This years Tunnocks Tour of Mull will start with the most daunting stage on the Islands notorious roads, Glen Aros/ Hill Road, 14 miles of high speed crests and bumps in pitch darkness await 150 cars on Friday nights opening leg.
Hundreds of spectators will gather on the floodlit Smiddy junction to watch the competitor’s blast out of the Glen Road and head over the hill to Torloisk.
The battle for a podium finish will be fought out between a few island residents and visitors from all over the United Kingdom. A position on the 2300club calendar awaits the top 12 finishers, no mean feat on such demanding Stages.
The Islands roads provide a varied challenge with high speed crests, jumps and flowing corners all based on abrasive, narrow and bumpy tarmac. As with many of the Western Isles the weather can change very quickly sometimes raining on one side of the island and dry on the other.
Last years winner Neil MacKinnon will lead the field away in a McKinstry Motorsport Subaru WRC closely followed by Callum Duffy in his Den Motorsport 2.4 Mk2 Escort.
These two along with 2005 Winner James MacGillivray’s Ralloy 2.3 MK2 Escort have dominated the Tour of Mull for many years and will once again provide the strongest competition for visiting Teams.
The most consistent of the visitors is John Cope in his Subaru WRC who year on year runs amongst the fastest stage times and will I'm sure be at the front of the battle for the top spot of the podium.
Having only seen the event on video and giving himself only 3 days recce time, Irelands Wesley Patterson will take on the Mull specialists in his self prepared 300Bhp Escort Mk2. Wesley Commented "I'm not planning on setting the world alight, I have done the same rallies in Ireland for a number of years now and promised myself a change". Much is expected of the Irish Tarmac ace and I'm sure he will not disappoint.
Another local to watch out for is Salen's Eddie O'Donnell Jnr a favourite with the spectators once again driving his Duratec engined MK2 Escort with great commitment. Paul MacKinnon last year surprised many when he beat father Neil to fastest Stage time on the Gribun Stage using a Group N Subaru, with a little more experience Paul will surely win this legendary event, with the experienced Daniel Barrett on the pace notes, maybe this is the year?
There will be big battles raging in the classes none more so than Class C for 2000cc cars, Doug Weir/Duncan Brown and Dave Hopwood/ Paul Grattidge once more go head to head in there Escorts but won't have it all there own way with the presence of Fiesta ST championship regulars Stevie Brown/Andrew Roughead and Kris Hall/Richard Millener, These young guns could well take class honours and threaten a top ten overall position.
Group N will be hotly contested between Tristan Pye/Kirsty Riddick in there Subaru N11 and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9's of John Swinscoe/Paula Swinscoe and Wayne Sisson/Daniel Stone.
In the 1600cc category another Irish visitor Jim McKenna with navigator Thomas Treanor in a Toyota Starlet is expected to be amongst the top entertainers whilst doing battle with regular Mull visitors Mike Storrar/Weazel Currie in his very well driven Ford Anglia.
The 39th Tunnocks Tour of Mull starts on Friday 10th October with Scrutineering at 09:30 and Car 1 leaves the Start Ramp at 20:01 in Tobermory. For Further info:- www.2300club.org
Top Ten Provisional Seedings:
1 Neil MacKinnon / Mike Stayte Impreza WRC
2 Calum Duffy / Iain Duffy Ford Escort Mk2 2400
3 Dougi Hall / Steve Clark Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9
4 John Cope / Rob Fagg Subaru Impreza WRC
5 Paul MacKinnon / Daniel Barritt Subaru Impreza N11
6 Paul Kirtley / David Jones Subaru Impreza WRC
7 James MacGillivray / Ian Fraser Ford Escort Mk2 2300
8 Denis Biggerstaff / Graham Thomso Subaru Impreza WRC
9 Tony Bardy / Reg Smith Nissan Sunny GTi R
10 Wesley Patterson / Martin McGarrity Ford Escort RS Mk2 2500