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Tour of Mull 2005
The Tunnocks Tour of Mull brought mixed fortune for Glenrothes MSC members. The event took place under unusually dry and warm conditions, and some of the roads had been resurfaced prior to the event, leaving a slippery surface that seems to be characteristic of the new material that the contractors are using.
Three club crews entered the event - John and Jim Rintoul in their Mitsubishi Evo, seeded at 58. Gordon Milne was out in his trusy Corsa with Gordon Watson in the brown seat, just inside the top 100 starters. And Alan Cowan / Lock Horsburgh brought up the rear in Alan's Peugeot 106.
Only Alan brought his car back unscathed. John Rintoul put his Evo off the road and into the Armco barriers that line the northern part of the Calgary Bay stage. Normally, he would have bounced off with a bent wing. But another car had already gone off at a higher rate of knots and bent the stanchion. John hit at the same spot, and broke his suspension on the post. End of rally.
Gordon Milne hit the barrier just south of John. He lost his bumper and lights, and put a hole in the radiator. Fortunately for Gordon, it was the last stage of the opening night, and he nursed the car over the line and up to the final time control in Dervaig. The rally restarted mid-day on Saturday, by which time the Corsa was looking exceptionally well once more.
What about Alan and Lock? Well, Lock thought it was unlike any Mull he had previously experienced. Not a thing went wrong with the car. The weather was fine, they finished their spanner-check with 40 minutes of service time left, and he ouldn't believe that this was possible ...
You can read the main story about the event elsewhere. But to summarise, most of the previous winners went out early on the Friday night - Calum Duffy (the pre-start favourite) was in trouble before he got to the startline. James MacGillivray took the overall honours in the Tour of Mull, with Willie Bonniewell winning the Trophy Rally. It had looked like Calum Duffy was going to win that category, but he retired for the second time when he was almost at the end of the final session.
Gordon got to the end of the rally, finishing a creditable 34th overall out of just under 160 starters and 68 finishers. Alan and Lockin 59th place, about 15 minutes down on the Corsa.
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