As I sit here on my plane ride home from London Heathrow to Toronto, it almost doesn't seem real! I mean, who in their right mind puts their rally car into a container in August in order to compete in an event in October. A car that's been built for a gravel season no less, sending it across the Atlantic Ocean to a tiny island on the West Coast of Scotland, in order to spend 4 days completing recce, then 3 days rallying on tarmac, competing in what's come to be known to many as the "Best Rally in the World" - the 2014 Mull Rally.........oh yeah, that was us......we did all that, and now after 10 days of non-stop action, rallying, visiting friends, exploring amazing scenery and generally having the time of our lives, we're packed up and headed back to reality. Not that I don't love reality, but WOW what an adventure!!
Lets take this back a year or 40. Mull, October 1972, a young Nigel - yes he was young once.....he's not reading this right?.....as I say, a young Nigel gets the opportunity to drive a Lotus Cortina Mk 1 with Graham Harper in the silly seat around some amazing island roads. His future wife Lou, had already competed in the event in '70 & '71 with driver Margaret, winning the Ladies Prize in 1970 in a Mk 1 Cortina. Nigel then returned in 1974-1976 with his brother Jeremy in the co-drivers seat. By this point (1974) Nigel & Lou were together, and married in 1975. The fantastic opportunity he received to first compete in 1972 was the beginning of a yearly vacation to the island coinciding with the rally every October. Many a tale has been told to us over the years of the crazy antics our "responsible" parents used to get up to - and they wonder why Nick takes so naturally to it all! We've both been exposed to the rally influences since the womb, so it's a given that we should eventually get into the sport ourselves.
Once I was born (Kelly), the competing itself stopped but the vacations continued until Nick was about 5 years old. After that, rallying involved watching the Network Q/RAC event every year. The vacation house contained 4 families, all with kids and rallying fanatics. The eldest 'kids' celebrated milestone birthdays this year, so 1 year ago a Mull Reunion plan for 2014 was hatched.
As details began being discussed, dad suggested "well seeing as we are going over there, we might as well take the rally car"......oh ok then! No argument from us 'kids' there, and so it was decided: 2 Brits Racing would enter the 2014 Mull Rally!!
Lets take this back a year or 40. Mull, October 1972, a young Nigel - yes he was young once.....he's not reading this right?.....as I say, a young Nigel gets the opportunity to drive a Lotus Cortina Mk 1 with Graham Harper in the silly seat around some amazing island roads. His future wife Lou, had already competed in the event in '70 & '71 with driver Margaret, winning the Ladies Prize in 1970 in a Mk 1 Cortina. Nigel then returned in 1974-1976 with his brother Jeremy in the co-drivers seat. By this point (1974) Nigel & Lou were together, and married in 1975. The fantastic opportunity he received to first compete in 1972 was the beginning of a yearly vacation to the island coinciding with the rally every October. Many a tale has been told to us over the years of the crazy antics our "responsible" parents used to get up to - and they wonder why Nick takes so naturally to it all! We've both been exposed to the rally influences since the womb, so it's a given that we should eventually get into the sport ourselves.
Once I was born (Kelly), the competing itself stopped but the vacations continued until Nick was about 5 years old. After that, rallying involved watching the Network Q/RAC event every year. The vacation house contained 4 families, all with kids and rallying fanatics. The eldest 'kids' celebrated milestone birthdays this year, so 1 year ago a Mull Reunion plan for 2014 was hatched.
As details began being discussed, dad suggested "well seeing as we are going over there, we might as well take the rally car"......oh ok then! No argument from us 'kids' there, and so it was decided: 2 Brits Racing would enter the 2014 Mull Rally!!
Since 2008, the only tarmac rallying we had done was the single Montpellier stage at Rallye Defi in Quebec, and the PMSC Shannonville Stages Rally held at Shannonville racetrack. The car was built for gravel, the driver & co-driver only having experienced gravel and snow/ice events, so it was going to be quite the rally to prepare for.
