Rally - Ten years ago

The aul’ git and the boy! One went on to great success, and t’other one didn’t!

Donnie MacDonald scored his first Scottish Championship round victory on the 2016 Snowman with Andrew Falconer while a young Vauxhall Nova graduate debuted his new Evo7 in the forests. This followed his first trial run out in the new car at the Knockhill Stages, coincidentally with an experienced co-driver called Andrew Falconer!

Back then on a snowy and slippery Snowman Rally the youngster obviously took no heed of the advice offered by ‘The Sheriff’ (see photo) because he finished 21st overall with Ian MacIvor, while the ‘Lawman’ and Caroline Will were 42nd!

Fast forward to the year 2026 and the MacBeth boy and seasoned campaigner Falconer shared the champagne at this year’s opening round in the frozen far north.

Gaun yersel Scott, well done to both you and Andrew.

Somehow I don’t think this photo will make the next book – or maybe it will !!

Rally 40 Years ago

With this year’s Snowman Rally just a few days away now, it brought to mind another Snowman Rally – exactly 40 years ago! The following tale first appeared in a certain columnist’s reminiscences in a February 2010 edition of ‘Motorsport News’. It read as follows:

       ““ It was 25 years ago this year in 1985 that a 17 year old assortment of gangly limbs and unkempt hair went rallying. First of all, he did a couple of events as co-driver with his ‘Uncle Shooey’ Steele and ‘Rockers’ Gray – and then he got his driving licence. He got two events in as a driver before the season closed. He crashed on both, but finished one of them.

Armed with this 50% finishing record he went to the opening round of the 1986 Esso Scottish Rally Championship, the Ladbroke Snowman Rally in Inverness.

It was next weekend’s forthcoming Snowman Rally, once again the opening round of our national series, that reminded me of this auspicious occasion. In that year of ’86, seven stages had been planned, but two were cancelled because of snowdrifts, although a third was saved after some strenuous 4x4 activity.

Seeded at 105 in the 134 car entry was ‘our hero’ in a wee red Talbot Sunbeam. People took little notice of the youngster at first, and many wondered why Ian Grindrod was co-driving for this ‘unknown’. In fact seeing Grindrod without Jim McRae was like seeing Shep without John Noakes, or Ant without Dec, but therein lies the reason. He was co-driving for ‘son of Jim’, Colin.

Colin had never driven on snow before but on the first stage he passed three cars, on the second he spun and just passed two. He caught and passed two more in the third test and two more on the fourth. On the fifth a brake pipe burst and dumped its fluid. He finished 27th that day and went on to finish 18th overall in the 1986 Scottish Championship – in a 1600cc Sunbeam!

But proving that rallying is an incestuous sport, Barrie Lochhead was also competing on that same Snowman Rally in a similar Sunbeam. He finished 34th before hanging up his helmet and donning his welding gloves to service for Colin. It was a task that kept him just as busy between events as it did during them. It must have seemed like painting the Forth Rail Bridge at times. No sooner was the Sunbeam straight and shiny, than it was bent and battered once again.

In another stroke of coincidence, Derek Ringer was also contesting that Snowman in his Clan Crusader as a driver. He finished 78th but at the end of the rally had to be lifted out of the car. He and his co-driver had lost the windscreen early on and had borrowed ski goggles. They were like two white frosted fish fingers by the finish, and literally put the word ‘snowman’ into the Snowman Rally.

Also competing that day was Colin’s first regular co-driver, Nicky Jack, who was driving an Opel Kadett and he finished in 91st place. Perhaps it was obvious to both he and Derek that their rallying talents lay elsewhere!

I’ll be thinking of those good times as I head north once again next week.””

Speaking of ‘Motorsport News’ there may be a bit of good news on the near horizon. I hear they have been ‘consulting’ with other journalists (not me!) as the new owner is keen to bring back the ‘clubman (clubperson?) element’ to the weekly paper.

Fingers crossed, eh?

More tales from times past here:

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

 

Last night’s viewing?

Well, that was a disappointment, not quite what we were expecting. Last night’s televised (on Youtube) Motorsport UK presentation of its ‘Vision 2030’ was more of an advertisement and state of the nation review than a genuine opportunity for motor sports folk to ask questions and get answers.

