May 10th, 2012
Walker & Morton in their Evo IX
Stuart Walker and Jack Morton take the narrowest of victories. Driving their usual Mitsubishi Evo9, the Bathgate haulier with the youngster from Whickham sitting alongside, would take their maiden maximum championship points on Saturday’s DCC Stages.
Dunfermline Car Club were our hosts for the visit to the Royal Highland Showground near Edinburgh Airport as the championship made it’s first trip into Scotland this year. The day dawned dry, sunny and with a wee nip in the air as competitors set off for the 8:30 start around the tight and twisty roads of Ingliston. And from the off we had 5 championship crews battling it out for each and every second.
Paul Swift and David Cox were quickest out of the blocks as they grabbed a couple of seconds from Chris Anderson and Chris Thirling in their Ford Fiesta. But on the next run our reigning champions; Barry and Michael Lindsay were quickest. So after 2 stages we had Swift / Cox just 1 second ahead of Walker / Morton and then Anderson / Thirling; Ed Todd and Andy Brown were followed by the Lindsays – and just 9 seconds separated the 5 crews. The second pair of stages saw Walker jump ahead of Swift after the Ford Escort crew had a huge lock up following the mid stage yump on stage 3 and had to take to an escape road. Ed Todd was now pushing harder in the little GTM Coupe after his cautious start when he was still concerned about the strain on his drive shafts. Meanwhile Chris Anderson dropped time when he started short shifting as he was worried about his engine pressure. The motor was a freshly rebuilt unit after it ventilated itself just 2 weeks earlier at MIRA. And so at the lunch break, our top crews were now separated by 20 seconds and reduced in number to 4 after Barry Lindsay took a stage maximum on SS4. His newly rebuilt Peugeot 106 hadn’t been driven in anger before the event and after 15 miles the throttle pedal ‘fell off’ giving Barry some cause for concern as he made it slowly out of the stage.
The afternoon runs were pretty much a reversal of the morning ones and again the lead would change hands. This time It was Stuart Walker who hit one of the many stout straw bales in his Mitsubishi and lost ground as Swift and Cox pushed hard and took a few chances on the ‘new stages’ to edge 11 seconds ahead. Todd and Brown had a spin on stage 5 when the driver confessed to not listening to his co-driver but the car still felt good and he was just 4 seconds adrift of Walker / Morton. The Fiesta of Chris Anderson felt better now the stage was running in a clockwise direction and with the engine issues stabilised, he was still going well albeit a further 10 seconds behind.
Into the final pair of tests and it was the Ford Escort crew that cracked under pressure first. They lost over 40 seconds on stage 7 by completing an extra loop as all the other 3 crews recorded the same time – 7:05. Although Swift and Cox were back on the pace over the final 4.7 miles, the damage had already been done and they would end up 10th overall and 4th championship contenders. Chris and Chris from Durham were still mixing it with their rivals and would just lose 2 seconds in their Fiesta over the final run to end up 15 seconds ahead of the Escort in 9th place. So going into the final stage, Walker still led Todd by 4 seconds but the little GTM managed to stop the clocks 3 seconds quicker than the Mitsubishi. The huge smile on the driver’s face at the final control told it’s own story that they’d really enjoyed that stage. Unfortunately for them, they had lost out by a mere 1 second.
What about the other championship crews ? Well first up was Dave Seed in his usual immaculate Ford Escort G4. Dave enlisted the services of seasoned campaigner Colin Tombs to guide him around the stages and they finished in 13th place. The guys had a steady run from 25th place after the opening test to slowly move up the leaderboard as the day developed. Just like most crews with rear wheel drive, they struggled in the dry and warm conditions to find the right rubber. By the end, their tyres were shot but they’d had a good day.
Geoffrey Harkness and Caroline Lodge made their first appearance of the year in their Vauxhall Corsa. As ever, they just kept their heads down and had a trouble free run to not only take 16th place overall, but the class victory on the rally too.
The Malton crew of Russ Radford and Graeme Bell did a solid job and brought the Ford Escort home on 20th place. It was the turn of Russ to drive the once pristine Mark 2 this weekend but he would end up with damage to the front panel and driver’s wing after contact with another competitor. His only other problems were with lack of the appropriate tyres and his gearbox, but fortunately it held out to the end. They would also collect the rally’s class winner’s trophies as well.
Local crew Drew Barker and Shona Hale were next up. A tardy start would see their Vauxhall Astra complete the first test in a lowly 35th place but after a clean run, steady progress would see them move up the leaderboard to 22nd place. They would go home a happy crew having enjoyed their day.
Barry and Michael Lindsay finished right behind them after a rally to forget. It would be a character-building day as the afternoon runs also saw them encounter drive shaft and electrical problems. On the final stage, the little maroon Peugeot coasted to a halt. As Barry fiddled around under the bonnet Michael managed to get the car started again. They completed the stage about 1 minute down.
