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THE DAILY MALTINGS Issue 2 Just a thought:
Car 110, the Spitfire of Denton Udall and Susanne Evans ended up in the ditch after attacking cone E on the test at Inveraray Castle. As a sailor Denton took the nautical instruction 'Heave Left' literally. They are teamed with Miguel and Ann Porta in a Triumph TR4 car number 127, who have come from Uruguay for the event and are thoroughly enjoying the dry weather in Scotland! That's an in joke for INCA TRAIL people who will remember the day the heavens opened in Uruguay when we visited Miguel and Ann's home town of Punta Del Este. At the end of the Ederline test one competitor was overheard saying to the marshal at the finish "How do you expect us to beat the bogey time and drive at 20mph!" the posted speed limit. It seems they thought it may have been a regularity. Yesterday in Oban the shell garage surprised early competitors by supplying an LRP/ water mixture at 81p per litre. Three cars broke down at the Oban distillery entrance within a minute of each other. Peter Rushforth towed car 11 back to the garage and the offending pump was sealed off. The next few hours were happily spent cutting up plastic containers, borrowing utensils from the Shell kitchen and sucking and blowing through various orifices. If this ever happens to you the advice is to drain everything and flush out with methanol or methylated spirits to absorb any water left at the bottom of your tank. Phil and Pat Jenkins in a Mk 1 Austin Healey 3000 were one of four Healeys in their class still on gold but even more interesting is that at lunch on day 2 they had just managed four zeros on the trot on regularities. Unfortunately this is not easily detectable from the results as they get an automatic penalty of one second at each timing point because they have an electronic distance recorder.
Do you remember the 'easy' first test around the bonded warehouse. Well it was not as easy as it seemed as 60% of us blew our golds on this first test. By the end of Day 1 just 38 crews were left on gold after 5 tests. We do not know how many gold medals HERO has minted but we do not think many of the remaining golds will succumb as easily as the rest of us. So HERO had better get a quick phonecall into Fort Knox. However I detect a slight tightening of the gold standard from now on and the Le Mans test will see off a few of the 'larger' drivers as they sprint for their cars on Day 4. I also expect a few more will knock the wall over as they try reversing their car as close to it as possible. Have pity for those in Mr and Mrs Wignalls classes as they have seen off the gold chances for the 17 other crews in these classes except for Andy Nash and Melanie Kanareak who are also in a Tiger. Keep pedaling Andy and put one over on Kevin, Just once will do to give some hope to mere mortals. Late news from Skye Airport on Day 2 is that the impossible almost happened when the Savage/Wignall Tiger stalled and Andy took 8 seconds off them but more importantly came within 2 seconds taking their gold medal. Day 2
And how many of you were puzzled by the tulip 'Shell - no petrol' on the pleasant run around the old road at Cairngorm to pick up a passage control check. Lots of cars were seen taking the main road but most realised their mistake. There was a lot of reversing at the start of the short regularity overlooking Eilan Donan Castle as cars turned around to 'haste ye back again'. The crew of car 142, Adrian Hall-Carpenter and Alan Mc Neil in an Aston Martin, think they have the car with the most misfiring engine in the event and still competing. Are there any other contenders?. We are expecting a call from John or Linda Rondeau, whose Merc also appears to have a similar difficulty. Results have just gone up at the Aros Center and show No 42 Malcolm McKay and Jane Ransom on the lowest penalties in a 1960 Super Two Ford. A most unlikely looking car which is based on a Ford Popular and has a three speed gearbox and rod operated brakes. Asked if he had a roof Malcolm said "Yes, but, when it's up we cannot get either in or out and a bystander has to be called to assist". They are also best on the regularities with just 8 seconds lost over 11 timing points. And Jane is a relative newcomer. Well done, keep it going. Arctic Winter Trial . The competition Malt Of The Day FEAR NOT.
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