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: There is a zip file containing the Tour of Mull 2009 Prizegiving at FileFactory.
The zip contains three mp3 sound files each lasting around 20 minutes. In addition there is a short extract containing Calum's poem. The total filesize is around 30MB.
Download the file from: http://www.filefactory.com/file/a2174e5/n/Mull_Prizegiving_2009_zip
To use filefactory
Click on the link above.
Drop down to the bottom of the page and click File Factory Basic – Download Now
Drop down to the bottom of the page that now appears, wait circa 30 seconds as the timer counts down and then click Download Now again.
Save to your PC.
Please e-mail John Dalton if you have any problems.
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The Final Instalment
Final Results 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
12 Mike Storrar/Weazel Currie (Ford Anglia) 2hr 38m 05s – 1st 1600cc
28 Chris Woodcock/Heid Woodcock (Proton Satria) 2h 45m 40s – 1st 1400cc
There’s an old saying, ‘Beware the quiet man’. I never really knew what it meant – I do now. And anyone who witnessed the 37th Tunnock’s Tour of Mull Rally will too.
Neil MacKinnon and Mike Stayte never get excited and don’t have much to say. Never in the limelight and never controversial, their motto would appear to be ‘Actions speak louder than words’. And so it proved. They had their problems over the weekend, but the McKinstry lads were on the case. Never a word of complaint or criticism from the ‘MullMeisters’, it was simply taken on board with quiet acceptance.
Mind you I could be wrong. He could be quite different around the house for all I know, kicking the dog and leaving his clothes all over the floor, but there was nothing untidy about his drive into the record books. His 11th Tour victory.
“I enjoyed that, and I enjoyed the car,” said Neil, “There was never really a problem with the gearboxes, we could work round it. In fact the third one wasn’t a ‘new’ box, and we knew it wasn’t as good as the one we used on Friday night and the other on Saturday afternoon, but as long as I lifted off before changing up, it was fine. Having confidence in the car meant I could lift the pace whenever I needed, which was quite often, with the likes of Callum (Duffy) and John (Cope) behind me, but the suspension was good and so were the Michelin tyres – and so were the.McKinstry lads. Aye, this was good.”
In the face of such a force, Calum and Iain Duffy were always going to be looking at the tail end of a Subaru, but that didn’t stop them trying. It’s one of the great ‘sanity tests’ of life, seeing Calum in a MkII, your eyes see one thing but your brain refuses to absorb it. His speed and commitment are a revelation to be hold. “It was certainly the fastest rally I’ve ever done,” he said at the finish.
By darkness on Saturday the Copes were virtually resigned to their fate, third again. “We were pleased with our pace on Friday night,” said John, “but the puncture left us always coming from behind – and you don’t give them two a chance like that! But what was really good was just how few retirements there were, it was a good fight.”
Paul Kirtley was beaming at the finish despite a rock-clattering, track-splaying impact on the long penultimate test and did just enough to keep ahead of Denis Biggerstaff who had his own last minute dramas. A power failure towards the end of the penultimate stage and a puncture before the start of the last one saw him drop down the running order, but he finished. And finally getting to grips with the Hyundai was Tony Bardy, just doing enough over the closing stages to displace John Price for sixth. But was JP annoyed or upset? “It was another tough rally – but I absolutely enjoyed it.” And so too, did we who only watched.
But those were the lucky ones. Last year’s winner James MacGillivray crashed out of contention on Saturday night, Dougi Hall suffered engine failure and so too did the O’Donnell twins. So gutted were they, neither has yet had the energy or the desire to lift the bonnet to see what gave up. Willie Bonniwell broke a driveshaft and Daniel Harper broke his car. If he hadn’t lost a wheel on Friday night who knows where the MINI might have finished!
