Big show

 It's a big show. Apparently the club had 75 Marshals on site to park up 800 show cars plus the traders stalls and club marquees and ready for the 11am spectator opening.

Getting busy

 Tell you what, Wigton Motor Club have got some team of Marshals on site. Each car is being directed individually to their spot. Just one thing though, can't make up my mind if these are long shorts, or short longs!

At the show

 There's an awfy lot of polishing and last minute titivating going on. When did you last see a set of Rostyles? Chromed ones on a two door Mk2 Cortina. Lovely!

Calm before the storm

 Arrived to empty fields this morning but cars starting to arrive now. Site well laid out and signposted, credit to the organising team.

Show - International foray

Venturing into the unknown …. Missing out on Kames this weekend to head south on Sunday 17th into fresh territory for my first ‘international’ sales expedition. An odd choice? Perhaps not. Over the years the Scottish Rally Championship has seen a regular influx of rally competitors from Cumbria and Northumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire, although it wasn’t till 2002 that an Englishman won the Scottish national title for the first time. That was Barry Johnson, and he did it again in 2005. England had to wait nearly 20 years more for another cross border silverware raider when David Henderson won the Scottish crown in 2023.

So what has been the big attraction? It’s not just the proximity of the stages for north of England folks, it has to be the competition and I like to think, the banter. Admittedly it gets a bit cruel at times but the Scots only insult their friends – insulting enemies just invites more trouble!

The other big attraction lies just off the west coast of Scotland. 300 square miles of rock with roads winding up and over and round the contours like steroid fed sinews. It has been said that the roads were ‘designed’ by an engineer with a wheelbarrow full of sand. Apparently the wheelbarrow had a wee hole in it and the engineer’s job was to push the barrow along the terrain he thought best suited to build roads while the navvies behind him would follow the trail of trickled sand.

That worked fine till one stormy night in the Mish Nish where the engineer sought to fortify himself with the ‘water of life’ before braving the elements and the nightmarish fear of banshees and whigmaleeries and heading home to Dervaig. The next morning the road building squad set about their task following the route with unquestionable faith in their engineer. The result? The 6.3 miles of tortuous tarmac known colloquially as ‘The Lochs’. And given the nature of the rest of the island’s roads, that wasn’t the only night the engineer got stocious!

On that basis I’ll also have copies of the ‘Murmurs on Mull’ book which takes up the Mull story from Brian Molyneux’s authoritative insight (sadly now out of print) on the origins and history of the Mull Rally from 1969 to 1994 with the MoM book covering the period 1993 to 2010 although in a somewhat less serious and more frivolous style to the master’s work.

As for the Scottish Rally Championship books they list the top ten drivers and co-drivers and class winners on each round of the series and are illustrated with many previously unpublished and unseen photographs, including the early days of a future world champion. Anyway, there will be sample books to flick through if interested.

So if you’re not going to Kames a day out at Penrith on Sunday would be most enjoyable as Wigton Motor Club’s ‘Cumbria Classic and Motorsport Show’ promises something for everyone from the old-time tinkerer and polisher to the sporting oil-stained enthusiast, and with over 800 cars entered it ranks as one of the biggest such shows in England.

The venue is the Dalemain Estate just to the west of Penrith off the M6 but given the expected popularity of the show, visitors are recommended to arrive via the A592 from the Ullswater side as the queues may well build up at the Rheged roundabout. Post code CA11 0HB. Just be careful.

Rally - A wee apology

The previous eight wee stories and pics were supposed to have been posted from the service area at the Voly Grampian Forest Rally at the weekend but there was a hiccup with accessing the Blog so I wasn't able to update it. Apparently a few folk (well, one or two) noticed this omission so I have added them all in this evening now that I'm back on line and hope you'll forgive this un-intended break in transmission!

Rally - A half century

There was a surprise on display in the stages and waiting for him back at rally service, but to mark the 'Malton Missile's' 50 years of rallying, his old rival the 'Hebridean Hurricane' had a banner made. The banner was actually made on Friday night by Heather assisted by daughter Kirsty, and of course the design will be instantly significant to rally fans. Rather fitting, eh? Gaun yersel Steve.

 

Rally - The secret presentation

A rather strange low key, little ceremony took place in the service area this morning (Saturday 9th). The last ever 'Jaggy Bunnet Flying Brick' was presented to a rather surprised individual. There was nearly a tear in the eye, but that was surely down to dust in the air!