Next up were the ‘Dad and Lad’ combination from Lauder – Nigel and Callum Atkinson. The Border Ecosse crew were in the minority as they were pleased to record a trouble free day in their little red, Peugeot 205. And our final finisher was Richard Clark in his 1600cc Peugeot 205. The experienced Carlisle man had a consistent day when he was always quicker on the second of the 4 pairs of tests. His only scare being on the final run of the day when he almost ran out of fuel.
Phil Morton and Jo Emma Hind wheeled out their unusual Fiat X19 but retired on the opening loop of the morning. A heavy landing after the mid stage yump caused terminal gearbox woes. Doing a bit better but only managing to complete 3 stages was Eddie O’Donnell Jnr. The man from Mull had a poor opening stage before upping his pace until he span in the fourth test. He couldn’t restart the Ford Escort and had to be towed out of the stage. Although he managed to fix the car during the lunch halt, he opted to run for an early ferry back home and save the car until The Clark.
Thanks go to Dunfermline Car Club for all their efforts in providing another different challenge for the championship. We now have a 4 week break before we’re back to Duns for the Jim Clark National Rally. Entries are coming in well with 57 received already and with the optional discounted rate of £645 closing on the 9th May, those wanting to compete need to act quickly. The final closing date is 1 week later on the 16th with the £100 higher charge added. The rally is running a week later this year but still on the Bank Holiday weekend. The action starts on the Friday night with a couple of tests in the centre of Duns before an overnight Parc Ferme and then the bulk of the event takes place on Saturday, 2nd June. This year the organisers are offering 102 miles of stages run on the closed public roads of Berwickshire. As is customary now, the rally will be based at the Kelso Racecourse – full details of the rally can be found at http://www.jimclarkrally.com/
Tags: championship, racing, Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
February 23rd, 2012
Dunfermline Car Club have had to change the date of their rally so instead of running on the 12h May, it will now happen 1 week earlier. The MSA have agreed to this change and the championship calendar will continue to offer ten rallies with competitors still being allowed to count their best seven scores. More details to follow when the event’s Regulations are published.
Tags: championship, racing, Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
February 7th, 2012
Pete Gibson & Josh Davison - Mitsubishi EVO VI
It’s a top points finish for Pete Gibson and Josh Davison on the North West Stages. This rally is based in Blackpool and run over 24 stages for 75 tough, competitive miles. Some of the tests are run along Blackpool and Fleetwood Promenades and may be quite short in distance, but when mixed with other longer stages, some run in the dark of Friday and Saturday evenings, linked with lots of urban road mileage and then the changeable weather conditions, you come up with a real challenging event. This year would be no different but the championship would have new ‘winners’ in Gibson and Davison.
Driving a Mitsubishi Evo6, the boys set out their stall from the off with a 5th fastest time on the opening Clifton test and although a little slower on the next 3 runs, they would end Friday in 7th overall. Next morning and they set more top 10 times to move up another place by lunch time and then consolidated all afternoon. However, they would leave the final service to tackle 6 more stages in the dark with the worry of a problematic rear diff. The car was now “handling like a pig” as the driver put it, and a spin in the next run over Weeton only put them more on edge so a cautious, controlled approach was required. It became a damage limitation exercise from thereon in but still setting top 20 times on the remaining stages as they dropped time and 3 places over the final, icy stages. 9th place overall was a super finish with some very fast opposition both in front and behind them at the end and Pete’s first ever championship win made it even sweeter.
Taking second in the championship was Paul Swift. Paul had to use a new co-driver for the event and they made a steady start on Friday night to end the session in 14th place. The first stage on Saturday saw him drop about 25 seconds when the car in front stalled at a tight hairpin and as there was no way around the stationary car, precious seconds and 8 places on the leader board were lost. A fight back started immediately with some consistently quick times that moved him up to 10th overall before Lytham Hall. This was just a short blast around the estate and all was going well until the route went down a muddy track and with very little grip, the Escort slid off the road and down a bank. Paul lost over 2 minutes as the marshals eventually pushed him pack onto the track. With 9 stages remaining and the conditions still very difficult, driving with a steady head was the order of the day. He kept posting times just outside the top 10 and moved up a couple of places to take 15th place by the finish. However, this fine result gives him another good haul of championship points and he extends his advantage at the head of the driver’s table to 14 points.
Chris Purvis was once again out co-driving with the non-registered Andrew Fawcett in the indecently quick Vauxhall Nova. They finished the first stage in 17th place and then the rally in 17th place as well. In between time they had some very spirited runs but a misheard call meant they dropped to 64th after missing a split junction on the first Fleetwood test and a trip through the bushes at Clifton. A class win and top 20 finish would be the reward for the 1400-engined car.
