… Scottish Motor Sports, 2016-2020 Strategic Plan launch, 10 May 2016 …
If you were watching telly last night I bet you were all bowled over by the generosity of SportScotland awarding Scottish Motor Sport the gargantuan sum of £360,000 over 4 years to develop the sport. Considering this same body gave £2m to netball last year and just under £2m to bowling and the same to snowsports, it seems quite paltry, but it’s a start. And it’s quite possibly a start we might not have managed without Sir Jackie Stewart.
If anyone doubted the value of Sir Jackie Stewart’s name on the bidding process, listening to him getting laid into the politicians (in the most polite and diplomatic manner you could ever imagine), in a way that the SMS folk couldn’t without causing offence, was a delight to behold. He’s got nothing to gain so he’s got nothing to lose, but he put his weight and competition record behind this initiative.
It was reminiscent of that impassioned plea he gave to representatives from Edinburgh District Council when he fronted a campaign to create a Scottish Motor Sports Centre at Ingliston in 1989. That failed to get off the ground for a number of surmountable reasons, but the insurmountable one was Edinburgh District Council, the same bunch of bampots who screwed up the Edinburgh grand tram airport to Leith plan. The results of which was a financial mismanagement mess that we’re still paying for and which ended up over budget, behind schedule and shorter than planned.
I digress, but I was just setting the scene. He returned yesterday to spearhead this latest SMS initiative and which amply demonstrated the pulling power of the man. Can you imagine television and radio folk and senior newspaper representatives turning up if it wasn’t to see the first Knight of the Road?
He’s not only a figurehead, he talks a good fight and his display of earnest and suppressed passion is a lesson to those who shout louder, but have little to say. The man’s a star although he pointed out that this should only be a start and that central government needs to get behind it too.
Cynics will say that he’s done well out of motor sport, and that is certainly true, but they should also remember that he started pumping petrol in his Dad’s garage and working as a mechanic. There was no silver spoon start-up for him. But what did help were a number of influential sporting philanthropists and professionals within the sport who spotted his potential.
Things may have changed now, but to get anywhere in the sporting world you need to be recognised for skill, talent and determination, but what is missing these days are those successful individuals who can ease the path to sporting glory.
What yesterday’s presentation proved beyond doubt was that although Scotland has a very rich heritage there is more to come, all it needs is a helping hand and a bit extra cash!
The presentation got under way with the dulcet tones of Knockhill’s Duncan Vincent introducing Tom Purves, SMS Chairman, who set the scene:
“Over 50 years ago my history teacher, Mr Hunter, admonished me for some misdemeanour when he said ‘Laddie, you can’t to know where you are going unless you know where you have come from’, and I always remembered that. Here we are today to report where we are going for Scottish motor sport.”
“For a country with a relatively small population Scotland has produced multiple world champions on 2 and 4 wheels, multiple grand prix winners, multiple Indianapolis 500 winners, multiple TT winners, multiple 200 NorthWest winners and multiple Le Mans winners,” at which point he introduced a number of guests in the audience: “Sir Jackie Stewart 3 times world drivers’ champion, Louise Aitken Walker, Ladies World Rally Champion and both she and Sir Jackie, winners of the Seagrove Trophy. World Rally Champion Robert Reid, twice London to Sydney Marathon winner and winner of 5 Southern Cross rallies Andrew Cowan, Jim McRae 5 times British Rally champ, Gordon Shedden twice BTCC champ, Dexter Patterson karting champion, David Bogie, British Rally Champion and 5 times Scottish Rally champion, Rory Skinner Junior Moto3 world contender, and lots of others here, (Dario Franchitti, Alan McNish and John Cleland were out of the country) and the man who launched Jim Clark’s career, Ian Scott-Watson, is here too.”
“What is surprising is that we have rarely had more than one racetrack at any given time, only a few hillclimbs, a few kart tracks and some classic trials venues. Perhaps it is the topography that helped with great driving roads and classic forests. Or maybe it was the icons, Jimmy Guthrie surely inspired Steve Hislop, both from Hawick, and Bob McIntyre must have been a hero to all young bike racers when he completed the first 100mph lap on the Isle of Man, not to mention Ecurie Eccose housed in a mews in Edinburgh. Or perhaps it’s the national mindset, cool thinking, questioning, taking nothing for granted, who knows?”
“Very few of these names came from wealthy families but it was due to hard work, determination and skill that led to their success. It was also due to commercial sponsors who from time to time have supported the sport as well and one current supporter is present here, John Clark of John Clark Motor Group who supports SMS.”
“Between the MSA and SACU, there are in the region of 700 motor sports events run each year by our 96 member clubs, racing at Knockhill, trials riding at Fort William, rallying in the Speyside forests and enduros in the sand dunes at Lossiemouth – and which has led to the success that has been achieved without the sort of investment that has gone into other sports. I am delighted to say that that has changed and we now enter a new chapter of Scottish motor sport.”
“SMS was set up by the SACU and MSA to act as a catalyst assisting government agencies to deal with enquiries from clubs, events and individuals. SportScotland has made a commitment in principal to invest £360,000 over the next 4 years into 2 and 4 wheeled motor sport. This will help to deliver the 2016-2020 strategy directed at 4 key areas:
Participation – increasing the number of people involved
Performance – increasing the success levels
Places and events
Governance
“Key priorities for the next 4 years involve supporting our club network to ensure it becomes stronger and better connected, increasing opportunities for student participation and developing strong coaching practice and structures within our sport. We intend to facilitate the development of stronger events and maximise the opportunity for the benefit of all and that would be in partnership with such organisations as VisitScotland who are represented here today and ensuring that the images of Scotland worldwide are further developed through Scottish motor sport.
SportScotland CEO Stewart Harris, responded: “All I can say is WOW! to that list of names. I’m delighted to be here and delighted to see the turnout from all parts of 2 and 4 wheeled motor sport. In SportScotland we have an ambition to add as much value as we can to organisations that are developing sport across the country. That’s really magnified what we do in a world class system for sport, from what do we do in schools to what support we can offer in communities, in performance sport for those who have the talent and ambition and how we support the people who drive it forward. That’s why we invest in resources in the form of cash, which is always welcome, but I think we have a very positive staff workforce which are also there to add value to this partnership. It’s really important that we give young people in Scotland an opportunity to try all activities and sports and give them a chance to participate and be social with their friends and do lots of different things and also achieve their ambitions.”
Sir Jackie Stewart was then welcomed to the podium: “I welcome what has been said and done. We are a wee country, we’ve only got 5 million people in it roughly, and we are considerably more successful than many much larger countries. I think it’s the determination of the Scots and their single mindedness – and I think they’ve got an inferiority complex!”
“When I went down south for the first time to race I was looking at these guys with better clothes and better racing cars and things looked much better, and I was thinking ‘My god aren’t they wonderful?’ You have to have an example to climb the ladder, you can’t do it in your own backyard, you’ve got to see beyond. When you think of who’s been successful out of Scotland, not just in motor racing but hugely successful people, that’s an example to everybody.”
“Under promise and over delivery is one of my key things. I’m a severe dyslexic, so I left school as a complete disaster. No education at all. I can’t read or write correctly to this day and don’t know the alphabet. I was coming from a very low performance level, so there was only one way for me to go and that was up, but when you think of the folk that have made Scotland so famous in motor sport, not just 2 or 3 or 4 wheels, we have over delivered in that respect. To try and keep up with that for the future is the big challenge for most of the people in this room.”
Think of the names. Guthrie in motor cycling. Way back in my father’s day he was my father’s hero and then you think about Ecurie Ecosse and David Murray who created it. And the Border Reivers starting up Jim Clark. Without Ian Scott-Watson, Jim Clark would never have made it in my opinion, so therefore, you have to have support. Ecurie Ecosse gave me my start, but a man called Barry Filer in Glasgow had some nice cars. I was a mechanic on those cars in 1960 and it was through being a mechanic that I got into racing and David Murray spotted me, then Ken Tyrrell spotted me, but it didn’t happen without an awful lot of people.”
“Not everyone can be a racing driver or bike rider but a hell of a lot of people can be good engineers. Engineers in motor sport today are the superstars. Mechanics are the people that make it happen. I’m alive today because I had mechanics and engineers that made cars that didn’t lose wheels and didn’t break up. In addition to that there are designers who were mechanics such as the chap who runs Red Bull’s engineering side. His basic salary is £10m. If he wins the world championship with one of this cars he gets a bonus of £8m. He’s a mechanic! But he’s the best mechanic in the world right now. So you don’t have to be racing drivers but you can be a huge supplier in our sport.”
“When I started Paul Stewart Racing, most of our sponsorship money came from Scotland. I was living in Switzerland, but Britain is the capital of motor sport for the world. Right now there’s 143,000 people involved and employed in the motor sports industry in the UK. We’re more advanced than aerospace right now. Our sport is big, so therefore there are bigger opportunities. So it’s not just for the drivers. The drivers make the headlines.”
“I’ve got some names here. Ron Flockhart a great sports car driver for Ecurie Ecosse and raced in other forms of racing, Innes Ireland was the first scot to win a GP, the American Grand Prix, Ninian Sanderson and John Lawrence won Le Mans for Ecurie Ecosse, Jock McBain created the Border Reivers with farming pals and small businessmen to create what Jim Clark achieved with Ian Scott-Watson. David Coulthard came through Paul Stewart Racing, so did Dario Franchitti, so did Alan McNish because we got financial support out of Scotland. We had Tunnock’s caramel wafers, Walkers shortbread, Kwik-Fit with Tom Farmer, we had the Bank of Scotland and a whole lot others. So one of the things I think we should be doing today with the help of SportScotland is getting the help of the business sector in this country.”
“John Clark’s a big supporter of motor sports in this county. He likes to drive racing cars but he is supporting young people development. We need more of them, and we need more of the companies that are in Scotland to see the potential of somebody going all the way. Motor sport is global. There are some sports that aren’t global. Think of football, it’s pretty big, but there are still some countries that don’t have football, so it is not global.”
“There are more driving licences today in India than there are in America. There are more driving licences in China now than in America. Everybody’s going to drive a car and when you drive a car, at some point in your life you’ll be sitting some day at a traffic light and wanting to beat the one alongside you. It’s the spirit of it all. There’s no viable alternative in the foreseeable future for the motor vehicle either for the delivery of goods or for people, so that means there’s going to be more and more people involved in motor sport.”
“The government has to help too. When Emerson Fittipaldi came from Brazil, the government helped as well as the banks and other big sponsors such as Cafe do Brasil. Now governments are buying Grand Prixs, even those with no F1 racing drivers, countries like Malaysia and Azerbaijan where we’re going to in a few weeks time. No racing drivers yet, but there will be in the future.”
“We’re very lucky that we have a global potential, but what we need is Scottish support from the industries that we have in Scotland and the small businesses that we have, as well as from the government so I think today is an important day. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a group collected like this talking about the future. You’ve got to get more people involved you’ve got to have more spectators involved. Get them to do things associated with the sport. There’s an awful lot you can do apart from racing a bike or racing a car such as organising and marshalling.”
“Determination. It’s the fact that the Scots are so dour and determined that they are so successful. There hasn’t been a war that the Scots haven’t been involved in. The Metropolitan Police in London would be left wanting if it hadn’t Scots policemen. We are a great export out of our own country, but really, we have fantastic potential here at home and motor sport can take you an awful long way. So from my point of view I congratulate everybody who has put this together today.”
Robert Reid and Paul Carlyle, former chair of SACU then took to the floor on behalf of the SMS. “It’s five years since Duncan Vincent, Alan McNish and myself found ourselves sitting in the cafeteria in the Gyle centre just before our first meeting with SportScotland,” said Robert, “At that point we didn’t know much about it. The first question we were asked was ‘What is your plan, what do you want to achieve?’ We said we wanted to be involved, we want to be recognised and to get some support.”
“The initial investment was that SportScotland said we could have use of a Partnership Manager and a meeting room, so this has grown out of that small beginning. In order to deliver a strategic plan we could have investment for an employee, so Rory Bryant came on board as Development Officer and that allowed us to put a plan together. We’re now here celebrating being put on a four year funding cycle. An amazing achievement in a such a short period of time.”
“This investment isn’t sports sponsorship, so it doesn’t allow us to buy race tracks and cars and things like that. It is an investment in the future. It’s an investment into resource to allow us to develop, to engage with SportScotland, to learn from other sports in order to grow and sustain attainable long term growth. So today is monumental, but really it’s just the start.”
“One of the questions that SportScotland asked initially was ‘What is motor sport?’ Its 2, 3 and 4 wheels, its everything with wheels and engines, so it was really important to form a collaboration with the Scottish Auto Cycle Union.”
At which point Paul Carlye took over and initially paid tribute to the groundwork done by the late Robbie Allan: “It was Robbie who got me involved in SMS before this current initiative as we already had started working with our own SportScotland Partnership Manager. We shouldn’t undervalue the support we get from SS and the government agencies. Completely separate from the cash investment, the knowledge and the structure they brought to us, drove us to think in a sensible, strategic and sustainable way of what we wanted to achieve and that was really valuable.”
“I pitched up at that meeting and I got very excited about the possibilities of 2 wheel and 4 wheeled sport and bringing them together. There are big differences in the two sports, the structures within the FIA and FIM are different, and here in the UK we have the ACU and SACU, and the MSA but there are lots of similarities too. We race on the same race tracks and compete in the same forests, we use the same infrastructure, so we have the same issues when it comes to land access, and how we overcome the perception that motor sport is glamorous and unattainable.”
“We’re not unique. Northern Ireland have a similar model and they have made it work very well, but we are rare, and it is novel and it is hopefully going to be successful. We are a very small country as has been said and when you look back on it, it seems madness that the two major parts of motor sport have not been collaborating more aggressively in the past, but as we say hindsight is 20/20.”
“One little thought to leave us with, motor sports hides itself. Historically we have been nervous and worried about what the wider world thinks about our sport, careful about how much we broadcast what we do, and we’ve not engaged with SportScotland and the wider sporting infrastructure in the past. This project has done a very important thing. It has made us engage with this wider sporting structure and the Scottish government as well as SportScotland and we have done so very successfully. It’s our time now to step into the light – and to borrow a well known phrase, I think this is probably the end of the beginning for Scottish motor sport .”
Note: There followed a Q&A session after a comfort break with Sir Jackie getting even more passionate and forceful about the way ahead and who should be helping. If there is a demand for it (this bluidy report runs to over 3000 words as it is!) then I will write up Part 2!
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