Rally - Mull 04

More from first service. Jim McRae is out by all accounts, spotted parked up in SS2. Doug Weir in his MkII caught the red MkI: "Jim was looking for somewhere to park off the road. He was just limping along, but he managed to find a spot just as I was approaching." At least he and Ian are OK.

Eddie O'Donnell spun off in the first stage and picked a right mucky hole to get stuck. In the words of one of the Marshals, it's really 'clarty' inside. He must have had the door open when he was reversing out and and all the muck sprayed inside! He also knocked a water hose off in the incident.

Lewis Gallagher has been spotted parked up and no doubt he'll be seeck too - it's his first run out with a new engine. Shaun Sinclair claims to have nearly hit a deer. He says he passed it, I wonder if it passed him.

Lots of folk complaining about misting up problems, a common complaint in Metro 6R4s particularly, so it was no surprise to see Kevin Ronaldson had solved the problem. He can't reach the windscreen to wipe it, but he has a stick with a sponge and shammy on the end so that he can reach and wipe. Home-made too, none of yer fancy Halfords rubbish.

John Cope is going well despite a slow time on the first stage: "It's just so tricky out there - James came past me like a bullet," he chuckled. Daniel Harper has lost most of his exhaust: "I don't know what happened, it just fell off in the first stage. We had to stop and get out at the finish to see if it was on fire - it smelled horrible in there." Jonathan Mounsey struck trouble too: "On the start line of the first stage tonight, a driveshaft broke. We've had to do 3 stages with two wheel drive and a hell of a racket." Cameron Mclean has dinkled the front o/s wing of the Escort: "I hit one of the chicane bales," he said, "but there;s no mechanical damage.

So how bad is it out there tonight? Curly Haigh revealed all: "I'm frightening myself to death out there, if I hadn't been sweating so hard, my hair would have been on fire down Loch Tuath." It was the 'sweating' bit that really got to me. Yeuch.

Nice folk on Mull. The Tobermory Hotel sent out mugs of hot chocolate to the lady marshals on Tobermory Main Street who were manning (womanning?) the 'In' Control just outside their windows.