[Updated below 13th April] Caught lunching at Inveraray Castle between two hill climbs today were the cars driven in by the proud members of the Argyll Classic and Sporting Car Club, chased into the Castle by a challenger in the looks and performance stakes – about which more below.
The first hillclimb was up motorsport’s historic last section of the Old Military Road in Glen Croe with a series of tight and rising chicanes topped off by the famous Devil’s Elbow just before the Finish line.
All we got was the banner marker of the finish, no cars – but they were there.
We were in place in good time, walking into a position from which we could shoot the cars through the chicanes below and, close up, rounding the Devil’s Elbow and revving for the Finish.
Then came wind driven hail followed by wet and equally driving sleet – and a thick mist that filled that giant valley from its floor below in Glen Croe and over the surrounding hilltops.
The cars will have waited at the lower entrance to the Old Military Road for this chill fog to disperse – but after 25 minutes of this cosmic disencouragement and no shelter, person and cameras sodden to the core, it was time to bail.
In the way Argyll can offer you most of the climate types as well as most of the seasons in the space of a few hours, by Butter Bridge, just below Rest and Be Thankful at the head of Glen Finglas, the world was all sunny, puffy white clouds and real colours, not the monochromes of the previous hour.
Plan B was to catch the cars later at Inveraray Castle. parked up for lunch – after stopping off at Loch Fyne for our second visit of the day to the Bike Fyne event there [a major success to be covered by a separate article].
The main camera refused to play after its drenching but by the time we moved down to Inveraray Castle it was prepared to negotiate a bit, following through on one shot out of three.
With this sort of performance there was no point going up to shoot the club’s second hillclimb of its first run out of the season – on a glorious section of a private road in the Argyll Estate – in Glen Shira. These guys are too quick through the turns for a sticking camera to capture.
But here were an enviable line of motors – Jaguars, Mercedes, Healeys, MG TFs, MG Midgets, an Audi Quattro, a Eunos roadster, a Morgan Plus 4…
And one of the MG Midgets was Club President, John Buchanan’s, caarrying a windscreen poster for Walker’s Shortbread, in a thank you to Phillis of Walker’s who has regularly provided shortbread packets for the Argyll Classic and Sporting Car Club members on their run outs.
Time for a slow indulgent walk down the line, framed by the green stone of the prettiest castle in Scotland and its folly on top of nearby hill, Dun Na Cuaich - which, early next month will be the half way destination of the runners in the Inveraray Jail Break in the town’s May Bluebell Festival.
While the club members enjoyed lunch in the Castle’s renowned basement Tea Room, into the car park swung two spectacular three wheelers, one a bike with serious poke at the back and two wheels in front and the other a bike at the front and two wheels at the back.
Husband and wife team, Chris and Emma Hayes, are the fond owners of both – with Chris admitting to preferring the comfortable ride of the trike but unable to relinquish the raw thrill of the MEV Exocet – mentioned above – a Mills Extreme Vehicle kit car. This has 150 Brake HP in the back of what is a 300Kg machine. Chris says that staying on the road in the wet is something of a challenge.
For those interested in these magnetic extreme vehicles, there will be MEV Exocets and new four wheelers in a marque run out to Inveraray in the second weekend in June – with the Harley Davison’s visiting on the other day of that same weekend.
Last seen, Chris Hayes was off to the Tea Room to find John Buchanan, President of the Argyll Classic and Sporting Car Club, to see if he’d be allowed to be tail-end Charlie in the Glen Shira hillclimb after lunch. After all, the MEV Exocet is half-car and its certainly sporting.
Update 19.30: John Buchanan has just told us that both Emma and Chris Hayes did the Glen Shira hillclimb with the club this afternoon. Emma rode the trike and Chris did two runs up at reportedly awesome speed in the MEV – and wearing an unusual face mask which John photographed in action and which we hope to add here later.
Update 23.30: Maurice Wilkins , Head Gardener at the renowned National Trst for Scotland’s Arduaine Garden at LOch Melfort, has sent us a note saying: ‘It was a pretty changeable day up at the Rest and be Thankful, but I walked down the old road for a bit and stood in the driving sleet for an hour and a half – and managed to get some pictures. Then on to Inveraray Castle where the kind lady in the kiosk let me in free to take some photographs of the cars! Thank you!’
Mr Wilkins’ photograph above shows one of the cars coming through the corner at the start of the last climb on the Old Military Road.
Update 13th April:
This was Chris Hayes in the MEV Exocet heading up the Glen Shira hillclimb yesterday afternoon – in what can only be described as a DEV face mask.
