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2025 Race Against Dementia

Grand Prix Walk – Race Against Dementia

A few years ago, West Dunbartonshire Council hosted an event to celebrate Sir Jackie’s 80th birthday, this was their first Grand Prix Walk, which now has become an annual event in support of Race Against Dementia.

JOIN US FOR A 1,965 METRE LAP AROUND LEVENGROVE PARK IN A DEMENTIA FRIENDLY WALK IN CELEBRATION OF THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF SIR JACKIE STEWART WINNING HIS FIRST F1 GRAND PRIX IN 1965.

FREE ENTRY – NO NEED TO BOOK.

TUESDAY 17TH OF JUNE 2025, MEET AT LEVENGROVE PAVILION, DUMARTON G82 4AE AT 10.45AM FOR 11AM START

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT SANDRA ANTON, WDC GREENSPACE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT RANGER ON: 07580 811903 OR E-MAIL – sandra.anton@west-dunbarton.gov.uk

The event will take place in the shape of a Dementia Friendly Walk which will be 1965 metres long around Levengrove Park, in Dumbarton G82 4AE. This represents 1965, the year in which Sir Jackie won his first F1 Grand Prix

The walk will also help raise the profile of Sir Jackie’s charity foundation, Race Against Dementia, which he set up following his wife Lady Helen’s diagnosis with the disease. He continues to work to find a cure or effective treatment for the condition. https://www.raceagainstdementia.com

Interested participants are asked to meet outside the Levengrove Pavilion on 17th June from 10.45am. Walk leaders will commence the walk at 11am. There will be tea, coffee and juice available afterwards.

The route takes in paths around the park and is suitable for wheelchair users.

There is no need to register, just turn up on the day if you want to join in. 

The route can be viewed here: https://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/6430602016

Participants are encouraged to wear a wee bit of tartan in a nod to Sir Jackie ,who famously had a Stewart tartan band on his motor racing helmet.

So lets see you on the starting grid at Levengrove Park and  help bring down the Chequered Flag on Dementia.

Some pictures from Grand Prix Walk 2024 (click on picture to expand – Esc to return).

 

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Reunions

2024 Reunion Report

The Club met once again to enjoy our Reunion Dinner, this time at a new venue for us, the New Lanark Mill Hotel in the village of New Lanark, a former 18th century cotton spinning mill village located on the banks of the Falls of Clyde.

The venue for our two previous gatherings were unable to give us a suitable date for our 2024 so this alternative was found and proved to be very popular.

VSMA Chairman Chris Paton was pleased to welcome 76 members to this our 10th reunion.

The day started in the early afternoon as there was work to do setting up for the AGM and also finalising the table plan for dinner.

As always there was a good mix of rallying and racing buffs and a few hill climb fans joining together for an excellent meal and several refreshments.

Following it’s popularity of last year we again had the “all ladies” table to sit alongside the normal “all men” table.

Again having proved very popular last year we had the on-screen display of photos, this time being those submitted by members attending the event.

We were delighted to annouce our guest speaker Pat Smith whose Motorsport career began in 1959 and continued until 1975 having been involved in Rallying as a Co-Driver.

Pat competed in 35 International Rallies with mostly female drivers, from the Portugese with Nancy Mitchell in 1959 to the Scottish with Margaret Lowrey in 1975.

She won five Ladies Awards and was a member of the BMC Works Team in 1960 in a 850cc Mini with Tish Ozanne.

She competed in 4 Montes, 3 Tulips, 2 Alpines, 4 RACs and 6 Scottish Rallies ’66, ’69,’70, ’72, ’73 and ’75.

Six successful Economy Runs with Margaret Lowrey.

Pat finished 18th in 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally with Jean Denton in a British Leyland Special Tuning prepared Morris 1800 entered by Woman Magazine.

Pat gave us a spell binding account of her adventure competing on the gruelling 1970 World Cup Rally from London to Mexico. On display were many items of memorabilia as well as reproductions of the route maps which were included in the souvenir program (see below).

An important guest was Linda Cowan who had contacted the Association with the kind offer to provide a trophy to be awarded annually to a Scottish Motor Sport enthusiast, of any discipline, who had made an outstanding contribution to motor sport. The trophy will be named the Andrew Cowan Achievement Award.

