Oly McCollum and Iain Craven followed up their terrific performances at the Dawnbreaker Inter-Association event with an overall win in the East Lothian Safari, held on Saturday night in sub-zero temperatures. However, the pair only won by virtue of a tiebreaker after finishing level with Graeme Sherry and Peter Weall, with navigator Craven being the faster of the two co-pilots to answer a mathematical question based on windmills on the map. Following them, Alan Martin and Chris Bolton finished third in Expert Class, a highly commendable effort when one considers that the pair were moved up from Non-Expert level at the last minute.

As if the tension of one tiebreaker was not sufficient, the Novice Class too was decided by a map-based exercise – ‘novice’ navigator John Swinburne (eligible for the class by partnering novice driver Jamie Seth) was able to count the windmills on the map in the shortest time. Despite losing the tiebreak, James Stewart and Eamonn Williams still managed to clean the rally, a result Club Treasurer Williams attributed to James “driving like a God.” On its last outing, Gavin Lloyd’s decidedly ill-sounding Ford Fiesta took the bronze gong in Novice Class, avoiding its driver’s threat to wrap it round a tree to save scrapping costs.

However, Monty and Gary Pearson’s Volkswagen Golf VR6 needed no such encouragement to leave the road, spinning off on a hairpin right after TC7 and becoming lodged in the vegetation, thus forcing the crew to retire. Up until that point, Monty’s son had enjoyed a solid outing in Novice Class, and was one of several junior navigators in the event with ages ranging from twelve upwards - a highly encouraging sign, and it will be very interesting to watch these younger competitors develop in the coming events.

In the Rallyschool Class, freshers Steven Campbell and Tasha George continued their good run of form in recent events, blowing away the other Rallyschool entrants. In fact, the pair barely needed their marked map, feeling that they did better on the later section when they had to plot the clues themselves as opposed to following a marked map. In addition, the duo finished ahead of a Lotus Elise and a Jaguar XK8, proving that in navigational rallying, an effective co-driver is just as important, if not more so, than a super-quick vehicle (however it must not be forgotten that Steven’s Focus is actually an ST170!).

As with every motorsport event, however, effective organisation is needed to permit such close competition, therefore the Man/Woman of the Rally Award must go to Ronnie Taylor’s vast team of marshals, who braved the Baltic conditions to sign timesheets and issue clues – if these officials can recreate just some of the frozen facial expressions and numb digits that were in evidence on Saturday night, then a career as extras in countless Scott of the Antarctic movies surely beckons. Furthermore, the end of event hospitality was nothing short of superb, and any would-be event organisers would do well to take note that large trays of mini sausage rolls are a welcome sight for tired competitors! Once again, a great all-round performance from both marshals and competitors, which bodes well for the Nuit Blanche on the 26th February 2005.


Final Classification

Expert Class

1. Oly McCollum/Iain Craven (Citroen ZX) (after tie-break)
2. Graham Sherry/Peter Weall (Ford Focus)
3. Alan Martin/Chris Bolton (Vauxhall Astra)
4. Erdinc Degrimenciolgu/Pete Trace (Volkswagen Golf)
5. Dave Brown/Joel Haylock

Novice Class

1. Jamie Seth/John Swinburne (VW Golf Cabrio) (after tie-break)
2. James Stewart/Eamonn Williams (Peugeot 205 GTi)
3. Gavin Lloyd/Neil Thomson (Ford Fiesta)
4. Jon Huffer/Dougie Humphrey (Mazda MX-5)
5. Alan Cowan/Leslie Mabon (Peugeot 106)
6. Barry Clough/Mark Clough (Ford Escort Mk II)
7. Martin Young/Mike Curry (Ford Mondeo)
8. Derek McLean/Jason Ferry (Honda Accord)
DNF - Monty Pearson/Gary Pearson (VW Golf VR6)

Rallyschool Class

1. Steven Campbell/Tasha George (Ford Focus ST170)
2. Crispin Kennedy/Ju-ju Agg Manning (Lotus Elise)
3. Alan Maxwell and Son (Jaguar XK8)
 

Updated 24 November 2003
Webmaster - Jim Paterson