Jimmy Girvan benefiting from running later on the road after his earlier 'off' on 10m 50s. Willie Bonniwell was fourth quickest (10m 59s) from fifth equal fastest, Davie Hughes and John Rintoul (11m 22s), with David Bogie suffering from running first on the road on 11m 25s. Tyre choice was critical, with luck having more to do with it than skill and experience. Take for instance the fact that Jock Armstrong caught and passed both Euan Thorburn and Barrie Groundwater within the first three miles and it gives some idea of the difference the rubber made. If it was hell for the four wheel drive lot, imagine the rear wheel drive contingent. The conditions were bad enough, but John Crawford's clutch started playing up and plagued him all the way to the finish, sometimes needing push starts if the engine stopped! Service At first service, MacKay's turn of speed was revealed. He had found a 20 year old set of Michelins lying at the back of his garage. Fortunately, prior to the rally start, new championship sponsors Hankook had agreed to relax the rules about competitors running their product. With no suitable ice or snow tyres available, they allowed drivers to run virtually anything they liked, as long as it was legal. If anything, that only complicated the tyre choice even more! And if you thought conditions were bad for the drivers and co-drivers, spare a thought for the service crews, lying on frozen snow and ice, trying to fix the ravages inflicted by exuberant drivers and unyielding snowbanks. SS3 - Torrachilty, 12.98 miles. Snow got deeper farther into the stage. MacKay won the rally on this one. At the end of it, MacKay thought his time (19m 53s) was crap - till he saw the other times coming in. He was the only driver under 20 minutes for the 13 miler. Equally impressive was Steven Campbell (20m 20s) and proving his first stage time was no fluke, Alick Kerr was third quickest (20m 55s). John Rintoul (21m 02s) was keeping up a good pace, after earlier problems on the first stage, ahead of Donnie MacDonald (21m 05s) and Armstrong (21m 11s) but Andy Horne lost out on a top ten run when he tipped the Metro on its ear. For Mike Faulkner, the day was a disaster. He went on to gravel tyres when he should have stuck with snow tyres and saw a top ten finish slipping away while Willie Bonniwell's chances were ruined with a n/s front puncture. Gordon Smith also punctured in the Escort Cosworth and as a result, the nose dropped and acted like snowplough! And that wily old fox, Malloch Nicoll, switched to Colways (remember them?) from ice tyres for the last two stages. John Morrison did the same and almost got carried away when he gave a tree a slight kiss on the way past! Davie Hughes was off for 2 minutes crinkling the front corner but when Craig McMiken went off, he stayed off. So how bad were conditions? Steven Campbell put it best when he was sitting on the stage start line: "Put it this way, there was a MkII in front of me. And 35 seconds after he left the start line he was still in sight as I lined up to start!" SS4 - Corrimony, 8.65 miles. Black ice and snow encrusted gravel. Going into the final test, MacKay led Armstrong, Steven Campbell and Alick Kerr, but it was Campbell who posted the fastest stage time (12m 54s) from Rory Young (13m 09s). Reay MacKay shared third quickest (13m 20s) with David Bogie ahead of Euan Thorburn (13m 33s) and Mike Faulkner (13m 34s), but where was Kerr? "Just 3 miles from the end of the stage, a driveshaft broke," explained the disappointed youngster, "at first I didn't realise what it was, because it was so slippery, but I'm lucky I made it back." 11th overall was still an excellent result. Donnie MacDonald went into last stage fifth and came out sixth. The Lancer slid into ditch ripping off a rear calliper and shattering the brake disc although the wheel and tyre stayed intact, so he finished with no brakes. John Morrison saw his life flash before his eyes during a full 360 and Jimmy Christie had visions of an early demise amongst the tress when he hooked a ditch for a full 100 yards before the Lancer popped out. The Finish At the finish Reay MacKay and Robert MacDonald were both surprised and relieved: £That last stage was nervewracking," said MacKay, "I was trying to go hard enough to win, but stay on the road. This is my first forest rally win and it's also my home event, so it's really special, here's hoping I win some more!" ** The Classes Stephen Murray scored a resounding 24th overall in his Peugeot 106 on his way to winning Class 1 from Scott MacDonald in his Nova. Murray survived a 'red mist' moment on the final stage when the wee Peugeot bounced off a banking and back on to the road while MacDonald had recovered from an 'off' on the first stage. Stephen Fraser's original Mini was third, struggling on its 13 inch wheels in the deep snow ruts. It was twitchy on the straights but OK on the corners Winning Class 2 was Fraser Wilson, who also finished 33rd overall, ahead of Craig Rutherford. Both had troubles on the final stage though, Wilson's Nova was overheating horribly and Rutherford's Nova was misfiring badly. Even luckier was Mike Rae in the MG. Earlier he had been worried about his driveshafts and checked them at service, but they held out - till the final roundabout near the Hotel on the way back to the finish when one broke! Lucky, eh? Despite flattening its exhaust on the final stage, the Sunbeam of Dougal Brown won Class 3 from the Nova of Niall Inglis. Davd Falconer