The Club`s History

If you have any information which should appear here, please contact the webmaster. The latest addition to this page was made on 12/04/08. See the story about David Reid, in the Alphabetical section at the bottom of this page.

The Beginnings.

According to archive evidence, the founder members of the South of Scotland Car Club originally got together in 1947 and began running various small events for their own amusement. After a few years, they began stringing these events together in the form of championships, the trophies for which mostly date back to 1954.

However, one of the original trophies, the `Denham Cookes Challenge Trophy`, was originally awarded in 1951, so clearly, there was life in the club before 1954. 1954 was the year which the club`s board members (at least, those who were in office in 2003) decided that the club commenced in earnest, as this was when the `Queensberry Trophy` was first awarded to the Club Champion and founder member, Dr Watson of Thornhill.

Our Honorary President

We were extremely fortunate that up to the date of his death, September 4th 2007, one of the founder members of the club, His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry KT was our Honorary President and still actively supporting the club, kindly allowing us access to the many roads around the Drumlanrig Castle estate, particularly to celebrate the club`s 50th anniversary in the form of a special stage rally in 2005.

The event to celebrate the anniversary was named the `Autumn Stages`, the traditional name for the club`s annual stage rally, (even though in 2005 the event ran out of season in May) having originally been scheduled for September 2004, but initially postponed, due to a lack of entries.

Undaunted, the committee pressed on and ran the event in 2005 instead, admittedly a few months late but fittingly this time, running with exactly 50 starters, to mark this historic occasion. More about this event later.

The Birth of the South of Scotland Car Club.

In his speech to the crowd assembled at the front of Drumlanrig Castle at the end of the highly successful `Autumn Stages` in May 2005, our Honorary President recalled the precise moment when the South of Scotland Car Club was first mooted. Apparently, Doctor Watson from Thornhill, a town only a few miles away from the castle, had just been administering an injection to His Grace and was in the process of extracting the needle, when in a moment of inspiration, he suggested, "why dont we start a car club for the South of Scotland?". The rest is - literally, history.

Notable early members were His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, Doctor Watson, (the man with the idea and the first club champion), Francis (Frank) Dundas and Hector Munro, who later became `Sir Hector Monro` the local tory member of parliament for many years. There is an enormous amount of information raelating to the club and it`s members over the years and in time, that information will be added to this page, with the help of archive information and stories from those former members who live to tell the tale.

12 Car Rally. March 1973.

Here`s a rally report taken from a cutting from the Dumfries & Galloway Standard, dated March 7th 1973.

"Local rally drivers open the new season.".

"The South of Scotland Car Club have promoted their first rally of the new season. The event started at Birdsalls Garage in Lockerbie and turned out to be one of the best events run in recent years. Several club members from the Lockerbie area had put their heads together to plan a route on a format which is bound to be used in the future. The navigation was neither hard nor time-wasting and the course turned out to be very sporting , using several white roads around Lockerbie. Although the rally was for novice crews only, several cars tuned up at the start with rather unusual crews - Richard Stewart for instance, in the navigatores seat and Roy McCourt driving his Escort TC.

Victory eventually went to the Cortina GT of Mark Stewart and Walter McDonald and it is a credit to the organisers that even they lost over 1000 penalties.

The route to TC1 started almost immediately with a rough white past Dryfesdale House Hotel: it caused some cars a little bother and the results could be seen at the control, when several cars turned up without exhausts and with rather green looking navigators. The route varied through TC2 and on to TC3, 4 and 5. The section to TC6 had two possible routes but only one fitted into the mileage allowed. A few of the navigators came unstuck and chose the wrong route which took them about a mile out. At this point, Richard Stewart and Jim Doig were well in the lead and well up on Mark Stewart and Walter McDonald. Then things started to go wrong.

Richard Stewart discovered that his stomach was having difficulty keeping food down and to cap it all, the Cortina lost its exhaust. They plodded on but lost more and more time and missed codes at nearly every check point. Nevertheless they finished third. Back On Time The instructions to TC7 at Hoddomcross were a mixture of spot heights and map references and may have delayed some of the navigators. However the more experienced crews soon found themselves back on time. Nancy Gibson and Ken Duff in a Mini were the only crew to clean this section, but it made little difference to their overall position.

