AS Performance NETRC Jim Clark Rally 2013 Result

Paul Swift with Giles Dykes alongside him were delighted to take their best ever result of 12th overall on the recent Jim Clark National Rally.

There have been some changes in the management team of the rally since last year, and with it some different ideas for a streamlined event in 2013. Firstly, they would offer more mileage on Friday night and include Tweedside; this is a new 4 mile stage run in the south of the region and there was also the chance to once again run over Langton, the famous spectator stage with it’s watersplash to test electrics and grip ! And this year the organisers booked good weather too – only a little rain on Saturday added to the planned action of 115 miles of stages run over the closed public roads of Berwickshire.

Swift made a steady start on Friday but dropped about half a minute when held up by another competitor over the long Abbey St Bathan’s stage and by now running on a low fuel level, he suffered with a little fuel surge on Tweedside. All this meant he was re-seeded at 30th on the road for Saturday morning – lower down the order than he had hoped for. So he immediately set about climbing up the order but on the opening run of Swinton but he suffered a heavy landing on one of the jumps, which subsequently broke the gearbox mountings. Fortunately, there was a service straight after the test and the team managed to effect repairs to the unit with nylon straps holding it in place for the remainder of the event. This did prevent Paul from pushing too hard, as he needed to preserve the car over the remaining 7 stages. This he managed and there were no major drams in the Ford Escort as they then stroked it home to a fantastic 12th place. This was Paul’s best finish at four attempts on the Clark and surprisingly, it was the Giles’ first start on the classic in his 15 years of rallying. But far more important, they both played their ‘Joker’ on the event and the double points scored pushes them both up the championship tables – Paul into 3rd and Giles into 9th overall.

Although Paul takes top driver’s points, the top scoring co-driver was young Josh Davison. He’s been lucky enough to secure a seat in the non-registered Ashley Field’s Darrian and ended the day in a cracking 5th overall.

Finishing just 28 seconds behind our current champion driver was Alex Laffey. Alex had our current champion co-driver, Jack Morton, out for the first time this year sitting in the hot seat of his Fiesta S2000. They suffered from a poor seeding but had a reliable car and after a good test the previous weekend at Dundrennan where they’d learnt a bit more about driving the car, the youngsters were in buoyant mood before the Duns start. They suffered few problems all rally save for a stall at a hairpin in Edrom and he found the conditions in Langton to be tricky. They were pleased to end up in 13th spot and pick up some good championship points.

Past championship sponsor Barry Renwick continues to do little rallying but the Clark weekend is still an annual pilgrimage. As usual, Barry was out with Ken Bills and they were happy to finish in 19th place after a trouble free day. Their Retro Ford Escort never missed a beat and actually completed in the Reivers Rally the day after the National where they ended up in 14th overall.

Our next championship scorers were Nick Thorne and Ian Murray. Since the DCC Stages five weeks ago, the Honda Civic has been for an engine remap which seemed fine on the rolling road. However, out on the rally’s roads the torque was almost non-existent and it took the Earlston man a while to adapt his driving style. It still sounded beautiful and he pushed hard to bring the car home, happily unscathed, in a fine 32nd position.

Neil Thompson was next up in his Vauxhall Corsa Kit Car. He suffered on Friday’s 3 tests with a persistent misfire and went to bed in 52nd place. Saturday didn’t start much better when the alternator bracket broke but once this was fixed he was able to move up the order, gaining 4 places on the final test, to finish 35 overall and 2nd in class.

Finishing in a lowly 38th position was last year’s championship runner up, Pete Gibson. Pete had his brother Drew alongside on their first outing of the year and all seemed to be progressing well after a fraught start. In fact it was before the start – on the road into the service area. The car behaved during the shakedown before a terminal brake disc problem on the road back into Kelso set off a small panic. No one in the service park had a replacement but a phone call to championship sponsor Alyn Stockton @ AS Performance saved the day. ‘Doddsy’ was dispatched by car back to Birtley to collect a new pair of discs and they were fitted in time for Duns1. From starting Saturday morning in 27th place, the brothers were making good progress up the leaderboard when Pete felt the front right tyre was deflating near the end of Ayton2. A quick decision to drive slowly to finish was aborted a couple of corners later once the rubber was flaying about the wheel arch. Then the car fell off the jack during the changeover and they were stuck with a stage maximum. From going onto the test in a fine 15th place to coming out in 46th place, the boys were totally disheartened. Back at the Kelso finish, Pete admitted that the car’s setup just never felt right all rally but the brakes were spot on.

The award for the crew with the biggest smile on their faces at the end of a rally goes to Chris and Katherine Singer. It may not have been a trouble free event for the husband and wife team but they made it to a finish – something of a rarity for them. Their only mechanical issue was when the clutch cable broke on the opening Swinton test. They also had an off into a field on the final rain soaked Swinton only to spin 500 yards after regaining the road. And then just before the end and when flat out over a crest, they found a car stuck broadside across the road. No amount of braking effort and down changing seemed to be slowing the Citroen Saxo down so they were lucky to find the grass verge just wide enough to scrape the little blue French car through.

