Name: Allan McDonald
Home Town: Dalbeattie
Competition Car: Mini Evo
The Mini Evo:
Allan’s unique Mini Evo is just that, absolutely unique. You won’t find another one like it anywhere! Allan has self-built the car from scratch. Everything that you see has been built and developed by him. With the engine and four wheel drive system all from a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo2 donor car, the rest is very much bespoke. An Albins Dog gearbox provides the reliability that a standard Evo 2 gearbox would not. The suspension is very much self-developed and the bodywork is too. The truth of the matter is that the only Mini parts on the car are the boot hinges which are used to open and shut both the driver and passenger doors!
With the car producing around 500 horsepower it is spectacularly quick. The four wheel drive system helps the car both get off the start line and with traction out of the slow corners. You have to see it to believe it, it really is very special. At the time of writing Allan leads the class based Championship the BHC Cup presented by Footman James. The key of course is to stay there. With Doune being Allan’s local hill he is of course hoping to have a strong weekend and do just that!
Motorsport Background & Experience:
Allan initial motorsport experience was racing motorcycles. He competed nationally, mainly on the bigger bikes with engines of 750 or 1100cc for over twenty years, and had considerable success too. He was Scottish Champion twice in 1986 and 1988 and also competed in many ‘road races’ throughout the UK. This included the North West 200 in Northern Ireland and of course on the Isle of Man. Allan in fact competed in the Isle of Man TT thirteen times and although never a podium finisher has a best lap with an average speed of over 114mph. Quite a feat when you consider that a lap of the incredible TT ‘mountain course’ is 37.73 miles long and is lined with trees, stone walls, traffic lights and road signs. Definitely not for the faint-hearted! Allan did win the Manx Grand Prix in 1988, which is of course held on the TT course, a good indication of just how competitive and brave he is.
After stopping his top line motorcycle racing career in the year 2000 “ because I couldn’t go any faster than a 114mph lap around the TT course!”, Allan started to drag race Minis. He did this for around three years, always racing a Mini with a bigger engine than they were initially designed for. His first taste of Hillclimbing was when he was persuaded to take the drag race Mini to Olivers Mount Hillclimb in Scarborough. Allan had raced motorbikes at Olivers Mount before, so at least he was familiar with the track. He found the discipline of Hillclimbing much more technical and a lot less boring than he though it would be! The relatively short bursts of activity, so different than when competing at the TT, captured his interest and he was firmly bitten by the Hillclimb bug.
BHC/BHC Cup Experience:
Allan started to dabble in the bigger Hillclimb meetings from the start of his involvement in the sport. His local track at Doune has held rounds of the BHC and BHC Cup for many years and was therefore an ideal place to pit himself against the top contenders in British Hillclimbing and see just how fast he was. He was not to be disappointed which encouraged him to spread his wings further and compete in both the BHC & BHC Cup across the UK. Allan is now a regular competitor at the majority of UK venues. Highlights include qualifying for the BHC top twelve run-offs at Craigantlet in Northern Ireland on two occasions. A best run-off finish of eleventh in 2018 was a great achievement when you consider that he was up against the fastest racing cars in the BHC.
A fact that not many people know:
With a history of riding motorcycles Allan has unfortunately had his fair share of accidents, but fortunately very few on the racetrack. An unfortunate run of events in short succession some years ago led to two major road accidents due to cars pulling out in front of Allan. The resulting injuries (and there were numerous!) led to two six month periods in hospital in quick succession. It certainly hasn’t put him off the need for speed though. Understandably though he is not too keen on hospital food!
Doune Fact:
The class record for Allan’s Class at Doune stands at 42.23 seconds to Graham Wynn in his Sports Racing Force, and is probably out of Allan’s reach. As ever he will be trying his hardest to beat his personal best time of 44.19 seconds and get as close to the record as he can. Competitive action at Doune is scheduled to start at 8.30am on both days and will continue for the majority of the day. Tickets will be available on the gate on each day of the event.