Cleeve Motorsport Club are well into their eighth year and they clearly know how to enjoy themselves because they meet on the second Monday of the month at the Royal Oak in Bishop’s Cleeve.

In fact, some of the club’s members meet more often than that because, according to their website, “you will also find a few of us most Mondays at the Royal Oak!”

“We are a relatively small club of about 30 members, made up mostly of rally drivers and car enthusiasts,” said Graeme Ross, who is the club’s membership secretary.

“We compete in local stage rallies at Down Ampney, Caerwent, near Chepstow, Abingdon and national events all over.”

Graeme has been involved in motorsport for the past 20 years or so. The 53-year-old was a steward at Cheltenham Motor Club for some nine years – he is a former member of the club – before he and seven others formed Cleeve Motorsport Club.

“Quite a few of us live in Cleeve and all the founding members – Stuart and Craig Cameron, Mike and John Mitchell, Phil Robbins, Jeremy Williams, Malcolm Middleton-Salt – are still involved,” added Graeme.

It’s probably fair to say that the highlight of the club’s year is their ‘Tour of The Cotswolds’ – a classic car run which takes place on the third Sunday in September.

“It’s for cars over 20 years old and it follows a suggested route around the Cotswolds,” said Graeme, who is one of the organisers. “It normally starts with a full English breakfast at the Royal Oak in Bishop’s Cleeve and finishes with a buffet at Seasons in Swindon Village.

“It’s about 100 miles and is just a lovely way to tour the Cotswolds.

“We wander through the Cotswolds and look at all the nice villages. There are some beautiful villages, it’s just an excuse to take the car out!”

Graeme is the proud owner of two Peugeot 205 GTI’s, although one of them is off the road at the moment.

“Yes, one of them is in theatre,” he chuckled, “it’s quite a regular occurrence for rally drivers! One of them is ready to go but the other is not healthy, it needs an engine transplant!”

Graeme doesn’t have a regular navigator and the same could be said for Craig Cameron and Paul Bonas even though they compete together.

“They take it in turns to drive,” explained Graeme. “Paul drives in the big events but Craig loves to drive as well.”

Craig Cameron has got his love of all things motorsport from his dad Stuart and it’s a bit of family affair at the club because Craig’s mum Caz is chairperson of the club.

So what is so good about motorsport?

“It’s a good stress-buster,” said Graeme. “I’ve never looked back since I got involved in the sport.”