So its the morning of the day before and, looking at the movement schedule, its now time to worry for the next 6 hours or so that we have missed something off the regulations, and they're going to laugh us out of scrutineering. Iain, our crew chief from Planet Motorsport arrived the night before, and with only Nick's wife Amanda left to pick up from the ferry terminal after lunch, the gang is all set. Spending a few minutes here and there since we arrived doing some minor last minute adjustments to the car, there were only a couple of checks remaining.
Getting ready to head to tech
For me, these few hours allowed me to check safety equipment, mount the 'OK' sign on the door, double check I had flashlights, tire gauges and enough cable ties & duct tape to build a whole new car if necessary. (You can never have too much duct tape or too many cable ties).
For Nick, it was time to get the GoPro cameras mounted to capture in-car footage of the event. A job he was now in charge of since I usually only capture transits when I'm left with the responsibility of switching it on and off! We were required, on our entry form, to acknowledge the number of cameras we would be using, and they had to be mounted in safe locations in time for scrutineering. We would have liked to have had an external camera, but for safety concerns we were told this wasn't allowed. No problem, we'd already lost a roof mounted camera in New York, so we didn't need to run the risk of losing another!
Unfortunately we had already fallen victim to the Scottish weather. By failing to cover the roof of the car during the downpour that had ensued the day before we were reminded how poor the seal of the roof vent was......well Nick was reminded when he had jumped in to aim the lights and promptly sat in a puddle! So 1 fan heater, 3 newspapers and a large tarp later we finally had the car dried out.
After changing the oil in the car, there was just a couple more items to pick up, you know, the really minor ones....like gas.....and tires! Having ordered both from UK companies we were happy to have these bulky items meet us on the island. Now we just had to go retrieve them.
Having had great success running DMack tires on the gravel, we had picked up a couple of sets of their tarmac tires for ESPR. Once again having been impressed by their performance in New York, we'd ordered more DMacks for Mull. Knowing it was more than likely raining, and if not raining then probably cold - especially with the majority of the rally in the dark - we decided to stick to the DMack DMT-RC W2s. Having shipped our 17" rims over in the container it was great to be able to take them to the tire guys and have them mounted right there at their truck in Tobermory.
Iain was able to pick up the gas in his rental and bring it back to the house, only to find out we had no way of actually funneling it into the rally car. This could prove interesting in the refueling zone! After several failed attempts at lifting the cans or decanting them into others, our new found friends at Tyres (South Shore) Limited offered to lend us a vented pipe for the weekend that would fit directly onto the fuel drum! Problem solved!
For Nick, it was time to get the GoPro cameras mounted to capture in-car footage of the event. A job he was now in charge of since I usually only capture transits when I'm left with the responsibility of switching it on and off! We were required, on our entry form, to acknowledge the number of cameras we would be using, and they had to be mounted in safe locations in time for scrutineering. We would have liked to have had an external camera, but for safety concerns we were told this wasn't allowed. No problem, we'd already lost a roof mounted camera in New York, so we didn't need to run the risk of losing another!
Unfortunately we had already fallen victim to the Scottish weather. By failing to cover the roof of the car during the downpour that had ensued the day before we were reminded how poor the seal of the roof vent was......well Nick was reminded when he had jumped in to aim the lights and promptly sat in a puddle! So 1 fan heater, 3 newspapers and a large tarp later we finally had the car dried out.
After changing the oil in the car, there was just a couple more items to pick up, you know, the really minor ones....like gas.....and tires! Having ordered both from UK companies we were happy to have these bulky items meet us on the island. Now we just had to go retrieve them.
Having had great success running DMack tires on the gravel, we had picked up a couple of sets of their tarmac tires for ESPR. Once again having been impressed by their performance in New York, we'd ordered more DMacks for Mull. Knowing it was more than likely raining, and if not raining then probably cold - especially with the majority of the rally in the dark - we decided to stick to the DMack DMT-RC W2s. Having shipped our 17" rims over in the container it was great to be able to take them to the tire guys and have them mounted right there at their truck in Tobermory.
Iain was able to pick up the gas in his rental and bring it back to the house, only to find out we had no way of actually funneling it into the rally car. This could prove interesting in the refueling zone! After several failed attempts at lifting the cans or decanting them into others, our new found friends at Tyres (South Shore) Limited offered to lend us a vented pipe for the weekend that would fit directly onto the fuel drum! Problem solved!
As the fuel was being loaded in, comments such as "This is a rental isn't it...." were heard from the suppliers. I wonder why?!
