50th Anniversary Rallee Classicagh Isle of Man 2013

This rally was first run in 1953 and with this year coinciding with the Mini Cooper S’s 50th birthday, a truly international line up of 6 Minis out of the Classic Rally entry of 36 assembled on Thursday 12th September in Douglas.

England (IOM) car 23 Adrian Kermode/John Coleman –Blue /White Cooper S, winner of the IOM Historic Rally in 1992&3 in this mini “222 DMN”.

Ireland – car 24 Mervyn Johnston/Wendy Blackledge –Green/White Cooper S . Car 28 Colin McDowell/Ian Evans –Blue/White Austin Mini .

Japan – car 30 Shinobu Kitano/Hiroko Kitano- Red/White Cooper S, the husband and wife team travelling all the way from Japan to compete. Car 32 Yashino Tsuchiya/Hideki Miki –Grey /White Cooper .

Scotland – Car 31 Peter Horsburgh/Derek Webb – Red/White MiniSpares Cooper S “277 BRX”,now with more power thanks to the Southam MMC built split weber set-up replacing the more usual SU’s.

Previous winner for 3 years from 1988 to 1990, Glen Leece from the Isle of Man was entered this year in his Cooper S “323DMN”but due to a neck injury was unable to compete. He followed a rather more illustrious pair Timo Makinen and Paul Easter winning in 1987 in a Healey 3000. Ahead of the crews this year were 3 days of closed road special stages totalling just under 200 miles, the same as the WRC Rally Australia held this month! The rally started in a wet Douglas at 6.30 pm on Thursday on SS1 Marine Drive along the cliff top, and the first casualty was Adrian Kermode who stopped after the stage with distributor problems which took the rest of the night to fix, missing the next 4 stages. The super special SS4 on the Douglas prom had 2 cars starting side by side in an innovation from the rally in 2012 and loved by the spectators.

We finished the first day at midnight and the first four crews were separated by just 40seconds, Kitani from Japan going better in the dark and McDowell leading us and Johnston. Tsuchiya missed the last stage with cylinder head issues resulting in a late night change of the head for Friday. Friday started dry and with Kermode ‘s car fixed he set fastest times on all the day’s 13 stages using his local knowledge to great effect, but with penalties from day 1 so was out of contention. The day’s 13 stages included classics such as SS6 Druidale uphill through the famous Ari Vatanen cattle grid and bumps and twists to Brandywell cottage and down to Sartfield hairpin, SS12 The Sand Quarry with McRae’s jump and the switchback, andSS16/17 through the centre of Castletown in the dark .

McDowell’s clutch failed on SS6 and he retired. Over the day Horsburgh won 7 stages, Johnston won 4 and Kitani won 2, giving us in the MiniSpares mini “277 BRX” a 2 minute lead going in to the final day.

Saturday started with a test of nerve down the Tholt-y –Will mountain road. We were first into the stage and first casualty when the mini stopped 2 miles into the stage with what was eventually diagnosed as closed up points ending our excellent run. Major disappointment!! Most of the stages were repeats from the previous day but finishing with SS27 “Classic” 13.15 miles which starts up Druidale and finishes in Douglas in front of the TT grandstand. Kermode was again quickest with Mervyn Johnston sharing the honours with Shinobu Kitano at 4 stages each. Sadly Yashino Tsuchiya/Hideki Miki in the Mk1 Cooper retitired on SS24 with mechanical problems leaving Mervyn Johnston and Wendy Blackledge to take a well-deserved victory in class B2. Nevertheless all the family and crews from Japan were celebrating in style at the finish, after a brilliant and challenging event on arguably the best rally roads in Britain. Congatulations to Druidale Motor Club for a superbly organised event.

The International Rally Isle of Man ran using the same stages and there were two Minis entered. Car155 Alison Lock/Russell Joseph in their now fuel injected BL Mini and Car 158 Local IOM crew of Nigel Cordwell/Byron Mercer in a Rover Mini 35.

Nigel Cordwell won the class, with Alison suffering electrical issues on Stage15 , but able to restart the final day under “super rally” rules .

Peter Horsburgh

 

(Picture credits to www.ManxMotorsportsPhotos.co.uk) .

 

 

 

Importation rules regarding vehicles are very specific: Only those over 25 years in age may be brought in to the USA without compilance to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).