The big story at Knockhill last weekend centred on the exploits surrounding Ross Hunter’s 2
litre Peugeot. When the engine tightened on the 4th of the day’s 8 stages, the crew was faced with retiremend until some bright spark had the idea of replacing the engine. Apparently the old original 180,000 mile 2 litre unit out of a Citroen Xantia was still in the back of the truck. Anyway, Paw Hunter and the weans plus pals set to with a vengeance. This wasn’t a task for the faint hearted. It was cold and wet. The car looked the centre of a wedding scramble in the Gorbals with legs sticking out everywhere and arms flailing. 38 minutes after starting the operation, the car was ready to join the queue at the start of SS5. Everyone knew there was a possibility of them being out of time depending on how the Regs were interpreted, but when the Marshals Check Sheets were returned, the paperwork confirmed they had been given the time requested and not the actual time of starting. Technically, they were OTL. And don’t go thinking it was all to no avail because they weren’t classified as finishers. Ross still managed to prove he was the fastest man on the day. Ya beezer!
Quintin Milne had some fun at Knockhill in the MkII, but has plans to use his EVO9 in this year’s ARR Craib SRC: “After the McRae win last year, the sponsors have shown some interest in carrying on this year, so the plan is to do the first half of the Scottish Championship, look at the points, then decide what to do.”
Chris Collie was out co-driving (if that’s the word) for Quintin Milne at Knockhill. His own plans for this year include putting an EVO8 engine in his EVO6, but he’s still working on Brian Watson’s EVO which he dinged quite comprehensively at Crail. According to Brian: “Every single panel on the car got bent – except the spoiler!” As for sitting beside Quintin, Chris learned very little, except perhaps how to spin flamboyantly – but he already knew how to do that himself.
George Bryson gave his Escort a run out at Kames prior to Knockhill, but the intakes sucked in a bit of the wire cage which holds the air filter in place. Then it did it again at Knockhill. It was only then that he noticed someone had ‘repaired’ the wire cage in a previous life.
It was good to see young David Brown back out in the Honda Civic which he parked violently in the caravan park at Crail two years back. He didn’t say much at Knockhill, except: “The aim is to drive it on to the trailer at the end of today’s event, not get it heaved on to the trailer by 47 blokes!” 18th overall and 3rd in Class was therefore a result.
So who was the mystery woman in Car number 50 sitting alongside Stephen Lockhart? It was his Mum Julie who was celebrating (commiserating?) her 50th birthday on the Sunday. The cheapskate must have thought it would be cheaper than buying her a present, plus he’d get a run out in the car.
Richard Stewart still managed to look remarkably cheerful after his very short appearance at Knockhill: “I didn’t even get one stage out of it. It’s a new engine – but it’s got a rod through the block.” Me? I would have been in tears.
Newcomer Caroline Carslaw had her second rally outing at Knockhill (having done Crail last November) but suffered three maximums in the tricky conditions – and still didn’t finish last (Quintin did though!). She’s driving the ex-Tony Jardine Ford Fiesta ST, but the engineering student at Strathclyde Uni has other plans this year, she’s hoping to resurrect Strathclyde University Motor Club along with some other students.
Drew Barker has got a new car for the season, the ex-Heather MacCrone Corsa which has now replaced his Astra. He didn’t drive it at Knockhill though, Shona Hale took the wheel with Violet Kydd on the maps for the car’s debut while Drew got re-acquainted with the tool box and trolley jack. The Astra is now up for sale although it will have limited appeal, there can’t be too many blind and desperate rally drivers about. Only kidding Drew, the car has served him well ever since Nelson turned a blind eye to the Spaniards.
Kieran O’Kane and John Ireland finished 39th (and 4th in class) out of 58 on the RiverRidge Recycling Turkey Run at Ballykelly in Northern Ireland on Friday 28th December then Kieran popped over to Knockhill to team up with John Frew in the Opel Ascona for a another day of fun and frolics. He spun off on the second stage and then got a Maxiumum on the fifth but he was still beaming at the end. That says it all really, eh?
In the ‘you learn something new everyday school of thinking’ I learned something new at 
Knockhill during the rally. Apparently the old FWD British Leyland Maestros used VW sourced gearboxes. This nugget of useful information was gleaned from Ross McCallum who drives an MG Maestro: “We blew the original 5 spd VW diff and gearbox at Crail so just had a 4 spd unit out of a Caddy van for Knockhill. We’ve got a new Quaife differential and will get the 5 spd unit back in for this year.” Not that he was blaming this for his spin on SS1, then on SS2, and again on SS3!
Bumped into Stephen Smith at Knockhill out for a catchup after a season in the BRC Challenge series. He enjoyed it so much he’s doing it again this year: “I thought the events were great,” said Stephen, “we had diff problems in the Peugeot throughout the season but we’ve got a new diff for this year and we plan to fit a sequential shift gearbox. The plan is to do the Snowman to try out the new diff (and gearbox if we get it fitted in time) and then the Bulldog in Wales, the first round of this year’s BRC.”
Just a thought, but Darlington and District Motor Club are running their Autogas 2000 Jack Frost Stages Rally supported by Cartersport at Croft Circuit on Sunday 20th January. The entry fee is £210 and the final closing date is this coming Tuesday 8th January 2013. There will be up to eight stages totalling around 45 stage miles on the tarmac of the North East’s only permanent race track. Further information from Terry Wright on 01325 359895 (before 21.00 Hrs).
Regulations and entry forms are now available at: www.darlington-motor-club.org.uk.
And finally ….
Bernie Rooney celebrated his umpteenth 21st last month and got a cake with enough candles to rival Edinburgh’s fireworks on Hogmanay. The cake also had a picture of Victor Meldrew iced on to the top of it! Nice one girls.