Author: Spadeadam Motor Club

Argyll Rally 2018

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Barry Lindsay

Round 4 of the SG Petch Championship was a new round for 2018 and was a little further than most we were used with, ourselves included. The Dunoon based event consisted of 8 stages. Three Spadeadam cars made the start, two-wheel drive cars ran first on the road so myself & Caroline Lodge were seeded at 107 which was 7th car on the road. In the 4WD Rory Young & Allan Cathers were at 7 in the R5 Fiesta then John McIlwraith at 18 in the Subaru, looking for points in the Scottish championship Subaru Cup.

Following a hectic driver’s briefing which saw 2wd crews running to their cars in order to make the MTC (Spadeadam don’t do running a brisk walk uphill was fast enough). Stage 1 Rory & Allan got 5m 00 which put them into a 6 sec rally lead. John got 5m39 then us with 6m06. Happy enough as it was 2nd in class but already 17sec of the class pace. A ‘Quick’ road section to SS2 where Rory & Allan were again quickest with 3m24 adding 7 seconds to their rally lead. John getting 4m04 then myself and Caroline on 4m 18 dropped us to third in class, only issue was the back suspension bouncing on the fast, bumpy sections. Almost straight into SS3, a massive uphill start didn’t help the 206. Dropping to 4th in class with a 6m24.

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John got 6m12 but Rory & Allan were out. A puncture caused them to get onto the edge and pulled into a ditch. Continue reading →

Summer Grass Autotest 2018

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Barry Lindsay

The second grass Autotest ran mid-June but this report wasn’t written for the newsletter copy deadline the week after so for those of you can remember back, this is how it unfolded.

Fourteen competitors arrived at the freshly silaged grass field at Longpark. Setting out the new layouts a test of routes to be used at the display the club were doing at the Cumbria Auto Show the week later…turned out to it never ran as dust prevented the display happening. However, test one of the new tests was one that no one had ever ran so this event was a leveller. Helen Harkness was fastest with 1m06 just ahead of Nigel Harkness on 1m07. Geoffrey Harkness and Barry Lindsay getting 1m09. Running new tests always produces wrong tests, Phil Hodgson, Andrew, Geoffrey, Mike, Sade & Lizzy Burke and Josh Shaw.

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On the second run, Barry got the hang of his recently acquired 206 which was to be broken for rally car spares getting 1m 03, Helen, Nigel, Phil H and Martin Davies were close behind on 1m04 though, then Andrew J & David Garstang on 1m05. Continue reading →

Garage Woes

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By David Garstang

Well it’s been a while since I last wrote something so this may take some time, and it starts back in February.

I had been waiting for an appointment for a minor operation on my nose and I received a letter in the post saying the operation was to be on Thursday 26th April which was OK as it was an in and out operation in a day. This still left time to prep the rally car for the 1st May bank holiday weekend when I would be competing on the Berwick Classic. So the day of the operation arrived and I duly arrived on the ward for 7:30 am as instructed to wait for my operation I finally went to the operating room at 5pm. Apparently the operation went successfully but I was not wanting to wake up from the aesthetic and my nose was constantly leaking lots of red fluid, so the hospital staff suggested that I stayed on the ward for the night, luckily I was allowed home at 11:00 the following morning and my designated driver arrived for me at 3pm after gossiping with friends and forgetting what the time was. I was also instructed not to bend over too much and not to do any lifting for a week. Bang went prepping the rally car or so I thought. Continue reading →

Rally Results (June & July 2018)

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

Argyll –  Barry Lindsay & Caroline Lodge were  18th Overall (2nd in class) John McIlwraith was 26th  Overall (6th in class) despite a 6min road early penalty

Rory Young & Allan Cathers went off after a good start and Retired.

Greystoke – Barry Lindsay & Caroline Lodge brought the 206 home 9th Overall (1st in class). Just head of James Coxon who was navigating Mark Shaw in the Sunbeam. 11th Overall (2nd in class). Rob Graham & Helen Harkness finishing 24th Overall (6th in class)

Nicky Grist – Rory Young & Allan Cathers finished the BTRDA event 3rd OA (3rd in class).

Mach 1 – Phil Jobson debuted his new Mk2 tarmac car, however he retired on stage 8

The Soapbox Derby 2018

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Helen Harkness

A small band of Spadeadam MC members made their way to a hill in an undisclosed location (behind my house) to do battle in the 2018 Soap Box derby. We had 4 soapboxes and 6 competitors ready to face “The Hill”. Graham Petry and Lewis Hodgson as Juniors. Philip Hodgson, Barry Lindsay, Nigel Harkness and myself as seniors.

