Steve Cressey in the Escort was looking puzzled at first Service
in Craignure: “I always enjoy Mull, but I didn’t enjoy that,” he said, “I’ve
had the car for 18 months – and never driven it in the wet. And Mull is not the
place to learn.” The car also has new springs and anti-roll bar and: “I just
haven’t got confidence in it yet. It’s a baptism of fire,” he added.
Alistair Inglis is in trouble in the Lancer: “There’s a red
light showing on the dash and we think the head gasket is leaking. The boys are
going to tighten down the head and we’ll try a couple more stages to see how it
goes.”
Grum Willcock in the Manta was a bit more graphic: “I’ve
never been so scared in me life! It’s TOO slippy.”
Dave Miller has a wee oil leak in the Subaru, but it’s just
above the turbo. Alan Gardiner wasn’t happy with his Wets on the MkI and was
seen swapping back to Dunlops: “There’s just no grip on these new tyres I was
trying, plus my gear indicator light has stopped working – and the engine is
overheating.”
Donnie MacDonald in the Lancer was beaming as usual, even
though he claims not to like tarmac: “I had a HUGE moment on a Left 4 on the
first stage on cold tyres,” he said, “but I got away with it. I really want to
finish this so it’s just a matter of getting through tonight and seeing how we’re
place for tomorrow.”
Billy Bird has a vibration in the Chevette’s propshaft, but
it was easily fixed at service: “Guess who forgot to tighten the bolts,” he said
sheepishly.
Matt Tarbutt was off in the first stage in his Peugeot 306
Maxi: “There’s something not right with the car,” he explained, “we’ve got snap
oversteer on right handers. We damaged a rear wheel and tore the bumper off.
Then we had a full 360 degree spin in the second stage, but got away with it.
But we really NEED to find the cause of the problem.”
And Chris Paton was looking angry. The man who has competed
on 41 out of the 43 Mull Rallies so far is now ‘team managing’ a youngster by
the name of Matthew Kesson doing his first Mull in Chris’ old 1600 Nova: “I’m
going to strangle him,” said the caring old git, “He was 49th quickest
through the first test - and I told him to take it easy.”
And the busiest men at the rally tonight? That must surely
be the boys on the tyre trucks. Queues were forming as they tried to supply and
fit new tyres and change others already on rims, with puzzled drivers not
knowing what to do for the best. There was so much sweat flying, there was a rainbow over Craignure – in the dark!
I was actually 28th quickest!
ReplyDeleteThat only means you're now in deeper sh*t with the CoG!
ReplyDeleteTrue
Delete