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Granite City Rally 2010 - GMSC stories
The third round of the Scottish Rally Championship 2010 was won by David Bogie, fastest on 4 of the six stages. Jock Armstrong was 17 seconds down in second place, with Mike Faulkner another 17 seconds back in third.
There were 111 starters, 85 finished.
The day before the Rally we thought we would have to pull our entry as the gearbox parts we needed will not be delivered from Japan until mid May, However Scott and Jock from G & B Mechanical Services in Perth came to the rescue they loaned and fitted the spares which they borrowed from one of there customers cars spares package which the customer Billy Cowie was happy to loan us, So a very big thank you to Scott Jock and Billy Cowie otherwise we could not have entered the Rally.
At long last we have broken our duck of non finishing, We finished the Rally in 18th place overall, not the best result we have had but very happy just to finish , The stages were a very good mix of tight and technical to fast flowing and flat out in top gear, it was a nice change from Snow , Ice, and deep mud, A very enjoyable days Rallying for us.
Regards Gordon
FCE''s Granite was hard.....as hard as being asked to comment on the size o'' yer wifes bum in her new frock - do you tell the truth, or tell her what she wants to hear.
It''s the same wi us on loose surface rallies.
Having been brought up on Tarmac events and achieving relative success, its hard to come to terms with two non finishes and apparent non improvement in performance. Do we listen to our peers who tell us ''ye''re dain fine'' whilst they''re thinking ''what a pair o fanny''s''......hmmmm
So we made some changes this time out. Raised the car, ''makes it easier out of the ditches'', tried different tyres, to see if there was any grip out there, and softened suspension settings, cos John had a sair back all week.
Stage 1 was a twisty stoory wee buffer, shocking both driver and navigator into rally mode with rough ruts and muckle chuckies that made it more like Rally Greece. Being gentlemen, we''re used to a dignified start and managed 38th overall....could do better.
Stage 2 was 7 miles ish, and we tried again, managing a slight improvement, but still 15 seconds or so off the pace around us.
Stage 3 was a bit less twisty, so we tried harder still and managed a stage time within 5 seconds or so from the guy''s we had set our sights on. The pace felt safe and yet aggressive enough, but we''d only covered about 17 competitive miles and nearly 90 road miles.
Stage 4 after the only service was delayed for about an hour and a half due to spectator issues. We were wound down completely and it was like a fresh event, but our times were still well short of the leaders and not much closer to the ''pack''.
Stage 5 was dusty and rough but still fast, maybe too fast, as ma driver had a couple of coorse corners and hairpins where we were almost parked in the gravel which lost us a bit of time - so we went back to smoother, cleaner, yet try faster pace for the 10 mile final stage.
Stage 6 was to claim a couple of top cars. We saw Shaun Sinclair upside down about a mile from the start and Paul Cooke stopped sideways and blocking the road. But it was a more enjoyable distance, and an overall enjoyable day, but more important for us - A FINISH !!!! 28th overall with only 3 retirals in the top 30. Wiznae bad.
We''ve got a trick up our sleeve for the Jim Clark Rievers - tell ya later.!
Jim Rintoul
General Manager
FCE Group of Companies
High drama before the start line! Ok we had a flat tyre. We must have picked it up between scrut and putting it back on the trailer, never the less we didn''t have another spare (it was safe and sound in the garage). so Ronny Thom stepped in to give us a new tyre although Bill Creevy promised me 100% he is going to fix the punctured one.
SS1 was a short and fast blast. We received information that lead us to believe the Granite was as rough as the Borders where we ripped the exhaust off, p**h. Its probably smoother than the A90 which has some amazing potholes! As a result Stuart slaved away on his Friday off to raise the rear by 2 inches which made the back end rather lively and took a bit of getting used to. Coming across the car in front on its side (see video) took us down a peg and we decided to get stage 1 under our belt.
SS2 was longer and allowed us to get into a bit more of a rhythm but a few miles from the end we took on a large rock and were very lucky not to puncture the tyre. Apart from that we had a clean run and a change in tyre pressures offered up a bit more grip on the rear.
