… Mach1 Stages Rally, 10/11 July 2021 …
Class Roundup …
Class 1, Up to 1400cc
Driving his awfy smart looking, completely rebuilt Peugeot 205 (who says Lockdown didn’t have side benefits) was Cameron Craig who scored the class win with Terry Mallin in the hot seat. And no, that wasn’t a wasp with go-faster stripes in 2nd place, that was the Rover Metro GTi of Innes and Kirsty Mochrie which scudded around the stages in hot pursuit. Third was the Vauxhall Corsa of Chris Smith and Amy McCubbin ahead of James Wilson and Roy Wilson making an impressive debut on their 1st ever stage rally and driving the ex Niall Cowan Snr MG ZS. And who knows, they might have done better had the gear linkage not come loose on SS3 & 4 and knocked off the ‘Kill’ switch? Other first timers were Claire Kilmurray and Duncan Smith who were 5th in the Suzuki Swift and Kenny Watt with 18 year old Ella Tyson in a ‘proper’ Mini 1275 who finished 65th after problems on both SS7 and 8 which incurred Maximums.
Class 2, 1401 – 1600cc
Jamie Miller and Ian McCulloch were awfy lucky boys in the Citroen C2-R2 Max. They were galloping along fine but when SS5 was stopped to deal with the fire, several crews were given a Notional time, and they were the first of the Class 2 runners on the stage. It has to be said they were going well but the time they got was a good half minute or more better than the rest of the class runners. It left one highly competitive co-driver spitting feathers in fury, but I won’t reveal her name or the language she used! It’s just a good job she’s a nice person. Really. Robbie and Keith McTaggart were 2nd in class in the other Citroen C2 after an alternator and starter motor failure on the first two stages which meant they had to push it back to service where the alternator was replaced. Stevie Alexander and Kyle Livingstone were 3rd in the Citroen Saxo ahead of the Fiesta of Robert Wood and Ryan Griffiths. Campbell and Donald McColm were 5th in their Peugeot 106 while John and Scott Paterson were 6th in a rather oddly shaped Vauxhall Corsa. It wasn’t oddly shaped till they smacked a chicane bale on SS7 so the crinkled o/s front wing was swapped for a cardboard vegetable crate and tank taped in place. Not pretty but effective. Also a burst radiator was fixed with that chemical metal stuff. Ewan Stanhope and Cameron Dunn were 7th in the Corsa Maxi while Duncan MacLean and Del Galbraith rounded of the class finishers after repairing a brake pipe on the Peugeot 106 which burst on SS1 causing them to miss SS2, hence a big penalty. Chris Haw retired his 205 with engine failure, Dave McIntyre had driveshaft failure in the Nova with 3 stages to go, John MacLeod had a bad misfire in the Sunbeam and Willie Nelson disappeared with his Escort on SS7 after an unfortunate coming together with another car.
Class 3, 1601 – 2000cc
John Bradley and Ryan Crozier won the class ahead of an unusually subdued Brian Watson and Sean Donnelly, both in 2 litre Ford Escort Mk2s. Michael Harbour and Ian MacDougall were 3rd despite Michael trying to outbrake himself with the Escort headbutting a water barrel chicane. There was little damage, and from a distance the car looked fine. Two seconds separated 4th and 5th places with Graham Bruce and David Aitken just holding off Jonathan MacDonald and Chris Wareham in the Peugeot 306. Remarkably, Bruce did the whole 96 stage mile rally on one set of used tyres. Stephen Sawley and Rob Johnson were 6th in their Escort. James McDiarmid retired his Escort when the water pump failed and blew the head gasket, Gregg Lithgow had a coming-together with another car, Peter Mosgrove retired the Peugeot when all the wheel studs on one hub sheared, Mark ‘Speedy’ Runciman was going well till the final stage when the BMW ran a big end and George Fell had the Renault Clio’s clutch fail.
Class 4, 2001cc and above 2WD
Bruce Edwards/Smith, Kyle Adam/Steven Brown and Gerry Fitzelle/Mark Mason were the class winners here. Chris McCallum and Stephen Clark were 4th in their Escort after a good run finishing well inside the top 20 (13th) overall ahead of another good run from James Gibb and Charley Sayer-Payne. It was Gibb’s first time out for 3 years and first time out with the BMW E30. The only trouble was it was far too quiet as it still had two Cats on the exhaust system. Grant and Chloe Fleming were 6th in the Subaru with its embroidered front end. At least it looked like embroidery till you got up close and saw a lattice work of cable ties holding the front bumper and air dam together courtesy of a slight ‘hit’ with a hay bale. Kieron O’Kane had solved an earlier temperature sensor problem in the Opel Ascona before a gearbox problem forced him out. He thinks it’s something to do with a selector inside the ‘box. Jim McDowall retired his Escort late on after having trouble with no brakes in the early stages and Martin Lock had to retire the Focus when the car picked something up which cut the fan belt and split the pulley wheel. Hamish Grant retired his Escort when a crank sensor failed and Lorn MacFadyen was forced out when the crankshaft seal on his Escort started leaking oil on to the clutch.
Class 5, 2001cc and above 4WD
The top 3 in class 5 were the same top 3 overall with Ian Forgan and Chris Lees taking 4th in the Fiesta. The Dalgleish brothers were 5th in class but there was a strange sight under the awning beside the service van. The normally harassed faither was actually seen to have a smile on his face now that the boys have a less troublesome Mitsubishi than the previous Subaru! Joe McQuillan and Shannon Turnbull weren’t far behind in 6th place with their Mitsubishi. Sandy Fairbairn and Ian Murray just missed out on the top six but had an excuse. It was Sandy’s first time out in 6 years and he slid on to the grass on SS1. Then slid into the deer fence. And then hit one of the posts. Fortunately, only cosmetic damage. Ross Chalmers was forced out with cutch failure in the Subaru while the Mitsubishi of Ian Barclay
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