Rally -The RSAC comes to town

The news that next Saturday’s RSAC Scottish Rally will have a ceremonial finish in Dalbeattie town centre is most welcome. Whereas such affairs can get a bit lost in bigger towns and cities, Dalbeattie is not a big town by any means so the rally and its entourage will have a wee bit of an impact on daily local life this coming Friday and Saturday. The fact that the rally will finish in the High Street will therefore give the local folks a better idea of what the invasion is all about.

Adding to the atmosphere will be the nearby location of the Service Park which is right on the southern outskirts of the town at James P Wilson’s agricultural emporium and yard. This also means that the service crews will be able to see the formal Finish for themselves as the town centre is just a short daunder away. Take a left out of the yard and the High Street starts from the first junction on the right.

And if all the plans come to fruition there will be a large screen TV in the field next to the service area showing live action from the stages. Modern technology is wunnerful, ain’t it?

Town centre finishes are of course nothing new for ‘the Scottish’ from the high jinks of Grantown on Spey and Aviemore in the distant past to the rather more sober shenanigans of Ayr, Glasgow, Perth and Dumfries in more recent times, and now Dalbeattie.

Unlike many other towns these days, Dalbeattie still has a ‘proper’ High Street with ‘proper’ shops and not just rows of blank lots and boarded up windows. It also has an award winning - personally sampled and approved - ‘chippy’ in Alpine Street just off the Cross!

Timetable and spectator info here:

https://www.scottishrally.co.uk/spectator-viewing-areas/

Thirty years ago, the rally finished in Perth and provided Chris Wagner and Alan Stark with their first ever outright win on a Scottish Championship rally. After 16 Special Stages, the Audi 90 quattro was followed home into second place less than a minute behind by the Opel Manta 400 of Andy Horne and Jim Howie. Sam Mullen and Gerry Bryden won the 2 litre class in fifth place in their Escort Mk2 with the 1600 class winning Vauxhall Nova of George McDonald and Murdoch Campbell in sixth place. 

As for the 25 stage international part of the rally Malcolm Wilson and Bryan Thomas dominated that with 22 fastest stage times on their way to victory over Ford team mates Stephen Finlay and Campbell in Roy in the second Escort Cosworth. Marcus Gronholm and Voitto Silander were third in a Toyota. Coincidentally, Dalbeattie’s own Murray Grierson with Stewart Merry finished fourth overall and top Scottish crew in their Subaru Legacy – the only all-Scottish crew in the top ten!

And finally, a certain ‘pop-up’ bookshop may well make an appearance in the service area at Dalbeattie with a huge choice – of two books! More news to follow.