Muir of Ord driver claims best ever result at Snowman Rally to finish on podium
SCOTT Macbeth says he achieved one of the best results in his racing career when he finished on the podium of the 2024 Snowman Rally.
The Muir of Ord driver, along with Elgin co-driver Daniel Forsyth, claimed third place last weekend in the penultimate round of the Scottish Rally Championship which took place throughout Inverness-shire and Ross-shire.
Macbeth (32) who was driving a Skoda Fabia 5, finished in third place in a time of 40 minutes and 16 seconds.
He was 37 seconds ahead of John Wink of Huntly with co-driver Neil Shanks in second place who finished in 40:11 driving a Hyundai R20 i5.
Macbeth, who runs a joinery business, says him and Forsyth were determined to put in a good performance this year, after leading last year’s Snowman Rally at the Halfway Stage before being forced to retire after going off the road.
He says that the result last weekend was one of the best of his career so far.
He said: “It was a great result for us, especially after what happened last year, so we were delighted.
“The last thing I wanted was going out and having a disaster like last year.
“I would have been happy if we achieved a top five finish, but we were always close to the podium from the start of the rally.
“When I realised that, I thought that I had to make a podium finish happen.
“This has to be one of our best results. We have finished third at a rally in England, but that wasn’t as big as an event as this.
“To do it on my doorstep as well, with all my family watching, it was a nice moment.”
Macbeth said conditions were better than expected for rally driving on Saturday and said it he was happy with how he and Forsyth managed to navigate the course.
“The stages turned out pretty good, I thought that the course was going to be slippy and muddy beforehand, but it didn’t turn out like that.
“It probably wasn’t the worse thing that the rally was held in October to be fair. The weather plays a major part in a rally at any time of the year. You can have a rally in August and it could be pouring rain and that makes it more difficult.”
Macbeth has been fascinated with rally driving since a young age. He first got involved in rally driving as a co-driver for Danny Sutherland in 2011 before building a Vauxhall Nova in 2012 and started driving competitively since then.
He is now finished racing for 2024 and is now looking towards the 2025 season where he hopes he can achieve more success.
“I have had a mixed rally career of luck with being on for good results but the car has let us down.
“But this Skoda has been reliable and we will look to get a good run of results with it.”
