ASP / NETRC Pendragon Stages 2015 Results
After a few years of moving around the dates, this year’s version of the Pendragon Stages returned to it’s traditional slot of the August Bank Holiday weekend. The recent successful format of basing the rally HQ and running all the stages over the Warcop training area was retained though as 90 crews heading off for the 8:15 Sunday start. The weather forecast suggested that it would be sometimes cloudy and sometimes sunny but it would stay dry all through the day despite the morning dew under foot.
Stephen and Louise Hope got off to a great start when they stopped the clocks 2nd fastest over the opening 8.4 miles of Pinsent Way. They quickly settled into a rhythm that suited their Ford Escort Mk2 and recorded top 5 times all day. Their only issue was breaking the driver’s door mirror as Stephen was rather greedy on the inside of a corner on SS2 and clipped a stake. He was happy that the recent change of dampers transformed the car’s handling and gave him confidence to push hard. And they managed that even through the final test despite memories of their retirement on this very test last year, but Stephen listened to “Auntie Noo” and brought them safely home to a cracking result of 4th overall.
David Crosbie took second co-driver’s points having guided the non-registered Ian Paterson and his Subaru N10 around all day to 7th after a trouble free run. Nick Thorne and Ian Murray were next with their Subaru Impreza and their learning experience with a 4-wheel drive car continues. They lost time on stage 4 after clouting one of the many concrete posts just off line. This cost about 20 seconds and caused a broken wheel and bent suspension. Nick felt that the brakes were a concern on these longer tests and despite changing the fluid in service he wasn’t happy. But it was their first finish in the new steed and after some work and expense at a well-known garage, they were happy to be propping up the top ten at the finish.
Barry Renwick and Steve Dargan would end up just 6 seconds further back in 11th place. It was back to Ford power for this event after the Solway Coast Rally with the ‘other car’ – VW Polo. The gearbox of the Escort received some attention since It’s last outing and a newer version of it’s software too that kept the lads grinning. Although the Tynemouth crew were quick out of the blocks with a 7th fastest time on the opening stage some little niggling problems slowed them a little as the day went on. It was still another strong run to confirm Barry as runner up in the driver’s table while Steve bags the co-drivers title.
Neil Thompson enlisted the services of Katie Stimpson who he sometimes refers to as ‘the doctor’ or ‘the missus’, to sit alongside him again in his Vauxhall Corsa. As ever there was a tale to tell about their day and Neil’s biggest mechanical woes were on the first loop of stages when a rose joint needed replacing and the rear suspension felt very loose. So after rebuilding the suspension at first service, the later stages of the day were much quieter although some oil escaping from a breather was noticed by the finish.
Jane Nicol picked up some useful points alongside the non-registered James Gibb although James wasn’t too sure about Jane pushing him so hard in the car on their way to 15th. Right behind were Alistair Hutchinson / St John Dykes in the latest Clio codenamed Tango. Alistair was pleased that the car was going well until final service when he realised that the competition brake pads were very low on friction material. He replaced them with a standard set and drove stage 7 with a little more care. No problems so he pushed harder on the final run and took 24 seconds off his time – well done Reggie Renault for coming up trumps.
Alex Willan and the non-registered Ali Proctor were next in a new Proton. By new this only means that Alex entered the event without a car and a week before the start agreed to buy Mick Davison’s old Satria. The first loop of tests was fine until the car started jumping out of 2nd gear. The meant that Ali had to hold the stick in place and read the notes for the remainder of the day. A frustrating day got worse when a misfire set in towards the finish. And rounding off the top twenty were Geoffrey Harkness and Caroline Lodge. This rally was a bit different for Geoffrey as he was tackled by a young Scottish fella driving his Citroen into a gap that Geoffrey was in the process of closing. The co-driver’s door of the Corsa took the brunt of this not so successful passing manoeuvre and yet little time was lost. He drove hard for the remainder of the day putting a lot of faith in his brakes and tyres and a good result was the reward.
