Author: Spadeadam Motor Club

Garage Woes

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By David Garstang

Well it’s getting to the time of year when the rally season starts for me, so I had better get my finger out and start going through the little fiesta in preparation for the first event in March, the White Heather run by Wigton Motor Club.

So during the winter months since the last event I have been mulling over how to make the car go faster and what jobs need doing before the first event of 2018. I have been looking at the power to weight ration of the Fiesta and looking to see where I can lose a few kilograms of weight from the car. I have found a source of carbon fibre bonnets, Perspex windows, fiberglass front wings and then generally stripping as much surplus weight and unnecessary gear out of the car. I then started to tot up the bill for all the light weight parts and stupidly left the sizeable estimate out on my desk. Where, the good lady of the house found it, and pointed out that she could make the car far lighter than what I was considering, and actually save me money. Mystified how SHE knew better than me I asked her to prove it. “Simple” she said “I will put you on a diet, I can get a good few stones of weight out of the car by making you lose weight, this will also mean we spend less money on food, therefore saving money every week”. Continue reading →

The Highland Fling

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Nigel Harkness

After the Jack Frost stages Vinnie the corsa was still in once piece, so Helen and I decided to get our passports out and have a go at the Grant Construction Stages at Knockhill. It had been years since I’d been there, and Helen had never done an event there. Scrutineering was on Saturday and as it was an early start on Sunday we thought we’d make a weekend of it. It was a lovely, leisurely drive northwards, over the beautiful new Queensberry crossing, and we arrived at Knockhill in glorious sunshine, both of us hoping that it was going to be like this all weekend. It was a new experience to scrutineer, sign on and then enjoy a gentle stroll around the stages. All 3 ½ miles of up and downs, with more gravel/mud than I’ve driven on in my life before and chicanes made of truck tyres thrown in for good measure. Have a go at moving those if you dare!

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We then staked our claim on a bit of the service area and when I finally managed to tear Helen away from Vinnie (“I’ve never left him alone on his own before.”) We headed to our overnight accommodation, where it seemed half the other competitors and officials were also staying. We all arose, pretty much at the same time on Sunday morning too, to be greeted by -8ºC, followed by lots of frantic de-icing. If only someone could have de-frosted the circuit! It was very white out there. Vinnie was very frozen, though the generator and a 2Kw fan heater soon thawed him out. Continue reading →

Frustration & Rust!

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

(McGrady Insurance Stages 2018 at Bishopscourt Race Circuit.)

By Allan Cathers

It’s been a frustrating time for Organisers, Marshals, Competitors and Rally fans alike due to the unusual weather conditions and the “Beast from the East”. After a long layoff from Rallying, since early September 2018, Rory and I hoped to kick start the season with two local favourite Rallies, the Malcolm Wilson and the Border Counties. Unfortunately it was not to be, as both rallies had to be cancelled due to the adverse conditions generated by the “The Beast”.

What could we do? The answer was simpler look for another event that would fit in and not be affected by extreme weather. So we had a good look at various calendars and Dommy (Buckley) suggested the Mayo Stages Rally over in the far west of Ireland on 10th and 11th March. It is run solely on Achill Island comprising of 3 x closed road stages run three times on the Sunday with Recce and scrutineering on the Saturday. Unfortunately this wouldn’t fit in as Rory needed to return home on Sunday evening due to business and family commitments and this was not possible. Continue reading →

Chiarman’s Month

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Barry Lindsay

Been a disappointing month in many ways, hope things get better once the Beast from the East disappears.

Month started with rushing round here there and everywhere borrowing and servicing and fitting fire extinguishers to meet the New MSA rules when Lifeline couldn’t cope with demand to get ready for the Malcolm Wilson Rally. Only for it to be cancelled. ARRRRGH. While at the same time we had to postpone our Spadeadam awards night which was the right decision as on the actual night the A6071 Brampton – Longtown was blocked in several places with cars stuck in drifts.

Moving forward marshalling the Border Counties the week after didn’t happen either again due to the snow and everyone’s safety.

The March 12 car had to be cancelled due to lack of entries and the roads were still rather snow lined at the time. However I’ve got my entry in for the April 12 Car is hope you have too. If you are not competing please help marshal. There may not be many more chances if it’s not supported. Continue reading →

Spadeadam Team Rally Win! – Jack Frost Report

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Barry Lindsay

The Jack Frost rally win for Barry Lindsay & Caroline Lodge was meant to happen because there were quite a few stumbling blocks that could have stopped them in their tracks before the event started.

