Rally - Sinclair's Sprint

Shaun Sinclair set the fastest Time of Day at yesterday’s Stravaiger’s Lodge Fort Augustus Gravel Sprint in Inchnacardoch Forest driving Brian Watson’s Evo8. Brian was lying fourth early on, but as the sun came up and he started to wake up, the times improved. He finished second ahead of Jimmy Allan in his Evo6 with Paddy Munro the first of the 2WD cars, fourth in his Escort.

Reay MacKay didn’t make it as his engine’s STILL not ready, so Jim Carty was denied a run, and Kevin Ronaldson didn’t start either, but he’s hoping to do that wee 3 stage Saturday event at the Jim Clark Rally in two weeks’ time just to get more seat time in the Metro.

And guess what, Sandy Arbuthnott was there. He was greeted with a round of applause as he returned to the Service Area having completed the opening stage without incident or drama. But that was as far as the Metro was going, the gearbox made a crunching sound at the hairpin on the second run!

And as the rain fell, the crowd of wise old rally gits gathered under Shaun Sinclair’s truck awning debated what Sandy needs to do with the car, ranging from needing shed loads of money to a box of Swan Vestas, and all sorts of ideas in between. But maybe it’s simpler than that – we all think the Metro is in love with its trailer and is never happier than when being dragged all over the countryside behind the van on its beloved trailer. And when it gets anywhere near a forest, it seems to think to itself – stuff that!

There were no updates yesterday, although I did try. It seems that phone signals can reach the north west these days, but you can forget trying to get on to t’internet. This is still virgin territory for anything beyond a three pin plug! (There will be a full report in the Rally Mag – soon, or maybe fairly soon!)

1, Shaun Sinclair (Mitsubishi EVO 8) 01m 45.4s

2, Brian Watson (Mitsubishi EVO 8) 01m 51.8s

3, James Allan (Mitsubishi EVO 6) 01m 53.0s

4, Paddy Munro (Ford Escort) 01m 54.0s

5, Colin Baxter (Peugeot 205) 02m 00.1s

6, Sandy MacKenzie (Opel Manta) 02m 00.4s

7, John O'Kane (Ford Escort) 02m 01.4s

8, Colin Patterson (Peugeot 106) 02m 01.9s

9, Kenny Findlayson (Talbot Sunbeam) 02m 02.6s

10, Ian Gray (Subaru Impreza) 02m 04.8s

11, Hector MacInnes (Subaru Impreza) 02m 05.2s

12, Sandy Arbuthnott (MG Metro 6R4) 02m 06s

13, Gary Clark (Peugeot 106) 02m 07.8s

14, Billy Falconer (J) (Peugeot 205 GTI) 02m 08.2s

15, Grant MacRae (J) (Peugeot 205 Rallye) 02m 13.7s

16, Martin Fraser (Opel Manta) 02m 14.2s

17, Angela MacDonald (J) (Peugeot 205 GTI) 02m 51.2s