February 13th, 2011
As mentioned in the last bulletin, Dunfermline Car Club were going to run the Ingliston Stages on Saturday 26th March but following the changes in personnel at the club this has now been postponed. The revised date is Saturday 23rd April and the location of the rally will be the usual old race track next to Edinburgh Airport. The new team are working on the details of the event and hope to have the Regulations available sometime next month. These will be available from the club’s website www.dunfermline.cc
There’s also news about the 5th round in the championship – the Jim Clark National. The organisers have issued ‘rally guide 1’ which provides lots of preliminary information about the event. Some of the key points are
• Entry fee will be £645 and you can place your entry between 14th March and 3rd May but after the 4th May, the fee is increased
• A Recce is available on either Sunday 22nd or Thursday 26th May
• Scrutineering will be on Friday 27th
• Rally starts later on the evening of 27th
• Centralised servicing is based at Kelso Racecourse
• Rally finishes on Saturday afternoon, 28th
Full details can be found at the rally’s website – www.jimclarkrally.com
Tags: championship, Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
February 9th, 2011
Alistair Hutchinson and St John Dykes take the championship spoils after a difficult North West Stages. Driving their usual Renault Clio, the Northallerton crew will be the first to admit it wasn’t an easy victory. And that’s not just because of the horrible weather – lots of wind and rain on Friday night and then just lots and lots of rain on Saturday’s 20 stages.
The Teesdale boys probably thought that after driving most of their last rally with no assistance to the steering, they could forget about any further possible problems after a pipe change before this rally. However after the 4 stages on Friday night, a new power steering pump had to be fitted before parc ferme. Then they suffered a problem with some wheel studs before a drive shaft went on the 4th visit to Weeton and they ended up with a stage maximum time. A steady run over the last 6 stages got them home to a fine 10th overall and top championship points.
Next up in 14th overall was Pete Gibson and Chris Dodds. Pete is returning to the series after being runner up in 2009 when he was driving a Nova. He’s now acquired a Mitsubishi Evo 6 and looking to get higher up the running order. The plan didn’t work for this event as he was seeded at 61 after finishing inside the top 20 on the 2009 version of North West. However, he immediately set about proving the organisers wrong and finished Friday’s 4 stages in 29th place, despite the demister not working. He struggled on all rally with the problem but continued to push when he could see properly and moved up the order to a fine 2nd place championship finish.
A further 3 places behind after the final stage was Craig Pennington. He was running his Evo 9 version of a Mitsubishi and was on the pace start from the off and completed day 1 in 7th place. He maintained that speed and position despite fighting with a dodgy diff that kept him on his toes for the rest of the event. This all became academic when he was awarded a 5 minute penalty for early arrival at stage 20.
In fourth place for the championship, were the father and son pairing of Michael and Josh Davison. The crew from Tynemouth MC don’t make many appearances together in their Proton Satria so it was good to see them feature on the rally. Their only problem was a shattered nearside window after they came too close to a chicane. A temporary fix with some polythene kept them ‘watertight’ for the rest of the day and got them to the end of the rally in 20th place. Just 2 seconds further back after 75 competitive miles were Stephen Bethwaite / Ann Forster in their Vauxhall Nova – they struggled with no starter on Saturday and were glad of a few marshal’s assistance when they drowned their engine in one of Weeton’s puddles. A quick dose of WD40 later, a push start and they’re back in the rally, albeit with iffy steering and lots of water in the car. Still they made it back to the Norbreck Castle and a hat trick of class wins on this rally. Geoff Simpson and Mick Johnson finished 6th for the championship with a mainly trouble free drive – that is apart from the barrel that jumped out from one of the Promenade chicanes and damaged the Mitsubishi Evo X front panel and wing ! Richard and Andy Barnard were next up in their Subaru Impreza. Making their debut in the series, the son and father from Cockermouth settled in with a steady run and were happy with some good points. And our last scorers were the Spadeadam crew of Nigel Hepburn and James McWhir. Having just taken delivery of the Peugeot 206, the first drive of the car was over the start ramp so they were delighted just to record a finish.
