Rally - Februally

As the WRC gets underway this weekend in the far-off and exotic surroundings of the French Alps, a more accessible alternative for home fans is the equally exotic Highland capital of Inverness. Our own world-class national championships get underway next month, with the opening rounds of the Scottish Rally Championship and the Scottish Tarmack Rally Championship.

First to bite the grush is the Coogie Urquhart Snowman Rally on Saturday 9th Februally with entries officially closing tomorrow. That means tomorrow (Saturday 26th) is the last opperchancity to sit down, log on, and fill in your entry form so that you will be seeded in the entry list on merit and not tagged on at the back.

At the moment, snow is not a big problem in the Highland forests, but then that is all part of the appeal of rallying, dealing with the prevailing conditions whether it be snow, rain or dust.
Entry form here: https://www.rallies.info/webentry/2019/snowman/webentry.php 

There will in fact be a Marshals' Training Day in Inverness tomorrow and anyone who can make it would be made welcome. Sign up here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScm0lQdMIeCrML_-8zz08R96zqFQqcMX6gBm_hYZ8i_dxnBpQ/viewform 

The tarmac brigade also get underway next month with the opening round of their season at Knockhill on Sunday 24th of Februally.

And if you're not competing, why not Marshal? Such an undertaking provides rally fans to get up

close and personal with those who participate, but without the expense and anxiety.

Marshalling provides the chance to get out in the fresh air and fill your nostrils with the natural scent of pine, not to mention smoking oil, scorched clutches and red hot brakes, but you also get the chance to meet up with old pals and make new like-minded friends. What's more, such an activity provides the ideal conditions for observing Scottish wildlife in the raw such as deer, Hie'lan' coos and the more colourful and hardy wild species known as anorakium claddius speccies.

In fact you can meet more wildlife than you could shake a stick at. For instance in the spring and autumn months, Scotland's most fearsome creature is mighty prevalent in the woods- the midge. Not just one or a few, but millions of the blighters. Where else can you witness such delights?

Experience Scotland in all its glory , its scenery in all its splendour, and its weather in all its challenges. To put it another way, are you hard enough to be a Marshal?

If you're a first-timer, have no fear, the Highland Car Club organising team will buddy you up with some of the old, and maybe not so old, hands. To find  out more click the link:

https://www.snowmanrally.co.uk/marshal-registration 

To find out even more about marshalling generally, have a look at the Motor Sport UK website. It doesn't cost anything to sign up and you get a FREE pack of essentials.

https://members.msauk.org/imissite/login/default.asp

https://www.motorsportuk.org/assets/2019marshalregistrationapplication.pdf

Rally - Threat lifted?

News this morning from  the Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) which suggests that encouraging and positive progress is being made on the new EU Motor Insurance Directive (MID). As most of you might be aware this new directive threatened the very existence of motorsport throughout Europe. 

On Tuesday, the EU Parliament voted to adopt amendments, supported by the MIA, which will exclude motorsport from compulsory motor insurance as proposed in this new legislation.

The proposed new MID required all EU Member States to make unlimited third-party liability insurance compulsory for all forms of motorised transport, in any location – including motorsport. The specialist insurance market for EU motorsport advised that no insurance meeting these compulsory demands would ever be available so participating in motorsport would be illegal.

The revised text, as adopted by the EU Parliament IMCO Committee, means that:
--- only vehicles used in traffic as a means of transport would need to be covered by Third Party Liability (TPL) insurance
--- ‘dual-use’ vehicles used both in-traffic and out-of-traffic (i.e. 90% of ‘motorsport’ vehicles) only need insurance cover for use ‘in traffic’, but not for motorsport activities;
--- vehicles intended exclusively for motorsport, and vehicles used exclusively in a non-traffic situation, would be excluded from the scope of the MID. 

This would have affected us whether we were 'Brexited' or 'Remained' as the whole kerfuffle was instigated by a farm worker in Slovenia who was loading hay bales into a barn when he was knocked off his ladder by a reversing tractor.  

In 2014 the subsequent court case established that Mr Vnuk was knocked off his ladder by a trailer attached to a tractor which was reversing across the yard. Mr Vnuk sought damages against the defendant insurer of the tractor.

The Slovenian courts ruled against Mr Vnuk. The reasoning was that a compulsory insurance policy under Slovenian law for a motor vehicle covered use of the tractor as a means of transport but not damage caused when a tractor was used as a machine or propulsion device. Naturally, as is the way of such things these days, Mr Vnuk appealed. And then appealed again, and again, until clarity was sought. Hard to think that one man could almost singlehandedly scupper the sport completely across a continent. 

Fortunately it would appear that common sense has prevailed and these amendments will now be voted on by the full EU Parliament on 13^th February 2019 following which they need to be approved by the EU’s Council of EU Ministers at a future date, yet to be set.

Fingers crossed, eh?

Kenny Allen, 1937 - 2019

Sad news this week, Kenny Allan passed away yesterday morning after a long illness. He took ill three years ago just after his final motorsport outing at the Bo-Ness Hillclimb. Over that period he was in and out of hospital, but in between times at home enjoyed regular visits from his wide circle of friends in motorsport.

He was a champion and record setter in a variety of sports - motor racing, hillclimbing, sprints and speed events - and raced everything from his first Mini through a variety of sports and clubman cars, single seaters and latterly his much loved Lotus Elan, and he was still winning in his 70s.

It could be argued he lived to race, contesting motor races, hillclimbs and speed events right across the country from Rumster in the north to Gurston Down in the south, Kirkistown in the west and Silverstone in the east.

He won multiple Scottish championship titles across all disciplines setting class and outright records along the way and continued his winning ways at the various British Hillclimb Championship rounds he contested, although he never really had the car or the budget to mount a full British Championship assault.

