Dumfries rally ace David Bogie secured his sixth RSAC Scottish Rally win today (19th May) as he powered his Skoda Fabia R5 to the four-wheel-drive event victory by over a minute from his nearest rival after six tough stages in the Eskdalemuir and Beattock forests.
Unseasonably warm conditions in the region had made the stages much drier than expected with low hanging dust causing issues for the 80 or so competitors who lined up to tackle over 43 competitive stage miles in classic forest stages such as Twiglees and Castle O’er.
Bogie, a five-time Scottish Rally Champion, would contest his second SRC round of the season after winning the Speyside Stages in Elgin last month and was joined by co-driver Kevin Rae for the event. His dominance in the north of Scotland continued in the Dumfries and Galloway forests, winning five out of the six tests on offer.
It was a Dumfries one-two as local lad Mark McCulloch stormed to second overall in his Ford Fiesta R5 with Michael Hendry alongside. The runner-up spot signifies McCulloch’s best SRC result as he continues to learn the car. Rory Young made his first outing of the season to take third in his similar machine, securing the services of co-driver Paul Beaton to take the final podium spot.
It could have been a different story if Castle Douglas driver Jock Armstrong and co-driver Cameron Fair had a clean run in the dry and dusty stages, but a puncture and subsequent time penalties meant the 2011 rally winner would finish tenth overall, despite a strong showing on the opening stage of the day.
Equally, it could have been Subaru WRC pilot Freddie Milne’s event too as he was in-line for a career-best result of second overall. The battle for the runner up spot was an intense affair throughout the day with Milne and co-driver Patrick Walsh returning in a fine performance over five tests of the rally. Sadly, their event would end prematurely after dropping the Impreza into a ditch on the final stage and into retirement.
The battle for fourth raged throughout the day with 18-year-old Lawrence Whyte and co-driver Stuart Loudon looking likely to bag a solid result. But they were another crew to succumb to a ditch in their Fiesta R5. It would be Hyundai i20 R5 driver John Wink with John Forrest alongside who took the place away from him. Donnie MacDonald and Andrew Falconer rounded off the top five in their Ford Fiesta R5, taking the Scottish Championship lead in the process.
Bogie was pleased with his result as he sprayed the champagne in front of the waiting crowds in Moffat town centre on Saturday night.
“Its always great to contest your home rally and although its not part of the British Championship this year, it doesn’t make a win any less special” he said.
“Its been really difficult conditions out there today, the stages are really dry which has seen them much harder than usual, so it’s been important to try and conserve the car as much as possible whilst not giving too much time away. But the car has been great, the tyres have worked well and its always nice to have Kevin (Rae) back in the car. Its been an enjoyable rally”.
A change in format for 2018 means there were two winners crowned in Moffat with the two-wheel drive event running first on the road, leaving Lockerbie early on Saturday morning. Crews would tackle an identical route and stages but could enjoy prime road conditions and it would be a Ford Escort one-two-three that dominated proceedings.
Like Bogie, Greg McKnight and co-driver Harry Marchbank won five of the six special stages to take full control of the category from the off. Iain Wilson would try his very best to eat into McKnight’s lead, eventually winning the fifth stage but it would not be enough to overhaul the flying Escort pilot. Co-driver Chris Williams guided Wilson to an impressive second overall.
Yorkshireman Matthew Robinson with Dave Robson alongside did their best to keep up with the highly modified examples ahead of them, but his historic specification version was no match for the front runners, eventually taking third spot.
Angus Lawrie was a worthy leader of the front wheel drive brigade, taking his Vauxhall Corsa to fourth overall and a class 3 win in the process. Lawrie was guided by Paul Gribben. The brother and sister pairing of Keith and Kirsty Riddick tried hard to keep to Lawrie’s pace, but settled for fifth overall in their MG ZR.
The 2018 RSAC Scottish Rally marks the 23rd consecutive year of backing from the Dumfries and Galloway Council and has been awarded the designation as a Signature Event thanks to its status as one of the most important sporting events in the region. Bringing competitors from across the UK to the region, the rally is a highlight of the sporting calendar.
The event formed a round of the ARR Craib MSA Scottish Rally Championship, the RSAC Motorsport Ecosse Challenge and the Border Challenge, the HRCR Motoscope Northern Historic Challenge and welcomes the Armed Forces Rally Team who have been part of the event since 1963.
BOGIE/RAE SCOOP SCOTTISH AS MACDONALD TAKES CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD
Posted: October 23, 2018 7:24 AM
David Bogie recorded the 50th rally win of his career with victory on round three of the 2018 ARR Craib MSA Scottish Rally Championship, the RSAC Scottish Rally.
