The Saltire Rally Club promoted the Speedfair Rally on behalf of NESCRO (North of England and Scottish Classic Rally Organisers) at the recent Scottish Classic Speedfair at Knockhill Circuit.

The 40 cars assembled for the Historic Rally theme saw a broad spectrum of rally cars from the 50’s through to the 80’s compete over the 9 Tests on the Saturday with the top 12 going forward to a Shoot out format on the Sunday.

The Saturday spectacle was enhanced by the slippery conditions but the sight and sound of cars ranging from a Standard 10 through to a Stratos certainly gave those hardy enough to brave the notorious Knockhill weather something to celebrate.

The invited entrants carefully selected to promote cars of the period and their differing driving styles provided a close challenge throughout the Saturday. Any one of the top ten or so crews were in line for top honours but at the end the steady skills of the Irish Crew of Noel Cochrane / Olly McCollum in their Midget took the advantage to hold off the numerous challengers.

Sunday saw the Shoot out format with only the top 12 crews going forward to challenge for a separate award. The format gave the large Sunday crowd something to really cheer about and provided a superb demonstration of Historic Rallying in Scotland and the North of England through tense competition and outstanding driving.

The driving abilities of the likes of Ronnie Griffin, Paul McCulla, Archie Simmonds, Noel Cochrane, and Stuart Carris et all enthralled the crowd, particularly with their text book demonstrations of 360’s

It looked like an all Irish final until Chirnside’s Archie and Richard Simmonds put in a stunning time to put a Scottish crew into the Final.

The final between the Simmonds in their Midget and Paul McCulla / Trevor McIlroy in the unlikeliest of a rally cars, a TVR 3000M gave a wonderful finale to the Rally theme. The partisan crowd clearly brought the best out of the Simmonds but it was not quite enough with the TVR crew receiving generous applause from the Scottish crowd who appreciated the fine skills demonstrated to secure the win.