Team Autotec felt the full pleasure and pain of the Jim Clark rally last weekend in the Scottish Borders.

With the Escort of Dave Hopwood and Paul Grattidge lasting just one stage and the Impreza of Dave Miller and Andy Bailey lasting until the second run through Abbey St Bathans.

The first stage of the event, Abbey St Bathans was the only stage that the Escort was to compete on. After a quick run through the stage saw the pair catch 3 cars and pass two of these the engine light was to flash on over the flying finish signalling the end to a promising run.

The cause was later identified as stone damage to the oil cooler, possibly a by product of catching the cars earlier in the stage? The pair took solace from there time through the stage showing that it is still possible to power a MkII Escort to a competitive time on this event.

The pair are hoping that the engine damage sustained during the event will not hamper there run on the Tour of Mull which is to be the pairs next event in October.

Dave Miller and Andy Bailey's event was to last a little longer and saw the pair work they way up to 17th in the national event before their Impreza lost all but 3rd gear. Using the event as a shakedown for the Tour of Mull later in the year, Dave and Andrew started steady taking no risks with a finish the goal of the weekend.

But this was not to be as the gearbox failed during stage 7 and the pair had to limp back to service and out of the event. This years Tour of Mull is also Dave and Andrews’s next event where the team is hoping for more reliability and some better results!

National Results

1  DAVID KYNASTON/ANDY RUSSELL (AUDI) 1:14:01.5
2  ANDY FENWICK/LEE TINDALL (SKODA) 1:14:42.1
3  DAVID MANN/ALUN COOK (SUBARU) 1:15:01.7
4  ALISTAIR THORBURN/PAUL MCGUIRE (SUBARU) 1:16:00.8
5  SIMON MAUGER/BRIAN CAMMACK (FORD) 1:16:08.6
6  STEPHEN SIMPSON/MARK BOOTH (HYUNDAI) 1:16:12.7
7  TRISTAN PYE/KIRSTY RIDDICK (SUBARU) 1:16:30.8
8  KEITH ROBATHON/MARTIN FORREST (FORD) 1:17:23.3
9  DANIEL HARPER/CHRIS CAMPBELL (MINI) 1:19:17.5
10 PAUL KIRTLEY/DAVID JONES (SUBARU) 1:18:40.8 0:40