One of the extra benefits of having a classic car is the fact that there are so many events you can do with them – from local club tours to full-blown road races like the Mille Miglia. Why we need the excuse of owning an old motor to enjoy a great road trip, no one is exactly sure, but enhance these drives they do.

I was on such a rally not long ago; the Scottish Malts Regularity Trial organised by the Historic Rallying Endurance Rallying Organisation: HERO for short (www.heroevents.eu). Maybe the title makes it sound a bit stuffy, but with over 1000 miles across the Scottish Highlands to the Isle of Skye and back, it’s anything but.

It’s a combination of sweeping A-roads through the great glens, twisting lanes through forests and over farmlands and snaking hairpins up the mountains. There are track tests and time trials along the way.

Make no mistake, you’ll know you’ve driven it as the John Wayne-like walk of some of the crews showed towards the end. But HERO have been very canny in the way they’ve paced this one. Balanced against the umpteen thousand gear-changes and the flexing of muscles wrestling old steering racks, there are oases of calm and respite; the excellent resort hotels.

There’s the grand (but still warm) reception of the Turnberry Golf Resort (www.turnberry.co.uk) spacious lounge and its evening piper (I'm told they play golf there too), or the quiet intimacy of the Toravaig House (www.skyehotel.co.uk) tucked under a hill after crossing over to Skye on the six-car Glenelg ferry. You might wait a while for your dinner, after the French manner, but it's excellent when it comes.

Also, giving the rally its name, at least one day is punctuated by visits to some of the finer distilleries of Speyside – with a gift of sample miniatures along the way (drink responsibly later please).

But several things about HERO itself means I think I shall be looking to do further events with them. One was the friendliness of the organisers themselves. My son came along as navigator having never done anything remotely like it before (yes, shame on me, I know). He was the youngest on the rally and I was always warmed by how much support he was given and the genuine interest they took in his progress as a newcomer to the sport. (Thanks for that HERO folk).

Another couple of features which will appeal to all us cash rich/time poor city types are HERO’s ‘arrive and drive’ and Premier Membership packages. The ‘arrive and drive’ allows you to hire one of the group’s very well prepared classic rally cars and do the event in it – it doesn’t even have to be one of their gigs. So if you have no classic of your own – or not the right classic…

Their Premier Membership isn’t something I’ve seen done by any other classic car organisation and is well worth a look. Here is a range of partnerships, liaisons and tie-ins, which can get anything from discounts with fine hotel groups like Von Essen to an introduction to blue-chip classic car brokerage firms. And a decent set of tyres too. Partners are clearly very carefully chosen – someone knows what they’re up to. Oh – and you NEED to look at their Yatch Orianda too (www.orianda1937.com); if I ever get chance to sample it, I’ll let you know.

Pictures by Rob Scorah and Tony Large (www.tonylarge.net)