Beverley & District Motor Club

The shell suit was ironed, hair bubble-cut, Merseyside here we come! Well, Ellesmere Port to be exact. Unfortunately, since my last visit to this venue a lot of the motorway and junction numbers have been changed, so my old written directions threw in a couple of wrong-slots during the two hours plus it took me to get there. I arrived at 9.05. It was destined to be a tough event, the entry list included the Darkin brothers, Nick and Paddy in their very quick 1071 ‘S’ Mini.

I followed Kevin Roberts, a Welsh competitor through scrutineering. He was getting grief for a pair of bald rear tyres on his 1300 Mini. I only just scraped through myself with Heepy sporting a cracked front brake flexy pipe and some rear wheel studs that were too short since the fitting of the alloys. The fronts had been changed, but I hadn’t noticed the rear’s were short. One of the long capped wheel nuts had been replaced with a standard one and had given the game away, the stud not reaching the end of it. I was allowed to compete with the promise to rectify the offending items.

Sunday’s weather forecast had promised rain. The final instructions from the organisers warned of the exposed venue at the Vauxhall Motors plant and the lack of shelter. If it rains, you get wet! Last year we had the horizontal stuff and the organisers were correct! Sunny skies greeted us for this years event which, fortunately, lasted all day.

This was to be the eighth round of the ANCC Fern Furnishings Autotest Championship, but only the 5th I’d competed on. Two had been missed through Heepy’s rebuild along with one other, Durham Automobile Club, which I’d skipped just for the sheer travelling time involved. This was to be a big mistake on my part, as 3 events were cancelled during the summer for various reasons. Trackrod’s event, as previously mentioned, fell foul of the fuel shortage and may be re-scheduled for later this year. The championship is decided on the best eight results and currently, I’m leading class 1, only 6 points ahead of Knutsford’s Dave Goodlad. He’s done one more event than me, but non-finished on the first round. There are potentially two more events this year, but unfortunately one of them is on 22nd October and my daughter, Big Lou, gets married on the 21st. Reluctant to rush off to Bury with so many friends and relatives still around, I’m having to concede defeat this year to Dave. He didn’t leap around when I told him, but in reality he has to finish the last two rounds before he can relax.

As usual for this venue the tests were big with plenty of room for the occasional snatch of second gear. The previous weekend had been spent revamping Heepy’s rear suspension to get rid of the toe-in and positive camber in an effort to improve reverse flicks. I actually ended up with negative camber and still a little toe-in, but it was enough to change the handling characteristics noticeably.

Knutsford always put on a good event (scrutineering excepted!), their style was somewhat restricted by a slightly smaller area of the huge Vauxhall Motors car park. The surface is mainly good tarmac, though this year there were some shallow holes which tended to increase in width throughout the day. The subsequent loosened material providing varied grip. Two tests were set up, the plan being to run them three times up to lunch, then set another two to be run 4 times each in the afternoon. This reduces the time spent by the 29 competitors learning the tests, so more can be attempted. Being a ‘proper’ championship the tests were more complicated than say a Larkspeed event, but very enjoyable from a competitor’s view. Very flowing with lots of changes of direction at high speed.

One of these changes of direction caught me out on the very first test whilst attempting to handbrake across a stop-astride line. Cost me about 5 seconds while I shuffled back into position. Finding the level of grip and a different handling rear didn’t do me any favours. Meanwhile, the Darkin brothers were of to a flying start, Paddy a good 9 seconds ahead on the first test. Nick Darkin took 7.6 seconds off me as well, but threw it all away on test two with a poor time compounded by a penalty to give me 9 seconds back. Knutsford, in common with some other clubs, were penalising to the tune of only 5 seconds for a line or cone indiscretion instead of the usual 10. Nick got away lightly!

It was Paddy’s turn to suffer a penalty on test three whilst I improved by over 5 seconds on my first run. Dave Goodlad, however, sneaked in an even better time to beat mine by 0.6 seconds. In class F, Dave Mosey was back in his 1400cc Mini Special and beginning his usual whitewash of the event. He really is ‘national class’ these days. Makes our class times look pathetic!