Shaun Walker and Jack Morton were our next finishers in their Mitsubishi Evo9. This was another steady run for the Scots driver with the young English co-driver. The Friday tests weren’t good to them and they could only manage 53rd place by Parc Ferme. They picked up the pace into Saturday morning and grabbed 8 top 10 stage times, including a 3rd fastest around Lytham Hall, to catapult them up to 12th by final service. However, problems with the heated front screen and spotlights made life a bit difficult over the final 6 tests run in the dark. The clocks showed the lost seconds and they slipped down the leader board to eventually finish 18th.
Andy Davison would finish 3 places adrift with his new co-driver Paula Swinscoe. Andy’s been working on his new mount over the last 2 weeks but was struggling on Friday as he lay just outside the top 30. A misfiring run on the first Saturday test resulted in a stage maximum and dropped them to 68th. Despite a problematic ECU, their times improved and by the last service, they had moved up to 32nd. A change to some soft tyres really helped them over the remaining 6 stages as they moved up 11 places to finish 21st overall.
The Mitsubishi Evo 6 of Geoff Simpson and Mick Johnson were our next finishers in 26th spot. A slow start for the Ripon crew would see them end the first day in 42nd position. Saturday morning’s progress was slowed with a few overshoots but come the afternoon they settled into a better rhythm and moved up the times. It was a generally trouble free event for them, even though they didn’t enjoy the 6 Weeton tests, and they were once again happy to finish with no panel damage to the car.
Next up were Stephen Ritchie and Ian Harden. Having rallied for many years with Vauxhall Astras, the lads from Sheffield were making their debut in our championship with a big change in car. A move from front to rear wheel drive, would take the experienced crew into a BMW M3 Compact. A canny run in the darkness of Friday’s tests would see them go to bed in 43rd place before they moved up a gear on Saturday. The lads reported no major problems as their consistent times all day took them to 31st overall by the finish.
Our final championship finishers would be Phil Morton and Jo Emma Hind in a Fiat X/19. The Whickham Motor Club crew believe that they’ve found some reliability with the temperamental, little Italian sportscar before the rally even got under way and they were very happy to make it through to the end of a very tough rally.
What about the guys who never made it around all the 24 stages ? 2010 event winners Darren Doherty and Chris Thirling’s debut in their newly built Subaru Impreza only lasted until stage 13 when they stopped; Duncan Wardrop / Ian Crosbie were going well in their Impreza and were up to 15th after the first run through Fleetwood before they retired with differential problems; Keith and Jackie Richardson had a steady run just inside the top 20 for most of the rally before the alternator cried enough with just 4 stages remaining; Peppe Planeta and Chris Williams made a fantastic start in their Fiesta Cosworth with 6th fastest on the first test but this didn’t last and they struggled with drivetrain issues on the Saturday morning before retired on stage 8 with broken driveshafts; Craig Pennington was out to prove the organiser’s seeding of 35 was wrong and went into the overnight Parc Ferme in 9th overall – a misfire on the first Fleetwood stage dropped him to 31st and he pushed over the next 6 stages to get back up to 8th before a stage maximum on the 4th Weeton stage lost more time. His final recovery came to an end on the last run though Weeton when the car stopped altogether; the Renault Clio of Steve Quigley and Terry Martin were running steadily just outside the 30 when a drive shaft broke on the first Weeton stage – they parked up well down an escape road only for a Ford Escort to lose control and slide into their car, the errant Escort crew then continued on their way before retiring with mechanical problems many stages later; Michael Davison also retired his Proton Satria in Weeton when the icy conditions caught him out and he hit a substantial kerb that pushed the wheel right back into it’s arch damaging the subframe and drive shaft; and finally Bill Bates who was making his debut on the event – after his steady run on Friday Bill started to move up the order before the dreaded Weeton stage claimed yet another victim.
A special mention to North West Motorsport, the organisers of the Legend Fires North West Stages for putting on another well run event. All the indoor facilities at the Norbreck Castle Hotel were fantastic with the Rally Village concept adding a truly professional show for everyone to enjoy; the opportunity for spectators to view cars in action on the Promenade stage just over the road from Rally HQ was great and all the competitors who made it back to the finish would know that they had completed in a brilliant event for the clubman. One year they might get some better weather organised too but they always manage to cope with whatever comes along.
