2007 JIM CLARK NATIONAL RALLY (12/06/2007)
Car 126 - Driver Keith Robathan,
Co-driver Duncan Brown
On May 25th., 2007 the Jim Clark Rally weekend started with over 300 rally cars competing to set the fastest stage times over the closed public roads around Duns. Keith Robathan (Alford) and Duncan Brown (Windsor) had decided to enter the Jim Clark National event in their Oceanscan sponsored MK 2 Ford Escort. Based over 100 competitive miles this event would provide a real test for the crew and the car.
In preparation for this event the car had undergone an extensive restoration including a new engine from Clark Motorsport in Aboyne, repainting, total rewiring and new front suspension. After a lot of late nights stress levels were high within the team but the car was finally finished being rebuilt 48 hrs before the event was due to start except for one small problem, the car had no brakes. One of the front brake callipers bleed nipples had stripped the thread so at 01-00hrs on Thurs morning it was decided that the car would go down to the rally on the trailer while the calliper would be fixed and refitted on Friday morning.
Prior to this event starting the crews are allowed to drive over the roads at 20mph and make their own pace notes but this had to be completed on the Thursday and Friday morning so with the car on the trailer Keith had an early start at 04-00hrs to drive down to Kelso to meet Duncan and complete the pace note recce. The pace note recce went well and the team were able to relax slightly before the event started on Friday evening.
With the brake calliper refitted the car easily passed the pre event scrutineering and the team got ready foir the 2 Friday night stages. The team were a bit concerned that the problems with the brakes might make Keith take it easy at the start of the rally but after watching the car launch into the first bend over a narrow bridge with the inside front wheel of the ground they knew that the car would be flat out.
The new 2 ltr engine from Clark Motorsport was a lot quicker than the previous engine and it had transformed the car. Things had been pretty hectic inside the car on stage 1 but Keith and Duncan knew that with this engine and the car handling so well they had a good chance to mix it with the modern turbo 4 wheel drive cars. After the 2 short Friday night stages they were lying in 13th position overall but were already leading their class.
On Saturday morning after stages 3 and 4 they had now moved into 5th overall position and were still leading their 2 ltr class and were 1st 2 wheel drive car. This was despite catching the car in front on stage 3 and losing about 10 seconds. The rest of the stages in the morning went very well with the car running faultlessly and the crew maintained their 5th overall position. A slight vibration from the gearbox started towards the end of stage 5 but Duncan provided a typical co-drivers response of “drive it till it breaks” which it thankfully didn’t.
However at the start of stage 9 the front tyre suddenly deflated. After a quick wheel change the crew were ready to start the stage but the spare wheel had the harder rear tyre compound so they now had 2 different compounds of tyre on the front of the car. This proved to be no handicap as the crew set the 3r d fastest overall time! They had been very lucky that this tyre had gone down before the stage start but on stage 10 they were not so lucky. Half way through the 10mile long Leithholm stage they picked up a rear puncture. They decided to continue to the end of the stage but with the tyre flailing around on the rim and damaging the bodywork they lost at least 30 seconds to the other front running crews. After this stage they had dropped to 7th overall but were still leading their class and first 2 wheel drive car.
The crew changed the wheel after stage 10 and now had the last 2 stages to complete. The car was now running on dry weather tyres and after spending time changing the wheel they had now dropped back in the running order and arrived at the start control for stage 11 to find it raining heavily. The crews at the front of the field had already gone through the stage in drier conditions so this was going to be a major disadvantage. The crew put on their sensible hats and went through the stage setting the 14th fastest overall time which was OK as they had also been delayed by catching and passing 3 cars in this stage. The last stage Fogo is one of the drivers favourite stages and as they waited on the start line a dry line started to appear on the road. This gave the crew additional confidence to push hard and despite catching and passing another 3 cars in this stage they set the 4th fastest overall time and collected a selection of local foliage, as below! This maintained the crews position and they finished 7th overall, 1st 2 wheel drive car and 1st in the 2ltr class.
The crew were extremely happy with their finishing position especially as they were competing in the event against specialist tarmac rally drivers in modern 4 wheel drive turbo charged cars. Their 27 year old Escort had performed exceptionally with the new engine providing the additional required performance. The team would like to thank Clark Motorsport for providing an exceptional engine and Oceanscan Ltd for their continued support in running the car. Also special thanks to Calum, Callum and Doug who provided the on event support and Ian , Calum, Callum, Davie, Andy and Willie who helped get the car ready for the event.
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