Rally - Testing tales

There was a good turnout at today's test day ahead of tomorrow's GWF Energy Merrick Stages Rally and the organisers had laid on a 2 mile stretch of road at the southenr end of Glentrool. Road side log piles ensured no shenanigans, but the event did highlight one issue - dust. Competitors will be praying for rain tonight and hopefully it will be dry tomorrow, but the skies are threatening and the wind is getting up.

In attendance were Mark McCulloch Andrew Gallacher, Craig McMiken, Fraser Wislon, Mike Faulkner, Blair Brown, Alick Kerr, David Bogie, Jim Robertson, Euan Thorburn, Garry Pearson, Chris Collie, Jordan Black, Graeme Smith and Tony Jardine with his celebrity co-driver.

Jon Burn failed to make it as the Subaru's gearbox was still on the garage floor at 6 pm last night - in bits, and Dave Weston didn't turn up with the Focus.

David Bogie did a few runs with Murray Grierson riding shotgun and tried out new diff settings: "Then we went back to the original settings," said David, "but we did change the suspension settings for tomorrow."
Euan Thorburn had a number of things to check out after his Woodpecker Stages run out: "We just got the car back last night," said Euan, "we had trouble on the Woodpecker with the handbrake and hydraulic gearshift, and we still had our ongoing problem with fuel pressure. I think we've solved that now, Dom (Buckley) got on to Bosch directly and they suggested a different fuel pump."

Mike Faulkner tried out a diff controller: "We've fitted a Gems unit to control the front diff and it seems to have made a difference. It gets off the line quicker."

Scott Peacock finished the build of his new 205 this morning after its wreck on the Solway Coast: "There were 9 or 10 of us working on it last night," said Scott, "then Keith (Riddick) left at 2 am and Callum and I finished at 3 am. I got up early this morning to fit the seats and belts, and here we are."

Garry Pearson was giving his newly rebuilt engine a shakedown in the Fiesta: "It was a major rebuilt," said Garry, "we hit a rock on the Scottish and it split the sump - but we didn't realise till half a mile later - when the orange light came on!"

Rally - Olympian co-driver

Guess who turned up at the GWF Energy Merrick Stages Rally test day? A full Press Release is being issued by Tony Jardine at some point today, but the rally car already has the names on the window!

Rally - Merrick Test Day

The GWF Energy Merrick Stages Rally test day is on tomorrow (Friday), but news and gossip from the session will be determined by the availability of a signal. So if you hear nowt on the Blog or on Twitter tomorrow morning, I'll get things updated when I reach Wigtown in the afternoon.

Did you know that Galloway Forest Park was the first 'Dark Sky Park' established in the UK? And that was in November 2009? Maybe that's why mobile signals can't get out or in - they're making sure the aliens have  a clear path to get here!

Then Americans might have Area-51 - we've got the Galloway Dark Sky Park.

Road - SCoTY Ahead

Today was the deadline for votes in this year’s ‘Scottish Car of the Year’ awards and my votes have just been sent in to our esteemed Secretary.

There has been a flurry of activity this side of the border over recent weeks with Land Rover Jaguar, SEAT, Renault and Citroen bringing a range of all their latest vehicles to the far north for Scotland’s top motoring writers to assess and appraise. In fact Citroen was here all day yesterday, that’s how close to the deadline the judging has been.

Anyway, all done and dusted and we’ll have to wait and see how the votes stack up. There are categories for all types of car from compacts to luxury, from sports to SUV, and from those individual category winners will be selected one overall winner to become the ‘Scottish Car of the Year’. And all will be revealed on the night.

The ceremony itself takes place in Glasgow on Friday the 11^th October, and I won’t be there – it clashes with Mull. I’ve missed the last three SCoTYs because of the date clash, but I’ve been going to Mull longer than the Car of the Year contest. Always a difficult decision, but I have little choice in the matter.

 

Duty comes first, and I’ve done my duty by voting, it’s just that I’ll miss out on the banquet, booze and banter in Scotland’s second (first?) city.

Instead I’ll have cause to think of my candlelit colleagues in their evening finery – as I stand in the dark in the middle of Salen Main Street with the rain running out of my pie supper.

But the music will be better, a cacophony of BDAs and RedTops suffused with the bark of flat fours accompanied by the human sounds of appreciation and revelry echoing round the hills and glens of the world’s top tarmac test of man and machine. Ya beezer!

Rally - TJ and TBA

TJ and Lee McKenzie

There’s a ‘TBA’ on the Entry List for this weekend’s GWF Energy Merrick Stages Rally which is arousing quite a bit of interest in certain quarters. The question is, who will be Tony Jardine’s co-driver on this event?

The Sky Sports commentator and F1 reporter has had a huge variety of co-drivers over the years, but he never does it the easy way. He always seems to have someone new in the passenger seat and often somebody that doesn’t know the first thing about rallying. The reason becomes apparent when you look through some of the names he’s coached, bullied and shoogled through the nation’s forests.

Those personalities have included Des Kelly of the Daily Mirror and Byron Young of the Daily Mail, Bob McKenzie of the Daily Express and Tom Carey of the Daily Telegraph, plus TV commentators Jake Humphrey, Louise Goodman and our very own Ayrshire lass, Lee McKenzie. They all have at least one thing in common – their connections with the mass media.

In other words, Tony has done a lot more than many other ‘rally stars’ to promote the sport of rallying. So speculation is rife with regard to his brand new ‘never raced or rallied co-driver’ this weekend. The selected 'victim' needs signatures to qualify for an International licence for Wales Rally GB in 2 month's time, hence the visit to the south west of Scotland this Saturday.

We won’t know who the celebrity is till tomorrow, but it is none of the above. Just bring your autograph books anyway. It’ll be worthwhile.

Rally - John Easson Award

Deatils of the 2013 John Easson Award have just been released today regarding this year's 'scholarship' prize.The competition is open to any rally driver under the age of 25 years, whether experienced or inexperienced, so don't think it can't be you - unless you lie about your age.

It's relatively easy to enter as anyone who is currently competing on a fairly regular basis will have all the necessary information to hand to complete the entry submission. There is no standardised formal entry procedure so there is room for someone with a bit of flair to make a sound case to the judging panel.

So why bother? The prize is financial support to the tune of £4,000 towards next year's rallying campaign. That's all the Entry Fees covered for a full season of Scottish forest rallying, or enough for the full Tarmack series and a few sets of tyres.So it's seriously worthwhile.

Early winners of the award had an association with the Tour of Mull Rally but the scope of the competition has now been widened. When John Easson passed away 12 years ago he left a bequest to support an up and coming young driver. He himself was a passionate driver, co-driver and organiser and was actually involved in the early days of computerised rally results when they were being introduced in the early 1980s.

So the annual John Easson Award is a fitting tribute to one of the good guys.

The text of the full Press Release from 2300 Club is here.

http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/2013/09/02-september-john-easson-award/

Rally - Merrick preview

Full Entry List and Spectator Info for this weekend's GWF Energy Merrick Rally (Sat 7th) on line now plus event preview. Rally HQ is in the Town Hall in Wigtown from Friday evening through Saturday and there are FREE Spectator Guides (see below) with details of where to go and watch, so drop in and ask for one.

http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/2013/09/01-sept-merrick-preview/

http://www.jaggybunnet.co.uk/2013/09/01-sept-merrick-spect-info-entry/