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Rally Report - Wednesday 30 June 2010 RSAC Scottish Rally, Saturday 26th June The Big Stoor This was the event that put sand in the sandwiches and grit in the teeth, as well as the finest Galloway stoor in all those personal little nooks and crannies that a Karcher pressure washer can’t reach. It was also the event that pitched David Bogie and Kevin Rae into the lead of this year’s Hankook Scottish Championship for the first time this year. Twenty seconds separated them from Mike Faulkner and Peter Foy at the end of 45 miles of rather dusty stages on this year’s RSAC Scottish Rally. That’s less than half a second per mile. Closer than a spitful of grit. But the drive of the rally? That surely must have been David Wilson and Drew Sturrock in third place overall. Young? I’m surprised they weren’t at school! It wasn’t just the pace that separated winners from losers though. Depending on where competitors were in the running order, dust clouds played a big part in fortunes. Some benefited from a breeze, others cursed the solid clouds which clung stubbornly to the air masking ditches and corners without favour. Mike Faulkner illustrated the problem best when he commented: “There was one point in Castle O’er where we actually had to come to a standstill and wait for the dust to clear. We knew there was a bend in there somewhere, we just didn’t know exactly where!” SS1 – Ae South, 7.95 mls, dry and dusty. If anyone thought the top seeds would have an easy time after the Historics and 2WD front runners had ‘swept’ the stages, they were in for a surprise. The stage surfaces were still marbly, slippery and treacherous. If it’s not snow, ice or rain, it’s dust. There’s just no pleasing some folk these days is there. Anyway, it was Bogie’s red Lancer (7m 45.8s) that peeked through the dust with the fastest time on the opening test of the day but he admitted it was a close run thing: “I had as big a moment as I’ve ever had in my career in there,” he admitted, “the car took off over a bump at the end of an 800 metre straight, and I ended up trying to scrub off speed – sideways at 120 mph!” In fact it was the tell tale dent above the rear wheel arch that gave the game away: “Aye, if I hadn’t hit a post knocking me back on to the road, I might have stayed in there!” Only 8 seconds behind him was Faulkner (7m 53.6s) and maintaining their grip on the title chase were Alick Kerr/Neil Shanks (8m 01.0s). It was Wilson next (8m 03.6s) from Dale Robertson/David O’Brien (8m 07.9s) who lost time when they caught a car and Barry Groundwater/Daniel Paterson (8m 09.4s). Shaun Sinclair was just off the pace with a faulty intercom while John Morrison looked a bit sheepish at the end of the first stage: “It’s still on tarmac settings from the Jim Clark,” he admitted. But it was the 2WD boys who were faring worst on the hard abrasive surfaces. Steve Bannister said: “My tyres were done after 8 mls. What’ll they be like after the long one at the end?” Michael Horne was in worse trouble than Banner. This was his first time out with a new 2.3 red top and it was tearing chunks out the tyres, either that or he needs lighter bootees. Calum MacKenzie wasn’t quite on the pace first time out this year: “I’m a gear down on where I would have been last September when I was last out on the McRae.” And on his run in to Service, Malloch Nicoll was getting his priorities right. He was on the radio to the Missus to get a cup of tea ready! As for David Hughes, you had to feel sorry for him. He suffered a life-changing and terribly upsetting mishap mid stage which put him off for the rest of the day – Jock Armstrong had whipped down his ovies and ‘mooned’ at him. And that’s enough to put anyone off their carrot sticks and yoghurt. But it raised the question, why was Jock out of the car mid-stage? The Subaru had punctured and slid off and without spectators there was no hope of getting it back on. And then he and Kirsty got another shock when Christine Sanderson popped out of the bushes waving her ‘OK’ board. Craig McMiken had put the Lancer off just beyond Jock’s incident. Dougal brown didn’t make it either. Just two miles in his head gasket failed. Third event with new car – third non-finish! How dispiriting is that? SS2 – Heathhall, 0.71 mls, dry. For one man, the short ‘spectator special’ at Heathhall was rather special indeed. David Wilson scored his first fastest stage time (58.5s) and this is only his second full season of rallying. It was close though, Bogie was only a blink of an eye behind (58.6s) while Faulkner (59.4s) was still there. Dale Robertson and Shaun Sinclair/Chris Hamill shared fourth fastest (60s) from Rory Young/Alan Cathers on 60.2s. If Heathhall was good for Wilson, it was lucky for Ian Paterson. He broke a driveshaft and was able to limp into service and get it fixed without too much time loss. SS3 – Twiglees, 8.90 mls, dry and dusty. I might be biased (because I’ve seen Timo Makinen in a Healey 3000 on the RAC in the snow in here) but one of the best stages in Scotland was next, at Twiglees, where Bogie (8m 42.8s) extended his lead by