The course to TC8 and TC9 foxed many crews, although it seemed relaxed. G. Anderson and G. Brown in a Lotus Cortina managed to clean the latter section without penalty but no one else did. The final two sections were cleaned by Stewart and McDonald, putting them almost 1000 points ahead of Anderson and Brown, their nearest rivals. The results were given out at the Kirkconnell Hall Hotel in Ecclefechan. (1) M. Stewart/W. McDonald, Cortina GT (2) Anderson/Brown, Lotus Cortina (3) J. Doig/R. Stewart, Cortina (4) R. McCourt/D. Irving, Escort TC (5) J. Graham/R. Carruthers, Cortina (6) Nancy Gibson/K. Duff, Mini (7) C. Maxwell/I. Carruthers, Triumph 2000 (8) R. C. Brown/N.J. Hagan, Volkswagen. P. M. Connelly and E. Lauder had to retire their Cortina on the first section. So did Ian Tweedie and Peter Giesiecke when their Cooper "S" lost its exhaust on the same section".

The`GP Denham Cookes Challenge Trophy`.

This trophy, as mentioned in the earlier introduction, may not always have been awarded to the highest placed driver on navigational rallies as it is today, but the names inscribed on it, provide a real `who`s who` of past members and (in the earlier years), details of the cars they drove in pursuit of excellence. Here`s the list of recipients of this piece of club heritage since the very beginnings, also, in the early years at least, naming the cars they drove:

1951 R. Miller - Lea Francis. 1952 F. D. Dundas - Jowett Javelin & J. I Smith - Jaguar SS 100. 1953 F. D. Dundas - Jowett Javelin & J. Watson - Ford Anglia. 1954 F. Bogie - Jowett Javelin. 1955 F. Bogie - Jowett Javelin. 1956 F. Bogie - Jowett Javelin. 1957 P. Roxburgh - Hillman. 1958 J. McInnes - Morris 1000. 1959 P. Roxburgh - Singer. 1960 A. Dalziel - Austin. 1961 J. Bogie - Ford. 1962 P. Roxburgh - Citroen. 1963 J. Jamieson - MG. 1964 J. Bogie - Ford Cortina. 1968 W. Riddick - Escort. 1969 J. Bogie - DAF. 1970 D. Attwood - SAAB. 1971 J. Bogie - Mini. 1972 W. S. Robertson - Mini. 1974 E. McGowan - Ford. 1975 J. Brown - Mini. 1976 J. Brown - Mini. 1977 J. Brown - Ford. 1978 J. Doig. 1979 J. Bogie. 1980 J. Bogie. 1981 M. Rankin. 1982 D. Halliday. 1983 D. Halliday. 1984 D. Halliday. 1985 J. Doig. 1986 J. Doig. 1987 J. Doig. 1988 D. Magee. 1989 D. Paterson. 1990 D. Paterson. 1991 S. Davidson. 1992 J. Bogie. 1993 J. Bogie. 1994 M. Richardson. 1995 D. Latta. 1996 J. Bogie. 1997 J. Bogie & G. Myatt. 1998 J. Bogie & W. Ross. 1999 J. Bogie. 2000 J. Bogie. 2001 I. Wright. 2002 J. Murray. 2003 A. McKeown. 2004 I. Haining. 2005 I. Haining. 2006 I. Haining.

Does this bring back memories for the more `mature` of you?.

The Big Events.

Over the decades since the club was established, it has participated on the broader stage, by promoting events as part of championships that brought competitors from outside the area to compete locally. The `Doonhamer` and `Tundergarth Trophy` rallies were both navigational events and would commonly start late at night, running right through to breakfast time, often with breakfast provided. From memory, one Doonhamer which started at the now unlikely venue of St Michaels Street Garage in Dumfries (when there was a lot more space to play with and long before the area was as developed as it is today), had around 100 entries! How times have changed, - most likley due to the fact that running such a rally nowadays would be a PR nightmare.

Then there was the `Guid Nychburris Autotest` which first ran in 1976 and was won by a visitor called John Chalmers in an MG Midget. This was part of the Scottish Autotest Championship and local club members could only watch in awe, as visitors, mostly from the central belt of Scotland who made up most of the entry list, would turn up with their specially prepared Midgets, Sprites and Mini Copoper S`s etc, to show how it was done. Over the years, the tables have turned. At the time of writing this in April 2008, the whole of Scotland now struggles to produce an autotest championship, whilst SOSCC club members regularly achieve entries of up to 30 cars on their own, on the club`s tarmac (or grass) autotests. The record number of entries on a `closed to club` event was reached on March 23rd 2008, with 36 members taking part in a Tar Autotest on the old runway at Heathall, in Dumfries.

Most current members will have little or no recollection of our annual championship Production Car Trial (PCT), which often drew in more than 60 entries from over the border, most of whom were participating in the Cumbria Motor Sport Group`s PCT Championship. Latterly, before it died out, the event took place on the steep grassy slopes just along the road from where Mabie Farm Park is today and was sponsored by former member, Bert McNish, of Crossflags Motors who, at the time, were trading from their garage in York Place, Dumfries.

