April 2022 News

April 2022 News

TAR AUTOTEST – 3RD APRIL

15 Entries, including some new members and a lot of Mazda MX5s. Congratulations to today’s winner, Grant Carson, whose Nissan Sunny negotiated the course almost faultlessly, with just 1 cone penalty, to finish ahead of Mark McCulloch (Mazda MX5) who was 1st in Class 4. Drew McLean (Mazda MX5) finished 3rd Overall, Top Senior and 2nd in Class 4, just ahead of 16 year old Owen Paterson (Mazda MX5), who was 3rd in Class as well as Top Junior and Top Novice. Nancy Dickson was Top Lady, and in Class 1, it was a Nissan Sunny 1-2-3 with Aaron Ferguson and Peter Game taking the other 2 spots behind Overall Winner Grant Carson.

The full Event Report can be read here.


TAR AUTOTEST – 10TH APRIL

The Tar Autotest on Sunday 10th April was cancelled as there were not enough confirmed entries, and it was not viable to run it. We would like to thank Thomas McCarney for his efforts in organising the new venue, and to CAM Engineering for the use of the venue.


MEMBERS IN ACTION

Alan Healy Memorial Stages (3 April): Lincolnshire’s Cadwell Park was the destination for the final round of the 2021/2022 MSN Circuit Rally Championship, where Andy Scott, this time with Tom Woodburn alongside, finished 4th Overall in the Ford Fiesta S2000 Turbo.


Birr Stages (3rd April): Lee Hastings’ first trip to Ireland this year didn’t go as well as he’d hoped, as he and regular sidekick Alistair Wyllie headed to Co. Offaly for the opening round of the Triton Showers National Tarmac Championship. They retired their Subaru Impreza after 3 of the 6 stages.


Rallynuts Stages (9th April): Jamie Edwards was competing in a Hyundai i20 R5 with fellow Welshman Roland Llewellin, who has recently come out of semi-retirement (oh, same as the co-driver…). They finished 24th on the event, which was the second round of both the BTRDA & Welsh Championships. The Sloan brothers, Scott & David, made the long trip to mid Wales from Kirkton with their Peugeot 208 R2, and finished 58th & 6th in Class.


Altratech SMC Stages (10th April): The trip to Anglesey in North Wales was worthwhile for Andy Scott, as he and Laura Connell lead the SMC Stages from start to finish, surviving a penultimate stage scare to finish just 2 seconds ahead in the end, and securing Andy’s first rally win – Congratulations!


Speyside Stages (23rd April): Another long trip up the A9 for our club members, but it’s worth it when the event you’re going to is as good as the McDonald & Munro Speyside Stages! The Elgin-based event hadn’t run since 2019 due to Covid, so the stages were expected to be in great condition.

Not sure what Jock Armstrong had for breakfast, but after 2 short runs round the tarmac Cooper Park, and the short opening stage in Teindland, he and Cammy Fair led he event by 9 seconds. They held onto this position until SS7, when they were overhauled by David Bogie, and finished the event after SS9 in a fantastic 2nd Overall, importantly taking a big haul of points for the Scottish Championship.

Last month’s Snowman Rally was difficult for Mark McCulloch & Michael Hendry: debuting their newly-completed Proton Satria Evo, having never driven it on gravel, and retiring only a few miles into SS1. No such drama this weekend – and despite their 4-year-old Team Manager asking “but why didn’t you win, Daddy?!” – a string of Top 10 times saw them happy to finish Michael’s home event in 8th Overall.

Also having better fortunes at the Speyside were Angus Lawrie & Paul Gribben, who put their engine maladies from the Snowman behind them to finish 10th Overall in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, on what was only their 4th outing in 4wd. It was 11th Overall for Drew Sturrock, alongside Hugh Brunton in the Ford Fiesta R5, and 13th for Jamie Edwards & Bob Adamson in the Ford Fiesta Rally2.

On his 3rd ever event, Robert Proudlock put the Opel Adam into the Top 30, expertly guided by Steven Brown to take the 1600cc modified Class M2 win. Jan Budge & Bruce Lindsay had a bad Snowman, retiring on the road section to SS1, but no such disappointment here, as they finished 35th in the Subaru Impreza.

The Captain had a good day in the MG ZR, including stopping to render assistance and a fire extinguisher at an incident involving the car in front in SS6 (not all heroes wear capes…) on route to him & Craig Wallace finishing 38th Overall and 2nd in Class M2.

Our long-time Club Sponsor, Richard Stewart, competing in the Peugeot 208 Rally4 with Carin Tait-Logan, finished 56th and first in Class Pro2. Unfortunately son Peter Stewart & Harry Marchbank in the sister car weren’t so lucky, retiring with a coil pack problem after only 3 stages. And similarly to how Peter Game has made the ‘Cone Killer’ award his own, Keith & Mairi Riddick seem intent on a hat-trick of wins of the Vice President’s ‘Worst Luck’ trophy, after this time retiring the MG ZR from the class lead on SS5 with an engine problem.


Monaghan Stages (24th April): After receiving a phonecall at 10pm on Friday night to say they’d made it off the Reserve list, the father & son team of Lee & Cole Hastings headed across the Irish Sea to the Monaghan Stages in Ireland, where they finished 58th in their Subaru Impreza.


Croatia Rally (22nd-24th April): Based in the capital city, Zagreb, the Croatia Rally was making its second appearance as a round of the WRC. Lying in 5th Overall after Day 1, Elliot Edmondson and driver Oliver Solberg stopped on the first stage of Day 2 after a small spin on the treacherously wet roads, and a resultant small fire Hyundai i20 N Rally1, meant they were unable to continue or re-start for Day 3.

Well done, everyone!

📸 Alan Scott Photography: Jock Armstrong & Cammy Fair on the Speyside.


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COMING EVENTS IN MAY

Committee Meeting – 3rd May
Border Counties Rally – 14th May
SCC Grass Autotest – 22nd May
Jim Clark Rally – 27th-29th May

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