So what happened to some of our other runners and riders in the atrocious weather conditions ? Chris Myers / Matt Whattam were charging along in 17th place when the turbo expired on the Evo 9 after stage 11; Paul Swift suffered in the darkness of Friday night with alternator problems and after 4 stages he was in 88th place. A string of top ten times on Saturday moved him up the order to 57th before he stopped in the mud on stage 17; Peppe Planeta didn’t make around the first stage after attacking too hard and coming off second best to one of Weeton’s kerbs; Duncan Wardrop and Ian Crosbie were going well in 9th place overall when the management warning light starting illuminating on the last Promenade stages and they never made it to the final loop of stages; Mark and Matt Thompson changed rear shockers on Saturday but the driver still felt he wasn’t in control of the car and he stopped on the final stage along with Barrie Thomson / Jerry Hettrick. The Carlisle team suffered with an oil leak on Saturday afternoon but were ‘topping up’ between stages and although a new oil cooler at final service helped, they lost out just before the finish when lying 20th overall; Paul Dolan / Derrick Fawcett struggled from the off and eventually retired after stage 14 with mechanical woes. It’s rare to report that we had more retirements than finishers on the rally but that just confirms how testing the event is.
And so with the first 3 rounds of the series run, we have Chris Grieve still leading the driver’s championship from Alistair Hutchinson, Paul Swift, Craig Pennington and Barry Lindsay. There’s only 4 points separating these guys while across in the co-driver’s section Ann Forster already has a 10 points lead over Paul Makepeace with St John Dykes, David Cox and then Michael Lindsay close behind.
Congratulations to Motor Sport (North West) Ltd for putting together a fantastic show over the whole rally weekend. The Legend Fires North West Stages is always a real, nonstop challenge for competitors with it’s stages run in many different conditions. This year the organisers had to cope with the very adverse weather conditions as well as many road works that affected the link sections between the 24 planned stages. Amazingly, every stage ran and mostly on time too !
There’s now a 7 week break before the next scheduled round of the championship which is the Ingliston Stages. This is planned for Saturday 26th March and the location is the usual old race track next to Edinburgh Airport. Dunfermline Car Club are the organisers of the rally but as most of you reading this will be aware, the club are at a crossroads and considering their future direction. An extra ordinary meeting of the members will decide the next steps and once more details are available, we’ll have an official update to keep you all in the picture.
Tags: Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
January 18th, 2011
Paul Dolan / Rachael Fawcett in action
Swift by name and swift by nature. Paul Swift and co-driver David Cox produced a controlled drive to finish top crew on this weekend’s Cartersport Jack Frost Stages. Driving their immaculate Ford Escort Mark2 the local boys were determined to improve on their finish on the Christmas Stages. The lack of snow and ice this time around meant they could attack the 8 stages with more confidence than before. Their tyre choice was much better too and the precision driving expert was able to ‘do the day job’ to great effect. In the opening stages he set a couple of 4th quickest times before moving up to 3rd overall at the halfway point. After lunch he was one of the crews to struggle with the conflicting stage furniture / diagram information that caused some competitors to take the wrong route on stage 5. The stage was eventually cancelled so Paul and David consolidated with more consistent, neat and tidy driving to maintain position. Going into the final stage and the darkness, Paul decided not to gamble on pushing any harder and settled for a fine 3rd overall.
Although they were our top crew, Ann Forster finished in second place overall alongside the unregistered Martyn Tinker. Ann had ‘jumped ship’ from Stephen Bethwaite’s Nova for the day and her regular driver was there supporting her with a huge smile on her face all day as she enjoyed the Lotus power so much.
Next up was the Scottish pairing of Stuart Baillie and Dave Cranston. The boys were making their debut in this year’s championship and brought along the recently re-fettled Subaru Impreza. With a gearbox returned from TegSport and fitted in the week leading up to the rally, they thought they were ready to go until the clutch was started acting up when the car was loaded onto the trailer for Saturday’s run to scrutineering. This was fixed before the long drive to Croft and then it became apparent during the rally’s opening stage that all was not well with the head gasket. More time was lost on stage 2 when they stalled after a spin. Stages 3 and 4 were improvements before they went to lunch in 10th place. Top 3 times on the next 2 saw them move up to 4th before the final dark stage. As neither of the team had been to Croft before they lost a bit of pace on the final run to end up a fine 5th overall. A character building experience that earned them a good bagful of Championship points too.
