… Dunoon Presents Argyll Rally 2018 … The Classes …
Class 1 – 2wd Cars To 1450cc
1, Niall Cowan Jnr/Thomas Bruce (MG ZR) 53:11
– The only survivor but still lucky to finish. Suffered 2 punctures in S3 and had to borrow a wheel and tyre from Donald Peacock to keep going.
DNF, Scott Sloan/Shannon Turnbull (Vauxhall Corsa)
– First stage, first corner, off in ditch! Something broke underneath but didn’t know what it was till he got it out.
DNF, Scott Peacock/Robin Neil (MG ZR)
– Hit a stone in SS4 which bent a wheel and the car slithered off the road and beached itself on the verge. Needed a Land Rover to get it out.
DNF, Steven Crockett/Martin Henderson (Peugeot 205)
– Found himself in the lead of the class by 52 seconds when Scott Peacock went off in SS4. Had just finished the same stage and got his time and when he went to start it up and move off – nowt! The distributor shaft had snapped. The car had suffered the same problem at the test day and it snapped there too, so this was his spare he had fitted for the rally. And no spare, spare!
Class 2 – 2wd Cars To 1650cc With 8 Valves Or Less
1, Tom Howie/Charlie MacKenzie (Talbot Sunbeam) 49:08
– Finished the rally with only 1st, 2nd and 5th gears although he still had Reverse gear – just in case. Also “running out of electricity, we’ve got a problem with the alternator.”
2, Jamie Stewart/Kevin Mollison (Peugeot 205) 56:05
– Rear puncture in SS2, and at the end of the final stage said: “That was the best stage I’ve been in for a long time.” A 6 minute road penalty accounted for his high total.
DNF, Donald Peacock/Albert Connolly (Peugeot 205)
– Parked the Peugeot at the top of a steep hill in SS3 when a driveshaft broke.
DNF, James Campbell/Kevin McIver (Talbot Sunbeam)
– No intercom for the first 3 stages so used hand signals. Gear lever came off in James’ hand in SS5 and had to keep twisting it to tighten it every time he found a straight. Sadly retired in the last stage of the day.
Class 3 – 2wd Cars To 1650cc With More Than 8 Valves
1, Keith Riddick/Kirsty Riddick (MG ZR) 46:00
– Another excellent result from young Keith with 13th o/a and 1st 1600 car home. A wee bit lucky though perhaps: “We hit a bump and the car reared up on 2 wheels, but OK.”
2, Barry Lindsay/Caroline Lodge (Peugeot 206) 48:06
– Good result for the tarmac regular who is doing forests this year with 18th overall, but didn’t like the hills: “Every stage seems to start at the bottom of a hill. That’s OK if you have a seq shift, but if you don’t, every time you put the clutch in to change gear you lose all the speed you had built up. Frustrating. Some of these hills are so steep you wouldn’t want to walk up them.”
3, Nikki Addison/Rachel Matheson (Peugeot 106 Gti) 57:30
– Excellent result for the all-lady team with 3rd in class and 2nd Junior. However, the two fashion icons were a little annoyed when they had to fit two new tyres and the boys used the wrong wheel rims. Nikki’s Peugeot is always unmistakable as the car always runs on two pink rims and two white ones – and this time they finished the rally on four white rims. A case of function over fashion perhaps?
4, Drew Barker/Shone Hale (Citroen Kettle) 1:01:17
– After their head gasket problems on the previous rally, the car was entered as a Citroen Kettle, but there was no need to carry tea bags this time.
DNF, Ross Hughes/Steven Brown (Citroen C2 VTS)
– Another troubled outing for young Ross: “We broke the synchro in 2nd gear on the first 3 stages, and you need 2nd here, the climbs are very steep. Then something started ‘clicking’ in the gearbox or driveshaft.” At the final 15 minute service the boys chose to use up their 15 minutes penalty free lateness as well to change the gearbox. After all that effort, the car stopped in the final stage.
DNF, Ryan Ingram/Lewis Brown (Honda Civic)
– At second service the car was pushed on to the trailer. “No gears” said a dejected looking Ryan as the team all slumped ‘fair wabbit’ on the grass in the strong Summer sunshine.
DNF, Duncan MacLean/Ian Parker (Peugeot 106)
– Discovered the joys of forest rallying on their first event, retired on the last stage. How cruel is that?
Class 4 – 2wd Cars To 2050cc With 8 Valves Or Less
1, Fraser MacNicol/Andy Brown (Ford Escort Mk2) 47:48
– Good run from Fraser with 15th o/a and 5th 2wd car home, although commenting on Greg McKnight’s pace, he said: “I can see his lines – but I can’t follow them!”
2, Jim Robertson/Mike Curry (Ford Escort Mk2) 49:46
– It used to be that one approached Jim with caution, but not these days, ever since he swapped the Citroen for an Escort. Even when the brake pipe sheared in SS4, it failed to wipe the smile from his face: “We reckon it was a rock that sheared the pipe, but it’s different (the car that is), and very enjoyable.”
3, Douglas Watt/Mark Grierson (Ford Escort Mk2) 50:17
– On ‘home’ turf, Spanish Dougie was chuffed with a finish and 3rd in class: “It was all about getting it to the finish and taking it home afterwards. Two bumps in the past two events – Hamish (Kinloch) wasn’t happy.”
DNF, John O’Kane/Meghan O’Kane (Ford Escort MK2)
– Survived the grassy slippery bits in SS3: “It kept throwing you off line,” said John, “and then there was the big jump at the end of the stage. You didn’t know where you were going to land.” That should have served as a warning, he put it off on the second visit to the same test later that afternoon.
Class 5 – Historic Rally Cars
1, David Cameron/Douglas Cameron (Ford Escort Mk2) 1:00:03
– Had overheating problems last time out, but: “We’ve fixed that – now it’s pinking.” However, he had another problem: “There was an uphill hairpin on the last stage and we came round it to find a rock the size of a TV screen in the middle of the road. We hit it, and it took the wheel out of my hand. I thought I’d broken my wrist, it gave me such a bang” said David, “but it seems OK now.”
2, Ian Milne/Sandy Milne (Ford Escort Mk2) 1:10:36
– Good run spoiled by road penalties – they mis-read the Regs!
DNF, Ernie Lee/Ian Shiells (BMW 325i)
– The steering broke as they booked into second service. Ian had to get out and walk beside the car kicking the wheel into line as Ernie drove cautiously into the park, then a top hose burst. They failed to make it back out.
Class 6 – Fwd Cars Up To 2050cc With 16 Valves
DNF, Alasdair Currie/Grant MacNiven (Ford Fiesta ST)
– A bottom arm broke in the penultimate test, but that was only after earlier steering troubles when Ally said: “It was like fighting a grizzly bear for the first three stages,” when a plug popped out and all the power steering fluid leaked out.
DNF, Grant MacRae/Martin Bruce (Ford Fiesta ST)
– Encountered the car running ahead of them in SS5 which was off in a ditch, and as the co-driver stepped out in the road to wave them out past the stricken car, the Fiesta struck a rock which took the wheel off.
Argyll Rally – [Main report]
Argyll Rally – [Stage Times]
Argyll Rally – [Classes 7 – 12]