Author: Spadeadam Motor Club

RAC Ramblings 2011

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Caroline Lodge

As Jonathan had been, persuaded (bullied) into navigating for Jim Valentine on 2011 RAC.  I was quite happy to follow the event and had been provisionally booked to navigate a chase car. However following a call from a Manx guy called Higgins this all changed and I was going to be competing against Jonathan and Jim in another 2 stroke Saab.

This was going to be a bit of challenge for both of the Lodges, Jonathan hadn’t done any map reading for a very long time and  I’d never met my driver before, he’d only driven the car once before and hadn’t rallied in the forests for over 20 years! Was I worried? Was I heck, in the words of Joey Ramone, it was a case of ‘Hey! Ho! Let’s go!’

One week before the event and the chaos began. My maps and the car decals etc were in the Isle of Man, the car was in Huddersfield and I was obviously in North Cumbria. Jonathan had his maps but he also had his car stickers etc, but ‘his car’ was in London! The Royal mail did well out of Team Saab that week with various parcels and packets whizzing up and down the country. Finally all the various paperwork, stickers, road books, maps etc were all with the right people.

But on Tindale Fell the chaos continued, you could hear cries of, ‘don’t you dare mix your stuff with mine!’, ‘that’s my road book – put it down’, ‘No, I haven’t seen your ****ing marker pen.’ Being the kind and loving wife I helped Jonathan to prep his maps and went through some of the stuff with him – won’t be doing that again!

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RAC 2011 (Part 1)

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Jonathan Lodge

Feb 11 – I receive a phone call from Jim Valentine re doing Liege Rome Liege & the RAC in his 2 stroke Saab.  Politely say I would be very interested but due to work commitments, studying & exams it would be difficult.  I also highlighted that I had not done any map reading for a scary number of years.

May 11 – Jim phones to say Liege Rome Liege had been cancelled but he had been invited to take the car to Goodwood in July.  Cross reference diaries & decide this is only opportunity to both be in car .  No way I could refuse VIP competitor tickets to Goodwood.

July 11 – Goodwood. ‘Thank You Jim’ Another fantastic day.  Sit in car for  2 runs convince Jim all is OK & he needs to take other people in the car.  This means Caroline & I have to go to the drivers lounge at the top of the hill (just happened to time it when the motorbikes arrived – sorry Caroline) & then chauffeur driven shuttle to the main show.  Realise at this point I it would be rude not to competing on RAC.

Oct 11 – Caroline has moved camps from being part of the support crew to fellow competitor – in the same class with a Manx man called Higgins!!

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Rally Results (November 2011)

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Peter Taylor retired from the Kingdom Stages at Crail. David Coleman continued his bad luck with fuel pump failure on the first stage of the Galloway Hills Rally. On the same event James McWhir navigated Michael Hunter to 36 Overall (7th in class).

Hexham Historic Rally – A Marshal’s Ramblings

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Dave Love

5pm Satruday 19th of November, Chris Walker and I are headed over to Humshaugh to sign on then man 2 controls on the Hexham Historic / John Robson Navigational Rally. I’m sure getting to signing on is part of the event, as I can’t remember it being the same place twice in the past few years. I thought we might have trouble finding the village hall but the half mile line of cars parked both sides of the road gave us a clue. First it was Alan & Rob Blake out for the first time since John Ross’ 12 car last year. Then I bumped into Phil Jobson who had Jerry Hettrick on the maps. Time was pressing on so we thought we’d better sign on. When we did we were given 2 envelopes with TC instructions, 2 meal tickets and a bedside alarm clock! Didn’t realise we’d have time for a nap. The fact that the organisers were using these clocks isn’t as strange as you first think, they had big numbers, were backlit and were radio controlled so they would al be on the same minute and second- theoretically.

Off we went to our first control, TC3, at Portgate, ten mins along the B6318 and got the car safely parked on the verge, when we looked at the control instructions which told us we had to ensure that 2 gates half a mile before us were open and secured. Although there was 40 mins before car 1, I thought it best we didn’t go WD. I said to Chris, “We’ll go back along the B road, pop down that white, open the gates and be back here in 10 mins”. I should really listen to what I’m saying, “Pop down that white”. It was a little bit rough at the start but nothing the Audi couldn’t handle, no wet grass Geoffrey. Round a corner there was ‘wet grass’, and potholes, then there were wheel ruts and a very narrow part past gorse bushes on the passenger side, which made a noise along that side of the car, similar to fingernails screeching down a blackboard. Next up came a crater the width of the track. It was pretty deep with a step down to the water. We decided that hitting reverse was the best course of action, especially when Chris said, “You get stuck in there and I’m not pushing you out!?”. It was back past the gorse bushes , which made the same noise. At least it was the same side of the car getting the punishment. Slowly we made our way back to the B road, of for a pair of Cibes on the back bumper. We then sped WD to find them both opened AND manned. ***@@@$$! Once we were back at the control Chris inspected the scratches on the paddneger side and declared that it was now time to trade in the Audi – in the rain.

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Who’s That? #7

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

Spadeadam’s Champion Driver  2010

&

Winner of the North Of England Tarmac Rally Championship 2011

Barry Lindsay.

What do you rally? What’s its history?

Peugeot 106 1.6 Gti.

