Day 4 Scottish Malts 2025 - Inverness to Tobermory

The 2025 Scottish Malts rallyists felt they were in for something special as they left Inverness for day four of the rally running alongside Loch Ness in early morning sunshine. Loch Ness is the largest in volume in the UK, it is 37 kms long and 320m at its deepest point, and yet despite its foreboding reputation, it actually looked inviting.

So naturally, the first regularity of the day was called ‘Looking for Nessie,’ and the roads didn’t disappoint, which lead crews to Fort William and the Ben Nevis Distillery before striking out along the shore road and the edges of Loch Lochy to catch the first of two ferries to take the rally to the fabled Isle of Mull. The ferry at Corran was but a short voyage across the water, in fact three short voyages in order to carry all the rally and official’s vehicles.

Once on the peninsula heading towards the next regularity and the Mull Ferry, crews had to drive and navigate their way around the outer edge of what has to be the craggiest, yet most fascinating piece of coastline in Europe! With the beautiful Loch Linnhe on their left, the narrow tracks with their low parapets made for an exhilarating drive, before tackling the second regularity of the day at Loch Uisge.

By this time, the Rally Weather Gods had already started to play with the dials. The clouds and mist swept in and out in true Scottish coastal fashion, offering a brief hint of blue before turning the hoses onto full ‘Lets drown the rally people’ settings.

It was on the road link sections that two of the Porsches hit problems. Nicolas Konig and Archie Camparelli’s green 911T came to a halt and had to be towed to the Mull ferry, but they decided not to take the crossing but to try and find a fix instead.

There was quite a scare ‘Crow,’ for Ray Crowther and Paul Harnaman as their third place Porsche 924S as it ground to a halt with no electrics in the streaming rain before the second ferry. Paul takes up the story: “It just died electrically. So, one minute lots of normal motion and then next minute, it just stopped.

“We and the mechanics are still not quite sure what the fault is. We carried a spare Electrical Relay, changed that out. It seemed to be okay, we got the car going again and then this morning, same again and a new relay. It can't be the relay, so we've swapped the battery over with the spare, and we're going to look at the alternator tonight to see if that's the problem. Thankfully, it chose to die in between regularities on link sections, so we're still in the game!”

The Ferry from Lochaline to Fishnish on Mull was a longer journey, also needing two voyages for the entire rally, but as there had been some delays after the first sailing and now the ferry crew needed their lunch, some cars were still on the water when the first of two regularities had to start on Mull. Crucially to the third-place crew of Crowther and Hernaman, who managed to get going again without penalty, they and any others taking part in the regularity sections were given a nominal time at the Glenforsa control on Mull. They could go back into battle on the second regularity, Glen Gorm.

By now the Rally Weather Gods were fed up with their hoses so decided to try and fry the crews by turning the sun up to Reglo 9 on the oven and clear away the clouds. All that did was to throw a glow over the island and show the incredible Mull in all its glory.

Mull was the ‘Show Stopper’ as described. Not only does it host one of the best tarmac rallies in Europe entitling it to the be named the ‘2^nd Motor Sport Island to the Ilse of Man, but it geographically it is stunning in every respect, especially when the sun is shining. With a jagged yet woven coastline from which all the other headlands and associated small islands could be seen rising from the smooth dark blue sea, it was simply jaw dropping. Once in Tobermory, the painted Harbour front houses, fishing boats and quayside became a perfect picture post card. A welcome after the two regularities!

As a West Scottish island in the Inner Hebrides, it is known not just for its colour but for its wildlife, such as the white-tailed eagles and its mountains, though which run some incredible rally roads! But it is also popular with tourists and some were out to try and catch our rallyists out.

“I spent quite a lot of time reversing down small tracks” said Andrew Laing the driver of the beautiful Frazer Nash 327/8 which remained unmarked thanks to his backward driving skills! “The Campers were out and the cyclists, and one road traffic van full of cones decided to race us, he was all over the road!” said Harry Baines. Despite the odd encounter, Dick and Harry Baines kept up the pressure on the leaders, ending the day in a great position, just four second behind the leaders.

It was hot in the Austin Healey cockpit for first place Sarah and Ken Binstead after the first Mull regularity of Glen Aros, however they steeled themselves at the short Time Control break, keeping their cool and the lead of the Scottish Malts heading into the last day.

Most had met some traffic on the regularities at some point, but everyone loved the superb coastal and mountain roads that led them to the finish of day four in Tobermory. Gill and James Holt rose to fourth in their Pagoda Merc as great sailors Louise and Peter Morton manage to keep focused for fifth in their Rover P6 despite all the tempting waters and sailing boats around them on Mull.

Steve and Julia Robertson are sixth with Peter and Louise Myles’ Porsche 22 seconds behind the MG B GT V8. It is good to see Ean and Alison Lewin up to eighth in their Escort Mexico and Ann Gillis and Arne Engelin from Belgium in ninth in their Porsche as Sam and Stephen Hardwick round out the top ten in their Alfa Romeo.  

Sarah and Ken Binstead commented after another day’s action; Sarah; “It was very close again, as close as yesterday. It is quite unbelievable, it really is. Every second counts, as they say, but it's very nerve wracking, that’s how I'm finding it anyway!”

Ken; “But we've been here before, so we remain grounded. There's one day to go and lots still to happen. You know, tight competition with the Baines is healthy, and they're very good. But as we say, it's just one tractor, and that could throw the whole thing. So, we will just keep plugging away as we do, one at a time.”

Sarah; “There have been some long regularities, but the one on day three seemed very, very long with lots of timing points in it, of course you didn't know where the timing points were, so trying to keep your speed clicking along needed concentration, we had a few little timing challenges, shall I say, so it wasn't clean throughout, but considering it was nearly 20 miles we were quite pleased with the end of it.

It would be great if the weather stays like this, with not too much rain, it would be good. It’s a shame there's no more tests, but we can't do anything about that, so we've just got to keep going and be as consistent as we can.”

Spare a thought for Angie Barber and Ryck Turner who suffered an unfortunate accident on day one, which significantly damaged their Vintage Bentley just six miles into the rally. However, they persevered, got a Hire Car and got back into the rally. But as novices aiming for the Peking to Paris 2028 was it helping their learnings?

Angie; “Absolutely, and that was partly why the decision was made in terms of carrying on, we're here. It gives an opportunity for us to practice our skills in both driving and navigating. So it was worth continuing in the rally.

Ryck; “Of course, I mean, from my point of view it's a very different kettle of fish driving what we call her, Maureen the Mazda, compared to a 1928 Bentley four and a half. So yes, my minds not as occupied as perhaps it should be, which puts a little bit more pressure on the navigator, because I've got more time to think about navigation. But we're here, all the HERO-ERA guys have been great, the teams on the rally, everybody's been really supportive. It was a bad start for us, but life goes on, doesn't it?”

However, at the end of day three there was at least some good news for Ryck and Angie. Ryck: “So we had another little incident yesterday in the Mazda. Unfortunately, we came together with another car that gave us a gentle kiss. Not our fault again, but nevertheless, it's probably £1000 worth of excess! So I was sat in the bar last night licking my wounds when Dario, and Ele from HERO-ERA came over to me, bless them, and gave me the marvellous news that we have been accepted into the Gaucho Trail in South America next November having been on the waiting list for a good while – hoping to get in! That gave us a big lift and even more incentive to learn. But I’m only going on the basis there's no dry-stone walls or *ricks in Range Rovers driving at you!”