Luke Barry was invited to take part in EcoRally Scotland - a regularity rally with a green heart
Photography by Lee Fisher
Words by Luke Barry
It was one of my more self-indulgent thoughts, I’ll admit. But as I drove past Scone Palace – the last place an international rally stage in Scotland was held – I afforded myself a moment of delusion.
I am the first person to drive a Škoda in a Scottish, international rally since Andreas Mikkelsen, Juho Hänninen, Jan Kopecký and co. took their Super 2000 Fabias into the forests of Perth and Kinross in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
I’m not so deluded to think the situations are the same. My Enyaq was a road car, the stages were ‘regularity’ (not ‘special’) and above all I’m not a manufacturer-backed talent; but none of that makes the statement any less true. EcoRally Scotland brought international rallying back to my home country, and it was an honor to take part.
The decision to accept an invitation from Motorsport UK and clerk of the course Richard Crozier was an easy one, even if my prior knowledge of regularity rallying equated to giving it a brief shot on EA Sports WRC because I was bored.
Yet I somehow wasn’t the inexperienced member of the crew – this was my girlfriend Darcie’s first ever start in motorsport; at FIA level no less! The pre-event seminar explaining the nuances of what we’d signed up for was therefore a must, for both of us.
So while I locked into an hour-long briefing one evening, allow me to catch you up on the basics. Average speed is what matters, not total speed. Each regularity has a set average – which can often change throughout – and it’s the job of the crew to first follow the correct route, but also stick to the correct speed as closely as possible.
A GPS-tracking app helps you monitor your pace in real-time, with the overall winner being the crew with the fewest amassed penalty points. In the case of EcoRally Scotland, all competing cars must be electric and a driver’s efficiency is also taken into consideration to produce the final result.
A peak into the co-drivers' office
The best way I can describe it is it’s like a competitive recce. You’re driving through stages in a road car at road-legal speed, only you’re also in a competition environment.
This particular event was a two-day affair, with Saturday’s leg of five stages taking us south-east of host city Dundee to Fife, while Sunday’s longer seven-stage itinerary traversed Perth and Kinross to the north-west. With evocative names like Macbeth’s Law, Pass of Killiecrankie and The Dragon on the menu, it was time for business.
I don’t care if this makes me sound pathetic: I live for this sport and the emotions it provides. All of the anticipation, nerves and jitters were coursing through my body as Darcie and I embarked on our journey into the unknown.
Tackling the first liasion section and lining up for the opening stage, I was hyped up. This was all akin to a stage rally – road book, time cards, the in-control, the start-line… only there was no faffing around with helmets and HANS devices. Instead the aircon was set just so, and BBC Radio 1 provided the soundtrack.
Understandably given she’d never done anything like this before, Darcie was a bit more focused than I with a determination not to mess up. But with the first two stages transitioned to be just tests given an unfortunate delay to the correct timing equipment arriving, the pressure was off and her smile told me everything I needed to know.
Just like a stage event, the run is over before you know it – although it was utterly bizarre not stopping after the flying-finish and instead just pressing on to the next challenge. That first stage had taught us plenty though, and confidence was up.
Inevitably, that would immediately come back to bite us.
Doing well required metronomic precision and teamwork
I mentioned the GPS-tracking app earlier. Well, as we were about to discover, that only works if you operate it properly. In a sudden panic as we tried to input the correct start time and reset the trip meter, we were flustered as we began and missed the first turn on the road book.
Driving the wrong way on a stage is counter-intuitive enough; seeing other cars on the start-line ahead of you as you sheepishly slot left is just embarrassing.
What you learn quite quickly in regularity rallying is there are three key components: direction, speed and communication. Individually it’s not too complicated, but marrying all of that together consistently on stages that at the weekend were occasionally in excess of 50 minutes requires incredible concentration and discipline.
Clearly, we weren’t destined to make it pro as we missed another junction a few minutes later. But Darcie’s composure and ability to quickly rectify a mistake was brilliant – a huge asset in our new environment that could easily have broken our relationship! Mercifully, we didn’t face the awkward scenario of breaking up on our anniversary weekend.
Already grateful that this second stage was a test, we were about to encounter regularity rallying’s cruel mistress: fortune. When driving you become absolutely transfixed with your speed and delta; doing all you can to keep that delta at 0.0. So when a Renault Kangoo decided to pull out in front and drive below the average speed, it was absolutely infuriating.
