SACC Scottish Rally Time Trial Championship

Roy Kemp’s 2015 Season Review

“I’m not going to tear a strip off you at this exact moment, but you can be guaranteed that I’ll be bringing it up in the future, and probably using it as some kind of bargaining chip”. Said the look on Tegan’s face as I confessed I’d bought my second competition car in the space of forty-eight hours. This was my brilliant way of finally killing off my 2010 – 2014 “year out” from motorsport. Having a few jars too many, firing up the internet machine and buying £500 worth of Dutton Autotest car was one thing. Throwing another three grand at an Ecosse-spec Peugeot 205GTi a day or so later was quite another. They may not sound like big numbers, but still potential dynamite in the ears of a pregnant woman, especially given my efforts to curtain her spending on unnecessarily fancy baby stuff to that point. Eek.

But that’s all by the by. I’d been planning to have a crack at the RTT championship for a while, albeit hiring Roy Maclennan’s 205, as I’d done on the 2014 Granite City and SDMC RTT. Both had gone quite well and fixing the side effects of my efforts hadn’t quite sent Roy over the edge. The news that rallying had put an end to reverse seeding, however, did. So, about two days before the first round on Mull, I’m accepting Roy’s kind first refusal on a rally car plus a good few seasons worth of accumulated spares. A no brainer, really. At least now I could just expect to be ruthlessly mocked for bringing it back a different shape, as opposed to getting a 205 driveshaft round the head.

So why the RTT championship? Basically, I’d come up with a cash figure that I could realistically spend on a year’s motorsport while still keeping the wife and building society on side. A few sums later it looked like either one stage rally and a good lash-up afterwards, the RTT championship or a couple of arrive-and-drive deals in the Scottish Minis or similar. Obviously, gravel beats tar hands-down, and it’s better to have a year worth of sport than a one-off event. Plus, being a navigator who’s still just dipping his toe in the driving water, the format of the RTTs appealed to me. Do something daft early on and it’s no big deal – you get recovered and continue, so long as the car’s ok. Go off early enough in a stage rally and usually you’re back in the bar before they’re even allowed to serve alcohol. Plus, multiple goes at a single stage gives a novice like me a better opportunity to explore their own limits as well as those of the car. Not to mention there’s not a fraction of the general bother of a stage rally in an RTT. No mental arithmetic errors get you penalised and ruin your result. You don’t go OTL if you have a car problem to sort, you get fixed and get back out for as many of your runs as you can. And nobody’s going to protest you for letting your car roll backwards a foot within distance of a time control. No bulls**t, just jump in and drive. Perfect.

Making my budget numbers look even better was getting Pete at Stark Motorsport on board. Instead of getting an old beater of a van of 4x4 for a tow hack or hiring one for each round, Pete gave me a very reasonable rate (you can call him for a quote!) to transport and service the car on each event, as well as most likely get roped in to kick the occasional tyre between rounds. Multiple birds taken out with one stone, and no small ask considering that most of the rounds aren’t exactly local.

Round 1 - March 28th, Glengorm Castle RTT, Isle of Mull

Mull Car Club

So, with the metaphoric ink still wet on the not-yet-returned V5C, off to the west we went. There had been a few last minute things to sort with the car, but it was just about in fit state to go play. Although with my follicle issues we couldn’t find a fine tooth comb anywhere in the shed, let alone run one over the car. So the goal was to try to have a good days sport, try not to break anything, and put a bit more effort into the prep for the next round. But having said that, going, stopping and steering were all fine, so no reason to pussyfoot around either.

The Mull round was unique in that everyone got an untimed recce run through the stage as well as the opportunity to walk the course. I did both and I’m glad I did. Run in the grounds of a private castle estate, it’s half farm track, half forest stage. And it’s tight and narrow with lots of blind corners and crests, and lots of big drops off the side of the road. Definite potential for something to go fairly wrong. And of course, because it’s Mull in March, it’s dark and wet, too. Definitely glad we didn’t stay in MacGochans too long the night before.

Photo credit – Barry Whenman

The first run was nothing more than a slightly more spirited copy of the recce run, I’m not ashamed to say. It had been almost a year since I’d driven the car on gravel and I was happy to ease myself back into the swing of things. Although there was a rear end knock developing so I took the option of nipping into service to get it checked instead of going straight out for my second run. Turns out I’m missing a rear caliper bolt. And inevitably, it’s about the only Peugeot 205 bolt we didn’t have with us.

