Rally - Scrutineering

Could David Mann spring a surprise over the weekend? This will be his first visit to Mull, and it’s been on his list of ‘to-do’ events for years. The Subaru is an ex-Prodrive car and has a brand new engine and turbo in it for this weekend. That’s because it blew the turbo 2 weeks ago at an event in Woodbridge on the very first stage. As co-driver Chris Hamill from Oban quipped: “That was an 1100 mile round trip to do a 5 mile event!”

John Rintoul appeared with his Skoda Fabia and said he’s fitted a new engine since last time out at Crail and Donnie MacDonald is really quite chuffed with his Lancer and his result on the McRae last weekend. “We’ve found out what the trouble was,” said Donnie, “I’ve been complaining about it all year and we took it to a guy in Oxford who spotted the problem right away. Within 5 minutes on the rolling road it was fixed. Full power, full revs and no hiccups. I’m really looking forward to the Galloway Hills – this is just a bit of fun!”

There’s a strange sticker on the side of Richard Cook’s Impreza, it says ‘Marrasalavia’ Motorsport. Apparenttly the word ‘Marra’ is West Cumbrian for ‘mate’ so Richard and his mates have declared the independent State of Marrasalavia within West Cumbria. So now you know. He also had a nod towards the Lancer of John Morrison which pulled into Scrutineering beside him: “Here comes my nemesis – he beat me by ONE second last year.”

Dave Thwaites awfy smart MkII looked different: “My 18 inch wheels have been banned, so I’m on 15s again. Just when I get the car and brakes sorted and handling nicely, they change the rules and I’m back to where I started.”

Also got a complaint from one ‘customer’ at the Forum last night. She was delighted with her tee-shirt prize, even though it had been slightly nibbled by a wee moose! I said I would need to get her another one, but she said no, it added character. Nice one Charlotte.