Originators of UK closed road motorsport

1998 – Murmur Chapter 3

MULLMURMURSMULLMURMURSMULLMURMURS – Chapter 3

– published on the island, during the event by Jaggy Bunnet

Provisional Leaderboard after 3 Stages:

Posn Driver/Co-Driver Car Mins:Secs
1 Neil MacKinnon/Mike Stayte Subaru Impreza 23:33
2 Calum Duffy/Hugh Duffy Ford Escort 23:53
3 Chris Griffiths/Aled Davies Subaru Impreza 24:38
4 John Price/Caroline Broad MG Metro 6R4 24:57
5 Daniel Harper/Les Reger Vauxhall Astra 25:26
6 Billy Bird/Plug Pulleyn Vauxhall Astra RWD 25:29
7 Steve Davies/Pete Pinnington Ford Escort 25:30
8 Eddie O'Donnell/Eddie O'Donnell Ford Escort 25:38
9 John Cressey/Ian Grindrod Opel Manta 25:45
10 Derek Carless/Andy Marchbank Ford Escort Cos 25:52

No change to the leaderboard from MULLMURMURS 2 but more stories follow … the O'Donnell twins lost a minute in the 3rd stage when the car swopped ends and then stalled. The battery also came loose and bashed the rear wing of the nice Salen Silver paint scheme … Daniel Harper's going well, eh? 1st time out in the Astra, "I didn't think I was going quickly and was trying harder, then nearly frightened myself when I saw the times, It just does everything easier and better than the Mini!" said Daniel … Paul Kirtley's had a slow start when a leak in the air inlet to the fuel mapping sensor refused to let the car rev above 3,000 … Bob Cowe had a front puncture in SS1 … Doug Weir's fan belt broke in SS3 … Mark Jasper's finding the Escort a lot quicker but more twitchy than the old Sierra … Frosty Smart put the Lancia off in SS1 … Mark Wagstaff broke the exhaust in SS2 … Robin Hamilton did SS3 on sidelights when the alternator failed … Billy Bird had to turn off his spots when the fan belt broke on SS1 … John Cope is way down in the 60s after running the first stage on a puncture which then knocked the tracking out for the next two … Chris Paton's front strut came loose on SS3 and slowed him up, worried about the wheel coming off … Walter Barr got a puncture in SS1 … Gavin Grimshaw retired in SS1 when the gearbox broke … Paul Brown has had no intercom from the start and the co-driver's having to shout. Trouble is Paul can only hear half of it and doesn't know which half it is! … Jimmy Fergusson can't hear his co-driver either as the intercom is not fitted to his helmet properly but he's still top 1300 runner in 20th place – and his fan belt was slipping … Gordon Boyd's map light failed on the 1st stage, but Stella had invested in a Philips Tour of Mull Rally torch at the Aros Hall this morning and calmly switched it on and used that to read the notes … And finally, a timely warning to all rally crews, please be careful when jacking up and axle-standing cars. There has been one nasty accident already to-night when Andy Bereton was injured, pinned under a car. He suffered an awfy severe dunt but was still able to shout at his crew to carry on, even when the ambulance men carted him off to hospital! So everyone, PLEASE take care out there.

That's yer lot meantime,
Yer auld pal, Jaggy Bunnet,
Craignure, Friday, 11:30 pm.

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