Apparently Motorsport UK ‘had received a great deal of questions’ but rather than try to answer any individually they had grouped them into ten different subjects and addressed the topic generally. I was left disappointed - although I do hope for an answer to my submitted written questions!

The public ‘turnout’ was a disappointment too. Considering there are some 120,000 ‘members’ of Motorsport UK, only around 240 at its highest audience number tuned in according to Youtube’s viewer counter. That smacks of complete dis-interest amongst the ‘members’, does it not?

Of course, there should have been more than 240 folk watching, shouldn’t there? After all our Chair and Chief Exec were on camera to address the nation. Or is this just another case of the majority leaving it to the minority to sort out because the majority doesn’t give a sh*t? As long as there are mugs to organise, officiate and marshal why should the rest of us bother?

No chance of rousing and inciting a placard waving, access blockading mob at the nation’s favourite forests when rallying is denied again this year, is there?

Seriously though, I stuck with it. After a video walk round the offices at Bicester a sit-down chat with Messrs David Richards CBE, Hugh Chambers and Claire Kirkpatrick followed during which they highlighted their plans for the next five years. After that came the ‘Q&A’ session during which both Mr Richards and Jonathan Jackson assured rally folk that they were constantly working with the various forestry commissions in Scotland, England and Wales. The most interesting snippet to come out of that was Mr Richard’s statement that there WILL be a British WRC round before he retires - and this is his final year of Chairmanship!

Having said all that, Motorsport UK does face some serious difficulties looking ahead. The general public’s growing awareness and perception of environmental concerns will impact on a sport which currently relies on petrol and diesel powered vehicles for sporting pleasure. Whilst the great British public, and our critics, are oblivious to their own car use pursuing their own interests, they seem to frown on those of us who wish to use cars for sporting use. And this is something we will all have to face and fight for.

And yet there were some positives from last night’s presentation. The fact that Motorsport UK is making more use of social media particularly for the huge variety of Official and Marshal Training Courses and promotional/publicity functions is a big advantage to reaching the parts of these islands that are otherwise difficult to visit personally, or seek us to visit them.

On the other hand they must be careful that they don’t simply use this as a lecturing platform but also to seek genuine members’ concerns and opinions and engage in discussion. It would be all too easy to block the questions they don’t want to hear.

You can download the Vision 2030 document here:

https://www.motorsportuk.org/vision2030/documents/MotorSport-UK-Vision-2030.pdf

 

Rallying call

When writing the previous Post I was mindful of not including too much detail. At a recent car club meeting I was taken aside by a club member and encouraged “to keep doing what you’re doing” but he then added “I can’t always read your Posts right through, although I do go back to them later when I’ve got time!” A gentle chastisement perhaps for my excessive verbosity?

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to the current problem. However, it would appear from current and ongoing actions that Forest & Land Scotland has been tasked with generating more income while reducing expenditure.

That means making charges to use ‘public’ land and they are becoming increasingly inventive in this pursuit. In addition to paying a fee to use their roads for rallying, there is an increasing number of additional charges for Permits for named rally officials to gain pre-event access to the forests to conduct recces. I have also heard of one event being charged for “lost income” and this referred to motorhomes and campervans not being able to access an in-forest parking area because a rally was due to use that forest.

There is another issue which is causing concern. Big cuts! I referred in the previous Post that it wasn’t only the roads which needed maintenance and repairs, but ditches too. The ‘straight-lining’ of corners is not only gouging out the drainage ditches but damaging the road edges/foundations leading to more extensive repairs – and costs!

Already some events are having to look at the possibility of introducing ‘corner-cutting preventive devices’. This was something that the McRae Stages Rally encountered in the Perthshire Forests and was a contributing factor in the loss of that event to the sport. Prior to the rally, conical piles of chuckies (pebbles) were sited on the inside of numerous corners to prevent corner-cutting. Simple solution perhaps but it cost much more in terms of time and expense, and I reckon amateur rally organising teams already have more than enough on their plate without this added requirement and cost.

It therefore follows that rallying has a bigger problem. The sport has to prove to a wider public that it is not wasteful and polluting. Rallying is not alone on relying on the automobile for its sport, EVERY other sport uses vehicles. Just as everything we eat, wear or use spends some time on the back of a truck, every other sport uses vehicular transport to carry fans, competitors and equipment to and from venues, and in that respect we are no different from any other sport. Just look at the weekend car parks at stadiums and arenas around the country, not to mention festivals and pop concerts. The difference is only in the equipment we use to participate.

