Ewan Tindall – John Easson Scholarship Update

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

MullMurmurs – Chapter 1

Well, hullawrerrchinasanhowzyertastebudstinglin? Welcome one and all to the 37th running of the annual Tour of Mull Rally and an especially warm welcome to that harbinger of all things scrumptiously tasty, St Tunnock’s of Biscuitry, sponsors of ‘the best rally in the world’.

Things got off to a quietly rowdy start in the Aros Hall last night where a Scotsman, an Englishman, a Welshman and an Irishman gathered together for the pre-rally forum chaired by someone from another nation entirely (but we haven’t found out where), Mr John Fife. First time on the panel James MacGillivray represented the Scots and for someone who’s shy proved remarkably adept at the spoken word. John Cope was there on behalf of the English and determined to go well this year, the most ‘winningest’ man in British rallying and having driven more types of rally car than anyone else, John Price is back for another crack at the one event which has frustrated his trophy cabinet and Denis Biggerstaff is back – just for the craic!

But even before that Rod Brereton was up to his usual tricks on the Wednesday night running a music quiz in the MishNish and raised £275 for the RNLI while another on ‘good works’ duty was Dougi Hall. He cycled the full length of the 22 miler yesterday setting a time of 1 hour 7 minutes 33 seconds and averaging 19.94 mph for the trip – then he cooled down by cycling over the lochs! And the reason, he was being sponsored to raise funds for the bear Cubs, the groups of rallying youngsters that Steve Davies is helping out – and Dougi is still open for donations, it’s a good cause!

And just before the rally gets underway, make sure you get ‘tooled up’ for the weekend, the 2300 Club girls are selling Tunnock’s Tour of Mull gear in the Aros Hall and the fully informative programmes are on sale there too and many shops around the towns and villages. This is essential reading because it contains stage maps and timetables, without which you will see nowt to-night!

But back to the rally, Scrutineering opened for business at Tobermory Distillery where first through was Tony Bardy who has hired a Steve Petch Hyundai WRC machine in place of his Nissan. “It’s an early 50th birthday present to meself” said Tony – about one year early I thought.

John Swinscoe’s Lancer EVO9 looked mean. He brought it in direct from Japan and started prepping it on the 11th of September. Mark Jasper sounds as though he’s well prepared. He and Don Whyatt (2nd time at Mull) drive the stage once to make the Notes and then drove them once to check them! The Metro looks well after its ‘bump’ on Ulster: “I was leading at the time,” said Mark, “and doing 100 and something, then we went off!”

When asked why he had such a huge airbox on top of the Metro V6, John Price said: “It needs a lot of air!” Still, it’s cheaper than petrol I suppose. Next up was the MINI triplets of Daniel Harper, John Cressey and Ian Dawes. The cars have around 270 hp and 6 speed gearboxes built by Minisport. Daniel and John’s cars are the same as last year but Ian and Gary Dawes have forfeited their Astra in favour of the MINI. According to Daniel it’s a “2 Dawes model” (Think about it!).

Ian Colman appeared in his facelifted Nissan. He put it into Tony Bardy’s place for a checkup and they moved the intercooler from the top of the engine to low down at the front. More efficient, but more exposed!

Dave Thwaites has got a new 2.4 Duratec in the MkII in place of the 2 litre Vauxhall. It’s got more power and more torque and a big Atlas, with big diff and big shafts … Chris Tooze is hoping for a better run out on Mull than he had in Ulster. The Corsa shed a wheel 2 miles into the 1st stage … Eddie O’Donnell came through Scrutineering with clean hands! The car has actually been ready since June when he went to do the Donegal, only he didn’t. The cylinder head went porous and he had to withdraw his entry so all he had to do was get the engine rebuilt for Mull … Duggie Ingram’s Mini looks a bit of a handful with its Jack Knight 16 valve head and throttle bodies … and John Rintoul has new glasses, now he’ll actually see what he’s been missing over here all these years! … Dave Taylor is a lucky starter. He got his car pinched out of the garage on Tuesday after thieves played bumper cars with 8 other showroom vehicles to get it out. But it ran out of fuel after 4 miles and the thieves couldn’t get fuel into the WRC spec filler. A lady jogger spotted it behind a hedge and phoned Easson’s garage so they got it back … not so lucky is Billy Bird, the Lancer put a rod through the block last night … Ian Grubb had a fright last night too when the Lancer’s brake pedal went to the floor but an overnight master cylinder change had him back in action this morning.

We didn’t see Neil MacKinnon this morning but we saw his car – he was still in bed, but sone Paul was there with Emma McKinstry’s Lancer. The car is up for sale, but the MacKinnons did a deal with Kenny for two cars on Mull this year. And local hero Calum Duffy was there too. He’s got a new engine in the car. He did Crail late last year and did the Sperrins Rally in Ireland a few months back where he finished 16th overall and 2nd in class so he should be match fit for this weekend.

It was also good to see Dutchman Lex Koevoet back again. He marshalled for the first time on Mull last year and was so taken he’s back for more. He will be marshalling at Ardtun with the BMRMC whose stage starter is none other than Vanessa Bott who is the Chief Start Marshal at Oulton Park. Apparently Oulton Park does a bit in motor sport too!

And finally, Mull does strange things to folk when they first visit and then keep coming back, but few stranger than this. Granite City Clerk of the Course, Gerry Potter and Entries Secretary Rae Osborne got married in Tobermory registry office yesterday morning at 11.00 am witnessed by Doug Weir and Stevie Brown and photographed for posterity by Iain Robertson. Gerry said they did it quietly to save a lot of fuss (I reckon he was saving money!) but if you see a car out there to-night on marshalling duty with steamed up windows, just be careful, it might be the newlyweds! Congratulations from all of us to all of youse.

And finally, finally, the Polis have one of them new fangled see-far-away radar guns that can spot a speeding motorist at a mile! So be careful and be sensible. And if you hear a siren and see flashing lights just ahead of the rally to-night that could be Bulletin Bill with the MullMurmurs, so look out and be ready!

Yer auld pal, Jaggy Bunnet, Tobermory, Noon, Friday