Official Press Release 29/06/06 - Source

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Saturday 19th August sees the 10th running of the Speyside Stages organised by the 63 Car Club (Elgin) and sponsored by Elgin based Gleaner Oil and Gas.  

The organisers are delighted by Gleaner Oil and Gas decision following last year’s successful event to continue as our title sponsor. Along with distributing fuel, gas and oils from its numerous depots, Gleaner also operates a network of rural filling stations supporting the needs of a vast area throughout Scotland and the Islands.

The inaugural running of the Speyside Rally in 1997 proved to be a success with competitors and spectators alike. Moving forward from then the event was adopted as a round of the Scottish Rally Championship. This year’s event is round six in the eight round County SAAB Scottish Rally Championship; a championship in which the Speyside Rally has now became well established. Competitors over the years have returned to the event because of the quality of the forest stages and the friendliness of the event. This year’s championship as it stands has six contenders for the overall champion and again the Gleaner Speyside Rally will be pivotal in deciding who the winner might be. With the best scores from six of the eight events counting to overall champion, a firmer picture of leader table will be seen.

Aberdeenshire businessman Sandy Dalgarno was the first winner of the Speyside and this year sees him return to the event, but this time he will be at the front of the field of entries but not as a competitor but running as an opening car for organisers.  He will bring his ex-works RS 1800 mark 2 Ford Escort to run on the event that brings back memories of his first national rally win.

The event this year moves into new headquarters with The Gleaner Speyside Rally securing the use of the Elgin TA Centre complex. The facilities of the centre give the organisers of the rally a base that they will be able to provide not only office space for the clerical work involved in running the event but also garage and parking space to allow scrutineering to be completed. This will allow spectators a chance to see the cars at close quarters as they are checked for regularity for the event.  The event scrutineering will be carried out on the Friday night prior to the rally.

The format of the event will again see the rally start on the Saturday morning with the Cooper Park stage. This stage run round the perimeter road in the town centre park allowing the public an opportunity to see the cars competing at close hand without the necessity of travelling to the local forests: a stage envied by other events throughout the UK.

Moving on from the Cooper Park the event will travel eastwards to forest stages in Moray and Aberdeenshire before returning to the Elgin for the finish and prize giving at the TA complex.

The organisers of the event look forward to seeing competitors and spectators to the August 19th event.

Source of Press Release - www.speyside-stages.co.uk 29/06/2006

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