If it was damp for the first two stages on Friday night, it
was wet for the final three, but intermittent showers ensured that conditions
remained changeable. Craignure resembled Kwik-Fit city as the service crews set
up camp, and if anything typifies the changing face of rallying, then it is a
modern service area with its service wagons and awnings. Gone are the days of
estate cars, toolboxes and petrol cans – at least for the front runners.
Calum Duffy started the final 20 miler of the night on
slicks and then encountered a “real downpour” at the finish: “There was a delay
at the start, so the tyres were cold when we went in,” said Calum, “it was fine
for the first half then there was a big shower coming down the glen. Gribun and
Scridain were damp, but that was wet!”
He must have been trying. At one point, Del turned to him
and said: “Are you going to slow down at any point?” with Calum commenting at
the finish: “That was hoorish” to which Del replied: “I think you’ll find that
was quite a good time.” He was 14 seconds quicker than Daniel Harper, and boy
is he trying. Understatement of the night, perhaps?
John MacCrone reckons he’s getting the hang of his Subaru
after a faltering start to the night: “It’s a really different ballgame with
this now,” he said of the Subaru, “I’m just happy to be here. Slicks and shiny
tar don’t go well together.”
Jonathan Mounsey was still out of breath as he pulled into
the Salen Passage Control: “It was so wet in that last one we were aquaplaning
like mad. It was awesome.”
Tristan Pye dropped time with a power steering problem. It
failed on SS2 and a new pump was fitted before the next group of tests but it
started leaking and he did Gribun with no power steering. In similar trouble
was Shaun Sinclair: I did those last three stages with no power steering – I’m
shattered.” He also incurred a 40 second time penalty effecting repairs which also
dropped him a couple of places on the leaderboard. At least he knows what the
fault is and the boys will have it fixed for the daylight run.
Another driver with a concerned look on his face is Tony
Bardy: “I’ve got a really bad vibration in the car. It’s so bad I can’t hear
the Notes.”
Oh, and in case you noticed, there wasn’t much information
during the rally last night. That was down simply to lack of phone signal to
upload information. Whether it was the rain or whether the phone masts were
overloaded I just don’t know but severe difficulties were incurred last night
trying to find a strong enough phone signal. Even in places where information
was posted last year, there was zilch reception. The even worse news is that,
things might not improve much today given the rally route and format. But don’t
blame me, blame Orange or EE or whatever they’re called these days. It would
appear that they are concentrating their efforts on spreading 4G around the
country’s biggest conurbations and neglecting those more countrified areas
where even a basic telephone signal would be appreciated! They might claim to offer coverage to 95% of
the population, but neglect to mention that they only cover about 60% of the
natural topography. In Scotland, that’s a lot of dark holes.
Leaderboard after 5 (of 18) stages:
1, C Duffy, 50m 26s
2., D Harper, 51m 17s
3, J MacCrone, 51m 52s
4, J Mounsey, 52m 40s
5, P MacKinnon,52m 42s
6, L Gallagher, 53m 48s
7, R Cook, 53m 53s
8, J Cope, 54m 28s
9, T Pye, 54m 30s
10, T Bardy, 54m 43s