another 7 seconds over Faulkner (8m 49.0s), with Kerr third (8m 57.5s) and Andy Horne/Jim Howie in the DAM revelling in the fast flowing nature of this test to record fourth fastest (9m 01.6s). And after giving himself a severe talking-to the night before, Donnie MacDonald with Keir Beaton (9m 01.9s) was on form to score a fifth fastest time: “It’s a mental thing,” said Donnie, “I’m just giving it a good go today.” Wilson was still on the boil too (9m 03.9s) setting sixth fastest time. SS4 – Castle O’er, 5.99 mls, dry and dusty. Across the road at Castle O’er, Faulkner (6m 23.0s) was only two seconds behind Bogie (6m 21.0s) while Shaun Sinclair with his intercom now fixed was third quickest (6m 28.0s). Alick Kerr (6m 29.0s) was still shadowing the leaders despite a wee fright at the stage finish when the Marshals told him his rear brakes were on fire! After putting the fire out he went on his way only for them to catch fire again further down the road, but this time he spotted some mud-flap plastic rubbing on the red hot callipers. Barry Groundwater/Daniel Paterson (6m 32.0s) were having a good run ahead of Wilson and Wayne Sisson/David MacFadyen sharing 6m 33.0s but dust was the big problem here. It was bad in Ae, but as the sun rose higher over Eskdalemuir, the clouds got thicker and Faulkner wasn’t the only one who had to come to a complete halt waiting for dust clouds to dissipate just to see where the road went. Co-driver and Notes might be good, but not when the whole countryside is obliterated from view. SS5 – Ae West, 8.33 mls, still dry and dusty. Faulkner (8m 13.3s) hadn’t given up and was still chasing Bogie (8m 10.3s) hard with only 3 seconds between them in this 8 miler. Just as impressive was young Wilson (8m 25.7s): “I was pushing quite hard. I felt third place was possible,” he said. Even so he was only two seconds quicker then Kerr (8m 27.5s) with Groundwater (8m 26.7s) separating the twosome and MacDonald (8m 29.6s) rounding off the top six fastest times, but Sinclair was dropping back. He had changed a fuel pump at service and it wasn’t delivering fuel at the same pressure so he was losing out on power and speed. Andy Horne just missed out on the fastest times: “I was lifting off in the fast bits, the car will go harder, but the driver won’t.” Another driver going faster than he liked was Steve banister: “A brake union slackened off and I lost all my rear brakes,” he said, “and I had to use a ditch and a banking beyond the finish line to get it slowed down.” The incident would cost him dear. Even though he didn’t reverse all the way back to the Control, he was later excluded from the results. SS6 – Ae East, 12.90 mls, yet more dry and dusty. There was 20 seconds between them going into the final stage, but Faulkner (12m 21.7s) didn’t give up. “There wasn’t much left this afternoon, we tried as hard as we dared,” said mike, “It was so loose off line, one touch was dangerous. We did get on to the loose at one point, at 120 mph! I was on full opposite lock trying to get it back.” Even so, it was only good for nipping back half a second from Bogie (12m 22.3s). “It was very hard on the car,” said David, “we got one really hard knock on the underside so we’ll need to check that out. Last year I crashed and went home to watch the video, this year I’m going home to get showered and dressed for the prizegiving!” Another even closer battle was resolved on the final stage too when Wilson scored his best result of his career with third place overall. “I had a real push on in those last two,” said David, “I thought third was on and just had to keep the pressure on Alick.” His (12m 31.9s) was enough to clinch third from Kerr (12m 42.8s) by 1.8 seconds, but Kerr had his problems too: “Something broke at the back in the last one,” said Alick, “I think it might be the rear diff but it meant I just couldn’t push as hard as I wanted.” Barry Groundwater rounded off a good day (12m 43.3s) with 5th place overall from sixth fastest on that stage Andy Horne (12m 44.9s) who also finished sixth overall. Shaun Sinclair managed to hang onto seventh ahead of a delighted Donnie MacDonald in eighth while Wayne Sisson was left shaking his head in ninth. “I was asleep on the first stage,” said Wayne, “and then I thought I was going well on the later stages – till I looked at everyone else’s times!” He also tried just a bit too hard on the last stage: “I’ve got pins and needles just thinking about it,” he said, “that’s the nearest I’ve been to a big accident without going off. We just landed badly after a crest and I didn’t think I was ever going to get it back!” In comparison, Rory Young's overshoot was a bit tame but he still rounded off the top ten. As ever on the Scottish, the last stage proved to have a ‘sting in the tail’ with quite a few drivers walking out minus their cars. Jim Carty broke a timing belt, and both Martin Craik and Richard Dickson broke their gearboxes and almost within sight of the stage finish, Charlie Jarrett cowped it. The Mitsubishi landed back on its wheels but there was no way it was going to get back on the road. But what’s even worse is that his wife