MERRICK 2009 REPORT

The NessRallySport crew of Don Murray and Andy Philip enjoyed their higher placed finish ever in the Scottish Rally Championship, finishing 36th overall, and 10th in Class 12, from an initial seeding of 62nd, in their Macritchie Highland Distribution backed Subaru Impreza at the weekend, on the Merrick Stages Rally, in Newton Stewart. Don takes up the story;-

"We were naturally apprehensive after having only lasted half a mile on our last outing, but a new centre differential, clutch and clutch plate saw the car back in action on Friday so we were aiming for a steady and reliable run, which is exactly what we got. The early stages were incredibly slippery, with sharp rocks jutting out of every corner, so there were lots of punctures all over the place, as well as a large number of cars firmly embedded in various parts of the scenery".

The team arrived at the first service halt lying a lowly 67th overall. However as their confidence grew during the day so did their times, and they made steady progress throught the day to finish 36th overall. A large rock in their path struck the exhaust downpipe and damaged the exhaust manifold, causing them to have to run almost half of the event with the car down on power. A deflating rear tyre over the last 3 miles of the last stage also caused some moments of concern, but by backing off the pace they managed to keep the tyre on the rim until the end of the stage, making it 4 finishes from 5 starts this season and 10 out of 12 finishes since the crew acquired this car.

This event marked the crew's last outing of the 2009 Scottish Rally Championship, as they have decided not to contest the McRae Stages. The final planned outing of the year will be the Kingdom Stages Rally at Crail Airfield in November. Please watch the 'Next Events' tab for further details.

Our thanks as ever to Macritchie Highland Distribution and Ness Properties for their support, and to Tim Finch of TFRallyesport for the preparation and on event servicing of the team. Without you all we'd be spectating and not competing!