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Jaggy Bunnet's Rally Report - Monday 03 October 2011 Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally, Saturday 1st October 2011 Really Wet Dreams When it comes to rain, the Scots had a monopoly on it last weekend. It drenched the stages, the forests, the roads, the service park and everyone who was out in it, including the marshals and service crews who suffered the worst of it. In other words, the drivers and co-drivers had it easy, sitting snug inside their wee tin boxes on wheels, watching everyone else get seriously drookit. Or did they? Waatter and electrics don’t mix, windscreen demisters were overwhelmed and rain was finding its way into the cars through all the wee nooks and crannies that they thought had been plugged last time it rained. In other words, conditions on this year’s Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally were horrible and the challenge was enormous. At the end of what seemed like a marathon day, Euan Thorburn and Paul Beaton scored their first Scottish Championship victory of the year ahead of Shaun Sinclair and Chris Hamill. Mike Faulkner and Peter Foy were third, but with non-registered Sinclair not taking any points, Thorburn and Faulkner tied yet again, this time on their final Championship points tally. SS1, Griffin - 6.5 mls, Cancelled, Accident on Nat B Historic Rally. SS2, Auchtar Gate - 11.6 mls, streaming wet, muddy and slippery. Don’t let the name fool you, this was Drummond Hill, and this was Drummond Hill like it hadn’t been before. Ken Wood who kens a thing or two about stages and forests came out of the stage and said: “In all my years of rallying I’ve never seen Drummond Hill like this.” Giving away some 30 years or so to the ‘old man of the Woods’ was young Mark McCulloch who reckoned: “There’s more grip on snow than there was in there!” On days like this the word ‘treacherous’ is quite simply inadequate. And yet, fastest man of the stage was the one with fewest outings this year, Shaun Sinclair and Chris Hamill stopping the clocks on 2m 40.2s. Having said that, Euan Thorburn and Paul Beaton were only half a second slower (12m 40.7s0 with Mike Faulkner and Peter Foy third fastest (12m 48.5s), but Mike wasn’t too bothered: “Considering what conditions are like, I’m happy enough with that.” Then again, he was thinking that in order to secure the runner-up position in the Championship, all he had to do was keep in touch with Thorburn! The biggest surprise was the pace of the top 2WD runner. Malcolm Buchanan and Ian Nicoll were fourth fastest (12m 54.8s), so either there was more grip out there than folks were letting on, or ‘Calum’ had found a short cut. Robbie Head and Gordon Noble were fifth quickest (12m 57.3s) but disappointed: “I hit something in there and it broke an intercooler pipe,” said Robbie, “so we had no boost for 6 miles.” Rounding off the fastest six were John McClory and David Hood 13m 00.3s and despite his protestations that he was only just plodding along, McClory is faster than he likes to let on. Chris Collie was in trouble too: “We’re losing boost and it blew a plug out of the cylinder head,” he said, “It did it yesterday at the test day, so we’re a bit puzzled at present.” Missing from the front runners, and indeed from the rally, was Donnie MacDonald. The Lancer was parked in a ditch and was going no further. SS3, Errochty – 13.30 mls, still wet, but not so muddy, and slightly more grip. It wasn’t that there was more grip in Errochty, just less slip, and this was regarded as the best stage of the day. Faulkner hit the front this time (13m 41.4s) ahead of Thorburn (13m 44.1s) with Sinclair third fastest on 13m 51.0s. Eyebrows were raised again at the pace of the top 2WD runner, but this time it was Ludlow’s Joe Price and Christopher Brooks (14m 01.3s) who had never been here before and never rallied in such conditions. McClory was fifth quickest (14m 14.9s) from Mark McCulloch and Craig Wallace on 14m 22.6s. Robbie Head’s luck got worse. The intercooler pipe broke again and this time he was out. SS4, Craigvinean – 13.40 mls, wet, slippery and misty/foggy in places. As if the rain and mud weren’t bad enough, low cloud and mist clinging to the steep sides of Craigvinean added another hazard for the crews, with visibility reduced to 30 yards in places. With Faulkner taking back time on the last stage, Thorburn was up for the fight again setting 15m 17.2s compared to Faulkner’s 15m 30.8s with Sinclair only 3 seconds slower (15m 33.4s). Now on the pace and setting fourth fastest were John Lloyd and Adrian Cavanagh (15m 56.1s) regaining their confidence after a nose smacking incident on the first stage. The Subaru suffered only cosmetic damage but it served as a sterling warning regarding surface conditions, even with four wheel drive. That man Price was on the ball again too with 16 08.1s ahead of an equally stunning performance from the front running SRC Juniors Liam Harkness and Kenneth Marchbank (16m 12.0s) showing just what can be done with a powerless (as opposed to powerful!) MkII in slippery conditions. Sadly, Price’s heroic run came to grief as he headed towards the final stage. Water was playing havoc with the car’s electrics. It was bad enough when the wipers failed but when the engine started misfiring and finally stopped dead, that was it. At least he got out of the stage, the front running John McClory didn’t. The Subaru struck something in the road and knocked a wheel off which folded under the car. It was a case of an ‘early bath’ for McClory and Hood – but they didn’t even need to leave the car! This stage also curtailed Mark McCulloch’s valiant run. A top ten finish was on the cards, but a driveshaft broke. How cruel is that? Faulkner was still relatively unconcerned, he was doing what he thought he had to do, keeping Thorburn in sight. SS5, Griffin 2 – 6.5 mls, not as bad as folks feared, but still wet and muddy. Going into the final stage, Thorburn had 18 seconds on Faulkner with Sinclair a further 4 behind, but Faulkner was still unconcerned. All he had to do was finish behind Thorburn and the runner-up spot in the Scottish Championship was in the bag – or so he thought. Sinclair set off into the murk like a match tossed into a Guy Fawkes’ box and set the fastest time (7m 09.8s) by 13 seconds from Thorburn (7m 22.8s). John Lloyd too finished with a flourish (7m 28.9s) ahead of a good run from Chris Collie and Lisa Watson on 7m 29.7s having solved the Subaru’s earlier boost and spitting-out plug problems. They were followed by the fastest 2WD cars, this time Quintin Milne and Martin Forrest (7m 42.5s) in the MkII and Calum and Claudia MacLeod in the S2000 MG (7m 43.2s). Calum is still getting to grips with the MG, but this was his best run yet while Quintin had earlier lost 6 minutes with a puncture and damaged brake calliper on the first stage. Undaunted, Quinton set about the rest of the stages with the sole intention of pleasing the crowds – and by heck the thousands of lost, drenched souls needed some cheering up. But where was Faulkner? He was only 13th fastest on the final test: “The brakes failed completely a quarter of a mile in,” said Mike, “but I’ve only lost one place to Shaun (Sinclair) and he’s not registered, so I’ve still kept in touch with Thorburn.” Euan had won the rally and Mike was second. Job done. Then came the bombshell. Counting their best 6 scores, Thorburn and Faulkner were tied, and couldn’t be separated as they both had the same number of wins, 2nds and 3rds. It came down to who scored highest on the opening round of the series. Thorburn was second on the Snowman Rally behind David Bogie, but ahead of Faulkner: “I can hardly believe it,” said Thorburn, “until I was told just now, I thought it was Mike’s. That’s my first win this year, and the Championship runner-up too. What a year!” Wet? Late on in the afternoon, I’m sure I saw an old man with a beard and a boat collecting animals at the flooded far end of the service park. Or was that just a mirage, or simply water on the brain? Final Results: **** Full Results: www.FlyingFinish.co.uk |