It may be only 5 weeks since we kicked off our championship year but we’re already moving into our close season break. The next rally is planned for 12th May when we return to Ingliston Showground near Edinburgh Airport for the D & W Brown Stages. The Regulations for the event haven’t been released yet but once this happens, full details will be available at the rally website – http://www.dunfermlinecarclub.co.uk/
Tags: championship, racing, Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
January 24th, 2012
Paul Swift & David Cox in their Escort mk2
Another swift run for Paul Swift. Driving his Ford Escort with David Cox sitting alongside him again, the Darlington crew enjoyed a trouble free day to end up a fantastic 3rd overall on the day and top points scorer too. Paul set out his stall from the off with a 4th fastest time on the first stage. And despite being slowed by one fast spin on stage 5, Paul’s aggressive driving style was rewarded with consistent top times that would move him into the top 3 by the penultimate stage. His main dilemma was finding the right tyres for each stage, as tyre wear was very high. As darkness started closing in for the final stage, the local lads decided to drive with a little caution over the last 5 and a half miles and consolidate a brilliant result against some very fast competition. As a bonus, this result also moves them into the lead of the championship.
Finishing right behind the Ford Escort were Pete Gibson and Josh Davison in a Mitsubishi Evo6. This young crew would shadow Swift’s Escort all day long but were always just a few seconds adrift. Pete was another to complain about not having the correct tyres but he kept his head down and worked hard to keep out of trouble. His only damage to the car was when he nudged the offside front wing in the tight confines of the double hairpin around the pits complex. Despite going into the final stage 19 seconds behind Swift and Cox, the Mitsubishi crew pushed hard and took back 11 to end up a mere 8 seconds adrift.
Andy Davison and Mike Curry would be our 3rd placed finishers in a fine 6th place overall. Andy had recently acquired an Evolution 5 version of Mitsubishi’s successful rally car and this would be his first drive in anger. Although he set 6th fastest times on the first couple of stages, he lost his way a bit on the other 2 morning stages and at the lunch halt he was down in 11th position. His times improved as the afternoon progressed and by the end of the day he was setting 2nd fastest times, and that was just behind a Focus World Rally Car.
Next up were championship newcomers Steve Quigley and Terry Martin. Having made the long haul from Cheshire to get to Croft, Steve was probably wondering if it was worthwhile when a troublesome gear linkage found him down in 23rd after the first stage. Once fixed, he went out and did the next stage 27 seconds faster. The brightly coloured Renault Clio then continued to set quick times that moved Steve and Terry into the top 10 before they lost 2nd gear near the end of stage 7. They would lose a few more seconds on the final stage but still end up in 8th overall.
And next up in 9th place were the Durham Motor Club pairing of Ed Todd and Andy Brown. The crew once again turned up with their re-fettled GTM enthusiastically looking forward to a more reliable outing. They wouldn’t be disappointed either as they had a generally trouble free event even though their times were a little inconsistent. They did however, just creep into the top 10 and were a very happy crew at the end of the day.
Ann Forster was a navigator on the move for this rally as she accompanied the non registered Michael Pickles to 11th place 7 seconds ahead of David Conley / Mike Scrimgour in the Hillman Avenger. The old car struggled a bit with a loose wire to the alternator but once this problem was rectified they would enjoy a more reliable run. By the finish, their battle scared car show the many contacts with tyre markers and chicanes, as they pressed hard to keep up with the more modern machinery.
Another newcomer to the championship is Stuart Walker in his Mitsubishi Evo9. Stuart’s being a regular competitor in the forests but is now trying his luck on tarmac and enlisted the services of young Jack Morton for this rally. His driving style reflected a sideways approach but the times did get quicker as the day wore on. From 20th after the opening test, the crew moved up to 14th by the end. Their only complaint being that of tyre wear.
Making his debut in a rally was Stuart Bate. Stuart has competed in sprints and hillclimbs in the past but wanted to try competing with someone sitting alongside him – so he’s chosen Giles Dykes. From a lowly start number of 67, he set off on a rather nervous journey into stage 1 where he recorded 29th fastest time. As his confidence grew he went quicker in his Mitsubishi although occasionally going over his limits with a couple of spins but he was a happy man to finish an excellent 17th overall.
David Taylor and Lynsey Brench ended up 5 seconds further back in their Ford Escort Mark2. The Eden Valley duo were really pushing their 1600 powered motor along and despite complaining about tyre choice they steadily moved up the leader board to end up 18th.
Joseph Redmond / Miquel Marini were next up in the unusual Peugeot 306. The Leeds based crew struggled to repeat their 10th overall placing from the Christmas Stages as they tried to get rear tyres working properly – they found it took ages in each test before the rubber was warm and then very quickly the tyres would ‘go off’.
Geoff Simpson and Mick Johnson were a mere 2 seconds adrift of the Peugeot at the end but the smiling crew from Ripon were happy to go home with a straight car. Croft has not been kind to them in the past as they have always suffered a fair amount of panel damage from tyres and bales but their luck may have just changed.
In 30th place was the Honda Civic of Andrew Plunkett / Paul Firth. Even though they had a lot of last minute panics getting the car prepared and then suffered more time consuming spins than they could remember for one rally, it was all worthwhile.
