Hi all,

It's very quiet out there! "They" say that the end of Jan/early Feb
is the most depressing time of the year, so here is something to
cheer you up!

Next Saturday Feb 19th sees the running of the first forest rally of
the 2005 Scottish Championship - The Snowman Rally, based in
Inverness, Scotland.

As well as being the first of the year, this is also the 50th running
of the Snowman so it is quite an anniversary. The rally started out
as a night-time road rally and evolved into a forest stage rally in
the late 1960's. In the past it attracted such rallying greats as
Ari Vatanen, Roger Clark, Pentti Airrikala, Tony Pond etc.

For those of you outside the UK, Inverness is in northern Scotland,
500 miles north of London and in terms of latitude is on a level half
way up Hudson's bay in Canada. We are only kept alive by the gulf
stream ocean current! That said, we are having snow this weekend,
though only a little, buut there should still be some in the forests
by next weekend.

Because of the 50th anniversary there will be a small display of
historic rally cars, including my very own 1965 Hillman Imp, and
there will be a couiple of historics competing in the rally, but
running well ahead of the main competition so they don't get caught
up by all the Subaru Impreza's.

Never mind the competition, some people just turn up for the post-
event party. The manager of the Thistle Hotel says he will be happy
if the bar is still open when guests are checking out in the morning.

talk to you soon,

Bob Shearer