Dave Junior will be well known to Scottish and British rally folks, especially the Scottish Championship and BTRDA series regulars. He started rallying in a Ford Fiesta ST in 2007, won his first rally in 2009, the Malton Forest Rally in a Subaru, and stopped rallying in 2016 after winning his ‘home’ event, the Coltel Grampian Stages Rally.
The family have requested privacy at this time as they try to come to terms with this tragic news.
( Further information will follow in due course )
Admittedly it took a wee while today grappling with computer terminology and mystifying acronyms but I got there. Mind you, matters were not helped when the computer and software company said it had further developed the software, added more functionality and improved the ‘intuitive’ (their word!) user experience. My wee heart sank at those supposedly encouraging and inspiring remarks.
As is usual these days there was no helpline or human to turn to, just lists of FAQs but I managed to add the new book to the on-line sales platform. What sounds like a simple operation is far from it. It entails the adoption of a mental dexterity which can only be fuelled by the invention of new sweary words, the more exotic and celtic in flavour, the better! The bigger surprise is that it works!
So that’s it, a permanent record of each and every round of the Scottish Rally Championship from the start of the new Millennium to the end of year 2009 with the usual photographic chapters at the back of the book. The book of course concentrates primarily on Scottish rallying matters but that tragic event in 2007 had to be addressed. Any book on Scottish rallying simply could not ignore it. I just hope folk agree with what has been done.
There are a few personality pages but the choice of front cover was always going to be difficult. Two drivers each won the Scottish National title in that decade and perhaps they should both have featured on the front cover. However, I didn’t want that. Instead I chose the crew who won the first round of the first Championship and became the first Scottish Champions of a new millennium.
However, a word of caution when ordering the new book. Just make sure you pick the right one! Maybe I made a mistake in having all the books bound in a blue cover, perhaps they should have been different colours for each decade so they would be easier to select. But I didn’t, they are ‘5 Star’ blue and yellow with a different front cover photo. I like it, I just hope you do.
The book costs £45 plus £5 P&P and is available to order now at:
https://fife-motor-sports-agency.square.site/
Yet again, that was some night and once again, Coltness Car Club and Dalserf Bowling Club were the perfect hosts for the latest book launch – ‘The Scottish Rally Championship 2000-2009’. Everyone had a good time telling and listening to tales from long and not so long ago. And for those who had travelled far and were in need of nourishment, Tunnock’s had provided some appetite fulfilment in the form of caramel wafers, tea cakes and snowballs – and I didnae get a single biscuit !! Rascals and scavengers the lot of them.
My dear ‘friend’ Stewart ‘the Larkhall Foghorn’ Weir was in fine form as MC. He managed to insult each and every one of the guests plus a few members of the congregation for good measure. He started with Max McRae, Andrew Wood, Stuart Loudon and then after a wee Tunnock’s T-break resumed with Dave Weston, David Bogie and Jim McRae, while sitting quietly at the back of the room was three times Scottish Rally Champion Ken Wood, keeping a low profile and keeping out of Stewart Weir’s eyeline!
Also keeping a watchful eye and ear on proceedings were John Bogie, Murray Grierson and many, many others, while it was particularly good to see Alan Arneil amongst the throng. It was Alan who sold Jim McRae his first (and second) rally car – and they’re still ‘friends’! And the rest is history.
Books sales were brisk and if anyone wishes to post their first impressions of the latest volume, feel free – and tell your friends!
The plan now is to update the website and with a bit of luck (and technical expertise) that will be done tomorrow, but I’ll let you know.
https://fife-motor-sports-agency.square.site
And finally, my personal thanks to each and every one of those who attended the ‘do’ last night. Some had travelled far just to be there – and get in first for their copies!
Aye, it was a grand night.
The venue is - as before - the Dalserf Bowling Club in Ashgill, just outside Larkhall in Lanarkshire. This is the regular watering hole for ‘The Coltness Bears’ who meet monthly in the premises but this Monday’s gathering will be a wee bit special as Coltness Car Club are once again hosting this book launch. Guests and visitors are coming from near and far and Stewart Weir will be wandering around amongst the throng – microphone in hand!
