Motorsport Festival plans

Sep 2 2011 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

FORMULA One World Championship titles, Indianapolis 500 victories, Le Mans 24 Hours wins, World Rally Championship crowns ... Scotland has left an indelible mark on the motor sport world over the past decades.

And to celebrate this long-running success and to look to the future, the Motor Sports Association – the sport’s UK governing body – has created the Scottish Motorsport Festival.

The week-long series of events runs October 1-9, book-ended by the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally and the RACMSA Rally of Scotland.

There will be star driver forums; the best of Scottish rally talent competing in the final round of the Scottish Rally Championship on the McRae Stages; an introduction to karting for schools; a special autotest between the media and leading competitors from the Intercontinental Rally Challenge; Scottish debuts for some of the late Colin McRae’s car collection; the excitement and speed of Europe’s best crews tacking the RACMSA Rally of Scotland stages; the launch of a new rally championship for 14-17 year old children at Scone Palace; plus the final round of the Scottish Motor Racing Club’s year at the Knockhill circuit.

With one eye on the future, the Scottish Motorsport Festival will culminate at Scone Palace on Sunday October 9 with a sneak preview of a new rally championship aimed at finding the next Scottish champion.

To be introduced in 2012, the championship is for 1000cc cars driven by children aged 14-17 years.

Accompanied by experienced competitors in the co-drivers’ seats, these budding young Colin McRaes can start learning the art of driving over loose surfaces before they are allowed on the open, public roads.

To showcase this exciting new series six of the cars will be providing a demonstration around the final two stages of Rally of Scotland at the Palace.

As well as these sporting events, there will be engineering tours and visits to top racing and rallying teams by university students studying relevant courses.

Backed by EventScotland, the national events agency, this inaugural Scottish Motorsport Festival puts the spotlight on rallying and the partners believe that this new initiative has the potential to embrace an even wider spectrum of motor sport disciplines as the Festival evolves and grows in future years.

Five times British Rally champion, Jimmy McRae said: “To have a motor sport festival that is designed to further promote all the opportunities that exist within our sport means that we look to grow on Scotland’s success into the future.”

F1 star Paul Di Resta, the latest in a long line of Scottish drivers, commented: “Scotland has a fine tradition of producing some great motor racing talents, which is remarkable when you consider that we’re not the biggest country in the world!

“When I was starting out in karting there was a lot to inspire me. I was always hearing stories about the great Jim Clark and, of course, Sir Jackie Stewart, who continues to help and support Scottish drivers. More recently there was David Coulthard, who I remember watching on television when I was growing up. It was always my goal to follow in his footsteps and help make Scotland proud.

“But it’s not just Formula 1 where Scottish drivers have shown their skill. We have been well represented in most major championships around the world with drivers like Dario Franchitti, my cousin, winning the Indy 500 twice and Allan McNish having great success in sports cars.

“We also have a great tradition in rallying thanks to the legacy of Colin McRae, who is surely remembered as one of the most spectacular drivers of all time. With icons like these there is plenty to inspire the next generation of Scottish motor sport stars.”

The Festival starts with an all-star forum run by Colin McRae Vision on the eve of the McRae Stages Rally on Friday, September 30 at 8.30pm.

Forthside Park in Stirling sees the Intercontinental Rally Challenge stars take on a new challenge with an autotest against their media counterparts.

Autotesting is one of the cheapest forms of motor sport to enter and the stars from Skoda, Peugeot, Proton and Citroen will use road cars in tests on October 4.

Once back in their rally cars, the IRC crews will leave Stirling Castle on October 7 to tackle two and a half days of flat out motoring over the world famous stages of Perthshire, Lanarkshire and Stirlingshire to find the winner of Rally of Scotland.

On Sunday, October 9, the Knockhill Race Circuit hosts the final race weekend of the Scottish Motor Racing Club’s busy season.

The full schedule of events and timings are available from the new Scottish Motorsport Festival website: www.scottishmotorsportfestival.co.uk