Rally - Old habits die hard

Had a look through this week’s ‘Motorsport News’ hoping for a report on last week’s rally at Knockhill. I didn’t manage to get round everyone but I hoped there would be a report and provide me with information on those I missed. Stupid idea, eh?

What I did find were reports from Sweden and the Riponian and previews for the East Riding Stages and Race Retro - nothing from Scotland’s rally season opening event and no preview the week before either!

Oddly enough they did mention Pentti’s grandwean contesting the Snetterton Stages but no mention of her heading north to the wild and woolly country and they also mentioned the Welsh Rally Championship season opening - in Kielder! With storm ravaged forests in Wales, the Welsh contenders will kick off on the Carlisle Stages instead.

I did check the previous week’s issue which previewed Snetterton and Riponian, but no Border Access Knockhill Stages preview although there was indeed a wee report by Ian Mills on Highland Car Club’s Far North Winter Classic targa event, so not all bad news. With a bit of luck we might get a report in next week’s MSN.

Having said that it will be interesting to see how the 2025 rallying season is reported, not just from up here but down south as well. It’s understandable that most of the current editorial content is comprised of features, profiles and columns but there does need to be actual coverage from the events themselves.

Admittedly most fans nowadays get their fill from YouTube and other social media outlets but they don’t always provide the full story, instead concentrating on top seeds and winners. Other news is fragmented, and has to be sourced from individuals’ own personal pages when what is needed is an overview.

The current coverage of the Scottish Championship on SRC TV provided by Becksport should provide an example to other broadcasters. Not just the ‘professional’ interviews, but the pithy oversight provided by the on-stage ‘Still Game’ refugees (just don’t tell MSUK or the FIA about the language being used!) during the live on-event coverage, but more importantly they report on the classes and extras.

And surely that is what we miss from the majority of written rally reports these days. Not just a report on how the top seeds and winners fared, but the guys at the back of the field, amongst whom will be the champions of tomorrow. I recall reporting on the prospects of a youngster seeded at number 105 on the Snowman Rally way back in 1986 and who then went on to greatness. We need these sort of performances to be highlighted so that we can watch progress. Some will make it, many will not, but it would be interesting to follow their careers.

Whatever happened to Alick Kerr, Kevin Ross, Mark Wheeler, Tommy Finn and many, many more? All showed initial promise and encouraging progress then simply disappeared from the forests.

Which begs another question, will the modern younger generation of rally fan read such reports? Or is it just the auld gits and codgers who have the attention span to work their way through a full page of print?

On a more serious note, the days of long and detailed written rally reports seem to be long gone. Today’s fans want instant gratification and that is provided by the snapshots available on social media. I’m no longer a Motorsport News contributor but I reckon they are fighting hard to stay relevant and doing a pretty good job in the face of rising costs and dwindling audiences. Yes, there is much less rallying reportage than in the good old days but that is purely a reflection of the times in which we now live. Buy it or lose it, and then where will we be?

We’ve lost Rally Sport, Rally Car, Road Sport North, Cars & Car Conversions and many others while Autosport has gone from weekly to monthly. That should tell you what is wrong with British rallying publications. Fans didn’t buy sufficient copies to keep them viable while also losing out on advertising to on-line alternatives.

That’s the prime reason I started writing my books and I would urge other rally championships to do the same. For instance, the British Rally Championship is supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport in this country but where is its history recorded? Over the years there have been Yearbooks and features, but no complete authoritative printed record of what happened from the start way back in 1958 and what has since been achieved. If we don’t record the history now, it will be lost forever. The internet is not a reliable long-term substitute for paper and print.

Rally - SMMC's new ambulance

A busy weekend …. Last weekend was busy, not just with the inaugural Scottish Motorsport Awards on Saturday in Duns and the first round of the Carnegie Fuels Scottish Tarmack Rally Championship at Knockhill on Sunday, but it also marked a rather special weekend for the Scottish Motorsport Marshals Club.

 

This event marked the first appearance of the club’s brand new motorsport rescue vehicle and ambulance following which it will go on active duty after its official commissioning.

 

Dr Paul Trafford, Chair of Motorsport UK’s Medical Committee and the UK representative on the FIA Medical Commission had been invited along to inspect the vehicle and formally ‘cut the ribbon’ ahead of the new vehicle’s induction into service. Many current club members were also in attendance including some founder members!

