Author: Spadeadam Motor Club

New Years Eve Autotest 2012

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By Barry Lindsay

Eleven drivers entered the final event of 2012. Ten tarmac testes lay ahead and after overnight rain thankfully the weather was mostly dry but the car park was slippery. The first test, manned by Ian Robinson, John Ross debuted his new car and was quickly setting the pace with 51sec, Barry Lindsay, Geoffrey Harkness & Neil Thomlinson all equalled on 53sec.

For the re-run Barry upped his pace stopping the clock on 48sec, Neil T on 50sec then Andrew Graham a newcomer to SMC autotests getting 52sec.

Andrew Graham

Test three manned by Michael Lindsay was a longer test with a tight slalom that some struggled on. Barry got 1m 04 ahead of John in the C1 on 1m13 the Neil T on 1m30. Continue reading →

12 Car Results (December 2012)

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1s t        1st Novice       Phil & Caroline Jobson                          0f 1min

2nd      2nd Novice      Nigel Harkness / Helen Gibbon          0f 9min

=  1st Expert    Johnny Brass / Tom Wilcox                 0f 9min

4th     2nd Expert     Barrie Thomson / Jerry Hettrick        1f 5min

5th      3rd Expert      Paul Schatz / Richard Todd                1f 15min

OTL     Novice      Jonathan Fowler / Stuart Hamilton   0f 42min

RTD     Novice       Neil Varah / Todd Brown            TC5

RTD     Expert       Eric Ritchie / John Ross               TC4

 

RAC Rally 2012 – Thanks

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Untitled

Thank you to all the members who marshalled on the Roger Albert Clark. Spadeadam successfully marshalled the Rosehill Service / Main Time Control. Sunday Restart MTC, Florida 1 &2 and the event finish MTC & spectators at Brampton.

Well done to all involved

Barry

Rally Results (November 2012)

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Galloway Hills Rally – Darren Martin & Martin Steele finished 18th OA (12th Class)  .

Crail – David Hope & Fiona Gourlay were 15th OA (10th class) James McWhir navigated Michael Hunter to 30th OA (6th class)

Cheviot – Barry & Michael Lindsay were 3rd OA (1st class) followed by Peter Taylor in 4th OA (1st class)

Roger Albert Clark – Caroline Lodge, despite a lack of power, finished 41st OA (1st in Class), Phil Jobson in the Open section finished 10th OA (4th class). David Coleman & Kyle Gass were 6th OA (1st class) in the Clubman Challenge. On the same section Darren Martin & Martin Steele retired with gearbox problems.

Over and Out (or as seen on Motors TV)

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By Caroline Lodge

A surprise phone call the week before the Cheviot Stages lead to me sitting in with Jane Beebe, her son Matt had challenged her to do some rallying and after some good runs asphalt, she had a on track to win the N3 class in the BTRDA. Otterburn was to be her final rally. We were entering in an MG ZR 160.

We met at the ranges on a very cold Saturday afternoon for the recce. As we followed the fellow competitors nervous laughter commenced when we saw the covering of snow on the stages. After a very slow scrutineering appointment and making plans for the event we waved goodbye.

Sunday morning – rally day, I left a very wet Tindale Fell, as I carried on along the military road the wet road turned into a sparkly surface which then evolved into a good covering of white ice. My journey to Otterburn was ‘eventful’ as every time I tried to give the little Mazda a bit more revs it promptly tried to swap ends! Also just missing a black cow wandering around in the dark on an icy road added to the experience. So it was a slow slithery trip to the ranges. Barry and Mike took a slightly different route  as their truck refused to turn off where they wanted it to. Continue reading →

Cheviot Rally 2012

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By Barry Lindsay

The final round of the AS Performance North of England Championships. The championship winner had been confirmed as Paul Swift at the previous round and with second place Chris Andersons car not repaired neither of these crews were there. Spadeadam members were there though. Peter Taylor was debuting the new Citroen DS3 and was seeded at 5. Barry and Michael Lindsay were seeded at 12, Dee Addison was navigating Alistair Tough who was at 34. Caroline Lodge was navigating Jane Beebe at 55 in an MG ZR.

