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MullMurmurs – Chapter 10
Results after 17 (of 17 Stages)
1 P MacKinnon/D Barritt (Subaru Impreza) 2h 17m 17s
2 C Duffy/I Duffy (Ford Escort MkII) 2h 17m 26s
3 W Bonniwell/K Rae (Subaru Impreza) 2h 24m 18s
4 J MacGillivray/I Frazer (Ford Escort MkII) 2h 25m 18s
5 T Pye/K Riddick (Subaru Impreza) 2h 26m 24s
6 K Hall/R Millener (Ford Fiesta) 2h 26m 45s
7 T Bardy/R Smith (Nissan Sunny GTI-R) 2h 26m 53s
8 D Miller/A Bailey (Subaru Impreza) 2h 30m 37s
9 T Sherrington/S Bould (Mitsubishi Lancer) 2h 32m 00s
10 W Sisson/D Stone (Mitsubishi Lancer) 2h 32m 29s
Did you notice? There were no shooting stars over Mull last night. Nope, they were all at ground level. That was one of the most compelling duels we have seen on this island in many a year. If folk ever ask you what makes the Tunnock’s Tour of Mull ‘the best rally in the world’, just tell them about last night.
Going into the final Leg of 5 stages, ‘MacKinnon The Younger’ and Daniel Barritt had 25 seconds in hand over Calum and Iain Duffy. There were 56 miles of stages in that final group. For Calum, that meant less than half a second a mile to make up. No problem, eh? Let battle commence. And what a fight that turned out to be.
MacKinnon’s yellow Subaru was like a comet, blazing a path up Loch Tuath and round Calgary Bay. He stopped the clocks 22 seconds sooner than his Dad did 2 years ago. A new record. Then came Calum, the comet scorching its own line over the tarmac. He broke the record too, but by ‘only’ 14 seconds.
Mishnish Lochs did neither of them any favours. According to James MacGillivray, “that was just about the slippiest stage he had ever driven”. No records, but MacKinnon took another 7 seconds out of a disconsolate Duffy. “My tyres are like jelly” said Calum, “I was hoping for more grip when it was colder.”
The gap was now 40 seconds with 3 stages to go. Now, sensible folks like you and me might have left it at that, but note the use of the word ‘sensible’ here. Calum took 5 back from Paul on Loch Scridain. Paul equalled the record on Gribun and took 3 back from Calum. There were now 38 seconds between them and 14 miles of tarmac, which was originally laid down by a drunk, dribbling asphalt out of the back end of a tipper, while driving over what became the Hill Road and down Glen Bellart. That isn’t a road, it’s wishful thinking.
Surely not? Well those two went at it like a pair of ferocious Scottish midgies wanting a big bite out of the same fat bloke. And then it happened. A patch of mud on the road, locked up brakes, and off. Disaster. It was all over. Maybe. Paul locked the diffs and managed to reverse out, but Calum’s lights were only too visible and catching. “That was some trip down the last 10 miles of the Glen, I’ll tell you,” said Paul, “the bumper was hanging off it, I don’t know what else might have been wrong, but I just had to go for it.” And go he did.
At the finish, Calum said, “He drove well, you can’t take that away from him.” So how hard was Calum trying? He pointed to his rear tyres. The whole tread moulding was starting to separate from the tyre casing. You could put your fingers in the gaps.
By comparison, the pace of Willie Bonniwell, James MacGillivray and Tristan Pye was almost sedate in 3rd, 4th and 5th, but for ‘drive of the rally’, what about young Kris Hall in 6th place? I almost felt sorry for that poor wee Ford Fiesta. Tony Bardy, David Miller, Tugs Sherrington and Wayne Sisson rounded off the top ten but what of the others?
John Cope was in the hunt for top honours till that last mad dash across the island last night, and he too fell victim to a patch of gravel, but unlike MacKinnon, there was no way out. Daniel Harper too was in the hunt for honours, but clipped a rock in Gribun and almost tore the wheel off. Eddie O’Donnell finished the rally with bits of his brother-in-law’s gearbox inside his own, but that prompts the question, does his brother in law know? He does now! Dougi Hall parked the Lancer in a ditch and Paul Kirtley blew an exhaust manifold. Denis Biggerstaff had punctures and serious brake problems and John Swinscoe had to stop in stage and change a puncture too.
John Cressey broke a gearbox, although he tried to blame his navigator Stan Quirk, “He stutters a lot for a co-driver!”
In the classes, Iain ‘Ogg’ MacKenzie’s 11th place overall was stunning too for a wee Peugeot 106, but who knows where he might have finished if not for his co-driving Dad “He would have gone quicker – if I had let him!” Second in class B was the equally impressive John MacCrone in 13th place overall and if that is not testament to the value of the Bear Cubs and Steve Davies then I don’t know what is. Gaun yersel boys. In the 1400 class, Alan Mclaughlin in the Ford Puma took the honours from Donald Brown in the Suzuki Swift engined Sunbeam.