Drew Barker and Shona Hale made the long journey down from Edinburgh with their Vauxhall Astra for their first visit to Croft. They lost time with a drive shaft problem and a huge spin in the darkness of the final stage but still enjoyed their rally.
Colin Barker had one of those rallies to forget, as he had to take not 1 but maximum stage times, the second one after a puncture happened early in the penultimate test.
And lastly we had another ‘lad and dad’ pairing – Andrew and Reg Irving in the little 1400 Peugeot 205. The West Cumbria based crew, had a testing day trying to find the right tyre combination. They made steady progress up the leader board and seemed to have cracked it on SS7. Then on the final run they had a huge moment spinning a full 360 degrees and losing 10 to 15 seconds, but they were still smiling.
A quick mention of those who never made it to the finish. Alistair Hutchinson / St John Dykes packed in on the first test with clutch problems while Alan Cowen and Phillip Coulby retired with a blown head gasket after SS1; Graeme Bell and Russ Radford went home at lunch time after their Escort’s diff broke; the Citroen Saxo of Steven Crowther / David Batley was returned to the service area on the end of a tow rope after contact on stage 5; 2010 champion Michael Glendinning called it a day after SS6 after he’d finished testing his recently acquired Elfyn Evans Impreza; Jon Olds and Janice Moore made it to the end of stage 7 but retired with a misfire and clutch problems respectively.
The second round of the championship certainly didn’t live up to it’s name as the Jack Frost Stages was run in unusually mild weather this year. Although the day dawned damp and breezy, the sun and wind quickly dried out the racing tracks of Croft Circuit and competitors enjoyed the 40 miles of action. Darlington and District Motor Club in association with AUTOGAS 2000 and Cartersport are to be congratulated for coming up with a testing variation of the racing circuit’s roads. The weather caught quite a few competitors out as the dry, grippy tarmac took it’s toll on tyres and some struggled to find the right combination to work on the day.
The next rally is already less than 2 weeks away as we head for the seaside at Blackpool. The Legend Fires North West Stages takes place on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th February. Once again the organisers will be using the fantastic facilities offered by the Norbreck Castle Hotel, with Rally HQ, Scrutineering, indoor Parc Ferme and Champagne finish ceremony all within the hotel’s Exhibition hall. The ‘Cetus Rally village’ will also be open during the rally with trade stands and side shows to entertain the supporters and spectators.
Motor Sport (North West) are retaining the popular format of recent years, with a Friday evening leg giving competitors about 10 miles of stages in the dark and including a spectator friendly stage on the North Promenade directly opposite Rally HQ. The event will continue with Saturday offering of a wide variation of stages at several different venues. Overall, the rally offers approximately 75 miles of sealed surface stages within a compact route of only 150 road miles, creating a very demanding event for competitors, with no hanging around. Entries have been flowing in quickly and at the time of writing 84 crews have registered. Full details are available at the rally website – http://www.nwstages.co.uk/
Tags: championship, racing, Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
January 10th, 2012
As entries continue to arrive on a daily basis, already the names of two former winners will be on the start line when Darlington and District Motor Club’s Jack Frost Stages Rally gets underway at Croft Circuit later this month.
Triple winner from the last three years, Paul Bird, will be travelling over from his Cumbria base but the Penrith Superbike team boss is keeping his cards close to his chest regarding which car he will wheel out on the event sponsored by fuel conversion specialists Autogas 2000 as well as specialist motorsport PR company Cartersport on Sunday 22nd January 2012.
The former National Champion is undecided whether to bring his 2007-specification Ford Focus WRC or to debut his recently-built Ford Escort Mk2 but either way, he’ll face stiff opposition including another ex winner, Dave Holland. The Leek driver won the event back in 2001 and returns for the first time in many years to try to challenge for another victory in his rapid 2.1 litre Ford Escort Mk2.
Also included in the early entries are the drivers who finished second and third overall on the recent Specsavers Christmas Stages Rally. Bishop Auckland youngster Chris Anderson took a career best runner-up placing in his 2000cc Ford Fiesta where he was followed home by Darlington stunt driver Paul Swift in his Ford Escort Mk2. Swift finished third on last season’s Jack Frost and will be hoping for a repeat of that result this year.
Two other former winners are also hoping to be on the entry list as three-times winner Tony Bardy and event sponsor Chris Wise, a twice winner, are facing a race against time to get their cars ready. Both missed the Christmas Stages but Bardy’s Nissan Sunny and the iconic MG Metro 6R4 of event sponsor Wise would be welcome additions.
Remarkably, despite winning the Christmas Stages three times in the past four years, Croft specialist Kevin Procter has yet to add his name to the Jack Frost trophy and the Leeming ace is considering an entry in order to try to put that right this year now the event doesn’t clash with the Autosport International Show whereby Procter has had commitments there in the past.
