Rally - McRae Rally News

The latest News about the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally on Friday and Saturday, 4/5 October is on-line in the Mag now. Spectator Info and Full Entry List will be published on Wednesday. One thing more, bring some cash with you on Friday night. At least 40 quidsworth. A new book has been published about Colin and the Scottish launch will be on Friday evening at Breadalbane Community Campus in the centre of Aberfeldy with star guests in attendance! Cash only, the club has no facilities for dealing with plastic!

http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/2013/09/29-sept-mcrae-rally-preview/

http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/2013/09/30-sept-more-from-mcrae-rally/

Rally - Vassallo wins Kames

Forty one seconds sepaarted the top four at the end of today's Kames September Junior Rally at Muirkirk. Alex Vassallo scored the win by 17 seconds after 16 stages over William Creighton. The two Citroen C1 drivers were never more than 3 seconds apart but Vassallo hung on for the win.

In third palce was Michael Dickie in the Toyota Aygo just managing to hold off the first of the Micra drivers, Ben Crealey in fourth place, by 14 seconds. Dylan O'Donnell was fifth and Andy Struthers was sixth.

Robert Wright won the 'senior' event in his Ford Fiesta from the Subaru of Billy Cowe. Niall Thomson was third in His Saxo and Niall Thomson fourth, but here's the thing, had young Vassallo's times counted towards the senior event, he would have finished third overall. Move over big boys.

Rally - FunFight at Kames

After 10 of today's 16 stages at Kames, Robert Wrigth leads the 'senior event' in his Fiesta from Billy Cowe's Subaru by 55 seconds, but the battle in the Ecosse Junior 1000 Challenge is much closer.

Alex Vassallo leads by 5 seconds from William Creighton, both in Citroen C1s with Michael Dickie third in the Toyota 11 seconds behind the second place man (boy?) but only 2 seconds behind him is fourth placed Ben  Crealey in the Micra. Harry Marchbank lost out on the very first stage when a driveshaft broke, but he's still going, albeit down in 14th place out of the 18 Juniors who turned up this morning.

There is however, one other battle for glory which transends anything going on elsewhere this weekend, and that is the duel between John McClory (Snr) and Stephen McClory (Jnr). At the moment, Stephen in the 1 litre Micra is 4 seconds ahead of the ol'man first time out in the new family Fiesta 1600. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your age group or family preference, John is beginning to get the hang of the Fiesta and is gradually sorting it out, whereas the boy is absolutely flatters everywhere and nothing left to give!

Rally - Yorkshire, Final

Euan Thorburn finished 3^rd on the Trackrod Forest Stages, the BTRDA national event within Trackrod Rally Yorkshire today behind winner Stephen Petch and second placed Charlie Payne. That means Charlie Payne still leads the BTRDA Gold Star series with one round to go ahead of Stephen Petch and Connor McLoskey. Euan is still in with a shout, but he really needs to win the final Cambrian round to stand a chance of the title with McCloskey also needing the win to boost his chance of taking the title from Payne.

Allan McDowall was 18^th and third in the Historic class in his MkII.

John MacCrone was sixth in the main Trackrod Rally Yorkshire and reasonably happy at that, first time out in the new car. Osian Pryce won the event from Jukka Korhonen. Garry Pearson was 14^th and fifth in class with Ruary MacLeod 15^th and sixth in class. Tony Jardine finished 16^th overall and won his class but more importantly, Amy Williams got another finisher’s signature for her licence.

In the BRC Challenge, Gareth White held on to third place with Ross Hunter fifth on an event won by Russ Thompson from Richard Sykes. Steve Smith didn't make it, the Peugeot's engine expiring this morning. Steve Bannister with ‘our Louise’ was second in the Historic event behind Matt Edwards with Tim Pearcey and Neil Shanks third.