With lunch planned between runs 2 and 3, we decided to torque up the one remaining bolt and proceed. The direction of disc travel would hold the caliper roughly in place, so long as I didn’t reverse at any point on the approach road or the stage! Got through the run intact and without anything else falling off, and managed to improve my time by 3 or 4 seconds which I was happy with, given I’d made a complete mess of a chicane and cost myself some time.

So while everyone else was sitting down to lunch, we were off back into Tobermory to raid the spare bolts bin at Mackays garage. Eventually found one that could just about do the job, gratefully handed over a tenner and headed back to Glengorm. By the time we got back, the stage had claimed David Wilson’s Mk2 Escort which had slid off and went over onto the roof. He was ok but the car wasn’t going back out. Anyway, the surrogate bolt was fitted successfully and we were good to go again. Oh, and it was really dinging down with rain again by this time, of course. So with a decent idea of where the stage went by now, I managed to turn up the wick a bit and knock another 6 seconds or so off my time. The chicane, however, was still proving my nemesis. Kept going too deep on the way and having to drop to 1st gear to get back out.

With the weather deteriorating, and the muddy surface washing away to reveal slippery shiny stone in places, I’d decided that I’d wind my neck in the rest of the day, and just use the last two runs to get some seat time without being too daft. That was the plan until I got through the chicane perfectly – bonny drift in, flick it round, bonny drift out and snatch 3rd straight away. Reckoned that was worth 3 or even 4 seconds improvement. So, a new plan was hatched and I went on the attack again. All was going well until I got too ballsy over a crest into an L7. Just too quick, and had to stomp on the brakes and arrived backwards. With a big drop outside into trees it would have been a re-shell job for sure, but I managed to just-about get it round the corner by burying the throttle and keeping the steering on the lock-stops. However, the car was doing about 5mph sideways, and the front wheels were doing about 60mph scrabbling to keep me from going over the edge, so by the time they found grip again, the car shot across the track and off the other side of the track and into a bog. Embarrassing, yes, but I’m still counting it as a save. Got recovered and no damage done.

So, having had a lucky let-off, I decided I would do the last run, but would probably take it easy as there was little hope of improvement with the track getting slower. And take it easy I did, but still managed to throw it off. I slowed right down for the Crest > L7, however this ruined my rhythm completely, I got on some muddy stuff on the outside of the following straight and slid off into a bank. Which thankfully was nice and soft, so only minor damage (valance, bumper, bent front panel) was sustained. Time to put it back on the trailer I think.

So, astonishingly, my third run was good enough for fourth overall and first in class. Basically “best of the rest” behind a quick Mk2 and two Evos. Chuffed doesn’t cover it, and that’s before they gave me a miniature Tobermory 10yo malt with my trophy. It was only the driver of that Mk2 Liam Wood and myself that had registered for the championship, so after round one I found myself second (and also last!) in the RTT championship. But by way of a reality check, Liam’s first very first timed run was quicker than anything I managed (or probably COULD have managed) all day. Some going.

Photo credit – Shona Hale

Round 2 – May 9th, Stravaigers Lodge RTT, Fort Augustus

Highland Car Club

“No worries – take your time coming up, and we’ll scrutineer you when you get here”.

These were the words of Michelle Falconer and Andy Jardine from HCC. The day or so leading up to the second round of the championship hadn’t been easy. My wife Tegan, growing more pregnant by the day, had been having a tough time and had been diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. This is a potentially dangerous condition for mum and baby so every precaution was being taken, including her being admitted to hospital just before we were meant to be leaving. Or at least, heading into the workshop to finish all the stuff we’d procrastinated about but not actually fixed since Mull, and then leaving. I’d decided to cancel the rooms and pull the entry, but Tegan told me to hold on until the last minute before doing anything too hasty. The rooms were cancelled and I let Michelle and Andy know there was a good chance I wouldn’t be coming. Luckily the nightshift Doctor’s rounds were quite positive and I got wife approval to go and play. At 3am I rang Pete and let him know we were good to go. We let Michelle know by text that we were on our way and were told they’d work things around us. Again, not something you’re likely to hear on an SRC round. Thanks guys.

