May I wish you compliments of the season – I trust, like me, you are looking forward to a year of entertaining Motorsport. It has been some months since I last put “pen to paper” and for this I apologise. There are a few items of information I should mention initially. The first of these concerns the notation below the Association heading above. We were delighted that Lord Bruce agreed to become our Patron. He has had a very long association with Motorsport in Scotland and it was only fitting he should have been our choice as Patron.
Jackie Stewart and Andrew Cowan, although both now retired from active competition, are still closely involved with Motorsport. Jackie perhaps is still the best known Scottish name in Motorsport throughout the world, and it was natural that we should have approached him to be our Honorary President. Similarly, Andrew Cowan, always remembered as one of the world’s rallying legends, particularly in the marathon events of the ’60s, was approached to be our Honorary Vice-President. Fortunately, both immediately agreed to accept our invitation to fill these posts.
The next item of information concerns the forthcoming Reunion. We decided to change the date so as not to fall on an F1 weekend. Indeed, it now comes at the end of the F1 season. So, the 2007 Reunion will now take place on Saturday, 27th October in the Glynhill Hotel Paisley. Ticket Application forms will be sent out to members probably around June. Members will only be eligible to purchase two tickets and I should point out that the reunion will be open only to members of our Association and that entries will be accepted on a “first come, first served” basis!
Presently, our Membership stands at nearly 200. If you haven’t already joined I would you urge you to do so as future details of any of our events will only be sent to members. Please send your membership application form, along with a cheque for the one-off Registration fee of £20 to Treasurer, Alan B. Carlaw, “Anwoth”, 15 Rozelle Drive, Newton Mearns, Glasgow, G77 6YU. If you have misplaced your form get in touch with me or Alan, (Tel:†0141-616-4143 or alan.carlaw@virgin.net ) and another form will be sent to you. Just to remind you – membership of the Association is open to anyone “…….who had an active involvement with any branch of Motorsport held in Scotland 25 years prior to the current year. This would include competitors, organisers, officials and those involved in vehicle maintenance”.
I trust you noticed our “new” logo which appears above in place of the Cooper-S. The Mini belonged to me but was driven by J.W. McInnes and navigated by myself during the ’60s. Sadly, the Mini too has gone. As you will see the new logo is quite simple but hopefully it will become well know in the future.
Sad to report two of our members have passed on since the last Newsletter. Lord Monro of Langholm, better known as Hector Monro, died last August. Although known more for his political activities, he was a member of the South of Scotland CC and had competed in rallies, autotests and races. The other death was that of Jack Wilson who also died last year. Jack started his motorsport career with the Austin Apprentices Car Club in 1938! He competed in many events including the Lands End at Easter in 1939, the Three Day Highland and Circuit of Ireland rallies. He had also competed in trials including the Moorfoot Trial. He took an active interest in motorsport all his life and had a great collection of memorabilia. Along with his son Murray, he attended both the VSMA Reunions despite his advanced years.
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Knockhill Classic Speedfair 2006 – what a great day, as anyone who was there will tell you – over 70 members came along to our “stall” in the Media Centre including some well-kent faces – however, some were too busy competing (Roy Allingham, etc) to have time to drop in, or some were just too busy spectating or blathering – like Logan and Sandy Morrison among many others. President McInnes, as usual, was to be heard waxing eloquently over the PA system on occasions, although by the end of the day he was quite hoarse and for a pleasant change almost speechless!! However, he did a grand job over the two days. Our thanks go to the other Directors and their partners/friends who manned our coffee stall throughout the day. Thanks too, go to the Knockhill event organisers for providing such a varied and enjoyable day of nostalgic motorsport. We look forward to this year’s event……..
……….Knockhill Classic Speedfair 2007 – we were recently invited to attend a planning meeting of the event’s organising committee. Andy Watson and I both attended. Stuart Gray gave a rough outline of their plans for 2007. It will be held over the weekend 20th to 22nd July. The format will be similar to 2006. It will be “bigger and better”, but unlike last year both Saturday and Sunday will be exclusively devoted to Classic events. On the social side, on Friday 20th July, Knockhill is hosting a “Drivers Dinner” at the nearby Forrester Park Golf and Leisure Resort. Tickets are available from Gemma Baird at Knockhill for only £40! She can be contacted at the Knockhill Racing Circuit. Tel:01383-723-337 or Fax:01383-620-167 or by Email: gemma@knockhill.co.uk.
On the racing side, the following championships hope to be included – 50’s Sports Cars; Tin Tops; MG Equipe; Morgans; Formula Ford 1600; Formula Junior; Scottish Sports and Saloons and the Irish FF 1600. There will also be a Speedfair Trophy race for any single seaters. On Sunday, there will be Club racing and Motor Cycle demos, while there will be a strong rallying theme on both days. There will be the usual static stands and several parades over the two days. It is hoped to have many personalities from the past in attendance including Sir Stirling Moss, Damon Hill plus a few other well-known names from the past, plus of course a few famous Scottish names. All in all, it promises to be a great couple days of nostalgia. If you didn’t manage along last year, I would strongly recommend that you do try and get along this year. You won’t be disappointed. I hope to be able to send you details of entry, etc., nearer the time.
Following the last Newsletter, I had a number returned “addressee unknown”. Below is a list of their names and their last known addresses – if you know of any of their present whereabouts, could you please let me know so that I can keep them on the mailing list.