Next up was another new crew to the championship – Simon and Janice Moore. Driving their Renault Clio, the husband and wife pairing scored consistently top 9 times all day to earn them a 6th place finish. Their only problem was a nearside rear disc that was fouling on the wheel. Once they realised this, they managed to change the offending item in the lunch break and then continue their march up the leaderboard with an improved braking system.
Chris Grieve and Paul Makepeace continued on from their fine 7th overall at the snowy Christmas Stages to take the same result on the return visit to Croft. Although part of their result last time was attributed to having the right tyres on their Peugeot 106, the boys showed it wasn’t the only reason for their success. Chris capitalised on his circuit racing experience of Croft and showed he’s got plenty of driving skill too. A spin on the first proper stage left them down in 20th place and with plenty of commitment they worked their way back up the leaderboard and 4th championship crew. A further 23 seconds back were the Northallerton AC members Alistair Hutchinson / St John Dykes. The local crew managed to wheel out their Renault Clio after their recent troubles but they’d still brought the troubles along too. On the opening stage they lost all power steering. The issue turned out not to be a jumped belt but damaged pipe. As they didn’t have a spare, plan B was to stop any further leaks and build up the arm muscles. Unfortunately for them the stage layouts contained many tight chicanes that most crews were unhappy with. 7 stages later, an exhausted Alistair was happy to finish 8th overall. And in 9th place were Dave Conley / Mike Scrimgour with their Historic specification Hillman Avenger. Having solved their head gasket problem from their last outing, it would be the gearbox to give them grief this time around. They lost 5th gear on stage 4 and then 3rd would become troublesome in the afternoon. However, they continued to push and the box held out to the end.
Next up were the Lindsays in 11th overall but an unfamiliar low position in relation to our championship. They suffered in the tight chicanes and rarely having the right tyres on for the right weather conditions; in 15th overall were an untroubled Chris Anderson / Chris Thirling getting a second successive finish; Rob Hornshaw and Dave Boyes ended up 16th after 2 minutes of penalties were applied for ‘taking an incorrect route’ – a real shame as they would have been 4th overall otherwise; Neil Ayre was happy after his trouble free day to end up 18th overall; Chris Myers / Matt Whattam were next up in a very battered looking Mitsubishi after getting too close to a chicane on stage 1; Paul Dolan was another to lose out with the chicanes as he had to use reverse gear often to get around some of them even though his handbrake was working well; Barrie Thomson / Jerry Hettrick were pleased to be very much on the pace of the class 2 masters – the Lindsays – until they completed one more loop than necessary on stage 7; Bill Bates and daughter Kari Bosworth managed to get their smoking Lotus Elise to the finish and it’s scheduled rebuild; Geoff Simpson / Mick Johnson were happy to finish with an unmarked or damaged Mitsubishi this time even though they lost out with a wrong tyre choice from the off; Kevin Hullah and Chris Harding return after gearbox woes last time netted 55th; followed by David Martin and Dave Bell whose Vauxhall Astra struggled with fuel problems on stage 2 and left them in 76th position but they would recover to 56th by the end and finally 1 second behind in 57th place was Richard Clark / James McWhir in an ageing, mechanically standard Peugeot 205 that had over 110K on the clock – apart from a small fire they had no problems.
So after the opening 2 rounds at Croft, the driver’s championship is led by Chris Grieve and followed by Paul Swift, Barry Lindsay, Chris Myers and Stuart Baillie while the co-driver’s table is headed by Paul Makepeace from the tying pair of David Cox and Ann Forster followed by Michael Lindsay and Matt Whattam.
Special thanks go to Darlington DMC for organising the Cartersport Jack Frost Stages. They managed to provide warmer weather than last year and despite losing a couple of stages, put on another stern, testing rally. They’re already talking with the Croft Circuit owners about next year’s event and considering improvements to make the show better.
The third round of the championship is the Legend Fires North West Stages. This is run over the weekend of Friday 4th and Saturday 5th February and will be based once again around the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool. As usual there will be a ‘Rally Village’ where all the pre rally stuff, start, parc ferme, finish and presentation will take place there. A couple of the Friday night stages are run just over the road from the Norbreck so spectators are well looked after too. The organisers have already received more than the 100 entries that they will start with so if you haven’t put your entry in yet it’s highly unlikely that you’ll get a run. Full details are available the event’s website www.nwstages.co.uk
Tags: Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
December 29th, 2010
Chris Grieve and Paul Makepeace at Croft
Chris Grieve and Paul Makepeace take the spoils on a snowy Christmas Stages. Driving their usual mount of a Peugeot 106, the youngsters from west Northumberland emerged as top championship contenders on a very wintery rally yesterday. Although the engine of their little car might have lost out in the power stakes to many others, the lads scored with a good tyre choice that provided the grip in the snow, ice and slush that their opponents’ struggled to find. A trouble free drive for the ex Legend racer would see the crew take a fine 7th overall in the rally with maximum points and the lead in the championship.
