Calmac Ferry at Craignure (click to enlarge)
Today was all about travel - getting to the ferry in good time, queuing with lots of bleary eyed rally fans and some of the competitor's cars - most in good shape, but Cope's Scooby missing a fair bit of the front end - some spanner and hammer work to be done there.
Damage, But It Could Have Been Much Worse! (click to enlarge)
The 'beam scraped its exhaust again on the ferry ramp, it's still attached but I suspect its a few mil thinner than it used to be. The twin 45s and the exhaust echoed really well inside the ferry, so a bit of immature revving there I'm afraid.
Ah, The Views Just Keep On Coming (click to enlarge)
In Oban, straight into the Esso station for a filling of Super Unleaded (didn't mention it earlier but we took a tank of unleaded in Salen on Saturday afternoon - used Nitrox additive and the motor seemed to be fine on that mixture). The A82 wasn't much fun - too many trucks,coaches and rain but progress was steady. More Tesco 99 in Glasgow and again in Carlisle.
The worst part of the journey was the 90 minute hold up around J10 on the M74. Here the Sunbeam hit its first problem of the whole weekend - the temperature gauge was rising rather high. We pulled over and quickly diagnosed a corroded cable connection for the fan over-ride switch. 5 minutes of freshening up of the joint and we were back underway with the over-ride switch on so the fan was running full time. No problems from then onwards.
Andy's encyclopedic memory for song lyrics meant much singing on the rest of the journey as we plundered the iPod's extensive choice of music. Having said that, we've been back 1.5 hours now and my ears are still ringing! We also shared some thoughts on the pros of the weekend and what we would like to be different if we did this another time.
Pros:
The whole atmosphere of the event on the island
The warm welcome
Marshalling at scruitineering - it might seem a menial job lining cars up to get into the scruit bay, but what better way to get up close to the cars and chat with the crews?
The Malcolm Davey Mk1 Escort crew - in the hotel, in the Mishnish and on the stages. The guys didn't finish, but were still grinning after their retirement
A Mk2 Escort at 150mph on a single track road in the dark and in the mist
A deafening Toyota Starlet
The Sunbeam taking us there and bringing us home again, in fine style and creating a talking point for anyone to chat with us
The blog making the news on the 2300 club home page
Meeting Calum Duffy
Paul MacKinnnon's maturity, humility and fabulous drive
The big welcome home from the kids - Callum's even done a welcome home picture of the Sunbeam - very sweet
Sunbeam By A Five Year Old (click to enlarge)
Cons
Errm, a tough one this, but probably the minor access problem at Loch Tuath - I hope the event can keep its good relationship with the locals
The Sunbeam's too stiff and too low for the roads on Mull - it needs smoother surfaces!
Just now, sleep is the main requirement!
Oh, and here's a picture just for Callum (Hallworth that is, not Duffy!).
Wheels, Details, Close-Ups (click to enlarge)
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