Day One: Edinburgh to Coylumbridge

The Fourth Classic Malts Scottish Reliability Trial was flagged off on Sunday by Lord MacFarlane, Honorary Chairman of GuinnessUDV, owners of the Classic Malts brand of fine malt whiskies. Despite an early start - at 7:00am for the first car - a glimpse of sunshine lit up the Edinburgh Castle backdrop as cars and crews waited for their minute.

Car One, a splendid 1925 Vauxhall 30/98OE, led the way - but not without last-minute drama on Saturday evening after scrutineering, when the car refused to start. Rally mechanics Bill Price and Brian Moylan diagnosed a seized magneto - and after a hasty rebuild the car was back running once more.

Relatively straightforward regularities were promised, to help newcomers get the feel for regularity rallying, but many dropped time on the first test at Fife Airport and fell away from contention for a Gold medal. Other crews made the mistake of booking through early at Blair Castle. At the end of Day One, just fifteen crews were still in contention for Gold medals, 21 for Silver, and 25 remaining on Bronze standard.

The Marque Team competition, for the Talisker Trophy, is currently led by Very Volvo - on 278 penalties - leading an impressive field of nine teams in contention. Mixed Doubles (Sunbeam Alpine, Mercedes Benz 280SL, Sunbeam Tiger) lead the Ecurie competition, on an aggregate of 149, and the Northern Raiders lead the National team competition, with just 87 penalties.

Cars and their crews

1966 Sunbeam Tiger:
Andy Nash/Melanie Kanarek
People who entered or followed last year' s event on the web may recall a chrome-yellow MG1300 mixing it with more elegant machinery - and having a great time, to boot. That car was a last-minute stand-in for Andy Nash and Melanie Kanarek's 1966 Sunbeam Tiger, now back on the road after an emergency engine rebuild last spring. 'It's great to have the Tiger going again - but we had such fun in the MG: it's rather a shame to see it go', the pair comment.

1953 Jaguar 'C' Type:
Dougal Fisken / William Robertson / David Mc Murray
No-one should miss taking a good look at this superb car. It was purchased in 1953 for the famous Ecurie Ecosse Team, and was driven in its heyday by Jimmy Stewart, brother of Jackie, and Roy Salvadori. Among many other races, it was outright winner of the 1953 1000 kilometres at the Nurburgring, in the hands of Salvadori and Ian Stewart (no relation to Jackie and Jimmy). The car recently spent several years in the ownership of a collector in Australia, but was brought back to Britain a year ago, and had its debut race at the 2000 Goodwood Revival meeting. The Classic Malts marks the car's competitive homecoming to Scotland. But the crew (only two of them at any one time, by the way!) will be hoping for plenty of fine weather this week: they boast only an umbrella to ward off the rain…

1962 Sunbeam Alpine Harrington Le Mans:
Kenneth MacEwan/Graham McEwan
Three cheers for spontaneity: this pair readily admit to having 'had too many beers' when they agreed to enter this year's Classic Malts. So they phoned up, secured their place - then had to find a car. The Alpine variant comes from Historic Rally Car Register General Secretary Tony Barron - and a fine-looking beast it is, too.

ACE Sweeties!
It may just be malicious rumour, but we hear that Lucy Robertson of the AC Ace Ruddspeed is addicted to fudge. We've only been going a day, but there is already so much fudge in the Ace that they are begging for more space on the official baggage van. Take a quick look and see if you think the Ace looks a tad overloaded. Will there be any room for the whisky souvenirs?

Classic Coincidences
Denis Vernon thought a face in the bar looked vaguely familiar. Then the person in question spotted his name badge: they last met about 30 years ago when they were both in business in the building trade. Charles Cross came back from the States on Tuesday to join the rally: he was half way across the Atlantic when the appalling acts of terrorism took place. His navigator wasn't so lucky. Due to take a later flight, he is still stranded there. But HERO helped Charles locate John Bayliss to sit in the left-hand side of his car - so Charles managed to be here despite it all - for that surprise 30-year-on reunion with Denis.

Unluckiest of them all?
The pretty Lotus Europa was the first casualty of the rally. By the time Andrew van Velsen and Randy van Verkhoven reached Fife Airport, they had problems with a rear wheel bearing - one that has covered just 4,000 miles since being installed. But the crew got to the overnight halt at Coylumbridge, and were busy much of the evening patching things up in the carpark. 'I changed the other one just before we came away', commented Andrew. Clearly the bearings are a real Achilles Heel for the poor Lotus. Best of luck for tomorrow, chaps.