Kirsty finished her fourth event in her wee Honda – that’s a 100% finishing record. Guess who’s going to suffer even more now? David Bogie now leads the Hankook series, but he’s not safe yet. The top six have all dropped one score while seventh placed Armstrong has dropped two so he’s still not out of it, while in eighth place is David Wilson. Looks like the next three rounds of the Scottish Championship are going to make for some exciting times. ** The Classes Class 2 Fraser Wilson won Class 2 in his Vauxhall Nova running Proflex rear suspension for the first time although he admitted “it still needs some sorting out” while Mike Rae was second in his MG running a standard gearbox while his competition unit is being rebuilt although he admitted to hitting a post in SS4 which broke the front bumper. Third in Class 2 was Kirsty Jarrett. Not just a result, but her fourth finish from four starts, while Rob Ashwell in fourth place had an intermittent misfire, either fuel or electrical, all day and it might just be a while before Gary Smith can challenge these two again – he rolled the VW Polo on the first stage. Class 3 Malcolm Robertson claimed the Class 3 win in his Talbot Sunbeam but broke a half shaft on SS1 and had to howk the broken bits out of the diff with his fingers at emergency service. Iain Haining was only 16 seconds behind in his Nova at the finish although Mike Stuart was giving them both a run for their money till he slid off in the dust on the final stage. Steven Smith scored his first Peugeot 205 win in third place ahead of Mark McCulloch who had only decided to build a 205 three weeks before the rally. Despite the brake pedal sinking to the floor by the finish of the first stage and then catching a much slower car on the final stage he might just have given Steven a run for his money. Garry Pearson retired in the first stage when the fuel pump failed and Sean Robson was lucky to finish at all. At the rally finish in Dumfries, he was surreptitiously trying to keep prying eyes away from the underside of the Peugeot where fuel was dripping out of the tank! He also lost a minute in the last stage when the car in front spun and got stuck. Blair McCulloch burst a brake pipe in SS1and carried on with front brakes only, which then caused a wee visit to the trees in SS2. He crimped the pipe with vice grips so had three wheel braking for later stages, and then went off on the last stage, but right in front of his mates, so he was quickly back on. David Crozier was lucky to finish too. He spun on the last stage and the steering went solid. It took quite an effort to get out and finish. Jamie Watson managed a finish too, despite rolling on the second last corner in SS3, but with the wheels still pointing in the right direction, he managed to keep going minus a few bits of glassware. Tam Brown had his first run out in his ‘new’ 205 after rolling the old one on the Galloway Hills, then had to keep the engine running when the starter motor failed, as he’s “too old to get out an push” then spun and stalled on the final stage and took ages to get it re-started. Greg Pollock was on his third event in the MkI Escort – with his third engine! He also had the gearbox out on Thursday night, Graeme Sherry put a rod through the block on the first stage and the engine oil caught fire. He retired. Jordan Black caught a car halfway through SS1 and Graeme Smith had a lead come off the distributor in the same stage, while Michael Hunter found second gear sticking in the Lada, a recurrence of the problem that afflicted the car first time at Charterhall a couple of months back but this was his first ‘proper’ forest rally and he finished 59th overall. Class 4 The Honda Civic of Ross Hunter won Class 4 after a troublefree run. “That’s two good finishes in a row,” he said, “after four and a half years of nearly a disaster on every rally.” There was little between him and Euan Duncan at the start of SS6 but Duncan rolled trying to make up an earlier time loss when he got stuck behind a damaged car in a stage. James Robertson was second in the wee Citroen, but hampered by losing 2nd and 3rd gears over the closing stages and got a puncture on the final test. The intercom failed on the first test and James was getting ‘funny hand signals’ from George till he realised what the problem was. Alasdair Graham broke a driveshaft and Graeme Schoneville failed to finish when he tore a wheel off when the Honda hit a pothole on the inside of a bend at the end of SS2. Grant Inglis therefore took third in class but was having to keep an eye on rising water temperature all day while Ruary MacLeod was fourth but had the intercom fail in SS5 although a new battery cured that for SS6. Billy Davidson had a faulty fuel pump, same as last time out, but thought he had fixed it and Duncan Campbell was having similar trouble with his Honda cutting out. Coincidentally, both cars were being serviced by the same crew! Lachlan Cowan rolled half way through SS5, but it was a soft roll, so he pushed the 106 back on to its wheels and carried on. Then he was off again “into a wee ditch on the final test but the momentum