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Kingdom Stages 2009: Members Stories
2 John Rintoul / Jim Rintoul / Evo 8.5 First!
The Kingdom Stages Rally is our local club event, but it''s no walk in the park.
With a reputation for fast, smooth, easy to remember stages there''s usually plenty tales to tell of rolled cars, stuffed bales and general carnage. This year was no exception, but the new Organising committee added a few spicy bits to encourage the smaller cars to switch Kingdom Radio off between chicanes and keep them out of fifth gear.
Stage one was a baptism of fire..... a good job I cycled the course before the start. There was more twisty tight tyre avenues (12''-0" wide) than an accident in a Michelin factory.....and wet to boot. Greasy and unpredictable was an understatement and we had a 360 spin down at the end of the seaside straight then cuffed a few lorry tyres while we found the limits of the longer Evo 8.5. After that spin and catching a couple of cars on the narrow sections we were shocked to record second fastest time behind Tom Morris with Bob Grant right behind us !!! The two wheel drive brigade had a helluva time without grip but their time was coming……
Stage 2 was a repeat of stage 1, but we stuffed the car up the dirt banking just after the start.... obviously still slippy, and reverse is a pure bugger with our flat shift gear select, so we fell back third, just two seconds behind Bob. I''ll be the first to admit we thought the stage layout was a change for the worse, but like a ''good peaty malt whisky'' we grew to like it. There was certainly loads of driving - the wee man was huffin and puffin like he''d been Jivin'' wi wee Ola Jordan off Strictly Come prancing.
Stage 3 and we set about the slaloms wi a set of old slicks, and at a hundred miles and hour we nearly went for a visit to Fife Ness via two fields and the ''gowf coorse''……. Everything was grippier, but ''oor driver'', in the absence of a service crew, checked pressures and hadn''t reset the ''tell tale'' on the gauge so were playing with one rear tyre at 15psi. We were still third but Bob had closed up to within a second behind Tommy in the Metro and we were stalking them only seven seconds behind.
Stage 4 was a repeat of 3 and the slaloms were now an enjoyable feature, but the stray lorry tyre entering the narrow section before the merge caught out Keith Robathan in his Mk2 causing him to stuff into the tyre wall injuring his wrist. We had to squeeze through between him and the tattie boxes and right over the offending tyre at 40mph which loosened another bit o bumper. Tom Morris didn''t like his slicks and was falling back. Bob Grant was now leading from us by 7 seconds, while Tommy was another 7 behind.
Stage 5 and 6 was a reverse of 3 and 4. Bob seemed uncatchable, but we were going to fight for second…… The slaloms were magic - flowing and fast - flat in fourth with a bit of left foot brake and I could see we were gaining slightly on Bob after the second lap…maybe a couple of seconds…. but suddenly we could see him at the other end of the finish straight….he''d broken his gearshift on the last loop and was struggling wi a stump (Gordon McElrath knows all about that) and he missed a gear and hit a lorry tyre with the left rear, bending the suspension in the process. We gained 22 seconds on Bob on that stage and took another 7 out of Tommy. We were now leading overall, from Tommy then Bob, with wee Bruce ''the ferret'' Edwards gaining with the dry roads, but was too far back with one stage to go.
We set off for the final stage in max attack mode. Tidy, late braking and nae showin off to the camera''s and got fastest stage again. Bob''s knee in the nuts got Tommy fired up to keep ahead, and it finished as we were…
1. Mitsi, 2. Metro, 3. Scooby.
Commiserations to Bob Grant and Pete Carstairs. The result should have beena helluva lot closer, but you know what they say about that fat lady singer……
The stages were better than fine. Twisty, fast here, tight there, and the flowing slaloms - it was just a shock to the system over at first, and we had to adapt.
There was a couple of cars rolled, more than a few panels rippled and one particular Misubishi evo 8 was re-shaped to look like a Morris Oxford with almost every panel missing or beaten, just like the Peugot 206 advert - in reverse.