Not forgetting the High Auldgirth Hill Climb, which ran twice a year for a good few years and while at the first event on July 5th 1992, it attracted only 14 entries comprising: Ian Paterson, Geoffrey Harkness, Richard Dobson, Fraser Kinnear, Nigel Harkness, David Reid, Graeme Forrester, David McKeown, Donald Graham, John Moffat, Kevin Guthrie, Stewart Marshall, Ian Wright and William Struthers, it quickly gathered strength, often attracting in excess of 60 entries, including anything from a Morris 1000 to a 2.8 litre open-wheeled racing car, which we were quickly advised was illegal on this width of track!!!.

As the road is, in some parts, only about eight feet wide and not over eleven feet wide, which would have allowed us to permit open-wheeled cars over 1600cc to continue to compete, development of this venue was stifled, as widening the track would have proved a financial impossibility.

Interest in the event finally waned, as even the routine upkeep of the track was an expensive, time consuming and never-ending task but this doesn`t stop many people constantly requesting to this day, that the hillclimb should run again, as it was a genuine hillclimb in the truest sense of the word and a real challenge, including no less than three hairpin corners, as it climbed 90 metres along its 1066 metre length.

It seems pretty certain that Malcolm Wishart from Glasgow, a retired regional manager with the Clydesdale Bank, will therefore always hold the record at High Auldgirth. His best time of 43.44 seconds set on July 6th 1997, in perfect sunny, warm and dry conditions, was achieved in his immaculate 2 litre Mallock.

Ideal conditions were never to be taken for granted on this site which, due to its elevated position, overlooking large swathes of the beautiful surrounding Dumfriesshire countryside, seemed all too willing to attract any passing rain shower. The last hillclimb event took place here on June 14th 1998.

Autumn Stages Rally.

But looking back, the flagship event of the club was really the `Autumn Stages` Rally, a special stage event which, for many years, was a round of the Scottish Rally Championship and on at least one occasion, also a round of the BTRDA Championship.

Club members, who also happened to be businessmen, were often called on to provide sponsorship for the Autumn Stages. Among these companies were Mogil Motors, the club member connection in this case being Tony Charnell, Tweedies Daihatsu (Harold Tweedie), Grierson & Graham (Eddie Graham).

Bowmaker Finance and the Scotsman Newspaper were also involved in the early years and more recently, on the 2005 event, Palmerston Furniture (David Hughes) and Oakbank Services (owned by John Bogie, our Honorary Vice President), whose company basically made the roads around Drumlanrig useable in the first place and then returned for a whole week after the rally to rebuild them, along with one `B listed` bridge, which one or two drivers had helped to demolish!.

Bringing matters right up to date, Ciceley Commercials provided financial sponsorship for the 2007 Autumn Stages, with Oakbank Services again very kindly preparing and repairing the roads especially for this event.

The Tweedies Daihatsu rally in 1991 (which ran on April 21st), was a round of the `West of Scotland`, `County Motors`, `Association of North East Car Clubs`, and `Six of Clubs` stage championships. It had five stages over 35 Forestry Commission stage miles and an entry fee of £145. (The fee for the same event a year earlier was £130.). One of the scrutineers listed in the 1991 regulations was one Roy Herron, a popular man in the rallying world, who tragically later died in a stage rallying accident.

1990.

On a lighter note, here`s the top ten finishers on the 1990 Tweedies Daihatsu Forest Stages Rally:

1st. Murray Grierson & Roger Anderson, MG Metro. 40 minutes & 01 seconds.

2nd. John Gray & Fergus Loudon, Sierra Cosworth. 40 minutes & 36 seconds.

3rd. Donald Harper & Gus McKinnon, Sierra Cosworth. 40 minutes & 40 seconds.

4th. Tom Coughtrie & Bobby Wallace, Escort RS. 41 Minutes & 35 seconds.

5th. Ian Wilson & John Bennie, Sunbeam. 41 minutes & 36 seconds.

6th. Steve Petch & Andrew Grimstone, Charmant. 42 minutes & 21 seconds.

7th. George Porteous & Andy Jardine, Escort. 42 minutes & 22 seconds.

8th. Brain Allan & David Reid, Escort. 42 minutes & 50 seconds.

9th. Kevin Harker & Chris Goldsworthy, Escort. 43 minutes & 29 seconds.

10th. Allan Clark & Gordon Gracey, Avenger. 43 minutes & 29 seconds.

