Manx CCS Stages Rally '99 - 25-26 June '99

Posted: January 15, 1970 8:00 PM

2 Irish crews in the 57 car entry were entered for the Manx Autosports CCS stages rally.
John Tully and Myself in the Twin Cam engined Mark II and
Maurice Moffett and Manx Based Paul McCann in 2.0 RWD Pug 205.

A 2 day event, over 12 stages in a very compact route around the south of the Island. Chase cars are not really allowed and in fact are not needed/no use as stages are so close together and road timing is fairly tight.
Timing was Target (like home) although they had planned to use there own unique system where stage start time gives time to the next stage, i.e. the faster you are over the stage the more road time you have to play with.
Overall the event and atmosphere was really competitor friendly. Max total lateness was 15 mins a leg but is unpenalised.

Thursday:
Both crews arrived on the Island at around 9:30pm and headed straight for scrutiny. Only different requirement to an Irish event was a noise test, which posed no problems for both crews. No parc Ferme, turn up at HQ for start the following evening.
We were very surprised to get a seeding of 13! Seeded behind us were a few Sierra and Escort cossies and a ex David Higgins Impreza.

Friday
Did our reece on Friday Morning/Afternoon. Time was a little short and we only got to see some stages twice. Service crew checked over the car and got some 98 Unleaded which is only available at certain times at a special pump behind the TT Grand stand.

Entry for the rally included Julian Porter in the sister car to the Escort Maxi Liam O'Callaghan used last year. Gleen Leece had Ian Corkhills Mk I Escort, complete with Proflex suspension! Among the other Machinery was Rob Watson with what could best be described as a Corsa/Nova Kit car. It just looked the business - 2.0 Ltr engine (Still Front wheel drive), extended arches, big wheels, big wing on the back.

Rally started at 7:00pm To say the route was compact would be an under statement! Control out of the HQ was Control in for SS1! In fact there was alot more stage mileage than road mileage on the whole event. Despite being on the Isle of Man, seeded at 13 with a cossie starting behind us, I was less nervous then I have ever been starting an Irish event!

SS1 was eight miles long, narrow and twisty at the start, then very fast and open until the last mile which was a little tighter. Brilliant surface throughout. Took it easy for the start of SS1, cool tyres/different roads etc! Passed the other Irish Crew: Maurice Moffett/Paul McCann with the bonnet up half way in.
As we expected the Sierra starting behind, caught us about 1/2 in. The roads being so wide they has no problem passing us! However it was the one and only car to pass us over the whole rally.
A local ex-works Astra at 10 rolled on a bumpy 3 right, crew OK, but looked like every piece of Glass was broken on the car.

SS2 - Marine Drive.
This was a short 3.3 mile stage, fairly open and fast with plenty 4 and 5s but lots of grip. Enjoyed the last half mile which was very fast open piece of main road! Flat all the way!

Service then followed back at HQ. on the way to service spotted Maurice's Car on a trailer, Dry sump belt had come off a mile into the stage. The crew got the belt on but the damage was done, engine let go b4 the end of the stage. The team were bitterly disappointed as they would have taken the rally to the locals.

SS1 and 3 were then repeated. We were faster on both stages despite a half spin on SS3

Service followed, right at the start of SS5, i.e. Control out of Service was control in to the Stage! Only problems with the car was first was hard to select, which made for some interesting moments going around some of the bale junctions.
Although it was getting late, full lights were not yet required. Unfortunately we had an incident which nobody likes to happen to them. A local driver, a late entry started the stage behind us. John could see him catching us, but he was still 10-12 car lengths away going into a !1R -> 4R 250 at the end of a long straight. The road was a main road but we lifted for the 4 (as one usually does at those speeds) but the guy behind didn't (Local knowledge!) and made up the distance in 2 turns! He just clipped the back of us trying to pass us and went off. No damage to our car but they were not going anywhere. We stopped to make sure the crew was OK.After that we just drove to the end of the stage, after begin stopped for over 4 minutes. SS6 was a repeat of SS5 but in the dark. After what had happened we just weren't with it and just drove over the stage.

Once we returned to HQ we explained what happened to the COC. Like us he thought it was unfortunate, but a racing incident and nobodies fault - (That's Rallying!)
We were surprised that we 25th overall after all that had happened. With no overnight Parc ferme we were able to take the car home for the night.

Saturday.

Met the driver of the "other" car the following morning and while not in the best of form he helped to put John in a better frame of mind. We decided to just go out and enjoy ourselves and see how it went.

Leading the rally was Gleen Leece in the ultimate Mark I Escort, after the first 2 seeds had booked out of first service ten mins early the evening b4!
SS7 and 8 was an extended version of Marine Drive to 7 miles. Middle section was slightly tight with the last few miles flat out 1s and 2s!
There was a delay for us starting the stage after Julian Porter rolled the Kit Car on the stage. He had blocked the stage for a few cars but we got to have a run on the stage. However afterwards everyone's times were scrubbed.
Starting ahead of us was a Swift GTi, 2/3rds in we had nearly caught them but we just didn't have the top speed to catch him on the fast stuff at the end of the stage!

John was determined to catch him on the second run over the stage. Flat out from the start, we got on his bumper just as we got we crossed the flying finish, but we got fifth fastest on stage!! only seven seconds off the fastest time by the Corsa kit car (which won the rally in the end!!!).

After service 2 more stages were done and repeated, with service right on the finish line of the 2nd stage in the loop!
SS9/11 was one of the best stages in the rally, going through the mines (remember where Fisher broke the input shaft when he was leading Schwarz?). The first part was tight with a few jumps then a very very very fast section to the mines with a tight winding bumpy section to the finish.
On the first run over we had a slight overshoot at an unseen HpR (Yes! I called it in plenty of time) Again just caught the swift as we crossed the flying finish.
A 3 mile road section brought us to SS10 (and 12), an absolute flat out 6 mile blast! Didn't catch the Swift as we just didn't have the top speed that the swift was capable of (was still faster than it though!) In fact on one straight the car started suffering fuel starvation such was the length of time we were flat out!
By this time spirits were high in the camp, weather was perfect, car was running like a clock and we now had the hang of these famous Manx stages. Attacked SS11 (repeat of SS9) and this time caught and passed the swift just after the mines! A brilliant time was on the cards until the stage was blocked by an Astra 6 or 7 cars in front, only one mile from the end. It clipped a bank rolled and got wedged in. Crew were OK but car looked a little out of shape.

Had a good run over the last stage to finish off the event.
With only 4 stages counting towards results on the second day, we managed 21st overall and first overseas crew.