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.
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