North of England Tarmac Rally Championship – Ingliston Result
It’s another tremendous drive to 3rd overall for the Lindsays. The Ingliston Stages was the latest round of our championship and once again it was based at the old racetrack next to Edinburgh Airport. Although the day dawned with overcast skies it was not raining but the ground was still damp from the overnight downpour. The early stages kept crews on their toes as grip was variable until lunchtime and then once the persistent rain arrived, it made tyre choice much easier for the rest of the rally.
Back in their usual Peugeot 106, the son and father crew of Barry and Michael Lindsay were quick out of the blocks and after the first 2 long stages were positioned nicely just inside the top ten. They continued their push up the leaderboard over the next pair of stages and so at the half way point they were in 5th equal place. Barry loves driving in the rain and so for stage 5, he bolted on a full set of wets and instantly moved to 3rd overall. Another storming performance in all the afternoon’s wet conditions was rewarded with the fastest time recorded on the final stage – putting many cars with more power, and 4 wheel drive in some cases to shame as they just couldn’t live with our ex champion’s pace.
And taking second place in the championship and 6th on the day was Paul Swift and David Cox. The Darlington crew were out again in their beautiful Ford Escort and keen to get a good result after the disasters of the North West Stages. From the off, they were setting top ten times that showed they were 8th at the lunch halt. Their consistency continued in the rain and going into the last stage, they’d managed to creep up to 4th place. However, a ‘problem’ on the last 4.7 miles saw them lose about 30 seconds and they ended up 6th overall and yet still take home 2nd championship points.
And coming up fast on Swift / Cox was a hard charging Chris Anderson and Chris Thirling in their Ford Fiesta. A steady start over the first couple of stages found them in 11th position before they went into the lunch halt a little confused. They felt the driving on stages 3 and 4 had been good but a change of tyres had lost them time. The wet roads in the second half suited them better and they got faster with every stage but were a mere 3 seconds behind Swift at the end. It’s good to see the Durham lads get some consistency this year after their awful experiences of 2010.
Next up were Stuart Baillie / David Cranston in an Impreza. After a fraught opening pair of stages when the brake setup wasn’t good, the Subaru crew struggled in the lower reaches of the top twenty. However, they pushed on to bring their once pristine car home in 8th overall and 5 seconds adrift of Chris Anderson. Finishing just outside the top ten was Ed Todd and Andrew Brown. The Durham boys enjoyed a great run in their GTM Coupe and were only slowed by a misting screen in the afternoon and a slight off. Next up were Dave Seed and Mick Morpeth in another unusual car – a Ford Escort G4. It was the first time out this year for the boys and a clean run saw them take the ‘over 50s award’ with 14th overall ! Andrew Fry was another starting his first event this year and his steady drive netted 16th place. He reported no problems driving his hybrid MG ZR that he’s managed to wedge a 2.5 litre motor into the engine bay. Andrew was followed by the evergreen Geoffrey Harkness with Caroline Lodge in their Vauxhall Corsa. Another reliable run would see them take 8th amongst the championship runners. Geoff Simpson / Mick Johnson struggled with the big Mitsubishi Evo around the tight corners / roads and were another to lose over a minute on the last stage and drop down the order. The final 2 finishers were Nigel Hepburn / Fiona Gourlay and a 206 and Richard Clark / James McWhir in a 205. These 2 Peugeots were never separated by much all day with the older car always in front until the final stage when over 2 minutes were lost and the more modern variant ended up just ahead.
On our last qualifying rally, it was rare to report that we had more retirements than finishers. On this rally we only had 2 retirements – and they were both Peugeot 106s. Going into the Ingliston rally, Chris Grieve was the leading driver in our championship and he justified his position by being 3rd fastest car over the opening stage. Along with regular co-driver Paul Makepeace, the youngsters consolidated this until the engine started making horrible noises as they finished the 3rd stage. Rather than risk an expensive explosion, the pair called it a day and went off for an early bath. Barrie Thomson / Jerry Hettrick were the other crew to retire. The pairing from Carlisle struggled to cure a persistent misfire and having lost too much time, decided go home soon.
We’ve now had 4 rounds of the championship and there’s a new leader in the driver’s table with Paul Swift just 1 point ahead of Barry Lindsay and they’re followed by Chris Grieve, Alistair Hutchinson and Stuart Baillie. In the co-driver’s section David Cox takes over at the top with Michael Lindsay and Ann Forster both 2 points behind and then comes Paul Makepeace and Mick Johnson.
A big thank you to Dunfermline Car Club, and Graham Provost in particular, for running another slick event in miserable conditions. We now have a 4 week break before the next rally which is the Stobart Rail Pendragon Stages. This year’s event is having to be run on the re-arranged date of Sunday 22nd May and will be based entirely on Warcop Ranges near Appleby. The organisers of the rally have lost the use of the Lowther Park Estate Roads this year but still promise an event run over the military roads that will test man and machine over 60 competitive miles run in just 8 stages. Already the first 20 of the 80 allocated entries have been received, so get your entry in soon if you want to do this popular rally. There’s more information at www.pendragonstages.co.uk
The 6th round of the championship is the Jim Clark National and this will take place on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th May. Based at Kelso Racecourse and run over the country lanes near Duns, this prestigious rally has already received 66 entries. Full details at www.jimclarkrally.com