Other past & present members, who finished this particular event were:

12th, Alisdair Stewart & Mairi Harvey, Suzuki Swift, 43.40. 16th, Robert Dickson & John Kelly, Escort, 44.19. 17th, Ian Paterson & Keith Forster, Samba, 44.29. 41st, Willie Cork & Mark Houston, Escort, 49.53. 45th, Edward Fergusson & Edith Dempster, Skoda, 54.40 and 46th, Ruth & George Myatt, Avenger, 58.59.

1974.

Going back in time a bit more and just to prove how popular a rally the Autumn Stages was, the 1974 rally had a full house of 120 entries, plus a further 20 reserves. The top ten seeds were:

No 1. Alastair Brearley & M. Smith of Galashiels, in an Escort.

No 2. Gavin Waugh & S. Turnbull from Brampton, in an Avenger GT.

No 3. Jimmy MacRae & D. Brown from Kirkmuirhill, in an Escort.

No 4. A. Kesson & K Christie from Glasgow, in an Escort.

No 5. Fred Almond & H. Kennedy from Hexham, in an Escort.

No 6. Dom Buckley (senior) & R. Smart from Eccles, in an Escort.

No 7. Murray Grierson & J. Anderson from Dalbeattie, in an Escort.

No 8. M. Telford & J. Taylor from Carlisle, in a Saab.

No 9. Mike Gilligan & Ron Palmer from Carlisle, in an Escort.

No 10. Stewart Robertson & Tom Mair from Dalbeattie, in an Escort.

Other notable entries were:

11 Richard Stewart & Jim Doig from Dumfries, Escort. 12 Keith McCleary & Ivor Clark from Gretna, Escort. 30 Tom & Sheila Laird from Castle Douglas, Escort. 32 George Rutherford & Mike Jackson from Castle Douglas, Escort. 51 M. Wilson ( ? ) & J. Davies from Workington, Escort. 52 R. Armstrong & R. Jardine from Lockerbie, Renault Gordini. 57 Tom Gilhooly & T. Vivers from Gretna, Volvo. 66 Brian Halliday & T. Irving from Palnackie, Escort. 72 T. Eide Johansen & D. Turnbull from Dumfries, Escort. 79 David Reid & S. Robertson from Auldgirth, Escort. 86 Roland Proudlock & John Innes from Dumfries, Mini. 87 M. Nairn & W. McGaw from Lockerbie Stilletto. 90 T. Corrie & G. Currie from Castle Douglas, Morris 1000. 95 Rab Smith & Jock Brown from Thornhill, Mini. 97 Harold Tweedie & G. Millburn from Dumfries, Escort. 99 J. (Robin) Bardsley & Steve James from Auchencairn, Mini. 100 Derek Halliday & Margaret Halliday from Thornhill, Volvo. 103 Ross McKay & John Shannon from Powfoot, Escort. 104 A. Peacock & R. Ritchie from New Gallowy, Healey Sprite. 109 R. Carruthers & C. McCourt from Lockerbie, Escort. 116 Tam Wilkinson & Alex McEwan from Dumfries, Imp. 120 W. Billson & TBA from Dalbeattie, Riley Elf.

The reserves list included local drivers, such as Micky Rankin, Roy McCourt, Ewan McGowan, Ken Duff & Kenny Nairn. The winner however, was none other than Jimmy MacRae, taking his first ever rally victory, a win he fondly remembers to this day.See the following report.

1988.

The motor sport headline in the Dumfries `Standard` on Wednesday July 20th 1988, read "Colin Follows In His Fathers Footsteps".

This was the lead-in to a report on the previous Saturday`s SOSCC stage rally and here are some excerpts from it: "Perhaps it was a case of history repeating iteself for the MacRae family on Saturday. For Dumfries provided the backdrop for son Colin`s first ever rally victory... fourteen years after it did the same for his dad, Jimmy. Colin, the Lanarkshire driver fast building a name for himself on the rallying circuit, won the Tweedies Daihatsu Forest Stages rally in torrential rain. It was his first ever overall win after several events where he took the runner-up spot.

Dad, Jimmy won his first event here back in 1974 when it was known as the Autumn Stages rally. Colin was driving the Nissan 240 RS and took along his girlfriend, Alison Hamilton as co-driver."

And so, a bit of history was made right here, where both father and son enjoyed the sweet smell of success in the local forests, courtesy of the South of Scotland Car Club. Of course the report goes on to ralate the stories of a number of other local competitors, whose successes or failures merited a mention at the time but would take up too much space here to repeat it all.

