Triumphs and tragedies

Jun 19 2009 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Triumphs and tragedies

A NEW photographic exhibition at Perth Museum and Art Gallery highlights the prowess of Scottish drivers in the world of motor sports.

It also sets the scene for the council’s success in attracting the prestigious Royal Automobile Club Motor Sports Association Rally of Scotland to the area later this year.

‘Speedsters,’ on show until December 5, features 47 portraits and action shots, courtesy of the LAT Photographic archive, of some of Scotland’s many motor sports legends, triumphs and tragedies.

It is now 40 years since Sir Jackie Stewart took the first of his three World Racing Championships in Formula 1.

Twenty years earlier, Peter Mitchell-Thomson was victorious at the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race. And as early as 1906, Scotsman Andrew Fletcher competed in the French Grand Prix.

Their successes were a few of many achieved by Scottish drivers. Scottish drivers have now won every major motor racing and motor rallying championship around the world.

‘Speedsters’ includes images of Sir Jackie Stewart and his elder brother, the late Jimmie Stewart, as well as Jim Clark, Colin McRae, Alan McNish, Dario Franchitti, Louise Aitken-Walker, Ninian Sanderson, Ron Flockhart, Innes Ireland, Andrew Cowan, David Leslie, “Johnny Dumfries,” David Murray, Peter Mitchell-Thomson and David Coulthard.

The exhibition coincides with the Royal Automobile Club Motor Sports Association Rally of Scotland, the only British leg of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, which sets off from Scone Palace in November.