So that is the task facing our sport’s governing body, justifying our right to pursue our sport. No mean task for an organisation with just over 70 employees which has 25 separate motor sports committees reporting to them - of which the Rallies Committee is only one! Car club members and competition licence holders therefore have a job to do, to impress upon their various club committees and event organising teams to urge the various regional associations to make representations to the Rallies Committee to impress upon the sport’s governors the need to protect and promote stage rallying.

While racers and karters have circuits, rallying is much more visible to the general public as it passes through villages and townships on route to the forests. It’s therefore easier for the passers-by to be critical so we have to do our bit too. If anyone challenges you about car use in the forests, ask them how footballers get to their matches, ski-ers get to the snow and how parents take their kids to swimming classes and biking trails.

We all need cars, just some of us use them differently.

Rally - Thought for the day

The news from the North Lakes Forests in Cumbria is disturbing as it seems to be following a growing and worrying trend which is also affecting Scottish forests with access for motor rallying use being denied. Many reasons are being cited for this from harvesting to damage caused by rally cars, wildlife protection and nesting birds, beaver introduction and deer management, various fauna and plantlife disturbance and of course the oft claimed carbon reduction schemes and excuses.

Whereas in the past, car clubs dealt with local forest area managers (and built up good relationships), much of that decision making is now being controlled centrally, and if the ‘high heid yin’ says ‘naw’ then we’re scuppered.

However, one can understand the antagonism to rallying. Road (and ditch!) damage is costly to repair and if rallying is such a minority sport then criticism and complaints are more easily refuted. Not only that, when rallying comes to the local woodland, local folks and visitors are denied access to certain roads.

However, the forestry companies are partly to blame for the road damage. According to an experienced FC engineer current roads are not built to the same standard as they were 40 years ago. Neither are they maintained to the same standard, or as often as needed. Of course this is partly due to the fact that other timber extraction methods are now being used so roads don’t need to be built to such high standards. In some cases, roads aren’t needed at all as timber is being dragged out on cable crane systems.

Cost saving is another reason and coupled with advances in rally car improved traction, grip and tyre technology roads are being damaged rather more severely especially in braking areas, acceleration zones and sharp corners. So if a forestry area doesn’t want its roads chewed up, simple, ban the cars and create an excuse.

For instance one Local Forestry Manager has been heard saying that he would like to ban all rallying from March to October to protect the raptors – and we’re not talking Jurassic Park here, just eagles, hawks, owls and suchlike, i.e. birds which like to kill and feed on other wildlife in the forests. And this is yet another example of what rallying is up against. As the fifth largest landowner in the UK the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds carries a lot of clout with politicians at both local and national level. As such, the bird-watching community is a very powerful lobbying force able to generate a lot of public support for their activities and interests.

There are of course many other vested interests including walkers, dog walkers, hikers, cyclists, anglers, wildlife and bird watchers, naturalists and botanists, all keen to pursue their own interests, and of course general tourists.

This is what we are up against, but it should be pointed out to the Forestry companies that they are merely the managers of a publicly owned resource. They are responsible to the tax payer – that’s us! And since their remit is to allow public access to all – that also includes us. Rallying should not be edged out of the forest simply to appease the majority. There has to be room to accommodate all sporting pursuits and general interests.

And who should be pointing this out to Forestry management and the Government? The sport’s governing body? Once upon a time the Royal Automobile Club Motor Sports Association regarded themselves purely as governors and regulators, not promotors and publicists and the sport has suffered from its low public profile ever since.

Admittedly the new-look MotorSport UK is making change, but not enough and not soon enough, although dealing with the Civil Service and politicians does take time, determination and perseverance. The trouble is forest rallying is running out of time, in fact some pundits reckon we’ll all be out of the forests by 2030.

We need to ‘tell’ rather than ‘request’ the forestry companies to permit access for rallying and that’s down to car club folk and competitors badgering their club committees to persuade the regional associations to encourage MS UK to pursue the fight at Forestry HO, Sports Council and Government level.

These people have to be reminded that the forests are a ‘public’ resource and all members of the public should be treated equally.

To deny vehicle access for rallying is quite wrong. The Forestry management companies already have to provide vehicular access for their own staff, contractors, farmers and agricultural equipment, Water Board and power company employees and equipment, medical and rescue services, and in some cases Royal Mail, parcel delivery firms and other contractors.

