MULLMURMURSMULLMURMURSMULLMURMURS – Chapter 3
– published on the island, during the event by Jaggy Bunnet
Provisional leaderboard after SS3 (of 20)
1 Hall/Williams (Mitsubishi Lancer) 27 mins 50 secs
2 Harper/Campbell (Mitsubishi Lancer0 28m 01s
3 MacKinnon/Stayte (Subaru Impreza WRC) 28m 39s
4 Bardy/Smith (Nissan Sunny) 29m 47s
5 Swinscoe/Whittaker (Ford Escort MkII) 30m 01s
6 Duffy/Duffy (Ford Escort MkII) 30m 08s
7 Kirtley/Geldart (Subaru Impreza WRC) 30m 58s
8 Bird/Pulleyn (Ford Sierra Cosworth) 31m 07s
9 Jasper/Snell (Mitsubishi Lancer) 31m 14s
10 Cressey/Grindrod (Vauxhall Astra) 31m 18s
It very much looks as though Dougi Hall has taken an early lead on this 33rd Philips Tour of Mull Rally first time out in a 4WD Mitsubishi Lancer despite claiming: “I seem to be going sideways an awful lot.”
It’s slippy out there, as this year’s event once again has started with a splash, so what’s new? Everyone has reported problems with conditions, but making the best of it so far are Hall and second placed Daniel Harper, second time out in a 4WD Lancer.
MacKinnon lies third, but remember he hadn’t driven the car before today and he’s also had a wee problem with vision and can’t use all the spotlights so hoping to do something about that at service. But this event wouldn’t be Mull without problems. Callum Duffy was quick over the first stage but a really bad vibration from the rear set in on the second followed by a loud bang. He’s still got drive to the rear wheels but dropped heaps of time taking it easy to try and reach service.
Eddie O’Donnell had to stop the Salen Silver Escort in the first stage to replace two punctured tyres and dropped 4 minutes … Willie Bonniwell was in similar trouble, dropping 5 minutes with a puncture and bemoaning the fact that Steve Bannister wasn’t nearby so he could nick another wheel and tyre from him (as he did on the Park Rally last month!) … John Cressey broke a driveshaft in the first stage and then broke his glasses on the second … Tony Bardy spun the Nissan and dropped a few seconds … John Cope had a “6th gear tank slapper” in Loch Tuath but the Escort is severely testing their heart muscles – the accelerator is intermittently sticking on at full throttle! … Paul Kirtley is slow out of the start blocks and reckons he’s going to spend the first few stages “tweaking” the brand new car as the set-up still isn’t quite right … Theo Bengry is taking a minute or two to settle in: “This is a young boy’s game, it’s really slippy out there” … Stephen Clark spun the Saxo in SS2.
That’s yer lot for now, more later,
Yer auld pal, Jaggy Bunnet, Salen Hotel, Friday, 10:30 pm.