 

 

Rally - the big attraction

The absolute best thing about rallies in Banchory is Mrs McCombie's toffee tarts! Little pastry nests full of caramel and chocolate scrumptiousness.

 

 

Rally - Change of plan

 .... the book-tique gazebo-ok nearly blew away yesterday (Friday 8th). It was nearly back home before I was. So as long as it's dry this'll have to do.

 

Rally - Man with a gun

 .... just look at the concentration on Woody's face. The mud and bugs don't stand a chance.

 

Rally - Support crew poised!

What's rallying coming to? .... I just wonder what our sport is coming to these days. Irn Bru no longer the bevvy of choice in a service park, but at least this is better than rid biddy.

 

Rally - Family Affair

 Keeping it in the family .... McRae interviews McRae

 

Rally - Voly Grampian Forest Rally

 Battle of the rigs. I think I lost !!!

 

Rally - Banchory bound

The book-tique is scheduled to pop up in Banchory this weekend, Friday and Saturday 8th and 9th at the Voly Grampian Stages Rally service area at Milton. So if you’re looking to further your education or just tickle the old memory box, I’ve got just the very thing. Weather permitting the red and white chequer will be flying so I’ll be easily found.

The following week I’m going ‘international’ and venturing into the untamed wilds of Englandshire on Sunday 17th August to pitch up at the Cumbria Classic and Motorsport Show at the Dalemain estate near Penrith, CA11 0HB. Organised by the enterprising Wigton Motor Club this is one of the biggest such shows in England and rumour has it that special guest, one Malcolm Wilson OBE, is in for a surprise!

The advice is to approach Dalemain from the A592 and avoid the Rheged roundabout which will get awfy busy – it’s a big show!

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

 

Rally - Whatever happened to?

Yesterday’s trawl through the dust and cobwebs ahead of this weekend’s Voly Grampian Forest Rally prompted a few more thoughts. Over the years this sport has produced a truck load of individual talents and yet so few ever made it to the higher echelons of professional rallying or the World Rally Championship.

Scotland has produced four World Champions, Louise, Colin, Derek and Robert while England has produced two, David Richards and Richard Burns, and fingers crossed Wales will get its chance soon with Elfyn. So how come countries a lot smaller than ours can produce so many more world stars? A conundrum, Eh?

Take a look back at 1990, and the North East’s premier motor sports event. A counter in both the RAC MSA Mintex National and Esso Scottish Championships, ADMC’s Granite City Rally that year offered 13 stages totalling 80 miles of forest roads contained in a fairly compact 225 mile route.

After a stirring battle, Jim McRae and Rob Arthur in an Audi quattro won the event by a mere 12 seconds from Japan’s Hideaki Myoshi with Keith Oswin in a Mitsubishi Galant VR4. The top Group N crew were Robbie head and Steve Bond in fifth place overall in their Ford Sapphire Cosworth but Finland’s Mika Sohlberg’s Lancia Delta Integrale violently encountered a rather stout piece of granite and Jimmy Girvan rolled his Toyota Celica GT4.

However, there was more ‘local’ success further down the 115 car field with Dom Buckley Jnr and Douglas Redpath finishing a superb 12th overall and winning the Group N Mazda Challenge category. And even further back was a relative newcomer to the sport. Alister McRae and David Senior won the 1300cc class in their Vauxhall Nova finishing a thoroughly creditable 36th overall amongst such tough company on such an arduous event.

Donald Milne didn’t get far. The Metro Nissan’s rear diff failed on the start line of the third stage at Gartly Moor and a certain Jon Burn with Colin Ross failed to finish after they went OTL with a very troubled outing in a Talbot Sunbeam.

Oh! And by the way, the Entry Fee was £215 plus £18.50 for the Bowring Insurance – happy days, eh?

And if you’re looking for more info, it’s all in the books:

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

 

Rallying in the North

This weekend’s Voly Grampian Forest Rally (8/9 August) may well concentrate the minds of rally folks on future possibilities. Behind the scenes in Aberdeen City Council, SportScotland and MS UK there is work going on with a view to bringing a round of the World Rally Championship to Scotland. Added to that, there would appear to be a clear understanding of the financial commitment required - and that hasn’t frightened anyone off yet.

The idea is not quite as daft as some people might think. Aberdeen has the facilities, the North East has the forests and Scotland has the clubs, volunteers and expertise.

The North East already has a history of staging big events having previously hosted rounds of the British Rally Championship in the 1980s and 90s.

