by Geoff Mayes
St Boswells-based rallying ace Gordon ‘Gogsie' Nichol and his fellow Scots co-driver Jane Nicol experienced a character building home run on last weekend's
Jim Clark International rally in their Suzuki Swift and narrowly missed out on a podium position.
Gordon and Jane, winners of the opening round of the Suzuki Swift Sport Cup, the Pirelli International Rally, had hoped to have a slight home advantage but were plagued by a number of niggling problems from the outset of the rally.
Minor issues with the handbrake saw Gordon spin on both runs through the spectator stage, much to the delight of the gathered spectators and then the gearbox problems which had been getting progressively worse throughout the opening day eventually resulted in a broken gearbox before the final service.
Fortunately the mechanically sympathetic Gordon was able to limp back to Charterhall where a replacement gearbox was installed in swift time.
Day two saw the competitors tackle another five high speed stages and although Gogsie was 44 seconds away from a podium position he and Jane decided to give it a go.
Quickest through Eccles gave them renewed confidence and the Cooks Van and Car Hire backed pairing pushed hard over the final few stages, consistently taking time off their nearest challenger. A stall at a hairpin on the very last stage of the rally cost Gogsie time and he was left slightly frustrated when the pair discovered they had missed the final podium position by a mere 6 seconds.
"We always knew that competition would be tough. We're on a very tight budget and have had no chance to test. I must say a big thank you to everyone who has supported us so far this year," he stated.
"The gearbox problem cost us a lot of time and so did the problem with the handbrake but to be honest I was also far too cautious through the opening loop of stages."
