Flying start to Snowman Rally for Caithness crew
Caithness crew James Brims and Iain Macdonald got off to a flying start in the Snowman Rally, the first round of the Scottish Rally Championship.
Although they had not taken part in an off-road rally for five years, they were seeded 26th and finished 22nd out of the 95 entries in the event on Saturday, which started and finished at the Black Isle showground in Muir of Ord.
They won the Weldex Trophy for the quickest two-wheel-drive car in their class and were 30 seconds ahead of the next car.
Starting at 9.30am, they completed all five stages by 4.30pm. Their 2000cc Mk 2 Ford Escort completed all of the 44 off-road miles plus 115 road miles.
James (driver) and Iain (co-driver) have been rallying together for 10 years and this was their first outing in the recently purchased car. Rally cars can cost anything from £2000 to £250,000.
James is a vehicle and machinery mechanic at A&D Sutherland’s quarry at Spittal and Iain retired from the Dounreay police a few years ago.
Their next outing will be in the Scottish Rally Championship's Speyside Stages on April 23.
Another Caithness driver, James Campbell, also took part.
Michael Binnie successfully defended his Snowman title.
The Cornhill-on-Tweed driver, along with Kelso co-driver Claire Mole, came from five seconds behind on the final stage to win the rally in 42 minutes in their Mitsubishi Evo 9.
A total of 91 cars were entered for the event.
Cars drove through Dingwall town centre during the halfway point, allowing members of the public to get a closer look at the vehicles taking part.