Competition Roundup

If you do an event other than as a competitor, we also want to hear from you! Marshals, mechanics and support crew, this means YOU. Remember, other club members might like to talk to you to get a general feeling for an event. Often non-competitors see more than those in the cars!

Graham Baty/Michael Weeks
were out in a surprise pairing on the WouldBeGood stages, due to the sudden disappearance of Graham's regular co-driver. MORAL for all would-be co-drivers, always take your helmet, overalls and licence to every event, you never know when you might get a ride. Unfortunately a dog ate my notes on their results but I know they were still going at the end of the day.

John Blaber/Alan Jamieson
are now the proud possessors of a six-speed gearbox and we wish them all the best to reassemble the car before the rally season finishes.

Colin Hutchings/Gavin Edmiston
Another surprise pairing, Colin was out in his regular once-a-year "I can't bear to watch" (says Colin Early) turn to drive the Darian at the WouldBeGood (where Colin E is clerk of the course and so can't compete). A second boiling hot year saw Colin H and Gavin competing for Tomato Of The Year competition, but by gum were they fast tomatoes, coming 4th overall. They could have done even better had they not been forced to three-point turn some of the hairpins in the morning.

Ian Glenister
writes me the following tale which may have a moral in it somewhere. "On my last event yet again we did not get a result. I proved to be too keen to keep the clubman event running on time. We were car 100 and there were only two cars behind us at the start of stage 2. Driver error put us into a ditch about two miles into the stage, there were about a dozen spectators trying to get us out when car 00 turned up. He tried to help for about two minutes, then asked for our time cards, we gave them up and he left. The spectators and I not wanting to be beaten took about another four minutes to get us out. So the chase was on. We caught him about five miles from the end of the stage, where he had stop to take the time cards off Neil Simpson in the diesel Golf. We then asked for our time cards back, he duly did not give them. I pointed out that we were allowed 15 minutes lateness on top of stage max. They just drove off. Now here is my real problem, do I drive on knowing that the stage is live for the clubmans event, which I'm not doing and risk being reported to the RAC or pass car 00 and run in an event that I now do not have time cards for. We stop there." So what do you think should have happened? Should you hang on to the time cards, make a resolution to be nicer if you are course closing car, or what? Letters to the Editor are always welcome.

Ellya Gold/Ian Harden
were out on the Quinton where they enjoyed coming 80th overall out of 180 and they say they enjoyed the views of the terrific drops (Jo Brand, eat your heart out). They then bounded on to Goodwood where they came 6th overall (good for future seeding!) and 2nd in class after "a grassy moment". Next outing is the Woodpecker.

Dave Jacobs
Just don't mention pistons.

Sue Orchard/Graham Morris
are in the mid-summer doldrums. Normal service will be resumed in September, as will the Belgian Rally Championship.

Richard Phillipson/Catherine Phillipson
had a rather wretched outing to Maubeuge, where they had gone to learn how to drive on tarmac in preparation for the Ulster. Armed with the finest set of moulded slicks, they started the rally in great style, with braking distances gradually reducing and bend speeds getting higher. However, the Southern Rain God is not limited to England, and as the rain started to fall and got heavier, all they could do was to cut more and more grooves in the tyres. Eventually, with the tyres looking like a City of London road map and the rain sheeting down in torrents, they had to call it a night when they couldn't put enough power down to get out of corners. The trip to Ulster has been cancelled, and they are now "resting" as we actors say. By the way, French events have one massive drawback if you happen to be a rather tubby and unfit co-driver. At the stage arrival control you have to physically get out of the car (waving your legs like a beached turtle over the door bar) and wait at the control table until your minute has started before getting your timecard signed. You then have ... tick... tick... tick... rather under three minutes to run round the front of the car (RHD of course in a LHD event), leap in in a dynamic and muscular fashion, trip over, lurch in in a rather more normal fashion, stand on the horn button, sit on your belts, sit on your intercom lead, drop your notes on the floor, lose your timecards, fail to get your belts to meet, slacken off your belts, fasten them, tighten them, go "1.. 2.. 3.. testing" and find you haven't got your intercom plugged in, pull the wire out from behind your back in an amusingly stretchy way until it goes sproing and hits you in the teeth, and still be ready for the stage start. All fine and dandy for a few stages, gets rather tedious after the first 15 or so.

Dick Slaughter/Geoff Dearing
have sent me huge amounts of really interesting information which unfortunately I do not have room for in this month's magazine. They are doing the Mintex this year and write "James Potter has helped a lot this year - it makes such a difference having competent service." Here is an excerpt from Dick's comments on the Coys Historic Rally Sprint: "A rather half-hearted ok from me during a 'phone call from John Taylor let to an invitation to bring the car to Silverstone for Pentti Airikkala to drive on Friday 24th July. Having broken down the previous weekend on the Enterprise Printing Rally and then to be rewarded by some pratt of a spectator setting off the extinguishers, I had a busy week preparing the car. "I met Pentti early on Friday morning at Oakley Airfield to set up the car. I sit fairly high and close to the wheel but he more so and tipped slightly forward. He also dialled up about double the amount of rear brake bias that I use and tested the car by slaloming through a series of cones in second gear with much left foot braking. As far as I can tell his technique caused the back to break away in a more controlled manner, thus aiding turn-in. Since the car has an all-alloy engine its front end grip is excellent anyway, so I am unsure about the advantage although it did seem to change direction more abruptly. "We drove in convoy to Silverstone while I reflected on the newly-acquired knowledge that he had rolled the last car he had driven at the rally sprint circuit. "I had a practice run in the passenger seat. I normally hate being driven quickly so it was a surprise how competent and safe it felt. With little power below 5000rpm it can be quite difficult to get off the line with the right amount of wheel spin. Despite virtually no experience with the car, Pentti put in a perfect start and drove the whole stage neatly and accurately. The surface is quite hard and grippy and includes a shallow water splash and quite a big yump on the bridge where the tracks cross. It's fairly tight, so there is not much room to get sideways before you hit the tyre walls which are rock-filled and look very unforgiving. Pentti was third overall in the timed runs. "I was amazed at the number of autograph hunters. Pentti was signing steadily all day, many bought pictures of his cars to sign and lost wanted a photograph standing next to him."

Tony Straker/Brian Hugh
came first in class and 7th overall on the WouldBeGood and had a terrific day.

Richard Worts
says that Ulster was a hoot. He came 28th overall and 4th in class which kept his championship position secure, especially as his two closest contenders found a ditch and a tree. The most amusing sight was apparently Harry Hockley's firework display as his Proton was in flames en route to final service on day one. Needless to say the crew were fine, and were last seen getting out the sausages to start the BBQ. Out of Southern's four British Rally Championship contenders (Ernie Graham, Justin Northage, the Phillipsons and Richard Worts) only Richard is still competing in the championship, which gives you some indication of the amount of commitment and effort this championship requires. Congratulations.

Kerry Young
got her second finish on the WouldBeGood, and put up some excellent times despite problems with the car that resulted in a couple of max's. Her next outing will probably be Longcross next weekend, or the Bombalong stages.