Dave Seed and Colin Tombs were next up in the unusual Ford Escort G3. They lost time early on when they had no intercom over the 3 Friday night stages and then at service after the morning Swinton test, it was discovered that the rear suspension arms were loose. A steady day thereafter until the final wet Swinton found them having 3 separate spins before blocking the road over a crest. It felt like an age past as they tried to find gears and shuffle back on their way – something they only managed after the Citroen Saxo just missed them.

Alan Cowan and Katie Stimpson had a good trouble free rally and brought the Vauxhall Astra home in 44th place. After his transmission woes on the previous rally, Alan purchased an expensive short driveshaft that proved very reliable and a wise investment. It was also Katie’s first time on the Clark and she handled all the pacenotes and road navigation with ease.

Our last three classified finishers were all in 1400cc powered cars. First we had Phil Morton and his fiancée Jo Emma Hind in a Datsun Sunny. This is a 30 year old car that Phil has bought and sold several times and has a very successful history with many drivers. It’s just come back from Ireland and as usual there was a rush to make the start – he was still sealing the rear bulkhead to get past scrutineering. Despite feeling very slow, Phil pushed as hard as ever and his only issue was having to keep topping up the engine oil for the afternoon stages. Simon Stewart and Doug Levee were out once more to tackle their favourite rally for the 11th time. Yet again their Vauxhall Corsa was reliable but the Tynemouth Motor Club crew spun the car on a hairpin in the wet Swinton2 and ripped off the front bumper. It didn’t cost them any places yet they were almost a minutes and a half slower that the morning run over the same test. And finally we have Drew Barker and Shona Hale bringing up the rear in their little Vauxhall Corsa. Drew’s only complaint was the lack of power and the lack of grip over the final wet stage in Swinton. The cooling problems from Ingliston haven’t disappeared despite the installation of a new radiator but this didn’t affect his progress on this occasion.

There were quite a few retirements too and the first being Andrew Falconer who was sitting in with the non-registered Tristan Pye but they retired when their Subaru stopped in Abbey St Bathans. The BMW M3 of Andy Davison and Mike Curry actually managed to get to the finish of the same stage but by then their engine cried enough. That was a shame as there were high hopes of another good result after taking top championship honours on the 2012 Clark. Mark Jasper and Don Whyatt managed all 3 night stages but they decided not to restart their MG Metro 6R4 on Saturday after it was discovered the centre diff had broken. Our championship leaders Chris Anderson and Chris Thirling only managed 7 stages before they too joined the ever-growing list. The event started badly 6 miles into the long Abbey test when they lost 3rd gear and they still had to complete the remaining 14 competitive miles of the night before service. They didn’t carry a spare box in the van so a trip to Saltburn was organised to collect a full gear set, before a change was completed by 6am. Saturday saw the Durham crew move up the leaderboard to 17th before a problem with the exhaust manifold. The Ford Fiesta made it into remote service but with minimal tools and no parts available, it was game over. A poor reward for all their efforts.

Also out at this point were the husband and wife pairing of Jon and Alison Trenholme. They were making progress up the leaderboard on Saturday morning to 50th overall when their Subaru Impreza hit a tree on the first run through Langton. And the final pair of retirees made it to within sight of the finish line when they were forced out. John Stone made a steady start to end Friday in 9th place before muscling his way through the next morning to find himself in 3rd at remote service. Although he was quicker the second time through the 12 miles of Ayton, he dropped a place and yet he just clawed back a couple of seconds through the short Langton test, he was still 4.3 seconds down in 4th place at final service. It was big decision time and he decided not to carry a spare wheel to try and grab a podium position but picked up a puncture on Swinton Crossroads. Final mention for Kev Monaghan and Chris Purvis who had an excellent class battle with the non registered Tuers in their MG ZR. They’d had a good fight all weekend when there was rarely a few seconds separating them on each stage and at final service the gap was jut 14 seconds in favour of the MG. Kev decided to go for it big style over the last 10.9 miles of Swinton only for the engine to ventilate itself just after the famous crossroads – another sad and expensive end.

So after 5 rallies the top of the drivers table sees Chris Anderson ahead of Stuart Walker, Paul Swift, Alistair Hutchinson and Jon Trenholme while across in the co-drivers section Chris Thirling still leads St John Dykes, Julie McGuire, Ken Bills and Alison Trenholme.

And so we move into the second half of our season and that kicks off with the Turnbull Trophy Rally at Albemarle on Sunday 7th July. Tynemouth and District Motor Club are once again organising the event and this year they bring along a new title sponsor in Blasting Magic. Similar to last year, it is planned to run 8 stages offering in the region of 80 miles around this old airfield venue. Entries are already open for the event and will close on Saturday 29th June. Follow the link – http://richard-burns.com/tdmc/turnbull – for more information on the Regulations and Online Entry.