record entry for the first event of the year for Dunfermline Car Club.
The DCC Crail Stages is now into its third year of running and now reports its biggest entry to date.
The event is the first round of the Hytorc Scottish Tarmack Rally Championship as well as a counting round in the North of England Rally Championship and is reported to have the largest entry of 6R4’s seen at an event since 1996. It will also be the first time the event and the championship will have had an entry from a WRC Subaru.
John & Jim Rintoul will head the field in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6, Crail is John & Jims local event and so should know every groove in the road, followed closely no doubt by Tommy Morris & Colin Harkness in his 6R4, who missed out last year after stumbling and hurting his ankle leaving him unable to use the pedals safely. 3rd is John Stone & Lee Carter in their 6R4, John of Legend Fires and Tommy, formally of Parkhead Buildin! g Supplies are both use to running at the front of the field and so will enjoy the challenge.
In 4th is Mark Jasper & Don Whyatt, Mark who runs Jasper's Bakeries is coming out to set the car up as he plans to compete in Donegal, Sligo, and Jersey later in the year. Their car which was formerly looked after by the late Chris Wood is now run by Keith Bird Motorsport.
5th is another local and former sponsor of the event, Bob Grant of Grant Construction, Bob and co-driver Peter Carstairs will be hoping being a local will give them an edge.
6th is Barry Renwick & Ken Bills in their Subaru WRC. Barry is a co-sponsor of the North of England Rally Championship of which the event is a counting round and he has registered for the Hytorc Scottish Tarmack Rally Championship, the first WRC registration.
7th is Martin Elsdon and Iain Rettie, Martin whom some call “the master” when it comes to Darrian’s, has had various cars since he returned to rally! ing a couple of years ago but success has evaded him and so he! going a ll out for the win.
8th is Andy Horne & Jim Howie in their 6R4, Andy normally competes in forest event and contends the Scottish Rally Championship.
9th is Bruce Edwards & Jim Smith in their Darrian. Bruce is very quick and managed to take the class win over Ricky Wheeler in the Kingdom Stages, also run at Crail in November, this meant that Ricky lost the title of the STRC to the first lady championship winner, Tracey Louise Muir.
10th, Keith Davidson & Alan Maxwell in their Darrian, Keith who is also a great driver will be codriven by Alan for the first time, they have never met but have spoken on the phone a couple of times, so should be interesting.
Other notables are Mark Wheeler in his Mk2 Escort, Mark a former driver for Team Ford has been away from rallying for three years. Son of Ricky Wheeler, Mark is just as flamboyant as his dad so is definitely worth watching and will be very entertaining for the crowd. Brett Mitton who i! s also entertaining in his Mk2, Ian & Kathryn Forgan, Ian was also a former Team Ford driver and is another local to the venue. Cameron MacLean, Ian “Ogg” Mackenzie will also be worth watching, both hard chargers from the Isle of Mull.
There is a whole family entered into the event, Colin Smith and son’s Jonathan, Graham & Fraser, daughter Katie 7 is the team manager, Jim Brown, President of Coltness Car Club and the biggest bear of them all, commented,“The Smith family are the next McRae dynasty for Scotland”.
There are also a couple of lady drivers, Heather MacKenzie, nee Connon, a former co-driver to the likes of Raymond Munro. This will be Heather’s second event in the driver’s seat and is hoping to raise enough sponsorship to enable her to compete in her local event, the Station Garage Granite City Rally in April and as many more as she can afford. Eliza Alston, will also be competing as an all lady crew with co-driver Hannah Cessford.What! is great to see is the new faces that are coming into rallyin! g, John Boyd, son of Gordon Boyd, has been karting since he was a toddler, Scott Erskine, son of Dougie Erskine has just passed his B.A.R.S. test, Luke McLaren, Graeme Shoneville, Craig White, Hamish Brandon, Andrew Falconer & Shaun Sinclair. Some of whom have competed in other disciplines of motor sport.
Angela Luke, President of Dunfermline Car Club Ltd commented;“The club has worked hard over the past three years, taking a financial loss in the first two, to get the event of the ground, this event with the entry we have will prove that it has all been worth while.
The number of 6R4’s along with the WRC Subaru is always great for the sport and should certainly generate a crowd, but we mustn’t forget the rest of the guys who have regularly supported the event over the past two years. What this phenomenal entry has meant was a difficulty in the seeding, if I was to say that all of the top 15 cars really should have been in the top 5, that will let you understan! d the problem. That in turn means that those who would normally be top 10 are now in the teens which has an overwhelming effect on the cars further down but I’msure the guys understand.
The variety of cars this year is phenomenal and it’s also good to see that about ten of the entry are new to the sport and are running in their first event ever and we have a couple of ladies entered too, all we need now is the weather and I’m sure we’ll be on for a great event”. We will also be running an opening car and closing car, a Mitsubishi Evo8 and a Bowler Tom Cat. If anyone misses this event and wishes to compete at Crail, we run a two day event in June, 14th/15th where there could be as many as 120 cars with 12 stages over two days.
As the entry of 6R4’s would draw a great crowd of spectators, I asked Angela if this would be a problem;“We as a club have always been safety conscious and this event will be no different. Crail as a venue for marshal’s is a diff! icult place in that it is off the beaten track for many, plus ! it can b e an unforgiving cold place but we do look after our marshal’s the best we can. This year is no different, they will be provided with Woolly bonnets, a goodie bag and lunch voucher, they will also receive a Ltd edition photo of the late great Colin McRae as well as having their names entered into prize draws for various items and of course cash prizes, plus we are looking into arranging runs in rally cars at a fun night at Knockhill in May. They can also register for the DCC marshal’s championship that was started last year, it costs nothing to register and the prizes on offer to date are truly phenomenal, there is a scooter worth up to £1200 donated by Palmerston Scooters, Dumfries, an off road driving course for two worth £525 donated by Highland Off Road, Dunkeld and a contemporary fire donated by Legend Fires which I’m sure will be valued in the hundreds and I’m sure we will have added many more prizes by the end of the year.
We would like to take this opportunity! to thanks the competitors, championship’s, marshal’s, officials and all the organising team who have helped make this the event it is today and we hope it continues to grow over the following years”.