Something for everyone - Like the poster says….The best rally in the Kingdom
Jim Rintoul
1 Bob Grant / Pete Carstairs / Subaru Impreza
After 4 stages, last years winners had overhauled the early leaders Morris and Harkness in the Metro and looked to be heading for a second win in a row, but they lost time and a couple of places on SS5 when the gear lever broke, and they finished third.
13 Ian Forgan / Kathryn Forgan / Escort Mk II 2.0 16v NA Cosworth
Finished 9th overall and second in class 4.
18 Stuart Baillie / Stuart Millar / Subaru Impreza
15th overall, 10th in class 5.
32 Neil Thompson / Malcolm Robertson / Vauxhall Corsa 1600
A bit of a mixed day for me, Had a great laugh as usual at crail enjoyed the format and thought Alan did a fantastic job as CoC putting a different spin on the usual crail. enjoyed the fast right left right tyre lanes but if i was honest i prefered the runway how it usualyy is with a flat out corner rather than the single lane. loved the no chicane fast right heading for the sea where it tightens, big balls needed there- mine shrunk a bit!!! very interesting when the top bolt falls out your hub.
On SS1 we went out to set the stages alight unfortunately the car misheard me and after a mile the exhaust fell off and set light to the boot floor. a car full of smoke caused me to slow a bit but still caught and then got baulked by an evo for 2 laps.
SS2 was fairly good getting used to the new engine but SS3 it nearly ended when the top hub bolt loosened off and resulted in the wheel going abou 5 degrees negative to 5 degrees positive camber every corner!! lost about 40 secs to the class and lucky again to get round.
Got it all sorted in service and a new wheel alignment tweek (cheers guys) the next 3 were excellent setting times around the top 10 and on pace with the class again i was well chuffed to finish 22nd over all and 4th in class 3. Cheers to Malc for navigating for me.
34 Fergus Gray / Martin Jenkins / Peugeot 206 GTI 1997
32nd, 9th in class 4
66 Gavin Lloyd / Stewart Wilshire / Vauxhall Nova 1598
Neatly halved their seeding to finish 33rd and 4th in class 2.
Firstly a big thanks to Alan Cowan and his team for another fantastic Kingdom Stages, particularly for this years stage layouts which were fantastic, with a terrific mix of really nice fast stuff, the usual chicanery, but also some really nice flowing twisty stuff which broke up some of the big runways. OK, so if you caught a slower car in some of these bits there was the potential to delay, but on the whole I reckon these were the best Crail layouts ever. Well done guys.
Thanks also to Stewart Wiltshire for navigating for me for the first time, and doing a sterling job. Stewart proved to be particularly good on the horn button and waving at his mates!
Stage 1 – As usual, I drove far too slowly over the first stage, however most unusually I managed not to spin, go off or hit any of the furniture.
Stage 2 – With a nice dry line right round the circuit, we upped the pace a big here and were happier with our time. Managed to catch and pass a couple of cars including an Impreza, then I got excited and promptly cut a corner, launching us off a tractor tyre for a scary wee 2 wheeled moment. Had to do the rest of the stage with the front wheels not quite facing the way Vauxhall had intended.
Stage 3 – After a couple of failed attempts to get the rev limiter to work at the desired RPM, we switched it off for the day, relying instead on my right foot as the rev limiter…. and went even quicker. We almost disappeared into the crops at the first merge, but used a big tyre to regain the correct direction with minimal time lost, and slightly more than minimal panel damage. Felt a big bowl of Stevie Irwin’s wife’s home made chilli and lentil soup was well deserved after that!
Stage 4 – No dramas here, other than launching us off the same tractor tyre we hit on stage 2, so the chaps had the tracking to sort out again. Chilli and lentils starting to work now….!!!
