Leg 1 Flying Scotsman 2025 – Harrogate to Slaley Hall (Northumberland)

“It’s going to be a big day today” said the Flying Scotsman overnight leader, Willliam Medcalf who is being navigated by Ryan Pickering as they waited to start the first leg. After six tests and seven regularities over a 175-mile route of stunning scenery and brilliant roads in surprisingly beautiful weather, Medcalf and Pickering are still holding onto their lead in the Bentley 3 Litre SuperSports Continuation. They are ahead of the nimble but relatively underpowered 1500 cc Riley Sprite, driven superbly by John Lomas with excellent navigation by Pete Johnson, by 1m 10 seconds with 2 legs to go.

However, the performance of the top ten today came from Irishman Andrew Boland in the Talbot AV105 with Mark Bramall navigating as they rose to third overall, ahead of another crew performing at their best, bike racer Mike Farrall with Zach Burns navigating in their Jaguar Standard Swallow SS90, 16 seconds back from the Talbot. Mike said he was still in some discomfort following his major motorcycle racing accident at Goodwood last year, although he said it hurts more when he is grafting in the workshop than driving the Jaguar!

In Europe’s finest and best ‘all vintage’ rally, the Flying Scotsman is very popular amongst many EU countries, not least of which is Germany. Gerd Bühler and Maximillian Matt, both from Germany are lying an excellent fifth overall in their BMW 327/28. But the FS debutant Belgian/Dutch crew of Patrick Debusseré and Remco Luksemburg have slipped to sixth after losing some time over the Catterick Ranges.

Also dropping time after a rare navigational error were Belgian Kurt Vanderspinnen and Iain Tullie in the buzzy Lea Francis Hyper. After a great podium on the Flying Scotsman in 2024, this wrong slot by Iain has dented their hopes of a repeat as they are now just outside the top ten.

Time can be made up, but sadly for Simon Arscott and Emily Anderson they are out of time altogether in their Aston Martin Speed Model 2 litre after a suspected core plug issue, so their excellent start yesterday, giving them second place, instead it gives them a second consecutive Flying Scotsman retirement after their head gasket failed in the Aston Martin in 2024.

Also in trouble for a second year in a row in their Bentley 4.5 litre Le Mans, are Belgians Filip Engelen and Ann Gillis who were being recovered after their 1926 car broke coming out of the test at Raby Castle. Two other Bentleys suffered brake problems today. Despite driving the Bentley around at Slaley Hall after some more fettling, Tommy Dreelan’s 1928 Speed Six still had severe brake judder.

Hot Rod racer, Bonneville Salt Falts record attempt man and Tiger Moth pilot, Bill Cleyndert is a real ‘old school’ adventurer. He also builds and fixes all his own machinery, which is just as well, because over the Wolsingham Park Moors his left front brake shoes broke, and he was both lying alongside the car and then hammering away at the huge 1928 Bentley brake drum to free it and sort the issue which turned out to be a retaining nut. “I prepped these before the rally which is annoying, but we can sort this out!” Said Bill and he did. Daughter and navigator Georgia with whom Bill won the Sahara Challenge in this same Bentley, was anxiously watching the clock as they needed to get to the next control quickly! Bill and Georgia made the dash to beat the clock by just 20 seconds! Tonight they are a relieved 8^th overall.

46^th overall and fifth in class but still going strong is the incredible 1934 Rolls Royce 20/25 of Belgian Laurent Jaspers and his French navigator Anne Boutry. The car is so stately that it appears as if Anne and Laurent should be in the back seats with a chauffeur doing all the driving, but they are up front and have been getting terribly lost, but then they find the right road to get back on track, despite Anne’s limited English and therefore understanding of the road book the team are doing really well. They are also on a quest as Laurent explained; “We are taking the Rolls Royce back to where it originally came from in Scotland, we want to see the place and trace its roots as it was owned by Lord McAlpine!”

The overall most common view from Flying Scotsman crews today was of the incredible route, great tests and regularities across stunning scenery. From Rudding Park to Ripon and then being able to push their vintage machines around Dishforth Airfield before a superb, looped regularity around Masham, the combination was compelling. Catterick, the largest training camp of the British Army provided loose tracks across the ranges and through forest sections to test the best.

The scale of Barnard Castle and its sheer old majesty imposing its ramparts over the surrounds has to be seen, but the test through Raby Castle grounds with the castle as the 17^th century back drop was a thrilling sight as vintage cars did their best to set a good time.

Over the top of the moors, and Walsingham Park, a part of the Yorkshire Dales that would take anyone’s breath away before the drop down into Teesdale and Weardale, was just the most magnificent landscape unfolding, seemingly forever, beneath you on this clearest and sunniest of April days. If crews had been breathless on some of the tests, then this sight really did make them gulp hard, and many remarked on the beauty, whilst some just had to stop and take pictures despite the stopwatch telling them to crack on.