Nigel Hepburn & James McWhir finished 39th (5th in class) in the North west stages at Blackpool. The same event saw retirements for both Barrie Thomson & Jerry Hettrick with suspension failure & Tim Finch who retired his Subaru with driveshaft failure. On the Riponian Phil Jobson & Caroline Lodge struggled in the treacherous conditions, an off saw them go OTL.
Who are those people who get their names in the newsletter every month?
You know the ones on last page back page, who get points for driving their cars in events with names like Pend, Tyne, G/hills
Well over the next few months you might get know a little bit more about them, starting with the driver who came in 10th in the SMC 2010 Rally Championship:-
What car do you rally ? –
Pug 205, Ford Escort, Audi Quattro, Subaru, Suzuki Swift
How long have you been rallying and what was your first event ?
Too old to remember , First event Solway Stages
By Barry Lindsay
The February 12 car was organised by Richard Todd and started from the car park at the top of Caldbeck. Five crews set out and four of which set off from the start in the wrong direction not spotting that the actual start ref was the crossroads 100m away! The route then looped south round Branthwaite, Longlands and Bassenthwaite before heading north to Uldale, Sandale then Boltongate. A real narrow country road which deteriorated to grass in the middle! Then up to a control near Westward. Another rough road through Reathwaite which even had a wagon parked up delivering at a farm. All the crews went passed it down the farm yard. Not sure where we went next (I am a driver and don’t have the map!) but we were round by Wiggonby, Thursby roundabout, Baldwinholme and back to the finish in Dalston. Brilliant route on some of the narrowest roads and good instructions.
Thanks to Richard and his marshals for an entertaining evening, and to Neil for navigating.
Results
1st 1st Exp Tom Wilcox & Paul Allen 2 F 3min
2nd 2nd Exp Barry Lindsay & Neil Thomlinson 2 F 4min
3rd 1st Nov Chris Thornton & Chris Ware 2 F 10min
4th 2nd Nov Chris Walker & Joe Walker 3 F 4min
5th 3rd Nov Henry Lowthian & Dave Taylor 3 F 35min
By Caroline Lodge
I’d not sat in Snowy since ‘the washing machine experience’ of the 2009 RAC, but was quick to say ‘Yes’ when Phil asked me to navigate on the Riponian Rally this year. Would I suffer from flashbacks, or post traumatic stress disorder? Would I be reduced to a quivering wreck once inside the car?
Would I heck, I was going forest rallying in a rwd – Bring it on!
The threat of snow over the weekend was causing a bit of concern regarding tyre choices, Roppa and Boltby stage were only just accessible on the day before the event. However the forecast was correct and there snow started to go before the rally started. There was a loop of 6 stages all to be done twice in a reasonably compact route between Thirsk and Helmsley.
After answering messages from our fans we made our way to the first stage – Boltby, that went quite well, a nice 4.1 miles to get back into the swing of things. However it was very, very slippery, this was how the rest of the stages were going to be that day. Snowy was running well, and we got a good time – second fastest in our class. Then onto Wass, with lots of spectators, a quick 2.3 mile loop. Just under 2 miles into stage we negotiated a K right over crest and became passengers as Snowy struggled to grip coming out of the corner, we were up an two wheels and heading sideways towards the bank (navigator’s side as usual). Somehow we got away with that and made it to the finish with only the front nearside tyre hanging off, as a result of the incident. Phew
By Paul Allen
5 or so crews gathered at the Windy Hill car park under the shadow of the Caldbeck Mast. The first section should have included a quick loop down to Ratten Row and back along a narrow yellow, but the start ref was interpreted incorrectly by many crews. Further down the fell, Toddy had put out some code boards facing the wrong way, just to cause added confusion and mayhem. After visiting the outskirts of Caldbeck, the route took the fell road through Fell Side and Branthwaite before arriving at TC1.
The second section continued along the fell through Longlands and south westerly to Bassenthwaite where we turned north and headed back up to Uldale and a very rough road heading up to Aughertree and TC2. There were certainly plenty of codeboards out and about and the route info was interesting enough to keep us sharp.
Back onto map 85 now via Boltongate and there appeared to be a massive white Renault artic parked in the middle of the road, but there was room to go round it as it turned out. Toddy was at TC3 near Westward with his timewarp clock, issueing some instructions that led us on a very tricky to plot route. The next 5 miles were pretty rough with loose gravel, potholes and puddles, the yellow roads were more like whites and I think a hard bash through one pothole had blebbed a front tyre as Tom noticed we now had a bad wobble making the car shake. TC4 was just west of Wigton and Tom was out of the car checking all the wheel nuts were tight before we moved off.
