Jimmy McRae and Andy Richardson stormed to a classy victory on the Isle of Man Historic Rally last weekend, winning category three in style as they drove their Porsche 911RS for the first time since crashing out of the Pirelli Rally in April.
Round five of the 2008 Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally ran over the closed roads on the island and was every bit as testing and demanding as its reputation suggests. For anyone driving over the finish ramp back in Douglas on Saturday afternoon, there was a tremendous feeling of achievement, whatever the final position.
In category one, Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride added another Manx victory to their record while making it a clean-sweep for the Porsches was a fine category two victory for Steven Smith/John Nichols.
Category 1
Through the opening leg of stages on Thursday evening and much of Friday, the lead contest in category one was nip and tuck stuff between Nutt/McBride and Patrick Watts/Elgan Davies in the Sunbeam Tiger. As the weather changed frequently, so did the class lead, but it all went wrong for the Tiger as the weather closed in on the second run through the Little London stage. After a clash with a sheep, worse followed when standing water put the fan into the radiator and they were out for the day.
That took the heat off Nutt/McBride and they were able to measure their pace through Saturday's stages to make certain of another victory. "Dessie's driven very well," reported his co-driver after the champagne spraying on the podium.
Right up with the leading pace on the opening legs was the Lotus Cortina of Jonathan and Graham Gale, but they went out with a broken halfshaft. That put the MG Midget of James Stait/Gill Cotton in line for second in the category, but they joined a number of others by going off on standing water on the Cringle stage on Saturday. It cost them 11 minutes and handed B2 spoils to Matt and Dood Pearce after a mighty run in their Mini Cooper.