I’d Spotted a (damaged) 106 Gti, I remember pricing bits with Allan Bateman at Graham Bowness, he said “If the engine and the ECU are damaged don’t get it!”. A few hours later I lifted the bonnet and the chassis leg had moved… On it was the ECU, it had gone through the timing belt, smashed the cam pulley and all the guards!! A bit more look but I was having it…! BLM built up the engine and prepared the pocket rocket for its début Christmas 2001. The first season with it was a nightmare. It was showing speed but couldn’t get results various problems: Diff / Driveshaft / Fuel pump/ Relay. Then came Christmas 2002, the start of the 11 class wins on 12 events.

How long have you been rallying? What was your first event?

First event was 1993 Derwent Stages on Great Orton in a Talbot Sunbeam. We finished despite the bonnet coming loose and then a coil wire coming off. After 4 years, front wheel drive beckoned. A Peugeot 205 had been built by BLM and we sneaked off to Flookburgh to début it. 2nd in class with standard suspension and exhaust (which we lost part of during the event!).

Barry & Michael LindsayDurham Dales Rally - Barford Camp

Barry & Michael LindsayDurham Dales Rally – Barford Camp

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Rally Results (October 2011)

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Cambrian-  Caroline 81st (11th class).  IRC Scotland-  Peter Taylor retired with suspension damage. Mull- Peter Taylor finished 23rd (7th in class). Cheviot Rally- Barry & Michael Lindsay finished 15th Overall (2nd in class), while Peter Taylor retired.

Congratulations…

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

 ….to Barry & Michael Lindsay.

Winners of The AS Performance North of England Tarmac Rally Championship 2011

Barry & Michael Lindsay

Barry & Michael Lindsay

 (Photo © Y. Petry / Spadeadam Motor Club)

Championship points and SMC members positions after the Final round

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DRIVERS – OVERALL

 

1  Barry Lindsay                        96

2  Paul Swift                                     86

3  Chris Anderson                           56

–––––

9  Geoffrey Harkness                    33

11  Peter Taylor                               29

25  Nigel Hepburn                         14

37  Richard Clark                            6

41  Barrie Thomson                        2

DRIVERS – Class 2 – 1401 to 1600cc

 

1  Barry Lindsay        52

3  Geoffrey Harkness      20

7  Nigel Hepburn             10

9  Richard Clark              5

12 Barrie Thomson         3

 

DRIVERS – Class 3 – 1601 to 2000cc

4  Peter Taylor        16

CO-DRIVERS – OVERALL

 

1  Michael Lindsay                   96

2  Chris Thirling                               57

3 Andrew Roughead                        52

–––––

9  Caroline Lodge                             36

14 James McWhir                             27

20  Fiona Gourlay                             17

38  Jerry Hettrick                             1

 

CO-DRIVERS – Class 2 – 1401 to 1600cc

 

1  Michael Lindsay                       52   

3 Caroline Lodge                               20

5  James McWhir                              17

9  Fiona Gourlay                                4

12 Jerry Hettrick                                3

CO-DRIVERS – Class 3 – 1601 to 2000cc

11 Fiona Gourlay                                      6

Cheviot Stages 2011

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Barry Lindsay.

The Cheviot rally was the third and final rally of the year on the Otterburn ranges. It was also the final round of the AS Performance North of England Tarmac championship. Two Spadeadam crews were out on the event, Peter Taylor & Andrew Roughead had the Clio R3 and were seeded at 5. Barry & Michael Lindsay were at 10 in the 106. The usual format of Recce and scrutineering on the Saturday followed by the rally on the Sunday. The Sunday morning dawned damp but the forecast was for it to dry up.

The organisers only had the use of half of the range but managed to run an 83mile route and all ran to time.

Barry & Michael Lindsay
Barry & Michael Lindsay

The first stage, partially manned by Spadeadam marshals and with Barry Armstrong as Stage Commander. The stage was wetter than thought and Barry & Michael struggled on the cut slicks, recording a time of 9m 25. Peter & Andrew were quicker with 9m12 (11th Quickest). There was only a ½ mile road section before stage 2 which was a blast back to service, Peter & Andrew got 3m11 (6th fastest) while Barry & Michael dropped bucket loads of time on this section which would be used 6 times on the day!

Peter Taylor & Andrew Roughead
Peter Taylor & Andrew Roughead

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SMC Crew ‘Sees The Light’ on the Illuminations Rally (2011)

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By Phil Jobson/Jerry Hettrick

The Navigator had recovered somewhat from the flu he had contracted, but heading off to the start of the Illuminations Road Rally at Great Langdale, the driver was suffering from debilitating back pain. On arrival, further angst challenged the crew with a Poti to rewire and then a flat front tyre, so starting the event on 3 x Yokohama A021’s and 1 x A048 was not ideal when the crew faced a challenging route over some of the most gruelling mountain passes in the country.

Bleatarn, Wrynose and Hardknott Passes in a single opening Regularity provided a rude awakening for crews; it was clear that the multitude of historic Minis were better suited to the route. Oblivious to the BIG DROPS on either hand, the crew pressed the Silver Bullet hard into each hairpin trusting the tyres to turn in. The crew dropped just 4 minutes 25seconds over the 17 mile opener, but were beaten by some nimble small FWD cars, including Dave (King of Hardknott) Head who cleaned the section.

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