We’ve made a few final tweaks to the entry list; a last minute drop out of car 12 (due to illness) has meant that we’ve moved everybody up a place and sadly, due to a disagreement the Car 13 crew of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage in their Brexit Special will not be running…
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Provisional Top Ten after SS19 (of 19)
1 Neil MacKinnon/Mike Stayte (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2 Hr 21 Mins 53 Secs
2 Calum Duffy/Iain Duffy (Ford Escort Mk2) 2h 24m 23s
3 John Cope/Tony Cope (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 27m 13s
4 Paul Kirtley/David Jones (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 28m 37s
5 Denis Biggerstaff/Graham Thomson (Subaru Impreza) 2h 29m 40s
6 Tony Bardy/Reg Smith (Hyundai Accent WRC) 2h 30m 19s
7 John Price/Caroline Price (MG Metro 6R4) 2h 31m 14s
8 John Swinscoe/Bill Robertson (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO9) 2h 33m 10s
9 Cameron Maclean/Alastair Fraser (Ford Escort Mk2) 2hr 34m 34s
10 Tristan Pye/Andrew Roughead (Subaru Impreza) 2h 35m 24s
(Please Note: These times are provisional pending confirmation by Rally HQ)
Ten years ago, Neil MacKinnon ran with the number 4 on the door and it was at the end of a somewhat barren spell in terms of results. Ten years on, he had number 4 on the door and hadn’t won for five years. Isn’t coincidence a funny thing?
“This is good, I enjoyed that, and I enjoyed the car,” said Neil, “The gearbox was fine just as long as I lifted off before changing up. I went quite well in the first two stages on Friday night just to see what the pace was like and then again this afternoon. But the tyres were good too. I started my road rallying days on Michelins and I was using Michelins again tonight, and I was in a McKinstry car. Aye, this was good.”
As ever Calum Duffy finished with a flourish. He had just survived another ‘moment’ in the penultimate stage: “There was all sorts of sh*t and mud at the last junction and I thought this is not the place to have an accident!” But he survived and at the Dervaig junction executed the perfect pirouette to the great appreciation of the serried ranks of spectators. “It was a fast pace all rally,” added Calum, “certainly the fastest rally I’ve ever done.”
John Cope was third : “We had a good run tonight but we were always coming from behind after that puncture. Then we blew a seal in the gearbox and lost the active diffs, and it blew the replacement, but we fitted an old seal for the final stages and we got here.”
Second in class last year, Mike Storrar was top 1600 this time in the Ford Toyota Anglia: “We bent the steering on Friday night after hitting a rock through the Flying Finish at Ardtun and then I drove like a tart in the long one tonight b ut we finished and we used the same set of Matadors all rally, second hand on the back and new ones on the front.” Who said budget rallying was finished.
The Tunnock’s Tour of course is not just about winners, it’s about those taking part. For instance, Donna Ingram (124) in the wee Mini lost all her brakes in the 23 miler and then went into Mishnish quite brakeless. She made it all the way through the stage and Flying Finish to the ‘Stop’ line where the Marshal stepped out into the middle of the road to stop her and give her a time – only he didn’t know she had no brakes! Well, the poor lad executed a lightning-quick audition for ‘Billy Elliot’ while Donna did all she could to miss him, and physical contact was avoided – just!
That’s yer lot for now,
Yer auld pal, Jaggy Bunnet, Aros Hall, Tobermory, 2.30 am, Sunday
John Dalton has kindly made available the speeches from the 2009 Prize Giving Ceremony in the Aros Hall. If you would like to download these, instructions are below:
MullMurmurs – Chapter 9
( Provisional ) Leaderboard after 14 (of 17 Stages)
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