The RSAC Scottish Rally once again chose to run in a format that allowed the 2wd cars to run at the front in reverse seeding order. That gave the crews in less powerful cars a chance to experience smoother road conditions than they would otherwise.
Class C1
Making their SRC debut, Thomas Milne & Neil Jeffrey were also continuing their campaign in the Autoshop MG3 Rally Challenge. Some pre-event testing with Chris Ingram gave the young charger some extra confidence and they had an excellent run, despite flirting with the edges of the road on occasion. 38th overall, the C1 win and 3rd in the MG3 standings made it a solid day out and excellent preparation before Thomas tackles his home event next time out.
Class C2
Scott Gourlay had a new navigator in Connor Gardiner for this round. It was a tough day at the office for the 205 crew. The dipstick snapping in stage 1, causing a cockpit full of smoke and making the opening loop all about survival after making running repairs. They sorted that issue at service, but things didn’t really improve, spinning in stage 4 and puncturing a tyre in 5. 52nd overall at the finish was their reward for persevering.
Class C3
Absolutely delighted to be back in the woods, Alistair Brearley & Richard Wardle’s day could not be more different to Gourlay & Gardiners. The only blemish on the MK2 crew’s run was a slight intercom issue in stage 4. The rest of the day was very good, keeping things clean in the slippery conditions and capitalising on a time penalty for Allan McDowall & Ian MacDougall to take the class C3 win by just 6 seconds.
Class C5
Stuart & Alice Paterson’s day began with a bang, an off in stage 1 doing a lot of panel damage and rearranging the suspension. They soldiered on for the 1st loop and managed to make it to service, allowing the crew to change various suspension components and keep them in the event. The 2nd loop was equally challenging, another off in stage 6 still not defeating them, dragging the car to the finish in 53rd overall.
Class H1
Another crew delighted to be back in the woods, Robin Shuttleworth & Malcolm Smithson were flying once again in their MK1 Escort. Despite finding the stages to be a little bit loose they spent the day enjoying an entertaining battle with the Menzies in their Pinto-engined Mk2. Pushing their 1600 as hard as they could Robin & Malcolm lost out in the contest by just 12 seconds but had the consolation of yet another H1 win and 31st overall.
Class H2
Making a return to the SRC after missing Argyll, Jim Robertson & Graham Wild were running very well in Jim’s home forests. A small brake issue on the opening loop was fairly easily dealt with but the rest of the day was very good. Jim rekindling his everlasting MK2 battle with Donald Peacock and taking the honours this time out by 19 seconds along with the class win and an excellent 25th overall.
Class M1
Really earning their finish this time out, Niall Cowan Jnr & Charley Sayer-Payne’s whole event was in doubt after the MG’s engine blew on the Tuesday leading up to the event. An incredible effort, swapping a new engine into the car in just under a day and making it to the start line was an achievement within itself. The actual day was very good, powering the car to 28th overall and 2nd front wheel drive car home, repaying everybody that chipped in to get them to the start.
Class M2
Taking the M2 win, the Moates Offshore Juniors and top Lady driver, the Scottish was another good day of learning for Meghan & John O’Kane in their R2 Fiesta. The morning was blighted with a puncture and a repeat of the issue that plagued their Speyside, stones locking the right rear wheel making it the car very hard to drive in a straight line. The afternoon was better, 3 decent stage times despite being held up briefly on the final test. 32nd overall was a solid result.
Class M4
Another crew delighted to see the woods, Paddy Munro & Andrew Stevenson were in their element on the loose. Really enjoying the stages, particularly Kinharvie, they were right in the mix at the top of the 2wd & Challengers battles, eventually ending up 3rd in both, just 10 seconds away from 2nd in the 2wds. The brilliant sounding Escort finishing an excellent 16th overall.
Class M5
Greg McKnight & Harry Marchbank were another crew to burn the midnight oil to sort an engine after it blew at Argyll. SS1 they were flying 16th quickest overall, SS2 was great for the 1st mile before a mystery electrical glitch cut the engine, dropping them a minute. Strangely the issue didn’t return for the rest of the day, and they fought back up the leaderboard, never outside of the top 15 times, to grab 2nd 2wd and a well-earned 15th overall at the finish.
Class M6
Matt Calderwood & Robert Wood’s Evo had been treated to some work since the Speyside, now sporting some proper suspension along with a collection of other small tweaks. Matt declaring that he should have done it years ago as the car was vastly improved. That was giving him more confidence, able to push hard on the way to 19th overall, the M6 win and 4th in the Albyn Garage Challengers.
Class M7
Mark McCulloch had spent a day with Matt Edwards during the build up to the Scottish and was trying to put into practice some of the lessons he’d learned. In the top 10 from the start, Mark & co-driver Michael Hendry were right in the mix with the R5s and Rally 2s. The biggest dramas came on the final 2 stages, a puncture and power steering failure in 5 saw them make running repairs and they struggled through the last stage after another flat tyre. Despite the issues, they grabbed a solid 8th overall.
Class Pro2
Back in the SRC for the 1st time since the Speyside Robert Proudlock & Steven Brown were delighted to be back on the loose after a tough time on the Irish tarmac as part of their Stellantis campaign. On it from the start, the 208 crew lead the 2wds and were battling Johnnie Mackay & Rachel Matheson’s Evo for top challenger. The final loop saw them put on a charge and leapfrog the Evo by just 2 seconds at the finish, doing the double in both the Challengers and 2wds along with 13th overall.
images courtesy of AF Motorsport Media
