19 March 2026 / By David Ferguson
THE SPOTLIGHT falls again on the men and women in their rallying machines this weekend when the Jim Clark rally descends on the Scottish Borders with its thousands of competitors in all sorts of cars, volunteers and motorsport fans.
But what of the people behind the scenes that make it all happen? With one of the key threats to the future of rallying across the UK being the lack of youngsters, ie under-50, getting involved in organising, we caught up this week with one man who swapped the in-car excitement for organising and epitomises the commitment behind every event.
David Hatrick admits that a desire to keep the sport thriving is now fuelling him and his former driver Gerry McCafferty, the well-known Dunfermline Car Club duo who help to run and promote the Carnegie Fuels Scottish Tarmack Rally Championship (STRC). Both are only in their 50s, and there are plenty their age and older still competing, but Hatrick says making the switch to the background was a great move.
No end of excitement around rallying
“There’s no end of excitement around rallying, whatever you’re doing,” he says, “and that will be the same with the ‘Jim Clark’ this weekend.
“For the competitors it’s all about how they perform on the stages, and where they finish, but all around them are people with different jobs that are just as excited, who have been working away for months to get it all in place and are desperate to see a successful rally.”
Thirty years ago, Hatrick was just starting out as a navigator, for Gerry, first in a Vauxhall Nova. They won the old Scottish Borders Rally Championship in 2000, in a 1.4 Corsa, before David navigated for John Marshall of Beaton’s Building Supplies in his Subaru Impreza and claimed a fine eighth overall (fifth in class) in the Jim Clark National Rally and fifth in the Reivers the next day in 2006.
The duo even made the national press (pictured below) when they showed some engineering know-how to use an Irn-Bru can to plug an exhaust hole long enough to get to the end of the event.
David is from Rutherglen in Glasgow but as well as his exploits in the ‘Jim Clark’, his surname is known around Berwickshire as his uncle Hugh was a popular doctor in Duns for many years, and his aunt still lives on the outskirts of the town.
Leaving rallying altogether too big a step
Work promotion – he now travels up and down the country overseeing the installation of petrol filling stations as a senior contracts manager with Fox Construction (pictured) – the arrival of family and increasing rally car costs persuaded him more than 15 years ago to take a step back. But leaving rallying altogether was too big a step.
“The excitement of the sport was still there,” he says, “but, also, as you get older you become aware of the number of people around the rally that make events happen, and without whom we wouldn’t have the chance to compete.
“So, Gerry and I both felt that after years of taking advantage of those people, it was time we made the move from competitors to organisers and put something back into rallying. We got involved with the DCC committee, and we’ve had a brilliant time working with a lot of enthusiastic people.
“We get a lot of support from clubs across the country and Scottish clubs all support each other, but we all face the eternal challenge of encouraging younger people to come onto committees. I’m 58 this year, Gerry’s 54, and we’re probably considered the youngsters on our committee!
“Our treasurer and veteran radio controller Diana Baines, Ron Cowan, our safety officer, and Raymond Mann, who runs our results service, have all been doing this for many decades and are the backbone of the STRC’s organising team. Fergus Gray is our club president and IT guru, and he has also been doing it for longer than us.
“Few people see the work that everyone puts in, from the planning months beforehand to putting out 250 straw bales, 1000 cones, the tape, stakes, car and lorry tyres to create the stages and make them safe. It’s a massive organisation but when you have a good team everyone gets to know their roles and gets stuck into it.
“There is a huge team behind a rally and it’s really enjoyable being part of that team and seeing everyone work together to pull off a great event.”
Rallying facing threats and ageing committees is one of them
Rallying itself is facing threats from different angles. Forestry agencies across the UK have been reining back from allowing access, contributing to the cancellation of last year’s Snowman Rally and this year’s Speyside Stages, though it is hoped the agreement for the FIA World Rally Championship to come to Scotland next year, with Scottish Government and landowner backing in Grampian, is a positive sign for the future.
The BRC third round at Kielder was cancelled last week due to a lack of entries, Crail is concerned about future plans for housing that may impact on their old war airbase track, and Hatrick says the lack of younger volunteers coming on to event committees remains a key concern.
As more than 200 competing cars bring thousands to the sides of the Borders roads this weekend, it is hoped some might be persuaded to sign up to join the organising team for future years. Many weird and wonderful cars from across the UK, Ireland and Europe compete in the BRC on Friday night and Saturday, and then around 120 crews will take on the Jim Clark Reivers Rally on the Sunday.
Reivers Rally set for another battle of all makes and models
The ‘Reivers’, appropriately, will be led by the trio of Duns drivers, Euan Thorburn, Garry Pearson and Dale Robertson (their annual civic week is led by a ‘Reiver’), with Paul Beaton, Hannah McKillop and Keir Beaton on the notes respectively, and with current SRC leaders Scott Macbeth and Andrew Falconer in car 4, Mark McCulloch and Michael Hendry right behind them, and the ultra-competitive Finnish siblings Daniel Sigurðarson and Ásta Sigurdardottir also in the top ten rally fans can expect plenty of excitement.
And that applies right across the STRC classes. Top spot in the last tarmack event, the Autosave Components Spring Stages at Kinloss, went to Bruce and Teri McCombe in their Ford Fiesta, with Thomas Gray and Ricky Finlayson only 20 seconds behind in a VW Polo R5, and Andy Horne and Michael Hendry completing the podium. And the Jim Clark event (pictured below) will feature all kinds of cars from the past five decades and more competing for points and silverware in different classes.
Every car has a fair chance of winning the STRC
“The great thing about the STRC,” explained Hatrick, “is that it is a class-based championship so someone in a 1400cc car has as much of becoming the STRC Champion as someone in an R5 or Rally2 car.
“If you come first in your class you get 17 points, so it doesn’t matter if you’re in a Corsa, a Ford Escort Mk1 or 2, Mini or two-litre Subaru, every car has a reasonably fair chance of winning the overall championship
“And the ‘Jim Clark’ is always popular among our competitors. It’s a great event for bringing car clubs across the country together. It’s a pretty tight-knit community in Scotland and we all support each other which is a great thing about being involved in Scottish rallying.”
Last year, James and Rebecca Wilson won the STRC in an MG, with seven points covering them, runner-up Chris Thompson and Des Campbell in third, while Rebecca took the co-driver title by just a point from Charlotte McDowall with Mark Mason third.
As ever in May, the season is only really getting started and after the Reivers Rally is done and dusted will we have an idea of who the real contenders might be for the 2026 titles. In the meantime, we can be thankful for the efforts of the thousands of volunteers who play a part in ensuring the events go ahead and Scottish rallying continues to thrive.