With the RSAC Scottish
Rally coming up this Saturday, I came across this Roadbook from the 1980 Esso
Lombard Scottish Rally. And if you still think rallying will survive its
current threat, the sad fact is that rallies are getting shorter and fewer.
The three roadbook pages (pictured) give some idea of the endurance
challenge that competitors faced 35 years ago, and this was the new ‘compact’
international Scottish Rally!
For a start, co-drivers, or should I say navigators as they
were in those days, would need 21 ‘one-inch’ OS maps to plot the full route.
Multiply that by the number of chase and management cars and service vans and
the team could be facing a bill of at least 420 quid in to-day’s money just for
maps. That makes a DVD and Notes sound cheap these days, although some crews
did compromise and used quarter inch maps for support vehicles and crews, which
made a considerable cost saving.
On Saturday there will be just 7 stages totalling 43 miles stages,
but 35 years ago, there were 45 stages totalling some 245 miles over four days.
Bad enough, but take a close look at the timetable, it allowed for just two
nights in bed. Nowadays that wouldn’t be
allowed with all the health and safety, and driving experts pitching in their
poundsworth. Spoilsports.
And remember this was a time when there were no centralised service
areas and mobile phones, while fast food joints were few and far between. The nation’s chippies were the lifeblood of
travellers in those days. Crews had to be self contained carrying jerry cans
and welding equipment, tools and trolley jacks, while roof racks were loaded
down with wheels and tyres.
The rally got underway at 5.00 pm on the Saturday evening in
Glasgow contesting 6 stages on the way south to a one hour rest halt at
Gatehouse of Fleet before tackling another 11 stages through the south and
borders on their way to a 2 hour rest halt at Edinburgh before heading north via
another 6 stages to the overnight halt at Aviemore 24 hours after the start.
On Monday, another 13 stages took crews north through the
Highlands before returning to Aviemore for an overnight halt before the final
day’s 8 stages, returning to Aviemore for the mid afternoon finish.
And if you ever wonder why the Aviemore parties were so
boisterous and drink fuelled – after that lot, folks were ready to paa-rrty!!
Youngsters these days, they just don’t know they’re born, eh?
Like a scene straight out of the film, and wearing a hard
hat instead of a trilby, the Gene Kelly lookalike used a brush instead of an
umbrella to entertain and delight an audience of puzzled onlookers with his tacketty
boot tappin’ terpsichorean display of dazzling footwork. 
And the ‘Strictly’ auditioner? Just one of British rallying’s
most popular and enduring characters. Do you know who it is yet? Do you think
we should tell the BBC?