 

Hard to believe that the club was founded over 50 years ago in 1973 as a Marshals’ club with the original members actually self-building their first ambulance in 1975. However, such is the nature of the rescue business and the advancement in medical procedures and the equipment being used that ambulances and the equipment they carry need to be changed and upgraded in an ongoing process.

 

Far from being self-built, this latest vehicle started life as a white van, a long wheelbase MB Sprinter, which was then professionally converted into an ambulance by the Vanconvert firm based in Kilmarnock. Vanconvert were an obvious choice as they are already held in high regard by mountain rescue teams around Scotland who use their specialised services.

 

This latest unit marks the the club’s 14th such vehicle in that time and represents a huge investment for what is basically an amateur organisation. The club is dependent on donations and their own fund raising activities to ensure that their equipment and services meet the highest possible standards. What is not widely appreciated is that actual medical supplies and materials needed in the event of injury are ‘lifed’ and therefore have to be replaced on an ongoing and regular basis. Hence the need for a constant programme of fund raising.

 

The downside of all this is that despite the effort and expense, there is always a sincere and genuine hope that the club’s services will not be needed at the events which they attend. On the other hand, past experience has proved that this ‘hope’ has often been replaced by a sudden ‘call to action’. Relief has been given, injuries treated and lives saved thanks to SMMC.

 

Next time you see a collecting can, give generously. Their dedication should be an inspiration to us all.

 

Rally - SAMSC Awards

As the last rally cars switched off their engines at Knockhill on Sunday and folk headed off home there were still headlights and torches shining in the darkness moving all around the circuit and on the hill. Those belonged to the Marshals and organisers who were clearing up the tyres and cones, stakes and arrows, stage boards and timing gear, and that was after having spent most of Saturday laying out all the bluidy stuff to create the event! So whilst many of us were already sitting inside steamed up cars and vans eating their fish and chips the unpaid volunteers were still hard at it on a cold and freezing hillside.

It was a pointed reminder of the debt we owe to the legions of volunteers all around the country without whose help this sport would not happen. It was also a point well made at the previous day’s awards ceremony in Duns.

This was the inaugural presentation of the ‘Scottish Motor Sport Awards’ which will henceforth be made annually by the Scottish Association of Motorsport Clubs to mark the incredible achievements of the nation’s volunteers and motor sport clubs.

As Rupert Hine said in his introductory remarks, the survival of the sport is entirely dependent on the efforts of volunteers. Without them, there would simply be no motor sport.

Just think on that for a wee minute. A sport which is so complex and technical, mechanically and electronically advanced, and flush with money at the professional end, is absolutely reliant on amateurs and volunteers for its survival. From club autotests and road rallies to WRC counters and F1 races, none of it would happen without someone to organise it and then provide the unpaid personnel to manage it on the day/s. We all owe a huge debt to the tireless efforts of car club officials, their organising teams and the individual Marshals.

Thankfully this will now be recognised on an annual basis and the SAMSC were extremely grateful to the Jim Clark Trust for opening up the Museum ahead of its official public Easter opening for this one-off occasion. Not only that there was a good attendance by the Trust members who obviously appreciate the unstinting efforts of all these motor club stalwarts.

Volunteer of the Year - Keith Cowan
Volunteer of the Year - Highly Commended - Craig Fisher
Volunteer of the Year - Highly Commended - Alistair Reid
Best Grassroots Motorsport Event - Scottish Sporting Car Club
Engagement Award - Ian McRae
Equity and Inclusion Award - Stuart Gray and Jillian Shedden
Innovation in Motorsport Award - Sandy Burgess
Innovation in Motorsport Award - Highly Commended - Scottish Motor Racing Club
Youth Voice Award - Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge

Oh, and by the way a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ was presented to some grumpy auld git who was very shy, but the photographer actually managed to snatch an ‘actual’ photo of this very elusive personage and not some AI generated image as may be portrayed on other media!

Oh and another by the way, if you haven’t been to the revamped museum since its conversion from the ‘Jim Clark Trophy Room’, it is well worth a visit. Very humbling.

There’s a detailed description of the awards with their citations on the SAMSC website and social media pages.

Full details are on the SAMSC website at:

https://motorsport.scot/

and on their Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/scottishmotorsportsclubs

Rally - Shoot-out at Knockhill

The Winners!