Next up were the Lindsays in 10th overall. The Carlisle crew tried hard all rally and at the end of the day, the panel damage to both doors showed they were sometimes just over the edge of control. As ever though, they embarrassed most of the rally finishers with bigger, more powerful machinery. And in third place were our reigning champions, Michael Glendinning and Andrew Roughead. Although the four wheel drive of their Subaru Impreza provided better grip, the changeable conditions on stages still caught them out occasionally. Michael may have been disappointed with the number of spins he suffered as he lost count. He was pleased though as he didn’t hit anything during these gyrations !
Just about everyone had a similar story to tell about the lack of grip, wrong tyre choice, spinning, hitting tyres / bales / Armco or just having lots of traffic to contend with. Chris Myers and Matt Whattam complained of poor tyre choice on their Mitsubishi Evo9 for the opening stages but improved in the afternoon to finish 14th; right behind in his Mitsubishi Evo7 was Craig Pennington. Craig was happy just to start the event as his co-driver dropped out late on and he still didn’t have anyone to sit beside him 30 minutes before the start – a broken co-driver’s window resulted from contact with the scenery on the first stage and he finished the last stage with a straw covered bonnet and wing; Paul Swift and David Cox were debuting their immaculate, new Mark 2 Escort but even with all of Paul’s professional driving skills he struggled with poor tyres; Paul Dolan was another with the wrong tyres fitted in the morning but was happy to move up from 77th overall after stage 1 to finish 25th; even though he was feeling unwell Chris Clark had a trouble free day in his Ford Ka to end up 30th.
Of those who suffered bigger problems, Ed Todd and Andy Brown couldn’t get grip in the morning and suffered several spins. He was making some progress in the afternoon until the heavy drizzle arrived and then he realised his wiper wasn’t working – he arrived at the end of the last stage with zero visibility and glad the day was over; Geoff Simpson / Mick Johnson had an argument with one of Croft’s famous green and yellow Armco barriers and the Mitsubishi Evo X looks a bit second hand now; Andy Davison / Mike Curry just couldn’t get the power from their BMW M3 onto the road – they did get the crowds entertained though with huge slides; Bill Bates and Kari Bosworth lost a wheel from their Peugeot 106 on the first stage and took a stage maximum; and finally the same fate befell poor Chris Anderson when his Ford Fiesta stopped on the second stage.
Northallerton Automobile Club once again should be congratulated on running a slick event in trying conditions. Although they may have been praying for ‘better weather’ than last time when they struggled just to get the rally to run in all the snow, they still had to fight the additional elements of ice and snow. Fortunately, the situation wasn’t so bad this time around and by the end of the day a steady thaw was turning most of the stages into slush or even a clear track. Never the less, Ian Jackson and his team put an awful lot of effort into making the rally a success.
The Cartersport Jack Frost Stages on Sunday January 16th is the next round of the series and will also be based at Croft again. This rally will be run on a similar format to recent years and the organisers are putting on 8 stages with a mileage of about 36 competitive miles Those crews who are interested in taking part will need to get their entry in by Tuesday 4th January for this one. The entry list stands at 45 at the moment but there’s sure to be lots of interest now that the Christmas Stages is over. The link for the rally is www.darlington-motor-club.org.uk/series_home.php?seriesid=27
And now some more details about the third round of the championship – the Legend Fires North West Stages. The rally is scheduled for the Friday 4th and Saturday 5th February and will be based as usual in Blackpool. Once again the Norbreck Castle Hotel will be the headquarters with all the pre rally stuff, start, parc ferme, finish and presentation happening there. The organisers of this popular event are offering 75 miles of sealed surface stages within a compact route of only 130 road miles. Although the Regulations have only been available for a couple of weeks, there are currently 74 crews registered to enter and the maximum entry is 100. The first 90 are accepted on first come – first served basis and final 10 will be at the organisers’ discretion. It goes without saying that anyone considering doing this rally should get their entry in as quickly as possible. Full details are available the event’s website www.nwstages.co.uk
Tags: Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
December 20th, 2010
We are now up and running for 2011.