The event will again comprise up to eight stages totalling around 40 stage miles on the tarmac of the North East’s only permanent race track and will be a qualifying round of the AS Performance North of England Tarmacadam Championship 2012, Fuchs Titan ANCC Stage Championship 2012 and the SG Petch ANECCC Stage Rally Championship 2012.
Scrutineering and documentation take place the same day as the event from 06:00 with the first car starting at 09.15. There are classes for cars up to 1400cc, up to 1600cc, up to 2000cc, over 2000cc and all four wheel-drive cars as well as pre-1981 classic rally cars. The entry fee has been pegged at £195 and the final closing date is Thursday 12th January 2012.
For further information, please contact Terry Wright on 01325 359895 (before 21.00), or via email at chair@darlington-motor-club.org.uk.
Regulations and entry forms are now available at www.darlington-motor-club.org.uk.
Picture attached: Paul Swift has finished third on the last two rallies at Croft (picture courtesy of Tony Todd)
Tags: championship, racing, Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
January 3rd, 2012
Top spot for Chris and Chris. Driving their usual Ford Fiesta, Chris Anderson and Chris Thirling snatched a last stage ‘victory’ to claim the maximum championship points on yesterday’s Specsavers Christmas Stages Rally.
The day dawned with the roads of Croft race circuit covered in patches of ice from a little overnight frost but this was quickly warmed up by the morning January sun. As the day wore on we also endured some wind and a couple of heavy showers with the sunny periods – quite a change from the recent year’s snow and ice. However, there were still enough variable conditions to keep competitors on their toes.
From the off, Anderson and Thirling made their intentions clear with a couple of solid stages to claim 5th fastest overall times and 2nd in championship yet they were lying 19 seconds behind Paul Swift. Over the next 4 stages, the Durham crew got their heads down and with some controlled, determined driving clawed back time to go into the final test just 4 seconds behind. And with their nearest chaser another 47 seconds adrift, it was time for some ‘mantalk’ in the Fiesta cabin. A final push saw them stop the clocks quicker that Swift and take a brilliant 2nd overall in the rally and the top score for the first time. It might appear that the crew have been around for some time as they took their first ever maximum score, but it’s easy to forget that the driver has only had 20 birthdays, and that’s quite a lot less than the co-driver … This perfect start to the year was more than they’d dared hope for after last year’s Christmas Stages when a mechanical problem meant they finished 3rd last.
Taking second championship points were the local crew of Paul Swift and David Cox in a Ford Escort Mk2. Paul and David were our early leaders and managed to hold that position until the darkness of the last stage. Paul was driving with lots more commitment this year and he really benefitted from his good start number; a fact he felt was helping him get clearer runs through the stages too. A poor tyre choice on stage 5 lost a few seconds and after the penultimate stage the crew felt the clutch was starting to slip. And so this problem developed in the last stage to the point where time loss was easily apparent. Added to this was a small spin too and so they lost 30 seconds on this one stage. Never the less, the Darlington crew were happy to get their championship campaign off to a good start.
Taking 3rd co-driver points was another local boy in Giles Dykes. Giles was partnering the non-registered Martin Tinker in his Lotus Exige on some fast laps of the racing circuit that were interspersed with a few offs. These were usually occurring near the start of each test as they struggled to generate heat into the front tyres and understeered off the intended course.
Craig Pennington would take 3rd driver points. The Mitsubishi Evo 9 got off to a poor start with a couple of early punctures that found him a minute down on Swift and Anderson after a couple of stages. This was a gap he’d never recover and was very happy to take a good set of points into the next event.
The next registered contender was Chris Purvis and he was another navigator sitting in a different car – this time it was Andrew Fawcett’s Vauxhall Nova. A very quick run all day and the little 1400 would end up with the giant killing act of the rally taking a cracking 8th overall.
In 9th place overall was Peppe Planeta in his Ford Fiesta. Peppe’s a long time supporter of the championship but he’s often struggled to get some reliability with his hybrid Cosworth engined beast. This year’s event was a welcome change and although he suffered from difficulty selecting gears all day, he was happy to record a good finish. This was a fine reward for his travels from the Isle of Man.
Rounding off the top 10 was the rarity of a Peugeot 306. Joseph Redmond and Miguel Marini were the crew in this tidy version. It was their first appearance for 6 years and after a quick drive around a local road in the days leading up to the rally they discovered a broken gearbox mount. Once fixed, the boys enjoyed a trouble free rally despite incurring a small time penalty.
Right behind the Peugeot was an even more unusual car – a Nissan Pulsar. Jon Olds was the pilot of this exceptionally quick example and he had no problems to report. In fact he revelled on the wet stages and steadily improved after his tardy first stage, where he recorded 15th fastest time, to finish in 11th overall and 6th driver.