If you thought Rally Sweden featured a close fought finish, then Knockhill was more than equal to the WRC round - but without the snow, although still as bitterly cauld! Fortunately no polar bears were sighted anywhere near the Border Access Knockhill Stages venue – it was too cauld even for them!!

Elfyns Evans’ winning margin over Takamoto Katsuta was a mere 3.8 seconds but at Knockhill on Sunday Peter Stewart and Harry Marchbank finished just two seconds ahead of Ross Hunter and Chris Dodds after an epic, enthralling duel around the Fife circuit undulations.

Hunter took the early lead, faster than Stewart by five seconds over the first three stages then Stewart was faster by four seconds over SS4 to close the gap to one second. After the break Stewart snatched five seconds from Hunter and they tied on SS6. It was Hunter again by six seconds on SS7 with Stewart taking back four on the next one.

With two stages to go Stewart was leading on 43mins 52secs from Hunter on 43m 54s then Hunter swooped around the circuit to snatch back the rally lead by one second. The spectators surged back to the barriers to watch the final stage as darkness started to fall.

The sharp crackle of the turbo on over-run announced the arrival of the bright yellow projectile over the start/finish straight and down towards the triangle. Without any sign of a lift the Mitsubishi turned in, the momentum pushing the car sideways towards the grass, still without any sign of a lift as Hunter drifted all the way round and on the back straight. On well worn tyres, that took some serious commitment – apparently faither was saving the good tyres for another event!

Then the grey Citroen hurtled over the crest, the French four cylinders cracking away like a box of bangers and entered the triangle at full chat. Once again there was no sign of a lift even as the car drifted towards the grass, but Stewart kept it planted drifting on to the back straight – and it kept drifting. The car slid on to the grass, and still no sign of a lift as the nose was pointed towards the black stuff 100 yards away.

At that point Stewart thought he’d blown it but got a big surprise on the finish line. Three seconds quicker than his rival. Peter and Harry had won the rally by two seconds from Ross and Chris. Phew!

In third place nearly a minute behind the top two were Johnnie Mackay and Rachel Matheson but MacKay was delighted with that. He had been concerned about a clattering coming from the rear diff but as the day wore on it didn’t seem to get any worse so he just got the head down and sped on to keep the mercurial Billy McLelland and Chris Robertson behind them which they did by just nine seconds.

Barry Groundwater and Ashleigh Will were fifth ahead of Lee and Cole Hastings to round off the top six, but they were the lucky ones. Nick Stamper and Glenn Mercer were more intimately re-acquainted with Knockhill when first time out in the new Citroen DS3, it slithered under braking on the slimy surface into some tyre markers on the first stage and then did it again on the third stage. No major damage but valuable time lost, and Kyle Adam with Steven Brown were expected to be pose a threat in the 2WD class but the Escort broke both throttle springs on SS2 and missed out on SS3 altogether as faither and grandfaither struggled painfully to reach a certain grub screw on the throttle linkage from underneath the car!

Drive of the day? Spoiled for choice! It was extremely difficult to try and highlight just one driver especially since it is almost expected to see a 1600cc FWD car in the top ten overall places these days, especially when driven by ‘Dangerous Des’ Campbell (with a medal for Rhys sitting beside him!). They finished a stunning 8th overall. Equally impressive was Ally Currie in the wee 1400cc Peugeot who not only won his class, but he and Alex Hill managed a top twenty finish, just! They were 20th overall.

Further down the results list in 27th and 28th places were the MG3s of Rian Walker and Thomas Milne. Those two battled furiously all day like twa wee dugs fighting over a burst ball to be the best of a 9 car entry of MG3s. There was rarely more than 6 seconds between them at any one time. Going into the final stage Rian and Stuart McBride were dead level with Thomas and Neil Jeffrey and the outcome to be determined on the final stage. One wee slip from Thomas and Rian had it – by six seconds. Magic.

But if I had to pick just one driver it would have to be third placed Johnnie Mackay with Rachel Matheson in the elderly Evo7. Having initially thought he would have to tread carefully with ‘old girl’ (not Rachel, the car!) with its noisy diff, he found himself in third place behind the front fliers but under threat from the pursuit. So he thought to himself: “To hang with this, it’s lasted this long, I’m going for it.” And he did. I reckon his drive was every bit as impressive as the top two – and he got one fastest stage time!

