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Jaggy Bunnet's Rally Report - Sunday 20 November 2011

Tunnock’s Mull Rally, Friday/Saturday/Sunday, 14/15/16 October

The Classes

Class A

Going into the final Leg, Andrew Egger was lying third in class in his Nova, but by the finish he was first. “I thought third was the best I could hope for,” said the delighted youngster, “but then Duggie (Ingram) went out and I saw Steven (Paterson) parked up at the side of the road. I couldn’t believe it.” Class leader Ingram had been leading, but when the Mini’s rear shockers collapsed with 3 stages to go he thought it too dangerous to carry on over such bumpy roads with a solid rear end. Steven Paterson then took up the lead, but ripped a wheel off the Nova in the final stage. Jim Brindle was second in the Mini Clubman after the crew softened off the car’s suspension ahead of the Saturday/Sunday run. Stephen Thompson was third in his Nova while Dan Ward’s Mini was the final class finisher. Heather MacCrone on her first run out since last year retired at Bunessan with a problem under the Corsa’s bonnet after 4 stages and Iain Stewart cowped the Mini in Gribun late on Friday night. The Lotus Elise of Howard Moore lost its clutch on the second stage, but the saddest hard luck story of all went to Andy Blower who retired on the first night – and that was after changing a blown engine while on the island prior to the rally and getting another spare engine freighted up from the deep south (somewhere in Englandshire) and then the clutch failed.

Class B

Gareth White won Class B in his Citroen C2 but he was pushed all the way by the Citroen Saxo of Alec Brown who had actually been leading the class till he picked up a contentious one minute road penalty. Going into the final stage, White had 50 seconds on the local driver, but Brown had set his sights on getting that back over the last 22 miles but White had other ideas, so Brown only managed to claw back 32 seconds and had to settle for second place. Dave Taylor was third in his Escort despite a bent his axle which was straightened with the aid of a trolley jack. Donald McEwan was fourth in his Saxo and Andrew Davies was fifth in his Peugeot 205. Euan MacKay had been challenging for the class lead during the first Leg but retired when his alternator failed and Ian Chadwick had also been challenging for the lead till his throttle cable broke while Malcolm Davey retired his Escort with clutch failure. Another non-finisher was Mike Storrar’s Anglia which stopped mid-stage Gribun with gearbox gremlins, a similar affliction being scribed to Allan Brodie’s MkII: “I lost sixth gear on Friday and I’m trying to conserve the ‘box.” No chance, this is Mill, eh? Malcolm Davey didn’t get much further, retiring his MkI with clutch failure and Stuart Ingham cowped his Peug205 in Loch Scridain.

Class C

In an excellent 9th place overall was Class C winner Doug Weir from tenth placed Iain MacKenzie. Here again, the class win was determined by a road penalty as MacKenzie’s Fiesta ST had also fallen foul of the timekeepers which would have otherwise reversed the positions. Curly Haigh was third in his Mk1 by half a minute from Grum Wilcock in the Opel Manta while Dave Hopwood was fifth in the MkII from the similar car of Stewart Morrison rounding off the top half dozen. Peter Taylor in seventh place would have been more of a threat in the Renault Clio, but for persistent brake problems although he still finished ahead of Craig Rutherford in the Honda Civic just keen to get some miles on the car. Phil Scholes was in contention in his Fiesta ST till the clutch failed and so too was Billy Bird till the Chevette’s diff broke. Cameron MacLean retired at the end of the second Leg but was surprised to even get that far after he smelled something burning in the first stage: “It was only my jacket in the boot – above the exhaust!” Taking things a stage further was Stewart Davidson whose MkII celebrated Guy Fawkes night a wee bit early at the end of the first stage and the resultant fire stopped him going any further and first time in the ‘hot’ seat since last year, Ross Hunter put his 205 off the road in Ardtun.

Class D

The top eight in Class D mirrored the top eight overall with seventh placed Tugs Sherrington finishing just outside the top ten overall in 11th place and the only complaint he had during the event was tyres, i.e. fitting the right tyres are the wrong times, or the wrong tyres are the right times! David Miller finished tenth in class despite a bad landing on Saturday afternoon which bent a front chassis leg and the hero of the rally, Alex Taylor finished 11th in class in an absolute bog standard Subaru Forester. He got that unlikely machine all crossed up at odd angles at times but got away with it. And on his first ever visit to Mull, Richard Cook scored 16th overall and 12th in class after a canny but steadily quickening run over unfamiliar, alien terrain. Pete Gibson was a lucky finisher in 13th place after the fuel pump failed on Saturday afternoon and was worried he wouldn’t reach service. John Morrison was a lacklustre 14th but couldn’t trace the Lancer’s lack of power, whether turbo or electrical, and Allan MacKay was fifteenth but more relieved to have ‘cuffed the boy’. Young Euan in his Peugeot 106 was beating the old man on Friday night, but come daylight, the auld yin got back in front, and just as darkness descended, Euan’s alternator failed – and the old man was safe!

Trophy Rallies

Howard Moore won the Trophy Rally 1 in his Lotus Elise after the clutch failed in the second stage the previous night, and Hugh Hunter won the Trophy Rally 2 in his Ford Focus WRC.