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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MullMurmurs – Chapter 5
Provisional Leaderboard after SS7 (of 17)
1 MacKinnon/MacGillivray 48 Mins 04 Secs
2 Hall/Hall 49m 36s
3 MacGillivray/Fraser 49m 52s
4 Duffy/Duffy 50m 00s
5 Harper/Campbell 50m 22s
6 Pye/Falconer 50m 45s
7 Cope/Fagg 50m 45s
8 Pattison/Whittaker 50m 53s
9 Bardy/Smith 51m 01s
10 Sisson/Stone 51m 13s
(Note: These positions may change as more Time Cards come in)
At the close of play on Friday night at the end of the first Leg of this 40th Tunnock’s Tour of Mull, Paul MacKinnong and Ewan MacGillivray still lead the rally. For the moment, Paul has picked a pace he is happy with: “I’m not really bothered what the others are doing at this stage. I’ve stiffened the suspension up a wee bit but it’s still skipping a bit on the bumps.”
Behing him Dougi and Sam Hall are holding station in second place. “I’ve softened the suspension up a bit,” said Dougi, “but these boys are flying tonight.” Ewan MacGillivray is still in third place but the fast closing Calum Duffy has designs on higher positions: “I was pretty steady in Scridain,” said Calum, “but I pushed a bit in Gribun.”
John Cope dropped back a bit: “I stalled on the startline of Scridain,” he admitted sheepishly, but the car appears to be bottoming out too much for his liking and this will need to be checked overnight. Tony Bardy is cursing himself for being too smart: “I changed the steering rack for this event as I thought the new one would be a bit too nervous over the Mull bumps, but if anything it’s worse!” Daniel Harper is still going well, despite: “I know it can’t be helped, this is rallying after all, but I just can’t get going with all this stopping and starting.”
So as the top seeds head off to bed, the 2300 Club organisers were still working on the notional times for stages 3 and 4. The top seeds managed to get through them all, but after the accident they were forced to run the later runners around them and they would all get a notional time for the tests. Anyway, that will all be sorted out.
Meanwhile, further back in the field, Euan MacKay (99) was worried about some smoke appearing inside the car but it didn’t seem to slow him down and Callum Bendall (82) had a wee spin in SS5 when the Ka got a wheel on the grass verge. Mark Borthwick (101) exclaimed: I thought Otterburn was bad, but this takes the biscuit.” (I wonder if he meant that as a pun? Think about it. Oh please yourselves, I’m tired and it’s late).
Jim McDowall’s (97) gearknob came off in his hand, David Johnston (102) is worried about his clutch pedal sinking to the floor and David Calvert reckoned the lost the Notes somewhere in Loch Tuath but it didn’t slow them down. Martin Page was planning a precautionary underside inspection at Service after a really heavy landing on one of the Tuath jumps and Graham Brown was worried about heavy landings too. All his electrics cut out, but came back after some frenetic wire waggling but he had Gribun ahead with even more jumps! Ross Hunter (112) was slowed when he caught a car and Haydn Williams (111) caught a deer. It was so close it knocked a door mirror glass out. Bruce Hosie is worried about excessive play on his power steering but is carrying on at unabated pace and David Steggles has concerns about his brake pedal ‘going long’ at all the wrong times. Alex Brown in the MacCrone Peugeot is taking things steady, it’s his first real rally in the wet and Gordon MacFadyen (126) arrived at the Salen Control with smoke reeking out of the back brakes.
First time out in a 4WD car, Iain ‘Fuey the Fireman’ Noble is getting on fine but he’s never driven a car with so many switches and buttons. Aye this new technology catches up with us all Fuey. When the back end of the Sunbeam stepped out on him, it made James Fairbairns (129) wake up smartish and Shug Rutherford (124) is concerned about his low oil pressure. It might be John Hislop’s (130) first time on Mull but co-driver Gareth Williams has been around here a few times with Dougi Hall. Kevin Charles (132) was just dead chuffed to have caught and passed a car and Norman MacPhail (134) was struggling to get back on the pace after the long wait before Stage 5, but he was looking happier as he headed towards his home stages in the south of the island.
