It’s a long way from being a Painter and Decorator in London and driving a van for Frank Williams and blowing up the engine). These days - since 1993, when he succeeded his father to be precise - Johnny Dumfries is known as Johnny Bute otherwise John Colum Crichton-Stuart, Marquis of Bute. Think James Hunt with less talent but more money. Or looked at another way, the owner of a big chunk of Scotland with a designer wife and loads of posh/rich friends who like cars.
Taking a leaf out of Charlie March’s book (Goodwood Festival of Speed) another Earl with a big garden, Johnny decided to run a motor sport event for the first time last year on the Isle of Bute and so was born the Mount Stuart Motorsport Classic.
The Marquis has lost none of his love of motor sport over the years and, importantly, lost none of his contacts made in the early days when Frank and Patrick et al were still living in a Morris van or something. To be fair to his Lairdship, he drove competitively enough in the inevitable Formula Ford and then winning at Spa with yer man Brundle in 1987. Then in the following year, he led Jaguar’s triumphant return to Le Mans - their first win since 1957. From a testing contract for Ferrari in 1985 to 10 DNFs in 1986 with the JPS Lotus team alongside Senna - a fairly short F1 career is best summed up as “wrong time wrong place”.
This, the second year of the event, was a bigger, if not better affair run over the weekend of September 20th and 21st. Many competitors and a few sponsors had some harsh words to say about the organisation as the timings slipped further and further behind.
The Lanarkshire Car Club may be an august body in their own back yard but despite their best efforts it seems that some more expertise needs to be importedfor next year.
Spectators seemed somewhat bemused about what exactly was where. I was directed to one of the many entrances to the “big house” only to find I had arrived halfway down the main straight shortly before the first event of the day (a round of the Scottish MINI Cooper Challenge Cup) and being told, by a rather surprised camera crew, “you are SO in the wrong place
”. The promise from the Marquis is that lessons learned from both last year and this will be incorporated into next and so on.
Access and accommodation were the big issues. With relatively few rooms to let and a rather stroppy and expensive ferry operator – the crossing from Colintraive in the north of the Island must be in the running for “most expensive piece of water to cross in the world”. The ferries are fairly small and stop running at 8.30pm - adequate for the rest of the year, but a little short of the mark for a big motor sporting event which moves in and out of this narrow funnel with difficulty.
Many had to stay on the mainland and commute as most of the accommodation was booked up long ago by those in the know or beaten into submission at the last minute by corporate cheque books.
So, something for everyone then on the Saturday Veteran, Vintage, and Classic cars built between 1909 and 1972 converged from the mainland having had the chance to tackle the old “Rest and be Thankful” road on the way for The Arnold Clark Concours d`Elegance - an F1 show run and display plus “Group B” rally cars and the 3-Nation Rallysprint Challenge. Motor bikes and Bi-Planes enthusiasts weren't left out either.
Those who left their visit till the Sunday still expecting to see the Classics will have been disappointed, as owing to the aforementioned admin cock ups, these venerable vehicles and their owners were nowhere to be seen. No accommodation you see. Much to their surprise, the participants had only been told the week before the event that, unlike last year and indeed as they had been led to believe, they would have to return whence they came on the same day. No mean feat for 50+ year old cars and their correspondingly up-age drivers and passengers.
Most of the owners although dismayed and as befits people of a certain age, did not want to cause any trouble exited stage left in the late afternoon leaving the very large gap on the front lawn to be filled by the “Dream Rides” cars that were raising money for the Sporting Bears charity.
Russ Swift entertained everyone and frightened a few with his well-known skill and dexterity at the wheel of a MINI with the diff locked and fresh as he was from doing the same thing for the producers of the latest incarnation of The Italian Job.
Formula 1 cars are always a draw whenever they appear and Mount Stuart was no exception. The difference being a much more laid-back approach from the Williams and BAR teams with small and not so small children having the opportunity to sit in and on the cars whilst ever patient team personnel explained the intricacies of launch control, traction control and how much a steering wheel costs.
Being as jaundiced as the next man about the dubious politics, flexible rules and big money that govern F1, I am always in awe of the car and driver. Both Sato and Beretta who were driving the BAR and Williams respectively gave a good account of themselves.
With the damp (in places) track not much wider than the car and leaves falling, Sato just edged it. Many people north of the border will not have heard an F1 car in the flesh and even though I have, the sound of the Honda/BMW engines echoing through the woods is something else entirely. Indeed, one punter was moved to make a call to book for Monaco on the basis that they would sound as good between the houses.
You rarely associate the word fun with what some people would regard as the pinnacle of motor sport but fun was certainly had by Mr Sato. After the first run, which determined best way to go with set up, the team made some changes to the gearing, suspension, tyre pressures etc., switched off all the electronic aids and stood back. I don’t think the Japanese are noted for their sense of humour but I do believe he was “aving a giraffe” inside that helmet as he went faster and faster with donuts thrown in for good measure on a very rainy Sunday. A spectacular assault on the senses or what! And so close too.
Group “B” Rally Cars were a reminder of what rallying used to be about with a Group 4 Escort, a Lancia Stratos, and Metro 6R4, to name but a few, being hurled about with little regard for the very slippery conditions, to the delight and applause of the crowd.
On the subject of spectating, with 300 acres of garden containing mostly very big trees, it isn’t easy to get a clear view of the action other than at the start/finish line or the hairpin by the house. If the numbers go up, as I’m sure they will, some thought will need to be given to extending spectator access and egress.
The usual suspects were in evidence Nick and Sally Mason the thin (but very pregnant) one from “What not to Wear”, Robbie Coltrane - even Murray Walker was having a quiet troll about often unmolested. Additionally, Scottish motor sport’s holy trinity of Alan McNish, Alistair McRae, and Robbie Head had their hands on various wheels.
For the few that have been to both Goodwood and Mount Stuart, the ability and need to make a comparison is inevitable but invidious. After 10 years, Goodwood is now a huge, well-oiled international money making event whilst Mount Stuart is a folksy village fete on the way to becoming a county show.
Anyway, whatever the short-comings of getting there, being there and, if you are lucky, competing there, the Mount Stuart Motorsport Classic is well worth a visit for any strain of motor sport enthusiast. The natives are friendly, Bute is “buteiful”, the air is clean and fresh, the weather is surprisingly clement and your scribe saw Dolphins whilst drinking on the patio (a first).
So as Fred Pontin used to advise us all on the telly a good few years ago ….. “Remember, book early”.
Pictures courtesy of David Pedley and David Orry
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