SS3 this time we took on a tree stump and I thought a lot more than the tyre was about to be ripped off but we managed to batter over the top of it and carry on. We almost got into 5th gear but I felt that would be a ridiculous speed to be doing on gravel so I''ll leave 5th for another day.
My bank balance was shattered in service when me Dad found the front left tyre had a bulge in it from taking on rocks and trees, so Mr. Wood put another Hankook on for us.
SS4 had a big delay, something to do with spectators? There were certainly plenty on the stage so I felt obliged to go a bit faster and started gaining confidence in the tyres.
SS5 and we were really enjoying ourselves picking up the pace and throwing the car around a lot more than I have previously done. The back end was sliding a lot under braking but we worked around it and posted a better time.
SS6 was a belter! Much longer we managed to get into a good flow and were both sweating by the end but had really enjoyed it, a better time clawed us one more position overall in the 2wds and up to 6th in class from 9th earlier in the day.
Thanks to my Dad for servicing and George and Libby Miller for management.
See you at the Clark! Lachlan Cowan/Stuart Bell www.cmr-rallying.com - Be Part Of The Story
46th OA 6th in Class 4 Late News: Best Improvement on Seeding!
Finished 61st, 6th in class 3.
The Granite city rally took place under sunshine making the stages dry and dusty other than one stage that still had snow banks on sections. However our run of luck seems to be running out as the final result shows.
Friday night consisted of the usual scrutineering and a couple of beers and Graham getting the front of his car wiped out by a trailer in the Hotel car park.
The rally although based in Aberdeen had a start in Aboyne 32 miles away. As we headed out the car stuck in 5th gear but with a bit of huffing and puffing we got it out. Great confidence booster and was later to play a part in the day. Approaching Banchory, bearing in mind we hadnt even started the rally, the petrol fumes in the car was beginning to nip the eyes.
On pulling over it was found that the pipe to the back carb. was split and fuel was leaking out. A quick change of fuel hose by Graham and we were on our way again.
Stage 1 was a short loose surfaced stage, the car was all over the place and around a mile in we were bouncing through the undergrowth but kept the boot in and got away unscathed other than the soiled overalls. Braking was unpredictable at the front but managed to partially dial out the fault with the bias on stage two.
Stage 2 and 3 saw us still struggle for confidence as the car proved to be skittery but lowering the tyre pressures made the car a bit more predictable.
By now the gearbox woes were coming back with third not selecting on the up change yet as soon as we exited the stage it behaved itself?
Service in Aboyne showed that the passenger front caliper had the inside pad hanging out due to pin failure which explained the brake set up hassles. Fed and watered we headed to Blackhall near Banchory.
Stage 4 - Another frustrating stage gearbox wise as second now takes the huff, and driver error (not releasing the handbrake properly) after a hairpin didnt help the stage times.
Stage 5 - Much of the same, car all over the place.
Stage 6 - A couple of miles in and we end up in the undergrowth on the outside exit of a bend. With pride well dented i ended up hand digging the car out in between jacking the car up and shoving rocks under the wheels. Eventually we made the finish albeit last but with championship points for the class which still keeps us in the lead.
At the presentation we were awarded a voucher for £175 for running Hankook tyres all day which will get us a new set of front tyres for the Scottish rally in June.
A couple of weeks rest then time for a mid season rebuild and a change of gearbox away from a synchromesh based box.
Finished 85th and last, but picked up a few points and still leading the class in the SRC
18th equal with the old man on stage 2, but the fun was soon over, fell aff in SS3 Clashindarroch.
We didnt have a such a good day at the Granite. We actually went off in the 3rd stage. My navigator never called a left 8 and down into a big water hole we went. (I have video evidence to prove it wasnt me) haha. Cant complain tho, it was only his 2nd event. No major damage, but the closing car wouldnt wait on us getting pulled out. We still got out in the last 3 stages was all good fun. Roll on the next event. Cheers Scott Murray
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