Andy Mort Tour 2018 – Video

1 P MacKinnon/D Barritt (Subaru Impreza) 22m 35s
2 C Duffy/I Duffy (Ford Escort MkII) 23m 02s
3 D Hall/S Clark (Mitsubishi Lancer) 23m 15s
4 D Harper/C Campbell (BMW MINI) 24m 01s
5 K Hall/R Millener (Ford Fiesta) 23m 56s
6 J MacGillivray/I Frazer (Ford Escort MkII) 24m 02s
7 J Cope/R Fagg (Subaru Impreza) 24m 16s
8 W Bonniwell/K Rae (Subaru Impreza) 24. 26s
9 T Pye/K Riddick (Subaru Impreza) 24m 37s
10 E O’Donnell/S Proud (Ford Escort MkII) 24m 44s

The 39th Tunnock’s Tour of Mull is serving up a feast of fearsome and fastidious delights, but not everyone is enjoying them. John Marshall had a puncture on the first stage of the night so that set him back, plus the Subaru has all Mark Higgins’ settings, and John is no Mark Higgins, apparently! Tommi Graham had a turbo pipe come off and the Lancer barely made it through the 2nd and 3rd tests overboosting all the way. Martin Healer had no intercom on the first one and only half an intercom on the 2nd. From Dervaig onwards Ian Colman had no brakes. A pipe had come off but it was fixed at service. Gribun, with no brakes? No thanks. Billy Bird reckons his new Astra is “the most horrendous thing I’ve ever driven”. John Morrison caught cars on the first two otherwise OK. Chris Tooze punctured on the first one and had to stop, then the jack kept sinking in the mud. After replacing the wheel he jumped in the car and drove off then pulled over when he saw headlights in the mirror – but it wasn’t a following car, he was still wearing his head torch. Doh! Giles Brooksbank had an alternator problem at the end of SS1 and did the next two on sidelights. When Chris Woodcock’s Lancer gets hot it starts misfiring badly. He put new plugs in at Craignure, so fingers crossed. Full marks to Jim McKenna for observation “it’s dark so it is, it’s hard to beat the daylight – and Dervaig bridge needs to be widened!” Alan Gardiner lost 40 seconds on the startline of the first stage, when the Marshals had to push Dave Thwaites stricken car off the stage! Poor Dave, he didn’t even get it mucky. Gerry Cassidy is suffering fuel starvation in the G3. Paul Miller was still buzzing, he got it into 5th gear in Loch Scridain and he was also in a ditch on the Hill Road but got away with it – this time. Stevie Brown had the Fiesta cut out on him over a yump and lost time when it wouldn’t re-start and then had a brake problem over the next two. Ian Woodward knocked his back box off on Scridain but fitted a spare at Craignure before the bizzies noticed!

It looks as though John Cressey is out, he was spotted parked up and Mike Storrar has put the Anglia off. He went straight on instead of going round a corner!

Yer Auld Pal, Jaggy Bunnet – Friday, Gone midnight, Salen Hotel.

1 P MacKinnon/D Barritt (Subaru Impreza) 1h 54m 09s
2 C Duffy/I Duffy (Ford Escort MkII) 1h 54m 49s
3 W Bonniwell/K Rae (Subaru Impreza) 2h 00m 17s
4 J MacGillivray/I Frazer (Ford Escort MkII) 2h 00m 50s

As the 39th Tunnock’s Tour of Mull Rally enters the closing stages all eyes are on the battle at the front. Both Paul MacKinnon and Calum Duffy broke the record on the first stage of the night, the 22 mile Tuath/Calgary blast up the west coast. Paul was 20 secs under his ol’man’s record and Calum was 12 under. By the finish Psaul had no brakes and Calum was struggling for grip even in the near freezing temperatures and his hot rubber.

But it looks as though John Cope’s challenge has come to grief at Torloisk. The Subaru slid off on loose gravel across the road. So how slippy is it? James MacGillivray reckons “Mishnish was about the slippiest stage he had ever driven.” Willie Bonniwell had a fright at the Salen start when the car wouldn’t start and he had 3 minutes to change the plugs. Worse was Daniel Harper, the gear linkage broke on the start of the long one and he lost 2 mins stage fixing it. Tristan Pye smashed his bottoms lights when the Subaru landed nose first after a vicious jump and Kris Hall lost 45 seconds with a front puncture.

Denis Biggerstaff was climbing back up the leaderboard after his double puncture on the first stage, but Ireland’s finest is struggling again. The Subaru is fast running out of brake pads due to a problem with the calipers binding on. Eddie O’Donnell has been slipping back this afternoon. He lost power at one stage when the starter motor battery strap snapped and then later started losing gears in his gearbox. As ever, the enterprising Eddie was off home to borrow bits from a relative’s gearbox to repair his own to make sure he re-starts tonight. Young John MacCrone nearly threw away his 2nd in 1600 class this afternoon when he slid off on Mishnish, but he survived. Paul Miller was in trouble too, he had lost third gear and just as important, he had lost reverse gear! The box was getting noisier by the mile, but he is determined to carry on as far as it will take him. And ‘Fuey the Fireman’ is still going despite having to replace the gearbox and the throttle linkage in the Escort he borrowed from Iain Gardiner. Fuey is better known as Ian Noble, the Automotive Technician (you can’t call him a mechanic these days) who works in that beacon of industrial activity, MacKay’s Garage in Tobermory.

Jaggy met Freddy. No it’s not the name of a new horror flick. Freddy Ferodo is the team mascot of Chris Shield running at car 140. It’s a wee dug wearing clothes and has three ‘minders’, Emma, Ann-Marie and Jess who take this wee dug everywhere and wave it at the rally cars and take photos of it in different situations. Mad? Yes, but good fun, and Jaggy asked Freddy for his ‘pawtograph’ – think about it. Oh, please yourself!

Yer Auld Pal, Jaggy Bunnet – Saturday, 11.00 pm, Tobermory