But this rally is not just about the top seeds, everyone who finished are heroes including the John Easson Scholarship winner, Ryan Borthwick: “I didn’t really enjoy it on Friday night, it was the first time I had rallied in the dark – but by the end it was good!” And the last I saw of Ryan he was badgering his Dad: “We need something quicker for next year Dad.” And what of the Bear Cubs, Heather MacCrone and Sarah Jayne Daly. They finished one place behind Ryan, in 55th place overall, a simply stunning and richly deserved result and one of which every one of the youngsters and teenagers involved in the project should be proud. And for once, Steve Davies has come up with a good idea and got a result out of it – unlike his own exploits! And a special word for 17 year old Drew Sturrock, son of Bulletin Bill, who was co-driving for Jonathan Mounsey. It was only his fourth rally and 1st Mull. He finished, and finished 34th – something his Dad never did on the island!
In the classes, Mike Storrar scored an exceptional 12th place overall in the 1600cc winning Anglia, but is increasingly worried about sourcing parts for his car, apparently the doors are now made of ‘unobtainium’. Jim McKenna in the Toyota Starlet was 2nd in class while Donald Brown got third after a fire threatened to engulf the Sunbeam. Chris Woodock heaved a sigh of relief at the finish not just for winning the 1400 class, but because the Proton can now be returned to its owner in one piece, so the threat of banishment has been lifted. Only 17 seconds behind him at the finish was Alistair Willis in the Nova while Alan McLlaughlin was third in the Puma.
Yes, there were incidents but fortunately all are walking wounded, if not physically then certainly in the pocket, and only one casualty was detained overnight Friday, and our best wishes to them all. Lyndon Barton suffered transmission failure, Doug Weir crashed, Mark Jasper disappeared and Mark Durham left his Lancer in an awkward place in Mishnish last night. It’s nose was on the tarmac but the tail was on top of the Armco at Calgary.
Paul MacKinnon suffered engine failure (when knocking on the door of the top six!), John Cressey holed a piston, Iain Grubb broke a driveshaft, John Marshall blew a turbo and John Paterson converted a once pristine MkII into a badly collated box of constituent parts.
For the third year in a row, the backdrop to the rally looked like a Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer wrapper, red skies and golden rays of sunshine, while the islanders hospitality was as warm and squidgy as a tea cake – so here’s a plea to St Tunnock’s of Biscuitry – don’t ever make a water biscuit!
And here’s a thought. In 1993, Neil MacKinnon ran with the number 4 on the door after four years without a result. This year, he had number 4 on the door, after four years without a result. He won then, and won again for the next four years! Ominous or what?
As ever, our thanks go to an increasingly long list of rather special people, to all at Tunnock’s, and to all competitors, service crews, marshals and officials, and also to those nice folk at Volkswagen, Bulletin Bill and all those who gave prizes at the Rally forum, Subaru, Ford, Kumho, Dunlop and Mintex. We love you all.
And finally, I couldn’t resist this one. Apparently a certain journalist had borrowed a brand spanking new Volkswagen Transporter California camper van from VW’s Press office to cover the Tunnock’s Tour, although the ‘real’ object of the exercise was to appraise the vehicle for an article in ‘Professional Van & Light Truck’ magazine. Late on Friday evening, our hero was parked outside the Salen Hotel, admittedly on a wee bit of a slope, whereupon he stepped out of the vehicle. The electrically powered side door slid quietly shut as the van rocked on its suspension – with the keys sitting on the table inside, and so were his phones! The Polis were unable to offer any help due to the deadlock sophistication of the vehicle, the local garage was busy and every AA and RAC patrol person on the island was out servicing for someone on the rally. So what did our hero do? He smashed a window. As he later explained, he hadn’t locked himself out of the van, the van had locked the keys in. First on the scene was Gerry from the Salen Hotel with dustpan and brush in hand – so that our hero could sweep up all the broken glass in his Car Park – Thanks Gerry.
And I couldn’t resist this one either. Local man Bill Langford was unable to start the rally when his engine failed, but when he was asked how he was getting on with the Pace Notes, replied: “You’d be as well reading ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ to me!”