Recce on the Saturday afternoon, crews were shocked to discover that the first few miles on Stage 1 was white with snow then the remainder of the stages were very wet and with a lot of water running across the roads. Continue reading →

The Countdown Rally – My Report

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By David Love

What can I tell you about my involvement in this year’s Countdown? Absolutely nothing!

For some strange reason I thought the Countdown was on the 1st of September so I arranged to be on holiday after that. So for the first time in many years I wasn’t standing out in the middle of nowhere thinking I was in the wrong location as headlights head towards me then turn away only to reappear in 5 minutes. It’s quite scary standing in the dark watching a faint glow bobbing up and down from side to side getting closer only to discover, with relief, it’s only some drunk with a head torch heading home from the pub.

I didn’t totally forsake Motorsport on the day of the rally I just switched to a different type.  Many of our older readers will be familiar with the name of Carroll Shelby, he of the Cobra fame and winner of the 1959 Le Mans with Roy Salvadori in an Aston Martin DBR1. His company Shelby American has a small museum that has a daily tour so I decided we should go. Especially as it was free. I didn’t really know much about him other than the Cobra connection but I knew there were cars in the museum so that was good enough for me. I thought that there would be half a dozen or so people for the tour but there were over 30 there. Shelby was a Texan who loved to race but it was discovered he had heart problems and had to give up racing, so he turned his hand to preparation. In the early 60’s he had the idea that a V8 in a lightweight sports car was the way to go and he chose the AC Cobra. As he had contacts in Ford he went to see the CEO Lee Iacocca and persuaded him to part with some engines and money to develop the car so they could “beat the crap out of those Corvettes”.  Shelby still owns the original show Cobra, which was on display. Several years ago he turned down an offer of $23,000,000 for it, guess he can’t have been short of a bob or two! When it was new he kept respraying it different colours to make people think he had several cars. There were six Cobras of varying ages on display; one was unpainted with a polished aluminium body and worth around $2,000,000. Continue reading →

Rally Reports (October 2012)

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Peter Taylor went to Weeton Camp for a test ahead of Mull. In extremely wet conditions which eventually saw the event cut short on safety grounds, Peter had already retired when leading with Diff / Driveshaft trouble. He then went to Mull and despite similar wet conditions also retired this time with Centre Diff problems.

Autotest (14th of October 2012)

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By Barry Lindsay

Following a disappointingly wet summer which had seen two grass autotests cancelled an extra event was added at Longtown Auction. But despite the minimum entries not being met the event went ahead.

Two fresh cars were being débuted at this event. Neil Thomlinson had stripped out his sisters old fiesta and had also talked his dad Joe into having a go at driving. Barry Lindsay had put the 1.4 running gear back into his old rally shell to use for auto testing.

Test 1 John was quickest with 1m16 despite concerns how tight it was for the big car and quite tight test. Neil T was happy with the fiesta on 1m21 then Barry on 1m 29. Geoffrey got a wrong test.

Neil Thomlinson

Continue reading →

Pendragon Stages 2012

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By Barry Lindsay

The Pendragon is the only Cumbrian tarmac rally and always attracts out a lot of Spadeadam members for the event on Warcop. Dry tarmac met the crews as they lined up to start the first stage which then had stage 2 added in at 30 seconds in the mid pack to liven things up with two laps also. Peter Taylor / Andrew Roughead were quickest of SMC crews and leading overall by 3 seconds after 1 with a time of 9m 45. Barry & Michael Lindsay were next smc crew in 5th with 10m 23. David Hope & Fiona Gourlay were a welcome return taking over a year out to rebuild the Subaru. Loosing none of there speed with 10m 42. On stage two it was who got least held up Peter & Andrew following a car got 9m 48 and dropped them behind Stobart/Richardson in the Fiesta WRC. Barry & Michael had a clear run to 10m 13 then David & Fiona on 10m27 despite loosing brakes then Geoffrey Harkness & Caroline Lodge on 10m 40. Chris Taylor & Jonny Sproat retired after this stage 2.

Continue reading →