First run, Barry decided to set the standard at 59 seconds, next was Graham on 1.02. as he had no brothers to battle he’d decided that beating his Uncle Barry was the day’s goal! Nigel was next on 1.03 and as my goal was to beat Nigel, my run of 1.06 wasn’t looking good! Lewis and Phil brought a new soapbox with them, it looked a beast of a box, with far more weight than the rest of us. However, on Lewis’ first run that weight was a bit too much and the soapbox wasn’t particularly steerable. He took a spill and unfortunately had to cut his day short with a trip to A&E. His dad then decided to have a go and did make the first corner (just) and got a 1.06.

Next run, Barry was once again in the lead with 58 seconds, I was next with 1 minute flat, Graham just behind on 1.01. Nigel was behind him on 1.03 and then Phil on 1.06 again. That was to be the last run for the “Green Goddess” as on its next trip down the hill, the steering broke, luckily that time it was the only thing!

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Continue reading →

Cumbria Auto Show

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

Thank you to everyone who represented Spadeadam at the Cumbria Auto Show at Rosehill. Sadly, we weren’t able to demonstrate the Autotesting on the day. Following all the work building up to the day with the MSA paperwork requirements for the safety of spectators, and then on the day before the event, the organisers reduced our area so maps had to be redone Saturday night. It finally couldn’t run because of the dust blowing over the polished cars. I had to agree with the organisers that at the end of the day it was the polished cars that were the main feature of the car show and they needed to keep them happy also. So, the Club display then turned into a static one!

Show organisers are hopeful that autotesting could happen next year in different weather…. Good luck with organising that.

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Thanks,

Barry

Nicky Grist Stages 2018

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Allan Cathers 

After our promising run on the Argyll Rally a couple of weeks ago came to nothing. We picked up double front punctures on the third stage while leading the rally by 13 seconds and the car was beached in a ditch while trying to drive out slowly in Road mode.

Anyway we decided to try the Nicky Grist Stages which is a BTRDA round based in the heart of mid Wales. This was only Rory’s second time in Wales and his first time in the classic Wales Rally GB Stages of Route 60, Halfway and Crychan, although over the years I have competed there many times with some success, however the last time was 2002!

We were using a Dommy Buckley RSC prepared 2018 Ford Fiesta R5 as usual backed by Scottish Christmas Trees. Continue reading →

Rally Results (June 2018)

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

ATL Carlisle – Rob Graham & Helen Harkness retired from the Historic 2wd section on the last stage of Friday night with gearbox and exhaust problems.

Darren Martin& Kyle Gass retired from the BTRDA section with clutch issues.

KWF Weeton – Darren Martin & Martin Steele Retired with blown rear diff. Jamie Martin & Kyle Gass finished 27th OA 11th in class despite collecting a stage maximum with a puncture.

Garage Woes – The White Heather Targa

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By David Garstang

So what’s been happening in the garage you may be asking? Has the fiesta lost any weight? Is the car any shinier? Was the underside painted? Did it get serviced and the gear box oil checked? Was the puncture fixed? What progress on the Spitfire.

All good questions which I started to think about the week end before the White Heather Tests, so it was a case of prioritising the things to do. The weight loss programme has been put on hold as I think a layer of fat around me will keep me safe during the Beast from the East, should I  get stranded in a snow drift I will last better than a skinny person. Due to the cold it’s been too cold to paint the underside of the car I will perhaps now put this off until spring. I did manage to get the engine serviced and adjust the rear brakes, however the cold had affected the oil in the can that I was going to use as I was pouring it out it was coming out in globs of jelly like substance. I decided not to put it in the car until I had put the can of oil on the radiator in the house to warm through and become like normal oil again. I tried to disguise it with a tea towel but I was soon found out when the aroma of hot engine oil started to waft out of the kitchen. I then quickly put it in the engine and topped up the gearbox. So car serviced time to sort out the tyre which I dropped off at my local garage who kindly repaired it for me. So the Fiesta was now ready for the first event of the season only 7 days to wait and see if the snow will melt so that I could get the car out of hibernation and give it a test drive.No such luck due to the snow and work so it was a case of load it on to the trailer on Friday night the evening before the event start on Saturday and hope for the best. Continue reading →

Rally Results (February / March 2018)

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

Knockhill
Nigel & Helen Harkness finished 32nd Overall (7th in class) in the Corsa.

Bishopscourt Stages
Rory Young & Allan Cathers finished the Irish tarmac rally in 8th Overall ( 1st in class)