Negotiating traffic was one of the challenges
None of us enjoy being stuck behind slow-moving traffic, but when you can physically see the time you are losing (and the time you’re losing actually matters) take it from me that it’s excruciating.
One to forget then as we made our way to Knockhill Racing Circuit for what proved to be the first timed stage. And a unique one too, as while an average of 39km/h sounds modest, achieving that on the endless twists of the hillside rally stage required a near flat-out push.
Would it surprise you if I told you this was my favorite stage of the rally? Didn’t think so. Prior knowledge of the route from doing my BARS test two years ago became essential as I licked the stamp and recorded the fourth-best score up against the world’s best.
Would it surprise you if I told you I’m unashamedly proud of that? Didn’t think so either.
This was one reminder of what regularity rallying can’t frequently give you compared to stage events though. Pulling up into regroup, the adrenalin was absolutely intoxicating – even for Darcie, who’s never normally a fan of any enthusiastic driving. Any words I use here will fail to help you feel that feeling. It’s a simple case of if you know, you know.
The afternoon was over in a flash as we settled into our new normal. The roads were beautiful though and my mind did wonder into thinking ‘I wonder what this would be like if the road were closed…’.
But the mission was totally different here, and you could genuinely feel it. Usually if you take a rally car onto the public roads you’re confronted with some disapproved looks and scowling residents, but not in an EV. Even during the competitive sections people were smiling, waving and accepting of our presence. It was nice to feel that rallying can be a socially repsonsible activity, with no damage being done to the environment.
The Enyaq was winning me over, too. Graciously lended to me by the John Clark Motor Group, I was enjoying my first genuine taste of EV life and immediately became besotted with the heads-up display – vital when it feels like your sole existence is to keep the speed at 48km/h.
And somehow we were managing. To our complete surprise, we were sitting in sixth after the opening day – no match for the professionals chasing the eco Rally Cup title, but more than holding our own as rookies.
But I actually think this was a bad thing, because I awoke the next morning with sudden hope we could actually be competitive. I started expcecting too much and not enjoying it – which showed when Sunday’s second stage went to… a word I can’t use in a ‘controlled zone’.
Distracted by seeing a fellow competitor ahead, and confused by how he got there, we missed our turning inside a small village. Reverse required, we recovered – only to go wrong again a matter of meters later. Clearly, the organizers had made the route complex on purpose and we’d fallen into the trap.
Cue a sulk from yours truly.
There was one moment of disagreement inside the car, but otherwise the relationship remained intact!
I was angry at myself as the time escaped. Competitors don’t know where any of the split markings are on these events, so it’s important to be at the required average speed everywhere. I just knew we’d blown it. In situations like this where something has gone wrong, I’m the self-sabbotaging type. The job’s already goosed, why even bother?
It’s fair to say Darcie was not a fan of this approach, and so we had a disagreement.
Usually in these situations she’s right, and this was no exception. After slowly realizing this as I mulled matters over in my head, a few miles later my head was back in the game and we soldiered on. My reward was a gorgeous stretch of road for the next stage which reminded me heavily of Mull – a run only spoiled by meeting a Škoda Yeti coming the other way on a downhill section which totally screwed what felt like a perfect (by our standards) performance.
The emotional spikes were unquestionably relatable to a stage event. When it worked, it was unbelievable. The ninth regularity was a long one and we cooked; locked-in from beginning to end. The 11th was a nightmare; meeting an oncoming car at the yellow boards!
But overall what an experience and a unique test of skill. Monday’s post-rally blues indicated this event, and concept, must have done something right.
Drawbacks? EV charging is a bit of a hassle, no matter how you slice it, and the thrill cannot compare to powering down a stage in a competition car with no limits other than your own talent.
Luke and Darcie finished their first event together seventh out of nine competitors
However, as I’ve also found out to my cost earlier this year, stage rallies can feel stupid and pointless when your world turns into a washing machine, leaving you in pain for weeks after. There’s far less risk of that happening after an eco rally.
Perhaps the best thing is it feels like truly anyone can do it. At the weekend the field was as diverse as professionals in this discipline to national rally drivers, journalists and content creators plus total beginners.
If you really simplify it, EcoRally Scotland was a beautiful drive that had purpose, coupled to some quality time my girlfriend that enhancer hed appreciation for motorsport. And we weren’t last!
I don’t think there’s anything delusional about that thought.
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: ecoRally Scotland, regularity rally
Publish Date July 29, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/07/oCGI9Wvm-DSC_2049-780x520.jpg July 29, 2025
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