Rally - Thirty years ago

Just when you thought the MG Metro 6R4 was dead, the 1996 Weldex Rally in Argyll (forerunner of this coming weekend’s Dunoon Presents Argyll Rally, 19/20 June) proved otherwise. Of the top 12 cars which finished the seven forest stage event, eight were Ford Escort Cosworths and two were Sierra Cosworths!

The winners were Highlanders Jimmy Christie and Murdoch Campbell who finished 15 seconds clear of the George Gauld/Roy Campbell Escort Cossie and half a minute clear of the similar car of Raymond Munro/Graham Brunton. But there’s more. Andy Horne and Jim Howie had been leading the rally by 45 seconds in their own Metro going into the final stage at Ardgarten. They had a comfortable 45 second margin and were within sight of their third win of the 1996 championship series - when a wheel broke! Jimmy and Campbell couldn’t believe their eyes when they passed the stricken three-wheeled Metro stuck in a ditch.

The other two cars were of course the winning crew’s Metro and in ninth place raising a few eyebrows was the Vauxhall Astra of ‘local’ driver Jimmy Paterson with Stewart Merry – and this despite a bent rear beam!

I say ‘local’ but Jimmy was from Arrochar at the head of Loch Long, just one of talent aplenty in the county of Argyll back in the day, although Dunoon’s Bobby Youden and Ernest Cowan failed to finish the 1996 event in their new Escort Cosworth. The 1995 Scottish Champion Challenger retired on the final stage when the turbocharger failed.

Apart from Paterson it wasn’t a good day for the ‘locals’ as the Calderwood twins struck trouble. They came from Rosneath on the other side of the Firth of Clyde, just six miles away from Dunoon as the crow flies, but if the crow had to walk from Rosneath to Dunoon carrying an empty petrol can, the distance would be 54 miles by road around the head of Loch Long! Anyway Matt Calderwood’s Ford Escort RS failed to make the distance although brother Scott salvaged some family pride with 23rd overall in the Peugeot, but nothing was ever straightforward with those two!

Further down the results sheet was another local crew, a certain newcomer by the name of Stuart McQueen with Alistair Green finishing 29th overall in their class winning Vauxhall Astra.

As ever, there are more tales and photos in the books, and the mobile sales Book-tique will be at Dunoon Stadium all day Friday 19th June but sadly not on the Saturday. Space will be tight in the service park so the Book-tique presence might be small – just look for the flag:

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

Also on Ebay – search for ‘Scottish Rally Championship’ books

 

Rally - Changing times

40 years ago, rallying in Argyll was very different to what will be ‘presented on stage’ next week on the Dunoon Presents Argyll Rally. Back then the action took place on the Forestry Commission’s gravel roads as opposed to Argyll & Bute’s tarmac highways and byways.

The 1986 event was memorable for many reasons, Ken Wood’s first full season with the mighty MG Metro 6R4 and Donald Heggie’s first full season in the Audi quattro A2, and of course a certain youngster started to make his mark on the results sheets - as well as the topography!

After a winning debut with the Metro on the final round of the 1985 Scottish Championship, the Trossachs Rally, Ken Wood and Peter Brown won the Dunoon based Autofit Stages Rally in 1986 while victories on the Kingdom Stages Rally and a repeat victory on the Trossachs clinched the crew’s third Scottish Championship title.

Having won the end of season 1985 Galloway Hills Rally on the Audi’s debut, things looked promising for Heggie and Iain Mungall as they won the season opening Snowman Rally round in 1986, but an off-road ‘extra curricular’ excursion on the Autofit Stages scuppered their own chances of a third national title. Coincidentally, finishing second behind Heggie on the ’85 Galloway Hills were a certain Murray Grierson abetted/hindered by one ‘Jaggy Bunnet’ on the maps! The number 2 Ford Escort crew had a grandstand view of top seed Donald’s first attempts to tame the beast running ahead of them while experimenting with left foot braking – not that the Audi was ever within sight, but the marks and power gouges that were left in the road by the turbocharged German tractor told their own tale!

But back to the ’86 Autofit, David Gillanders and Graham Neish finished second to Wood just 10 seconds adrift in another Metro 6R4 while Murray Grierson and Roger Anderson were third in the Opel Kadett 400.

Also finishing in the top ten was a wee red 1600cc Talbot Sunbeam. On only his fourth forest stage rally, Colin McRae, with Nicky Jack, were 9th overall finishing 1 minute 16 seconds clear of regular 1600 class pace setters, Andy Kelly and George Black in their Sunbeam in 13th place. Yet another crew of note finished 18th overall in another Sunbeam, this one driven by Barrie Lochead and navigated by one Derek Ringer Esq. The ‘McRae legend’ was on its way!

Presenting the prizes was the boss of Autofit himself, Ian Wilson.

It’ll all be a wee bit different next weekend, from nine stages on grush to sixteen stages on asphalt, the 2026 Dunoon Presents Argyll Rally offers a rather different challenge to that which faced competitors exactly 40 years ago.

By the way, there are more photos in the books:

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

Also on Ebay – search for ‘Scottish Rally Championship’ books

Thought for the week

Despite all the glamour, riches and privilege surrounding Formula 1’s annual visit to Monaco last weekend, it wasn’t the racing that made the big headlines, it was the appearance of one pampered wee middle-aged woman with a big bahookie and a re-buffed grey-haired gridwalk interviewer that tickled the fancy of news headline writers around the globe. Anything to lift the tedium of a high speed procession around tin-fenced narrow streets, eh!

