Despite heading further north for this year’s Flying Scotsman Rally, it was a team from the south of the UK that went on to win the three-day 600-mile event, after a ferocious battle for the lead.

Driver William Medcalf from Liss, West Sussex, and navigator David Kirkham from Ruislip, Middlesex, crossed the finish line at Gleneagles, north of Edinburgh, in their Bentley Super Sports to claim the win, with Paul Carter, the leader of Kent County Council, and John Bayliss in the Bentley Derby, less than a minute behind in second place.

Despite arriving at Gleneagles in the pouring rain, the 100 strong crews who had come from all over the world including the USA, Canada and Australia to take part, shrugged off the exhaustion to celebrate their achievements at a gala dinner where most indulged in a ‘wee dram’.