MacKinnon Makes His Decimull Point

Rally Report of the 2001 Tour of Mull - by Jaggy Bunnett

Neil MacKinnon and Mike Stayte carved another tooth in the differential of life when they won the 32nd Philips Tour of Mull Rally last year. For MacKinnon it was an emphatic tenth victory. His winning margin of some 9 minutes after 149 miles of stages and 16 out of 18 fastest stages times made it look a bit too easy, but here's a point, 12 of the top 20 seeds didn’t make the finish at all. MacKinnon and Stayte did.

Tough? This event is a nightmare, but it's one that crews from all over the UK find compulsive and want to re-live year after year. It's also one of the few major events in the UK that Colin McRae and Richard Burns haven't won. (OK, so I know they've never done it, but I'm allowed a wee bit of journalistic licence surely!)

In second place John and Tony Cope scored their best Mull result ever, first time out in their new GrpA Ford Escort Cosworth while that verbally abused and physically tortured poor wee Vauxhall Astra of John Cressey and Ian Grindrod finished third overall and was the first two wheel drive machine home. But those were the lucky ones. Only slightly more than half the 160 car entry made it to the finish after two nights and one afternoon of tortuous tarmac on Mull.

There are those who might dare to claim that the locals will always win on home turf, especially on Mull but that does those individuals a great dis-service. It's one thing having local knowledge, it's quite another to have the driving talent to exploit it. Anyone who witnessed Calum Duffy's dash across Mishnish Lochs on Friday night will need no convincing, it was spellbinding stuff. Even with four wheel drive MacKinnon's fastest time was only two seconds quicker than the two wheel drive Escort. Just as impressive was Dougi Hall, urging the Bainbridge Joinery 2.4 Escort over the dark island roads just six seconds slower than Duffy, but 4 seconds quicker than Cope.

Over the second 11 mile stage, Duffy matched MacKinnon's fastest time as they fought out a fierce high speed duel over rain soaked roads. On the third stage it was Duffy by 2 seconds from MacKinnon and they booked into first service sharing the rally lead on identical times. Dougi Hall was already 23 seconds adrift of the leaders, but he was over a minute clear of Cope, such was his own pace.

First casualty of the night was Willie Bonniwell, the blue Escort's brakes locking up just over a crest into a square right and Willie cowped it into a field. Mark Jasper didn't make it either, when his brand new MG Metro 6R4 shed a wheel.

Two more stages followed before the overnight halt and MacKinnon was able to build up a lead of four seconds. In a work of fiction this would be stretching credibility somewhat but it was all too true.

Unexpectedly off the pace was another island resident, Eddie O'Donnell. As usual the luminescent glow seeping out around the garage doors throughout the previous night told its own story. After an all-nighter finishing off building the car the O'Donnell twins suffered a series of niggly little problems before the Salen Silver Escort finally blew its head gasket. Rob Barry departed the fray rather more violently when the Mitsubishi plunged off the road on the 5th test although Daniel Harper was slightly more fortunate. The Astra ploughed off the road at Calgary, but lost 11 minutes as the crew, with the help of one solitary spectator, heaved the car out of the bracken back on to the road.

On the Saturday afternoon Second Leg, MacKinnon reeled off a series of eight fastest stage times steadily building up a lead over Duffy, but on the 12th stage at Gribun, Duffy's spirited run came to an abrupt end. The Escort landed heavily over a yump and burst the oil cooler. Game over.

Stuart McQueen's valiant run also came to an abrupt end. Second fastest behind MacKinnon on the first daylight stage and fourth quickest on the next, the Mitsubishi punctured a front tyre on the third. Six minutes were lost as the Lancer rumbled out on the brake disc, the flailing rubber shredding the front corner of the car. That left Hall in a secure second place ahead of Cope and James MacGillivray in the 1600 Corsa, but MacGillivray was working hard. After five stages, Steven Clark was leading the 1600 class in his Peugeot 106 Kit Car and holding 6th overall, just 2 seconds up on the Corsa.

Over the first three stages MacGillivray set about the Peugeot, but that gripping contest came to nought on the 12th stage when the Peugeot snapped a driveshaft.

The weather may have been dry but the roads were still greasy as Mark Hudson found out when he violently shortened the Escort against a telegraph pole and had to be hospitalised for a broken wrist, and both Martin Healer (2 punctures) and Lyndon Barton (clutch) disappeared at the same time.

At the end of the afternoon section, MacKinnon had a two and a half minute buffer over Hall who was four minutes up on MacGillivray. Cope was now fourth, but there was more drama to come.

For the second night, Third Leg, it was dry for the most part, but short, sharp showers left road surfaces in unpredictable and constantly changing conditions. Even half an hour meant the difference between bone dry and streaming wet. Not that it mattered to MacKinnon, the man was in control and set fastest time on four of the remaining five stages.

And just as things were looking settled, Dougi Hall and Gareth Williams walked out of Calgary, leaving a dead Escort behind. A small screw had come loose inside the distributor and mangled the internals. Then it was MacGillivray's turn. The throttle broke and despite limping out of the stage, the engine expired on the next.

Cope now found himself second with two minutes in hand over Robert Davies, but such was the pace of the duel between John Cressey and John Swinscoe, Davies was in danger of being overwhelmed. "Cressey just keeps pushing and pushing," said Davies, "I hate having that b*st*rd behind me!" Naturally, Cressey took great delight in telling Davies at every opportunity there was more to come. If only. But the first crack in the battle came when Swinscoe plunged off the road, "It was all grass and bracken and there was no damage, but it was a sobering experience," he said.

Cressey's relentless pressure paid off. Over the final three stages he was quicker than Davies to move into his best position since runner-up in 1986 with Swinscoe settling for a safe, and personal-island-best of fifth place behind Davies. Tony Bardy overcame a time losing engine sensor problem on Friday night to finish sixth ahead of the top 1600 runner, Doug Weir.

At the end of one of the toughest events in the British rallying calendar, a remarkably cool and composed Neil MacKinnon smiled: "I had a big 360 plus at Dervaig on the first night. It was so tight I had to drive back up the road, against rally direction, and handbrake it - but don't tell the organisers. After that, it just clicked. The Kenny McKintstry GrpA car was easier to drive than last year's GrpN-and-a-bit machine."

Yeah, right, easy when you know how!

THE CLASSES

Chris and Jo Tooze won the 1300 class in their Peugeot despite puncturing on the first stage of the rally and having to drive the Dervaig hairpins on the rim but they finished over 3 minutes clear of James Wright in the Nova who survived a huge spin in the dark on the 22 miler. Dougie Ingram was spotted pushing the Mini into service on Saturday night but there was no real problem, he had just run out of fuel on the road section.

Doug Weir and Duncan McIntosh won the 1600 class but only after class leaders Steven Clark and James MacGillivray disappeared from the leader board. Angus Mathieson was second in the family Nova with Mark Durham third first time out in the Pro-Tec built Corsa Kit Car. Seventh in class was Donald Brown with 16 year old daughter Lynsey having her first taste of rally co-driving.

John Cressey was top 2 litre driver and also top 2 wheel drive runner ahead of John Swinscoe but Keith Hall was credited with the class win as the other two finished in the overall top five placings. For the same reason Tony Bardy was declared the over-2 litre class winner with Stuart McQueen winning the Group N award after his tenacious fightback to finish tenth having dropped to 28th after his puncture.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions for improvements, you can contact us by clicking here. Last update 04 February, 2005.