Tour of Mull on TV (again…!)

MULLMURMURSMULLMURMURSMULLMURMURS – Chapter 1

– published on the island, during the event by Jaggy Bunnet

Well hullawrerr chinas, and howzitgaun, or should I say, anhowzitrevvin? This latter phrase being a quaint Glasgow term for, "Is your car properly tuned and in good order? And for sure, that's what's needed this weekend on the glorious autumnally spattered Island of Mull half way between Scotland and Americky.

And just in case you hadn't guessed, the reason the rally cars are here is the 27th Philips Tour of Mull Rally, the longest, toughest, hardest, most enjoyable national rally in Britain, well, Europe really. Oh heck, what the hell, it's the best damn rally in the world, bar none. And speaking of bars, there are one or two of these scattered about the island but don't indulge if you're driving, wait till it's all over.

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