Neil Hallworth's blog of his visit to the the 2008 Tunnock's Tour of Mull in a Talbot Sunbeam. Daily updates during rally weekend. Find it here tourofmull2008.blogspot.com
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MULLMURMURSMULLMURMURSMULLMURMURS – Chapter 6
– published on the island, during the event by Jaggy Bunnet
Leaderboard after 11 of 22 Special Stages:
MullMurmurs – Chapter 10
Results after 17 (of 17 Stages)
1 P MacKinnon/D Barritt (Subaru Impreza) 2h 17m 17s
2 C Duffy/I Duffy (Ford Escort MkII) 2h 17m 26s
3 W Bonniwell/K Rae (Subaru Impreza) 2h 24m 18s
4 J MacGillivray/I Frazer (Ford Escort MkII) 2h 25m 18s
5 T Pye/K Riddick (Subaru Impreza) 2h 26m 24s
6 K Hall/R Millener (Ford Fiesta) 2h 26m 45s
7 T Bardy/R Smith (Nissan Sunny GTI-R) 2h 26m 53s
8 D Miller/A Bailey (Subaru Impreza) 2h 30m 37s
9 T Sherrington/S Bould (Mitsubishi Lancer) 2h 32m 00s
10 W Sisson/D Stone (Mitsubishi Lancer) 2h 32m 29s
Did you notice? There were no shooting stars over Mull last night. Nope, they were all at ground level. That was one of the most compelling duels we have seen on this island in many a year. If folk ever ask you what makes the Tunnock’s Tour of Mull ‘the best rally in the world’, just tell them about last night.
Going into the final Leg of 5 stages, ‘MacKinnon The Younger’ and Daniel Barritt had 25 seconds in hand over Calum and Iain Duffy. There were 56 miles of stages in that final group. For Calum, that meant less than half a second a mile to make up. No problem, eh? Let battle commence. And what a fight that turned out to be.
MacKinnon’s yellow Subaru was like a comet, blazing a path up Loch Tuath and round Calgary Bay. He stopped the clocks 22 seconds sooner than his Dad did 2 years ago. A new record. Then came Calum, the comet scorching its own line over the tarmac. He broke the record too, but by ‘only’ 14 seconds.
Mishnish Lochs did neither of them any favours. According to James MacGillivray, “that was just about the slippiest stage he had ever driven”. No records, but MacKinnon took another 7 seconds out of a disconsolate Duffy. “My tyres are like jelly” said Calum, “I was hoping for more grip when it was colder.”
The gap was now 40 seconds with 3 stages to go. Now, sensible folks like you and me might have left it at that, but note the use of the word ‘sensible’ here. Calum took 5 back from Paul on Loch Scridain. Paul equalled the record on Gribun and took 3 back from Calum. There were now 38 seconds between them and 14 miles of tarmac, which was originally laid down by a drunk, dribbling asphalt out of the back end of a tipper, while driving over what became the Hill Road and down Glen Bellart. That isn’t a road, it’s wishful thinking.
Surely not? Well those two went at it like a pair of ferocious Scottish midgies wanting a big bite out of the same fat bloke. And then it happened. A patch of mud on the road, locked up brakes, and off. Disaster. It was all over. Maybe. Paul locked the diffs and managed to reverse out, but Calum’s lights were only too visible and catching. “That was some trip down the last 10 miles of the Glen, I’ll tell you,” said Paul, “the bumper was hanging off it, I don’t know what else might have been wrong, but I just had to go for it.” And go he did.
At the finish, Calum said, “He drove well, you can’t take that away from him.” So how hard was Calum trying? He pointed to his rear tyres. The whole tread moulding was starting to separate from the tyre casing. You could put your fingers in the gaps.
By comparison, the pace of Willie Bonniwell, James MacGillivray and Tristan Pye was almost sedate in 3rd, 4th and 5th, but for ‘drive of the rally’, what about young Kris Hall in 6th place? I almost felt sorry for that poor wee Ford Fiesta. Tony Bardy, David Miller, Tugs Sherrington and Wayne Sisson rounded off the top ten but what of the others?
John Cope was in the hunt for top honours till that last mad dash across the island last night, and he too fell victim to a patch of gravel, but unlike MacKinnon, there was no way out. Daniel Harper too was in the hunt for honours, but clipped a rock in Gribun and almost tore the wheel off. Eddie O’Donnell finished the rally with bits of his brother-in-law’s gearbox inside his own, but that prompts the question, does his brother in law know? He does now! Dougi Hall parked the Lancer in a ditch and Paul Kirtley blew an exhaust manifold. Denis Biggerstaff had punctures and serious brake problems and John Swinscoe had to stop in stage and change a puncture too.
John Cressey broke a gearbox, although he tried to blame his navigator Stan Quirk, “He stutters a lot for a co-driver!”
