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Mull Murmur 6 (Click HERE for Printer Friendly Format)- published on the island, during the event by Jaggy Bunnet MullMurmurs – Chapter 6 Provisional Leaderboard after 14 (of 19 stages): 1 Calum
Duffy/Del Duffy (Ford Escort MkII)
1 Hr 33 Mins 49 Secs Well, it’s changing fast at the top of the leaderboard on this sun-blessed 35th Philips Tour of Mull Rally. Further to our earlier Bulletin, Neil MacKinnon has retired the Subaru with a blown engine and Dougi Hall’s retirement was also cased by mechanical failure. Both were spotted off the road on the first Hill Road and 1st Calgary, so the reasons are now clear. That means Calum and Del Duffy are out in the lead. Oh, not they’re not. Oh yes, they might be. Calum’s Escort cruised through the final stage this afternoon at no more than 4000 revs: “I’ve got no oil pressure,” explained Calum, “it’s been dropping all the time. We’ll have time to look inside before to-night and check out the bearings, but at the moment, it doesn’t look promising.” Bad news, but he still leads the rally for now, and we’ll just have to wait and see if he takes the re-start to-night at Salen at 9.00 pm. James MacGillvray is in second place, but for how long? “I clouted a banking at Calgary and lost some time,” said James, “and I’ve got no anti-lag and the turbo is smoking!” That has allowed John Cope to close up to half a minute behind, despite a puncture on the Hill Road, but he’s coming under pressure from the fast charging Tony Bardy (who has lost 1st gear), the Nissan Sunny enjoying the sunny weather perhaps? Mick Briant is struggling too, although up to 8th place from 10th his head gasket has gone and that will have to be changed before tonight. Major setup changes this morning has improved the handling of the German sausage tin with Daniel Harper up to an excellent fifth in the MINI just ahead of Eddie O’Donnell who sheepishly admitted to 2 offs on the Hill Road in the SalenSilver.Com Escort. Billy Bird has dropped out of the top ten with two punctures: “I’m going to back to Pirelli!” while Paul Kirtley has overcome last night’s troubles and is now tenth: “What a feast of challenges this event offers!” he proclaimed. David Taylor (Impreza) is happy with his top ten position after “taking chances early on, but I’ve steadied up a bit now.” Pat Johnson (Impreza) had a big heart stopper too: “I went right off the road on the Hill Road but just kept driving don the valley because I could see the road below and then when I got there, spectators helped push me back on t the road. There was no damage but I lost over 2 minutes.” Mark Durham in the Corsa Kit was more concerned about the front runners than himself “you see the skid marks they’ve left on the road. Incredible” and Lyndon Barton admitted to an off in Calgary in the Subaru “we just slid off beyond the Armco, hit the banking and stalled”. Keith Hall is worried about ominous noises from underneath. “I think a driveshaft is on the way out. Me and Subaru are not getting along this year at all, we haven’t finished an event”. Another making noises is the Subaru of Tim Stell who thinks he’s “broken a wheelbearing and the brakes are not good.” Denis Biggerstaff continues to make progress despite a puncture in the Subaru and Rob Davies has reported that his Lancer’s clutch is slipping. Alan Gardiner’s replacement Escort is handling better now but has lost 4th gear while Chris Woodcock has had two punctures costing some 3 minutes in the Lancer. Mike Storrar had a huge spin in Calgary when the Anglia’s panhard rod broke and he’s hoping to get it welded up before tonight. Neil Morgan’s Escort is losing water steadily and he has to keep stopping to top it up. He doesn’t know what’s causing it but he’s keeping going meantime. Alan Kirby’s Impreza is overheating and slight clutch problem is hampering gear selection while Robert Mathieson reckons his Sunbeam “is falling to bits around me, the steering’s getting heavier, the gearbox is playing up and the back axle is noisy!” It also looks as though Curly Haigh is out, the MkI spotted off the road in Gribun but Dave Thwaites is grinning from ear to ear with his MkII “we sorted out the rear shockers which were a bit bouncy last night.” John Paterson had a huge spin at Torloisk last night and lost time but has calmed down a bit today in the Nova although the back end “is a bit loose”. Another with two punctures – and the skinned knuckles to prove it – is John Marshall in the Subaru while Grum Willcock had a misfire in the Manta over the first three stages today but a change of plugs has cured that. Ian Chadwick in the Subaru went off in Calgary last night breaking a wishbone and losing 4 minutes and 14th overall so is trying to make up time today. Derek Carless is still going after fears that an oil loss might have damaged the Peugeot’s engine and Mike Chadwick lost over 3 minutes last night with a broken gearbox casing. And Mull’s two long-termers, Chris Paton and Dave Cabena are still there in the Nova: “I made Dave swear that time,” said Chris at the end of Loch Scridain, “I’ve never taken the jump at the ‘white house’ flat – but I did today.” Chris had a bit of a scare earlier on when they were about to re-start at mid day and discovered that one of the wheel studs was broken - I bet he kept that from Dave too. Mark Durham leads the 1600 class (19th o/a) in his Corsa Kit from Mike Storrar in the Anglia (25th o/a) while John Paterson leads the 1300s in his Nova ((26th o/a) from Duncan Cameron in the 1300 Peugeot 205 (42nd o/a). So how fast was it out there today? Looks like John Cope has a set a new record over the Lochs at 6.32!! All the signs are that the weather is set to stay fair and it’s reckoned amongst the cognoscenti that the last time we had a dry weekend was 1992! Whatever, let’s savour the moment and enjoy it. Tonight will be busy so pick your spot and get there early and don’t park in daft or dangerous places. Keep up to date with: www.2300club.org and tune in to Oban FM on 103.3. Yer auld pal, Jaggy Bunnet, Loch Scridain, 4.30 pm Saturday. |
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