MACH 1 Report and points
39 SSVRC competitors made the long journey down to Campbeltown for the 2023 Mach 1 Stages organised by Dunfermline Car Club. After the short technical stages on the previous round at Kames, Machrahanish would let the cars stretch their legs on the longer airfield stages.
There have been other individual reports posted on Facebook already – well done, I was on the Stage Arrival both days therefore I did not see a lot of the action but here is my summary.
The overall event was won by Derek McGarrity / Graham Henderson in a VW R5,
3 Minutes behind were Alistair Inglis / Colin Inglis in a Citroen C3 Rally 2, only 40 seconds behind in 3rd place were Michael McGarrity / Damian Garvey in a Fiesta R5.
The RSM Hire Scottish Single Venue Rally Championship were using the 2 day event as a double header – allocating points for the Saturday leg and separately for the Sunday leg, so if the crews had problems on Saturday they could still compete on Sunday for points.
In the SSVRC Championship, Alistair / Colin Inglis were 1st both days, Ben Macdowell/ Alison Horne were second in their BMW both days and 3rd both days were Des Campbell/ Cameron Dunn in the giant killing Peugeot 206.
Tom Middlemis had drivetrain problems on Saturday, unfortunately they were unable to repair the problem and were forced to retire after the first stage.
Greig Inglis had problems on the Saturday stages, but managed to resolve them and set some very competitive times on the last 4 stages on Saturday, unfortunately he retired from the Sunday event. The crew of James / Ian Wilson certainly kept their service crew busy with coolant hoses on Saturday and a gearbox change on Sunday, despite their valiant efforts they retired on Sunday with head gasket failure.
Cameron Williamson and Bobby Macdonald were swapping times during both days and the winner of the battle of the Subarus was Cameron by 2 seconds on Saturday and 13 seconds on Sunday, pretty close after 2 days of rallying.
It was great to see so many Juniors out and congratulations to Rian Walker/ Stuart McBride winning both days, these guys are the future of rallying and need to be encouraged. What really impressed me over the weekend was how all of the Junior 1000 family worked together to help repair their cars and keep all the crews in the rally.
The next round of the RSM Hire SSVRC will be the Afton Glen Meats Galston, Kames Summer Stages run by East Ayrshire Car Club on Sunday 20th August – entries are live are filling up fast. Kames can now run Rallies with 45 cars, which is great news, so get your entry in.
Saturday
Sunday
Overall
