A driver and co-driver who was an intrinsic element of the local car rallying scene in the 1960s and 1970s died recently, just hours after returning home to Manchester from an event in the island.
Horace Saville was a character well-known throughout the car rallying world, with which he had been involved for precisely 50 years.
He started rallying in the island at the age of 19, when his family ran a boarding house in Palace View Terrace, Douglas. His first class win was in the 1963 Cambrian Rally in a Mini.
He was possibly the first local driver to get his hands on a Cooper S, in which he and John Dodsworth were the best local crew in the 1964 Manx Trophy Rally, finishing seventh. In 1966, with Harry Kewin in the hot-seat, the pair were fifth in an all-local top five consisting of Dennis Easthope/Denis Craine (Ford Cortina GT), Doug Baird/Ffinlo Crellin, John Dodsworth/Roy Sweetman and Ken/Evelyn Leece (all Mini Cooper S). One spot behind Horace and Harry was the visiting crew of Roy Mapple and former Top Gear presenter Tony Mason.
A better run with Kewin two years later in a Lotus Cortina ended in retirement two stages from the end with a broken camshaft when as high as second spot overall.
As a co-driver, he sat beside Bride farmer John Huyton in a Lotus Cortina when they were fourth (best locals) in 1971. A certain Roger Clark won with Henry Liddon in an early MkI Ford Escort RS1600. Huyton and Saville drove the last stage with the aid of only one gear - top!
Horace, a founder member of Manx Auto Sport, also campaigned a Hillman Imp.
Eddie Christian competed with Horace in the early 1970s, recalling a trip to the Lindisfarne Rally in 1972 and another named Morecambe Illuminations.
‘Horace was quite a character and well-known for his disorganisation,’ said Eddie with some affection.
Having attended King William’s College in his teens, Horace’s other sporting interest was rugby and he played for Douglas RUFC at Port-e-Chee.
The second half of his career in rallying, after he relocated back to the Radcliffe area of Manchester, was solely as a co-driver. Only recently he achieved his most coveted award, first overall co-driver in the 2012 MSA Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX.
He was last in the island spectating the weekend of the PokerStars Rally three weeks ago, enjoying the craic and comaraderie as ever, but died quite suddenly the folllowing day after travelling back home to Radcliffe.
Horace Saville was 69.