After only 3 or 4 miles the bad news came across the car that we had a flat, front left, so we found a suitable stopping point and jumped out to perform the well practised wheel change routine… Coincidentally this was the northern most that the evenings route took us. We rolled into the penultimate control a couple of minutes late and received a herring bone as the final clue. This took us along yet more narrow and twisty back lanes to the finish at Bridge End Dalston. An interesting event by Toddy and a good range of results across the board. Thanks to Richard and all the marshals
Keith Taylor was out on the first rally of the year at Knockhill. Keith struggled in Peter’s Fiesta on the sever snow conditions. Bringing the car home in 12th OA (5th in Class) On the Jack Frost Stages at Croft, Barry & Michael Lindsay recovered to 11th OA (2nd in class) after some incorrect tyre choices! Chris Taylor & Stuart Egglestone finished 13th (4th in class) despite a time penalty. Geoffrey Harkness & Caroline Lodge were 33rd (5th in class). Barrie Thomson & Jerry Hettrick were 39th (8th in class), Richard Clark & James McWhir were 57th (15th in class)
Following the club AGM last month, there are a few changes to the committee.
Barry Lindsay has stepped down from a number of responsibilities but remains SMC Competition Secretary. Thanks to Barry for all his hard work in the many areas he has been involved with. Hope the rest of us can match his standards.
Your Membership Secretary is now John Ross – get your membership fees to him ASAP.
Jerry Hettrick has taken over the role of club Treasurer.
And Caroline Lodge -‘ volunteered’ to become the Newsletter Editor.
SMC would also like to welcome Helen Gibbon to the club committee, Helen has already dedicated a lot of time and effort to the club, in the form of setting up and running the club website and facebook page.
You will find the up to date list of the committee members, their roles and contact details on the back of your newsletter or the “Contacts” page on the website
Contact: Barry Armstrong Or Barry Lindsay
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Contact: Barry Armstrong Or Barry Lindsay
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Contact: Richard Thomson
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2 Stages Fri Night and 2 Stages Saturday
Contact: Barry Lindsay
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By David Love
Most if not all of us will have watched a modern Formula One Grand Prix at one time or another and listened to the commentators talking about the tremendous acceleration and G forces generated by the cars. Sitting there watching the proceedings, let’s be honest it would be inaccurate to call it a race, you can’t really appreciate the speeds and forces. Let’s face it there’s no way that you’d be let loose in an F1 car so there’s no way you’ll ever get to experience 4G plus. Yet on Boxing Day I got that thrill in a Ferrari F 1 car, in a fashion.
A few months ago my wife, Susan, decided she wanted to avoid the hassle of Christmas and announced that we shouldn’t give each other presents this year but go away instead. Of course she told me this after I’d already got her present from the Pound Shop. It had to be somewhere warm, dry and sunny where they didn’t celebrate Christmas so that ruled out Silloth. After she consulted with Bev, our daughter, it was decreed, sorry decided, that the three of us were heading to Dubai. So early on the 23rd in minus 11 temperatures we were heading through frozen snowy Cumbria to join 596 other travellers on board one of the world’s largest passenger jets, an Emirates Airbus A380. If we were lucky we would get our luggage on the same day we arrived.
By Barry Lindsay
The 2011 Jack Frost rally will be remembered for quite a while as the one that had all the tight chicanes! Events on Croft in the passed have had a few chicanes in the middle of the long straights but this year the put very tight deep chicanes on the corners. The event didn’t have the same support as the Xmas stages by either competitors or spectators. 72 crews lined up on the damp January morning five of which were from Spadeadam. Barry & Michael Lindsay were highest seeded at 10 in the 106. Chris Taylor & Stuart Egglestone brought out the front wheel drive RS2000 at 19. Geoffrey Harkness & Caroline Lodge were at 33 in the Corsa followed just behind at 36 by Barrie Thomson & Jerry Hettrick in a 106. Richard Clark & James McWhir were back at 70 in a 205. Richard having recently bought back Simon’s old 205 to do a few events for a bit of fun. (Standard at the moment but wait till he gets the S1600 and sequential box put in!!)
Above: Richard Clark & James McWhir
For the first stage Barry & Michael had just decided to gamble in soft slicks when the damp drizzle turned to rain. The found out how wet it was at the second corner! A very big slide which was held by powering through but this put them way to quick into the next sequence and they ended up facing the wrong way against the barrier. Barrie & Jerry did very similar but they ended up in the gravel trap, luckily they drove out. However the stage ended up being cancelled due to timing issues.
Spadeadam Motor Club 
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