Tom Haley, 26 Reid Street, Hamilton George Marshall, 3 Lochend, Tweedbank, Galashiels
John McCallum, 91 Bothwell Rd, Hamilton Douglas JS Miller, 24a Murrayfield Rd, Edinburgh
Ian Thomson, Red Car Sales, E. King St, Helensburgh
Extracts from RSAC Motorsport Newsletter dated 13 February 2007, which you may or not be aware of:
RSAC Motorsport has reached a crossroads. Last year the MSA made the decision to withdraw the support it had been providing for the last decade. That financial assistance had been put in place primarily to allow us to help develop the sport in Scotland. That funding concludes this year. The Board considered alternative ways of keeping the ship afloat but, in order to prevent a financial meltdown which would have done no-one any good, we took the decision to close the office in Linwood and to make Jonathan Lord and Catherine Higgins, both of whom were extremely loyal and long-serving employees, redundant. By taking this decision at a relatively early stage, we have been able to meet our full redundancy obligations, and to meet all our financial obligations, both now, and moving ahead. RSAC Motorsport is in a sound financial position to carry on with its plans for the future, which include continuing to provide the route authorisation facility for rallies on the public highway in Scotland as agent of the Scottish Executive, continuing to run the Scottish Rally and Three Lochs Classic, and taking on any other suitable motor sporting activity which can be found with a suitable fit. You will be pleased to hear that the boys have just concluded a new deal with Dumfries and Galloway Council, to run the `Scottish’ there for the next three years. It will run this year on 30 June.
MOTORSPORT SCOTLAND LAUNCHED
Following the restructuring mentioned above, several of our Board members felt that their real focus was the support and development of the sport, and we have taken ourselves off to try to do that. So Jim McRae, Gordon Hastie and Bruce Lyle are no longer part of the future of RSAC Motorsport. Together with Gavin Miller of The Inside Line, the man responsible for the MSA’s Rally Elite scheme, and Robert Reid, our World Champion Rally Co-driver, they have teamed up with Brian Cameron, who has been working with the MIA (Motorsport Industry Association) in Scotland on a completely new initiative, which should bring the industry, the educators, and the sport itself together with the common objective of strengthening and supporting Motorsport, the industry which depends on it, and society with which it becomes involved, like students of engineering and local communities. A grand plan, which is going to take some serious effort to achieve! To go with it, they have come up with a grand name ≠ Motorsport Scotland ≠ hardly original, but hitting the mark squarely. Motorsport Scotland will be sending its own newsletter to the RSAC Motorsport mailing list, and to anyone else who would like to receive it. The first of these will be published very shortly, giving details of what they have achieved to date and their next event which is scheduled for the end of February.
RSAC MOTORSPORT NEW ADDRESS
Following the closure of the Linwood office, the following address should be used for all correspondence related to route authorisations and RSAC Motorsport events:
PO Box 3333 , Glasgow, G20 2AX Tel/Fax: 0141 946 5045 E-mail: mail@rsacmotorsport.co.uk
SCOTTISH RALLY 2007
There was good news just before Christmas with confirmation that Dumfries and Galloway Council had agreed to support the RSAC Scottish Rally for a further three years from 2007 to 2009. This partnership, has been in place since 1997, may well be the longest between an organiser and a local authority in UK rally history, and we are very grateful to the Council for their confidence in us and in the Scottish Rally. Plans for 2007 are well advanced. Because of the Jim Clark Rally’s move to a late May date, we took the decision to move the Scottish to the end of June in order to ensure a better spread of events within the Scottish rally calendar. The Scottish is now five weeks after the Jim Clark and six weeks before the Speyside. The rally continues to be a round of the County Saab Scottish Rally Championship, the Brick and Steel 205 Ecosse Challenge and the Five of Clubs Championship, and we look forward to welcoming competitors from all three series. The route planning team reports that there will be a couple of new stages and double usage will be kept to a minimum. The popular Heathhall spectator stage, only a mile or so from the centre of Dumfries, will again feature. Regulations will be available in April and will automatically be sent to registered competitors in the three championships mentioned above. If you’d like to compete and aren’t a championship contender, please write, phone or e-mail to our new office address to reserve a copy.
THE NATIONAL PARK ARGYLL RUN – Sunday 11 March 2007
Sponsored by the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park In association with RSAC Motorsport Limited and The Caledonian Classic and Historic Motor Sports Club Ltd.
The Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park and the Scottish Motor Museum Trust are organising a commemorative run which will be the final event in a year of celebrations marking the centenary of the opening of the Argyll Motor Works. This famous A listed building was once the world largest motor car works and this fantastic building is still the most palatial car factory ever built. Every single motor car produced by the world famous Argyll Company in Alexandria was road tested locally in this area. The rally will take you on many of these test routes including the specially-opened Rest and be Thankful, which became internationally famous in the 1950s when the RSAC ran its hill climbs on this tortuous mountain road. With over £1500 of prize money there are major prizes to be won, and we invite both individual and club entries. There will be an overall individual prize; a Concours prize; a rally event prize; and a major Club prize. Club entries will consist of three or more entries from one club. The entry fee is £25 which will include a reception in the fabulous Marble Halls of the Motor Works. For more details contact: Douglas Anderson: 01382 731755 Motoring Heritage Centre: 01389 607862 Information on the Web: www.caledonianmsc.com www.motoringheritage.co.uk
THREE LOCHS CLASSIC 2007
Looking further ahead, Saturday 18 August sees the RSAC Three Lochs Classic for Veteran, Vintage and Classic cars. Based in Rhu, this event consists of a road run and a Concours d’Elegance. More details from the RSAC Motorsport office.
That’s all my news folks!!