Scottish Tarmac Rally Championship 2006
Round 2 – Grant Construction Tarmac Stages Rally
Crail, 25th March 2006
It was very wet and foggy at 06:30 on Saturday 25th March as we headed south to Crail for Round 2 of the Scottish Tarmac Rally Championship.Still, when has fog and rain ever deterred the motor sport fanatic?Not often enough, I can tell you! I don’t like the cold, damp, wet weather –but, a deal is a deal and we had agreed to be there, so there we would be.
Janet, Ricky and Mo had agreed to help out by Marshalling whilst I was to do my bit as Club Steward. Dunfermline Car Club, the event organizers, like every other motor sport club in the country, struggle to find sufficient bodies to safely run events. As they are covering one of the Stages on this years’ MultiWage Granite City Rally, it is only fair the A.D.M.C. helps when we can.
On the surface, it might appear that fewer people are needed to run a Single Venue Event.Whilst more is obviously better, it generally requires around 30 people for these events.
There were not quite 30 in attendance on the day but there were sufficient to run safely.
When I was last at this venue, the early morning weather was almost identical, however, it did brighten up considerably as the day progressed and we were hopeful of a repeat this time. Arrived on time, signed on and allocated posts, we decided there was time for a quick cuppa before braving the elements.
This done I had a chat with Graham Provost, Clerk of Course, and managed to have yet another cuppa to help keep the insulation levels up.I’ll tell you, it’s nae easy being a Steward, apparently this additional cuppa is covered by the ‘privilege of rank covenant’.Suits me Sir.I did not, however, mention this to my traveling companions who were by this time getting less warm by the minute.
Although there were the usual minor delays in getting the event up and running, it was not to long before the cars were on their merry way through the tight and twisty route of SS1. A few minor incidents, due mainly to the lingering fog and some patches of standing water, but in the main nothing too major.
As the day progressed the weather, as we had hoped for, improved. By early afternoon it was a fine day and the event was running on time and progressing nicely.There were the normal retirements due to mechanical failures and a fairly spectacular roll (Nova but won’t mention any names) as it became increasingly clear that it was to be, barring any major mishap, a second victory for the Rintoul brothers, John and Jim.The Evo was 4 seconds slower than Ricky Wheeler on SS1 but made up the time on SS2 and never looked back. There was almost a minute in it by the end of SS4.
At this stage of the event, A.D.M.C. members Tracey-Louise and Gary Muir were sitting comfortably 3rd in Class 1.
It has to be remembered that this is only their 3rd event in Rallying, so a finish of 3rd in Class is well worth a mention.