Hexham-Gleneagle, 1st - 3rd of April

When the motorcar was invented more than 125 years ago soon people found a way to compete with each other. In the beginning the cars were tested on long distance drives on the reliability in the new technology but sooner or later it became the question who is simply the fastest on a given distance. In the beginning those races were held on public roads until purpose-built race tracks or hill climbs took over. Until the late 1950s some of the most exciting races held on the public road until crashes like the 1957 Mille Miglia fatality took this era to an end.

So, when people with old cars meet on the street today to enjoy them together there must be a different purpose than the hunt for the fastest time but as they still want to compete in one or the other way the race in regularity against the stop watch became more and more popular. In very different settings and under different regulations a lot of rallies are run like this not only giving the drive a competitive “purpose” but also makes sure the cars are kept under reasonable speed.

One of the most popular regularity rallies might be the Mille Miglia Storico in Italy but not few see this event more as a leisure drive in the Italian landscape being admired by the masses than an actual competition. It seems more important to be seen than actually driving the car.

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But there are more than enough alternatives to the passionate classic car driver exploring different countries without all the supporting programme that comes with the Italian classic. One of those organizations specialized in these more adventurous events is Hero Events as Hero stands for “Historic Endurance Rallying Organization”. Most famous for their Peking to Paris Rally they also have shorter drives for those with limited time. One of these annual events is the “Flying Scotsman” that is located (you might have guessed) in Scotland, or better said in the border region between England and the Scottish Highlands.

Almost 100 cars dating until 1948 made their way to the base for the scrutineering and start of the first leg in Slaley Hall West of Newcastle in the Northumberland region. After days of warm weather, the winter came back just in time to give the crews another challenge aside the extensive navigation skill that are required to master the more than 600 miles over the 3 days on very small country roads. As virtually no spectators are pointing the way the crews have to make their way according to the road book and just for that purpose there is a calibration stage on the day before to properly set up the trip master for the challenging regularity stages. Over the days the crews do not only have to show their skills in reading maps and the road book, they also face calculations of the time on varying speeds defaults over the regularity stages on open roads, as well as speed trials on closed off special stages. To make things more interesting many of the regularity stages are only vaguely described by road points or hints while hidden road controls make sure everybody got the right path.

So, when the cars set off on Friday morning some of them were still covered with snow from the night before but great sunshine and some winter wonderland certainly made up for the cold the teams must felt in their mostly open pre-war cars. As they usually say “there is no wrong weather, only wrong clothes” most of the entrants were regulars anyway knowing to deal with it. Early on it became clear that most of the roads used the following days were mainly narrow roads with passing booths in various road conditions. Some of them were rather rough making the stable chassis of the Bentley, Lagonda or Talbot the favorites to use in addition to powerful engines full of torque.

The majority of the entry list had either a flying B on the radiator or were a Lagonda (that should serve W. O. Bentley as his new home after the Rolls-Royce Bentley take over).

But there were also more exotic machines present like the Triumph Dolomite. Only a handful of these straight eight were built by Donald Healey after he got the permission to copy the dated supercharged Alfa Romeo engine of the legendary 8C 2.3. Reduced to 2 liters capacity and driven by a roots supercharger the technology transfer between Alfa and Triumph was part of a deal that should have brought Triumph motorbikes into the Italian Army. By that time the original design of Jano was already 3 years old so he agreed on Triumph copying it. Unfortunately, the financial situation of Triumph did not allow the production of the sports car so these are rather rare sights, fortunately the owner of this example did not only show it on the Villa d´Este concours a few years ago but gets it to racing at Goodwood or in the snow on the Flying Scotsman. The exhaust note of the supercharged car certainly was one of the best out there when echoed on the narrow forest stages.

Talking about technology transfer or cooperation brings us to the BMW 328 that was sold under the Frazer Nash name in the UK. Both the Frazer Nash and the continental BMW version of the 2-litre sports car that dominated the late 1930s in its class on international racing were present in Scotland.

So, after the early start the cars headed North direction Scotland and the weather brightened up and the snow was only restricted to the mountains in a distance. Soon the Scottish borderland was arrived and the Kielder Forest was greeting the cars with sun. The landscape changed every mile making this the ultimate territory for a classic car rally, going through lovely forest alleys, rural country road with the typical stone walls next to the streets up to the hill moors one expects when thinking of Scotland with their wide views. The vintage electrics mostly of the (in)famous Lucas brand was also tested with a passing over a flooded street when the magnetos had to endure a shower from underneath. After a speed trial on a small race track and a drift area finally the cars arrived in St. Andrews on the peninsula north of Edinburgh. At the end of the day the cars deserved an extra portion of Castrol racing oil while the crews treated themselves with a lager or warmed themselves with a Scotch.

The second stage led from St. Andrews to Aviemore. The weather looked much less appealing than the day before as the light snow changed to occasional rain on the road although the heavy rain luckily passed the route. After further special and regularity stages the cars arrived at the Blair Atholl Castle for the lunch stop. After that the cars passed the Loch Tummel in the south and maybe the weather prevented to much traffic on the picturesque road along the lake that must be frequented much more by tourists on a sunny day. In the evening we were back to sunshine and the landscape opened up again. The night was spent at the Aviemore resort where the cars were lined up on the main square of the resort.

The final day left direction south to the Mountains of Cairngorms, a ski area of the region, climbing up again into the snow. Locals said that the reappearance of the winter the days before brought more than a foot of snow but the mild days brought it back to a nice backdrop with a clean street. But gusting winds made the climb up the hill a freezing experience for the crews but the landscape certainly made up for it.

After descending to a milder climate, the temperatures were almost in the two-digits. Further special stages on closed off areas finally led to the end of the rallies in Gleneagles were the cars arrived under the event arch just as they started three days ago. It would not be Scotland if not a bag piper welcomed the teams in the Gleneagles House were a glass of champagne finalized the experience of the Flying Scotsman.

Right from day one the Red Bentley SuperSport of Vintage Bentley specialist William Metcalf was leading the field. Built on a shortened chassis the car was brought to the desirable 100mph specification just prior to the event and the Flying Scotsman was actually used as a shake down of the car before being delivered to its client the following Wednesday. Just like in the 1930s when Alfa Romeo ran an entire Mille Miglia to sell the “slightly used” car to its first customer. Metcalf mastered both the regularity and the speed trials best overall and kept the lead over the days.

The difficulty in the rally is best shown by the time keeping. Whereas the Mille Miglia is done with pressure tubes or other rallies by light barriers to get the tenths of the second right the Flying Scotsman trusts on the stop watch of the marshals on hand as the differences are seconds rather than fractions anyway. The following Frazer Nash BMW 328 was about 50 seconds behind. 81 cars were listed in the official results making this a great turnout for the rally after the years off due to Covid.

We really enjoyed following the tour in Scotland as this was our first visit and there was plenty of things to discover. The landscape is just breathtaking and with its roughness a very welcome exchange for the annual Tuscany excursion in May. It also shows that there are events for every taste and all of them have their charm. The fact that the rally features the pre-war cars makes perfect sense as one might not enjoy this rally the same way with a more fragile Italian post war sports car. We hope that the years to come enable us to get back to confirm the positive impressions of our first edition, maybe a different weather might also give a completely different experience. Although the temperatures are a lot to endure in an open vintage sports car the experience certainly makes up for it and such an edition might be stick in memory even more than a warm sunny weekend in the highlands

Report & images ... Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de

For more information please visit the Hero Events home page: https://heroevents.eu/