There was an unexpected
(uninvited?) guest at the annual Scottish Car of the Year Awards on Friday at
the Dalmahoy Country Club. No, not the one on the left, the other chap. Turned out it was Jaggy
Bunnet's long lost Mexican cousin, Jaggio Sombrero. The only reason he was
there was to get a 'selfie' with Jim McRae.
As for Jim, he was there for a properly
memorable and emotional reason. A couple of years ago, the Association of
Scottish Motoring Writers and Bridge of Weir Leather, who are long time supporters
of the SCoTY awards, thought that the Scots should have our very own 'Scottish
Motoring Hall of Fame' selected by and voted by Scotland's motoring writers as
opposed to that 'other' general Scottish Sports Hall of Fame instigated by
sportscotland.
The Edinburgh based hoi-poloi will take sporting
nominations from anyone for the Scottish Hall of Fame although an 'independent
sports panel comprised of experts' will decide who gets inducted. Having said
that there is a display of sporting artifacts in the National Museum of
Scotland in Edinburgh which is well worth a gander.
Anyway, for our own personal 'Scottish
Motoring Hall of Fame' there were a number of nominations for the 15 Scottish
motoring and motor sports journalists to consider. Jim Clark, Sir Jackie
Stewart and Ian Callum were the original inductees, and this year two more were
added to the illustrious list of Scottish achievers in the world of motoring
and motor sport - Colin McRae and Moray Callum.
So that's why Jim was there. Hard to
believe it's ten years since we lost Colin and it must have been difficult for Jim
to accept the induction, but as he stopped up to receive it, the crowded
room erupted into spontaneous applause,
cheering and a standing ovation.
By gawd I could hardly keep a dry eye
myself. I think Jim managed it better than me, but I thought I could detect an
added glint at the corners of his eyes, although I'm sure that was just the
spotlights. He spoke well.
Moray (Ian's
younger brother) is now Vice President of Design for Ford Motor Company
responsible for all concept and production vehicles for the Ford and Lincoln
brands worldwide, including the sixth generation Mustang and the 2017 Ford GT.
Not bad for a boy from Dumfries.
There was
another moment of emotion for Jim before the night was out - I fished out my
wallet and bought him a large whisky. I thought he was going to keep it and
preserve it, but no, he did manage to swallow the evidence.
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