For our part we would need to look at the sport of rallying itself to do its bit. Already rallies are being asked to engage in carbon-offsetting schemes, but do we also need to look at power outputs, lower octane fuels, 4WD versus 2WD, less aggressive tyres? That might also lead to reduced costs for competitive equipment as well as reduced damage to roads.

Not popular perhaps, but what’s the alternative? Closed public roads? That opens up a whole other can of worms and associated costs – and it is most certainly not a cheaper form of rallying.

Anyone got a PlayStation I could have?

Return of the ‘Brick’?

My Big Pal got a telephone call last night:

Caller: Hi there, I’m an aide from the White House

   JB: Oh right, but why is a toilet cleaner phoning me?

Caller: No buddy, I said the WHITE House.

   JB: What do you want to talk to me about Mr White?

Caller: No, No, my name is Jared, I just work in the White House.

   JB: Oh right, got you now, that’s the pub in Holytown.

Caller: No, No, this THE White House, in the Yoonited States of America.

   JB: Oh get away wi’ you, yer pullin’ ma leg.

Caller: No, No, this is a matter of greatest international importance.

   JB: OK, fire away.

Caller: Me and my colleagues here in the White House think you should present one of your awards to our President.

   JB: Whit?

Caller: We have heard that your awards are the bigliest in the world of rallying.

   JB: Naw, stoapped that a while back.

Caller: Well we think you should start again and your first presentation should be to Mr Donald J Trump.

   JB: Why? Whit’s he done noo?

Caller: He’s saving Greenland from the Russkies and he has collected more awards and more medals from more countries and more individuals than anyone else in the world but his collection still lacks a ‘Jaggy Bunnet Flying Brick’.

   JB: That award was originally presented to aspiring and talented youngsters.

Caller: Exactly, our revered President was once an aspiring and talented youngster and such an award as yours would just complete the adoration of our leader.

   JB: Naw, naw, naw, yer havin’ me oan.

Caller: No, I mean this mostest sincereliest.

   JB: But I’d have to find another brick and buy twa cans of spray paint undercoat and gloss gold from Halfords. That’s quite a costly undertaking and it would be awfy heavy to post it out to you.

Caller: We understand that your genyooine gold bricks are indeed too heavy to post but we could send Air Force One to Prestwick and meet you there.

   JB: I’d need to OK this with Mr Swinney and Mr Starmer.

Caller: Who?

   JB: They’re the guys who run the Dis-United Kingdom.

Caller: Don’t you worry about them, we don’t.

   JB: What do I get in return?

Caller: You get the personal satisfaction and glory of presenting an award to the greatliest leader in the world.

   JB: Not even a free ticket for Disneyland?

Caller: Sorry, no, Mickey Mouse is too busy running the White House for our most Presidentialist leader!

( Reader’s Note: If ye dinnae ken whit a ‘Jaggy Bunnet Flying Brick’ is, ask yer Da! )

Rally - A slight misunderstanding

Ten years ago .... 

Buyer: This isn’t quite what I had in mind when I requested a lower rolling radius and a wider tread for my bicycle.

Seller: But if ye fit a pair o' these ye’ll no need yer stabilisers any mair!

 

Memory jogger

The next book on the ‘Scottish Rally Championship’ series will cover the period 2010 to 2019 and it will be underway shortly, but first a trawl through the files. That is always dangerous because it is so easy to get sidetracked and ends up with me squatting on the floor flicking through old reports and files. Somehow I came across some pics from 2002 – probably mis-filed!

That’s because they are motor cycle pics and they show Niall MacKenzie and Kevin Schwantz officially opening the new Medical Centre at Knockhill way back in the year 2002. That little ceremony was held ahead of the arrival of the British Superbike circus to the Fife Circuit and there are some other shots in the collection including this start line picture of Hizzy chatting with a very young looking Steve Plater. I had forgotten I had taken these and of course it kick starts the old memory box and I forget the real reason for digging up the past and get sidetracked – again!

And folk wonder why it takes me so long to write a book!

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

Thought for the week

…. or the year, or maybe even eternity! Not that I wish to blight your new year before it has even got started, but current and ongoing events have raised a few worrisome thoughts inside the dark tower at Castle Bunnet. If Mr Trump does decide to invade and rule Greenland, what next?