The championship has finally been granted a permit and we have published the Regulations and Registration Form for next year on the new championship website -ww.nerallychamp.com
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 very pleased to have them on board again.
This year, we’ve kept the tried and trusted formulas that we had 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 Solway Coast Rally at the expense of the Crail Stages. The Solway is new territory for us and the venue will be the Dundrennan military ranges near to Kirkcudbright. The roads are different to Otterburn and any MOD airfield so we can expect a new challenge for the championship. 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 and it’s back in it’s traditional slot between Christmas and New Year. This rally will run on Tuesday 28th December and will be based as usual at the Croft Circuit. The organisers are offering 8 stages of high quality asphalt covering 40 miles on this compact single venue rally and they have already received the first 85 entries that are guaranteed a run. They have also received over 25 entries for the remaining 10 entries to be chosen at their discretion and the seeded entry list is expected anytime now. For more information, go to the rally website www.northallerton-ac.co.uk/xmas/ I’m sure the organisers will be hoping for ‘better weather’ than last year as they struggled just to get the rally to run in all the snow.
The Cartersport Jack Frost Stages on Sunday January 16th is the second round and will also be based at Croft again. The organisers haven’t received as many entries as the Christmas Stages and you will need to get your entry in by Tuesday 4th January for this one. The link for the rally is http://www.darlington-motor-club.org.uk/series_home.php?seriesid=27
And finally for now, a quick mention about the Legend Fires North West Stages. Although the rally doesn’t take place until 4th and 5th February and the Regulations have just been released this week, there are over 55 entries received already.
Tags: Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
December 15th, 2010
We are now up and running for 2011 and with a new website too – it’s www.nerallychamp.com Please amend any URLs that you have saved as ‘Favourite’ or ‘Bookmark’ in your web browser to the new ‘.com’ address.
The championship has finally been granted a permit and we have published the Regulations and Registration Form for next year on the new 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 very pleased to have them on board again.
This year, we’ve kept the tried and trusted formulas that we had 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 Solway Coast Rally at the expense of the Crail Stages. The Solway is new territory for us and the venue will be the Dundrennan military ranges near to Kirkcudbright. The roads are different to Otterburn and any MOD airfield so we can expect a new challenge for the championship. 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 and it’s back in it’s traditional slot between Christmas and New Year. This rally will run on Tuesday 28th December and will be based as usual at the Croft Circuit. The organisers are offering 8 stages of high quality asphalt covering 40 miles on this compact single venue rally and they have already received the first 85 entries that are guaranteed a run. They have also received over 25 entries for the remaining 10 entries to be chosen at their discretion, and the closing date for entries is Thursday 16th December – more information can be found on the rally website www.northallerton-ac.co.uk/xmas/ I’m sure the organisers will be hoping for ‘better weather’ than last year as they struggled just to get the rally to run in all the snow.
The Cartersport Jack Frost Stages on Sunday January 16th is the second round and will also be based at Croft again. The organisers haven’t received as many entries as the Christmas Stages and you will need to get your entry in by Tuesday 4th January for this one. The link for the rally is www.darlington-motor-club.org.uk/series_home.php?seriesid=27
More details can be found at our new website: – www.nerallychamp.com
Tags: Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
November 9th, 2010
Guy Wilkes with Michael Glendinning & Andrew Roughead
The final event of the 2010 championship, the annual awards presentation, was held at the Grange Club in Chester le Street on Wednesday 3rd November. It was a good attendance with lots of old and new faces there to see the glassware awarded and hear from the special guest for the evening Guy Wilks. Guy kept everyone entertained with his rallying tales and his enthusiasm for the sport is fantastic – we wish him well as a Peugeot driver in 2011. Top Man !