And so as the 39th Tunnock’s Tour of Mull Rally draws to a formal close we must once again thank all of the guid fowks of Mull for their patience and hospitality during this annual invasion of nutters, speed freaks and rally fanatics. Our marshals too are wonderful people. Without them there wouldn’t be a rally. The Cooncil too, as ever, have been supportive and helpful and thanks too, to John K Philips for the loan of their truck to bring the rally to Mull. As ever, the Polis were efficient and very busy, perhaps too busy at times. And our grateful thanks to, to Tunnock’s for their own tastebud tickling, carameliciously scrumptious contributions to the Scottish diet. It’s what makes our weather bearable!
And you know what? One of the best bits of the rally? At the rally finish in the early hours of Sunday morning, we all got a Tunnock’s Scotch Pie. By Goad it wiz fierce. A hot best-mutton pie is just the thing to set the seal on a perfect event, just don’t tell the wife I had a pie. She’ll kill me.
Oh, and by the way, don’t be fooled for a minute thinking that was a full moon last night. Nope, somebody was up there with a big torch taking an interest in everything we were up to down here. Thanks Brian, from all of us.
Yer Auld Pal, Jaggy Bunnet – Sunday, 12 Noon, Tobermory
Awards from the 1995 Philips Tour of Mull
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Provisional Top Ten after SS16 (of 19)
1 Neil MacKinnon/Mike Stayte (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1 Hr 58 Mins 30 Secs
2 Calum Duffy/Iain Duffy (Ford Escort Mk2) 2h 00m 31s
3 John Cope/Tony Cope (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 03m 02s
4 Paul Kirtley/David Jones (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 03m 57s
5 Denis Biggerstaff/Graham Thomson (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 05m 13s
6 John Price/Caroline Price (MG Metro 6R4) 2h 06m 18s
7 Tony Bardy/Reg Smith (Hyundai Accent WRC) 2h 06m 46s
8 John Swinscoe/Bill Robertson (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO9) 2h 08m 22s
9 Cameron Maclean/Alastair Fraser (Ford Escort Mk2) 2hr 09m 20s
10 Tristan Pye/Andrew Roughead (Subaru Impreza) 2h 10m 11s
(Please Note: These times are provisional pending confirmation by Rally HQ)
This was the big one, the 23 miler Loch Tuath/Calgary Bay adrenaline charge. And like something out the ‘Charge of the Dark Brigade’ Neil MacKinnon sped down the valley and round the bay stopping the clocks on 20 mins 26 seconds – you couldn’t do it quicker even if strapped to an Exocet, but there is still cause for concern in the McKinstry camp. The gearbox Neil is using will have to spared, no full rev changes, there’s a long way to go. Calum Duffy is having to be careful too, 2nd gear is beginning to ‘crunch’. Paul Kirtley struck something and knocked the tracking out so the Subaru is a handful and according to Tony Cope brother John thought he was a tractor driver for 400 yards in Calgary – but they got away with it.
Up to an excellent 9th overall is yet another Muileach, Cameron MacLean (41), but he admitted to backing off a bit this afternoon when he saw Doug Weir’s accident … Tim Stell (40) was troubled with a sticking throttle which made his anti-lag interesting … Tristan Pye (36) had a puncture and the car’s not handling too well since … Pat Johnson (23) is troubled with his brakes, they keep snatching the left front and he thinks something is broken … Chris Chadwick (34) struggled through Calgary and the Lochs, the co-driver was changing gear while Ian was steering with one hand, and operating the throttle by the other hand out of the window using a boot lace. Oh, and by the way, some of our ‘foreign’ readers wonder what a ‘midge on a squib’ is, a phrase I used to describe Chadwick’s progress in an earlier bulletin. A ‘midge’ is a small biting gnat and a ‘squib’ is a firework. OK? … Alan Gardiner’s intercom has gone … Tugs Sherrington (35) is having steering problems and Curly Haigh (44) reckons he was setting some fantastic times – for this rally 10 years ago … class leading Mike Storrar (38) is having to hold the door shut with a bungee as the lock has failed and he’s annoyed – the 1600cc Anglia is ‘only just’ out of warranty by some 30 odd years … the politically incorrect Stuart McQueen (28) was spotted having a fly fag at the end of Calgary, just to calm his nerves … ex Land Rover pilot John Cockburn started the rally gently by not using the anti-lag first time out in a Subaru, but used it throughout the second Leg, so I wonder what he’ll do tonight – use the throttle maybe? … Brian MacLeod (71) has a leaking core plug … and Steve Davies (51) got a fright when both throttle cables broke simultaneously, and then the sumpguard fell off … and Chris Woodcock (54) is under serious pressure, he’s driving Harry Hockly’s Proton and he’s been told to bring it back in one piece – and he’s leading the 1400 class, so no pressure then …and Alistair Willis (110) has returned to Scotland to rally his old Nova run by Andrew Wood. He returned from Bucharest in Rumania where he runs a sandwich factory! … and here is a true tale, would I tell a fib? – Fooey the Fireman (118) went on fire! He was driving Alan Gardner’s old MkI on the basis that if he fixed it he could use it on Mull so the part-time fireman and full time mechanic at MacKay’s Garage was going well till the boot went on fire. It was spotted by other folk and Robert Mathieson (57) pulled over to help him with the merry blaze. But it was only the electrics and the paint which suffered, but I bet his mates will give him a ribbing next time he goes to work.
That’s yer lot for now,
Yer auld pal, Jaggy Bunnet, Riverside, Tobermory, 10.30 pm, Saturday