So, we got there in one piece as planned, and unloaded the trailer. This is usually the precursor for the heavens to open, but no. Glorious sunshine. Might actually get the chance to drive the car on dry gravel for the first time. Pete got the car through scrutineering while I was at the drivers brief, and running number five I was straight off to the start. Perfectly timed. So, with most of the car having been in bits, and not driven since Mull apart from onto the trailer this morning, the first run was a proper driving Miss Daisy affair. Plus, having never been in Inchnacardoch forest before I had no idea where I was going. But I will admit I just wasn’t feeling it, and kept wondering what I was doing here. Remarkably, I wasn't last. Maybe about 3rd or 4th last. The car was going ok, apart from feeling a little snatchy at the front, i.e. lurching when changing direction. Possibly something still bent after Mull that we didn't spot.

Run two felt better, but the heart was still pretty far from being in it. The goal was simply to bag a few points in the championship and live to fight another day. It seemed like a sensible compromise to push on along the straight bits (of which there are lots) but not be too daft in the corners. This seemed to build a decent rhythm although lack of seat time in the car was still proving an issue; I never seem to be able to change down from 3rd to 2nd after a while out of the car, always seem to get 4th no matter how hard I try. As far as the stage is concerned it’s an absolute cracker. There's only one tightened corner around a bale, everything else is 3rd and 4th gear and reasonably visible by the time you get there. I surprised myself by taking a whole 14 seconds off my time, putting me roughly in the top half of the amalgamated classes 1, 2 & 3, roughly 4 or 5 seconds off the quickest guys.

I needed to make a quick stop in service as the new brake bias valve that I thought I'd fixed was evidently still not right, and was losing fluid. Pete waved an 11mm spanner over it and made the problem go away. Front end still seems to be a bit wayward and possibly even getting worse, but nothing that couldn't be lived with for now. With the stage cutting up and a rain shower quite possible, it was quite likely everyone's 3rd run would be their quickest. Time to grow a pair and chap on a bit.

Photo credit – Dan Forsyth, DRF Rally Photos

Run three was really good. I got a wee bit untidy going round the bale hairpin (probably looked good but the big drift wasn't exactly planned) but managed to keep the right cog selected the whole way round and hence keep the thing going a bit better. Momentum is king when you only have 115-ish ponies to play with. Dead happy with the run and pretty fair to say I’ve properly got the bug for dry gravel as opposed to mud-plugging. You know when you've had a good run when it's only two miles long and you're still out of breath by the end. Either that or you just need to hit the gym a bit more often. The times for Run 3 went up and I've knocked another 7 seconds off my time, sneaking me into the lead of the class by 0.3 seconds. Which felt pretty good, although I was pretty sure that I couldn't go too much quicker myself without starting to take liberties.

Photo credit – Alan Scott Photography

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the phone rang before I could get too brave. The dayshift doctor was not quite as optimistic as his colleague and there was a real possibility Tegan could be induced that day. So it was time to pack up and head home. The final result put me in 17th overall out of 27 runners, but it wasn’t a day or a stage where I could get near any 4WD cars. I’d have to change my name to Liam and get an old Escort, as he managed 6th overall right in among the quick stuff. Again, some going. In the end I dropped to third in class with everyone else improving on their fourth run. A tenth behind David Hunter in another 205GTi and a tenth again behind John Mackintosh in a Toyota MR2. Good close competition and encouraging to be there-or-thereabouts with people in similar machinery. Could I have gone quicker with an extra run? Possibly, but it’s also very likely that it would have ended in tears, given recent form. In terms of the Championship it was another solid second behind Liam on corrected times, but ahead of Colin Baxter’s Impreza and Eric Falconer’s 205GTi as they joined the championship.

Round 3 – 12th July, Alford Sprint

Grampian Automobile Club

Unfortunately my “home” round at Coneyhatch was cancelled due to the Aberdeen Western

Peripheral route going straight through the track. It was far from a fast and flowing stage but

it was a venue where a small car can get closer to quicker machinery due to the tight confines

and short straights, so it’s a shame to see it go. But kudos to Gerry Potter for getting MSA and

competitor approval to replace this round with the GAC Alford Sprint. It wasn’t quite the usual

fare for the RTT guys but a day’s sport of any kind is better than losing a round.