Bruce Lindsay picked up more points as he was enlisted to sit alongside someone he’d never sat with before – James Hall in his unusual rear wheel drive Peugeot 205. He was happy with a clean run until the last test when the tyres were going off. Next we have Peter Stephenson with a late call to Paul Hughes to co-drive in his unique MG ZR. Their day got off to a bad start when they picked up a puncture on the first stage and were forced to stop and change it losing over 5 minutes. They were classified as 75th after this stage so there was only one direction to go after that. A trouble free 7 stages later and they’d recovered to 22nd overall.
In 30th position were the Border Ecosse crew of Drew Barker and Shona Hale. The night before the event was spent helping our new champion driver celebrate his achievement but perhaps a touch too much indulgence affected the co-driver’s well being. Rallyday was a touch too loud and bright for her but Drew had a good day and the car was great apart from clipping a straw bale with the left rear corner of his Vauxhall Corsa.
Two places further adrift were our multiple champions, Barry and Michael Lindsay. Yes they actually finished in a lowly 32nd place after a day of disasters. It kicked off within 1/2 a mile of the start when a driveshaft broke so they had to do over 16 miles in one wheel drive. The offending item was changed at first service before a flat out attack on the 2 Toddygill tests moved them from 54th up to 24th. A puncture on SS5 meant they had to stop and change it losing another 3 1/2 minutes. The on the final loop they had a high speed off at a bumpy cattle grid where Barry knows the racing line to take it flat out. This incident put them off the road into a ditch before ending up in another ditch on the opposite side of the road. Fortunately some strong marshals were around to eventually get them on their way again despite losing more than another 3 minutes. A tough day but they still recorded a finish.
Colin Butler has sold his little Toyota Yaris and slowly built a Subaru Impreza that was only completed the day before the rally. With young Joe Hutchinson alongside they were having a steady, trouble free run until the final pair of stages when they lost 3rdgear just before the end of Haybergill 1. They were able to complete the final stage and only dropped from 35th to 39th overall. The Peugeot 205 of Kevin Mathers was our final driver home after losing lots of time in the morning tests. A misfire over the opening 2 runs was fixed in service before a mix up at the split on SS3 saw them awarded a maximum time. Things settled down in the afternoon and the youngster from Newtown St Boswells continues to learn and pick up points. Our final points scorer was Peter Littlefield sitting in with the non-registered Mark Creacall. Their mount for the day was a BMW Compact which sounded great but they were given 4 stage maximum times so life was pretty difficult on their way to be the last classified finisher, 54th.
We had 3 crews fighting hard to be the first retirement of the day and the decision went the way of our new champion Nigel Feeney. After only 3 miles into the first stage, he picked up a puncture and went straight on at the next right bend dropping the back end of the car into a ditch and breaking a wheel – instant retirement for Phil Sandham and Nigel. Kev Monaghan managed to clear the stage but called it a day with a recurrence of the boiling brakes problem that blighted his run on the Tyneside Stages. The Vauxhall Nova of Stephen Bethwaite / Ann Forster followed Kev’s Escort into service as they weren’t happy with their rebuilt gearbox. It was whining before the rally and tried to pull the car off the stage almost from the off; an initial inspection shows once again that planet gears in the diff had disintegrated. There’s also damage to crown wheel and marks on some gears that only lasted less than 2 stage miles. Ross McSkimming was another to complain of an old problem on his motor with his issue being his Citroen C2 just switching itself off on the start line of stage 5; he was up to 23rd overall at that point. Stuart Walker made it into the second run of Bale Hill before he clouted a rock with his right rear wheel that smashed the hub. SS6 also claimed Kari Bates who was sitting in with the non-registered George Scott – a bad fuel related misfire appeared to be the reason for their Mitsubishi Evo6 returning to service on the end of a towrope.
So Kirkby Lonsdale Motor Club with assistance from Eden Valley Motor Club and Northallerton Automobile Club have brought our 2015 competition to a close with another tough Pendragon Stages. Miles Whitelock and his team managed to put together a simple format of 4 pairs of stages that totalled 73 challenging miles for crews on a venue that’s only available once a year.
We now have a break from rallies as we prepare for the awards presentation. Once again it will take place on an autumn Wednesday evening at the usual venue of Pelaw Grange and more details will be announced once we have our guest speaker confirmed.