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Colin McRae Forest Stages - (Sat) 1 Oct 11

Posted: August 15, 2012 2:09 PM - 7734 Hits

Round 8 - 2011 Scottish Rally Championship
Round 7 - 2011 MSA British Historic Rally Championship

Results

Posted: August 15, 2012 2:09 PM

ALL SET FOR CHAMPIONSHIP FINALE

Posted: September 25, 2011 9:42 PM

The final showdown in the 2011 MSA Scottish Rally Championship will be played out in the Perthshire forests next weekend. The Colin McRae Forest Stages will start and finish in Aberfeldy on Saturday, October 1st.

Two points separate Mike Faulkner and Euan Thorburn as they battle it out for the runners-up spot in the championship, which has already been won by David Bogie.

Faulkner and co-driver Peter Foy were victorious on the penultimate round, the Merrick Stages, while Thorburn fought his way back up the leaderboard to finish fourth, after losing time on the opening stage with turbo-pipe problems.

It followed a titanic struggle on the previous Speyside event, when both drivers recorded equal times on four of the stages.

Faulkner is under no illusion that the challenge will be just as tough next weekend at the wheel of his Mitsubishi Evo 6:
"I'm really looking forward to the final battle with Euan. It has been close all year, so I don't see it being any different on the final round. We're not thinking about the championship permutations - we just want to carry on the momentum from the Merrick and hopefully finish the season on a high with another win. The McRae stages are always a challenge as they very slippery when they are wet, so we will have to balance between attacking and staying on the road".

Duns-based Thorburn, with Paul Beaton of Inverness on the notes, is also putting thoughts of the championship to one side and has his sights firmly on securing his first victory at the conclusion of an SRC campaign which has seen him runner-up three times at the wheel of his Mitsubishi Evo 9. Both are likely to come under pressure from third seed Robbie Head, also in an Evo 9, who sits third in the drivers' points, eleven points adrift of Thorburn.

The Lanarkshire ace was second on the Merrick, his highest finish since returning to regular competition at the start of the season. Head, who will be without regular co-driver Claire Mole, has drafted in one of Northern Ireland's top navigators, Gordon Noble, for the Perthshire challenge.

Shaun Sinclair and Chris Hamill return to the fray in an Evo9 for only their third outing on an SRC round this year. The Oban crew will be looking to repeat the form which took them to a top six finish on the McRae Stages two years ago.

Sixth seeds Donnie Macdonald and Keir Beaton from Inverness will want to finish their championship campaign with a flourish, following their only retirement of the season thus far on the Merrick, when their Evo 9 slid off into a ditch on the penultimate stage.

The Aberdeenshire crew of Chris Collie and Lisa Watson will also be in the hunt for a good points haul in their Subaru Impreza, after recording their best championship result – sixth overall – in Galloway.

Meanwhile, John McLory, co-driven by David Hood, is three points behind Macdonald in the overall drivers' standings in his Subaru Impreza N15 but has a single point advantage over the Inverness driver in Class 10. In the DMACK Group N championship, Kilmarnock's Andrew Gallacher (Subaru Impreza) has a four point lead over David Newall in a Mitsubishi Evo 8: the former having finished fifth overall on the Merrick alongside navigator Phil Sandham.

No fewer than seven Ford Escorts lead the 2-wheel drive entries, which will run at the front of the field.
They are led by the historic Mk2 of Steve Bannister, with Louise Sutherland on the notes. However, they will face strong competition for overall "Escort" honours from, among others, Ludlow-based Joe Price and SRC regulars Malcolm Buchanan, Quintin Milne and Michael Horne.
Milne, co-driven by Martin Forrest, has scored maximum Class 8 points on the last two rounds, and is six points adrift of another quick Escort man, Liam Harkness from Thornhill.

Twenty-three-year-old Harkness, co-driven by Kenneth Marchbank, also has his eye on the SRC Junior Championship, where he trails Gareth White by three points, with both drivers also in contention for the Red Bull Junior Challenge.