However it`s difficult to resist repeating the final part of the report, which goes, "And on a final amusing note, Eddie Fergusson enjoyed an unexpected `race` in the Skoda Estelle. He slowed down at the first junction in the event and as he was doing so, spotted a rabbit in the road. The rabbit spotted him and decided to shoot off in the same direction. Eddie`s foot went to the floor and the pair zoomed off, with the rabbit accelerating away". Mentioning Colin MacRae`s first victory and this tale in the same rally report, must surely be what they mean by going from the sublime to the ridiculous!

And needless to say, Alison later became Colin`s wife.

`A` is for Alphabet.

In this section of the history page, a wee bit of a story about members past and present who competed or achieved something remarkable, will be provided. So, for `A` we could have Attwood as the surname and Derek for the first name, but only when the details for Derek Attwood are obtained and put together.

For starters though, we can select `D` for Doig.

D.

Doig - Jim, who now lives in Terregles, Dumfries, thoroughly enjoyed his rallying and liked nothing better than to get out on a 12 car rally, normally accompanied by long-time friend and colleague at Dumfries`s long since closed Carnation factory, Bob Morland. Jim states quite categorically, that his greatest ever achievement was becoming the SOSCC Club Champion. Jim was also a familiar sight getting around the town in his Zephyr estate, signwritten with the legend `Moffat House Hotel`, which followed Richard Stewart`s Escort TC all over the country, as a service car on stage rallies.

Now in his 60`s, Jim is heavily involved in the local vehicle preservation society and among his proudest posessions is his red and white `Carnation` liveried lorry, which had a starring role in the `Magdalene Sisters` film, set back in the sixties/seventies and filmed right here in Dumfries, in 2002. Jim also has a double decker bus, which originated in Caerphilly and since he`s owned it, the old bus has been all over the UK including Shetland and back to Caerphilly, where Jim received a civic reception when he took it back for a visit. Dated 23/03/2006.

H.

Hayton - David, also known by many as `Peggy`, was born in 1958 and currently lives in Bloomfield, Dumfries. David`s first event was a PCT run by SOSCC at Irongray, where he turned up in a fibreglass MG Sprite. The field being used that day was unusually steep and because of this, the organisers had specified that once they had cleared the tests, competitors should reverse straight back down the hill to avoid the possibility of cars rolling or sliding sideways into trouble. As the rules were foreign to Peggy, not only did he clear the first section easily but he also drove out of the top end of it and then along the side of the hill !. Legend has it he got a bollocking for his trouble.

Peggy has only ever rallied (always very sideways and spectacular) one model of car - the MkI Escort - firstly in a bog standard 1100 Popular 2 door model on the Machars Rally in 1977. He then moved onto 1300s and latterly a 1600 on the 2003 Scottish Rally with Derek `Rooster` Adamson. This was his last event to date. His best ever result on a rally was 3rd overall in the 2002 National `B` Centurion Rally, but he is equally proud of coming second overall in the 1300 class, in the 1982 Scottish Rally Championship. Peggy still has a Mk I sitting in a garage which is just about ready for competition and would like a chance to compete again, his ultimate ambition being to do the Roger Albert Clark.

He remembers one incident with a smile, where he and David Paterson worked hard until midnight to get the Mk I ready for the `Arbroath Stages` the following day. Having just managed to prepare the car, they set off at 4.00am, duly arrived at Arbroath, went through scrutineering & signing on and then suddently realised that they hadn`t brought anyone to drive the service car !. All they could do was carry a half-shaft and some tools in the rally car but the car was so reliable, they werent needed. At the one and a half hour service halt, Peggy and David got quietly sick of ice cream, as the only food available here, was from an ice-cream van !. David`s son Stuart is already a hot-shot on a racing kart at 12 years of age, so the Hayton dynasty in motor sport wont die out for a long time yet. Dated 20/03/07.

J.

Jardine - Andy, who was born in 1967 and now lives with his wife Rosie in Inverness, first got into rallying doing 12 cars in the 80`s but soon progressed to the stages with Alan Barrie in the Balcastle Hotel sponsored Mini their first rally being a SOSCC stage rally at Hallburn near Longtown. Later they progressed to an Escort, doing Scottish Championship events. After his spell with Alan Barrie, Andy joined Brian Kinghorn in 1987 for a couple of years of competition together, where they achieved a couple of top ten places in a 1600 Escort. At the same time he managed to cram in some West of Scotland Navigational events. While living in the Lockerbie area, Andy served on the SOSCC committee and organised 12 Cars, was Clerk of the Course on the Doonhamer Navigational Rally and later helped revive the Autumn Stages in 1990.

