North of England Tarmacadam Rally Championship – Cheviot Keith Knox Rally

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.