Chairman Chris Paton was pleased to annouce that in consultation with Linda, the board unanimously decided the first recipient of the award should be our Honorary Vice President, Jimmy McInnes. 

Once again there was a souvenir programme with a centre spread detailing the guest speaker’s background story.

Click on the image below to view the Programme.

A straw poll conducted during the event showed that there is the support to hold the event annually and therefore we are planning to hold our 11th reunion in October or November 2025. When a firm date is set and a venue decided we will make an announcement.

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Other Events

Golf Outing 2025

 

Golf Outing

Strathaven Golf Club

Tuesday 20th May

 

All members are invited to take part in the first VSMA Golf Outing which has been arranged at Strathaven Golf Club on what will hopefully be a bright and sunny day on Tuesday 20th May with the first tee off at 11.00 am. This is viewed as a social gathering and a bit of fun for everyone but will have a prize for the winner and I daresay a booby prize for the tail ender. It will be a Stableford Competition so your handicap on the day will be used and those without an official handicap will be assessed as potential bandits and be handicapped accordingly !!

 

The programme is :

10.00 Coffee, tea and bacon rolls

11.00 Golf – first tee off

16.00 Two course meal

17.00 Presentation

 

The entry fee including all catering is £85. All players first drink at the bar will be complimentary on behalf of the VSMA.

To place your entry and make payment click on the following link.

VSMA webcollect  (You need to sign on to webcollect using your email address and password)

Any questions contact Mike How on 07966-325094 or michael.how@blueyonder.co.uk

 

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Tour

Spring Run 2025

Announcement.

Spring Run 2025. Tuesday 15th April – Friday 18th April 2025.

The Spring Run 2025 will be based at Pitlochry.

Accommodation has been arranged at the Dundarach Hotel, Pitlochry, PH26 5DJ, as follows:

3 Nights DBB Double Room, £552

3 Nights DBB Single Room, £366

The hotel requires a deposit of £250, which will be deducted from your final bill on leaving.

The run will start at Alexandra and travel to Pitlochry via a lunch stop at the Falls of Dochart, Killin.

There will be visits to:-

The Water Mill, Pilochry

Blair Castle and Gardens

The House of Bruar

There will also be Quad Biking and Clay Pigion Shooting at Dunkeld.

The entry fee for the run can not been finalised until all the venues confirm our booking but you can book your place and pay the £250 hotel deposit by clicking the following link. VSMA WEBCOLLECT.  (You need to sign on to webcollect using your email address and password).

 

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News

Events 2025

Motorsporting Events 2024 (click on the Calendar links)

British Hill Climb Championship 2025 – Calendar

Scottish Sprint, Hill Climb & Speed Championship 2025 – Calendar

SMRC race meetings 2025 – Calendar

Asset Alliance Group Scottish Rally Championship 2025 – Calendar

Scottish Tarmack Rally Championship 2025 – Calendar

East Ayrshire Car Club Events 2025 – Calendar

Monklands Sporting Car Club Events 2025 – Calendar

FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP™ RACE CALENDAR

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News

The Scottish Rally Championship 1990 – 1999

The Scottish Rally Championship 1990 – 1999 by John Fife.

The second book on the history of the Scottish Rally Championship has now been published and is on sale – in ideal time for Christmas presents!

It follows on from the previous 1980-1989 book and covers the decade 1990 to 1999. If the 1980s were a ‘golden’ period in Scottish rallying, the 1990s burnished that reputation during which time three world titles were won by two Scottish drivers and one Scottish co-driver.

All three rose to prominence during this decade and continued to compete in Scotland before international success took them further afield.

This book differs from the previous volume in three main respects following ‘complaints’ received after publication of the first book. These ‘complaints’ were all received from buyers of the first book who wanted longer reports, more stories and more pictures!

This book has therefore complied with those wishes/demands/threats! Each of the 80 plus individual rally reports from the 1990s decade is longer and more detailed, there are more stories and even more photographs – again, many of which have never before been published.

The popular ‘McRae’ section has again been included which also features many previously unpublished photographs. This has resulted in a bigger book with more pages – and all due to customer demand.

There were also requests for more ‘personality pages’ and three have been included in this latest book. They are all there on merit, but where would I stop? Everyone who competes in the national championship is a ‘personality’ in their own right!

Do you think more should be included in the next book – the 2000s – or should there be a separate book devoted to such meritorious individuals?

Click on the image below to order your copy.

 

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