First things first: what changes do we have to make to the car to a) allow it to run well on tarmac, and b) conform to the MSA rules and regulations, the British governing body of motorsport, to allow us to be eligible to enter the event.
The biggest changes we noticed right away was the 32mm turbo restrictor compared to the 34mm we currently ran, the fact we'd have to tune to the 97 octane UK "petrol" compared to the 110 octane race gas we are used to using, and several other safety components we'd have to install as required in the UK.
When we first started organizing our 2014 season, it comprised of 2 events: Shannonville Stages Rally in Ontario, early April, and Mull Rally in Scotland, early October. With SSR being a track based event we felt it necessary to get some closed road stage experience so the (tarmac) 2014 Empire State Performance Rally in New York was added to the calendar.
With some of the necessary changes made to the car with regards to suspension, brakes, tires etc (see the blog entry relating to Shannonville Prep) we were able to have very successful runs at both events, with 2nd at Shannonville, and managing to bring home a win over the border at ESPR! A fantastic event and a great prep for some of the skills we would need on Mull. We found our note making was quite different on tarmac compared to gravel, with a bigger emphasis on braking & speed into a corner.
First things first: what changes do we have to make to the car to a) allow it to run well on tarmac, and b) conform to the MSA rules and regulations, the British governing body of motorsport, to allow us to be eligible to enter the event.
The biggest changes we noticed right away was the 32mm turbo restrictor compared to the 34mm we currently ran, the fact we'd have to tune to the 97 octane UK "petrol" compared to the 110 octane race gas we are used to using, and several other safety components we'd have to install as required in the UK.
When we first started organizing our 2014 season, it comprised of 2 events: Shannonville Stages Rally in Ontario, early April, and Mull Rally in Scotland, early October. With SSR being a track based event we felt it necessary to get some closed road stage experience so the (tarmac) 2014 Empire State Performance Rally in New York was added to the calendar.
With some of the necessary changes made to the car with regards to suspension, brakes, tires etc (see the blog entry relating to Shannonville Prep) we were able to have very successful runs at both events, with 2nd at Shannonville, and managing to bring home a win over the border at ESPR! A fantastic event and a great prep for some of the skills we would need on Mull. We found our note making was quite different on tarmac compared to gravel, with a bigger emphasis on braking & speed into a corner.
 2nd Place at 2014 Shannonville Stages Rally  Thanks to Jordan Apgar for this fantastic shot of us at the 2014 Empire State Performance Rally in New York earlier this year. http://facebook.com/jordanApgarRallyPhoto |  Us in action at SSR. Photo by Justin Fitzpatrick.  Podium: 1st Place 2014 Empire State Performance Rally |
With these rallies completed, we now had 4 months until the deadline for shipping the car to Scotland, and only 5 months until the event itself. Plenty of time if all you had to do was throw on a new batch of tires, and call fedex for a pick up. Alas, no, that's a much shorter list than what we actually had to contend with. After ESPR the car was suffereing a few issues and needed quite the overhaul to get it Scotland ready. Hours were spent by the guys at Planet Motorsport and O'Brien Motorsports to ensure the car would be fit to travel near the end of August. Engine work, new turbo restrictor, new underbody protection added, installation of the new built-in fire extinguisher system and the addition of the external power cut off are not small jobs to undertake.
External power cut off
Built-in fire extinguisher
Add all that to the tuning for the new gas we had to use, and an evening at Cayuga racetrack was needed to ensure everything was running smoothly.
Long time friend and fellow OPRC driver & co-driver champion John Vanos was able to assist us with our mini-shakedown as he knows the car well and has helped us out with it many times over the years. As good as the car was running we did have a few electrical issues, but Iain from Planet Motorsport was on hand to fix the problems and the evening was a success.
