Pirelli Autotest (28th of July 2013)
By Barry Lindsay
A wet Sunday morning at the end of July saw the latest Spadeadam Autotest round. Inviting other local club members to join our strong entry from our club it promised to be an action packed day. In reality it turned out to be the lowest entry of the year and the committee will need to look at why for next year.
Twelve tests were planned running two tests at a time but with some cars left abandoned in the car park on the area we planned to use, space was limited. The first two test were set up together but after that due to the low entry numbers, single bigger tests were run over a larger area which made more smiley faces!!
Test one and it was pouring down, the visitors showed the Spadeadam members how it should be done! Warren Gillespie blitzed round the tight course with 53 seconds, 16 seconds ahead of Stephen Dixon. Chasing down the visitors were Jon Stynes & Nigel Harkness who both got 1m 18.
Test three, which was running at the same time, saw the visitors demo there nimbleness around the tight layout of cones. Warren quickest on 56 sec then Stephen on 1m03, Jon was best SMC member with 1m10 then John Ross on 1m18.
A quick cone move saw a larger version of test 1 now run as test two. Warren quickest getting 58 sec, Stephen on 1m04 then Jon on 1m07 and Nigel on 1m08.
Test 5. Jon proved he had the pace to match the visitors equaling the time of Warren with a 42second run. John Ross got 3rd with 45sec then Nigel on 48sec.
Test 6 was a re-run, Jon and Warren again couldn’t be separated and with the same time of 42sec. Phil Jobson just missed out with a 43sec run ahead of Nigel & John on 46sec.
Test 7 was a new layout. Warren got a 1m 04 ahead on Jon on 1m06. Phil got 1m11 ahead of Stephen who was having rear suspension problems having lost a bolt out of the shock absorber but got 1m12 on this one.
Test 8 Jon matched Warren again on 1m 03 then Kieron Stynes (the junior driver showing the older members what he can do!) and John R tied on 1m11.
Tests nine and ten were added due to the lower turn out before they went head to head on tests eleven & twelve.
Test nine Warren got 1m02 then Jon on 1m11, Stephen on 1m12 (Shock absorber now attached as he found his missing bolt walking the course. How lucky was that!) then John R on 1m18.
Test ten Warren got 1m01 Stephen on 1m10, Jon & Nigel getting 1m18.Now for the head to head, starting to be quite popular finale to the Autotests. Test 11 Warren was quickest with 41sec and had been up against Jon but a cone would prove to relegate him to third now in the overall standings. Stephen got 49, John got 51 and Nigel 53.
Final Test Warren made it a clean sweep of all the tests with 40sec. Jon fought back but could only match Stephen also on 48 sec then Nigel on 49sec.
Results
1st Warren Gillespie 9m 42 6th Pete Johnson 13m 37
2nd Stephen Dixon 11m 25 7th Helen Gibbon 14m 05
3rd Jon Stynes 11m 28 8th George Edminson 14m 09
4th Nigel Harkness 12m 12 9th Phil Jobson 15m 37
5th John Ross 12m 26 10th Kieron Stynes 16m 07
(Images © B. Lindsay / Spadeadam Motor Club 2013)
