Would there be a better way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Colin McRae’s World Rally Championship? Next year, Scotland will decide whether to pave the way for a WRC round being based there for the first time in history.
While an event wouldn’t be included on the calendar until 2026, cementing Britain’s return to rallying’s top table in 2025 would broaden the smile on faces looking back to when the Saltire flew higher than ever three decades ago.
Will it happen? Don’t know. Dealing with government agencies is rarely straightforward, but there’s no doubt Motorsport UK has pulled the right people in to engage in the feasibility study.
Enough with the feasibility chatter.
Scotland!
Full disclosure time… I have a Scottish wife and I absolutely love the place. Second only to New Zealand. And Japan. Finland’s in there somewhere. As is, of course, America. But you get the picture, heading to the UK’s more northerly latitudes is always an absolute pleasure. But is it really right that the world championship hasn’t vaulted Hadrian’s Wall since 1995?
It is. And even then, it was only for the briefest of stays. Kielder’s Kershope stage started in England and finished in Scotland (might have been the other way around, apologies Andrew Kellitt, and yes, you’re right I should know these things) while Wauchope (sometimes split into east and west) was run wholly within Alba.
The last full Scottish day of the RAC was 1992, in the south-west around Dalbeattie. Glentrool and Ae were on the list. Stunning woods.
But, if it’s a proper hardcore Scottish stage name you’re after, Aberdeenshire’s got you covered with Clashindarroch. Surely that’s a shoo-in if 2026 comes off. But, before we even get to the nation’s north-east, there’s no end of opportunity to bring the world’s best drivers to some of the world’s best roads.
Starting out of Edinburgh, it would be borderline criminal not to send the cars out of the Esplanade (kind of the Edinburgh Castle car park) and down the Royal Mile and into the heartland of Scottish parliament. Crank a right in front of the King’s Edinburgh pad – the Palace of Holyroodhouse – and say hello to stage one: Arthur’s Seat. That, my friends, would provide one of the world’s finest start-to-superspecial spectacles. Stand down Guanajuato, your work is done.
The Scottish government understands the value of backing major sporting events, like the Downhill World Cup at Fort William
Overnight in Edinburgh, somewhere between the Oxford Bar (Rebus fans, it’s real) and Contini on George Street would be nice, please. Next morning, north over the Forth, past Perth and into Craigvinean (Jimmy McRae’s favourite) Drummond Hill (Malcolm Wilson’s favourite) and Errochty (somebody’s favourite).
Just when you thought Friday couldn’t get any better, how about this… come out of the woods and track towards Braemar. Turn off the Old Military Road towards Corgarff. Once onto the A939, feel free to start the stage anywhere. Call it The Lecht. Nobody will forget it.
Granted, it’ll need a wee bit of geographical jiggery pokery, but AK’s just the man for that and, don’t forget, the FIA’s all up for remote services and the like these days.
Thierry Neuville could be seen rallying on Scottish roads for the first time since the IRC days
Now then, to the weekend, where Aberdeen’s outstanding facilities (airport, hotels, shops, North Sea, Norway just over there) are waiting.
In terms of terrain, Scotland’s got the lot. And that’s before we’ve ever considered the history of clan McRae, Robert Reid, Andrew Cowan and, of course, Jimmy Clark who might conceivably (at a stretch) have won the 1966 RAC Rally, had he not crashed his Lotus Cortina in Loch Achray – not before he’d won three stages, mind.
It’s all there. Now please make it happen.
