Grassicks BMW garage on Perths' famous "motor mile" was the place to be on the evening of Tuesday 4 November 2008. CCHMSC welcomed around 100 classic car enthusiasts from all over Scotland and northern England to hear Stuart Turner, one of motorsports legends. Stuart delivered an informative and witty talk on his experiences from club rallying to winning the British Champion Co-driver on 3 occasions, and his time in the competition departments at both BMC and Ford.

Stuarts early days did include attempting to build a car out of two Austin Chummy's bought for the princely sum of £5.00. However he soon discovered that putting together what he had taken apart was not his forte. No, his skill would be in spotting the right car and the right people to put behind the wheel to win rallies. Moving into BMC, Stuart inherited the Healey 3000 as the current rally car, something he said should not be taken out of the garage if there is any hint of dampness on the road. I queried Graeme Henderson, who brought his works replica version to the presentation, if Stuart was right. He confirmed that his car is fitted

Stuart tells one of his interesting "stories"

with very soft tyres to help it stick

But Stuart had now spotted the potential of the Issigonis Mini and persuaded Pat Moss off her horse and her Austin A40 into an early version for the 1959 Mini-Miglia National Rally. This was a risk, as the entry in the Viking a month earlier managed only 51st overall, having broken its wheels, too low for the roads used, and filled with water. However the Moss / Turner partnership won the Mini-Miglia by a clear 10 minutes. The Mini was here to stay. Later Stuart would pull in the Flying Fins to drive these nippy cars on the Monte Carlo and others, quoting to BMC chiefs that to sell Mini in Finland would be more successful if they won rallies driven by Fins! One way of getting your preferred drivers!

Oh and an interesting factoid. Mini Cooper white roofs are his creation. He introduced the idea for the Acropolis Rally to reduce the heat in the car under the blistering sun. The idea worked as Paddy Hopkirk and Ron Crellin won the 1967 event. And we all thought it was for show.

From his days at Ford, Stuart recollected the days at Boreham, as competition manager, bringing in Timo Makinen to drive alongside Hanu Mikkola, who goaded Roger Clarke to win a raft of events. Stuart also spotted the potential of Keith Duckworth's Cosworth engine, and planted it into the Escort RS1600. Later on his return to Ford in 1983 he would introduce the Sierra Cosworth, which the McRae's would drive to many wins, the Escort RS Cosworth and

the fated RS200 GpB rally car,

Stuart with Graeme Henderson Healey 3000 works replica

Looking to the future Stuart looked at the two extremes of motorsport, club events and Formula 1. The latter pushes the limits of technology and needs the best drivers and teams. In return it provides technological spin-offs that benefit us all in our everyday driving, e.g. ABS, EBD, stability control etc. At the other end the Clubs need to shake off their bob cap and anorak look and focus on improving motoring, be it encouraging good driving through manoeuvrability tests for young drivers, and economy runs to see just how far a crew can take a car on one tank of petrol. These type of activities are in line with the way motoring is going, and will attract local publicity and potentially raise the sport within the community and gain younger drivers, something that is sadly lacking at present. Food for thought. So lookout for some interesting twists in some of the CCHMSC 2009  events.....

A raffle and collection for Stuart's nominated charity, Motorsport Safety Fund, collected £281, the prize being a signed photograph of Tony Harts' Replica Mini Cooper S.

A big thanks to Colin Grassick of Grassicks BMW, Perth

Updated 5 November 2008
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