carried them on and out.” Class 5 David Cameron was a solitary finisher in Class 5 in his Escort MkII even though the battery terminal came off in the first stage and the throttle was sticking on the final one. Alan McMorran slid off on the final stage and Alister Watson broke a halfshaft. Class 7 John Boyd took Class 7 in his Fiesta after repairing a broken gear linkage at first service. Allan Smith was second in the Focus despite trailing its exhaust across the finish line and he was “just glad to see the finish, because I’ve got no tyres left.” Peter Stewart was third and Alan McMorran was plagued with serious cutting-out problems in the stages and on the road sections. He was constantly having to switch off, reset, then start again but spare a thought for his fidgeting co-driver. Albert Connolly had come to the rally straight off night shift and was full of Tesco Red Bull! Class 8 After a slow start and having his first run out since last year’s McRae Stages, Calum MacKenzie won Class 8 from Malcolm Buchanan who ruined his tyres on the final stage. “I was just trying too hard,” said a chastened Malcolm, “the tyres were ruined long before the finish because I was just trying too hard.” Sam Orr was third in his rear wheel drive MkIII Escort ahead of Colin Hay who had a puncture on SS6 but Niall Cowan didn’t get that far, his engine pressure plunged on SS1. Unfortunately, Steve Bannister lost out on second place when he was excluded from the rally for reversing at the end of a stage. Although the Blue Book allows some reversing (but not into a Control) the Supp Regs specifically banned ALL reversing with Exclusion as the penalty. Both Steve and Louise were disappointed and upset but the penalty stood. Class 9 Visitor, Matthew Robinson from Yorkshire, finished first in Class 9 and after the rally gave his opinion on the stages: “That was awesome - and I used loads of tyres.” Michael Horne was second in class but lost chunks of time in the last stage stuck behind a broken down car. Class 10 Shaun Sinclair took the class from Donnie MacDonald while John Morrison was losing boost over the last two stages and struggling on the hilly parts. Steven Lockhart had a bit of a grin at the finish: “I took the jump too hard in that last one!” He also got a puncture for his efforts and was delayed earlier in SS5 when he caught a car with two broken driveshafts. Nigel Feeney had a blocked air filter during the first two stages and it wouldn’t rev above 5000 rpm so he lost time. He made up for that in the afternoon, till he caught one car in SS5 and two in SS6. Colin Gemmell was in a ditch in SS2 and got a puncture bending the front n/s wing in the process. David Newall had a clutch problem after SS4 but it was just the bolts coming slack in the cylinder. Class 12 Alick Kerr survived his rear diff problem to take the Class 12 win from Barry Groundwater with Wayne Sisson getting third. First time out in 4WD and with a turbo, Andy Knight had a steady run in the Subaru despite a wee problem with the brakes on SS1 and then a burst brake pipe in SS4. Stuart Paterson has changed his seat position so now he can reach the clutch pedal - and that might just save his gearboxes in future. But he holed the sump in SS4 and managed to patch it up with liquid metal for the last two, and it worked! Brian Watson found conditions rather quick and was enjoying the pace till: “I went for fifth gear and it wisnae there. The first time in my life I wanted top gear, and it wasn’t there!” Mike Grant was trying out new suspension on the Subaru: “I didn’t realise how bad the old set up was till I fitted this new stuff,” he said, “then I had a big scary moment over the jump in the last stage, it was ditch to ditch stuff, before I got it stopped - but got away with it!” Fraser Louden lost his fan belt in SS6 and the power steering, but reckoned it have him a “good workout”, while Stuart Walker lost all turbo boost in the final stage, Scott Grant lost his power steering when a pipe burst and Darren Martin lost his exhaust in SS5. Historics Robin Shuttleworth and Ron Roughhead won the RSAC Scottish Historic Rally in their MkI Ford Escort which made up for getting just 5 mls on the Jim Clark JC when the gearbox jammed in neutral courtesy of a 35p plastic clip. That kind of ruined their record which now stands at 24 events in the same car and only one non-finish so far. Peter Smith was second despite a plug lead coming off (and blamed Chris Birkbeck who had put it on!) in SS1, and George Bryson was in the hunt till the final stage when he lost all back brakes 2 miles into final test. Barry Jordan was the early pace setter till the head gasket failed in SS4 stage and Tony Thompson retired his Vauxhall Chevette with low oil pressure. David Marshall retired when his distributor went on fire while Peter and Dougie Humphrey were delighted with fifth. It was their third event as a father and son team and survived a ditch excursion on SS3 and two punctures on SS6. And proving that carrying a tool roll in the boot is a good idea was Rick Williams, who repaired a snapped clutch cable mid stage and carried on. Results: **** |