Rally - Yorkshire, Friday

After 2 stages in Dalby tonight John MacCrone is 6^thoverall on Rally Yorkshire, 10 secs behind Tom Cave. Osian Pryce leads from Jukka Korhonen, Alistair Fisher and Mark Donnelly. Garry Pearson 14^th, Ruary MacLeod 17^th, Tony Jardine 19^th.

Gareth White is 3^rd in BRC Challenge behind Russ Thompson and Luke Pinder. Steve Smith 6^th, Ross Hunter 8^th. Steve Bannister 2^nd Historic behind Matt Edwards, Tom Coughtrie 28^th.

Rally - Scots in Yorkshire

Rally Yorkshire gets underway in Pickering this evening, concluding tomorrow (Sat.) evening. As is the way these days, there are lots of events within the main competition. Euan Thorburn is still in with a shout for this year’s BTRDA title with one round to go, while Gareth White, Steven Smith and Ross Hunter need some serious points to do the business in the BRC Challenge. Scottish interest will concentrate on this lot, so go to it guys’n’gals:

Trackrod Rally Yorkshire

5, John MacCrone/Phil Pugh (Citroen DS3 R3) 1596cc, Class A05

14, Ruary MacLeod/Drew Sturrock (Ford Fiesta R2) 1598cc, A06

18, Tony Jardine/Amy Williams (Honda Civic Type R), A08

23, Garry Pearson/Tom Hynd (Ford Fiesta) 1600cc, A06

Trackrod BRC Challenge

63, Gareth White/Jack Morton (Citroen C2 R2 Max) 1596cc, RC5

64, Steven Smith/Daniel Johnstone (Peugeot 206 RC) 1998cc, RC4

65, Ross Hunter/Gary White (Peugeot 205) 1998cc, RC4

Trackrod 'Pre 87 & Historic' Cup

112, Steve Bannister/Louise Sutherland (Ford Escort MkII) 1998cc, D5

116, Tim Pearcey/Neil Shanks (Ford Escort RS1800) 1998cc, D5

144, Tom Coughtrie/Calvin Cooledge (Ford Escort RS1800) 1998cc, K3

Trackrod Forest Stages

302, Euan Thorburn/Paul Beaton (Ford Focus WRC '01) 2000cc, WR1

350, Allan McDowall/Gavin Heseltine (Ford Escort MkII) 2000cc, H3

Rally - Full Mull Entry List

That's the full entry list for the 2013 Tunnock's Mull Rally now on Scotland's top road and rally mag

http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/2013/09/27-sept-full-mull-entry-list/

Road - Old People's Day

Depressed? Suicidal? Homicidal? This will cheer you up ... not!

Apparently, Tuesday the 1^st of October is the International Day of Older Persons. This is one of the United Nation’s brighter/dumber ideas - depending on your own personal age group I suppose!

Instigated in 1982 by the World Assembly on Ageing and endorsed by the UN General Assembly they are celebrating the life and times of all those coffin-dodgers who are 65 or over.

And looking around the current crop of rallying participants and followers in Scottish motor sport there is an awful lot of folk eligible to sign-up to the above.

However, taking motoring and motor sport as an example, some of the organisation’s aims are laudable. You only need to see what some of the insurance companies are up to, to realise that the ‘young at heart, but weak at the knees’ brigade are under serious threat with car insurance harder to get once you reach 75 years of age, and younger in some cases!

Plus there is the disdain and scorn to be suffered from those baseball hats who whizz past in a flurry of arm waving and two-fingered gestures – the very group who are most at risk of crashing. Toleration is a two way street.

Of course, there is a serious message to impart and older drivers should take extra care. Reactions may be slower, limbs weaker and senses dulled, so they need to be aware of any physical and mental deterioration.

If you are getting to that stage, help is on hand, Valerie Singleton is fronting a series of video films from the road safety group, GEM Motoring Assist. The ex-Blue Peter pin-up is advising ‘senior motorists’ to reflect on their ability, skill and attitude, and to consider getting their driving checked out in the same way they get their car serviced regularly, i.e. jacked up on a stair-lift and hose pipe shoved up your exhaust. Colonic irrigation for cars - and their drivers.

