Rally - Kames by the Sea

If you missed out on the World Championship Rally in sunny Portugal this weekend then how about a trip to Kames by the Sea tomorrow Sunday 11th May for the Kames ‘Spring Rally’ – that is Kames ‘Spring Rally’ not the Kames ‘Spring Roll’, that is an entirely different dish served up in the local takeaway.

And if the ‘by the Sea’ bit is confusing, dinnae fret, it’s true as well, but only if you climb to the top of the ‘Cairn Table’, a hill just to the south of the circuit. After a stiff uphill walk to the 593 metre peak you can see the Atlantic surf rolling into the Prestwick and Troon Beach, just a stone’s throw to the west – that is if the haar hasn’t rolled in off the ocean! On the other hand, don’t mention that to Steven Brown. The renowned Munro-bagger will no doubt wish to desert his co-driving post to ‘bag’ one of Ayrshire’s biggest mountains.

Anyway, there’s a full entry promised for tomorrow and a whole flock of Junior 1000 competitors all no doubt dead keen to empty the Kames Café in search of energy enriching sugar and sustenance to enable them to rout their rivals. It could be argued that the 1000cc cars are a bit slower than the bigger bangers, but the competition is closer – and fiercer.

As for the heavyweights – which could apply to the crews as much as the cars – there is whole bag of misguided talent ready to take on the thrills and spills that this challenging complex has to offer, and that plus the best rally-spectating environment has to be worth a day out.

With Graham Bruce and Colin Gemmell heading up the entry and expected to set the targets, spare a thought for the 1600s which includes Stevie Irwin, Colin Hay and Ewan Murdoch plus a host of other quick 1600 competitors and that should prove a rerr terr.

There is however one other thing that the eagle-eyed should be aware of, the prospect of some scheming skullduggery taking place on the field of play. Far be it from me to cast aspersions but if you do see one of tomorrow’s competition cars lingering too long at stage starts and stage finishes and the crew engaging with the Marshals in some secretive chat. It could well be that a certain someone could be attempting to bribe the Marshals for a little ‘leeway’ with their stage times in return for some home-made traybake!! If that’s the case, there may well be a surprise, very surprising, winner tomorrow. So pay attention when spectating and help put an end to foul play.

Full Entry List and it gets underway tomorrow at 8.30 am-ish:

http://www.eastayrshirecc.co.uk/rallies

Rally Results available on-line courtesy of Raymond’s Rally Ready Reckoner:

https://www.scotresults.org/

Oh! And purely as an aside. I’ll have some books with me tomorrow as I have a couple of orders to deliver, just in case anyone else wishes to purchase a small slice of Scottish motor rallying history!!

https://fife-motor-sports-agency.square.site/