Day 3 Scottish Malts 2025 – Aviemore to Inverness

Dewars, Chivas, Glenfiddich and many more stand out names from the world of whisky, all of whom represent one of Scotland’s finest products and biggest exports, have been part of the lure of the HERO-ERA Scottish Malts, as the tour of distilleries remains a favourite Competitors have the chance to learn more about the product first hand and buy a beautifully packaged bottle of whisky and store it in the rally car to be consumed when they reach home. Such is the draw of the famous brands that many crews have special compartments or ‘booty’ bags in their rally cars to carry their swagger home. Harry Baines is one such participant who was seen raising his favourite packaged tipple before stowing his Glenfiddich with five other brands in the bag, which just about fitted into the front boot of the Porsche 911E. Driver Dick was merely concerned about the extra weight to carry on tests!

It certainly didn’t seem to affect the crew as they went straight into a dual across two tests at Balmenach Gin Distillery with their closest rivals Ken and Sarah Binstead in their Austin Healey first thing this morning. It was a close contest that was to play out across the whole of the third day over two tests and four regularities - but it was first blood to the Healey as it pipped the Porsche by a second on each test run.

By the end of the day and a really long and taxing regularity, ‘Randolph’s Leap’, through stunning Scottish forest, Ken and Sarah Binstead were the new leaders of the Scottish Malts 2025, but by just four seconds, quite a contest!

There were to be five distillery visits, some with controls that needed to be visited as part of the competition such as the Speyburn and Dunphail Distilleries and the standout Chivas Brothers establishment, but for many, the star attraction was not the whisky but the vessels that contain it!

Speyside Cooperage is a long-standing traditional barrel maker who’s skilled ‘Coopers’ make barrels that house the whisky to be transported around the world. From a gallery above the huge workshop, it seemed at first to be a scene from the 18^th century as the craftsmen banged on rings around the wooden slats as they constructed barrels before our very eyes in double quick time, it was mesmerising, and then we learned that the ‘Coopers’ get paid by the finished barrel! We could see the 14 apprentices grafting in another corner and were amazed to learn that it takes them four years to become a ‘Cooper.’ There were 120,000 barrels on site, many of which will go to Japan, so this visit was a real Scottish Malts experience.

Harry and Cathy Hickling who have made the long trip over from Australia to compete in their 1962 MGA, were one crew that was not just enjoying the competition but the chance to visit the distilleries.

Harry: “I've been loving the visits, my bag already weighs an extra three kilos with Scotch, but it's been a fantastic opportunity to see the distillery, and of course, the Cooperage. It's the first time I've seen a Cooperage in action, boy those guys are working hard, it's amazing. We run a business in Melbourne, so I'm going to send my staff the video and say, pick up your game - work faster!

I’m joking, but you know, their traditional methods are so effective and it's probably quite efficient as well. Like we have our own manufacturing plant where we have two businesses. One does crash testing for N-Cap, so all your vehicle safety ratings. We do the crash testing in the lab, and we make seat belts, our staff do a lot of intricate work, but I have not yet found an AI robot who could sit next to one of my staff and actually do the great work they do!”

Harry and his wife Cathy will be staying in the UK for three weeks before going to stay with friends from the Badawï Trial who live near Hadrian's Wall.

Harry also made a bit of an admission: “We accidentally ran off the road yesterday. We were coming down in the highlands on a very steep road, on an off camber tight corner, and it was all my mistake, I hit the brakes and locked up, and of course, the car did a gentle slide off the road and up on the embankment. I had to kick myself, because the car would have gone around the corner easily if I didn't hit the brakes. But you know, that's what you get with old age, I guess, anyway the support crew towed us out, which was great, and we are still in!”

Another wonderful aspect of the Scottish Malts is just how international it is. There are crews from 13 countries around the world, not just Australia but New Zealand, the USA and even the Bahamas. In fact, Mark Holowesko who is making waves on his debut in rallying, is a World Champion Sailor in the 5.5 Metre Class, he has also represented the Bahamas in the Olympics. He is on his first ever rally with his girlfriend Becky Audi from the USA who is learning all about navigation. The crew are fourth in class in their BMW 2002 tii.

Becky commented: “It's actually lovely, we're having a great time. It's been really challenging to learn but it's been so much fun. Yeah, everybody's been wonderful, and the cars are really fun and beautiful. There are so many amazing people to hang out with!”

Mark; “The driving is fun, I live in the Bahamas, so my island is only 21 miles by 10. The average day for me is about a mile and a half, it is pretty flat with straight roads, and there's no lines on the roads, in the Bahamas there are very few. So, this is a really interesting change for me with lots of roads, lots of mileage and lots of different signage. It's fun.”

Another big change for Mark, almost a sea change for the Olympic and World Champion 5.5 metre sailor, is that this is first time he has been rallying, are there big differences between the two and are there any similarities?

Mark; “Well, the thing that's similar is that they are both very competitive as we are! We're competitive, so we're not very happy, we want to win but right now there's not a lot of cross over so I guess to a certain extent, sailing is a bit of a moving chess game, but then so is this. To be able to think as things change and adjust on the race course, that's always very important. So the challenge here is to change and adjust as you get to different checkpoints depending on your time. So, there are some similarities in the sense that it's a bit of a moving chess game.”

Becky; “Our friends, the Morton's are also sailors, but this BMW this is their car. It's wonderful, but we're so thankful to be able to use it, and they've been so gracious to let us go rallying in such a cute car. It's so fun and fast and turning around the corners is great!”

In fact, Peter and Louise Morton have been moving up the leaderboard and are now sixth in their grunty V8 Rover P6. Louise could be heard urging Peter on around the two tests at the Gin Distillery first thing this morning!

Paul Hernaman and Ray ‘Crow’ Crowther have held onto the final podium slot, but Steve and Julia Robertson have moved up another place to fourth with James and Gill Holt now in fifth place overall.

Stephen and Sam Hardwick are really enjoying the Scottish Malts so far in their Alfa Romeo Giulia Super. Although Sam got out of the car at the final control of the day in Inverness saying, “That last regularity seemed to go on for ever!” The couple are lying an impressive 11^th overall.

Stephen; “It’s fantastic, the car's going great, Sam's doing some great navigation, although she was a tired at the end of the day! I’m the one that's messing up though, I did it on two occasions. I missed a cone, which is quite expensive points wise, and then the second time I just looked up, saw which way it was pointing but turned in the other direction. I'm still thinking, what? But we clawed it back, and because of the Joker system it's 15 seconds. That wasn't too bad.”

Their Alfa Romeo looks great and sounds well. Stephen agreed: “Everything about the car is good, it drives so well, I'm so pleased with it. After three years restoring it and all that fettling, it really has been worth it!”

Peter Myles with his wife Louise navigating are another crew doing well in 8^th place overall, and happy with their Porsche 911; Peter; “ From our point of view, we're doing better than we expected, that is until the second regularity this afternoon when we came round into a lay by where there was a Timing Point, only to be confronted by a Jaguar XK120 coming our way. That was a little bit disappointing, but yes, all the tests have been good, and at lunchtime we were third, which is not where we should be! We should have been in our normal 15^th or 16th. So that's good, and the car's going well, it's fantastic. It doesn't miss a beat.

“Now we are looking forward to Mull. My daughter who is 23, one of her friend’s Grannies has got a house on Mull and she goes on and on about Mull! So we have to see it don’t we? It’s going to be fantastic.”