Take the 1980 Granite City Rally for instance. This was typical of one day national rallies back when the sport was an endurance adventure based on a driver’s skill and speed with a navigator whose task it was to follow the correct route on a map, keep to the time schedule using a watch and look out for orange directional arrows in the Special Stages whilst calling out hazards as printed in an organiser’s Roadbook– no mobile phones, digital clocks, SatNavs, recces and Route Notes back then!
This particular event was a counter in both the ‘Castrol Autosport National Championship’ and the ‘Scottish Rally Championship’ plus the ‘East of Scotland’ regional championship and had attracted 112 entries. Starting from 8.00am the crews were due to tackle 80 miles of Special Stages contained in a 285 mile route with the first of the survivors due back at the Treetops Hotel in Aberdeen from 6.00pm onwards. The 16 Special Stages included such names as Whitehaugh, Clashindarroch, Bin, Teindland, Whiteash, Aultmore, Drumtochty, Fetteresso and Durris. That equated to some ten hours of non-stop action requiring stamina and intense concentration as well as speed, skill and bravery.
At the end of the day, the rally was won by Drew Gallacher and John Eyres in the Duckhams Chevette with a total time of 87 minutes 32 seconds. The first time that a Scottish crew had won this event. That was some going, eh? In second place were Bill Dobie and Peter Mellor (Escort) while third were Andy Dawson and Kevin Gormley (Datsun). Terry Kaby was 4th, George Hill 5th and John Weatherley 6th. There was a good showing of Scots in the top ten as Ken Wood/Peter Brown were 7th and Walter McDonald/Gordon Hood 9th. Just outside the top ten were some more names to conjure with including Jim Howden, Jimmy Horne, Andrew Smith and Dom Buckley. Not so lucky were Donald Heggie, Mike Jackson, Geoff Simpson, Bill Taylor, Malcolm Patrick and David Gillanders who all retired.
Oh! And spectators were pretty much free to roam with best places highlighted and map references given. But of course that was back in the days of common sense and self-preservation, none of this ‘tell, them nowt and keep them in sheep pens’ approach to modern rally spectating.
By the way, the Entry Fee was £75 !!
Of course there is a more detailed report in the books, plus many more!
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