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Circuit of the North - 27 and 28 October
 The
Circuit of the North was a new two day event on the Scottish Motor Sport
calendar travelling over the great driving roads of the North of
Scotland. The first leg was from Scone Palace,
home of the celebrated Stone of Scone - also known as the Stone of
Destiny, just outside Perth, to
Whitebridge, Inverness-shire, with an overnight halt at Grantown
on Spey. The second leg re-start was at Alford and finished back at Scone Palace.
The event had three elements, an Auto Distance Event known as the Mountain Circuit Cup, an optional regularity section for the Night Circuit Cup and a final optional set of driving tests Alford Circuit Cup. The Duncan Laing Trophy was awarded to the ‘best overall’.
A
cold but sunny autumn morning welcomed the 24 starters to Scone
Palace, and after warm coffee they set off on the first leg
toward Kenmore, by way of Little Glenshee, Amulree and Glen Quaich.
Heading west down the north side of Loch Tay a keen eye needed to spot
the turn north at Kiltyrie, by Ben Lawers toward Bridge of Balgie.
 A
fair drive east toward Trinafour and the A9 to reach Dalwhinnie and on
to Newtonmore, then west again toward Fort William, turning north to
reach Whitebridge. Two choices. For those not on the optional night
section the tour continued to Daviot and the A9 and down to Carrbridge
before heading east for the overnight at Grantown on Spey.
The
Night Circuit Cup event took place on the evening of 27th October, a 40
mile regularity section over some challenging roads on the south side
of Loch Ness.
After the Autodistance daytime event starting from
Scone Palace, crews started arriving at the White Bridge Hotel, north
of Fort Augustus, Inverness-shire round about 4 p.m. on the afternoon
of the 27th. A welcome break was enjoyed by the crews with soup and
sandwiches and a chance to relax before the rigours of the evening
event.
But rewind a few days… The organisers had been
busy “preparing” the route, as, although held on all public
roads, some were decidedly beyond their sell-by date! – in
particular the infamous Inverfarigaig “corkscrew” road
which was one of the main feature sections on the route. The corkscrew
consists of 6 very tight, very steep hairpin bends rivalling anything
the in the Alps, followed by approximately 2 miles of really rough,
potholed neglected single track road, usually covered in a layer of mud
and cow-s**t. So on the Wednesday before the event, the organisers with
the blessing of the Highland Council set-to with 2 tons of tar and
repaired (to the best of their ability) the roughest sections of the
road.
 The regularity event was run on the lines of a
“Jogularity” section first used in the gruelling Le Jog
Rally. It differs from a normal regularity in that regularity tables
are not required and times are given in the roadbook to each feature of
the route, e.g. junction, gate, cattle grid etc. set at 30mph. We had 5
intermediate controls (ITC’s) at which the crews were to clock-in
at on the exact second scheduled, along with one passage control and
several code boards consisting of old number plates to be noted by the
crews to ensure they were on the correct route, but also to slow them
down. Penalties were applied for every second late between controls and
doubled for every second early, so the navigator’s job was pretty
onerous, juggling the clock and the trip meter and keeping his driver
on the correct route!
A total of 15 crews set off at minute
intervals from White Bridge starting at 7.30 p.m. with the first part
of the route a fairly easy 7 mile run via the River Foyers and Glen Lia
to the first intermediate control at the bottom of the corkscrew. Most
crews made it here without too many time penalties, however a few
missed the turn off to Glen Lia and dropped several minutes.
A
4 mile stretch to the next intermediate control consisted of the
corkscrew hairpins and the rough section above, where everybody dropped
time, although the top crews (who must have been shifting!) only
managed to drop a few seconds.
From here a 5 mile section led
via Loch Ceo Glais and a really nasty hairpin right junction to ITC 3
above Loch Ruthven – most crews managed to drop very few
penalties on this section, but some had tried to make up time and
gained penalties by arriving early! From here it was a longish 12
miles to ITC 4 using some pretty twisty yumpy bits of road, not helped
by having 3 code boards to note and a passage control to stop at,
however most managed with few dropped time penalties.
From ITC 4
to ITC 5 was one of the greatest driving roads in the Highlands, the
Garbole road, once used as a special stage in the Scottish Rally. The 5
mile section twists and turns with many blind summits and dips (plus
one really major pothole cautioned in the roadbook) and a watersplash
thrown in for good measure. Anyone who ‘cleans’ this
section really knows how to drive – no-one cleaned it!
From ITC 5 to the regularity finish at Tomatin was a relatively easy run with no major problems.
Having
been at the final control and seeing the smiles on the faces of the
crews told it all – everyone said they had a real blast and some
said they had never enjoyed a rally as much in years!
The crew
of Raymond Rollo and Maurice Millar had by far the fewest penalties at
49 and took the Menton Cup. As only pre-1968 cars were eligible for the
Night Circuit Cup, this was taken by the Gilbern GT crew of John
Roberts and Oliver Tomlins, who were in 3rd place overall. Incredibly
the Mini crew of Andy Murdoch and Bob Lucas (who had never competed in
any regularity event of any kind!) finished in overall 2nd place.
So
a great evenings motor sport enjoyed by all – to paraphrase it
quotes from Maurice Millar – “After the final time control,
we were sitting in the car beaming from ear to ear!” and from
Raymond Rollo – “the best road rally I have driven on for
years”
Alford Circuit Cup
 The
Sunday morning got everyone up and driving east to Alford for tests at
the Grampian Museu track. Leaving Alfrod the route headed to ward
Ballater, Braemar. toward Blairgowrie before arriving back at Scone for
refreshments and prizes.
This first two day auto distance went
down well. The mix of disciplines gave everyone a chance to select what
they wanted to enjoy. apart form a few light snow showers the event had
the weather on its side.
Will Douglas try for another one in the future. Just wait and see.
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| Updated 16 November 2012
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Liz Swan R8 at Alford
Queue on arrival 
Dinner at Scone