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Local Opinion Leads to New Stage.For the last 32 years the Tour of Mull Rally has, every weekend in October used the Island roads to host what we consider to be one of the best tarmac stage rallies in the UK. (If not the world!!) In all this time one area of Mull has in a way missed out on the direct action, and that's the community's along the Ross of Mull. The Ross of Mull is a beautiful part of the Island, magnificent scenery and some fabulous roads, unfortunately the majority roads do not lend themselves to the activities we indulge in over this weekend, most being dead ends and a logistical nightmare when it comes to running and organising a rally. In March this year, myself and other members of the organising team visited the Island for our public meeting with the community. The strength of feeling that the 2300 Club should run the event down towards Bunessan was overwhelming, we all left the meeting off the same opinion that we should seriously look at the possibilities for 2002. This we did and the result is the route you see this year. Two stages (Stage 4 & 5) both at 2.72 miles in length run clockwise through the Ardtun loop. Ardtun is only a short stage by Mull standards but it has plenty of character. Starting with a fast open flowing section with several blind crests tightening up towards the end of the stage with a sequence of 90-degree bends. Spectating will be limited to just one point, please make use this facility, and as always follow the marshals instructions at all times. The future of the event lies with the continued support of not only the Island community but also the competitors, each year after the event we ask our competitors to complete a questionnaire on which we are scored on all the aspects of the rally. From the results of this we can gauge the popularity of what we do. We pride ourselves on the way, we, as a club respond to and act on competitors' comments and suggestions and strongly believe this goes a long way to making the Tour of Mull the popular event it is today. Comments on the 2002 format will be handled in exactly the same way. The 2002 route is a replica of the 2001 route with the addition of the Ardtun stages. Slight modifications have been introduced in the timings, Service time has been extended on Friday night and some small changes to the road timing, these will hopefully lead to an even more compact and competitive weekend of motorsport. Clive Molyneux |
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