Service van all loaded up
Once the car was ready to go, it was just a case of loading everything back up into the service van, grab all our kit and head down to Tobermory for registration and scrutineering.
Tobermory bound for Registration and Scrutineering
Having decided to enter the Shakedown taking place on Friday morning, we were required to register and scrutineer Thursday afternoon, along with the other 30 or so competitors that had made the decision to do the same. As the car had sat in a container for over a month we felt it would be a smart idea to give it a bit of an airing on the shakedown stage, and were happy the organizers had introduced it this year. Shakedown's have always proved very useful to us in the past so we jumped at the chance to get behind the wheel in a stage setting before the rally started. Remember, Nick hasn't had that car out in rally conditions since April.
Pulling into Tobermory it was pretty exciting to finally be here sitting in the rally car heading for scrutineering. As we arrived at the parking lot for the Tobermory Distillery where tech was being conducted we were surprised to see quite a large number of people already gathering. Tech for the remaining field of competitors wasn't until Friday morning, but while they were having their cars looked at we'd be flying through the shakedown stage, so we didn't really expect many people to turn up Thursday afternoon. How wrong we were. A good number of rally fans, and friends & family of competitors were there to observe the rally cars filing in. Leading up to the event there had been quite a lot of coverage of our trip over from Canada, an interview in the official event program, mentions in the newsletters etc, so when we pulled into the lot, it was great to see a number of people genuinely interested in taking a look at the car and saying hello to us. Definitely made us feel very welcome straight away.
Before we could head in to meet the scrutineers we had to register and get the car all stickered up. Once we figured out exactly where the stickers had to go we lined up to await our turn. Lets see if all our preparations were correct!
Pulling into Tobermory it was pretty exciting to finally be here sitting in the rally car heading for scrutineering. As we arrived at the parking lot for the Tobermory Distillery where tech was being conducted we were surprised to see quite a large number of people already gathering. Tech for the remaining field of competitors wasn't until Friday morning, but while they were having their cars looked at we'd be flying through the shakedown stage, so we didn't really expect many people to turn up Thursday afternoon. How wrong we were. A good number of rally fans, and friends & family of competitors were there to observe the rally cars filing in. Leading up to the event there had been quite a lot of coverage of our trip over from Canada, an interview in the official event program, mentions in the newsletters etc, so when we pulled into the lot, it was great to see a number of people genuinely interested in taking a look at the car and saying hello to us. Definitely made us feel very welcome straight away.
Before we could head in to meet the scrutineers we had to register and get the car all stickered up. Once we figured out exactly where the stickers had to go we lined up to await our turn. Lets see if all our preparations were correct!
Nick & Iain making sure the numbers and event sponsors are placed correctly
Waiting to be called up into scrutineering at the Tobermory Distillery
One thing I do want to explain before we go any further is the vinyl on the trunk of our car. Graham Harper was Nigel's co-driver when he first competed in Mull in 1972. Coming into a corner faster than he liked, Nigel stepped on the brakes and locked up, at which point Graham hit him with his maps/notes and in no uncertain terms told him not to do that!! Long time friend, Mull competitor, & all-round rally volunteer Graham, a member of the original 4 families we vacationed with as kids, sadly passed away before we could all come together again at the Reunion. As this would have been his 45th Mull rally in some capacity or another, we knew he would be here in spirit, and we wanted to make sure we honored his memory out there on the stages. Sorry we couldn't get through all the stages Graham, but your daughters did you proud with both their teams putting in great performances and making it to the final finish control.
When competing in Canada, Nick & I are usually out on recce when tech takes place, so its actually quite unusual for us to be involved here. At the same time, I'm glad we were able to experience it ,as it just adds to the whole adventure. We knew they'd probably be looking at our car even closer than normal being that its been built in Canada to Canadian rally specifications. Every effort was made to adhere to the MSA rally regulations but you never know, we could have missed something.
Pulling into Tobermory on our drive up to the distillery Nick suddenly points out, "hey, do you think they'll say anything about our front plate?". I hadn't even thought of that. In Canada we run with only rear licence plates on. "I hope not.....its sitting in the trailer back home!". So after handing our documentation to the scrutineer in charge of evaluating our car he turns to me and the first thing he says is: "Where's your front plate?". Of course he does because a. Murphy's Law dictates he will and b. he's very good at his job. "Ah, you see, funny story, we don't run front plates at home and so it just didn't occur to us we'd even need it." To which I was told not to be surprised if we were stopped by the police. (Who by the way were all running their names and flags on their windows like the rally cars! Fantastic) Oh well, we'd have to deal with that if it came to it.