For instance, forty years ago, the then one-day Granite City Rally managed to run 96 cars through their 14 stage route and given the way that World Rally events are run these days, hosting a WRC counter would be a doddle. OK, maybe not quite a doddle, but most certainly workable and manageable.

Driving the prototype RED Ford Sierra 4x4T, Willie Rutherford and Bryan Harris won the 1985 event with a time of 79 mins 51 seconds. Driving his new Nissan 240RS George Marshall, with Lyn Jenkins finished second some 41 seconds behind. That’s quite a feat, the 2WD machine losing out to the 4WD turbo by less than a minute over 75 miles of forest roads. It’s also worth noting that a certain Louise Aitken-Walker with Ellen Morgan finished sixth overall in a Ford Escort Mk2.

On a separate note, according to Police and AA patrol estimates, there were some 40,000 spectators in the Grampian forests for the rally that day.

Photos show Willie and Bryan with John Horton and also Keith Oswin of ‘Autosport’ magazine (when it used to be a weekly and covered rallying!) making a presentation to Bryan with Willie wondering: “It’s a bit late for that, is it not?”

https://www.grampianforestrally.com/

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

 

Lombard Rally Festival

Spent a pleasant hour or so at Craufurdland Castle just outside Kilmarnock yesterday. Tim Nash was hosting a wee bit of a media day for his two-day Lombard Rally Festival in the castle estate on the weekend of 23/24 August. The un-missable Euan Ruddick from the ‘Ayrshire Daily News’ was in attendance but I’m still not sure whether you see him before you hear him, or hear him before you see him. However, methinks the Scrutineers will need to include him in their pre-event rally car Noise Test!

Tim also had a drone flying above the ‘rally stage’ to film a couple of cars which were trying out the stage, Craig Gibson in his Ford Escort Mk1 and young Gregor Beatson in his Skoda Citigo with both drivers reporting big improvements on last year’s inaugural event. Hamilton Tarmac have been in over recent weeks to seal the two hairpins and flatten the bumps. There will be some film clips and more photos posted on the Lombard Rally Festival social media pages for info.

The rally stage will be run both days and the organisers have a full entry of 50 invited rally cars and there will be a classic car gathering and show on both days although the classic cars will have a scenic road run on the Saturday. More details to come.

In fact, Andy Dodds will have a sneak preview of what’s to come on the Friday evening (22nd) at his ‘Autocare’ premises on Heathfield Road, Ayr with a display of rare and exotic rally cars displayed on the grass outside the roadside premises and some guests in the showroom if you fancy a nosey and a natter.

Craig Gibson said the ‘new’ stage was much better than last year and is looking forward to giving the Ford Escort Mk1 a bit of a blast in three weeks time and young Gregor Beatson was there with his Skoda Citigo and reckoned the stage was much better suited to the 1 litre Junior Rally Challenge cars. Lauchlan Hunter was also in attendance, but car-less! His MG3 “is still in bits” after his RSAC Scottish Rally outing when he hit a rock and broke the front suspension. And he was only a second off the category lead at the time! Rallying, eh?

And if you’ve ever wondered what the ‘S.A.S Motorsport’ stands for that adorns the flanks’ of Craig’s Mk1, those are the initials of ‘Shifter’ (faither), Audrey (the Matriarch) and ‘Shifty’ (Craig) and check out the badge.

Oh, and by the way, that’s a ‘Peat & Diesel’ hoodie that Audrey is wearing – obviously a woman of great musical taste.

https://www.facebook.com/LombardRallyBath/?locale=en_GB

 

Rally - The Goold Old Days?

Met a lovely elder statesman at the recent Glamis Show. He was set up next to my wee book-tique to sell pre and post war automotive memorabilia, mostly small stuff like badges, medals, mascots and other smaller items but as he was unable to find accommodation locally, he set off to drive home on the Saturday evening and drive back on the Sunday morning – and he lived in Greenlaw, that’s near Duns to save you reaching for Google! Quite a trek.

Anyway, he asked if I would keep an eye on his stall (naturally he took his stuff with him) and I said of course I would.  There was no need really as it seems there is a ‘code of honour’ amongst the stall holders at these classic shows and they keep an eye on each other’s pitches without being too obvious about it.

Upon his return in the morning he thanked me quite graciously (but needlessly, it was hardly a chore) and later on in the day he handed me a 1959 RAC Motor Sport Yearbook to thank me for my ‘efforts’ and saying the Yearbook would be of more interest to me than to his clientele. And it was, but he wouldn’t accept anything for it.

