MULLMURMURSMULLMURMURSMULLMURMURS – Chapter 4
– published on the island, during the event by Jaggy Bunnet
Provisional Leaderboard after 3 Stages:
| Posn | Driver/Co-Driver | Car | Mins:Secs |
| 1 | Callum Duffy/Hugh Duffy | Ford Escort | 24:16 |
| 2 | Neil MacKinnon/Mike Stayte | Subaru Legacy | 25:31 |
| 3 | James MacGillivray/Brian Kennedy | Opel Corsa | 25:33 |
| 4 | Chris Griffiths/Stephen Griffiths | Subaru Legacy | 25:34 |
| 5 | Eddie O'Donnell/Eddie O'Donnell | Ford Escort | 26:23 |
| 6 | John Price/Mike Bowen | MG Metro 6R4 | 26:29 |
| 7 | Richard Thompson/Reg Smith | Nissan Sunny | 26:43 |
| 8 | Gareth Jones/Lee Ellis | Ford Escort | 26:55 |
| 9 | Neil McCarthy/Chas Hull | VW Golf GTI | 27:10 |
| 10 | Paul Kirtley/Jon Geldart | Ford Escort Cosworth | 27:12 |
The above top ten is a bit more accurate than shown on MullMurmurs3 due to a couple of factors i.e. rain and no rain. The weather is playing a strong hand on this year's 27th Philips Tour of Mull Rally and depending on when the showers happen and who is on the stages at the time, determines the times. For that reason some of the later numbers benefitted from slightly drier conditions over the first three stages. Even so Gareth Jones and Neil McCarthy are going well but now they've poked their noses into the top ten, the others will be gunning for them … Gareth must have been going well, he caught two cars on the Hill Road but just when he was shaping up to pass the second one, the wipers stopped … Paul Kirtley lost time on SS2 with a fuel feed problem and stopped for 15 minutes at the end of the stage, but he's going again now … Derek Carless had to get a push-start out of service – guess who left the heated screen on when he stopped? otherwise he's OK … Grant Fleming broke an oil pump drive belt on the start line in Tobermory and had to start almost last … Ian Wilson is just outside the top ten in the wee Opel despite a broken disc caliper, anyone got a Gp4 Escort disc? … Ian Woodward is off his head, he likes the rain and he wants more … Chris MacKenzie broke a bottom balljoint but limped into service … Dave Calvert got a Maximum on Loch Scridain when he went off at Fraggle Rock but there were plenty of spectators getting wet and dirty pushing him back on to the road – 100 yards away! … Graham Dale and Mike Russell both know that Keith Robathan is off which has made the chase for EARS Motorsport/Motoring News points a bit less fraught … Brian Fraser thought his clutch had packed up and did the last one and half stages in 4th gear, only to find that the adjusting nut had come off … Paul Marshall has done Mull 5 times in a FWD Corsa, this time he's out in a 3.5 litre RWD Triumph TR7 V8, in this weather!? … Nick Bailey appears to be out. He caught a culvert at a cattle grid in Glen Aros which knocked a wheel back and spun him off … Brian Cameron had the wipers fail on the Rover 220 just after he left the start of Gribun, the wettest stage of the night … and Graham Hargrave is trying to fix a slipping clutch in the Toyota.
That's yer lot for now, till later, Yer auld pal, Jaggy Bunnet, (Craignure, Friday, Midnight)