When competing in Canada, Nick & I are usually out on recce when tech takes place, so its actually quite unusual for us to be involved here. At the same time, I'm glad we were able to experience it ,as it just adds to the whole adventure. We knew they'd probably be looking at our car even closer than normal being that its been built in Canada to Canadian rally specifications. Every effort was made to adhere to the MSA rally regulations but you never know, we could have missed something.
Pulling into Tobermory on our drive up to the distillery Nick suddenly points out, "hey, do you think they'll say anything about our front plate?". I hadn't even thought of that. In Canada we run with only rear licence plates on. "I hope not.....its sitting in the trailer back home!". So after handing our documentation to the scrutineer in charge of evaluating our car he turns to me and the first thing he says is: "Where's your front plate?". Of course he does because a. Murphy's Law dictates he will and b. he's very good at his job. "Ah, you see, funny story, we don't run front plates at home and so it just didn't occur to us we'd even need it." To which I was told not to be surprised if we were stopped by the police. (Who by the way were all running their names and flags on their windows like the rally cars! Fantastic) Oh well, we'd have to deal with that if it came to it.
Tech inspection
Very thorough scrutineer
Other than that slight mistake and securing in-car cameras it seemed we had everything up to spec and we would be starting the 2014 Mull Rally in about 24hrs!! Great!! Time for a beer, meal and relaxation.
Ha, what am I thinking, I already mentioned there'd be no time for that until the last timecard was handed over. Now it was time for the Rally Forum.
Ha, what am I thinking, I already mentioned there'd be no time for that until the last timecard was handed over. Now it was time for the Rally Forum.
Rally forum? Cool, sounded like a lot of fun until I get an email a couple of weeks before the event saying "What's the chances you guys would like to be involved with the forum?" Erm.......what? By 'involved' you mean like, handing out flyers.......showing up & asking questions from the audience right? Wrong! 'Involved' as in being guests....on stage....ANSWERING questions. Not only that but WRC Live presenter Colin Clark would be conducting the forum that also included Jim McRae and Ian Grindrod. Oh is that all?!!
Nick is always the one taking part in interviews for TV coverage at home as my excuse is "I talk all day and night in the rally car, its his turn now", that's usually a good enough response, but I didn't think that was going to work this time. I tried the "well with Jim and Ian there, you probably don't need the both of us...." nope, that didn't work either. Looks like I was going to have to join my brother up on stage. Friends and family promised to think of "interesting" questions to ask if they opened it up to the floor. Oh joy, I could only imagine!
Nick is always the one taking part in interviews for TV coverage at home as my excuse is "I talk all day and night in the rally car, its his turn now", that's usually a good enough response, but I didn't think that was going to work this time. I tried the "well with Jim and Ian there, you probably don't need the both of us...." nope, that didn't work either. Looks like I was going to have to join my brother up on stage. Friends and family promised to think of "interesting" questions to ask if they opened it up to the floor. Oh joy, I could only imagine!
Nick doing most of the talking. Thank goodness!
I was worrying for nothing. Great evening, and fantastic to listen to Jim & Ian talk about their rally adventures. Nick, clearly a born public speaker, did a very good job and I think everyone had a lot of fun. As well as Nick and I, Stuart Loudon (John Maccrone's co-driver) and Iain Campbell (Clerk of the Course) joined Colin up on stage to round out the evening. However, not only did we all get up there and chat about rallying but Colin actually contacted current WRC drivers Elfyn Evans, Hadden Paddon and Mikko Hirvonen for live telephone interviews during the forum. A very well organized night that seemed to be enjoyed by everyone in attendance.
We finished off the evening by taking the 'long way home'. Accompanied by Nick's wife Amanda we headed to the Loch Tuath/Calgary Bay 34km stage, our final stage to recce at night. Last chance to take a look at these great roads at somewhat normal speed before tackling them in the rally car.
We finished off the evening by taking the 'long way home'. Accompanied by Nick's wife Amanda we headed to the Loch Tuath/Calgary Bay 34km stage, our final stage to recce at night. Last chance to take a look at these great roads at somewhat normal speed before tackling them in the rally car.
