England, Wales and now Scotland. Three rounds - three different countries, underlining the ‘British' part of the Pirelli British Rally Championship. Based this year in Dumfries, in the beautiful Galloway countryside, the Scottish was celebrating its 70th anniversary.
First run in 1932, it was held annually until the outbreak of the Second World War, then revived in 1951 and run every year since with the exception of 1957, 1960 and 1974. This was therefore the 57th event.
Many of the great names of British rallying are past winners – Andrew Cowan, Roger Clark, Tony Fall, Colin Malkin, Brian Culcheth, Chris Sclater, Russell Brooks, Tony Pond, and – more recently – Malcolm Wilson, Dai Llewellin, Jimmy McRae, Mark Lovell,
Colin McRae, Richard Burns, and Alister McRae. To this illustrious list has just been added the name of 32-year old Yorkshireman Jonny Milner, taking his second Championship win in a row in the Team Dynamics Toyota Corolla WRC.
Under the experienced control of Jonathan Lord and his team, the Royal Scottish Automobile Club organised 124 stage miles split over the Saturday and Sunday. Leg One started from the ramp in Dumfries's High Street, and a rather depleted field of 29 International starters headed west to tackle six stages at Loch Grannoch, Black Loch, Loch Derry (this has to be Scotland), Glentrool, Shaw Hill and Glengap. Central service was on a closed road to the west of Newton Stewart, and the crews returned to parc fermé back in Dumfries on Saturday evening.
