|  | Argyll
Classic Run - 27 March 2011
Photos - Geoff Kitt,
Margret Campbell, Donald MacDonald, James Rae, Graeme Henderson, Jim
Paterson
Tighnabruaich
Viewpoint - Photo - Donald Macdonald
The
first day of Spring had officially arrived, and it certainly visited
the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll on Sunday 27th March to welcome the
34 starters to the Argyll Classic Run.
 CofC
Jonathan
Lord briefs the drivers | Route
organiser Tom
Dromgoole had a brainwave when he decided that a complete change of
scenery was required for the event, which usually heads east from
Balloch, into the Trossachs. When the weather is good in Argyll you get
to see some of Scotland's finest scenery, cleverly tucked away from the
commuting routes.
A fine morning, if rather
cold at
around the
zero mark, welcomed the
starters to The Lomond Shores retail complex |
on
the shores of Loch Lomond of course. Thanks to Claire and
the team
on site we were allowed to park the Classics shore side for a wonderful
photo opportunity.
I
chatted with a few of the starters and discovered that Derek Reynolds
with Kay Sangster in his Porsche 912 had recently had the engine and
gearbox completely overhauled. Looking like it had just come from the
factory the rebuilt drivetrain had transformed the car, according to
Derek, who said that the torque makes the car much more flexible and
"rapid".
Young Eira Szadurski drove Jack McConchie
around in a
1979 Triumph Spitfire, on what I picked up as an early go at Classic
motoring. At the end they seemed pleased, so I hope they've caught the
bug and we see them again soon.
The two TVR crews,
Niall Simpson
and Colin Mann S3C, and Reuben Phillips and Mark Blair in the big
Chimera were side by side for the departure and seemed to keep close
together during the event.
Always good to see the
Morgan's out in force. Graham and Suzann Vinall brought their
+4,
Brian and Marion Hopkins their 4/4 , and Bob and Morag Donaldson their
almost new model. That would be why they were taking it easy. Chipped
paint is not what you want on your new sports car.
|
A
small group of spectators had risen early
to see the cars leave, flagged off by Jonathan Lord of the RSAC, on
their route to the Rest and be Thankful. Oldest car was the 1930 Delage
D6 of Branislav Sudjic. As he told me later the car was designed for
cruising down the N7 through France so the twisty roads on the Cowal
Peninsula, would be a test of strength
for the steering. | 
| | | The
lineup at Lomond Shores |
After
a blast up the A83 along the
side of Loch Lomond, to clear the pipes
as they say, it
was over to the Gare Loch by
the old Glen Fruin road. Ron Adams got somewhat enthusiastic and
bottomed out his MGB/GT on a cattle grid, taking the exhaust clean off
from the
manifold back. No doubt Ron was spitting flames, much as his car was
now, suffering so early on, but that's rallying for you. He and Duncan
Massie enjoyed the sunshine while the RAC recovery came out to help.
 The
route over Glen Fruin also upset Graeme and Sandra Henderson, tearing a
nice slot out of their works replica Healey 3000 silencer. Their
arriving at the Rest and be Thankful was certainly loud, and with noise
levels fairly high in the cockpit when in fine fettle, it was
unbearable without a silencer. Graeme decided to make for home in
Aberdeen, and still has the ringing in his ears to prove it! Neil Munn,
complete in dashing flying helmet, in his recently rebuilt
Healey
3000, with Donald Gordon guiding him, avoided the floorpan ripping
ground, by skill or luck I leave you to figure out!
 Aston
Martin DB6 driver, Hugh Mackinnon, with local Ollie Ross also
felt
Graeme Henderson's Silencer
the
bottom scrape on the
way over Glen Fruin, and decided against pushing his luck on the
optional drive up the Rest and be Thankful. I'm not surprised
as this is a beautiful example of the marque.
Hugh
MacKinnon's Aston Martin DB6
Thanks to Andrew
Davidson who owns the land for allowing us to use this historic piece
of Scottish motorsport. More and more Classic owners are enjoying the
experience of a drive up the "Rest", and those on the Argyll, whether
first timers or seasoned veterans were smiling by time they reached the
top.
 | Daughter
Diane and husband Stephen are great supporters
of the "Rest" and along with support from the Friends of the Rest put
in a lot of work to try and stem the tide of entropy (the need for the
universe to return to chaos). Some 300 tons of road scrapings
were
recently used to fill potholes, | Tom Rae has a laugh on the "Rest" in the
Pembleton Grasshopper | but some of the more enthusiastiic drivers
tried to
|
throw that gravel into the verges. Colin Ferguson sat
beside Tom Rae as he steered his Pembleton Grasshopper at full tilt up
the hill, and with only one rear wheel on this Citreon 2CV powered
machine, had fun on the really loose
stuff at the top, as Geoff Kitts photo shows.Alastair Muir and Robert
Stewart in TR4A are chased by XJS of
If
you want to see what it was like back in
the fifties and sixties, order a Friends of the Rest DVD which has some
40 minutes of newsreel material to watch. Go to www.friendsoftherest.co.uk
to order a copy.
From
the Rest the route headed through "Hells Glen" toward Loch Fyne and the
Cowal Peninsula. This part of Argyll is at its best under a sun filled
sky, and Sunday the 27th was one of the few times this part of the
country enjoyed excellent weather, yes Spring had really sprung.
| See
some of the photos taken by crews on the route round the peninsula,
visiting the various viewpoints, including the view at Tighnabruaich,
which Donald Campbell driving the blue mini seems to be confused over.
A welcome plate of fish chips, buttered roll
and a cup of tea welcomed the crews back at the Pit Stop in Arrochar.
Not a bad day for £15.00 entry. CCHMSC making
Classic driving affordable. (Sorry can't help with the price of fuel.
Ask a man called Cameron for a solution to that one!) |  | | The
entrants choice of car, | Donald Campbell- "where the
blazes are we Margaret?" |
that won the Argyll Trophy,
was the MGTC of
Douglas and Tilly Arthur. This was the car that they originally
entered, then changed to an MGB, as shown oh the entry list, but that
wouldn't start on the day, so the MGTC
it was. Funny how little upsets can be rewarding!
 Alex
Tulloch's Mini was 50 years old, or within one day of it, for the
Argyll Run. A special "Birthday Card" was presented to him at the
presentations. Originally purchased in Edinburgh the car spent a lot of
its life in Penicuik, my home town. I probably saw it several times,
without realising it. Fortunately the mini was Red to match the poster
I found!
 A
raffle at the end raised £180 for Macmillan Nurses,
to help in their fight against
Cancer. The club is adding a further £70 to make a total of
£250.
Tom
Niven takes the tailpiece. Having managed to complete the entire route
trouble free in his MGB/GT, he spluttered on to the grass verge leaving
Arrochar after the event. I stopped to offer help, which many of you
also did for which Tom thanks you all. Tom thought it was points or fuel starvation, but the car ended up "low loadered" home,
I suspect due to the recovery man not finding anywhere to plug
his
laptop in :-).
 There
is one other special "tailpiece", spotted by a lot of you. Graham and
Roberta Dillaway in their '68 Triumph TR5 thought this is what was
meant by the term "hanging the tail
out". Maybe someone in the Club Triumph will quietly tell them what the
term really means :-).
Thanks
to everyone who took part, and we hope to see you later in the year or
on next years Argyll Classic Run.
A
gallery of your photos from that great day is Here
|
| Updated 1 April 2011
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