Financial woes and a shortage of hay bales have put the brakes on a hugely popular Aberdeenshire car festival.
The Royal Deeside Sports Festival had been expected to return to Kincardine Castle, near Aboyne, on June 16.
But yesterday, organisers revealed they had been forced to cancel the event for good due to spiralling costs.
It also emerged that, due to the severe winter weather and their use for fuel, the event had not managed to secure enough bales to use as a buffer for any cars that veered off the tarmac.
Tony Yule, one of the four volunteers behind the event, revealed the festival had been run at a loss since it began, costing about £80,000 in each of its three years.
“The costs of running the event are just getting more and more,” he said.
“We have really tried to get sponsorship from local businesses to help us to fund a motor sport event of this scale.
“Security and safety measures all cost a lot of money and one of the other critical things has been a shortage of bales.
“We need to protect the track and they are in short supply. That’s partly because of the bad winter we have had and also because what bales are left can be sold to the government for biofuel.
“There are a lot of dry stone dykes and trees by the drive and for us to adequately protect drivers we would need 400 bales. Crashing into a bale hurts but crashing into a tree can be fatal.”
Mr Yule also said the interest in car festivals from dealerships had diminished in recent years.
“Manufacturers don’t necessarily want to bring their cars to these events anymore. As much as it’s great to have people taking and sharing pictures, they want people to buy the cars and so the dealerships now hold a lot of their own targeted marketing events.”
Talks are underway to create a new motoring event. Mr Yule said it would be a “different model”.
Anyone who has already purchased a ticket for the Royal Deeside Sports Festival will be contacted by the committee regarding refunds.
