Squarepage Systems Stages (Ingliston) - 24 Apr 10

England Meets Scotland for Round 2

Posted: April 15, 2010 4:49 PM

On the 24th April the Squarepage Sytems Stages will take place at The Royal Highland Show Ground at Ingliston. Round 2 of the Hankook Scottish Tarmack Rally Championship will use completely new routes, utilising parts of the Ingliston complex not used for rallying before. Waiting for competitors is around 40 miles of tarmack rallying combining tight technical sections and fast flowing sections to challenge drivers and co-drivers alike.

The Hankook Scottish Tarmac Rally Championship is joined by the North of England Tarmacadam Rally Championship for the first of three rounds these championships share. The addition of the North of England Championship will see some fierce competition for overall and class awards making for some exciting battles. The Squarepage Systems Stages is round 4 of the North of England Championship which is currently lead by Alistair Hutchinson in his LPG power Renault Clio.

2009 STRC champions Bruce Edwards and Jim Smith got their title defence off to a great start winning the opening round, the Hytorc Stages. Aiming to take a title hat-trick this year, Bruce and Jim have bagged some points early as they will miss the Lindisfarne Rally in September so need to take points when they can. The paddle shift system fitted to the Darrian over the winter seams to work very well.

Ross Fernie and John Young used their win on the Kames Rally Time Trial to good effect taking the Ford Escort Cosworth to 2nd overall on the Hytorc Stages. Opting to run on Hankook tyres, the crew stayed out of trouble and put in consistent times to take a good haul of points in the championship, Hankook scheme and the Escort Challenge. Dogged by problems with the Ford Escort Cosworth, the crew have made a great start to this year and hopefully their recent run of good luck continues.

Returning to competition Kevin Ross set some blistering times, throwing the Subaru Impreza around to pick up 3rd place overall. Guided by Drew Sturrock, Kevin was on for a 2nd place finish before suffering two broken driveshafts and a wrong tyre choice, dropping him down the leaderboard but a charge on the last 2 stages meant the crew secured a podium place.

Trying out his recently acquired Ex Alasdair Graham Ford Escort mk2 Martin Elsdon and Barry Hogg put in some encouraging times resulting in 13th overall. Also shaking down a recently built Millington powered Ford Escort Mk2, Barry Renwick and Ken Bills posted top 5 times to secure 4th overall.

With a new engine in the Ford Escort Mk2, Allan Brodie and Cameron Fairbairn were delighted to finish 5th overall and winning class 3. Tweaks made over the winter seam to have made the crew happy with the car and they are looking forward to a successful year.

Paul Stewart and Josh Davidson wish they had spent some extra time preparing their Ford Escort RS2000 Mk5 before the event, retiring with engine failure Paul commented “Maybe I should have checked the oil before the start”. Starting only their second event, Steven O’Donnell and John Fitness hoped to get further than on their previous event. Setting 22nd fastest time on both the opening 2 stages the crew was positive of a good result but on SS3 the bottom end of the engine gave up putting an end to their event. Alex Brown and Stewart Wilshire also retired, this time the Citreon Saxo gearbox failing on SS5. During the winter the Saxo had been tweaked by Garry Muir and the crew were hoping to get some miles on the car and secure a finish but they now look to repair the gearbox for the next round in April.

Top 10 Entries

Posted: April 15, 2010 4:47 PM

1 Bruce Edwards / Jim Smith (Darrian T9)
2 Ross Fernie / John Young (Ford Escort RS Cosworth)
3 Kevin Ross / Drew Sturrock (Subaru Impreza)
4 Barry Renwick / Ken Bills (Ford Escort Mk2)
5 Allan Brodie / Cameron Fairbairn (Ford Escort Mk2)
6 Lachlan Cowan / Stuart Bell (Peugeot 106 Gti)
7 Gareth White / Callum Atkinson (Citreon C2 R2)
8 Bruce Oag / Darren Oag (Ford Escort)
9 David Hope / Fiona Gourlay (Subaru Impreza)
10 Alister Ross / Stewart Hurst (Ford Escort Mk2)

Regulations / Details

Posted: March 8, 2010 8:45 PM

The Squarepage Systems Stages, again at Ingliston, Nr Edinburgh (due to the loss of a new venue) is a single venue rally with 40 miles of competition over 8 stages.

The event is the second round in the Hankook Scottish Tarmack Rally Championship and a counter in the AS Performance North of England Tarmacadam Rally Championship.

Dunfermline Car Club

Scottish Tarmack Rally Championship