Sadly, the 2300 Club has today decided that the 2020 Andy Mort Tour will not run. We were confident that the changes that we had made for 2020 would allow the safe running of the event. The new restrictions that become law on Monday, regarding larger gaterings, mean that we now see continuing with our plans as being irresponsible. We apologise to all our many friends who were looking forward to the October 17th. We hope to see you in 2021 when the work that we have done in 2020 will bear fruit.
2300 Club, 9th September 2020.
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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
The 2300 Club began life as the motoring section of a factory sports’ club in Blackburn in 1955. The factory was Mullards, part of the Philips’ empire, with over 5,000 employees. The Club was originally the Mullard Motor Cycle and Car Club, but this overlong title was shortened by taking the initial letters as Roman Numerals (MMCCC) and translating them to 2300.
The Club did all the usual things for a number of years. Navigational rallies, treasure hunts, club nights, cheap tyres and exhausts, but catering for its own members. The first big step forward was in 1959 with the first Mullard Trophy, a restricted rally to which outside clubs were invited. The event became an annual affair and was so well received that by 1963 the Mullard Trophy Rally was invited to become a qualifying round for the Motoring News Championship and, with the exception of one year, remained in that prestigious Championship until it came to an end in 1987.
The rallies of the 1960s were in the hands of Arthur Rogers, and were all outstandingly successful, high speed road events. We used north Lancashire, the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, but it gradually became apparent that the residents of these areas were understandably less than enamoured by these regular night time intrusions by ourselves and many other Clubs. In 1968 the Committee concluded that they would not be organising any more events of this nature. The problems were becoming too great and too intractable. 1968 happened to be the year when Brian Molyneux and his family had a holiday on the Isle of Mull and the germ of a ridiculous idea was sown. The roads of Mull were ideal for rallying. Narrow, tortuous and, in places, quite frightening, they would provide a serious test of rallying skills.
Here is the Road Book for the 2009 Tunnock's Tour of Mull. Please download this to your computer, by right clicking on the link below. This provides Stage Safety Information, the Procedures for Emergency Service and of course the detailed route of the event. Please take your time to familiarise yourself with the contents.
4 thoughts on “Sad News: 2020 Andy Mort Tour Will Not Run”
Sorry to hear that it will not run this year as we were looking forward to the event. We will hopefully be there 2021.
So sad that all your hard work has had to be put on hold. Thanks for all you’ve done and look forward to the 2021 event.
It’s a shame, but probably the wisest move in the circumstances. Thanks for all the effort and we’ll see you next year.
Oh no, what a shame, looking like there’s no form of motorsport for the clubmen. Funny how anything that makes a revenue like F1 and football is ok, even going to the pub or restaurant, but not for us mere motoring enthusiasts. look forward to 2021.
Best wishes.
Phil