I first came across him at the old Rest & Be Thankful Hillclimb in Argyll when he was racing his Mini Cooper S with the registration number KAM 1. He also raced the car at the new Ingliston race circuit before he progressed to a Clan Crusader and that was where I first got to know the man.

He managed to attract some modest (very modest!) sponsorship support from a certain Cleland Car Sales emporium in Kirkfieldbank. Kenny owned a garage and workshop further up the Clyde Valley in Crossford and carried out some work for Cleland's. Bill Cleland had sold his Bogside Triumph dealership and opened up a used car showroom on the outskirts of Lanark and when he needed some work done, Crossford Garage would often get the call.

Bill Cleland was a former rally driver and RAC MSA Scrutineer so the two had something in common, and no doubt some of that rubbed off on a certain John Cleland who then took up hillclimbing and racing in a Mini.

The bald statistics don't do Kenny Allen the man or 'King Kenny' the racer, justice. They don't even come close. He was no James Hunt or Ayrton Senna, there was no swagger or arrogance, but sit him in a race car and he was a match for anyone. It was said he could thread the eye of a needle with his Ralt RT30.

He was modest, quiet and almost shy, unless among friends, but there was a glint in the eye that people overlooked at their peril.

That was evident at the early British Touring Car races at Knockhill when he would arrive on-site in his campervan and set up camp for 3, or sometimes 4, days. It was open house for the Scottish regulars including a certain innocent and impressionable event Press Officer who was making his way home through the campsite after practice one evening. He was beckoned over to the camper with its back door wide open, and as he approached the aroma was so rich that a distillery sensory experience tour manager would have paid dearly for some of that aromatic essence to enhance his/her own visitor experience. Silly boy.

Inside the camper was Kenny and Harry Simpson, and I think Alex Graham was there and perhaps John Fyda , the memory is now somewhat foggy, while others came and went. The drink flowed, the craic was good and the laughter was loud. The Press Officer didn't make it to his car never mind home, he had to return to the Press Office and sleep it off on the floor!

Kenny was a long time member of Lothian Car Club, a supporter of Bo-Ness and Forrestburn Hillclimbs and latterly a founding member of the Veterans of Scottish Motor Sport. He will be missed by them all. He was also a part-time 'Bear', a member of Coltness Car Club when they ran the Strathclyde Park Hillclimb in the 1980s.

But none will miss him more than his wife Mary, daughters Margaret and Del, his wider family and huge circle of friends and motorsport fans right across the UK. Our thoughts should be with them at this time.

The funeral will take place on Monday 28th at 11.00am in Crossford Church, Lanark Rd, Crossford ML8 5RD and thereafter at Holytown Crematorium, Memorial Way (off the A723), Holytown, Motherwell ML1 5RU. Note that parking in Crossford village will be very difficult as the main road is narrow with narrow pavements.

Rally - Monte Carlo preview

If you want the inside track on next weekend's Monte Carlo Rally, it's best to consult a professional. Or to put it more accurately, a semi-professional co-driver and a fully qualified, certified professional Biscuit Engineer - it says so on his passport! Written in English, but with a Scottish accent so the northern hordes will understand, here is Stuart Loudon's preview ... 

http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/2019/01/21-jan-stuart-loudons-monte-prevu/

Rally - An Omen for 2019?

Toyota Gazoo Racing has scored its first 'rally' win of the 2019 season. The highly modified Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa Hilux claimed Toyota’s first victory in the ultra-gruelling Dakar rally. Nasser Al Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel successfully negotiated the tenth and final stage yesterday to seal a historic first victory for Toyota in one of the world’s toughest motorsports events.

Toyota Gazoo Racing SA led the car category of the 41st edition of the Dakar all the way with Qatari Al Attiyah heading the field from the third day. This year the event took place entirely within Peru and produced some of the most gruelling tests the rally has witnessed since locating in South America.

Al Attiyah, twice a previous Dakar winner, said: “We are so happy to win, not only for ourselves, but also for Toyota and the entire Toyota Gazoo Racing SA team. Everyone has worked so hard for so long and really deserve this.”

Team Principal Glyn Hall said: “This victory was long overdue. Winning the Dakar is never easy, there are a lot of people trying. This year’s race was no exception and it brought a rollercoaster of emotions and results for the team.”

The team recovered from an early setback when the Hilux of Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewtiz hit a rock in thick dust on stage three, and fell out of contention. Team-mates Bernhard ten Brinke and Xavier Panseri suffered a similar fate the following day, prior to retirement on stage eight.

De Villiers maintained his impressive record of top-10 finishes, coming home in ninth place. Since 2012, the team had posted five podium places and seven top-five finishes; Al Attiyah’s win comes after a second-place result in 2018.

The Hilux was also the first petrol vehicle in its class to take victory since the start of the Dakar’s South American era, being powered by a mid-mounted, normally aspirated V8.

An electrical fault cost Sebastien Loeb around 30 minutes in his privately entered Red Bull sponsored Peugeot during stage seven and he dropped out of contention.

Interest will now turn to Monte Carlo next week and the pressure will be on for Tommi Makinen's squad to do the business. No pressure, eh?

Dakar 2019 Leaderboard (Car) After Stage 10

1. Al Attiyah/Baumel (Toyota)
2. Roma/Haro (Mini) +46:42
3. Loeb/Elena (Peugeot) +01:54:18
4. Przygonski/Colsoul (Mini) +02:28:31
5. Despres/Cottret (Mini) +02:48:43
6. Prokop/Tomanek (Ford) +03:19:02

(Thanks to TGR SA for the pics)