These films are freely available at: Stillsafetodrive.org.uk 

So if you are worried about your Maw or Paw behind the wheel, then get them behind the computer screen and dial in, or if you want to be nosey, just tune in yourself.

As for the UN, their campaign is on line too at: http://olderpeoplesday.co.uk/about/ 

Now where did I put my winter bunnet, my teeth and my driving slippers?

Race - Racing Bentley

Bentley's new Continental GT3 race car will make its race debut at the 2013 Gulf 12 Hours in Abu Dhabi on 13^th December 2013. This will mark Bentley's return to motorsport ten years after its victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2003.

Since the GT3's stunning debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, the new race car has been spotted testing at tracks across Europe.

Bentley's Director of Motorsport, Brian Gush, commented: "The car has performed extremely well so far, and has matched or exceeded our simulations in every respect. With 3000 km of testing completed already, the team is very pleased with progress and we're gaining confidence in our package. We're all looking forward to the Gulf 12 Hours in December and can't wait to run the car against the competition for the first time in its first test race."

Powered by a race-prepared and dry-sump version of Bentley's road-going 4 litre twin-turbo V8 producing up to 600 bhp, testing and development of the beast is being run by a specialist team comprising engineers both from Bentley and the Continental GT3 Technical Partner, M-Sport Ltd.

Managed from a dedicated motorsport facility base at the Bentley factory, the car is being run by M-Sport in preparation for a full entry in the 2014 FIA Blancpain Series as Team M-Sport Bentley.

Here’s the thing. Remember Kris Meeke drove a Bentley at Sweet Lamb last year for Top Gear? Makes you wonder if Malcolm has been measuring up the car for a sumpguard.

Top Gear Coming to Scotland

Top Gear Live is coming to Scotland for the very first time with three live shows at The SSE Hydro, Glasgow in January 2014.

Hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, and ably assisted by ‘The Stig’, the show will feature the usual automotive mayhem and stupidity that we have come to expect from these petrol powered nutters plus the Top Gear Live Stunt Team.

Three action-packed 90-minute arena shows will e staged over the weekend of 18-19 January with tickets on sale from 9 am on Friday 4 October.

According to Mr Clarkson: “I’ve absolutely no idea exactly what we’ll be up to in Glasgow but, as this is the first time we’ve ever performed live north of the border, you can guarantee it will be something very special. What we can promise is lots of gigantic explosions, some very scary stunts plus a magnificent line-up of incredibly expensive supercars … not to mention all the usual cock-ups, crashes and arguments. Who knows, you might even see The Stig in a kilt.”

Over the last 12 months, Top Gear Live has been on a world tour with spectacular shows in Moscow, Sydney, Amsterdam, Antwerp and Durban culminating in the biggest extravaganza yet performed in Poland last weekend (21 September) to a sell-out 50,000+ crowd in Warsaw’s National Stadium.

Glasgow will be the first time the Top Gear team has appeared in the UK since headlining at the Birmingham NEC in October 2012.

“I’m told the building was inspired by ancient Roman and Greek amphitheatres so it sounds like the perfect setting for our kind of arcane humour and barbaric acts. I think some epic chariot racing should be on the cards!” added Clarkson.

The venue boasts a maximum seating capacity of 12,000 with perfect sight-lines and crystal clear acoustics but, to provide additional stage space for the stars and their cars, the state-of-the-art auditorium will be reconfigured to provide 8,000 seats for each Top Gear Live performance.

Adult ticket prices for all three shows – two scheduled for Saturday 18 January and one for Sunday 19 January – start from £49* with special concessions for accompanied children. Full details can be found on the www.topgearlive.co.uk  website or via the box office on 0844 395 4000.

The same official website also allows fans wishing to book some of the best seats in the house 48 hours in advance of the general on sale date (9am on Friday 4 October) to register – free – on-line for a special ‘pre-sale promotion’.