Long time friend and fellow OPRC driver & co-driver champion John Vanos was able to assist us with our mini-shakedown as he knows the car well and has helped us out with it many times over the years. As good as the car was running we did have a few electrical issues, but Iain from Planet Motorsport was on hand to fix the problems and the evening was a success.
Testing at Cayuga
So now it was back to the shop for the final adjustments, tidying of bodywork/vinyls and any other small jobs that had to be done.
The end of August came extremely quickly and after endless hours of packing and printing of equipment lists, it was time to load up the container and send it on its way. The trailer looked awfully empty with all our tools, wheels and equipment packed into boxes. The 20ft container carrying our car and accessories was picked up in Mississauga, transported by rail to Montreal, where it boarded its ship bound for Europe. Landing in Antwerp, Belgium before being transshipped to another vessel heading to Greenock, Scotland, it finally arrived in the port of Oban, the west coast of Scotland a week before we arrived there ourselves. Pretty good timing really!
The end of August came extremely quickly and after endless hours of packing and printing of equipment lists, it was time to load up the container and send it on its way. The trailer looked awfully empty with all our tools, wheels and equipment packed into boxes. The 20ft container carrying our car and accessories was picked up in Mississauga, transported by rail to Montreal, where it boarded its ship bound for Europe. Landing in Antwerp, Belgium before being transshipped to another vessel heading to Greenock, Scotland, it finally arrived in the port of Oban, the west coast of Scotland a week before we arrived there ourselves. Pretty good timing really!
Wheels & equipment on the shelf. Generator and tool box in front of the car. Then the car itself. Could have taken the kitchen sink and then some! LOADS of room
Phew, so the car's on its way. The rest is easy right? Well, it depends on what you class as easy. Rental cars needed booking, recce and movement schedules written up, final confirmation of gas, tires, insurance, cell phones etc. Its amazing how much work is involved in competing in another country! Combine that with assuring all our equipment was to MSA regulations including our competition licences and it makes things a little stressful......but in a good way I guess.
I will say this: Constant correspondence with the rally organizers and friends who were also competing in the event was a HUGE help. Be it the organizer, head scrutineer, registrar or the Clerk of the Course; all were extremely happy to help in anyway they could. I did feel at times like I was emailing them at least once a day, but its a long way to go to not be able to run due a technicality!
As the only international team competing at Mull, we soon came to be known solely as 'The Canadians', which to us was quite amusing, as at home in Canada, we are known as the Brits. However, we did decide to run under our Canadian nationality and compete under the Maple Leaf.....literally, with a giant Canadian vinyl flag on the roof.
The lead up to the event was FANTASTIC!! The coverage and promotion of it alone was something the organizers should be very proud of. Entries opened early morning of August 8th and within the first hour or so, over 50 entries had been received. 50 in an hour!! That's more than we get starting a National event over here. We were entry 52 and had to wait almost 2 months until the seeded draw on September 26th to see how they'd slotted us into the pack. In fact, the car actually landed in Oban the same day of the draw.
It was a little nerve wracking waiting for the draw to be published. We had no idea where we should be seeded, especially not knowing the experience of the other teams involved. We weren't the only ones worried though. As I understand it, the organizers were sweating a little about the seeding, not just where to place us, but with the final count around 144 entries and some very experienced competitors in there, they wanted to ensure it was fair for all.
Mull Rally "FEVER" was rampant on social media and the events' website leading up to the announcement, adding to the suspense of it all. With recent tragic events in the UK rally world, a lot of public, media and government attention was placed on the organizers, competitors and the event itself. Mull is one of only 2 closed road events taking place in the UK. However, the promotion of safety for the event was outstanding, and any banter online between competitors was all good natured and people were genuinely excited to be a part of such an event: the 45th running of the Mull Rally.
I will say this: Constant correspondence with the rally organizers and friends who were also competing in the event was a HUGE help. Be it the organizer, head scrutineer, registrar or the Clerk of the Course; all were extremely happy to help in anyway they could. I did feel at times like I was emailing them at least once a day, but its a long way to go to not be able to run due a technicality!
