Home Events A busy month for the Rest and Be Thankful

A busy month for the Rest and Be Thankful

I’m a sucker for a V8 growl, so a car event revolving around Ford’s V8 hardware howling and growling through the Argyll countryside sounded like a fine idea. Classic Car Tours / Cobra Drivers Club Rest and Be Thankful run is one such event and this year saw it’s third running. It was a festival of Ford V8s.

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It was an early start to get to Deanston distillery near Doune for breakfast, but watching (and listening to) all the cars arrive is always a treat.

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Engine lids were soon lifted (as you do in polite company) and we were able to gaze at the powerplants. It really is a good looking engine, especially in a GT40 installation. The drooling was only partly down to the bacon rolls.

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We were lucky with the weather and a good drive was plotted over Balloch and on through Arrochar towards the start of the famous old hill-climb on the single track road that used to be the lifeline to Western Argyll (and the modern replacement road still is, hence the regular headlines on morning traffic reports when it gets blocked by landslides).

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For those of you unfamiliar with the area, the road that climbs up out of Arrochar on Loch Long and reaches its peak at the junction with the road to Lochgoilhead, is known as the Rest and Be Thankful because in days before modern motorised transport, that is exactly what you would do if and when you made it to the top.

When you do reach the top, you are rewarded (on a clear day) with a spectacular view.

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Back in the 50s and 60s, the road was often used for competitive hill-climbs with the likes of Jackie Stewart cutting his teeth there, so it is great that the current land-owners occasionally give their permission (via selected organisations) for classic car enthusiasts to follow in the famous tyre-tracks, albeit these days in a strictly non-competitve format.

The road has also recently been re-surfaced as it now serves as the emergency relief route for the occasions when the main road does get blocked. Fortunately this is now rarer due to the landslide catch netting that has been installed, but it still happens. In any case, we enthusiasts benefit from a surface that is currently pretty billiard table smooth.

The hill’s significance was underlined last month when most of the cars from the Holyrood Concours d’Elegance made a journey over to the West to take it in. Word reached TT of the otherwise unpublicised appearances, so we scrambled over and took a few shots.

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Jackie Stewart was there with son Paul, driving a lovely Gullwing 300SL.

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Here’s well known London-based classic dealer and racer, Gregor Fisken, getting his holiday snap at top of the rest with his ex-Briggs Cunningham E-type.

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So…..back to the Cobra Drivers Club day. We gathered at the base of the climb and waited our turn.

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(note the interloping Blackpool produce)

We enjoyed two runs up the hill, which is good because you don’t get to do it regularly, so the first run serves as a good recce/reminder. Still, driving a precious low mileage Ford GT up the hill is a nerve-wracking experience on grounds of sheer size as well as value, so we didn’t break any records.

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Waiting at the top before circling back around for the second run was also a good opportunity to see others coming up the hill and to look around the different cars in such a fantastic setting.

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I guess when a car event comes along and the word “muscle” gets used, you just can’t stop the TVRs from making an appearance.

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After our runs up the hill, we continued on to Inveraray where we all parked up at the castle for a light lunch and informal prize-giving. The weather was still with us.

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It was a great day out, with quite the most spectacular soundtrack. The pressure’s on for the organisers to guarantee the same weather for 2016. For more information on that event, check out the Classic Car Tours web page.

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