Having a good run was Jack Morton sitting alongside Mark McCulloch. Their Proton was only collected on Friday and they were experiencing a few teething problems. They spent all morning trying different rear tyres in an effort to improve the handling so the teenager was happy with 2nd in class.
Colin Butler had a good day in his Subaru Impreza with very consistent times despite his dislike for the slippy stages. Andy Davison and Mike Curry appeared in a friend’s Peugeot 205 as their BMW was still in bits and they were keen to return the car in one piece as well. They found the front wheel drive was totally different to the usual powerful mount but never stopped smiling all day. Newcomers Steven Crowther / David Batley were next in their Citroen Saxo. This was a first event in their new car and their only problem on the way to 29th place was a broken gearbox mount. Next up were the husband and wife pairing of John and Liz Clayton in a Subaru Impreza. A slow start found them 58th fastest but 6 stages later and a lot less spins per stage, they’d moved them up to 39th overall. Russ Radford and Graeme Bell’s day got off to the worst possible start when a puncture cost them dearly. The stage maximum penalty saw them dead last in 64th place so the rest of the day was spent playing catch up. Bill Bates had daughter Katy alongside this time in his Lotus Exige and after a fraught day ended up 45th; his biggest time loss being on the second test when he took a maximum time after the red mist came down mid stage and he kept following the car in front rather than listen to the co-driver’s shouts at the stage split. Ed Todd / Andy Brown suffered another character building experience as they were forced to take stage maximums on the second and fifth stages after drive shaft and wheel bearing problems with the little GTM Coupe. They only just managed to keep running in the rally as they started the penultimate stage just ahead of the closing car when repairs took longer than hoped ! And our final points scorers were Malcolm and Richard Holdsworth. The father and son duo struggled with tyre choice on their Honda Civic but still made it to the finish.
Our only non-finishers of the rally were Darren Rutter and Ann Forster. Darren was enjoying his maiden rally in a Ford Escort Mk1 and was getting quicker all morning. Having moved up to 31st overall and with 2 tests remaining, he decided to call it a day when the gearbox jammed in 5th gear. A disappointing start to his rallying career but we look forward to seeing lots more of this talented youngster from Carlisle.
So the Specsavers Christmas Stages Rally has got our championship off to another good start. Northallerton Auto Club had planned to run in it’s traditional slot between Christmas and New Year but they received a setback at the beginning of December when this date suddenly was no longer available. Instead they had to run a week later with lots of rescheduling. But their efforts were rewarded with a good turnout of competitors and spectators and some reasonable weather too. A big thank you to Ian Jackson and his team for all their efforts in providing a testing rally.
We now have a break of almost 3 weeks before we’re back at Croft for the second round of the championship. The Jack Frost Stages, in association with AUTOGAS 2000 and Cartersport will take place on Sunday January 22nd. Darlington and District Motor Club are hoping to attract more entries this year as they have moved their date back 1 week so the usual clash with the Autosport Show has been avoided. It will be pretty much a similar format to last year’s rally with 8 stages running over 40 competitive miles. The organisers have only received 21 entries at the moment but anyone considering doing the event have until the 12th January to get their entry in.
The link for this rally is www.darlington-motor-club.org.uk/series_home.php?seriesid=31
More details are now available about the Legend Fires North West Stages. For 2012, this popular event will take place on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th February. Once again the organisers will be using the unrivalled facilities offered by the Norbreck Castle Hotel, with Rally HQ, Scrutineering, indoor Parc Ferme and Champagne finish ceremony all within the hotel’s Exhibition hall. The ‘Cetus Rally village’ will also be open during the rally with trade stands and side shows to entertain the supporters and spectators.
Motor Sport (North West) are retaining the popular format of recent years, with a Friday evening leg giving competitors about 10 miles of stages in the dark and including a spectator friendly stage on the North Promenade directly opposite Rally HQ. The event will continue with Saturday offering of a wide variation of stages at several different venues. Overall, the rally offers approximately 75 miles of sealed surface stages within a compact route of only 150 road miles, creating a very demanding event for competitors, with no hanging around. The Regulations have just been published and already there are 55 crews who have registered their entries.
More details at the rally website – www.nwstages.co.uk
Tags: championship, racing, Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
December 24th, 2011
2011 Champions - The Lindsays
We are finally up and running for the 2012 championship year.
The Tyneside Motorsport Group has now been granted a permit by the MSA to once again run a recognised regional championship and we have published the Regulations and Registration Form for next year on the championship website.
As most of you will be aware, AS Performance have agreed to continue with their support of the championship for another year and we’re delighted to have them on board for the fourth season in a row.