Visitors should also be advised (warned?) that this will be an MSUK-free zone! No blazers and no political correctness permitted. Even Jonathan Lord won’t be there – he’s across the waatter in Ireland, so we’ll be safe to vent opinions and discuss such topics as home rule for Scottish motor sport !!!! Amongst the guests will be a number of past Scottish and British Rally Champions, a current Portuguese Champion and rumour has it that one young lad will be bringing his Grandad with him – both proven rally winners!
So it’s all set for Monday 3rd November at the Dalserf Bowling Club, Ashgillhead Rd, Ashgill, Larkhall, ML9 3AF. Doors open 7.45pm for 8.00 pm, but it is informal so dinnae worry about time keeping, just turn up when you’re showered, hair combed and overalls pressed.
The Dalserf Bowling Club in the village of Ashgill is easily accessible heading East on the A71 from Junction 8 (Canderside Toll) on the M74 at Larkhall.
Between the Motorway and Garrion Bridge there’s a set of traffic lights on the A71 at which travellers should turn off (South) at this cross-roads towards Ashgill. The club access road is less than a mile along there on the left (tight left!), so just ca’ canny as you approach.
One other thing, if you haven’t been to a CCC club night before you will drive past the entrance to the Bowling Club at least once before you see it. So dinnae worry, we’ve all done it! It’s a tight left on to an unsurfaced narrow road between the first and second wee hooses. Just beware that two new ‘speed restriction’ humps have been inserted into the tarmac. Enter too quickly and they will rattle your teeth, or in some cases shatter your dentures.
There’s a fairly big car park at the foot of the lane on the right, see photos below, with an artistically and strategically placed Citroen Berlingo to show the expanse. Entrance to the Bowling Club is just beyond the car park.
What3Words: ///trespass.flashing.toffee
And finally, I’ve had a couple of calls this past week about copies of the previous ‘1980s’ and ‘1990s’ books, and yes, I have some left as well as copies of the ‘Mull Murmurs’ books and I’ll have them with me on Monday night.
Otherwise these can still be ordered on the website at:
https://fife-motor-sports-agency.square.site/
The latest ‘2000s’ book will be available on-line a couple of days later once I get Monday night out of the way!!
Having done all this, I’ve now got a little more time to ‘panic, PANIC’ some more !
Perhaps that’s the right word, crazy. Or maybe it’s just the onset of auld age and the uncertainties that accompany advancing years. However there were a couple of issues which troubled the editorial thought processes.
The first was how to treat those rallies which embraced more than just the Scottish Championship, like the British, BTRDA, IRTC, National, Historic, regional and one-make competitions. After all, these books were intended to document the Scottish Championship not others. The easy option would have been just to report the ‘Scottish Championship’ points scoring events, but in the end I tried to address every part of each rally. This was pretty straightforward when an event counted towards just two or three championships, but events like the three day Jim Clark Rally provided a constant headache with its multiplicity of championships and one-make series over the years.
These multi-reports provided a constant concern and required umpteen re-writes but the feeling was that these events around the Scottish Championship counters were an integral part of the story and therefore had to be told. Often some of our lot were chasing points in British, National and regional competitions and were up against some of the best and brightest talent from down south and across the water, but by reporting on all ‘rallies’ within one ‘event’, their performances were able to be measured against and compared with the visitors.
Scottish rally fans will be well aware of how competitive our natural born drivers and co-drivers are but reporting their performances against the visitors puts their results into context and a wider audience can therefore derive a better understanding of the competition. Anyway, that’s my justification.
The other big problem concerned the tragic accident of 2007. Of course it couldn’t be ignored, the ‘McRae’ chapter in each book so far has been a very popular addition so it couldn’t be avoided in this latest volume. There was simply no point, and no desire, to delve into that terrible event, too much has already been reported and written about it, but equally, it couldn’t be ignored. What has been written in this book has therefore been written from a slightly different, and personal, viewpoint and others will judge whether it’s too much or too little, or indeed, whether it should have been ignored.
However, after much thought and many re-writes I am content with what has been written, regardless of what others might think. If there are doubters and critics, just remember one thing, ‘The Bears’ are very sensitive beasties – slow to rouse but quick to respond.
Anyway, the deed is done, and the results will be available for all to see shortly.