Speaking of last minute additions, Tegan successfully

baked our bun all the way to 37 weeks which is considered

pretty much full term, so by the time Alford came around

I had a healthy little 5lb 11oz apprentice to get trained up.

Hopefully rallying is still on the go by the time Esmé turns

17!

At the Alford Transport Museum we were greeted by sun

and blue sky. Unfortunately, having given Pete the day off

from service duties, I drove the car to the venue and was

also greeted by a flat tyre on arrival. I only had one grotty

spare for emergencies so it got pressed into service on the

right rear. But other than fitting a set of road tyres and

removing the sump guard, the car was exactly the same as

when it left Inchnacardoch.

Photo credit – Tegan Kemp

Photo credit – Tegan Kemp

Having never done one of these sprints before the main concern was figuring out exactly how

the starting procedure works, remembering exactly what route to take around the figure-of-

eight track, and try not to get fruity with any hay bales. In the end it was all fairly straight

forward. I’ve never been keen on tarmac so was trying to be as smooth as possible and hope

that translated to a decent time. In the grand scheme of things my times were pretty pathetic

compared to the regular sprinters with big BHP and sticky tyres etc, but fairly consistent. Two

of these runs were timed, the best of which was a 65.26 second run. Almost a full ten seconds

down on the class record, but enough to collect an overall win as far as the RTT championship

was concerned.

Colin Baxter in the Impreza had actually recorded a quicker time, but the RTT Championship

runs a class-correction system to equalise the results between smaller, larger and 4WD cars.

By the time this was applied, I’d been promoted to first, with Eric second and Colin back to

third. Conspicuous by his absence at Alford was previous championship leader Liam. So, going

into the final round, I suddenly found myself with a healthy points lead and the championship

basically mine to lose.

Round 4 – Skeabost RTT, Isle of Skye

Skye Rally Club

It did seem daft doing maths to figure out what I would need to win or lose the championship

given so few people registered for it, but I have to admit I did the sums anyway. It boiled down

to me turning up, and putting a single competitive run on the board to seal the deal.

The only way to come second would be for Liam Wood to take the full 30 points and for me

to fail to score anything. However, on arrival at the event, there was no Liam to be seen, so

that pretty much brought the issue to a close. However, maths has never been my strong

point so I wanted to put one solid run on the board at least!

There was one minor issue which could have complicated matters, however. A couple of days

before heading up to Skye I got a phone call from Eyeline Media who make Air an Rathad on

BBC Alba. Gaelic Top Gear, if you will. They had planned to film a piece about a recent BARS

graduate from Lewis making her debut on the event, but had crossed their wires about who

was providing the car. So basically, they were looking for someone daft enough to let her

share their car, as well as volunteer to be shadowed by a film crew all weekend. The tenuous

link between myself and Gaelic television was the aforementioned Roy Maclennan who’s

graced Air an Rathad in the past. If it had been anyone else asking the question the answer

might have been different, but Roy’s been a great help in getting me started and set up

rallying, so it would have been bad form to refuse. Plus, I get to be on the telly. This was all

on the condition that I was given the opportunity to get a run in before handing over the keys

– luckily the organisers had no issue with this!

Having watched various pieces of in-car video from Skeabost, I had a good idea what we were

in for. A fast, flowing stage with lots of undulation and jumps. Although after a few accidents

in previous years, the biggest jump had been moved to after the flying finish, and three

chicanes had been added to reduce speeds. Still looked like a cracking stage though. I’d

travelled up early on Friday with Tegan and Esmé with the intention of making a long weekend

of it and having our first family break together, with Pete due up with the van and trailer later

Friday evening. However, for one reason or another, we missed the cut for Friday

scrutineering, so my evening was pretty much spent talking nonsense up the lens of a camera,

occasionally taking a break to give Pete a bollocking over the phone. I did get a lift back to

Portree from Mairi Ross, my new driving partner. I just hoped she wasn’t planning pedalling

the 205 like she did her Focus ST on those back roads.