This year, we’ve kept the tried and trusted formulas that has served us well over the last year and just tweaked things ever so slightly. Once more the championship will consist of 10 rallies with competitors being able to count their best 7 scores. The only change to the qualifying rounds will be the introduction of the Turnbull Trophy at the expense of the Solway Coast Rally. The Turnbull has been part of the championship a few times but military activity over recent years has meant that the venue was out of bounds for civilian events. Times and people change and we’re pleased that Tynemouth and District Motor Club have managed to secure the use of Albemarle Barracks once again for competition. The airfield roads are different to any other venue we visit so competitors can expect a new challenge for the championship this year. We’ve also retained the same class structure that includes a class for cars running to F1000 and FS1000 specifications – we hope that this will attract new faces and cars to the championship.
The first event of the ’year’ is the Specsavers Christmas Stages Rally. Having been planned to run in it’s traditional slot between Christmas and New Year, the organisers received a setback at the beginning of December when this date suddenly was no longer available. Instead they have been offered Monday 2nd January 2012 and as usual the rally is based at the Croft Circuit. The organisers are offering 7 stages of high quality asphalt covering 40 miles on this compact single venue rally and, because we’re running a bit late with our championship launch, the rally organisers have already published their seed entry list of 70 starters. I’m sure the organisers will be happy to accept more entries so if you’re interested, then go to the rally website http://www.northallerton-ac.co.uk/xmas/
The Jack Frost Stages, in association with AUTOGAS 2000 and Cartersport is scheduled for Sunday January 22nd and will be the second round of our championship. The organisers have this year moved their date back 1 week so the usual clash with the Autosport Show has been avoided. Once again, the event will be based at Croft and run to the similar format of last year’s rally. The organisers have only received 17 entries at the moment but anyone considering doing the event have until the 12th January to get their entry in. The link for this rally is http://www.darlington-motor-club.org.uk/series_home.php?seriesid=31
And finally for now, a quick mention about the Legend Fires North West Stages. Although the rally doesn’t take place until 3rd and 4th February and the Regulations have just been released recently, we have already seen 43 crews registering their entries.
Tags: championship, racing, Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
December 13th, 2011
AS Performance are pleased to annouce their apppointment as a distributor for SHELL Racing Products covering specialist applications in both car and motorcycle markets and also FIA / MSA racing fuels.
Shell Racing Solutions has the technology, know-how and reach to help produce and deliver race-winning fuels and lubricants for all forms of motorsport.
If you’re serious about maximizing your performance, Shell has a wide range of fuels and lubricants designed to help. Whether it’s two or four wheels, club-level or international championships, Shells’ technical resources and years of experience in motorsport help our fuels and lubricants to be the ‘choice of champions’.
Tags: championship, fluids, oils, racing, Rally
Posted in New products, Product news
November 30th, 2011
The Lindsay's with David Bogie
The final event of the 2011 championship was the annual awards presentation and once again it was held at the Grange Club in Chester le Street on Wednesday 23rd November. David Bogie, pictured cental above, the current BRC and SRC champion driver was the special guest for the evening and he kept the large crowd entertained before presenting the trophies to the lucky few. He’s a Star Man!
The good news for next year’s championship is that AS Performance will continue to support the series and we welcome back an old venue to the calendar – Albemarle Barracks when it hosts the Turnbull Trophy. A full list of the qualifying rounds is:-
27th December 2011 – Christmas Stages
22nd January 2012 – Jack Frost Stages
3rd and 4th February – North West Stages
12th May – Ingliston Stages
1st and 2nd June – Jim Clark National
24th June – Turnbull Trophy
12th August – Tyneside Stages
16th September – Lindisfarne Rally
23rd September – Pendragon Stages
4th November – Cheviot Keith Knox Rally
Keep your eyes on the championship website for regulations as we’re just waiting for authorisation / clearance from the MSA.
Tags: championship, racing, Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
November 3rd, 2011
David Bogie is to present the 2011 awards. The details of the Awards Evening are now firmed up and our guest is organised. As the results from the UTS Cheviot Stages Rally are now final, we can get all the trophies engraved and handed out once more.
As mentioned last week, the Awards Evening will be our final “event” of the year. As is customary now, it will be held at the Stadium at Pelaw Grange in Birtley and will take place on Wednesday 23rd November 2011.
A reminder for everyone on how to find the venue; the postal address, is Pelaw Grange Stadium, Drum Road, Chester le Street, Co Durham; if you’re relying on a satellite navigation system – the post code is DH3 2AF and for all the navigators out there you’ll be able to find it on OS map 88, the reference is 271537.
A word of caution about access to the venue. The Council are proposing to start work on the access road into the industrial estate off the A6127 in the next week or so. There will be another update on this situation a couple of days before the presentation.
The guest speaker will be David Bogie , the current BRC and SRC champion driver.
After handing out the awards to the lucky winners, there will be the usual hot buffet and the chance to catch up with everyone over a drink. There will also be the latest news of the 2012 series.
Tags: championship, racing, Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news