Hexham-Gleneagle, 1st - 3rd of April |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |