KVVVC Kildrummy Rally
First run in 1958, the Kildrummy Veteran and Vintage Vehicles Club (KVVVC) Kildrummy Rally goes from strength to strength and this year, thanks to the new owners of the estate, the Rally has returned to its original location in the grounds of Kildrummy Castle.
This is the background to the story, as told in the Rally Programme:
“Christopher and 'Camille Bently are originally from San Francisco, California but fell in love with Scotland through their many travels here and their wedding at Mount Stuart on Bute.
They bought Kildrummy Estate to make it their home and relocated to Scotland. Their passion and dedication to the environment has so far led them to plant 345;500 trees on the estate and they are just getting started. Natural farming practices and habitat preservation are often not practices seen side by side, but this is something they have done in the States successfully and look to carry forward here as well.
Cars and motorcycles are also a passion of Christopher's and when he learned of the Kildrummy Rally and its heritage he immediately wanted to bring it back home. He was thrilled to learn the club also wanted to do the same. The Bently's are proud to host the Kildrummy Veteran and Vintage rally back at Castle Field once more where it belongs and will stay for generations to come.
The Bently's love their new home in Aberdeenshire and welcome you to Castle Field for the 2023 Kildrummy Rally.”
5 club members and their partners met at the Grampian Transport Museum and were joined at the venue by 3 more. Although pleasantly warm, threatening clouds were gathering overhead as we left the car park and the drive to the Estate was spoilt by persistent drizzle, which came and went throughout the morning but eventually gave way to sunshine.
The field looked stunning, and a considerable amount of work had clearly gone into preparing it for the 200+ entries.
A short road run of around 40 miles was also in the programme and took us on a round robin towards Alford, Muir of Fowlis, through Tarland, Leys, Towie, Glenkindie and back to Kildrummy. The only downside was some stretches of road had recently been “surface dressed” (grrrrr!!!) and there were lots of loose chippings on the road. One upside though was a long procession of what must have been around 50 tractors heading in the opposite direction as part of, I assume, the Alford Heritage Museum annual tractor run.
The event was also chosen as this years host of the Scottish Veteran Vehicle Federation Champion of Champions which boosted the entry with a number of fantastic looking cars – the overall winner was a stunning 1962 Mini Cooper which was far better than they ever came out of the factory and was a worthy winner.
All in all, a fantastic event!
I only managed to take a few pictures, but if you head over to the Club Facebook page you will find a few more taken by Chairman Roger.
