Sunday 31 March 2013

Rally - Charterchill


It was mighty cold at Charterhall for the second round of the Blue Scottish Tarmack Championship, but nowhere near as nippy as it was last week for the Border Counties Rally. Even so, it tried to snow a few times, but it came to nought.

Folk living nearby could have been forgiven for thinking that fighters had returned to the old wartime airfield, as Stephen Ronaldson’s mellifluous Metro 6R4 sent shivers down the spine (or was that the cold?) as the howl of the 2.5 litre V6 echoed across the landscape. Magic, pure magic, bt he didn’t win. He came third.

Taking his first outright rally victory, on only his sixth rally, was Dom Buckley but he was harried all the way by Dale Robertson. At the end, 12 seconds separated the duo after 6 stages. Buckley was fastest out of the blocks in the yellow Impreza by 6 seconds from Robertson, then the Mitsubishi driver hit a tyre marker on the second test and dropped a further 10 seconds to young Dom’s pace.

Robertson was fastest on stages 3 and 5 but it wasn’t enough. Afterwards Buckley recalled: “I was leading this event by 21 seconds two years ago, then crashed out. And with two stages to go this year I was leading again, by 21 seconds!” This time there was no mistake, but when asked if this was a run out ahead of the Jim Clark Rally, he just smiled. But didn’t say no.

And as for the last ever motor sports event at Charterhall, who knows? Maybe not. Keep your ears open.

Final Results:

1 Dom Buckley/Barry Hogg (Subaru Impreza) 38m 45s
2 Dale Robertson/Paul McGuire (Mitsubishi Evo 9) 38m 57s
3 Steven Ronaldson/Ross Donald (Metro 6R4) 39m 29s
4 Stuart Baillie/Alan Cowan (Subaru Impreza) 40m19s
5 Colin Gemmell/Cameron Fair (Subaru Impreza) 40m 38s
6 Ross Fernie/John Young (Subaru Impreza) 40m 47s
7 Stuart Walker/Julie McGuire (Mitsubishi Evo 9) 41m 01s
8 Leigh Mawson/Ross Mawson (Subaru Impreza) 41m 42s
9 Ian Forgan/Kathryn Forgan (Ford Ka) 41m 43s
10 Graham Bruce/Jane Nicol (Mitsubishi Evo 3) 42m 26s


Friday 29 March 2013

Rally - Pearson for Charterhall

Having won the British Junior Rally Champion title last year as well as the 2012 RenaultSport Twingo UK, Garry Pearson is set to give his new Ford Fiesta R2 its first proper run-out at the Charterhall Stages Rally tomorrow just to the south and west of Duns.

He missed out on the British Championship 'Media Day' a week ago when it snowed heavily at the venue in Yorkshire and then missed out on the Border Counties Rally for the same reason! No doubt he's praying for no more snow tonight.

Dom Buckley Jnr Jnr (no, that's not a misprint!) heads the Entry List from Dale Robertson and 2012 Scottish Tarmack Rally Champion, Ross Fernie. There's also a hugely encouraging turn-out of 17 crews in the Junior 1000 Championship for 14-17 year olds.

This might possibly be the last motor sports event at Charterhall - ever!

http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/2013/03/rally-news-charterhall-stages/


Thursday 28 March 2013

Rally - Border Gossip

That's all the news and gossip from the Border Counties up on the main website now, but why is Louise on the warpath? You'll need to read it to find out.

http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/2013/03/28-march-border-gossip/


Wednesday 27 March 2013

Blethers - Johnny Herbert



Johnny's the one on the right!
This’ll be interesting. Formula 1 comes to Motherwell of all places. On the 5th of May, Johnny Herbert will be coming to the steel town’s Concert Hall to talk about all things Formula 1.

Currently  Sky TV’s Grand Prix presenter, Johnny won three Grand Prix races during a 160-race, F1 career which spanned the years 1989-2000, including that fairytale British GP victory at Silverstone in 1995 in a Benetton.

For this sole-Scottish, Motherwell leg of a UK tour, Johnny  has created an audio-visual presentation, but will also chat with the audience on the subject of all things racing and F1. Topics will include the new Regulations which were introduced for this season and the new Regs coming next year, and no doubt he will have a view on that controversial finish to the Malaysian GP.

A highlight of the one night show is a genuine F1 car on the stage and during the evening a raffle will be drawn to give one lucky winner a chance to sit inside the car. This has the potential to be a particularly embarrassing event given the dietary habits of the battered fish, pizza crunch, pie supper-fed Lanarkians. That is unless any vegetarians show up.

The ‘Evening with Johnny Herbert’ at Motherwell Concert Hall starts at 7.30 pm on the evening of Sunday 5th May with tickets costing £20 or £18 concession.

To book tickets, phone the Advanced Booking Office at: 01698 403 120

Or, visit the online booking system at:


Road - New RR Sport

Looking liked a scaled up Evoque, this is the new Range Rover Sport which was revealed in America ahead of the New York International Motor Show which opens on Friday.

But the biggest change is in the weight of the beast. Depending on the chosen engine/drivetrain, the new RR Sport is between 420 and 500 kgs lighter than the previous model. And if you choose the 3 litre TDV6 diesel, emissions are sub 200 g/km at 194 g/km.
 
However, this being a Range Rover with the Sport badge, at the other end of the scale is an outrageous supercharged 5 litre V8 with just over 500 bhp to play with.

There will be a couple more engines between the two extremes and a diesel hybrid is promised for 2014, and they all come with the new electronically controlled ZF 8HP70 8-speed automatic gearbox.

And the price? Well, if you have to ask, then buy a Dacia Duster.

Tuesday 26 March 2013

Rally - More Updates

That's the roundup from all the Classes on the weekend's Border Counties Rally now up on the website. So if you want to find out what happened to whom, they are all here:

http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/2013/03/report-border-class-winners/

The main event Report which lists what happened to the front runners was put up on Monday, and it's still here:

http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/2013/03/report-milne-wins-border/

There's also some information on this Saturday's Charterhall Stages Rally plus a provisonal list of Entries. This could well be a must-see event, it could be the last motor sports event at Charterhall:

http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/2013/03/rally-news-charterhall-stages/


Blethers - Blues City


The Kings Theatre in Glasgow was transformed last night with the arrival of the Blues Brothers, the Bluettes and the rest of the band. 

Brad Henshaw’s Jake was worthy of a failed ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ audition, but his flicks, kicks and somersaults were hugely entertaining, although medically worrying, and his soulful rendition of Joe Cocker’s ‘With a Little Help from my Friends’ was uncanny. 

Chris Chandler’s Elwood had his ‘briefcase full of blues’ and a harmonica which could melt tablet and included a vocally sumptuous ‘Under the Boardwalk’. 

As for the Bluettes, they were scarily good, and dance? There was a helluva lot going on under those sequins. And the music from the drums, two guitars, one sax and one trumpet sounded a whole lot bigger – and nearly as good as a BDA in high speed gurry mode. I wonder if I can get more tickets for tonight?