In the classes, Iain ‘Ogg’ MacKenzie’s 11th place overall was stunning too for a wee Peugeot 106, but who knows where he might have finished if not for his co-driving Dad “He would have gone quicker – if I had let him!” Second in class B was the equally impressive John MacCrone in 13th place overall and if that is not testament to the value of the Bear Cubs and Steve Davies then I don’t know what is. Gaun yersel boys. In the 1400 class, Alan Mclaughlin in the Ford Puma took the honours from Donald Brown in the Suzuki Swift engined Sunbeam.
And so as the 39th Tunnock’s Tour of Mull Rally draws to a formal close we must once again thank all of the guid fowks of Mull for their patience and hospitality during this annual invasion of nutters, speed freaks and rally fanatics. Our marshals too are wonderful people. Without them there wouldn’t be a rally. The Cooncil too, as ever, have been supportive and helpful and thanks too, to John K Philips for the loan of their truck to bring the rally to Mull. As ever, the Polis were efficient and very busy, perhaps too busy at times. And our grateful thanks to, to Tunnock’s for their own tastebud tickling, carameliciously scrumptious contributions to the Scottish diet. It’s what makes our weather bearable!
And you know what? One of the best bits of the rally? At the rally finish in the early hours of Sunday morning, we all got a Tunnock’s Scotch Pie. By Goad it wiz fierce. A hot best-mutton pie is just the thing to set the seal on a perfect event, just don’t tell the wife I had a pie. She’ll kill me.
Oh, and by the way, don’t be fooled for a minute thinking that was a full moon last night. Nope, somebody was up there with a big torch taking an interest in everything we were up to down here. Thanks Brian, from all of us.
Yer Auld Pal, Jaggy Bunnet – Sunday, 12 Noon, Tobermory
Flying the 2300club flag this weekend at the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, Paul Tattersall will once again be racing his Ensign […]
MullMurmurs – Chapter 2
Well, that’s Scrutineering over for another year. The Scroots have shoogled, tyre-kicked, checked and measured everything mechanical, but who’s checking the crews. There are some bleary eyed blokes amongst them after a few all-nighters to get ready for today.
Shortly the main street will be cleared for the 40th Tunnock’s Tour of Mull to blast off into tyre melting, gut wrenching action, so a final word of warning to all you spectators. Take care out there and if you don’t use your own common sense, used somebody else’s. Park sensibly, drive carefully and spectate responsibly.
Back at Scrutineering I had to laugh at Grum Willcock’s idea of ‘international’ rallying. He broke a brake disc on the Opel Manta at the Lindisfarne last month and needed to replace them. So he fitted a pair of German Merc S class discs to the front for the princely sum of 66 quid. And they go well with his Jaguar front callipers, Volvo rear callipers, Vauxhall engine, Ford gearbox, Opel Manta body and a back axle sourced in the USA from a Jeep ‘thingy’ (he couldn’t remember what) when the £ was weak against the $. That’s what I call resourceful rallying on a budget.
Former Scottish Tarmac Champ, Ricky Wheeler was last over here 13 years ago and is hoping for better luck. He was off for 12 minutes in the first stage and set a top 20 time on the last, so even then, progress was in the right direction. Ian Chadwick is back for more. The 106 was new for last year and he’s done 3 events since then. He was actually on course for a 10th place o/a on the Munster Stages earlier this year till he started catching cars, so let’s hope he’s not catching more tonight.
Reay MacKay was looking a bit apprehensive. He’s not really done a proper tarmac event before and he’s never driven the Metro on anything but gravel tyres, so the Snowman Rally winner will be tackling the unknown tonight. He’s very professional though, I saw him taking his racing ovies out of an Asda carrier bag! John Morrison is hoping to improve on his highest placed newcomer award on the ’05 Mull. He was running car 41 then and is running 41 again this year. Is that a good omen?
A welcome sight at Scrutinising was Steve Davies. He’s got a new engine: “Half of the old one is still lying scattered over Ensay Steps from last year,” he quipped. It’s hard to believe ‘Sid the Parrot’ Fleming contested his 1st Mull in a Mini in ’75, but here he is back in a Fiesta ST: “We’re calling it the Corgi Car – it’s so quiet and small inside compared with the MkIIs I’ve been running”. And sitting alongside is Fergus Loudon – from Tunnock’s – so doff your cap, tug your forelock and call him sir. I will.
Curly Haigh has fitted new seats to his MkI, you know the kind, the fancy ones with the big wings round the crash helmet position, but they’re so wide he nearly can’t get the Escort doors shut. Still it’s better than his recce car. It had to get towed on to the ferry! Matthew Tarbutt’s Nova appeared at Scrooting with a large lip-smacker shape on both driver and co-driver doors, saying Holly with three ‘xxx’s. Apparently this has come from co-driver’s Joff Haigh’s best friend’s wife who reckons this is a good luck ritual – funny folk, wimmen, eh? Duggie Ingram got a 4th in class on last month’s Pendragon with the Mini, and that was despite a ‘dink’ in the rear end when he slid wide on a corner and hit a roadside rock. The car was new for last year and suffered teething problems so it should be fit for tonight.