We scrutineered early Saturday morning, and heading to the event everything looked in

order. Telling Pete we’d be on telly has resulted in the car arriving covered in Stark Motorsport

decals. Possibly the reason for his late arrival? Anyway, it looked great. There was a good

entry for the event and I couldn’t wait to get out. I decided I would retry my Fort Augustus

approach. Slow first run, attack the straights second run, then attack the corners on the third.

My first run was fine, although with two miles of stage and roughly three miles of return road,

we’d probably need to do a fuel run at lunchtime as I’d not taken this into account! The stage

was impressive, exactly as expected – fast bits, and lots of crests and jumps, and the addition

of the chicanes hadn’t broken up the flow too much. Well done to the Skye Rally Club for

coming up with such a great stage.

Photo Credit – Peter Stark

The car was running great, so I gave Mairi a last minute patronising pep-talk and helped her

get strapped in. As she drove off to the start line, Pete came up and congratulated me on my

championship. I will admit the thought was far from my mind as I watched my little yellow

205 disappear into the distance! But credit to Mairi, she brought it back in one piece, having

got a steady run in the bag her first time out. With Eyeline’s cameras filling the car it’s not as

if she’d be able to come up with an excuse for not doing so!

So with the car running perfectly I got strapped in for my second attempt. Following the plan,

I would be attacking the straight bits, but easing off for the corners and building confidence

in the car and conditions. The start of the stage is a big long straight then a chicane, then an

easily flat right then another straight bit. So I would be attacking pretty much all of that before

having to behave myself. My only excuse for what happened next is that I got tunnel vision

and just went a bit mental, or simply forgot the plan by the time I got to a corner.

As has been well documented by videos posted on Facebook and Instagram, just over halfway

into the stage I put it off at the end of a straight into a long L8. I got the car sliding the wrong

way off a jump and by the time I’d pointed it in the right direction for the corner, I was off the

outside and up a bank. Too fast, too soon and paid the price.

There was no option of putting it off gently anywhere, all I could see was piles of compacted

hardcore so I had to keep the boot in and hope for some temporary relaxation of the laws of

physics. Which of course didn’t happen. I went shooting up a bank at unabated speed and

took two or three hard hits on what were either earth banks or a tree stump, still not sure. I’d

pretty much resigned myself to going over, so had given up on the steering wheel and braced

for impact. I’d braced with my foot still down on the throttle, but as the various impacts had

ripped both driveshafts out this didn’t really matter. By the time I came to rest nosing back

onto the track I was blurry-eyed, winded and had a lot of lower back pain. And still on the

throttle. Probably best to switch it off.

The marshals were on the scene literally in a few seconds. They asked if I was ok or if I’d need

medical assistance. Much as it would put a delay on the event’s running I wasn’t willing to

take a chance. Sorry guys. The SMMC Rescue guys and Doctor arrived quickly and started

assessing things. They planned to immobilize me on a spinal board, remove me from the car,

then transfer me to a land ambulance for a trip to hospital for x-rays. All of this while dealing

with a dickhead cracking jokes, taking the mick and gibbering rubbish, as dickheads in a little

bit of shock tend to do. They took their time and did everything right, as you’d expect from

these guys. Constantly reassuring and communicating and going through the motions, they

quickly had me into the ambulance and away from the scene of the crime.

Photo credit – Brian Foggo

As I was transferred into the land ambulance and off to Broadford Hospital (Portree A&E don’t

do x-rays) I got to speak to Tegan and give her a few toe twiddles to reassure her I was ok,

had just tweaked my back a little and everyone was being over-careful. In hindsight I don’t

think she believed me. Either way, she looked pretty miffed that I’d had the nerve to hurt

myself. She also wasn’t too impressed at having to follow the ambulance for 40 minutes to

Broadford with Esmé protesting that she hadn’t been fed. Oh, and because she was seeing

our first family holiday probably being spent at my bedside. As it turned out, the x-rays

showed that while I had fractured a vertebrae, it was a stable and minor fracture so didn’t

need anything more than painkillers and rest.