Photo shows: Peter and Harry with Stuart Gray presenting the new ‘Jimmy McRae Trophy’ to the winners.

Top Ten:
1, Peter Stewart/Harry Marchbank (Citroen C3 Rally2) 51mins 18secs
2, Ross Hunter/Chris Dodds (Mitsubishi Evo9) 51:20
3, Johnnie Mackay/Rachel Matheson (Mitsubishi Evo7) 52:15
4, Billy McLelland/Chris Robertson (Subaru Impreza N15) 52:24
5, Barry Groundwater/Ashleigh Will (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo6) 52:56
6, Lee Hastings/Cole Hastings (Subaru Impreza) 53:01
7, Joe Mckeand/Charlotte McDowall (Subaru Impreza) 53:12
8, Des Campbell/Rhys Donaldson (Peugeot 206) 53:37
9, Ross MacDonald/Matthew Johnstone (Mitsubishi Evo9) 54:29
10, Orrin McDonnell/Kristina Cameron (Mitsubishi Evo8) 54:44

Full Results courtesy of Raymond Mann’s excellent ‘Scotresults’ service at:
https://sites.google.com/view/scotresults

Rally - Puzzle pics

Of course that was indeed Lorna Smith with Dave Robson in the blue GrpN Subaru Impreza who featured in yesterday’s post. She did indeed drive for Team Stobart and showed great promise. Who knows how far she might have progressed had she stuck with it, but her job started cutting into her weekends - she was a transmission engineer with Prodrive!

She’s also pictured here talking to her Dad, Andy who was quite a driver back in the day. Wild? The trees used to take a step back when he came through – and you might also spot another ‘dodgy’ character in one of the pics and who’s still rallying today !!

Calum MacKenzie had Alan Clark with him in the blue Mk2 and that of course was Bruce McCombie and Michael Coutts in the Nissan Sunny.

Rally - Back to work

It’s amazing what you come across when trawling through the archives. The two pictures of the blue Subaru show a promising up and coming young Scottish driver testing at Sweet Lamb 21 years ago – but who?

The other two pics show the ‘Hebridean Hurricane’ and the ‘Banchory Bullet’ in action on the 2004 Granite City Rally and there’s plenty more where they came from as I work my way through the 2000s.

Anyway, that’s all in the past, this weekend there’s a couple of rather important events coming up. Secrets will be revealed on Saturday 15th February when the Scottish Association of Motor Sport Clubs announce the winners of the ‘2024 Scottish Motorsport Awards’ in Duns at the Jim Clark Museum while on Sunday 16th, the Scottish rallying season gets seriously underway at Knockhill.

Sunday’s Border Access Knockhill Rally Stages opens this year’s Carnegie Fuels Scottish Tarmack Rally Championship while the MG3 Rally Challenge, Back to Roots Tarmack Championship and the BRTC North of England Tarmacadam Rally Championship will add to the fun and frolics.

And if you think the top ten looks good, just look at the firepower lining up behind them. And while Ross Hunter will be hard to beat, Peter Stewart will go like a shell in that wee Peugeot giving Barry Groundwater and Donnie MacDonald a hard time, but the winner could come from any one of the top twenty like young Owen Paterson at number 11, the mercurial Billy McLelland at 14 or the shy and retiring (not!) Angus Lawrie at 18. And if Lee Hastings behaves himself he could provide another surprise, and then of course there is ‘the Sheriff’ seeded at number 21 - to match his age – surely not, eh? Or how about an outside bet – Dangerous Des for outright victory? You never know in rallying, eh?

The first of ten stages will get underway at 8.15am.

Oh, and by the way, I’ll have some books with me, so if Santa wasn’t kind to you last Christmas, you can catch up here, plus I’ll have some with me in Duns on Saturday.

