ASP / NETRC Solway Coast 2014 Results
Second maximum for Stuart Baillie. We’ve had a 3-year break since the championship last ventured into southwest Scotland so we were due a return visit to Dundrennan near Kirkcudbright. The geographical area of these ranges is nowhere near the size and scale of Otterburn but the availability of roads is huge. There’s also lots of variety as some of the roads are concrete while some are tar; some are wide, some are narrow, some are very narrow; some are long and fast some are undulating and slow; some are across fields while some are tree covered; we even have a few that are compact gravel. The organisers planned to run 5 loops of a pair of stages running 3 in a clockwise direction before reversing for the afternoon runs. An opportunity to tackle 57 stage miles was an interesting proposal too. Cloudy overcast skies welcomed cars leaving MTC1 before the sun broke through mid morning to give a sunny summer’s day of motorsport.
And so it became clear from the off that the driver of the green Subaru was up for a fight with Jim Sharp in his white Mitsubishi Evo9 but Baillie and his Impreza lost about 30 seconds on the second test when he understeered off on a left 9. However this was minor compared to the first afternoon loop when a right rear driveshaft let go and he was forced to drive slowly through SS7 and SS8 to get back to service for repairs. He lost over a minute but was still in the rally and able to have a proper go over the final pair of stages. Unfortunately he got carried away a bit in the final test when he had a huge lockup playing to the spectators at the end of a very fast section. He couldn’t turn into the square right so he took to the escape road surrounded by plumes of tyre smoke. The man from Kirkcaldy finished in 8th overall and also played his Joker for this event so now shoots up the leaderboard to find himself in 5th overall position.
The husband and wife pairing of Ian and Kathryn Forgan had a little trying day as their little Ford Ka had an engine mount problem over the second loop of stages and the first run in the afternoon saw them running without a cooling fan. This meant they lost about 20 to 30 seconds as they had one eye on the road and the other on a temperature gauge that was pointing out it was 120o. They appeared frustrated at times thinking the previous weekend’s bad luck was continuing but they made it to the final control and a good haul of points.
Michael Calvert was sitting the hot seat for the unregistered Andrew Varley. Their Ford Escort Cosworth’s only problem was an electrical one after the arrival of stage 4 but once sorted out, normal service was resumed on their way to 20th overall. As Michael played his Joker too, he moves into 2nd overall in the co-driver’s table as well.
The Vauxhall Nova of Tom Middlemiss and Richard Stewart was next up. The boys had a huge scare on their opening run just as they were changing up into 5th gear. They think they clipped a wee bank on the inside of a slight right and the loss / change of grip threw them across a very narrow road and in no time they’d completed 360o gyration. Somehow they hadn’t hit anything and the car was still facing in the right direction so it was a simple case of selecting first gear and off they went on their way again. The rest of their rally was uneventful in comparison and only a couple of small offs reminded them that they were still trying.
Drew Barker and Shona Hale were only a couple of places adrift In the wee tartan livery Vauxhall Corsa at the finish after a trouble free run – that’s apart from felling a tree ! They used their experience of the roads from earlier years when they’ve done the rally to quickly get into the groove and gain an advantage over their rivals. Taking class honours, with Joker, now makes the 1400cc category in our championship very interesting and competitive again.
And bringing up the rear on this rally was another one of these drivers making class 1 popular again – James Thomson. After the mechanical disaster of the previous weekend’s early retirement, James also needed a new occupant of the left hand seat as Alison Woodcock had a better offer for the weekend. Up steps Mr. Gareth White – quick Citroen driver with very little knowledge of the venue or co-driving. Never mind the pair of them got on well in the car despite several discussions and head scratching as to why they weren’t setting the times. They also suffered a few gearbox issues throughout the day and a puncture that all combined to lose vital seconds. James persevered and made it to the final control and get more points on the board.
There were only 3 retirements on the rally and they all dropped out during the second loop of morning stages. Jim Sharp was the first to go half way around stage 4 when the turbo went it and started generating flames too. Jim was forced to stop and watch the flames lick out of the bonnet but fortunately the fire subsided pretty quickly – it could have been so much worse. For Mark and John Burton, the Solway Coast Rally would see them debut their new mount of a Ford Fiesta XR2. This was to replace the Nova written off in his Ingliston accident. It all went wrong for the Middlesbrough team when they hit a rock on the racing line with nowhere to go on the narrow track. Sadly for them it was a big rock and it pushed the wheel back into the arch. A similar fate befell Michael Farmer in his Ford Focus when he also hit a rock and damaged the front nearside upright. The tyre was destroyed as they drove out the test and they almost managed a repeat action on the road section after they’d fitted their spare wheel.
Big congratulations go to Sandy Dobie and all his team at Solway Car Club for a cracking rally. Great weather, great facilities, greatly improved stages and great intense competition over some different roads offered our contenders a renewed challenge.
As mentioned in our last bulletin, it’s the Mark Bortwick Motorsport & CRG MotorsportsPendragon Stages next on the 7th September. The 3 motor clubs from Kirkby Lonsdale, Eden Valley and Northallerton are once again offering 72 competitive miles in 8 stages and only 8 miles of link section on the Warcop Ranges. The maximum number of entries already exceeds the 80 planned in the Regulations so it looks like their seeding committee will have an interesting time ahead of them. Full details of the rally can be found at the event website – www.pendragonstages.co.uk