The five-time Scottish champion, co-driven by Kevin Rae, steered his Skoda Fabia R5 to five out of the six stage wins to head second placed Mark McCulloch and Michael Hendry by over a minute. Rory Young and Paul Beaton grabbed the final podium spot, 19 seconds back in third.
Based in Lockerbie, the Scottish Rally took the crews through classic forest tests including Twiglees, Castle O’er and Rivox, with the warm and sunny conditions generating significant dust trails that would linger under the trees, making the event even more challenging.
Bogie and Rae would draw first blood in SS1 but were closely chased by Jock Armstrong and Cameron Fair, who stopped the clocks just three seconds behind the Fabia in their Subaru Impreza.
Armstrong’s challenge would falter in SS2 however when having elected not to take a spare wheel, picked up a puncture in his Subaru meaning the 2015 and ’16 Scottish Champion was forced to complete the remainder of the test with only three fully working tyres.
The demise of Armstrong boosted Bogie’s lead to 28 seconds after just two stages, but the Dumfries driver wasn’t content with just cruising to the finish. Although he wouldn’t dominate the event like he did the Speyside last month, he eked out a further 40 seconds on his rivals to arrive at the finish in Moffat the winner of his home event for the second year in a row.
“It’s always nice to win your home rally, but this one is number 50 for me so that makes this pretty special,” Bogie said.
“It’s been a hard day. The recent dry spell of weather has made the conditions very tricky but I think it was a controlled drive. Our job was made easier when Jock got his puncture so after that it was a case of keeping the car straight, trying to avoid getting a puncture and netting this win.”
With Armstrong out of the podium fight, it was left to Freddie Milne and Mark McCulloch to resume their pulsating battle from the Speyside Stages.
Milne, co-driven by Patrick Walsh, was third fastest in the opening test and was instantly up to second in his Subaru Impreza WRC after Armstrong’s problems, but just seven seconds ahead of McCulloch’s Ford Fiesta R5.
After the repeat runs of Twiglees and Castle O’er, Milne’s advantage was down to five seconds, before McCulloch took a further two out of his rival in the penultimate stage to whittle the gap down to three seconds.
It was all set for a thrilling finale, but towards the end of the final 8.95 mile stage, Milne unfortunately ran out of road and became beached at the side of the road, retiring from second place in the process.
McCulloch was more than worthy of the position having hunted Milne down all day, and was left delighted with his best ever SRC result at the finish.
McCulloch was more than worthy of the position having hunted Milne down all day, and was left delighted with his best ever SRC result at the finish.
“We started off a bit steady to be honest but we then began to pick the pace up,” McCulloch said.
“We’re getting more and more confident with the car and had no steering problems today like the last two events so I have to thank the boys for that. The car’s great so I now just need to improve so we can go even quicker, but we’ll get there.
“To finish second to David Bogie who is a legend is the best we could have hoped for so we couldn’t have done any better.”
Rory Young and 2017 Scottish Co-driver’s Champion Paul Beaton took third on the very last stage in their Ford Fiesta R5, setting the second fastest time to complete a fine comeback drive.
Young, who was starting his first SRC event since last year’s Galloway Hills Rally, was eighth after SS1 with a puncture losing him time, but he soon began to reel the pack in.
An almighty run through SS5 saw him leapfrog John Wink and Donnie MacDonald from seventh into fourth place with the retirement of Lawrence Whyte, with Milne’s exit later elevating him onto the podium to repeat the result he scored at the end of last season.
“We need to try and get a little bit further up the podium!” Young joked.
“We were struggling to catch Mark to be honest and I feel so sorry for Freddie, he worked so hard for that position and he only just went off but that’s motorsport and it’s happened to us before so we’ll take this.
“We had a really rubbish first stage with the puncture that really damaged the front of the car, but after that we improved and the speed really came in the last two stages, it’s been really fun.
“Hopefully we’ll be at the Argyll as this championship is really close now with so many R5s.”
John Wink and John Forrest had a good day in their Hyundai i20 R5 to net fourth, their best ever SRC finish, with Donnie MacDonald and Andrew Falconer’s fifth place enough for them to wrestle the championship lead from Andrew Gallacher and Jane Nicol.
Bruce McCombie and Michael Coutts once again finished as the top Mitsubishi crew in sixth overall in their Evo IX, battling with a puncture of their own in SS1.
Gallacher and Nicol struggled to find the ultimate pace all day in their Ford Focus WRC, and were another crew to be set back with a puncture. Gallacher put new tyres on for the final loop but it didn’t have the desired effect as he only managed seventh.