Sunday’s Top Twenty:

1, Ross Hunter/Chris Dodds (Mitsubishi Evo9)
2, Barry Groundwater/Ashleigh Will (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo6)
3, Peter Stewart/Harry Marchbank (Citroen C3 Rally2)
4, Donnie MacDonald/Andrew Falconer (VW Polo R5)
5, Nick Stamper/Glenn Mercer (Citroen DS3 R5)
6, Stephen Thompson/Gordon McCheyne (Ford Escort Mk3)
7, Kyle Adam/Steven Brown (Ford Escort Mk2)
8, Michael Glendinning/Charley Sayer Payne (Subaru Impreza)
9, Joe Mckeand/Charlotte McDowall (Subaru Impreza)
10, Johnnie Mackay/Rachel Matheson (Mitsubishi Evo7)
11, Owen Paterson/Scott Sloan (Subaru GC8)
12, Lee Hastings/Cole Hastings (Subaru Impreza)
14, Billy McLelland/Chris Robertson (Subaru Impreza N15)
15, Des Campbell/Rhys Donaldson (Peugeot 206)
16, Dave McIntyre/Cameron Dunn (Citroen C2 Max)
17, Dave Bellerby/Callum Spoors (Ford Escort)
18, Angus Lawrie/Leesa Watson (Vauxhall Astra)
19, Orrin McDonnell/Kristina Cameron (Mitsubishi Evo)
20, Ross MacDonald/Matthew Johnstone (Mitsubishi Evo9)

Rally - Another dilemma

Work on the latest chapter of the Scottish Rally Championship history covering the decade 2000-2009 is well underway but this period covers one of the most dreadful days in Scottish, and international, rallying.

The present format of the two existing books (1980-1989 and 1990-1999) has proved popular commencing with written reports on each event and followed by a comprehensive photographic section featuring previously unpublished photographs. This latter section has been divided into sub-sections headed ‘People’ and ‘Cars’ with a few extra personality pages, but the inclusion of a separate ‘McRae’ section, Scottish rallying’s ‘first family’, has proved even more popular.

With that format established it was always planned to follow it in this third book and therein lies the dilemma. How to present the ‘McRae’ section. First thought was to gloss over those dark days in September 2007 and simply record the facts, but a few friends have suggested that those events and subsequent events, should indeed be documented as part of Scottish rallying.

Of course it is all a matter of public record, but for many rally fans it is more than that. Official crowd estimates recorded over 20,000 people attending the outdoor service in St Leonard’s Church in Lanark on that fateful day. Photographs don’t do the crowd justice as the huge numbers overspilled  Lanark High Street (which had a capacity of 20,000) into St Leonard’s Street and Bannatyne Street while inside the packed church there were 750 family members, friends and guests.

The following year there was a spectacular ‘celebration of life’ at the Coltness Car Club organised Colin McRae Stages Rally and that too will have to be documented.

Meanwhile work continues on writing up the rally reports from each Championship season followed by the job of photograph selection. Only when that is done will attention turn to the ‘final’ chapter, although I’m not really looking forward to that task.

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

 

Rally - Under the radar

Last month, the great and the good, the winners and the stars, gathered in London for the annual ‘MS UK Night of Champions’. Amongst the highly polished guests were some of our lot from the far north including Robert Proudlock the new British Junior Rally Champion and his co-driver Steven ‘the Flying Doc’ Brown who let the side down – wearing a bow-tie, jaikit an’ troosers, whereas FunBobby was more suitably and resplendently attired as befits a haggis-chomper. So too was Stuart Gray with long socks under his kilt accepting an award on behalf of Knockhill for ‘Sustainable Club of the Year’.

Also in attendance was Tom Purves, not a name many will recognise, but one of the ‘movers and shakers’ at high heid-yin political level behind Scottish and British motor sport and his long volunteer career both at home and internationally was recognised with the award of the ‘HRH Prince Michael Award Of Merit’.

 

Just missing out on the ‘Volunteer of the Year’ award was marshal Ian McLeary who was named runner-up, and he will get a trophy and a cheque for 250 quid.

 

All of this was well publicised but perhaps not quite so widely known is the forthcoming  ‘Scottish Motorsport Awards’ ceremony which will be held in Duns on Saturday the 15th of February.

 

The Scottish Association of Motor Sport Clubs are hosting their own Scottish event to highlight and celebrate the efforts of those Scottish motor sporting doers, helpers and volunteers who are essential to the successful running of a whole variety of motor sports this side of the border.

 

They will mark this occasion by presenting these awards to individuals and clubs at an even more evocative venue than MS UK’s choice of the Royal Automobile Club in London (that’s near France by the way), as the Scots will gather at the Jim Clark Museum in Duns in Royal Berwickshire !!

 

Nominations have been kept secret up till now so we’ll find out more on the 15th.