December 1999 - Part 1    View full screen in a new window

RAC PCT champion Barry Parker started his BTRDA campaign for the new millennium in fine style by winning Falcon's Guy Fawkes PCT. Colin Reid, Neil Mackay, Alistair Moffatt and Jack Williams won the classes in the National event. Andy Curtis won the Clubmans in his VW Buggy and Murray MacDonald was best Falcon.

Organisers Peter Manning and Arnold Lane had fine weather for their trial at Kensworth. There had been quite a bit of rain in the preceding week but the Saturday was dry and Sunday dawned a fine autumn day. This resulted in ideal conditions. The ground was moist enough to be challenging, but not so muddy as to bring things to a grinding halt or prevent competitors reaching the sections. Just as our February event is the openning round of the RAC the Guy Fawkes is the starter for the BTRDA series, even if it's only November and the year hasn't started! I may be wrong but the BTRDA championship doesn't appear too be very well supported and their appeared to be some un-happiness in the camp over either the rules or the rapidity with which they change. Certainly some of the championship contenders took things very, very seriously.

For those who aren't up to date on the current PCT scene, I should explain that the class structures reflect the modern trend for front wheel drive, and there are two classes for this configuration, one for standard cars, another permitting ballast. Then there are classes for Rear Wheel Drive production cars and Modified or Kit Cars. Where things become a bit confusing is the myriad of tyre pressures, which impose varying degrees of handicap according to engine size and/or length. In a way it's a good system but the problem arises when it comes to deciding the tyre pressures! In the front wheel drive classes most of the regular competitors have migrated into the un-ballested category, which was certainly the most competitive.

Overnight dew made conditions very slippery for the opening round, but Arnold Lane had gauged things exactly right and marked out a course that was competitive but by no means impossible. Something he maintained all day with a series of subtle changes. Most of the aces cleaned the first section over by the hedge in the right hand field, where Dave Nash and Simon Robson were marshalling. The second hill was not front wheel drive friendly and only a select band of rear wheel drive experts gained the summit. As the first round drew to a close Alistair Moffatt had put his stamp on the event, but that was to change on hill seven where Imp men Mike Pearson and Stuart Cairney were in charge. This is the one at the far end of the left-hand field. It starts with a run up the rising leaf strewn grass track, hairpinning into a gully where the gradient rises rapidly. The hump at the top was marked with a four and was followed by a short downhill section before a sharp left up a steep and impossible bank. Alistair couldn't get the family Imp over the hump and dropped four under the eagle eye of fellow Imp exponent Stuart Cairney. Dad Bill got over OK but he had already dropped out of contention. Several of the ballested Front Wheel drives, including our own Andrea Lane, got over the hump OK and dropped two on the impossible bank but the major honours here went to Barrie Parker who got to the one in his little Peugeot 104.

All this left three drivers equal on eight going into the second round. Barrie Parker, Alistair Moffatt and Robin Howard with Jack Williams only one behind. Arnold Lane only made a couple of minor changes to the course for the second round and fewer marks wee lost. In Alistar Moffatt's case none at all and he went to lunch having dropped only eight marks, Robin Howard had lost eleven, Jack Williams twelve and Barrie Parker fourteen. Meanwhile Andy Curtis from Eight Clubs was romping away with the Clubman's in his Buggy in class D. Class C in the Clubman's was very competitive with David Alderson finishing the first round ahead of a closely fought battle between Liam Alderson and Murray and Hazel MacDonald in JAZ. David and Liam were sharing the 1998 triple winning, ex-Graham Brazier 1303, which David had taken in part exchange for his Okrasa rally Beetle. This is of course no ordinary 1303 as it has a type 4 motor lurking under the bonnet. Although these days he is mostly seen trialling his Troll David is no stranger to the VW marque, having rallied, trialled, autotested and raced nearly every possible permutation Ferdinand Porsche's wunder kinder.

Dave Smith continued his battle with fellow pussycat Ken Martin, even though his rear springs had broken	Continuing the Reliant thme Jack Williams gave another fine display of driving to win his battle with Robin Howard
Colin Stephens enjoying a trouble free day in the Skoda convertible he bought from dave Nash, At the moment it has a Skoda chassis, body and engine, and is the right length. Unusal for Nashy!	Michael Leete enjoying his first Front Wheel Drive trial since 1975, when he broke the diff on his Mini at this very venue.

Lunch was taken in glorious sunshine, and most people took advantage of the fare from the Falcon chuck wagon which was in the hands of Christine Manning, who had to work very hard feeding the 5000, albeit with Burgers rather than loaves and fishes! It got quite a bit colder in the afternoon and the marshal's needed their heavy coats. The mechanical gremlins also paid a visit and the Weeks' family seemed to spend more time under the bonnet than on the hills. Dave Smith had broken a rear spring on his Kitten but carried on after bolting it back on with an exhaust clamp to continue his battle with Ken Martin in his similar machine. The thermostat on Ian Lawson's fan had gone on strike and as it is one of those complicated electronic ones Ian couldn't bypass it, so his progress around the sections was increasingly marked by clouds of steam. Martin Cheshire was having a bad day in his Polo, the experiment with narrow section 135 tyres not proving at all successful

Barrie Parker picked up a puncture, but still finished up winning class A in the National, having dropped 22 marks, the same as Jack Williams in class D who was the easy winner here after Robin Howard dropped nine on hill two on the last round. They were both beaten on marks lost by Alistar Moffatt who dropped only four marks the entire afternoon to finish the day on twelve. However, it was Barrie Parker who emerged the winner on index after Peter Manning's mathematics. Things were simpler in the Clubman's as overall winner Andy Curtis was also the guy losing the least marks. David Alderson was the clear winner in Class C after neither Murray or Hazel could get over the starting hump on round three's hill seven, dropping eleven while both the Alderson's both went clear. This contributed to an excellent afternoon's driving by Liam who was only just behind Murray and was best Novice, a status he is unlikely to retain for much longer!

National Event

Overall	Barrie Parker	Peugeot 104	22
Class A	Colin Reid	NovaOverall	64
B	Neil Mackay	Corsa	56
C	Alistair Moffatt	Imp	12
D	Jack Williams	Tempest	22

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