I managed to get out of hospital the same day, and even managed to make a brief appearance

at the awards do to collect the RTT championship trophy. And, most importantly, managed

to enjoy a relaxed short family break on Skye for the next few days instead of enduring a

severe kicking from Tegan. So, all’s well that ends well. And as it turns out, the 205 might

actually be salvageable. Quite aside from the steering rack that snapped in three places, the

two broken driveshafts, two trashed bottom arms, flattened front panel and right front wing,

and the hub which had the bottom pinch-joint snapped clean off it, in addition the right front

wheel was pushed so far back into the arch that it’s forced the arch metalwork into the

footwell, ripping it clean away from the chassis leg. However, as the chassis leg is where it’s

meant to be, we’ll just beat everything else back to its original position and seam weld it up.

Winner.

So, as you can imagine I’ve got quite a few people to thank for what’s been an incredibly

enjoyable year of sport. First has to be Gerry Potter for organising the championship.

Unfortunately, despite good entries on the RTT events themselves the championship was

poorly supported this year, to the point where the 2016 RTT championship could be the last

one unless more people register. I cannot for the life of me think why this series is not

booming. Yes, some of the rounds are a bit of a hike away, but let’s face it, the locations are

all worth seeing, so there’s definite potential for a nice long weekend away with a bit of

motorsport somewhere in the middle. Plus, the Mull, Fort Augustus and Skye rounds have a

wee shindig attached to each of them, so plenty scope for beer and shenanigans – and I’m

sure SDMC could be persuaded to put on a barn dance or BBQ if enough people ask nicely!

Another gripe people have about the RTTs is the cost per stage mile. Ok, basic sums say that

6 runs x 2 mile stages at an average entry fee of around £175 = £15 per stage mile. On an SRC

round you might get nearer to £10 per stage mile. But that’s only based on entry fees and

doesn’t factoring numerous other costs/hassles. Like no route notes / safety DVD to pay for,

no navigator to arrange, and the fact that a set of tyres should last you a whole year. And

that’s not even taking into account the fact that on a stage rally you’re much less likely to get

your full amount of competitive mileage than on an RTT due to the format. Punctures, silly

little offs and minor car faults can put you clean out of a stage event. Who’s ever DNF’d on

the Speyside without even getting out of Cooper Park? I have and it blows. On an RTT you

either limp or get towed back to service, get sorted and get back out. So you’re much more

likely to actually get your intended stage miles in real world scenarios. Oh, and there’s no

significant road mileage to endure and pay for either.

Another reason to give the RTTs a bash, especially for smaller cars, is that your day is not

affected by seeding position. Guys in 205s etc are not simply skipping from rut to rut on a

surface that’s trashed by the time you get there, you’re actually picking your own lines and

driving your own rally. The seeding on RTTs is largely irrelevant as there are fewer cars going

through, so the surfaces might only start to deteriorate towards the end of the day. And even

then, it’s a level playing field as everyone is dealing with the same conditions. Another boost

for smaller cars is the class handicapping system. Even if you can’t quite match the bigger cars

for outright pace, if you can even get close you might find you’re elevated above them in the

results once the sums are done.

Where was I before I went into PR mode? Oh yes, thanking people. I simply wouldn’t have

been out this year if I’d not had Pete’s help. He might know his way around a spanner but his

inability to work maps and clocks does remind me why I had to navigate for him years ago.

But seriously, the best thing about this year has been being able to just jump into the car and

drive, Pete doing everything else made this possible. Cheers pal. Now go straighten the pug.

A further shout-out to everyone else at Coneyhatch who mucked in, helped, loaded vans,

made tea etc etc, and also for Roy Mac for doing me a great deal on the car to help me get

started.

The event organisers and marshals as always deserve special credit. I generally have a

problem with any kind of authority but still didn’t manage to fall out with anyone all year. This

should tell you how laid back and helpful everyone has been on these events. The events

themselves are fun but it’s these guys that make competing a pleasure.

And lastly thanks to my ever-understanding wife Tegan. Much crap has been taken from me

this year due to my need to go and play daft in a little yellow car, usually while you’re dealing

with things much more important. I really need to spoil you rotten. I heard Mull in March is a

lovely place for a wee family getaway….

So, in summary, not too shabby a first year driving. Couldn’t hold a candle to Liam even on

corrected times though, and I’m sure David Wilson would have been very quick if he’d not

come to grief on Mull. But therein lies the joy of committing to do every round. So, even with

the offs taken into account I’m happy with my performances in the 205. Which is just as well,

because I swear I cannot drive that damned Dutton for toffee.