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Jaggy Bunnet Rally News - January 16, 2012 Latest News & Gossip Last year the Grant Construction Stages Rally attracted 26 entries, this year it was 42, so that’s encouraging. Even more encouraging was the number of new faces and ‘old faces’ in different cars. Armstrong Galloway Hills winner Mark McCulloch had a new motor. The Subaru has gone and has been replaced by a 1.6 Proton Satria. He drove it for the first time at the Christmas Stages Rally where he finished 17th overall, but wasn’t happy with the handling of the car. So it was back to the garage afterwards and a look underneath with the big magnifying glass. Apparently the springs were twice as hard as they should have been so new suspension was fitted ahead of Knockhill, and what a difference it made. Right from the start Mark was competitive and the grin was getting ever wider. “I’ve got unfinished business with the BRC,” said Mark, “I’m aiming to do the Challenge category this year. I did it last year with the Fiesta, but it wasn’t quite competitive enough. So this year I’ll be in the 2WD 1600 class with the Proton. I’ll miss out on Bournemouth because of the cost, but I want to get a forest event in before the BRC series starts.” Young Jamie McDowall, with his co-driving fifteen year old sister, Charlotte, was at Croft for the Christmas Stages but failed to finish in the Ford Focus. An engine mounting broke and pulled the driveshaft out but it also damaged the splines so that was it. With the car still in bits he borrowed the Ol’ Man’s Avenger for his first run out in a rear wheel drive car. It took him a wee while to sort out the fact that the RWD Avenger handles a lot differently from the FWD Focus and he got a maximum in the third test when he spun and got stuck, which ruined a good result, although his other stage times were not at all shoddy. Another driver in a new car, albeit from just over the border, is Michael Glendinning who appeared in the ex Cronin/Evans Group N TegSport Impreza. “I’ve sold my old Impreza and the Escort to buy this,” said Michael, “and am planning to do a full Championship this year – maybe even the Scottish Rally Championship.” Anyway, he got his season off to a winning start at Knockhill. Appearing for the first time in a 4WD turbo car was Graeme Schoneville. “The Honda Civic wasn’t ready so I hired David Newall’s Lancer for this,” said Graeme, “It was my first time out in the car and had I not been off in the sheuch on the first stage my times were looking good. Unfortunately, the turbo seized but I thoroughly enjoyed the car.” Which prompted the next question: “No there’s no plans to buy one or get rid of the Honda.” Y’know something, he didn’t sound very convincing. Alan Gardner had dusted off the MkII for an airing at Knockhill: “I cracked the head on the MkI on Mull,” said Alan, “and the engine is still not quite finished, so I just wanted a run out in this.” George Bryson appeared with another Escort, this time a MkII with a 2.4 litre John Reid engine, 6 spd seq gearbox and an independent rear end with BMW diff. “It’s the same spec as Calum Duffy’s car,” said George, “with over 300 bhp.” Gordon Boyd’s minted Mk1 Escort appeared at Knockhill with ‘John Boy’ Boyd at the wheel but it popped a core plug. The ever-smiling (must be thinking of someone else!) Gordon just took this latest setback in his stride: “I’ve already had the gearbox out it, it broke last weekend,” he said. The ever enterprising Ross Hunter was at Knockhill in his Peugeot 205, but it had a different engine from the one which lost its sump plug on Mull. “I bought a 2 litre engine out of a Xantia froma scrappie and fitted throttle bodies. It had 180 bhp standard, but 197 with the throttle bodies on it – No bad for a hundred quid!” Ian Forgan had a hectic time in the immediate run-up to Kockhill. When he took the car out for a run on Friday, something broke on the rear end he ended up giving a dry stone dyke a Glasgow kiss. It wasn’t bad, but it needed some refettling ahead of the rally and of course he had to find the right bits as well. Things were running late on Saturday and he had a pressing engagement on the Saturday night. He was also under the threat of severial physical punishment if he was late – he was taking six kids to the Pantomime. And no, they weren’t all his own! Still he made the Pantomime and the rally. Gareth White has one or both Citroen C2s up for sale depending on interest. There’s no reason behind it, he’s just testing the market, so it’s not as if he’s got something in mind to replace them. Also bumped into a spectating Bruce Edwards at Knockhill. The new Darrian with its 3 litre Jaguar lump is taking shape, the only problem is fitting the exhaust inside the engine bay. At present it runs awfy close to the fibre glass bodywork and that won’t do! And finally ... Grumpy Motorsport was out in force at Knockhill, but Carin Logan’s wee Saxo was sounding a lot fruitier and going a bit quicker than it used to. She’s now got a 16v engine in place of the old 8v unit, but she didn’t tell Pop until it was bought. “She went away and bought it herself,” said Ian, “and didn’t tell me till she got it home. Oddly enough I’d been thinking about a new engine at Crail. I stood there watching it and reckoned it was needing a bit more power. It’s got 139 bhp compared to the old one with 90!” Needless to say, Carin’s chuffed to bits now too. Please also note the date for the Fort Augustus Gravel Sprint. This year it will be on Saturday the 19th of May. **** |