The second test site included a cluster of four 6" diameter metal pipes filled with concrete and set vertically into the ground in a square about a yard apart and about four foot high. This was to protect some electrical switchgear from the rigours of daily parking by the Vauxhall workforce and also formed part of the test. A 360° handbrake turn around them was required and the sight of these yellow and rust pipes whizzing by your window was daunting to say the least. Dave Goodlad was the first to test their mettle (pun) against his offside door. A mallet then being employed in the paddock to straighten the offending panel! More attempts to demolish them would be tried throughout the day.

Paddy Darkin continued to dominate the 1100cc Mini saloon class. None of us could touch his times. By lunch he was 17.2 seconds ahead of me with Dave Goodlad another 5.2 seconds back, aided by a penalty on test 5. I was ruing another ‘shuffle’ for a gate on test 6 as we went into lunch.

Building cloud in the afternoon kept lunch to a minimum and, having learned and walked the new tests, we lined up for the start. The afternoon didn’t go too well for me with Nick catching me on almost every test. Paddy was still untouchable despite attacking one of the four metal posts on test 10. Prize for the best post demolishing attempt went to Dave Jones who, apparently, was a top autotester some 10 years ago. I was lined up waiting to go on the other test when there was a bang followed by that strange silence peculiar to motorsport. As I looked round, people were running onto the test and I could see Dave’s Mini Special had buried it’s fibreglass nose into one of the posts. How the hell he’d done that when he was supposed to be handbraking round it I don’t know. Fortunately nothing more than his pride and the Min were damaged on this, his comeback event, and he was able to continue, albeit with a washout.

A washout also spoiled Dave Goodlad’s day on the second run of the first test. It’s always embarrassing to get a test wrong when you’ve driven it correctly before. When it happens to me it’s generally due to a lack of concentration. I’d been struggling with a triangle on the second test site. Each of the three sides were a stop-astride, followed by a reverse out. Positioning was critical on the first two to avoid being too close to one of the cones for the reverse out. My first two attempts at the test were spoiled by not getting the triangle right. The third was good and made a huge difference to my time. Nick Darkin was still closing on my second in class though.

With two tests to go I was 4.1 seconds in front of Nick - he told me. A favourite tactic, letting the guy in front know how close you are. And it worked! The next test was a good time, but Nick put in a stormer, fifth fastest overall and 2.6 seconds quicker than mine. I had 1.5 seconds in hand going into the last test. Trying too hard only gave me a 55.2 on the clock, Nick put in a 54.2. At the end of a long, but enjoyable day, I secured 2nd in class by half a second! It don’t get much closer. Such was the competition in our small engine class that Paddy, Nick and myself finished 5th, 7th and 8th overall. Against some tough competition that was a pretty good result. Poor Dave Goodlad never recovered from his earlier washout and suffered a rather torrid afternoon 4th in class and 14th overall.

Dave Mosey took FTD in pretty convincing style whilst the two Sargeants, Bob and Tim, battled it out in class E in their Duttons. Tim, as usual, taking the class win from his brother. Ilkley’s Steve Morten took his 1200cc Nova to a class C win with his fast improving son, Ben, not far behind in third. Richard Wood, also from Ilkley, brought his 1275 Mini saloon home to an easy first in class B.

The long drag home thankfully remained dry. I hate towing the trailer in the rain, though I feel better now the brakes are working properly(!). The middle lane hogger’s were just as frustrating though, absolutely no chance of passing them with only 2 lanes at my disposal.

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MOULDED TYRES AND DRIVER TRAINING FOR UK STAGE RALLIES

Slick and cut slick racing tyres will be banned from UK special stage rallies after 31 December 2000. Exceptionally, Dunlop will be permitted to supply factory-cut slick tyres until 1 July 2001, but competitors will not be allowed to make any alteration to the Dunlop tread pattern.

This decision, ratified by the Motor Sports Council yesterday (Thursday), was among the changes recommended by the MSA Rally Safety Study Group, which met earlier this year to examine every aspect of rally safety, including vehicle regulations, organising rules, and protection of spectators, officials and

competitors.

From 1 January 2002, a new Stage Rally Driver competition

licence will be introduced, together with a mandatory 'starter pack' similar to those already supplied to novice drivers in car and kart racing. Mandatory attendance at an approved rally school will apply from the same date, subject to the Council being satisfied that suitable schools are available in all parts of the UK. The starter pack and rally school attendance will be highly recommended for new special stage drivers in 2001.

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