Stage 5 – In order to save what was left of my super soft tyres for another day, we swapped to well worn softs, which was probably a mistake. It still felt as if we were going as fast, but the times dropped off slightly. But hey there’s a recession on, so they stayed on for the final day’s stage too.
Stage 6 – No dramas on the last stage either, although disappointed with a slower time than on stage 5. However I was well chuffed with 33rd overall and 4th in class, less than 1½ minutes off 2nd in class. It was also really really nice to be able to drive the car back onto the trailer instead of manhandling it; long may that continue! Once again, thanks and well done to Alan on an excellent event.
Gavin
60 Jon Murray / Robert Ness / Subaru Impreza
It was 13 years and 3 stone since I had last driven in anything more aggressive than tesco''s car park on a Saturday afternoon, so with that in mind I thought I''d ease myself back to it and returned from a day trip to Bradford with a rather tidy wee Impreza.
12 months, 12000000000000 hours and next years holiday money later we had transformed our tidy wee road car into a tidy wee rally car. Blackmail being my weapon of choice I ''encouraged'' Mr Ness to join me in my quest for Tarmac humiliation. A couple of Peltors and some out of date boiler suits in hand we set off for the KINGDOM! Let the fun commence……
Scrutineering being our first challenge where tenners don''t buy so much leniency these days we were left with some MINOR adjustments and the necessity to acquire a boiler suit that would apparently stop Mr Ness going up like a roman candle. A massive thanks to G Milne Esq for a loan of the aforementioned boiler suit and subsequent apologies for any remaining odours or such like……
Off home to bed…….
Saturday morning saw slippery surfaces doing a roaring trade at the airfield of crail, as such we felt a reasonable sized collision would suffice before tucking in to some hard earned breakfast. With that in mind we set off on ss1. I chose to ignore Mr Ness and most of the sections that I had personally drawn some lovely wee arrows on, resulting in a teeny weeny cock up, this was just the warm up though, suitably hacked off we shot down towards the merge not sparing a thought for our carefully cut yet stone cold tyres and arrived sideways under heavy braking at the side of the most firm of all the bails in Fife. Oooopsie! Slightly rippled with a flat underside we concluded the stage feeling a tad more aware of what appeared to be not the best grip levels.
Ss2 was a vast improvement on ss1, we managed three laps without hitting a single object, I listened to Robert a bit and we managed to catch and pass a couple of crews who were having a harder time than us. The dry lines were fast appearing though….. Sausage rolls consumed we headed off into ss3 with a new found confidence, ability still lacking though we seemed to keep it on the island, if loosing time only to the fact that the now encouraging dry lines were resulting in the black round things starting to go off a bit, time for a change of rubber……
Ss4 was by all accounts a good run for us, after turning the intercom down a tad Roberts shouting was transformed into civilised conversation, the tyres performed very well indeed increasing confidence and encouraging glimmers of ability from time to time, again catching and passing a couple of cars en route…..
The grand finale ss5 and 6 commenced with a return to form by destroying a board pretty much straight off the bat, hardly even a scratch though so off we went into the distance enjoying every bit of it, the light was fading and i needed to pay a visit, the latter of which is a ploy Robert feels we should introduce to every stage of every event as I seemed to be quicker with the fear of making a mess of my new seats. This avoided we made it out in one piece, got a finish and felt happy to be back, satisfied with all the hard work done to get us there. In closing a massive and sincere CHEERS to all involved in set up, organising, marshalling, servicing, recovering and competing. A good day was had by all……
Jon Murray
40th overall
49 Ralph Barclay / Kirsty Barclay / Escort Mk2 1600
First of all I would like thank everyone that was involved in the organizing a fantastic event and well done to Alan & Ian on the new stage layouts, they were a good mixture of fast and flowing with some tight and twisty sections thrown in.
After a busy 2wks trying to get the car ready on time we finally fitted the new axle on Thursday (never trust anybody that tells you "It''ll fit straight in no bother"), a few small bits to check on Fri then we''re of to scrutineering, pass no problems thank god.
