After what must have felt like an eternity for the three crews involved, the 2015 ARR Craib Scottish Rally Champions have been announced as Jock Armstrong and Paula Swinscoe, after the decision was delayed following a tribunal regarding Mike Faulkner's Jim Clark victory. The result gives Jock his first ever Scottish title. It was a season of consistency from the Castle Douglas driver, who steered his Subaru Impreza - finished in a rather nice striking orange - to victory on the opening round of the season, the Snowman Rally. Throughout the rest of the season he was frequently on the podium (often behind the dominant David Bogie in his superior R5 machinery) apart from on round 2, the Border Counties (pictured above). He put in arguably his best performance of the season on the Jim Clark in Kielder Forest, after starting with a hefty time penalty he was the quickest man on the stages to amazingly wind up on the podium! After the Speyside Stages and going into the McRae which was meant to be the final round, Armstrong was trailing Bruce McCombie, but claimed the title as the drop score rule meant Armstrong lost his worst result of 0 pts, and that was enough to propel him to championship glory. And what of Bruce McCombie? No outright victories (all but 2 were taken by 5 time champion Bogie) but a very consistent trouble free season put him at the top of the championship for most of the season. However, due to the superior finishes Armstrong had, his drop score didn't affect his total and that saw Bruce slip behind both him and Mike Faulkner in the championship table. Still a good result though! Mike Faulker and Peter Foy took second behind Jock and Paula, in their Mitsubishi Evo IX. Last season the pair got to grips with the new car, and thus this season they were much more in the groove, taking an outright victory on the Jim Clark in the man made forest complex that Mike adores. Some varied results and mixed fortune means he once again missed out on the ultimate prize, but he will be desperate to get his hands on the 2016 trophy. Given the current fragile state rallying is in in this country - which you can read about in my previous blog - nobody knows what 2016 will hold. Hopefully we will see a Bogie vs Thorburn battle once again, if Bogie decides to continue in the SRC and the latter decides to come back. Or could the best Scottish drivers head off to compete in the returning British Rally Championship? After all, three of the seven events are held in Scotland so they will have experience!
All of this remains but a mystery at the present moment, but it is nice to finally have our Champion crowned and have a difficult season drawn to a close. Let's hope that organisers can successfully run next year's events and keep as many rallies in the championship as possible!
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Rallying in the UK faces a far from secure future, after a difficult 18 months or so for the sport has been further highlighted by the recent cancellation of the Colin McRae Stages Rally in Aberfeldy. Named after Scotland's infamous World Champion Colin McRae, the McRae Stages was set to be the final round of the annual ARR Craib Scottish Rally Championship, but unfortunately had to be scrapped due to an insufficient number of entrants for the forest based event. However, this merely scratches the surface of the problems British rallying faces right now. The 2014 edition of the Jim Clark Rally acted as a keystone in the future of our sport, after 3 spectators tragically lost their lives on the second day of the event. The onlookers were standing in a dangerous position, and were reportedly told to move to a safer place. David Carney - driving a Citroen DS3 with over 200 bhp - lost control over a hump-backed bridge and speared off into a field where the 3 onlookers were standing. Understandably the matter was deemed very serious, and was compounded by the fact other spectators were critically injured earlier on in the event. Added to the equation was the matter of a spectator being killed in 2013 on a forest track event, and the MSA - the governing body for rallying in Britain - along with the police had no other choice but to launch a full investigation and devise a new set of rules to try and make rallying safer. The consequences for the subsequent 2015 season have proved damaging for the future of rallying in this country. The Jim Clark Rally - run on public roads - was forced to relocate to Kielder Forest due to ongoing investigations, and spectator safety was absolutely paramount. Rally organisers had to be much more strict, designating specific zones for spectators to watch, and making sure absolutely everybody was standing in a safe place before allowing a stage to be run. The hope amongst many has been that if everybody can remain safe and behave themselves, the regulations restricting the freedom spectators have to stand where they like on a stage will be relaxed. But since the Scottish government is involved, it is unlikely an issue as serious as public safety is simply going to evaporate. Currently, the new rules are only affecting rallying in Scotland, but the MSA are set to enforce them all over the country. It goes without saying that spectator and competitor safety is an important issue, but what cost will new legislation have on rallying? Potentially a detrimental one. With new, stricter regulations in place it is likely there will be fewer rallies next year. This means the forestry commissions are going to want to charge more per event, as they aren't receiving as much income from a variety of rallies. In turn, this will push up costs for rally organisers and subsequently the entrance fee for competitors will rise. Next year rally organsiers will be under much more pressure and scrutiny, with increased work load and man hours being injected to run an event. And for what? There is no guarantee that just because there are fewer events, there will be more entrants for the ones that remain. And will the organisers even bother, with all the additional hassle and costs? And don't think that the concept of losing events is altogether new. This weekend's McRae Stages has obviously been scrapped, as was a fellow Scottish championship event - the Galloway Hills - due to a disagreement over the route and HQ of the rally. It is itself a miracle the organisers of the Jim Clark Rally managed to pull together an event in all honesty, considering the intense speculation around the fact they weren't allowed to use the Berwickshire country lanes like the event normally uses. I've been to an event this year with stricter marshaling, and despite the fact it is undoubtedly safer, some of the joy from spectating on a rally has been removed. Freedom has been severely reduced, with access to only around half of the stages and only certain viewing points allowed on each of those. Of course, it is beneficiary and is there to save the sport, but it's frustrating that common sense just won't prevail anymore. It seems that the actions of the minority (those who disrespect marshals and put themselves in danger) have ruined it for the majority. It may all be sorted out effectively of course, but there is no getting away from the fact that the sport of rallying in UK is on the verge of serious trouble. The implications of the 2014 tragedies are severe, and if anything disastrous happens again it could well spell the end of rallying forever. |
BRITISH RALLYINGArticles covering rally in Britain, looking at the MSA BRC Archives
September 2017
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