Catch up with Guy’s progress at www.guywilks.com
AS Performance have agreed to continue with their support in 2011, the qualifying rounds being :-
CHRISTMAS STAGES 28th December 2010
JACK FROST STAGES 16th January 2011
NORTH WEST STAGES 4th and 5th February 2011
INGLISTON STAGES 26th March 2011
JIM CLARK NATIONAL 27th and 28th May 2011
TYNESIDE STAGES 31st July 2011
SOLWAY COAST RALLY 14th August 2011
PENDRAGON STAGES 28th August 2011
LINDISFARNE RALLY 11th September 2011
CHEVIOT KEITH KNOX 23rd October 2011
Keep your eyes on the website for regulations as we’re just waiting for authorisation / clearance from the MSA.
Stay updated at www.nerallychamp.com
Tags: Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
October 20th, 2010
The final event of the 2010 championship is the annual awards presentation. This year’s awards night will be very similar to recent years in that it will follow a familiar format and be held at the same place.
The place is The Grange Club in Chester le Street and date is Wednesday 3rd November, start time will be 8:30.
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.
And the special guest for the evening is Guy Wilks
As well as 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 2011 series. The award winners are:-
OVERALL DRIVERS CO-DRIVERS
1st Michael Glendinning Andrew Roughead
2nd Barry Lindsay Michael Lindsay
3rd Bob Grant Pete Carstairs
CLASS 1
1st Andrew Fry Michael Hunter
2nd Stephen Bethwaite Ann Forster
3rd Chris Clark NO AWARD
CLASS 2
1st Gareth White Callum Atkinson
2nd Malcolm Davey Paul Slingsby
3rd Chris Grieve Caroline Lodge
CLASS 3
1st Mark Thompson St John Dykes
2nd Dave Seed Graham Malthouse
3rd Alistair Hutchinson Chris Thirling
CLASS 4
NO AWARDS
CLASS 5
1st Paul Dolan Giles Dykes
2nd David Hope Fiona Gourlay
3rd Paul Hughes Derrick Fawcett
Congratulations to all the award winners, we look forward to seeing you all on the 3rd. Everyone will be welcome so bring your friends along to enjoy what should be a cracking night.
As usual, more details of the championship can be found via the link on our home page – www.nerallychamp.com
Tags: Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
October 11th, 2010
Another exciting drive from Michael Glendinning and Andrew Roughead sees them crowned North of England Tarmacadam Rally champions ! Driving their Subaru Impreza, the local crew dominated the Cheviot Keith Knox Rally and very nearly won the rally outright too.
Whickham and District Motor Club joined forces with Hadrian Motor Sports Club to run the final rally of the 2010 championship over the undulating MoD roads near Otterburn. With ever increased activities on the military ranges, the organisers had to run their event 2 weeks earlier than planned and despite 2 other popular rallies taking place that weekend, they were very glad to see 60 competitors take to the start of 11 stages over the eastern side of complex.
Going into this rally, the championship was still wide open with 3 crews still able to take the top prize – Glendinning / Roughead; Barry / Michael Lindsay and Bob Grant / Pete Carstairs. Although Grant was 2 seconds quicker than Glendinning on the opening stage he dropped back when he was baulked by a slower competitor on the next longer stage. Glendinning was able to take the lead of the rally on stage 3 after Grant suffered a puncture and lost more time. But on stage 5, the white Subaru of Grant / Carstairs left the road at high speed and the crew were taken to hospital to be checked out. So with his nearest contender in the rally out, Glendinning could have backed off – but he didn’t. He continued to push hard trying to keep a World Rally Car at bay but with a couple of stages to go felt the steering rack come loose. A touch of welding kept the offending item in place for the rest of the rally and his only other complaint was the lack of stopping power over the 2 long stages. This probably accounted for him dropping to second place on the last stage. So he may have been disappointed to lose the rally by 3 seconds, but this would be made up with the knowledge of taking maximum points in the championship.
Next up would be our current champions – the son and father pairing of Barry and Michael Lindsay. Driving their usual Peugeot 106 the Carlisle crew reported that the new springs fitted before that start helped the car’s performance over the challenging roads while their only problems were getting through the many chicanes. They managed to clear most of them but broke both door mirrors and the navigator’s side window late in the day. Another fabulous 6th overall result sees them take second championship points.
