Historic race and rally news
It’s a family sport “My father was involved in the sport at club level and that was how I started. I started doing navigational rallies at 13 or 14 and did my first stage rally as soon as I was old enough. I’ve always been a co-driver; when you sit beside good drivers, you know where your talents lie.”
He’s had a lot of success “One of the most memorable rallies was my first win, the Scottish Rally in 2001. Dave Weston and I won it in a Group N car against World Rally Cars. That was special and really ignited the fire to go further. I’ve sat with a lot of good drivers. I won Group N in the British Championship in 2005 with Barry Clark, among other things.”
He did the BHRC “The chance to compete in historics is all down to Jamie Edwards. He suggested that I should speak to Tim Pearcey. I had nothing in the offing for BRC that year and I wanted to do some events outside Scotland, so we agreed to do the British Historic Championship in 2010. I’d never done a lot in rear-wheel-drive cars and it was fantastic. We did the Roger Albert Clark in 2013 and finished fourth after being on our roof in Duncombe Park. We had a brilliant last day in the Scottish borders and climbed up from eighth.”
They’ve been to Belgium “The level of competition and the atmosphere in the historic championship was brilliant and we did the full championship for two or three seasons. Then Tim started to look for some new challenges and we did the Boucles de Spa last year, which is a fantastic event. It’s bonkers and nothing prepares you for it. Doing 125 miles in the day makes it tough and it is hard for co-drivers. But we finished in the top 20 despite six punctures!”
He’s an event organiser “I’m clerk of the course for the Speyside Stages, which runs in April this year. I also did two years as chairman of the Scottish Rally Championship and I’m now involved on the management committee.”
He lives a long way north “For the events in England and Wales I usually fly down from Inverness on a Friday after work and fly to Birmingham or Manchester to be in Wales by 2200hrs. I can fly back on Sunday. I’m a long way from everywhere!”