It’s not tradition that attracts F1 to Monaco, it’s money. And yet the safety team which inspects and approves (or not!) every other race circuit seems to turn a blind eye when it comes to the Mediterranean’s version of Tobermory. Aye indeed, there’s armco all around, and a diver on standby in a boat in the harbour, all perfectly safe, and what about the spectators perched and packed tighter than sardines around the periphery?

Meanwhile, closer to home, on a wee island off the west coast of Englandshire some real racing had come to a conclusion where speeds getting awfy close to 200 mph are a regular feature and unlike their F1 counterparts the participants aren’t inside their machines, they are clinging to the outside of them. The only thing that protects them from lamp posts, dykes, hedges and big drops is a second skin of leather, albeit a full-body leather airbag for the first time! Yeah, that’s really safe, a suit that inflates like a balloon in an emergency.

Also ignored by the ‘national’ BBC England company (with regional opt-outs) is the fact that a Welsh chap now leads the World Rally Championship having won the latest round of this series on another island, although this one was even further away.

On the other hand, we’ve got a whole summer of ball games to look forward. If folk are not kicking balls into nets, they’ll be batting them over the nets, or hitting them with sticks into wee holes in the ground or whacking them with two-handed lumps of firewood over boundaries.

On a brighter note, at least we’ve got the Dunoon Presents Argyll Rally to look forward to on the 19th and 20th of June and the hope is that the mobile Book-tique will be there to satisfy your whimsical appetites and remind you of happier times. Happy days, eh?

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

Oh! And the photos? They were actually taken during ‘new’ car launches on location some 25 years ago. The Renault Avantime outside what was David Coulthard’s hotel in Monaco at the time and the Honda Civic Type R on the fabled island itself. Those were happy days too!

Man on a Mission

Instead of sitting in a seat clutching a set of Pace Notes or wandering around a Service Area as CLO answering inane queries and sorting out serious questions from competitors and bystanders, former national and international rally co-driver, Campbell Roy is going for a ramble in the countryside. A rather long ramble - the ‘Trek500’.

Unlike the Proclaimers who sang about walking 500 miles, but somehow didn’t get around to actually doing it, Campbell has set himself the task of walking not just a mere 500 miles, but to be more precise, 540 miles. And it’s not just any old meander this is a walk on the wildside. He’ll be following the ‘Scottish National Trail’ across moors, through glens, over rivers and round mountains.

Having been personally involved in many different charities and assisted on various charitable events over many years, Campbell is doing this one on his own initiative although he is inviting anyone to come along with him or join him on any ‘Stage’ of the hike or any part of it.

Starting from Kirk Yetholm in the south east corner of Scotland on the 11th July, the 540 mile route will take him north skirting Edinburgh to the south west and then heading westwards, skirting Glasgow to the north east before heading north through Aberfoyle and Callander into Perthshire. From there it’s on to Kingussie and Fort Augustus then onwards and upwards to Kinlochewe and over Assynt towards the final Finish Control at Cape Wrath on the north west tip of the Scottish mainland on the 26th September – hopefully!

And the big question- why? It’s all in aid of raising funds for ‘Prostate Cancer Research’. Full details of the route and timings, for this mammoth challenge and how to support it and donate to it, are on the website, see below.

And while TV, radio and the news media are full of stories of soap stars and celebrities, sporting stars and retired sportsmen and women undergoing arduous charitable fund raising tasks, there has been no acknowledgement of this challenge from any of the main media outlets. On that basis it is up to ordinary folk to do their bit to support, donate and sponsor this worthy cause.

Prostate cancer affects thousands of lives. 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed in their life and that figure represents 1 death every 40 minutes. Just think about that for a minute or two.

Now I should add - and not to put it too politely - that Campbell has long since passed his ‘first flush of youth’. Indeed he may never see the number 5 or even 6 as the first figure of his age ever again! So unlike all these so-called fund-raising celebrities who enlist the help of ‘trainers’ and nutritonists, and who-knows, spirit-gurus or whatever, Campbell is just quietly preparing and getting on with it, so let’s all do our bit to help, support and sponsor his efforts.

Full details and route outline and timetable on the website:

https://www.prostate-cancer-research.org.uk/trek-500/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61589500706454

#trek500

No show at the show

Unfortunately, the Book-tique will not be appearing at Drumlanrig today (Sun 31st) as the proprietor of said specialised mobile motor rallying books emporium is ever so slightly indisposed this fine fresh morning. To those who sought shelter under the canopy from the elements yesterday an apology is therefore offered that they will be unable to do so again today!

Normal service will therefore be resumed at the Book-tique’s next appearance at the ‘Dunoon Presents Argyll Rally’ on 19th June and the ‘Moffat Classic Car Show’ on June 28th. Otherwise, if ye cannae wait, all books are available here:

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

 

The Visit !

 A rather special visitor dropped by the book-tique this morning for a wee chat about the good old days.

Lombard Rally Festival at Drumlanrig

 Steady stream of rally cars arriving on trailers and inside wheeled boxes, lots of weel kent faces amongst them and the chuck wagons are busy already. Let's see what the day brings.