was third, but only after the tie-break rule had been applied to separate him from Inglis. Mind you he was lucky. He was another to wheeze over the finish line with a blown head gasket. Scott Murray lost out on SS1 when he spent 6 minutes on top of a snowbank while Calum MacLeod's 205 ended its rally embedded in a first stage snowbank. Blair McCulloch was another to suffer the SS1 'snowitis' which also afflicted young John MacCrone, who later went off in SS3 as well. But we'll forgive him, he comes from Mull and he's so young, he's probably never seen snow before! Craig Whyte and Greg Drew were both off. Whyte three times and Drew twice while Duncan Campbell arrived at the finish with a very tattered front end to his 205 courtesy of a puncture and flailing rubber. The second 2WD car home was the Class 4 winning Ford Puma of Bruce McCombie proving that FWD was better than RWD this time around. Coming to the end of the straights there was nothing he could do, he was just a passenger! Stewart Davidson was second in the Proton, but only after pushing it across the finish line with a dead clutch. He probably damaged his clutch at the end of SS4. On the last bend of the last stage he went off. Right down a banking and landed back on the road at the other side of the corner. Lucky boy. First time out in his new Nova, Mark McCulloch was going well apart from having to stop and change a puncture in SS3, so there's more to come from him. Tich McCooey was in a SS2 ditch for a wee while and Euan MacKay was in amongst the trees on SS4 and just when he was congratulating himself for getting out, he nearly went off again! John MacKintosh's MR2 arrived at the finish with a front airdam that looked like a pensioner's perm. It had more wrinkles and crinkles than a bag of walnuts, but surprisingly, the wee Toyota finished! Neil Morrison was lucky to get the Class 5 win in his Sunbeam. The gearbox breather got blocked and pressurised the gearbox so he couldn't get gears in SS2 but got it fixed and he had an 'off' in SS3. James Brims was second in his Peugeot 205 ahead of Steven Wood in the Fiesta who had been off a few times but made it home. In Class 6 for Historics (that's cars, not necessarily the drivers!) Walter Aitken's Mk1 Escort was the winner. But chivalry is obviously not quite dead in the Borders. He nearly went off big time on the final hairpin in the last stage and gallantly blamed his co-driving niece Martha who just happened to be turning the page at the time! Colin Wilkinson was second in his Avenger, but things could have been different if Ken Wood hadn't spent 5 minutes stuck in a snowbank on the final test in his Dolomite. Jaggy's 'Man of the Rally', or should that be 'Boy of the Rally', was the winner of Class 7, Alick Kerr. He finally finished 11th overall in his Fiesta after breaking a driveshaft in the final stage. Had it not been for that, then who knows - top four? Neil Coalter was second in class first time out in his new Fiesta ST. He too was quick on the first stage, fourth fastest, but a lack of suitable tyres stopped him repeating that elsewhere. After a promising start, John McClory, lost brakes his brakes in SS4 - but they weren't much use in these conditions anyway! And when Garry Dickson's Peugeot 309 slid into a ditch on SS2, it knocked the brake pads out of the rear n/s so no brakes till service. The best of the rear wheel drive cars was Steve Bannister's Class 8 winning Escort MkII: "It's a long way to come to go sledging," he grinned. He finished 22nd overall with Mike Horne quickest in the first two stages, but 3 minutes slower in SS3 which highlights the problems drivers faced with tyre choice. He was second in class in his re-shelled and rebuilt MkII by just 8 seconds from John Crawford while Frank Kelly slid off the road on the third test. Young Alasdair Graham (I wonder if he's started shaving yet?) lost a couple of minutes on top of a snowbank in SS2 but fared better than Malcolm Buchanan who stranded his Escort on top of a snowbank in SS4, and there he stayed till the tow truck came. Alex Grant got stuck until spectator power came to the rescue while Jonathan MacKintosh broke a bottom suspension arm in the Astra on SS1 then did SS2, but ran out of time trying to fix it at service. Adrian Heatherington was the only finisher in Class 9 in his MkII after Viv Hamill's rally ended on the opening stage with clutch failure. Class 10 winner was Donnie MacDonald in 8th place overall in his Group N Lancer from Shaun Sinclair. Ivor Clark, Kris Tennant and Stephen Lockhart all failed to make a mark on Class 10 when snowbanks hampered progress. Despite a good start Craig McMiken's run came to an abrupt end in a ditch in Torrachilty! Subaru driver Willie Bonniwell was the Class 11 winner from Mike Faulkner. Rounding off the class winners was Class 12 winning John Morrison with Malloch Nicoll second. Iain Urquhart finished the rally with a bent co-driver's door after sliding into a stranded car on SS2 and Ian Sykes in the Land Rover finished despite a recalcitrant fuel pump in SS2. It was only the fuse that had blown so he was soon on his way again. And so ended the 2009 Snowman Rally. So just how bad were conditions? The winner's time for 38 miles of Stages was 55 minutes 15 seconds while the last man home took 1 hour 50 mins 26 seconds to cover the same mileage - he must have stopped for a picnic in the breathtaking scenery. Final Results: Note, Full results: www.flyingfinish.co.uk * * * * * |