That’s yer lot for now,
Yer Auld Pal, Jaggy Bunnet – Friday, 4.00 am, At the Sea Life Centre in Oban
Provisional Top Ten after SS16 (of 19)
1 Neil MacKinnon/Mike Stayte (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1 Hr 58 Mins 30 Secs
2 Calum Duffy/Iain Duffy (Ford Escort Mk2) 2h 00m 31s
3 John Cope/Tony Cope (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 03m 02s
4 Paul Kirtley/David Jones (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 03m 57s
5 Denis Biggerstaff/Graham Thomson (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 05m 13s
6 John Price/Caroline Price (MG Metro 6R4) 2h 06m 18s
7 Tony Bardy/Reg Smith (Hyundai Accent WRC) 2h 06m 46s
8 John Swinscoe/Bill Robertson (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO9) 2h 08m 22s
9 Cameron Maclean/Alastair Fraser (Ford Escort Mk2) 2hr 09m 20s
10 Tristan Pye/Andrew Roughead (Subaru Impreza) 2h 10m 11s
(Please Note: These times are provisional pending confirmation by Rally HQ)
This was the big one, the 23 miler Loch Tuath/Calgary Bay adrenaline charge. And like something out the ‘Charge of the Dark Brigade’ Neil MacKinnon sped down the valley and round the bay stopping the clocks on 20 mins 26 seconds – you couldn’t do it quicker even if strapped to an Exocet, but there is still cause for concern in the McKinstry camp. The gearbox Neil is using will have to spared, no full rev changes, there’s a long way to go. Calum Duffy is having to be careful too, 2nd gear is beginning to ‘crunch’. Paul Kirtley struck something and knocked the tracking out so the Subaru is a handful and according to Tony Cope brother John thought he was a tractor driver for 400 yards in Calgary – but they got away with it.
Up to an excellent 9th overall is yet another Muileach, Cameron MacLean (41), but he admitted to backing off a bit this afternoon when he saw Doug Weir’s accident … Tim Stell (40) was troubled with a sticking throttle which made his anti-lag interesting … Tristan Pye (36) had a puncture and the car’s not handling too well since … Pat Johnson (23) is troubled with his brakes, they keep snatching the left front and he thinks something is broken … Chris Chadwick (34) struggled through Calgary and the Lochs, the co-driver was changing gear while Ian was steering with one hand, and operating the throttle by the other hand out of the window using a boot lace. Oh, and by the way, some of our ‘foreign’ readers wonder what a ‘midge on a squib’ is, a phrase I used to describe Chadwick’s progress in an earlier bulletin. A ‘midge’ is a small biting gnat and a ‘squib’ is a firework. OK? … Alan Gardiner’s intercom has gone … Tugs Sherrington (35) is having steering problems and Curly Haigh (44) reckons he was setting some fantastic times – for this rally 10 years ago … class leading Mike Storrar (38) is having to hold the door shut with a bungee as the lock has failed and he’s annoyed – the 1600cc Anglia is ‘only just’ out of warranty by some 30 odd years … the politically incorrect Stuart McQueen (28) was spotted having a fly fag at the end of Calgary, just to calm his nerves … ex Land Rover pilot John Cockburn started the rally gently by not using the anti-lag first time out in a Subaru, but used it throughout the second Leg, so I wonder what he’ll do tonight – use the throttle maybe? … Brian MacLeod (71) has a leaking core plug … and Steve Davies (51) got a fright when both throttle cables broke simultaneously, and then the sumpguard fell off … and Chris Woodcock (54) is under serious pressure, he’s driving Harry Hockly’s Proton and he’s been told to bring it back in one piece – and he’s leading the 1400 class, so no pressure then …and Alistair Willis (110) has returned to Scotland to rally his old Nova run by Andrew Wood. He returned from Bucharest in Rumania where he runs a sandwich factory! … and here is a true tale, would I tell a fib? – Fooey the Fireman (118) went on fire! He was driving Alan Gardner’s old MkI on the basis that if he fixed it he could use it on Mull so the part-time fireman and full time mechanic at MacKay’s Garage was going well till the boot went on fire. It was spotted by other folk and Robert Mathieson (57) pulled over to help him with the merry blaze. But it was only the electrics and the paint which suffered, but I bet his mates will give him a ribbing next time he goes to work.
That’s yer lot for now,
Yer auld pal, Jaggy Bunnet, Riverside, Tobermory, 10.30 pm, Saturday
Are you thinking of coming to this years Tunnock's Tour of Mull? Why not offset some of the costs of the weekend and become a Marshal?
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