Screening of World Premiere of 2008 Tour of Mull

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

MullMurmurs – Chapter 4

Provisional Leaderboard after SS2 (of 19)

1 Neil MacKinnon/Daniel Barritt (Subaru Impreza WRC) 20 Minutes 02 Seconds
2 Paul MacKinnon/Andrew Roughhead (Subaru Impreza) 20m 39s
3 John Cope/Robert Fagg (Subaru Impreza WRC) 20m 39s
4 Calum Duffy/Iain Duffy (Ford Escort Mk2) 20m 33s
5 Dougi Hall/Andy Richardson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8) 20m 35s
6 Paul Kirtley/Jim Kitson (Subaru Impreza) 20m 54s
7 Daniel Harper/Chris Campbell (BMW MINI Cooper S) 20m 59s
8 James MacGillivray/Ian Fraser (Ford Escort Mk2) 21m 10s
9 John Swinscoe/Paula Swinscoe (Mitsubishi Lancer) 21m 11s
10 Tristan Pye/Kirsty Riddick (Subaru Impreza) 21m 32s

With a few more times in we can now update the Leaderboard after the second stage of this 38th Tunnock’s Tour of Mull Rally and look at Daniel Harper! Up to 7th in the MINI.

Denis Biggerstaff is struggling though. As mentioned in an earlier Murmur, he was concerned about the paddle shift in the Subaru, and it got stuck in  4th gear at the end of the 2nd stage so the boys are attempting to change the gearbox at Craignure service. Fingers crossed.

Ian Forgan (66) is complaining about a slipping clutch. He adjusted it before the start p but adjusted it too much …. Duggie Ingram (64) has cowped the Mini in SS2 …. Mike Russell (67)  ‘went farming’ in SS2, fortunately without damage …. John  Paterson (48) is miserable. No fuel pressure in SS1 and an ‘off’ in SS2 …. It’s 4 years since Sandy Smith (69) last finished a Tour and didn’t get this far last year, but with a new co-driver has completed the first 2 stages …. Martin MacLean (72) says he’s driving like a Granny …. Paul Miller (73) says the car is feeling nervous over the bumps and that’s making him nervous … Chris Paton (74) says this is where it all went horribly wrong last year, so he’s driving with his toes crossed … Alick Kerr (75) the John Easson Scholarship winner had a slight panic at the start of the first stage when the intercom failed, but it was fine after they put a new battery in it zand he’s revelling in his first Mull – and he’s only done 2 stages (the enthusiasm of youth!) …. Chris MacKenzie (48) got a puncture near the end of SS2 …. Paul Marshall (80) has a very bad misfire over 4000 rpm and is struggling to get 4th gear in the TR7 …. Graham Brown (84) has front corner panel and headlamp damage after an altercation with a wall at an increasingly muddy Torloisk junction where earlier cars are cutting and spreading mud across the road …. It’s Bruce Edwards’ (87) first time here and after a cautious start in the Darrian started to have a few moments so has backed off before exuberance gets the better of him …. Stevie Browns’ (91) Nova is skipping about a bit at the back end …. Rick Fry (95) caught a car in there and lost a wee bit of time …. Murdo Morrison (93) was smiling at the end of the stage “I had a wee moment in there that was enough to put a smile on anyone’s face!” and he’s suffering from ‘disco lights’ – the headlamps and spots are switching themselves off at times and then coming back on again …. Allan MacKay (97) is enjoying the Lancer after years in a Ford Anglia and is amazed at the technological progress of modern cars “It’s got wipers that work, it’s even got a heater!” …. John Lloyd (98) had a wee fright at the start when the co-driver’s light failed, but they got it fixed.

And so the rally heads into the deep south for a loop of 5 stages before heading back towards Tobermory and the overnight halt. It’s dry, but slippy in places, and keeping adrenaline pumps fully fuelled and beating hard.

Yer auld pal, Jaggy Bunnet, Salen Hotel 10.30 pm, Friday