Scott McCombie and Mark Fisher scored their best result in over a year with eighth overall in their Evo IX, ahead of the similar car of Michael Binnie and Claire Mole. Armstrong and Fair salvaged 10th.
Greg McKnight and Harry Marchbank were the dominant force once again in the Scottish 2WD Championship, beating their nearest opposition by over two minutes in their Ford Escort Mk2.
Angus Lawrie returned to the SRC in his Vauxhall Corsa and took second alongside Paul Gribben, with Keith and Kirsty Riddick netting third in their MG ZR.
John Wink’s fourth place saw him take top Challengers honours, ahead of Keith Morris and Terry Mallin’s Mitsubishi Evo V who in turn beat Alan Dickson and Martin Forrest’s Evo IX by just 14 seconds.
Ally Currie and Grant MacNiven took the Junior honours in their Ford Fiesta ST, with Andy Struthers and Alasdair McIlroy second in a Citroen C2 with Niall Cowan Jr and Thomas Bruce third in their MG ZR.
John McIlwraith and Scott Young scored the www.usedcarparts.co.uk Subaru Cup win for the second successive event with Brett McKenzie and James Ralph a close second.
The SRC now takes a five week break before returning with the Dunnon Presents Argyll Rally on Saturday 23rd June. With no driver apart from Bogie taking more than one podium across the first three events, the battle is looking as unpredictable as ever as the SRC heads into the second half of its season.
Scottish Rally announces exciting new format for 2018
Posted: March 28, 2018 4:02 PM
Organisers are delighted to announce that this year’s RSAC Scottish Rally will see a change in format for the 19th of May event to incorporate the new Rally2WD initiative on the Dumfries and Galloway based event.
After confirming the proposed route programme this week, crews will return to the classic forest tests in Eskdalemuir and Beattock which will consist of two separate events, with the two-wheel drive vehicles competing in the morning and four-wheel drive vehicles taking on the same route in the afternoon. Both categories are sure to receive a warm welcome from the residents of Moffat which will play host to the finish celebrations throughout the day.
The event will return to Lockerbie Lorry Park as the service and start venue with competitors heading out to tackle two loops through the Eskdalemuir stages of Twiglees and Castle O’er before heading back to service. They will then head towards Beattock to tackle stages at Rivox and Gill Knowe. These stages will share the same start location but will split to cover the different tests.
The third round of the ARR Craib MSA Scottish Rally Championship has received a welcome boost, as its relationship with South West Scotland has been secured with its designation as a Signature Event of Dumfries and Galloway Council. The Council will provide two year funding of £38,000 to the Rally and support joint marketing efforts with the Galloway Hills Rally.
Clerk of the Course, Jonathan Lord is pleased with the new-look event.
“We have listened to feedback from competitors and spectators and are pleased to be running in this exciting new split format that has been devised by the Rally2WD group to rekindle the sometimes falling numbers in the two-wheel drive fraternity.”
He continued, “As far as we are aware, we are the only Scottish Championship event to be running this way but a similar theme has been seen on selected events before and has worked very well. It is logistically challenging, but the organisers are meeting it head on and we believe it will offer competitors a truly excellent day of rallying across some great stages.”
After completing the stages, competitors will head to Moffat for the finish and champagne spraying.
Publicity co-ordinator, Craig Webster is pleased to see the rally return to the town for the podium celebrations.
“Moffat was the perfect backdrop to the finish of the British Rally Championship event last year and we couldn’t have asked for a warmer welcome. We have been working hard to ensure we have route that would see us able to return this year and we are looking forward to making it even more special, with two separate ceremonies for the two and four-wheel drive vehicles.”
Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Events Champion, Councillor Adam Wilson said, “The Scottish Rally is one of the most important sporting events to be held in our region each year and is the perfect showcase for our local stars to perform in. The Council has worked with organisers over the years to develop spectator facilities and encourage people to come out to the forests to enjoy seeing the Rally up close, and there are superb opportunities to do so at Rivox and Castle O’er. If you are looking for a fun and affordable day out in May get along to the Scottish Rally.”
Sadly, the previously used Ae complex is unavailable due to larch infection and organisers added that they were disappointed to have lost the opportunity to compete in the forest. There will however be spectator viewing areas on the Rivox stage and at Castle O’er as in previous years. Work is also well in hand to create an official spectator viewing area in Twiglees for the first time.
Rally2WD Format
Posted: March 22, 2018 4:02 PM
This year the Scottish Rally will be running to the Rally2WD format, with 2WD in the morning and 4WD in the afternoon of Saturday 19 May.
News Stories
Classifieds
Shop
TV Guide
Links
Upcoming 
Most