Day 1 Scottish Malts 2025 - Gleneagles to Pitlochry

Heavy overnight rain lashed the Gleneagles Hotel roof as crews slept, blissfully unaware that the cascading water over the famous hill climb up ‘Rest and Be Thankful’ in Argyll and Bute, had already caused a landslide which blocked the road. The two tests would have to be cancelled and a reroute of 80 miles implemented quickly by the expert HERO-ERA Competition Team.

Despite the intermittent rain with the sun occasionally breaking through the heavy cloud, the forty crews who started the five-day Scottish Malts from Gleneagles enjoyed incredible scenery and great driving roads as they tackled five regularites and one test. The long and necessary diversion was forgotten as the rally visited three distilleries, the last two being the Dewars and Blair Athol distilleries after an amazing afternoon up to Inverary and over the Bridge of Balgie regularity which proved to be breath taking. It was real rally road, which although at times was shrouded in mist, it was a joy. The fifth regularity was a contrast to the craggy climb and descent through the mountains and past the reservoir of reg four with its huge gates. Logierait Bridge was lush and green, the rolling hills saturated by the recent rain.

It was not to be the easy ‘play yourself in’ day that everyone was promised, and there were to be plenty of dramas. The first regularity, Black Hill was a nice semi moorland single track road, which once across it, the narrow-walled road dropped downhill. As the 1928 Bentley of Ryck and Angie Barber descended a 4 x 4 coming uphill drove at them, and the same later at car four, forcing Ryck to try and make late space but hitting the low parapet which tore off the front axle and wheel, sadly they were damaged and out on the spot. Well, the poor beautiful Bentley was. Once Crewe’s best was on a low loader, Angie and Ryck were off to find a hire car and have since rejoined the rally!  

Next, Steve and Julia Robertson’s MG GT V8 just kept cut out on a very dangerous bend. Julia reported; “The trip went, everything went off, but we were partially blocking one side of the road in a precarious place, Steve and the sweeps managed to fix it, but it's still a poorly motor car.”  The Robertsons managed to get to all the controls and keep her going, with the car receiving further ‘Sweep’ attention at Pitlochry on Monday night, Steve saying that he had to resort to ‘hot wiring’ the MG originally it to get it started! The Robertsons are 7^th overall.

After just avoiding the errant 4x4 that charged at the number one Bentley, Nicole and John Whitelock were left sitting on the line in their 1938 Ford Coupe waiting for the countdown to go at test one after Nicole had already made her Le Mans dash to the car, they lost time, but it was not their fault. John commented at the first break, “I’m a bit confused; I think I’d rather be on that boat at the moment!” as he pointed to the craft in the marina. The Whitelocks are currently fourth in class.

Anne Gillis said their brakes were on fire in regularity three as she and son Arne come to terms with each other in their Porsche 911, normally driven by Father Fillip Engelen. The Belgian crew are doing well though, lying 11^th overall.

Ones to watch and doing well after day one are Paul Hernaman and Ray ‘Crow’ Crowther in their Porsche 924 S. Paul; “We could have done without the rockfall and the rain, but we've got round with not too many bothers. We didn't see any ideal times for the last regularity, so we're not quite sure, but it felt okay. The scenery was great, we saw the Wallace Memorial this morning, and we took a quick photo of Menzies Castle this afternoon as one of our relatives is a Menzies, so that was good!”

Guy Woodcock, the Clerk of the Course for the Scottish Malts summed up the day.

“It was a tough day! The overnight rain washed debris down, causing a land slip on the A83 which unfortunately meant we had to execute an 80-mile reroute, so we lost the two tests on ‘Rest and be Thankful’ which was really disappointing for the crews. But we're all here in Pitlochry and everybody seems to be smiling, but it's just been a long day, although we had a fantastic afternoon. The scenery was just to die for, and we have more stunning scenery tomorrow and maybe sunshine, so I'm really looking forward to it.

“Day two will be a really great day in terms of the driving. We're also having lunch at the Dreelans estate to see Mike’s massive collection of steam engines, cars and fairground rides and lorries. It's an amazing place to go to. I think crews will really enjoy that. Day three is the Distillery Day, I think we do five or six distilleries that day, so it's a bit of a relaxed day. A couple of regularities, with one right at the end, just to liven everyone up before they're all too relaxed! On day four, we're on to Mull in the afternoon, and the scenery there is going to be stunning, particularly if it's a bit moody with clouds, and that makes a difference. Last time we were on Mull, we had snow, rain and sunshine all in space of an hour!”

