Friday, 31 July 2026

Rally - Cauld white stoor

Not that I want to give next week’s visitors to the ‘real’ North (as opposed to Mr Burnham’s vision of ‘the north’) the heebie jeebies ahead of their arrival, but it’s better to arrive informed than turn up in ignorance, is it not? For those in the deep south more used to heatwaves, it might just be advisable to pack a set of snow tyres and frostbite lotion alongside the sunscreen and slicks ahead of next weekend’s Voly Grampian Rally, 7/8 August.

Whilst some folk (who live closer to France than Scotland) have been sweltering in above 20 degree heat there are tales up here of hungry polar bears marauding the outskirts of remote settlements. Rest assured there is one thing that Scotland has plenty of, and that’s weather – of all varieties, and often seen in the same day!

For instance, the Granite City Rally of 1983 was a case in point. Where folk expected sandy, gritty clouds of kicked-up stoor, as defined in last week’s FB post, they were greeted with the icy white variety which fell from the heavens 

Back then, when four wheel drive was a novelty, Darryl Weidner and Doug Hart won the Granite City Rally in their Audi quattro with a time of 87 minutes 23 seconds for the 16 stage, 80 mile route. But possibly with the ‘drive of the day’, George Marshall and Ken Wilson in their Vauxhall Chevette finished second only 16 seconds behind the flying turbo tractor.

In third place was the Ford Escort of David Llewellin/Martin James ahead of the Escort of Terry Pankhurst/Roger Freeman and the Opel Ascona 400 of Phil Collins/Stuart Harrold. Rounding off the top six were Allan Arneil and David Cannon in another Escort 

Don’t believe me? The pictures tell their own tales and show Allan Arneil, Hugh Munro, Ivor Clark, Mike Stuart and Wilson Girvan.

Welcome to the true North!

#ScottishRally #RallyWeekend #GrampianRally
#MotorsportBooks
https://fife-motor-sports-agency.square.site/