A host of classic cars descended on Aberdeenshire at the weekend as part of a 750-mile annual endurance rally.
The ninth Flying Scotsman vintage car event was on the second leg of its three-day race and saw the hundred-strong convoy journeyed from Edinburgh to Aviemore, taking in Cairn o Mount and Alford on the way.
Leading the way were Paul Crosby and Ali Proctor in their 1939 MG TB Supercharged, closely followed by John Abel and Leigh Powley in their 1937 Lagonda LG45 in joint second place with David Thomson and Alan Smith in a 1936 Talbot 105 Alpine.
Participants came from as far afield as South America, including father and son, Diego Ribadeneira, snr and Diego Ribadeneira, jnr, from Ecuador, who travelled in a 1926 Bentley Red Label Speed.
The action began on Friday at Slaley Hall in Northumberland and headed to Edinburgh’s Dalmahoy Hotel for the first overnight pit stop.
Day two saw the competitors travel through Fife, Scone Palace, Glamis, Kincardine Castle, Alford, Dufftown and Nethy Bridge, before they finally halted in Aviemore for the second night of rest.
The third and final leg of the gruelling endurance race visited Dalwhinnie, Blair Atholl, Kenmore and Ballathie in Perthshire, as the prelude to the participants arriving at Gleneagles Hotel yesterday.
The route covered a total of 750 miles which Syd Stelvio, of organisers, the Endurance Rally Association, described as being “short and sweet”.
He added: “The Flying Scotsman always attracts some exotic machinery and, this year, we are very pleased to see standards haven’t slipped.
“The more mature end of the spectrum was also well represented with two Edwardian or ‘brass era’ cars lining up in the paddock.
“The 1907 globetrotter is not only the oldest vehicle here, but is probably the most widely travelled, with two Peking to Paris under its wheels alongside many more transcontinental excursions.”
