Image: Claire Cochran and Kay Pickering in their Triumph Spitfire under the wing of the Grace Spitfire

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A bright sunny spring day greeted the participants on the first ever Spitfire Scramble, Bespoke Rallies’ pop-up rally based at Sywell Aerodrome, Northants on the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. (April 30-May 1).

It was an early start for some of the contestants who had to arrive in time for signing-on and a  briefing at 08:15 am. Twenty four cars were flagged off on this first ever classic regularity rally  created by Bespoke Rallies at the Art Deco aerodrome. The rally had been named the Spitfire Scramble after the two-seater Grace Spitfire which is based at Sywell. At the end of the rally one happy participant won a flight in this wonderfully restored WW2 fighter in a lucky dip draw.

The rally started with tests on the apron outside the hangers followed by a sporting gravel section. Once completed cars headed out onto the back roads of Northampton and a 140km route through quiet and scenic countryside with regularity sections provided by Bespoke’s Virtual Marshal electronic rally timing system. The pattern was repeated on Sunday with consistency tests in the morning, followed by regularity sections throughout the day.

After two days just 29 penalty points separated the winners, Angus McQueen & Mike Cochrane in their 1982 BMW 323i from runners up Robert Robinson & Peter Mellor in their 1983 Audi Coupe GT who won the Modern Classic class. Winner of the Classic Cars class was Hubert & Diane Lynch in their 1969 Morris Mini Cooper.

The oldest car taking part was the 1925 Bentley Supersport of David & Julia Little which won the Vintage class. The youngest car was the 1989 Mercedes 300E of Nigel Perkins & Andrew Duerden.