Heading north over the Cheviots, the clouds began to part and the winter sun started to break through. This, Andrew would have assured any of his English friends, was entirely normal.
Celebrating former competitor and long-time Mitsubishi World Rally team boss Andrew Cowan’s life was never going to be a simple process. How could it be for a man with friends in each of the earth’s four corners and coming from such a wide variety of fields? From shooting, fishing, farming and of course from rallying.
Last Saturday more than 450 people joined Andrew’s wife Linda and packed into Duns Parish Church to make an effort at the sizeable task of sharing just a handful of a lifetime-worth of stories from one of the titans of our sport.
And Cowan was just that. Not for nothing do you win five Southern Cross Rallies in succession. Or a couple of London-Sydney Marathons. When it came to success in endurance rallying, Cowan was one of the founding fathers.
What hit home in Duns last week was the obvious ease with which Cowan had moved from set to set. His neighbours; admirers of his double handed cast; those fortunate enough to be part of an eight-gun shoot and of course, his family, were unified in their love of a man who brightened a room on his arrival.
That’s certainly how I felt about him. Regardless of where we were in the world, a conversation with Andrew was more than welcome. Momentarily, we could leave Lasse Lampi to think about preferred ramp angles and pre-load for the afternoon loop and instead talk harvesting hay. Or tickling trout. Andrew was marvellously adept at both.
His success behind the wheel in his early career empowered him for moments like his chat with Tommi Mäkinen, shortly after the Finn had crashed his Mitsubishi on his pre-event test ahead of his maiden Safari Rally in 1996.
Cowan’s team manager Phil Short remembers it well.
Short: “Andrew told Tommi he needed to drive his car much more calmly otherwise he wasn’t going to finish the first day, never mind the whole rally.
“’OK,’ said Tommi, ‘I’ll try it your way at first…’ The result was a victory by 14 minutes thanks to Andrew’s good advice and a great effort by the team.”
Cowan’s greatest global success came with Mäkinen behind the wheel of one of the Lancers crafted out of Ralliart’s Rugby factory.
It’s not always possible to tell the important people in your lives how important they have been. I got that chance with Andrew just before he left usTommi Mäkinen
The Scot and his Finnish protégé won four drivers’ titles and one manufacturers’ championship together. It was a great shame that Mäkinen couldn’t make Duns on Saturday.
Instead, he sent some of the services’ most moving words, which Short read on his behalf.
I spoke to Mäkinen and to fellow Finnish rally star – also Cowan’s trusted test driver – Lampi shortly after they’d been to visit him in October. The emotions were still fresh, the memories more important than ever.
Here are Mäkinen’s words:
“I guess it’s clear for everybody that Andrew had a very remarkable effect on my life. Honestly, I can say I would not be where I stand now if I did not know Andrew. Everyone knows about our deep and long-lasting relationship during the Mitsubishi times, but not many people know I’ve been using the way Andrew built and led the Mitsubishi team as a benchmark now as Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal.
“Andrew was a perfect team principal for me. He gave me my own space and freedom. He trusted me in my way of driving.
“When I heard for the first time that Toyota would come back to the WRC, I immediately started to think how Andrew did things when he was building Mitsubishi Ralliart.
“His team was cost-efficient, motivated and most importantly there was always a warm family feeling – thanks also to Linda.
“Andrew’s way of leading the team was the only right way for me. I am so happy I took the time to visit Andrew and Linda last October, just before Rally GB.
“It’s not always possible to tell the important people in your lives how important they have been. I got that chance with Andrew just before he left us.
“We spent a really nice day and evening together going through the old memories.
“Most importantly, he managed to show me his farm. We had always been talking a lot about farming, which has been important to us both as farmers.
“That farmer thing also helped bind us together. He also gave me some advice about our existing and our former drivers. Andrew had a skill to read people and this is something I try my best with every day.
“I guess we both realised this was our last night together and it was really difficult to leave him the next morning, knowing we would probably not meet again.
“His death was in any way, surprising – I couldn’t imagine him leaving us so soon. I keep thinking about him, often in every rally and remembering how he manged to treat me. Through that I learn more about myself and about our drivers.
“His memory and character will always stay inside me and I know he will be watching us and laughing, thinking sometimes: ‘Tommi, now you have started to learn…'”
Saturday taught everybody something new about Andrew White Cowan. His nephew Sandy McGregor’s memories were particularly touching, none more so than when he revealed Uncle Andrew had asked for a mucky handprint – left by one of his great nieces on a visit not too long ago – to be left where it was on sun room window.
Memories of his family, his wider family and a world-full of friends never left Andrew Cowan. And as the church emptied to a piper’s rendition of Highland Cathedral, in the town where Andrew had grown up with his pal Jim Clark, it was hard to imagine a more Scottish scene.
All that was missing was his favourite ABBA track and a wee dram. Neither would be far away.
To his family, he was Andrew, uncle Andrew or Pops. To the Japanese who thought the world of him, he was more simply “The Farmer.”
To me, as to hundreds of friends from whichever world, he was, quite simply, one very fine Scotsman.
