Having known and rallied with Mike for around nine years, I thought I knew him pretty well, and considered myself to be one of his closer friends – that was until the sad news of his passing broke, and the messages started flooding in from across the rallying community.

From believing that our sport operated in its own, relatively “small world”, it suddenly appears that many of us have only seen the tip of the iceberg in comparison to Mike. The number of people who have benefited from his friendship over the years is simply huge, and a trend appears to be common in all of their memories of him.

I have seen condolence messages from near and far, from novice drivers to experienced pros, from clubmen drivers to wealthier competitors, from preparation teams, from motor clubs, from sponsors, from journalists, from former drivers, and from opponents past and present - and they all say the same thing. Quite simply, Mike seems to have spent the majority of his life putting others before himself – without prejudice - just so long as it involved rallying and raised a smile or two along the way.

Mike, or Scotty as many preferred, seemed to live by the adage “work hard - play harder”, and for as long as I've known him he did just that. He worked hard to achieve his career goals, and even harder at enjoying his sport with a number of drivers and teams. More importantly, Mike balanced this pursuit of success with a tireless ability to offer friendly advice and encouragement. We were all aware that a call for help from Mike would always be returned with an enthusiastic “Heck Aye”.

He did have some failings though! He only took up co-driving after crashing rally cars “from the other side”, and he went on to prove again and again that the co-driver seat is where he really belonged. When my leg was in plaster before an RAC, Mike offered to do the driving on the reccie – never again! After more incidents including 360 degree spins on French motorways, and glancing trees in a Bill Gwynne Subaru rallycar, I finally made a conscious decision to avoid Mike's driving at all costs!

Of course, Mike's legendary straight talking also occasionally rubbed people up the wrong way, and I doubt there are many of us who haven't had our blood pressure raised at some point or another by his honest, “say-it-as-it-is” attitude. What was usually more annoying however was that looking back on those times, the little so-and-so was usually right, and that ultimately it was this quality that made us hold him in such high regard.

Having spoken to a few of Mike's previous drivers, it appears that this trait ultimately ended up motivating most of us. Such was Mike's experience and knowledge, that we all understood that to receive praise from Mike at the end of a stage or a rally, was praise indeed. But we'd never let him know that……

Almost without exception, every well-wisher here will have a tale to tell about a funny incident with Mike, and I had hoped to share a favourite memory with everyone today. However, as I remember our friendship, I simply can't single one out. All I do know is that I've been fortunate enough to spend many rallies with a really top-class co-driver, and many other times with a sincere human being and great friend. Mike possessed such genuine qualities, and the sad fact is that we will only really appreciate just how good he was now that he's gone. Rallying will never be the same, and we are all the poorer for his untimely death.

Keep calling the notes Mike – we will always be listening to you, on and off the stages.