August 97 - Part 1
It was another excellent day at Upper Caldecote on 20 July. We had lovely weather, traditional for our July visit to Neil and Alison’s back garden! And what an entry! Eighteen competitors coming to the start line, including some cars we haven’t seen before.
There were at least half a dozen potential winners signing on for the eleven o’clock start. Neil Bray had his usual Mini, an experienced and consistent performer, he was going to be very hard to beat on home ground. However the Mini had been smoking a bit last time out, a sign of problems perhaps? Then there was Arnold Lane in his similar car. Arnold’s car is trials prepared and rides a bit too high, but he is really getting the hang of Autotests and is very, very fast, but the blood sometimes rushes to his head, resulting in penalties.
Then there’s Matt Clarke, young, and an excellent PCT driver. Matt doesn’t have a lot of Autotest experience, but has shown tremendous promise in his Nova road car. Murray MacDonald and Simon Robson have both done a lot of Autotesting. Simon has driven a lot of different cars in these events over the years. His Skoda trial’s machine is certainly not ideal on paper, but Simon’s a tremendous competitor and has secured several FTD’s at Upper Caldecote in this motor, but has never beaten Neil when he’s been driving his Mini. Would this be his day?
Matt Clarke chased Neil hard all day
Murray was out again in son Iain’s Golf. Murray has done it all in his time, Rallies, Autocross, PCT’s, Classics, Autotests, you name it. However he went into "retirement" for several years while he concentrated on his business. Now he’s back with a vengeance, competing in most of the ACTC Classic Trials championship events in his 1302 Beetle and he’s on for an MCC Triple this year. Murray set FTD in the Golf at our last Autotest, but then Neil wasn’t there!
Last, but not least in my list of likely winners comes "Dashing David" Alderson in his Troll. Another trial’s machine, it’s a bit high off the ground, but it’s very manoeuvrable and has an enormous power to weight ratio. David’s another member who has competed in a lot of different branches of our sport. He’s a tremendous competitor and it’s pure joy to watch him throw his Troll around the cones. But is he prepared to concentrate on a steady drive, aimed at fast times, or is he out for the most fun?
These were the seeded players but they had challengers. Peter York had his Nova and was very tidy last time out before retiring with mechanical problems. John York had found his Skoda Rapid a handful around the cones and had bought along a Vauxhall Tigra this time. Andrea Lane is pretty proficient behind the family Mini at PCT’s and gets faster every Autotest outing. Tom Goggin, Mike Furse and Martin Sheppard all drove their usual cars. Martin has started to show a lot of promise in his Dutton Melos but had handicapped himself by equipping it with an ex Simon Robson carburettor since the last event!
Then came the wildcards. People and cars not seen before. Emma Lane has an excellent pedigree and has done well at the Gymkhana’s. How would she fair at an Autotest in her Nissan Micra? Sue Moss also took part at the recent Kensworth event and was driving Martin’s Melos at Upper Caldecote. All the way from California came a type four engined Fugative and Owen Briggs shared his car with Martin Baynes. Neither had competed in an Autotest before, would they be able to manoeuvre the long wheel-base special around the cones? Finally came a brand new machine. The "Sprint", driven by Stephen and Neal Jackson. This car was constructed by father Geoff who entrusted it to his son's on it’s debut. That’s confidence for you!
Emma Lane had a good drive in her Nissan Micra. Mum and Dad had better watch out!
Alan Davies had laid out some very open tests and Simon Robson took advantage of this to be fastest on the first one. This spurred on Neil Bray, and he gritted his teeth to pull back the deficit and gain a lead at the end of the first round with 112.65. Matt Clarke also had a slow start but soon recovered, to become the main challenger, less than three seconds behind on 115.13 despite a wrong course on his first attempt at test four. Snapping at their heals came a hole host of competitors within a second of each other. Murray MacDonald was on 117.50, David Alderson 118.11, despite spending quite a lot of time on two wheels, Peter York had a good first round on 118.18, Arnold Lane, another to show us the underside of his car, was on 118.74 and Simon Robson 118.38. Pretty close stuff!
While competitors were having lunch Alan Davies laid out the next set of tests. Number seven was to cause quite a few problems and open up the field. The outward run was a wide loop, returning with a zig-zag, hairpin right, hairpin left and so on. Matt Clarke and Neil Bray were the first to go and had no problems. But then a whole host of people got wrong courses on their first run, including, Peter York, Arnold and Andrea Lane, Murray MacDonald and David Alderson. Most got it right second go, at the expense of a slower, "rather safe than sorry" time. But sadly Peter York was penalised again the second time around, dropping him out of overall contention.
By the last round Neil’s Mini was throwing out a lot of smoke, but such minor details have never concerned Neil too much and he carried on to set Fastest Time of the Day. An excellent run, fast smooth and without any penalties. Matt Clarke was second overall and took the class win after a very tidy drive. Murray MacDonald and Simon Robson had a ding dong class battle all day, the verdict just going Murray’s way, despite some uncharacteristic pylon bashing.
David Alderson won the well-supported open top class from Stephen Jackson in the new Sprint, despite losing the spare wheel on one test! Owen Briggs and Martin Baynes struggled manfully with the long wheel-base Fugative. It really was a handful, but I hope they enjoyed themselves and will return. Incidentally there are some interesting rumours about the next project to emerge from Owen’s workshop. My lips are sealed, I know nothing! So ended another excellent closed to club event. Eighteen entries is really good and our committee are to be congratulated on finding a successful formula. Take a bow ladies and gentlemen.
Owen Briggs found the long wheelbase Fugative a bit of a handfull.
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