Quintin Milne has a cunning plan!
Following last weekend’s GWF Energy Merrick Stages Rally in Wigtownshire, the title race for this year’s ARR Craib Scottish Rally Championship is far from settled. That means added drama on the next round of the national series at Aberfeldy, the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally on Saturday October 5th.
All David Bogie (from Dumfries) had to do was win last weekend and he would have put the title beyond reach with two rounds to go, but Euan Thorburn (Duns) thwarted his plans. Such was the pace of the top two drivers that they ‘cleaned’ two of the Special Stages. Thorburn beat the ‘target time’ on two of the tests while Bogie beat one and was a single second over the other, so no advantage was gained. That meant the rally outcome was decided over the remaining three Stages.
Under the sport’s governing body rules, these ‘target’ or ‘bogey’ times are set at a 65 mph average over the competitive timed-to-the-second forest Stages. On International events, the Bogey times are set at a higher average speed. Bearing in mind that these Special Stages are conducted on Forestry Commission gravel roads which are lined with ditches and trees and covered in anything from loose gravel to wet mud, achieving a 65 mph average should be impossible.
So for two amateur drivers to be beating these ‘Bogey’ times on a National Rally amply demonstrates the furious pace at which the race for this year’s Scottish rallying crown is being fought.
It has also given the Coltness Car Club organising team pause for thought. Route Co-ordinators, Fergus Loudon and John More, have advised the rest of the team to install a ‘chicane’ in the first Special Stage of this year’s event to prevent that stage being ‘cleaned’.
Last year’s winner has however come up with a ‘cunning plan’. Since two wheel drive cars run ahead of the four wheel drive machines on this event, Quintin Milne (from Banchory) is contemplating using a Ford Escort MkII instead of his usual Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9: “Having won the event last year I will be seeded as the first car on the road if I use the Escort, whereas I would be behind all the smaller capacity cars and Mintex British Historic Championship contenders who will also be competing on this event,” explained Milne, “so the plan is to use the Escort and get the benefit of smoother roads. Last year David Bogie finished third overall in a Ford Escort MkII and he had a couple of problems so it is entirely possible that a 2WD car could win.”
If Milne did win the rally outright, denying Bogie and Thorburn maximum points, it would further complicate the calculations for this year’s title race.
In other words, for rally fans, Aberfeldy is a ‘must-visit’ on October 5th.
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