MULLMURMURSMULLMURMURSMULLMURMURS – Chapter 9
published on the island, during the event by Jaggy Bunnet
Final Results after Leg 3 (21 of 21 Special Stages):
| 1 | Neil MacKinnon/Mike Stayte (Ford Escort Cosworth) | 2:57:56 |
| 2 | Billy Bird/Plug Pulleyn (Vauxhall Astra) | 2:59:09 |
| 3 | Michael Shiel/Graham Shiel (Vauxhall Astra) | 2:59:29 |
| 4 | Richard Thompson/Reg Smith (Nissan Sunny) | 3:02:17 |
| 5 | Gordon Boyd/Stella Boyles (Ford Escort Cosworth) | 3:02:31 |
| 6 | Eddie O'Donnell/Eddie O'Donnell (Ford Escort RS) | 3:04:38 |
| 7 | Derek Carless/Pete Forrester (Ford Escort) | 3:06:33 |
| 8 | Donald Brown/Fred McLean (Talbot Sunbeam) | 3:10:52 |
| 9 | Mark Jasper/Guy Foster (Ford Sierra Cosworth) | 3:10:58 |
| 10 | Stuart McQueen/Alistair Green (Vauxhall Astra) | 3:11:05 |
Well, that's it, it's all over now. Neil MacKinnon and Mike Stayte have scored an all time record 7th victory on the 26th Philips Tour of Mull Rally. It was also MacKinnon's second hat-trick.
With two stages to go, the heavens opened, and after a glorious weekend, it turned wet, really wet. Having only intermediate tyres, MacKinnon had no choice but to go for it on them and most folks followed suit.
Rally leader Billy Bird was giving it death on the penultimate stage but attacked a corner under the trees just a shade too hard and executed two perfect 360 spins, but got wedged across the narrow road and had to be rescued by two hardy spectators. Still, second overall in the self built rear wheel drive Astra is a marvellous result.
Michael Shiel got to within 20 seconds of Bird in his "normal" front wheel drive Astra and stayed out of the clutches of Richard Thompson in the works Nissan who was under pain of P45 if he returned it in less than pristine condition. Gordon Boyd fought back after his Friday gearbox trouble to claim fifth and Eddie O'Donnell was fairly flying too after damaging his steering and getting a maximum on Mishnish on Saturday afternoon.
Top 1300 was Jim Fergusson in the rear wheel drive Peugeot following Daniel Harper's retirement on the 19th test when the Mini broke its diff and Donald Brown scored an excellent 1600 win with 8th overall.
All that's left now is the prizegiving and the beer race later this evening, and remember, courtesy of Philips Electronics the prizegiving will be televised for the Aros Hall overspill.
And finally, if you're standing in Tobermory on this very weekend in a year's time from now and wondering where all the cars are, you'll be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Next year's event runs a week later on the 18/19/20 October and will be the final round of the MN Tarmac Championship. Don't miss it!!
That's all for now, Yer Auld Pal, Jaggy Bunnet 3:00am, Sunday, Tobermory