First stage first corner first spin (whoops), very slippy so took it nice and steady round the rest of the stage to make sure that when it dried out we could try and start reeling in those fwd boys in our class, Second stage we almost made it all the way to the first merge incident free but had to take to the field to avoid the tyres (must brake earlier next time). Stage three and it was drying out just fine so the super softs were on all round and we really started to push now, loved the stage layout for this one. Stage four pushing even harder caught a couple of cars but they moved over at the first chance they had (thanks). Lunch break and the car was checked over, everything fine.
Stages 5 & 6 had a great time pushing as hard as we could Kirsty kept reminding me of the large building on the right hand side just round the last corner.
A finish at last WHOOHOO, its been a while. Fantastic Rally
Ralph & Kirsty Barclay
41st, 9th in class 2
74 Dave Cranston / Graeme Hawkes / Vauxhall Astra 1998 53rd overall
99 Danny Small / Fiona Allan / Peugeot 206 1360
Finished 55th overall and second in class 1, pretty respectable result first time out, or at least, Danny''s first event as driver, though he did the Kingdom last year navigating for Scott Murray.
40 Craig Smith / Jennifer Smith / Vauxhall Nova
Took a maximum on the last stage which probably cost nearly 30 places, but finished 67th overall and 3rd in class 1.
75 Keiron Baillie / Robert Moncreiff / Ford Escort Mk1 Lotus Twin Cam 1598
First rally for Keiron''s bonny red and gold Twin-Cam which he built as a Historic Racing Car, bit of a change from the 106 Rallye 1300 on the slippery morning stages. Took a maximum on stage 4, finished 71st overall.
87 Michelle Rugg / Dougie Rugg / Ford Fiesta 1598
Finished 74th overall.
100 Lee Holder / Sean Thomson / Peugeot 106 XSI 1360
First time out with the ex-Alan Cowan ex-Lacky red 106. Big learning curve, and took a maximum on the last stage, but did get it to the finish, 75th and last.
6 Keith Robathan / Lock Horsburgh / Escort Mk II 2.0 16v Vauxhall
Cold and wet for the first stage, struggling for traction even on the softest Dunlops, could keep up with the 4wds once we were moving, but got left coming out of the slower corners. On the first lap we went into the tyres at the tight hairpin at the Crail end and reversed into Bob Grant as he came round the corner, then got chopped up trying to overtake another Escort. About 11th on that stage, second in class but 15 seconds behind leader Bruce Edwards in the Darrian-Honda.
Second stage went better, more grip, more idea where we were going, Bob Grant didn''t catch us till the second lap this time, passed lots of traffic, enjoyed it so much we did an extra lap. Quick car, great driver, eejit navigator.
Stage three was drier, harder tyres on, more traction and no understeer, and everything just flowed. 7th equal with the Forgans on that stage, 9 seconds behind Bruce.
Stage 4 was going well till we turned into the narrow section leading up to the merge and found a lorry tyre in the middle; there was nowhere to go, we hit the tyre wall on the right, and Keith cried out in pain. He managed to reverse the car out of the tyres and parked in the field. I thought his wrist was broken, but he wouldn''t go to the rally doctor, so we put out the OK board and watched the rally go by. That night Mrs R made him go to casualty, where they diagnosed torn ligaments and put a splint on him.
20 Iain "Ogg" MacKenzie / Angus "Ogg" MacKenzie / Peugeot 106 GTI 1588
Retired after four stages with driveshaft and clutch problems, a big disappointment after the giant-killing 8th place last year.
22 Ross Fernie / John Young / Escort Cosworth
Car went sick on the fourth stage, pulled up spluttering and banging with what sounded like a management problem. Got back to service then discovered it wouldnt go into revers, so put it on the trailer rather than continue and do another megabucks worth of damage to the box.
45 John Paterson / Tommy Paterson / Vauxhall Nova 1398
Retired after two stages.
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