Over the past few days I have been dipping in and out of it and it is absolutely fascinating. First of all there were two different types of motoring/car clubs at that time – those which were recognised by the RAC to promote competitions and those which were recognised, but not allowed to organise competitions. Secondly there were 9 associations of car cubs representing various English regions and 1 Welsh Association, but no Scottish Association of car clubs, and no Northern Irish Association either!

The rules and regulations appear to concentrate on motor racing and speed events implying that rallying was less well regulated although the Yearbook did publish a calendar for the 1959 RAC Rally Championship of Great Britain which stated there should be a maximum of 14 events and a minimum of 5 and if the number of events promoted/organised fell below 5, there would be no championship that year!

The Schedule of Fees also makes interesting reading. A Restricted Competition Licence was 15 shillings (75p in modern money!) and 1 pound 10 shillings (£1.50p) for a full Competition Licence. The Permit Fee for a National Rally was £21, the same as an International Permit, and that was for a maximum entry of 240 cars and crews! No mention of Forestry Commission charges because that didn’t happen until 1961.

There is also a long list of RAC Officials and their contact details but a quick look suggests there were only three Group 1 Scrutineers based in Scotland, J Garden in Aberdeen, J McCubbin from Giffnock and D H Stephen from Lasswade, plus Group 2 Scrutineers I D Bennie in Glasgow and A D Reid from Edinburgh and no Assistant Scrutineers. Considering the number of Trials, Hillclimbs, Sprints, Race Meetings and Rallies in those days that would have kept them pretty busy! Oddly enough I knew two of them - doesn’t half make one feel old!

By the way, the fee for an RAC Steward at an event was either £3 10 shillings or £5 depending on the event but an additional £2 2 shillings per day if more than a one day event.

There are many other nuggets and insights contained in this 272 page booklet which cost the princely sum of two shillings and sixpence, that’s twelve and a half pence to you and me!

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

 

At the RSAC

It's raining, at least it will keep the stoor doon!

RSAC Scottish Rally

RSAC Scottish Rally .... All set up and open for business, didn't realise the giant TV screen was folded and on a huge hydraulic arm. I thought they just slid upwards out of the truck roof.

Moving pictures

Last weekend’s two-day show at Glamis provided additional time for idle chatter whilst the ice cold lager on Saturday evening lubricated the vocal chords and loosened the brain cells. It turns out that my decision to include a few ‘personality pages’ in the Scottish Championship books have gone down well especially with rally folk who might be unaware of who some of the stars were, especially the McRae sections with their previously unpublished pics of a couple of youngsters.

Anyway, that idea will continue into the next book which is underway. But there are two kinds of ‘moving pictures’, the poignant photographs and the motion pictures as in silent movies. That observation was prompted by something which is quite common these days and was all too prevalent and on show last weekend.

The warm weather had encouraged visitors to dispense with wellies, troosers and woolly jumpers. Instead, bystanders were treated to a rather unique minimal fashion show i.e. sandals, shorts and vests which meant there was an awfy lot of skin on show – only there wasn’t. Instead of skin there was a never ending stream of artwork, pictures and words passing by in a constant parade. Nope, not on celluloid, but on exposed skin. Never have a I seen such a display of tattoos. From full body coverings to patchwork quilts, sleeves and random splashes of colour where once a scrap of bare skin had previously been. Just watching this world pass by was reminiscent of the early cinema with their stop-motion silent movies.

Tempted as I was to take some surreptitious foties, I resisted but here are some pics of a possible alternative to the red van as personal transport. It was on a stand directly opposite me and I was sorely tempted to make an offer. It was a Panther m100 600cc single cylinder motor cycle with a rather large sidecar. Originally manufactured during the first half of the 20th century in Yorkshire, the bikes were considered ahead of their time in some respects but sadly went the way of traditional British manufacturers under the influx of Japanese machines in the 1960s.

Even so, it sat there all weekend staring at me through its single large eye on the front just begging me to bid. What stopped me? The thought of showing up with this back home and Lady Bunnet’s response to a Wallace and Gromit lifestyle transport choice.

Yup, just not brave enough.

So I’ll just stick with the Transit which will be heading to Dalbeattie on Saturday with the mobile ‘book-tique’ on board and four different titles for prospective purchasers to peruse. If you’re not there, there’s always on-line:

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