And finally, finally, what a grand night we had on Friday. Warm and gloriously bright. But I know where that came from, somebody upstairs had turned on the fire, put up his feet and switched on the light – all the better to see what we were up to down here. Thanks Brian.
That’s yer lot for 2006,
Yer auld pal, Jaggy Bunnet, Strongarbh, Tobermory, 12 Noon, Sunday
MullMurmurs – Chapter 9
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
ALL COMPETITORS MUST READ THESE DOCUMENTS. These are Bulletins 1 & 2 for all competitors on the 2009 Tunnock's Tour of Mull. Please download these documents to your system, by right clicking on the links below and then print them out and read thoroughly.
MullMurmurs – Chapter 7
1 P MacKinnon/D Barritt (Subaru Impreza) 1h 11m 33s
2 C Duffy/I Duffy (Ford Escort MkII) 1h 11m 57s
3 J MacGillivray/I Frazer (Ford Escort MkII) 1h 15m 28s
4 W Bonniwell/K Rae (Subaru Impreza) 1h 15m 40s
5 J Cope/R Fagg (Subaru Impreza) 1h 15m 49s
6 D Harper/C Campbell (BMW MINI) 1h 15m 50s
7 K Hall/R Millener (Ford Fiesta) 1h 16m 16s
8 T Pye/K Riddick (Subaru Impreza) 1h 17m 02s
9 D Miller/A Bailey (Subaru Impreza) 1h 17m 55s
Who’d have thought it? Sunshine at Dervaig. It’s as pretty as a picture here on the 39th Tunnock’s Tour of Mull Rally with the sun sparkling on the shimmering surface of the River Bellart as it flows under the dainty Dervaig bridge. It wasn’t so pretty last night when Darren Meadows rolled his Escort into it! Fortunately, he and Jonny Bould were OK, but going no further.
Paul MacKinnon started the afternoon Leg the way he finished off Friday night, in record breaking form, taking 2 seconds out of the Calgary West record on his first run through. The 2nd run was aborted and has caused a delay due to another competitor going off and the car having to be removed by the Rescue crews. Paul looked remarkably calm and composed. “I’m just taking it steady, and happy just to take a couple of seconds out of Calum when I can.”
As for Calum, he’s slipping back. “I can’t keep tyres on this thing. I’m running the hardest I can get and it’s still all over the place. You can’t slide it or drift it, it just wants to keep going.” But if you think he’s given up, think again. “I’ll get that back tonight – when it’s cooler!” James MacGillivray says “We’re holding our own” but he was promising a big push tonight. Daniel Harper finished the last stage with a bad misfire “It crawled out on one cylinder. I switched it off and started it up and it was fine – it must be Cressey’s wiring!” Kris Hall is going as hard as the little Group N Fiesta will let him but is losing out to the big boys in daylight this afternoon “I’m happy with my times, but I can’t go any harder.” John Cope was looking slightly happier “I’ve softened it up more than I have before but it’s still a bit too skippity. It’s better, but not right. I’ve caught Hall, now I’m after Bonniwell.” As for Willie Bonniwell “The tyres are working better today, it’s all about confidence now. It’s either that or Kevin – he’s got a bigger stick today!”
For all you spectators out there, it sounds as though November the 5th is coming early to Mull this year.
And what about Pye and Riddick? This time it was a pheasant!
Paul Kirtley has retired. The exhaust manifold has blown in Calgary and the excessive underbonnet heat would damage the engine, so he’s called it quits, gone back to service and hopes to get it fixed to go for a run out tonight. It also looks as though Ian Colman has retired, the Nissan is off in Calgary and caused a delay in the stage.
Yer Auld Pal, Jaggy Bunnet – Saturday, 2.30 pm, Dervaig
P.S. Any of you service crews lost a battery impact gun? It’s been found. Call Gary on 07796 861440 to reclaim it.