White, with fellow Borderer Mike Dickson on the notes, will be at the wheel of the Citreon C2R2 which has taken him to the top of the fiercely competitive Class 4 1600 category.
The 23-year-old mechanic from St Boswells has a seven point cushion over Thornhill's Jim Robertson, also in a Citreon, and Graeme Schoneville in a Honda Civic who are both tied for second.
Schoneville, who took maximum class points on the Merrick, and fellow Lanarkshire competitor Graeme Smith will slug it out for top "Civic" honours, while Paisley's Alisdair Graham (Vauxhall Corsa) will want to finish the season on a high after two previous non-finishes. Malcolm Robertson and Katie Stimpson are another crew to look out for in their Talbot Sunbeam. Tom and Sue Hynd have wrapped up Class 3 in their Peugeot 205GTi but second place is still up for grabs, with Merrick-winners Iain Haining/Mairi Riddick (Vauxhall Nova) defending a one point advantage over Ayr crew Blair and Alex McCulloch, also in a Nova.

As the cars line up for the start in Aberfeldy on Saturday morning, competitors, officials and spectators alike will remember former Scottish champion Jimmy Girvan who lost his life on last year's event. The first 2-wheel drive car will leave at 0830, with the leading cars returning from 1438 approximately.

Seeded Entry Lists

Posted: September 25, 2011 7:47 PM

BHRC preview, round seven: Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally

Posted: September 23, 2011 12:13 PM

For the first time, contenders in the Dunlop/Wonago MSA British Historic Rally Championship will compete over gravel stages in Scotland as the championship makes its debut on the Colin McRae Stages (Saturday 1 October). The Aberfeldy-based event will now be the final round of the 2011 championship.

Over the last two months, the leading crews have competed on the asphalt closed roads of Ulster and Flanders in Belgium, but now the focus switches back to gravel for the final event of the season; the first time on gravel since the Severn Valley Stages in early June.

The crew with the upperhand as the BHRC contenders head north is David Stokes and Guy Weaver in their Category 2 Ford Escort Mk1. Apart from a retirement on the Severn Valley with halfshaft failure, the defending champions have enjoyed a superb season and now Stokes returns to stages that he last drove over in the 1970s. Their best plan is, as ever, to go out and win Category 2 and then they cannot be beaten.

Another maximum score in Scotland will make Stokes and Weaver champions for the third time. Only one crew can now come between Stokes and Weaver and the BHRC crown and that is Rikki Proffitt/Phill Harrison in their Porsche 911 from Category 1. If Proffitt wins Category 1 and Stokes does not win Category 2, then the Porsche driver will be champion. Weaver, however, is now secure as champion co-driver.

To add to the challenge faced by Proffitt, his class opposition includes the rapid 911 of former champions Dessie Nutt and Geraldine McBride as well as the flying Volvo Amazon of Graham Waite and Gill Cotton. Waite has fabulous pace on gravel with his spectacular handling of the Volvo and will surely press the Porsches hard.

Elsewhere in a strong Category 1 field are more Porsches for father and daughter crew Derek and Roisin Boyd and Edmund Peel/Janet Craine as well as another Volvo Amazon for Dave Reynolds and Paul Heath. Making their BHRC debut in their Ford Cortina GT are Callum Barney and Ron Channon, while among the smaller-engined cars is the wonderful Sunbeam Imp Sport of Geoff Taylor and Steve Greenhill.

The chief rivals to Stokes and Weaver in Category 2 are Chris Browne and Liz Jordan in their Ford Escort Mk1. The Kent-based crew make the long haul north after a strong opening salvo last time out in Belgium; their local BHRC event. On the opening leg they traded times with Stokes but ended their rally on day two in a field of Brussel sprouts! Peter Egerton/Alun Cook and Jeremy Wells/Ken Bowman are other class C5 crews, while class C3 should feature a great battle between the Pinto-powered Escort Mk1s. Andrew Siddall and Carl Williamson are the crew to beat, but Dick Slaughter and Geoff Dearing, another crew from Kent, are very quick on gravel and make the trek north in search of a strong haul of championship points. Chasing the top two C3 crews will be Ian Drummond and David Holmes in another Escort Mk1.