Alan McLaughlin’s Ford Puma looks rather different to the way it finished the 2007 Mull when he parked it upside down on the beach! He got the class win last year, so progress is in the right direction. Callum Bendall’s Ford Ka may look like Ford’s smallest machine, but it’s got a 1400 Puma engine on throttle bodies under the bonnet. Sort of like a real Ka, but after a night on the vodka and red bull. After breaking a driveshaft at Kames, three months back, David Johnston has splashed out on two brand new ones for the Golf – after checking and finding that his spares were twisted!
Euan MacKay has been busy this week. The wee Peugeot finished last week’s Colin McRae Stages with bent rear panels, arches, tank guard and a burst exhaust, so a lot of midnight oil was burnt, but when he took the big hammer to the tank guard at 2.00 am in the morning he got a severial verbal roasting from his Mum who was violently awakened from her peaceful slumbers by this hammer wielding nutter. Still he got the job done, and he’s here. Donald Brown has forsaken the Sunbeam for a Saxo: “I’ve driven a FWD car before only once – badly!” he said. Let’s see what tonight brings.
Dave Thomas is back in a ‘brand new’ 40 year old Mini Clubman. Mind you I was surprised to see him. He is half way round a world tour in a Mini van. He’d done all the provinces of Canada and after this ‘holiday’ on Mull he’s going to tackle Russia – I wonder if he’s told the Russians yet?
Shaun Sinclair is back, after crashing out last year when a brake pipe burst. But he finished 5th o/a in the Scottish Rally Championship this year, so the car should be right for this. It’s good to see young Alex Brown out in John MacCrone’s 205 Championship winning car, this was to thank him for all his help this past year. Pierre Newton’s 205 looks tidy and tasty. Built in 2005 he finished Mull that year and finished again in ’06 but when he couldn’t get an entry in 07 and 08 he did two airfield events and crashed in both. The moral of this story is, don’t do airfields unless you fly a plane!
I had to laugh, Eddie O’Donnell Jnt appeared at Scrooting with a smart jacket emblazoned ‘with the word AutoFashion’ Well, I’m sorry but the words ‘O’Donnel’ and ‘Fashion’ sit as comfortably together as a hedgehog at a balloon party, or a fish supper at an anorexics’ night out. But the car has a new sequential shift 5 spd box and it was ready before Scrooting closed so that’s a positive. Third generation Steven O’Donnell had his Mk1 there after 4 years of getting it ready. He bought the car in 2005 and it was just about finished when he got to the Distillery – typical O’Donnell time keeping!
John Easson Scholarship winner Mark McCulloch was another burning the midnight oil this past week. He managed to shorten the Corsa by two inches on one side on last weekend’s McRae but with only one portapower tool he was struggling. So he wedged the car in the garage on one side with fence posts and attacked the other side of the bodyshell with the tool. Result? Perfection.
It was nice to see Paul Darlington back with the V4 Saab. Like the rally it is 40 years old. He did the rally in 2004 and then got married in 2005 – so he missed the rally that year. I wonder why. Kevin Charles has watched Mull a few times, but this is his first behind the wheel. He did the Jim Clark National earlier in the year in the Fiesta but snapped a driveshaft on the last stage, although he finished. That’s what’s needed for Mull too. Never give up. And didn’t David Holland’s MkII look grand. The Palletforce MkII has done three Mulls, and one event in Anglesey, which is somewhere near Englandshire apparently.
Speaking of professional preparation, I had to laugh when Matthew Fox came through in the wee Peugeot. He had his fag packet velcro’d to the door panel. It was beautifully done, stuck to the door. Apparently at the end of the longer stages, his co-driver can’t pass him a fag quick enough to help soothe his tattered nerves. What some folk will put themselves through for their sport!
And doesn’t it just make you feel old. Young Alasdair MacCrone and Robbie Duncan appeared at Scrooting with the Bear Cubs Nova. They both look as though they are just out of school. Young? I think they shave with Johnsons cotton wool buds! Just jealous, that’s me.
By the way, look out for Bulletin Bill in the MullMurmurs distribution Subaru Impreza tonight. He will be appearing at various locations around the route – hopefully.
Now, if you are going out drinking and driving tonight, just make sure it’s nothing stronger than Irn Bru, and if you fancy a snack there’s only one name on everyone’s lips – a Tunnock’s caramel wafer a day, helps you pace, race and rally away. OK, so what did you expect? Poetry?
That’s yer lot for now,
Yer Auld Pal, Jaggy Bunnet – Friday, 5.00 pm, Tobermory.
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