7th overall and 3rd in our points was Paul Hughes. Driving an aging Mitsubishi Evo VI, Paul had no dramas all day and as a regular navigator was happy to finish in the top 10 drivers. In 8th overall we have the Durham pairing of Dave Seed and Mick Morpeth. Having repaired the damaged steering rack on their Ford Escort G4 after their last outing, the boys had no problems all day until the last stage when the intercom failed. Giles Dykes would end up 1 second further back after another good solid run navigating in a Subaru Impreza; just over a minute further back was Jimmy Knox co-driving for bother Kevin while a further 12 seconds in arrears was the Peugeot 206 of Mark and Matt Thompson – a damaged drive shaft near the end of stage 4 being their only problem; David Hope / Fiona Gourlay were next up – a problematic misfire slowed them and a close shave with some cows on stage didn’t help either; Chris Anderson / Chris Thirling finally made it to the finish of a rally this year despite the car feeling down on power and the youngster getting used to pacenotes; Edward Todd brought his GTM Coupe home in 30th overall despite losing over 6 minutes on stages 6 with an overshoot that ‘beached’ the little car – it’s a shame as they were 10th overall before they hit the problem; Stephen Bethwaite and Ann Forster were next and claimed maximum class points in their little Nova despite a slow start to the rally – they blamed a lack of confidence in their pacenotes too.
It’s good to report that the list of non finishers was a short one for a change. Unusually Bob Grant and Pete Carstairs went off the road on stage 5 after their Subaru Impreza came over a crest to be greeted by a couple of stationary cars parked at the chicane. David Conley / Mike Scrimgour had a new BRM engine in their Hillman Avenger and the extra power helped push them up to a fantastic 8th overall after stage 7. Unfortunately, the soaring temperature gauge signalled a blown head gasket on the next stage. And co-incidentally, they would arrive back in service on the end of a rope after being towed in by John Mark Hardy and Graham Reader. The local boys decided to call it a day with gearbox problems in their Subaru having just moved into the top 20.
Provisionally we can say that Michael Glendinning and Andrew Roughead are the new champions with Barry / Michael Lindsay taking the runners up spot and Bob Grant / Pete Carstairs in 3rd place. And the class winners are as follows:-
Class 1 Andrew Fry and Michael Hunter
Class 2 Barry Lindsay and Michael Lindsay
Class 3 Mark Thompson and St John Dykes
Class 4 Rob Hornshaw and Dave Boyes
Class 5 Bob Grant and Andrew Roughead
The Cheviot Keith Knox Rally was another fine test of man and machinery over some of the best Tarmacadam roads in the North of England. Andy Kobasa and his team from Whickham and Hadrian are to be congratulated for running the event with many hurdles to get over both before and during the rally.
The final event that we have for the ‘year’ is our Awards Evening. This will take place on Wednesday 3rd November and more information will follow in the next week as we firm up the details. Put the date in your calendar now.
Tags: Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news
September 28th, 2010
A polished performance on the Pendragon Stages saw Bob Grant and Pete Carstairs take another fine win. Kirkby Lonsdale Motor Club, Eden Valley Motor Club & Northallerton Automobile Club joined forces again to run the annual visit to the Warcop military ranges and Lowther Park. Based around Penrith’s Truckstop, 83 miles of competition would provide a stern challenge to all comers.
And setting out his intentions from the start was Bob Grant in his superb Subaru Impreza. Bob with Pete Carstairs in the hot seat, stopped the clocks on the first 9.5 miles of Warcop with a time 22 seconds faster than his nearest pursuer – Michael Glendinning. This would be a battle continued from the last championship rally on Otterburn where Glendinning took the spoils by a mere 4 seconds. But this time out the Scottish crew had no intentions of seeing a repeat finish. They would continue to push so they would enter first service with a lead of just over 1 minute. And on the second loop of similar 6 stages they continued their progress to extend this lead by another 42 seconds despite having a huge moment with all 4 wheels completely on the grass in the very fast section of the long Lowther stage. With the prospect of rain for the last visit to Warcop, Grant opted for an intermediate tyre choice. Unfortunately, the very few drops of rain meant that slicks were the better option and Glendinning managed to take back 3 seconds over 10 miles but it was too little too late. Back at the finish, the time difference would be a comfortable 1 minute and 58 seconds in favour of Grant / Carstairs. The only sad part of the day was they had led the rally overall from the start and were only pipped on the penultimate stage by the ex McRae works Ford Focus – but to finish just 5 seconds down is no shame.
