North Of England Tarmac Championship – Lindisfarne Result
A small matter of 11 seconds stood between victory and a disappointing 2nd overall for Peter Taylor and Andrew Roughead on Sunday’s Pirtek Lindisfarne Rally. But being second to a Subaru Impreza and having 2 others snapping at their heels was still a cracking result for a Renault Clio.
Over the opening lap of 4 stages, Taylor quickly settled into good pace and returned to first service in second position but complaining of a spongy brake pedal. A quick bleed of the system sorted the problem and the repeated tests would see him increase his advantage over his chasers from 8 to 26 seconds. It all well wrong 3 and a half miles into the next stage when the front near tyre deflated on one of the many Otterburn compressions and he maintains he didn’t hit anything. They drove the remaining 6 miles at a reduced pace and a loss of about 90 seconds. With the ‘bodywork patched up’ and new wheel fitted, they tackled the 2 remaining runs with huge bravado. They recovered 21 seconds on the penultimate stage but were still 33 adrift at final service. Another special effort of the last stage could only recover another 21 seconds than the winner and the youngsters were left to rue what might have been.
And finishing next in 5th overall were our new champions, Barry Lindsay and Michael Lindsay. Although they’ve both been top dogs 4 times already – so I suppose we should say that we have different champions for 2011 ! The boys from Spadeadam did some extra mental preparations for the rally and came intending to just drive to the finish and see what happens. So what happens, but the usually reliable Peugeot 106 started to play up and they entered first service with a dodgy gear linkage. They persevered with it for the rest of the day and Barry likened it to ‘fishing for gears’ and ‘stirring broth’ when it came to changing gears but it didn’t slow him down much. As they day progressed, the battle plans seemed to be forgotten too and they got involved with a fight for the class lead. Some onlookers thought his times weren’t suffering either as he was changing up a gear approaching corners when most others were changing down !! At final service he felt the need to preserve a result and put wets on the back for the final 14 miles of steady rain. And so the ‘Lad and Dad’ combination, managed to take another class win and add the title to their achievements of 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2009. Fantastic.
David Conley and Mike Scrimgour wheeled out the faithful Hillman Avenger once more for the event. Problems getting the 2 litre engine repaired meant the 1600 engine would be have to be used this time. The first 2 stages didn’t feel too good and he was left chasing the top 10 runners. A misfire meant he couldn’t get maximum revs but a switch to the backup fuel pump solved the problem. Lady Luck stayed with them when they came across a loose distributer at final service – a stripped bolt being the offending item. Once sorted they tackled the final stage with a vengeance and managed 4th fastest time to move them up from 8th to 6th overall.
A new co-driver in Giles Dykes also accompanied Paul Swift’s return to Otterburn as ‘Coxxy’ was away doing roundy roundies. They managed to complete the first lap this time out despite finishing stage 4 stuck in 4th gear. Problem sorted and back out on the roads, Paul settled into a comfortable rhythm and consistent top 10 times. He was another to adopt a more cautious attitude towards the rain and started the last stage on wets. They still set the 6th fastest time and finished a fine 7th overall. Paul was happy to leave the ranges with the Ford Escort Mk2 still intact and having gained some valuable experience of the roads.
The evergreen Geoffrey Harkness with Caroline Lodge alongside him produced another solid display to record a 13th overall finish and take 5th championship points. Geoffrey reported a near off on the little loop above the tip from the Camp and blamed the sheep’s droppings for the making the surface slippy. He also ‘lost’ some engine coolant later on but a top up at final service saw him safely to the finish.
The final championship contender was Jack Morton, who was co driving in a Nova. Jack was happy to finally get to the end of a rally this year despite the diff starting to break up with 3 stages to go. A class win and 16th overall topped what was an eventful weekend – allegedly !
So what happened to those who never made it to the finish ? Michael Glendinning enlisted the services of Paul Hughes for the rally and in the opening 28 miles opened up a comfortable 1 minute and 10 seconds over their nearest challengers. They entered service complaining about the lack of an intercom, and how quiet it had been in the Impreza, but a new battery quickly solved that. So off they headed into Bellshiel 2 only to be caught out on a tightening left 5 almost 6 miles in. Michael nearly caught the slide but a back wheel slipped onto the grass and then the Subaru was into a roll. Both crew members escaped unharmed.
Gareth White / Callum Atkinson brought their Citroen C2R2Max with high hopes of a good result. And it looked on as they were mixing it with the quick boys to go into the fourth stage a terrific 5th overall. Unfortunately, it all went wrong a mile and a half in when they lost grip at a hairpin and the back off the car dropped off the road and ripped the whole offside corner off.
Chris Anderson and Chris Thirling were another crew heading for a top finish. They were never out of the top 10 overall all day after a solid, confident run over the first 10 stages. They would go into the last 14 miles lying in a super 5th place and with a comfortable 22 seconds cushion on the next crew. They were only 1 and a half miles into the stage and then approaching the hairpin at High Shaw, jumped hard on the brakes. Unfortunately, they had no power when we went back on the throttle. The car seemed to go into “limp” mode as on an earlier rally this year and, on that occasion, it proved to be the throttle position sensor as the villain. Hopefully, the crew from Durham will rectify the problem soon and set the record straight on the Cheviot.
Simon Stewart and Doug Levee were making one of their rare appearances in the little Vauxhall Corsa. Unfortunately, they couldn’t repeat their fine run of the ‘Clark’ and drove out just over a mile from the end of the first run through the Holystone stage. They cited clutch problems as being their downfall.
And our last championship contender was the father and son pairing of Michael and Josh Davison. In the days leading up to the rally, the lads were having gearbox problems but they only managed half of the first stage before retiring with clutch problems and the orange Proton Satria returned to service on the end of a rope.
Special thanks go to Ed Barber and all his team at Tynemouth Motor Club for another superb rally. It ran to time and with slick changes for the revised stages, it meant a great day’s sport for all competitors. And as usual, we had most of the four season’s weather in one day. It will take some beating for the Cheviot to follow that … and the Cheviot will be our final championship rally of this year. The UTS Cheviot Keith Knox Stages Rally is taking place on the Otterburn Military Ranges on Sunday 23rd October and 2011 is the sixth consecutive year that UTS have sponsored the rally. The event is a qualifying round of 5 championships this year and the organisers are offering a compact route of approximately 88 competitive miles, in a total route of 93, run over 11 special stages and costing £335. Entries are available now and will close for seeding on Wednesday 12th October.
A Route Recce will take place at 12:00 on Saturday 22nd. The Route Safety Notes will be on sale from PATTERSON PACENOTES. The recce is follow by Scrutineering at Otterburn Ranges between 14:00 and 18:00. Once again the Rally HQ in the Percy Arms Hotel, Otterburn and more details on the rally can be found at http://www.cheviotstages.co.uk/