But back to his rallying carrer. In 1990 it was all change again, this time competing on the Scottish Championship with George Porteous. Even though work took him off the rallying scene for a wee while, he soon returned to join George in a Toyota Corolla, which he had purchased with the intention of doing the 1991 Lombard RAC Rally, this being one of the highlights of Andy`s rallying career. The support team consisted of other SOSCC members, Gordon Paterson, Kenny Morland and Brian Kinghorn. The four day event based in Harrogate went well for the team and going into the last two stages, they had calculated that as they were lying seventh in class and the prizes only went up to sixth, they`d better get their collective finger out !.

While the gap to sixth in class was one and a half minutes, they decided to "have a go - then it got foggy". Andy continues - "On the penultimate stage, we took forty seconds out of sixth place. On the last stage the fog was so thick it was easier driving with the lights out and by reading the organisers notes, we had a blazing stage with our biggest moment 100 metres before the flying finish". They waited at the stop line to await the result they had been hoping for, to discover they had got into sixth place by quite a margin. They had been 19th fastest on the last stage, upon which the results computer threw up an alarm, causing the organisers to add a minute to their time, a situation that only lasted as long as it took the team to convince the officials they were wrong !.

Oh and Juha Kankunnen won the RAC rally that year !.

In 1992 he started navigating for Andy Horne in a collection of cars, surviving one horrific accident in a Manta on Mull, against a granite boulder twice the size of the car, Andy only suffering a broken finger. Since moving North in 2004 to be White & MacKay`s Electrical Engineer in their distillery, he has started navigating again, and has done a spell on the organising team of the Snowman, run by his local Highland Car Club. Dated 20/12/2006. Updated 02/12/07..

M.

Marshall - Sadly, Sandra Marshall passed away on July 29th 2003 after a short illness. Sandra was for many years one of the largely unsung, unpaid administrators of the sport and if she was at an event, she would almost certainly be found seated behind a desk. Having initially competed at various levels of motor sport, Sandra then found it easy to adapt her administrative skills to become part of any organisational team. Sandra spent some time on the South of Scotland Car Club committee and served for a number of years as a super-efficient club secretary. She then moved onto the organisational team of the Scottish International Rally and remained there right up until her untimely death, having worked in the rally`s press office only a month before her demise. Her funeral at Beattock Church, was attended by some notable faces from Scottish Motor Sport and her helpful, eager and always cheerful personality was a great loss to motor sport. Dated 04/05/06.

M.

Monro - One of the founder members of the South of Scotland Car Club, Sir Hector Monro died on August 30th 2006 at the age of 83, having distinguished himself in a number of fields, undoubtedly his most notable achievement being Tory member of Parliament for Dumfriesshire for 33 years. Hector was a keen sportsman and in particular, an avid follower of Rugby but motor sport was also a passion from an early age. While we were making preparations to celebrate our 50th anniversary by re-running the Autumn Stages at Drumlanrig, we wrote to him for his recollections of the early years of the club and to invite him to attend the event. Here are some excerpts from his reply from his Baltimore home, dated August 17th 2003, aged 80.

Dear Roland, Many thanks for your most interesting letter, which has been forwarded here from Williamwood. (his Dumfriesshire home) I would have thought that the car club began at least in 1954, if not a year or two earlier. I am thinking of cars I drove in various competitions then, usually in rallies or driving tests. I was pretty active in 54, 55, 56 with my Triumph TR2 and represented the club in the inter-club auto tests at Turnberry. Personalities were Frank Dundas with a Cooper Climax and Denham-Cooke in his Jaguar XK120. We had lots of fun and I suppose I was an original member. The Doctor at Thornhill (Doctor Watson) was also a leading light with his Allard. He was on the RSAC Motor Sports Committee.

Later, I drifted off to vintage Bentleys and still have the club badge on it. I am sorry over the years I have lost touch with the club, though not with motor sport, as I have raced with the Bentley Drivers Club at Silverstone and was President of the Auto Cycle Union for 5 years. A week on the Isle of Man was always a great experience. I remember venues such as Halleaths, Langholm, the Ranges at Kirkcudbright and rally routes but rusty on names. Kind regards, Sir Hector Monro. Dated 26.09.06.

M.

Morland - Bob, who lives in Heathhall, Dumfries has had enough rallying experiences to fill a book. Even though he will be a septogenarian in 2007, he continues to love his rallying and can relate stories from way back. His first rallying experience was navigating for Derek Attwood in a Saab and through the years has sat beside a variety of different drivers including, of course, Ivor Clark and Jim Doig. The decision to stick to navigating was taken one night when on the `Solway Coast` (at the time a navigational event) he put a Mk 1 Escort, navigated by Walter McDonald, on its side near Lochmaben cemetery.

