With just two rounds of the Subaru Group N Trophy championship left and any one of ten crews still in the hunt for overall honours, Alistair Tough and co driver Alistair Mackay made the relatively short journey across land to the South West region of Scotland for the penultimate round of the ANCRO National Rally Championship. the Park Systems National Rally.

After the recent developments on the TEG Sport Subaru Imprezza N12, the team were in a buoyant and confident mood but disaster struck the Bardon Aggregates and Ross-Shire Engineering sponsored duo almost immediately.

Alistair Tough explains: “Anyone who has ever driven a turbocharged car will know that they suffer from turbo lag, i.e. when you press the accelerator pedal rapidly to the floor, it takes a second or two before the turbocharger kicks in and the engine responds. To overcome this problem the rally car is fitted with ALS (Anti Lag System) which also controls the amount of boost (pressure) the turbo produces.

On the start line of stage one with five seconds to go I switched on the ALS as normal. The switch turned but it just kept turning and did not “click” on. I was frantically fiddling with it as the lights turned green with Ally shouting GO, GO !! so I dropped the clutch and off we went. We were both trying for a couple of miles to get it switched on but the switch was broken so we concentrated on trying to keep the momentum of the cars speed up, but without the boost and ALS, the car was not responsive and it was a bit of a lost cause. To make matters worse it was a 19 mile stage and very frustrating meaning I took some really big chances and got away with them but the car was very slow so towards the end I started fiddling with the switch again. I never felt the ALS come on and I don’t know when it did but when we crossed the finish line and stopped at the time control the ALS was on and now I couldn’t switch it off. If your foot is off the accelerator pedal with the ALS on for more than five seconds it causes the turbocharger to overheat which in turn melts the grease in the bearings and the turbo seizes. We got away from the time control as quick as we could but by the time we got on to the road and found our service crew the turbo was glowing bright orange and melted the paint on the bonnet. They disconnected the ALS and we shot off down the road to try and get it cooled down. When we arrived at service we fully expected the turbo to be blown and we would be out of the rally but the boys checked it all out and although there were obvious signs of damage it seemed to still be ok.”

On the next loop taking in three stages, the Bardon Aggregates / Ross-Shire Engineering car flew through the stages setting fastest Grp N/ Production Cup times returning to service in sixth place overall and second in the Grp N/Production Cup category.

Alistair Mackay commented: “ The turbocharger has been damaged and the car is noticeably down on power. Ali’s driving really well and has adjusted the suspension to try and “release” the car but we’ve only got about 75% and really need all the power if we are to take nineteen seconds back from Rob Smith on the second run of the 19 mile stage. It’s going to be an interesting one.”

Into the final stage and the Pirelli shod Imprezza stopped the clocks on 18.44 meaning they were ten seconds quicker than Smith but it was not enough and had to settle for a fine sixth place overall and second in class.

The next and final round of the ANCRO championship will be the Bulldog Rally in Mid Wales on the 21st October. It is set to be a battle royale for Grp N / Production Cup / Subaru trophy honours with any one of five crews taking the spoils.

Further details and information at www.rallyali.com or www.ancro.co.uk