At the end of the first day, there has been a keen contest out front. Stephen and Thomas Owens are third in their 1962 Porsche 356B, just one second shy of Ken and Sarah Binstead in their 1959 Austin Healey 3000. However, former Mini Men through and through, Dick and Harry Baines, who have won Scottish Malts in their Mini Cooper S, are now leading by 10 seconds in a German car from Stuttgart, a Porsche 911! It is totally alien to them and at times must be strange when you compare the technicalities and driving style required. After competing in Minis all his life Dick had this to say:

“Well, it’s different! I particularly like it as it’s got electric windows. I can switch Harry's window up and down from my side. I think when we've made friends with each other, the car and myself will go well.

It’s enjoyable and a challenge, so that's good.”

Harry; “Now we’ve got three speed wipers, so we're happy in this sort of weather, it's absolutelyPerfect, electric windows and the wipers all work! It's only the first day of a five-day rally so, you know, we are just going to take it steady and we'll see how it goes.”

So, will they make a decision after this rally to see whether they use the Porsche more in other events? Dick; “The Porsche is mainly for doing five-, six- or 10-day events. We should still use a Mini for small events.”

Louise and Peter Morton have returned to rallying after their triumphant podium on the Badawï Trial to the Last Oasis in their V8 Rover P6. Louise: “It's been a lovely morning, but it's been a long time since we rallied, over a year, so I'm just getting my head back into it, although it's lovely being in Scotland. The sun's shining at times between the showers, but it's beautiful, really lovely. I'm slowly getting back into it, but I got caught out this morning.

“I mean, we were all the way over on the West Coast near Oban then headed to Pitlochry, we were at Inverary, and there's Inverary Castle, which is lovely.”

The Mortons have some great friends from the sailing world, their major sporting hobby, and have managed to bring people to rallying from the world of yachting. Louise briefly explained who they are.  “When we get to go to our regattas, we often end up spending a week or 10 days with people, and we talk about our other hobbies. So, we mention rallying to other people and for example, last year we brought in some friends to try rallying such as John Bacon who has now got into it with Lyn. This year, we've encouraged Mark Holowesko and his girlfriend Becky to come, and they are loving it!

“We've lent them our BMW, and they've had a great day. He loved the test, so that was quite fun. But, you know, it's good to introduce new people to the sport, the same people who looked after us when we were new.

“Mark is a World Champion sailor in the 5.5 meter class, he's from the Bahamas and also represented them at Olympic level.”

Peter Morton commented: “Yes it was a bit of a strange day, that diversion was a bit of a problem for so many miles. But, what a fantastic place to have a rally. Really great, that regularity four over the dam, it was outstanding, wasn't it? It was just extraordinary, the scenery, the road. You know what they say in Scotland is that if you can see the hills it’s going to rain, if you can't see the hills, it is raining! We had a bit of both of that. We actually could see the blue sky, but there you go.”

Peter talked about their enjoyment in the desert in the Rover, despite having to re-chassis the car afterwards, so how was it going in the Scottish hills?

“Yes, it's good, honestly. It's a fabulous car, it's proven to be unbelievably reliable, which is exactly the opposite to what everybody's saying in a buying a Rover, that it will fall apart, but it hasn’t, it's been a really good car.”

And finally a very happy group of German historic rally enthusiasts have brought their Jaguars to compete on the Scottish Malts. Andreas Hildebrandt who is navigating, and driver Jochen Arentz are in a superb red Jaguar XK120 with white wall tyres. Andreas said; “Yes, the roads are beautiful, it's a real pleasure to drive this nice car on these Scottish roads, a real pleasure for us, we are very satisfied. This is very nice place.”

Jochen; “The landscape is fantastic, yes, so I'm sure that we will come back next year, and also because it's a great adventure. It's a great adventure to find the right routes and to be part of this rally. We try to get the right times and distances, it's adventure but it's not easy, although I think we figure out everything, and we get to every point.”

There is a support team who are allowed to work on the Jaguars at night and Jochen has his mascot, a dog Kira, who also travels with the team. The whole team has worked on the Jaguars, but when asked why he has a British car, Jochen said, “Yes, we have a British car on the British roads, what can be more perfect?”