Bob`s best result was second overall, navigating for Ricky Wheeler senior on the 1988 Tweedies Daihatsu Stages, beaten only by Colin McRae, who was busy winning his first rally. Bob also has a flair for building rally cars and by March 2006 has already built two of the latest spec Fiestas. One of the more notable builds was Richard Stewart`s flying Anglia, which will certainly not be remembered by the younger readers even though it was legendary in its time. Pick any subject you like, and Bob will have a story. And he has a wicked sense of humour. Occasionally he`ll produce a Blue Book from 1970 and completely bamboozle the organisers, who often are not quick enough to notice it`s over 30 years out of date!. Dated 20/03/06.

McG.

McGowan - Ewan, who after many years still lives in Lochfoot, a wee village a few miles West of Dumfries, now runs the village Post Office with wife Hilda and is very involved in village life, including the popular Pantomime Group, based there. Born in 1943, Ewan has long since given up motor sport, having competed mainly in navigational and stage rallies in the late 70`s, with Frank Wright, Murray Grierson and Jock Adamson having taken spells in Ewan`s left-hand seat. Ewan`s best ever result was winning the Doonhamer Rally with Murray, an all-night event around Dumfries & Galloway, which was at that time, capable of drawing in excess of 100 entries.

Ewan`s choice of car was originally a Cortina GT (sponsored by Mogil Motors) which with development, morphed into something much more competitive. He recalls that there were times when Murray would get his lefts and rights mixed up and Ewan would find himself dangerously anticipating what Murray was about to say and then reverse it himself, to work out the correct instruction. On one all nighter, he recalls eating cold pies from Johnstonebridge Service Station, which due to their dubious quality, became nicknamed `depth charges`. He also remembers Murray coming out with this gem "If we do the next five miles in three minutes, we`ve a good chance of winning this" !.

Ewan`s first stage rally was the Autumn Stages, which he completed on standard road tyres and with no spare being carried on board. One stage in Ae was so rough because it hadn`t been regraded that at the end, Jock Adamson, remarked *!@!+* that was rough, reached into the glove compartment, pulled out a can of lager and on pulling the ring, filled the whole car with spray!. Dated 22/06/07.

P.

Paterson - Willie, (known as Micky to his friends) now a Collin resident, was born in 1936 and remembers being one of the first members, joining when Francis Dundas was Chairman. Micky ran the first club Autocross at Broadgate Farm, Mouswald in the 60`s. He competed mainly in rallies during the 50`s and 60`s, initially in a Lotus Cortina, followed by an Escort Twin Cam, in which he did his final rally, the 1972 `Scottish`, based in Aviemore. Micky was always navigated by Roy McCourt and remembers his main friendly rivalry on most events was with John (the current John`s Uncle) and Pat Bogie.

Micky recalls winning the club`s `Burmah Castrol Trophy, the whereabouts of which is currently a mystery. He also goes to great pains to emphasise that David (Plod) Reid was always his service crew and remembers with a grin, two instances where Plod provided the laughs. On the first, while servicing on the Scottish for Micky in a Ford Anglia, Plod went through a stage after the rally cars had completed it. He had his suitcase strapped to the roof rack by the handles but unfortunately, only the handles remained when he got to the end of the stage! On another occasion, while preparing the tea in a caravan which was pitched near Elgin, Plod attempted to heat a can of beans on the stove without taking the lid off. Micky remebers the explosion was like a bomb and the can went right through the caravan roof !. Dated 03/05/06.

R.

Rankin - Michael, (known by everyone as Micky) currently living near Terregles, Dumfries, is perhaps best known for his legendary car control and has a number of 1980`s stage rally wins to his name, including the now defunct farmtrack events, known as the `Machars` and the `Rhins` rallies, because of their geographical locations. Micky was also a keen competitor on club Autotests and 12 Car Rallies. Born in 1953, he recalls when 12 car rallies were fiercely fought over by a group of members and when asked to reminisce, he particularly recalls the time when he and his friend George Black (now the tyre supremo at M-Sport) were haring along in the Durisdeer area with John Bogie a minute behind. Micky `lost` the car on one corner and the car careered backwards down a banking, out of sight of the road. John Bogie soon flew past, unaware of the incident and arrived at the next control to enquire of the Marshals where Micky and George were. In fact, back down the road, the lads had got out, turned the carbs up and put the car in gear so that it would drive itself, while they shoved from the back. It worked! and they regained the road to continue.