Full access details for Dalserf Bowling Club were given in the previous post but it’s also worth noting that the access road to the Club has recently been re-tarmacadamed -and now sports three ‘sleeping policemen’, not the uniformed type but the hump across the road type! If you’re intending to arrive in your McLaren, Ferrari or Lamborghini, best leave it on the public road!
Another point worth noting for newcomers to the venue. As you turn right at the foot of the road towards the Club, the sweeping headlights may fail to pick up the large flat area to the right which is the car park. It’s big enough to accommodate a bigly number of cars but only if you park sensibly - and not like some service crew in a rush to park up their van at a rally
And finally, although the Club bar is cash only, the purveyor of the books will happily accept card payments or cash!!
Oh! And finally, finally, bear in mind the Bears motto: "Wha daur meddle wi’ me?" In other words, behave yersels!
The Bears meet regularly on the first Monday of each month, and it’s open house. Non-club members are welcome although Big Alex, the club secretary, always has a stock of enrolment forms and stickers ready to sign up the innocent and unwary! There is no formal timetable, it will be just a normal, but busier, club gathering than usual although we’ll have some special guests and an MC who will chat intelligently (or maybe not!) to them during the evening.
Doors open at 7.45pm and this being Lanarkshire (the garden county of Scotland!) cash is the coinage of choice at the bar. If you’ve only got plastic, you’ll be barred! Having said that, this being a bowling club, the bevvy is cheaper than elsewhere.
And once again, folk have been attracted from near and far. Amongst the guests will be David Bogie, Andrew Wood, Dave Weston and the new Portuguese Rally Champion Co-driver, Stuart Loudon (Kris couldn’t make it!) and they have been singled out for a chat with our very own Stewart ‘the Larkhall Foghorn’ Weir who will host the evening. And knowing Stewart only too well if he spots any other likely victims up for a chat he’ll be in there quicker than big Barrie springing into action when Colin drove into service with a battered Sunbeam, Nova, Sierra or whatever! In fact if truth be known, a chap called Usain Bolt once asked Barrie how he got off his mark so quickly - and the rest is history!
But as I said, this won’t be a formal evening, just a gathering of fans and friends – and all there just for the craic – Oh, and I nearly forgot, a copy of the book!
This latest volume is virtually the same size as the previous one at 260 pages with over 360 photographs and priced the same as last time at £45. Some of the tales have never been told and many of the photographs have never been seen! Those who attend the launch will therefore get their hands on the book first before it goes on sale on-line later in the week.
Like the other two books, this latest tome will spark a few more memories, most of them good. As said in previous posts there were a couple of not so good memories this time, but rallying and sport are not immune from the trials, tribulations and tragedies of everyday life
The actual book launch date has therefore been set for Monday 3rd November and the venue will again be the Dalserf Bowling Club, Ashgillhead Rd, Ashgill, Larkhall, ML9 3AF.
Although some folk will require a co-driver/navigator, while a few might seek the assistance of an explorer, Dalserf Bowling Club in the village of Ashgill is easily accessible heading East on the A71 from Junction 8 (Canderside Toll) on the M74 at Larkhall.
There’s a set of traffic lights on the A71 between the Motorway and Garrion Bridge but turn off (South) at this junction towards Ashgill and the club access road is less than a mile along there on the left (tight left!). Some local worthies still think the traffic lights are fairy lights, but the fairies are long gone these days now with the clocks going back, although there might be some ‘ghaists and houlets’ flee’in aboot tryin’ tae fin their wey hame efter Halloween!! So just ca’ canny as you approach.
One other thing, if you haven’t been to a CCC club night before you will drive past the entrance to the Bowling Club at least once before you see it. So dinnae worry, we’ve all done it! It’s a tight left on to an unsurfaced narrow road between the first and second wee hooses. There’s a fairly big car park at the foot of the lane on the right with access to the Bowling Club entrance from there.
What3Words: ///trespass.flashing.toffee
If this book is received as well as the first two then I’ll be mighty pleased but no doubt there may be the occasional lapse missed by myself and the proof readers, but sh*t happens to the best, not just me. But if any smart ‘rs’ approaches me on the night and starts the conversation with “I think there’s a wee mistake here ….” I will ask them to bear just one pre-emptive thought in mind – this is The Bears den !!
