Murmur 3

Mull Murmur 3 (Click HERE for Printer Friendly Format)

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

MullMurmurs – Chapter 3

Provisional Leaderboard after 2 (of 19 stages):

1 Neil Mackinnon/Mike Stayte (Subaru Impreza WRC)               20 Mins 4 Secs
2 Calum Duffy/Del Duffy (Ford Escort MkII)                                 20m 19s
3 Dougi Hall/Scot Bainbridge (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI)           21m 07s
4 Dave Miller/Andrew Bailey (Subaru Impreza)                            21m 08s
5 John Cope/Tony Cope (Subaru Impreza WRC)                        21m 08s
6 James MacGillivray/Ian Fraser (Subaru Impreza)                     21m 10s
7 Daniel Harper/Chris Campbell (BMW MINI S)                          21m 21s
8 Simon Proud/James MacPhail (Ford Escort MkII)                   21m 25s
9 Eddie O'Donnell/Donald Morrison (Ford Escort MkII)              21m 34s
10 Mark Jasper/Alan Snell (MG Metro 6R4)                                21m 37s

For the first time this Millenium, Mull is dry on Philips Tour weekend, speeds are high and brakes are taking a pounding. Although it would appear that the top two have never heard of brakes, MacKinnon and Duffy have stormed into the lead 48 seconds quicker than Dougi Hall – after just two stages!

Daniel Harper must be going well for he has had time to slide off the road, into a field, select first gear and get back on the road – and he’s still in the top ten! John Swinscoe has lost out on a top ten position due to too soft a tyre choice while Tony Bardy was off the pace for the same reason. Paul Kirtley’s got turbo problems and as ever Eddie O’Donnell had a problem, his throttle cable stretched on the first stage jamming the throttle and John Cressey was puzzled by a misfiring engine till he realised that a fuel pump had failed, but when he switched over to number 2 the go-juice resumed. Billy Bird reckons the Lancer is awesome but he needs some new reflexes for the car’s are quicker than his and Mark Jasper has his fingers crossed: “That’s the furthest I’ve driven this in 12 months (after a series of problems) and it’s quite scary!” Martin Healer had to put out a fire under the bonnet at the end of stage1 when the turbo set light to the insulation material and Tristan Pye is already in the wars. He went off and punctured on SS1 and then the puncture ripped off a brake pipe. He shut it off with molegrips for SS2 and then a driveshaft broke! Giles Brooksbank stalled on the start line of SS2 and Rob Davies had a bit of a moment at Torloisk junction when he found a wet patch on the road. Mick Briant is going well, last event was 1983 and he’s 60 years old: “I’ve got a lot of re-learning to do, but I’m enjoying myself” – as he dragged on his fag. John Woodward got a Maximum in the first stage when the battery shorted out and the car suffered complete electrical failure and John Cowe is struggling too and after a hard landing in SS2 he was left with only 1^st, 2^nd and 5^th gears: “I think the mainshaft is broken,” he said, but he’s phoned ahead to the service lads at Craignure who are preparing for a gearbox change - and they’re not on a bonus! Methinks if they do it inside 20 minutes there’ll be a few pints in it at the finish!

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Yer auld pal, Jaggy Bunnet, Salen Hotel, 10.30 pm