The Category 3 field includes two of the biggest names in rallying history; Stig Blomqvist and Jimmy McRae. Legendary Swede Blomqvist and co-driver Anna Goni are in a Ford Escort Mk2 from the Viking Motorsport squad of former World Champion co-driver Phil Mills. Though not registered for the BHRC, the presence of such a famous driver as Blomqvist adds tremendously to the buzz around this rally.

McRae, on the event that means so much to his family, is again competing in the Tuthill Porsche Challenge, a sub-set of the BHRC for identical Porsche 911s from the Tuthill Porsche squad. Jimmy is co-driven by Pauline Gullick, while Andrew Barnes and Guy Simmons are in a similar class D4 911.

Rivalling Blomqvist in class D5 for the most powerful Escort Mk2s are Yorkshireman Tim Pearcey and his Scottish co-driver Neil Shanks, as well as Nick Woodman and Simon Mills, who have been showing increasingly strong pace this season in the Grant Shand-tended car, and rallying twins Phil and Mick Squires. Simon Webster and Pete Cotton are another strong Escort Mk2 pairing.

Finally, in class D3, for the Pinto-powered Escort Mk2s, Shawn Rayner and Declan Dear take on Wayne Bonser and Richard Aston. Rayner will be hoping for a clearer run than in Belgium three weeks ago when they battled to the finish against a whole catalogue of dramas.

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Stig Blomqvist to compete

Posted: August 5, 2011 12:44 PM

The ‘original’ Stig is set to captivate and excite Scottish rally fans later this year with conformation that he will compete on the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally.

Stig Blomqvist – the 1984 world champion – will return to the Perthshire forest he previously visited during the 70’s and 80’s.

The Swedish legend will be behind the wheel of a new MkII Ford Escort, owned and prepared by Phil Mills, himself a former world championship winning co-driver.

And according to Coltness Car Club , attracting someone of Blomqvist’s stature to the event, which in addition to being part of the DMack Scottish Championship is also a counter in the Dunlop/WONAGO MSA Historic Championship for the first time, is something of a coup.

“The word legend is often used in sport – but I think its safe to say that Stig qualifies on that count many times over,” said Jim Brown, Chairman of Coltness Car Club, the rally organisers.

“He is a past world champion, has been a star driver for Saab, Audi, Talbot and Ford, not to mention that Top Gear’s anonymous race driver also took his name.

“That he will be competing on the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally only shows the attraction this rally, the classic Perthshire stages and historic rallying in general.

“We’ve already been contacted by rally enthusiasts from around the UK asking if Stig will be there – because people will travel from far and wide just to see him and the Escort in action.”

Brown added;
“Coltness Car Club are delighted that EventScotland and Perth & Kinross Council are again our partners in supporting the rally, and I know they are ready to welcome the rest of the historic runners to Perthshire for what will be a great event.”

Blomqvist and Mills will also be star attractions at the eve-of-event Rally Forum, to be staged on September 30 at the Moness House Hotel, where they will be joined by other names from world and British rallying.

Changes for 2011

Posted: June 13, 2011 12:31 PM

Details of the move to Aberfeldy, stages and route along with the running order of the 2011 Colin McRae Forest Stages have now been finalised. There have been some major changes to the event this year.

As well as the move of rally HQ to Aberfeldy and the inclusion of the final round of the MSA Dunlop Wonago British Historic Rally Championship, the event will also be split into both National A and National B rallies.

A provisional route, including the famous stages of Perthshire, making a total of 45 stage miles for the SRC competitors (national B) and 50 miles for the BHRC competitors (national A) has been submitted for approval. All the stages will be single usage.

The running order will see the Historic cars take to the stages first with the usual McRae Stages format of 2 wheel drive cars followed by 4 wheel drive cars after them. To minimise the impact of timing on the SRC event the Historic Championship cars will start early thus allowing the SRC competitors to start at the normal time of 8.30am.

BHRC heads for Colin McRae Stages

Posted: January 5, 2011 4:55 PM

Club Website

Posted: January 2, 1990 3:05 PM

Topics: Scottish Rally Championship  McRae Stages  BHRC 

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