Michael Glendinning and Andrew Roughead would take second championship points after a fine run to 4th overall. They were unconcerned about the distance to the winners as they hadn’t contested this rally for a few years. They continued to impress the crowds with their usual style and commitment and their only problem was a puncture on stage 16. They were unaware that the tyre was almost flat as they started their run, but luckily for them, the stage was only 2 miles long. The offending corner was replaced and they were on their way with negligible time loss.
Taking third championship points was Barry and Michael Lindsay. Running their reliable Peugeot 106, the current champions produced yet another impressive run that would earn them the class win and 9th overall. Their only real incident being a huge lock up on the spectator stage when the pilot appeared out of control – but he wasn’t really !
Next up was the CitroenC2R2 of Gareth White / Callum Atkinson. The youngsters from Melrose enjoyed a mainly trouble free day apart from dropping about 30 seconds on the second visit to Warcop – problems with a chicane being the reason for their slower time. Fourth up was the Durham driver Mark Thompson in his Peugeot 206. Mark started the day badly with a misfire but once this was cured he enjoyed his day to finish a fine 18th overall. Malcolm Davey and Paul Slingsby had a good run to claim some useful points and move up the championship table. Andrew Fry / Michael Hunter were another crew enjoying a long day’s rallying without any problems. Paul Dolan and Derrick Fawcett continue to keep smiling whenever they’re using the newer version of Mitsubishi’s Evolutions and once again scored well on their first visit to the rally.
Stephen Bethwaite and Ann Forster were pleased just to make it to the finish of the event. Trying to solve ‘engine woes’ at first service took longer than expected and they just made it to the Service Out control with 3 seconds to spare. They then had some concerns about the gearbox, but it held out. Oh and they didn’t make contact with the scenery this year either ! Barry Thomson / Andrew Irving used their pristine Peugeot 106 again on the rally and it nearly went home in a box. The local crew were doing well on the last Warcop stages and going flat in 4th gear when they hit a patch of oil on the road. The driver became a passenger as the car spun so much but luckily for them, they didn’t hit a thing. An earlier problem with the oil cooler was solved at first service when they managed to bypass the offending radiator. Chris Clark cycled from York to start the rally in his Ford Ka. He blames that effort on his slow start to the rally but once going he had no problems – apart from dreaming of a few more horses in his little 1400cc engine – it would make going up some of those hills a bit faster.
And turning to those who retired; Nick and Heather Stamper stopped at first service with a burst intercooler pipe; Alistair Hutchinson / St Kohn Dykes retired on the second visit to Warcop – the early championship leaders returned to form after their engine troubles from the previous rally and were running in a comfortable 13th place. Unfortunately, they slid wide on some loose gravel in stage 7 and a driveshaft pulled out; Geoffrey Harkness and Caroline Lodge were forced out with gearbox problems on stage 2 and finally poor Chris Anderson and Chris Thirling retired on stage 13. Their Ford Fiesta crew from Durham were having a good run and they managed to get into the top 20 at second service. It all went wrong once back to Warcop though and the car left the road, hitting a bank and put them out on the spot. When will their luck change ?
Michael Glendinning has now extended his lead in the driver’s table from with Barry Lindsay, Bob Grant, Paul Dolan and Alistair Hutchinson. In the co-driver’s table, it’s a similar story as Andrew Roughead continues ahead of Michael Lindsay, Pete Carstairs, St John Dykes, and Callum Atkinson. So with just 1 round of the championship to go the mathematics say that any of the top 3 can win their overall category, so it will be all to play for on Otterburn
The Cheviot Keith Knox Rally is the final event of the championship and will be run on the revised date of Sunday 10th October 2010 – remember that this is 2 weeks earlier than originally planned. Although they have been restricted purely to the eastern side of the Ranges, the organisers have come up with an event containing 88 miles of special stages and with less than 5 road miles ! The short public road sections have, in turn, kept the Road Traffic Act insurance down to just £15 per car and the entry fee will be a total of £325. This figure includes the provision of numbers and it has also been decreed that the recce fee element will be donated to the ‘Help for Heroes’ charity. Regulations and entry forms are available now to download from http://www.wdmc.org.uk and in the near future from the ‘Competitors’ section of the event website – http://www.cheviotstages.org.uk – or from the Entries Secretary who is Gordon Bradford – telephone : 0191 301 6650 or you can e-mail him at: cheviotstages@btinternet.com
Tags: Rally, Tarmacadam
Posted in Event news