Friday morning - Rally Day - started bright and early for us with Shakedown recce at 8am. The road to be used presented similar conditions to the event but wasn't part of the regular stage schedule so we were given the opportunity to complete 2 passes at reduced speed before turning it up a notch. Arriving at the start line in our recce vehicle we were stopped by officials. "Sorry guys, its rally cars only from this point on". Well this could present a small problem! The rally car was sitting at the house, and wasn't meeting us at the shakedown service area for another 30 mins or so. We were willing to head back for the car but wanted to explain our situation to them first. Having completed the rally recce in this vehicle, we were hoping to recce shakedown in it. This way we could have a pretty good idea whether our notes we made on the rest of the island in the right-hand-drive vehicle will work for our LHD rally car. I'd rather find out on a couple of KM of in-land shakedown road that we were completely out of whack rather than find this out on the cliff edge around Calgary Bay. Like I said, we had no issues waiting for the rally car, but purely from a safety perspective we preferred to recce in our rental. On hearing our point of view we were immediately granted access.
What can I say. Shakedown was a BLAST! Conditions were a little slick, mud combined with heavy rain on the tarmac made for an interesting couple of kilometres. The rally car spent a good portion of the time sideways, we caught air over the crest and had the odd moment, but of our 4 runs we completed we managed to set 2nd fastest Shakedown time. Of course being sideways was normal to us, so Nick really enjoyed himself out there. At one point we got a little squirrelly over the bumps and started drifting out on a corner, I'll admit I was bracing for some form of impact but then I felt the loose gravel under the tires at the edge of the road and instantly relaxed thinking "nah, he's got this". Someone even told us "I haven't seen the times yet, so you may not have been the fastest out there, but you were definitely the most spectacular" Haha, we aim to please.
The car ran great. No issues we could find, and the notes seemed pretty accurate to us. Family, friends and crew got absolutely soaked spectating but everyone seemed to be in good spirits.
What can I say. Shakedown was a BLAST! Conditions were a little slick, mud combined with heavy rain on the tarmac made for an interesting couple of kilometres. The rally car spent a good portion of the time sideways, we caught air over the crest and had the odd moment, but of our 4 runs we completed we managed to set 2nd fastest Shakedown time. Of course being sideways was normal to us, so Nick really enjoyed himself out there. At one point we got a little squirrelly over the bumps and started drifting out on a corner, I'll admit I was bracing for some form of impact but then I felt the loose gravel under the tires at the edge of the road and instantly relaxed thinking "nah, he's got this". Someone even told us "I haven't seen the times yet, so you may not have been the fastest out there, but you were definitely the most spectacular" Haha, we aim to please.
The car ran great. No issues we could find, and the notes seemed pretty accurate to us. Family, friends and crew got absolutely soaked spectating but everyone seemed to be in good spirits.
Looking a little dirty after Shakedown.
Going to have to get the cleaning crew on that before the rally starts!
Having returned to the house the car received a thorough cleaning and waxing; tires checked, refueled and lights on. We were all set to go. All that's left was the driver's meeting. As car 29 we were in the first scheduled meeting which worked out well. This way I had time to go over our notes again before the rally started and was able to get some coaching on the timing and timecards we would be using.
Timecards for the event
Timing for the event was slightly different from what we are used to. It was actually easier, but at first glance a little confusing. For those of you that know the timing in North America, instead of using a 'stage slow time' to calculate the time for arrival control, you basically use your stage finish time. Cuts down on time you're waiting at the stage start, but if you have an issue and have to change a tire etc, you can't tootle around with it! Saying that, the transits were quite forgiving. Once again, Donna stepped up and offered her words of wisdom along with several other people who were willing to answer any questions we had along the way. After confirming safety/triangle rules with the Clerk of the Course and meeting the Competitor Liaison officer, I'd say we were ready to go.
We had general idea of start time, but an interesting system they utilized at the event was that start times were sent via text message. Every car entered in the rally had to carry a cell phone on a specific network - in this case Vodafone, as it was the one with the best coverage on the island. The cell number was registered with radio control and was not only useful to them, but also ensured you had the best tool to contact help in case of an emergency. So a minimum of 1 hour before the start of each leg we received a message giving our official time out.
We had general idea of start time, but an interesting system they utilized at the event was that start times were sent via text message. Every car entered in the rally had to carry a cell phone on a specific network - in this case Vodafone, as it was the one with the best coverage on the island. The cell number was registered with radio control and was not only useful to them, but also ensured you had the best tool to contact help in case of an emergency. So a minimum of 1 hour before the start of each leg we received a message giving our official time out.
Text we received 2 hours before the rally started. Car 29 due at the start line at 19.25.
Was pretty exciting to receive the ping signaling an incoming message! Time to get the car down to Tobermory for the official start of the 'Best Rally in the World' - The 2014 Mull Rally.
Car 29 Time out: 19.25
Lets go racing!!
Car 29 Time out: 19.25
Lets go racing!!
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