As the only international team competing at Mull, we soon came to be known solely as 'The Canadians', which to us was quite amusing, as at home in Canada, we are known as the Brits. However, we did decide to run under our Canadian nationality and compete under the Maple Leaf.....literally, with a giant Canadian vinyl flag on the roof.
The lead up to the event was FANTASTIC!! The coverage and promotion of it alone was something the organizers should be very proud of. Entries opened early morning of August 8th and within the first hour or so, over 50 entries had been received. 50 in an hour!! That's more than we get starting a National event over here. We were entry 52 and had to wait almost 2 months until the seeded draw on September 26th to see how they'd slotted us into the pack. In fact, the car actually landed in Oban the same day of the draw.
It was a little nerve wracking waiting for the draw to be published. We had no idea where we should be seeded, especially not knowing the experience of the other teams involved. We weren't the only ones worried though. As I understand it, the organizers were sweating a little about the seeding, not just where to place us, but with the final count around 144 entries and some very experienced competitors in there, they wanted to ensure it was fair for all.
Mull Rally "FEVER" was rampant on social media and the events' website leading up to the announcement, adding to the suspense of it all. With recent tragic events in the UK rally world, a lot of public, media and government attention was placed on the organizers, competitors and the event itself. Mull is one of only 2 closed road events taking place in the UK. However, the promotion of safety for the event was outstanding, and any banter online between competitors was all good natured and people were genuinely excited to be a part of such an event: the 45th running of the Mull Rally.
Rally homework A week before we headed to Scotland, routebooks were emailed to competitors (leading to countless 'homework' nights) and the start order was announced.
2 Brits Racing would be starting the 2014 Mull Rally as car 29, 25th on the road. We were amazed by the seeding, thinking we'd be probably closer to 40. At 29 we were smack in the middle of a whole slew of very experienced mull competitors....no pressure!
Along with the usual suspects in the top 15, Calum Duffy (Mk2 Escort), Peter Taylor (Fiesta S2400) and John McCrone (Fiesta R200) were joined by James MacGillivray (Subaru Impreza) and Derek McGeehan (in his WRC Mini), as well as many other very talented and experienced competitors. However, I think one of our favourites to see on the entry list was 5 times British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae (father of the late Colin McRae) and his co-driver Ian Grindrod. Unbelievable to actually enter a rally along side these two guys! McRae and Grindrod drew car 16, not sure I would have wanted to be sat in car 15?! now THAT'S pressure!!
So there we are. Car's in Scotland, everything else we have managed to get organized as best we could, now all that's left to head over there is ourselves. First half of the pack flew out late on Oct 2, Toronto to Glasgow via London Heathrow. 1 WEEK UNTIL THE BEST RALLY IN THE WORLD!!!!!
2 Brits Racing would be starting the 2014 Mull Rally as car 29, 25th on the road. We were amazed by the seeding, thinking we'd be probably closer to 40. At 29 we were smack in the middle of a whole slew of very experienced mull competitors....no pressure!
Along with the usual suspects in the top 15, Calum Duffy (Mk2 Escort), Peter Taylor (Fiesta S2400) and John McCrone (Fiesta R200) were joined by James MacGillivray (Subaru Impreza) and Derek McGeehan (in his WRC Mini), as well as many other very talented and experienced competitors. However, I think one of our favourites to see on the entry list was 5 times British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae (father of the late Colin McRae) and his co-driver Ian Grindrod. Unbelievable to actually enter a rally along side these two guys! McRae and Grindrod drew car 16, not sure I would have wanted to be sat in car 15?! now THAT'S pressure!!
So there we are. Car's in Scotland, everything else we have managed to get organized as best we could, now all that's left to head over there is ourselves. First half of the pack flew out late on Oct 2, Toronto to Glasgow via London Heathrow. 1 WEEK UNTIL THE BEST RALLY IN THE WORLD!!!!!
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