Local MP Stuart Hosie did the honours and flagged the cars away from the High School of Dundee, right in the centre of this busy city. Temporary traffic lights outside the school decided to lockup, making the departure a little more interesting. All the crews eventually got away cleanly except for Tom and Marianne Dromgoole whose MGA cut out right in the middle of the first junction after Marianne accidentally knocked, and broke the battery cut off switch..(oops)... Tom did get it fixed and caught us up.

The Stutz was reported to be keeping up easily with the tour traffic despite it's 93 years, arriving on schedule at Glamis Castle, home of the Bowes-Lyons family. The line up photo in front of the castle had many of the regular visitors running round with their own cameras, with a lot of mobile camera phones clicking.

Pressing on west the tour of cars including MG's Riley, Jaguars, Healey,  Triumphs, Porsche, Swallow, Audi, and vintage Landrover, as well as the Stutz, headed for a lunch stop at Pitlochry. Kenknock hill climb was beckoning and the route on the unclassified road to the south of Loch Tummel took us toward Glen Lyon, which beyond Bridge of Balgie is like stepping back in time to the thirties, with little traffic and thatched cottage hamlets on the way.

From Glen Lyon the road took us down Kenknock into Glen Lochay and a welcome tea stop at the  Killin Hotel, before heading to the day 1 finish at the Loch Lomond Shores at Balloch.

The Sunday morning re-start continued under a sun filled sky with an autotest at the rear of the Argyll Motor Works in Alexandria. Running over ground that 100 years ago produced 3000 cars a year produced a certain nostalgia, though the way  the big beefy C type Jaguar of David Barnett and Gareth Stuarts equally gruff TVR Chimera drove, nostalgia was farthest from their minds! Once again the commotion brought out the local community, if only to see what all the noise was about.

With all the cars lined up after the autotest we headed off over the for the Glen Fruin road to the Rest and be Thankful, which for the first time of many visits was bathed in sunshine. Two runs up this famous pre-sixties hill climb venue was a treat. Even I as event organiser had a go as owner Andrew Davidson had never had an Elise on the Rest. With co-organiser and Rest veteran Douglas Anderson in the left seat we squirted the little Elise after the big TVR with the damp moss under foot making the tail a little lively. Pete Babbs gave his 1951 Riley 1.5 a thrash up the hill climb, not once but twice, a testament to early engineering, or just foolhardy, whatever!

Leaving the Rest we headed across to Inverary and down into Argyll to Lochgilphead and out to the Crinan Canal. Using the unclassified northwest route up Loch Awe brought us up to Tynuilt and the afternoon tea stop at the Cruachan Power Station in the Pass of Brander.

Despite the long queue of holiday traffic down the side of Loch Lomond on the final run back to Alexandria, most of the crews made it to the end.

Look out for the next "tour and tests" event in November; The Classic Ecosse.

Prizes:-

The Oldest Car to complete the event:-
Chris & Val Lyons 1952 Landrover

Best Dressed Crew:-
Donald & Tricia Macdonald, 1962 Sunbeam Rapier

Car of the Event:-
Swallow Doretti of Alan Gibb and George Robinson.
 

  Places we visited

    Dundee High School

        Glamis Castle

            Killin Hotel

   Loch Lomond Shores

   Argyll Motor Works

  Rest and be Thankful

        Crinan Canal

 Cruachan Power Station

  Paterson Elise on  Rest

    Stuart TVR on Rest