Iceland is only a short sail away, so will that be next? And then once he’s got the whole eastern side of the Atlantic subjugated he might just fancy a bit of the western side so that he controls both sides of this Northern ‘passage’. And you know what means – the Western Isles! Of course he might well use the excuse that these islands are his own anyway since his Mother came from Tong near Stornoway.

And once the stetsons and spurs land on Lewis and Harris, what next? There is an obvious choice here – Mull. With Mr Trump hell bent on having the best and bigliest of everything, then having ‘the best rally in the world’ will be the Scottish equivalent of the FIFA Peace Medal. The annual ‘Mull Rally’ is the only Scottish event which can match the Indy 500 in terms of fame, spectacle and glamour! From there it’s just a short hop over the water on to the mainland so why not go for that and make the whole of Scotland his eastern Atlantic base?

And of course this being a democracy, King Charles will be deposed, or exiled, and a new monarch crowned - King Donald. Naturally, the new King Donald will become Donald IV as there have previously been three King Donalds of Alba who ruled the Picts and Scots 1,000 years ago so he will have ancient history on his side! And before you know it we’ll all be having to speak Yanklish.

Happy new year everyone, or should that be Happy nooo year y’all ?

Welcome to 2026 ??

Well, here go again …. another New Year …. with new hopes, new ambitions, new expectations, new dreams - and new fears.

Unfortunately, those fears are all too real. Ambition and greed continue to stalk the corridors of power in the west, the middle east and the far east. You’d think the world’s leaders would have learned the lessons of 1914-18 and 1939-45, but no, they continue to arm and train today’s youth to go and fight, shoot and kill in pursuit of a despot’s desire for more power, influence and riches. In response, the more ‘civilised’ nations have to train their own youth to go and fight, shoot and kill in pursuit of freedom from oppression. Crazy, eh?

We all must live and hope that those in whom we trust (?) to protect our way of life in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast can summon up the resolve, strength and intelligence to keep calm and carry on!

And yet life goes on. Leaving the affairs of state behind we all have our own personal hopes and fears, albeit of a much lesser international impact. We are one of the most heavily taxed nations in the world and yet the pot holes multiply, the bins overflow and litter festoons our countryside. Even worse, GPs are in hiding, hospitals can’t cope and care homes don’t care. The homeless are still un-housed, veterans ignored and poverty is still an all too common childhood affliction. And don’t get me started on the price of petrol, diesel, electricity and gas not to mention the water companies whose priority is shareholders rather than customers – they get the bubbles and we get the sewage.

Speaking of fat cats, there does seem to be a trend whereby the bigger the company, the more greedy their directors become as they pursue profit at the expense of customer service e.g. the mobile phone companies and public utilities - happy to take the cash and enrich themselves whilst insulating themselves from their customers by making it ever more difficult to complain or make contact with a considerate and helpful human being. Artificial Intelligence? – Artificial Ignorance more like!

With regard to our own personal interests, motoring and motor sport, things are no less bleak. Soon we’ll all be gliding about in Chinese electric cars that are produced for half the price of a European equivalent. They are doing to our motoring industry what the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers did to our motor bike industry. We may be a nation of innovators but fail miserably when it comes to exploiting those innovations.

On a much more sensitive front we are currently at the mercy of Forest & Land Scotland. This organisation is staffed by people who are paid from the public purse to manage the land which we, the great Scottish public own, and yet ‘they’ determine who can use it. Someone needs to tell them that “access for all” includes us rally folk and not just the lycra wearing, boot shod, binocular carrying, dog leading, bird watching and nature loving general public. We are a paying part of that general public!

Already those long suffering stalwarts who organise special stage rallies on our behalf are experiencing obstacles, poorly maintained roads, limited choice and denials of access even as the F&LS folk seek to install electric vehicle chargers in the middle of the countryside!

Will I ever hear the bark of a BDA, the growl of V8 or the whoosh of a turbo in the woods ever again? I was intending to have a wee dram to celebrate the arrival of this New Year and new hope, methinks it will need to be an awfy big dram. Who was it who said “things can only get better”? Was it really ‘D:Ream’, or was it a politician?

May you all have a safe, successful and enriching 2026 - regardless of the limitations, penalisations and restrictions being imposed on us by those who are paid by us to keep us safe, housed, clothed and fed.

Happy New Year, eh?