It seems an awfy long while since the last forest
rally in Scotland. No doubt there will be itchy trigger fingers and feet across
the nation, not to mention lack of practice for co-drivers. It's only (!) nine
weeks since the Snowman, but the 2018 championship season will be kick-started
back into rumbustious life next week at Elgin when the Speyside Stages takes to
the woods.
Ahead lies a busy week as drivers and co-drivers pore over Route Notes
and scour the DVDs. It was all so different way back in 1976.
It was quite common in those days to receive the Roadbook only when crews
signed on at the rally itself, few events were posting them out ahead of the
rally - in case some unscrupulous types went practicing, or for a long walk
with the dog/weans/girlfriend/wife or whatever, clutching notepad and pencil.
And yes, that did happen.
I recall a friend who was a traffic cop spotting a Midlands registered
brand new car parked outside a forest north of Aberfoyle just off the Duke's
Pass. Intrigued, he hung around. In due course a figure appeared walking out of
the woods with Ordnance Survey maps poking out of his pockets, and who just
happened to be wearing a rather recognisable rally jacket. Anyway, he stopped
the 'rambler' and enquired as to the nature of his business.
Claiming innocence of any potentially disreputable acts he responded
that he was just out for a walk and taking the air. Whatever, the big Polis
just happened to be a rally fan, recognised the tall figure as one of the
county's best known 'professional' co-drivers who partnered an even better
known driver and with a nod as good as a wink sent him on his way back to
Englandshire telling him to tarry no longer in the area - as the International
Scottish Rally was just a few weeks away!
But back to the Autumn Stages. The Roadbook was a pretty spartan affair
and co-drivers often had to spend a few hours, some all night, to plot the
route on the various maps and again on other sets of maps for the Service crew
and Management car and no doubt sponsors in some cases.
The whole 11 stage rally route consisted of one and a third foolscap (pre-dating
A4!) pages listing map references and landmarks which had to be followed while
another page provided a timetable of sorts. As for stage information, that consisted
of 'ball and arrow' diagrams. Does anyone recognise the Castle O'er and Hog
Knowe (Twiglees as it is now) tests from these?
I apologise for the quality of the images, but photocopiers were the
size of dog kennels and expensive back then, so such information had to be
typed on to stencils which were then printed off on duplicators (ask your parents!)
- with ink flying everywhere. You could always spot the poor sod who produced
the car club's paperwork. Ink stained hands for weeks and ink spattered
clothing. Such innocent times.
In the early days, rallying was as much an adventure as a speed event. So
the question is, has the sport lost something, or is it better? Tough call, eh?
