Rally - The Book

That’s it. Finished – I think. After four re-writes, the job is done. And yet, there is a constant nagging compulsion to tinker and change the format. What started as one book during Lockdown to record the history of the Scottish Rally Championship has turned into a series with each volume representing one decade. Initially the purpose of the book was simply to record the history of the sport up here before it is lost forever in the rush to exclude us from the forests and ban us from four wheels and the use of the internal combustion engine. Yes indeed, there are dark forces at work out there.

The initial concept was written in the style of a work of reference rather than a record of the drama, excitement, fun, fierce competition and sporting adventure that actually took place during these sportingly turbulent decades. Hence the re-writes and format changes.

The 1980-1989 volume now consists of four chapters with the first mainly a textual record of event reports and the other three sections primarily consisting of photos and captions, some of which are more than just captions!

Whether it works or not is not for me to decide and no doubt there will be critics, but that’s nothing new. Criticism is a constant factor in the life of a working journalist. However, the hope is that even if there are omissions, the content will rouse faded recollections and revive long forgotten memories of times and friends past.

Anyway, the photographs were taken to the printer last Monday and the final version of the text is being collected from the proof readers next week. It also looks as though the book has got a sponsor and there is a meeting on Monday to confirm. My ever so grateful thanks to them and the other advertisers who are providing much valued and appreciated support to record forever a sport which has given so many of us so much pleasure, huge excitement, much fun and multiple spine tingling thrills along the way.

Meanwhile I’ll keep you informed of progress, and by the way, here’s a few more pics that didn’t quite make the final edit ….