Rallying: Just one reason why we love motorsport

As we trudged through a pitch black forest on the way to the first stage of the RACMSA Rally Scotland, torches guiding the way, the silence was suddenly broken by a monumental bang and a hard-revving engine drawing ever closer.

We rushed to the path where some faint lights in the distance had been erected by eager spectators, all awaiting the aural thrill that is a rally car speeding past you. I looked ahead, poised on a rock and as close to the edge of the grass as I could be, without falling on to the gravel track.