Competing in a variety of Avengers and MkI & Mk II Escorts, he also had Jim Doig navigating for him briefly but Jim decided the partnership was over on one Machars stage rally, when they rolled end over end and finished upside down with petrol dripping round their ears!. Micky almost scored a historic second overall on one of the early `Galloway Hills` because while he was seeded 50th, the snow and ice faced by the top seeds had gone by the time he and George arrived. Sadly, a broken diff on the last stage ended the dream. Micky is particularly proud of his win on the tarmac `Runway Stages` at Kirknewton Airfield near Edinburgh in the 80`s. Up against ex-works cars valued at easily ten times the value of his Escort, he dominated the event, surprising everyone else marginally more than he did himself !. Dated 16/05/06.

R.

Reid - David, known universally as `Plod`, was born in 1950 and brought up at Morrinton, near Dunscore. Plod first joined the SOSCC in 1969 and then spent some time on the commitee in the early seventies. He has competed with a number of guys over the years, among those being his first navigator, Rab Marchbank. His first rally win was achieved when sitting beside Brian Allan on the Machars Rally in 1973. The pair remained as a team until they took their second and only other win, on the Autumn Stages in 2005, which was also to be their final rally together. Near successes included leading the Autumn Stages rally on its first running in 1972, sitting beside Gordon (Corvennie) Armstrong, the win eventually going to Alastair Brearley from the Borders.

Plod`s first event was an SOSCC 12 car rally in 1969 in a 100E Escort. The rally started between Lockerbie and Langholm and he remembers it went on for most of the night, depite heavy snow causing some crews to leave the road. Some of the cars even had to stop for a train at a level crossing on the Waverley Line near Langholm, which has long since closed. Another memory he has of 12 Cars is that they would sometimes start in the dark and finish in daylight, regularly going on for 250 miles or even more!. In fact, on one particular Wednesday night, an SOSCC 12 car and a Machars 12 car met head on, at Morton Castle near Thornhill.

He has lots of fond rallying memories, many of them funny and some which cannot be repeated here but when asked, one story came instantly to mind. Apparently, during one eventful Scottish Rally, where much merriment was being enjoyed up in the North of the country, Murray Grierson lost his wallet on a night out in Granton on Spey. After an exhaustive search, it was found at the bottom of the practice tower in Grantown`s Fire Station. Little can be remembered about that night but it seems the wallet fell out of Murray`s pocket when, in an alcohol fuelled fit of bravery, climbing the tower seemed like a good idea!. Plod also recalls when the fountains in Aviemore were filled with Squezy liquid and bubbled over and also the midnight tea-tray races down Aviemore`s dry ski-slope. He lives a much quieter but no less busy life now, and has become a bit of a thespian with Dumfries`s Guild of Players, also finding time to be part of the successful team that runs Dumfries Aviation Museum. Dated 12/04/08.

S.

Scott - Walter Francis John Montagu Douglas, known better the world over as His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry VRD KT. His Grace signed his mail simply `Buccleuch`, which was quite understandable really and no doubt (having a keen sense of humour) would find the funny side of having such a long title. He was of course known to all of us in the club as our Honorary President, a title he held for decades until his death in September 2007 a few days after our Autumn Stages rally, following a short illness. Despite his disablement which confined him to a wheelchair after a riding accident in the 1970`s, His Grace continued to run his many estates with a velvet glove, loved by some and admired by most of his employees for his understanding and compassion for each individual`s personality and needs.

Born in 1923, His Grace served in the navy, later in life moving on to serve as Member of Parliament for Edinburgh for thirteen years and then later in the House of Lords. He supported numerous charitable causes and loved sport, music and art but it was his loyalty to the South of Scotland Car Club that saw him emerge to us as a great benefactor when in 2005, he agreed to allow the use of his estate roads for a Special Stage Rally to celebrate the club`s 50th anniversary, - a club that he was instrumental in creating so many years ago. The club will show its gratitude to him and our deep respect, when a memorial tree is planted in the grounds of Drumlanrig Castle in 2008. Dated 16/01/08.

T.

Tweedie - Harold, who lives in Amisfield, Dumfries, was an active member back in the sixties, seventies and eighties and is still a fully paid member to this day. He competed in a variety of events (and cars) and apart from sponsoring the Autumn Stages, made the local newspapers in May 1985, when he announced he was to compete on the following month`s Scottish International Rally in a 2.8 litre, 4 cylinder, Daihatsu Fourtrack, the only Diesel vehicle to enter the event. With Bob Morland alongside, the pair gave the Army Land Rovers a run for their money, beating them soundly. The Daihatsu returned from the rally to Dumfries and to more mundane agricultural duties, without a scratch. Dated 28/01/2006.

Lots more history still to come................