Their car for the day was to be a SG Petch car offered as a Prize-drive for the winner of the SG Petch ANECCC stage Championship. Steve Bannister & Callum Atkinson won the championship but passed the prize down to 2nd. This happened to be Lindsay & Lodge. This was announced just after the Grizedale and at this point they were building a new Fiesta for the prize-drive.

A few weeks before the Jack Frost the car wasn’t ready so it was agreed with the motorsport manager that Barry best get the 106 prepared ‘just in case’. A few days later plans changed again, Barry & Caroline were to use Steve Petch’s own car the WD40 Fiesta S2000T. Continue reading →

Solway Classic & Targa 2017

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By David Garstang

Sunday 15th October was forecast for Storm Ophelia to hit the UK, and it also happened to be Wigton Motor Club’s Solway Classic and Targa Rally based around Whitehaven and Maryport. Wigton MChad managed to gain a new test venue at the disused Alcan site just down the road from the rally start at Energus Lillyhall. This meant that they could put on indoor and outdoor tests as they had the use of the old factory buildings and grounds.

It was an early start so that I could get to scrutineering nice and early and then settle down and have a crack with the other competitors, a number of the quick crews were still in Mull as they had decided to do the new Mull event instead of the Solway, but not Andy Beaumont who finished and won outright the Mull event on the Friday and was also competing in the Solway looking to get the double. Spadeadam had a total of 4 crews out, Helen Harkness & Barry Lindsay in a Corsa, John Holliday & Allan Cathers in John’s immaculate Midget, Jonathan & Nicholas Fowler in their Mk2 Escort and myself and big brother Mk1 Fiesta.

The first test was at the start on a nice tarmac car park with a simple auto test set up the fastest time was Chris Hunter in his Mazda MX5 on 30 seconds, out of the Spadeadam crews Harkness/Lindsay did a 33, I managed 34, Holliday/Cathers 35 and Fowler/Fowler 38. Continue reading →

Autumn Autotest

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Barry Lindsay

16 competitors turned out to do the sealed surface Autotest at the Peth. With Helen Harkness taking on the role of organising this one and came up with a great afternoon of non stop action with very little cone moving. The event was marshalled by Ian Robinson, Michael Lindsay & Graham Petry with Caroline Lodge on results and Barry ‘Hop along’ Lindsay on photos (still not able to compete due to a broken ankle).

First test Nigel Moffat was quickest on 48, with John Holliday and Nigel Harkness on 50sec then Helen Harkness and Phil Jobson both on 51sec. Wrong tests for Simon Jobson & Bradley Rutherford.

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Test 2 was a repeat Nigel M & Craig Stamper were quickest on 49sec, then Helen, Nigel H, John H and Martin Davies all on 50sec. Continue reading →

The E-by-gum type Experience

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Richard Thomson

Last November I was given an E-Type Experience at Knockhill as a birthday present. I should explain that my only previous experience of a Jaguar E-Type was also at Knockhill, but that time as a passenger in an ex-Ecurie Ecosse lightweight version. Winter is not the best time to be driving at Knockhill, so I decided to wait until spring and the better weather.

Come that day I had booked, and the weather didn’t look good at all. It was very, very wet on the M74, and conditions only started to improve as I approached Edinburgh. Sadly the traffic didn’t, and I was lucky to arrive at Knockhill on time. There were 3 of us taking part in the experience, and I don’t think the others would be too unhappy if I was to say that I was comfortably the youngest! It was decided that I would go first, which had the advantage that I had the track mostly to myself. Out first for 4 laps in a Honda Civic Type-R to get used to the damp circuit, and with strict instructions to keep off the painted kerbs, apart from at the chicane. I had been looking forward to the Honda, but it was a bit of a disappointment. It had loads of grip through the corners, and I think it was quite quick on the straights, although it didn’t feel so. I remember driving a Golf GTi around a damp Mallory Park about 20 years ago, which was much more entertaining! The Honda felt like it would let you do anything, until it ran out of grip and you had a big accident! Continue reading →

Rally Results (October 2017)

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

Adgespeed Rally  3 Sisters Jerry Hettrick navigated Tom Pearson to 29th OA (15th in class).

October Autotest

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By David Garstang

On Sunday 8th October Helen Harkness and the autotest team of helpers put on a great afternoon of fun running a number of interesting challenging tests on concrete in a haulage yard just outside Longtown.

The tests were set up so that you ran each test twice and for those of us that are mentally challenged at remembering routes around an auto test they lettered each cone. Now this is what I am use to when competing on the classic and targa events so I found it much easier to remember what the route was around each test. They had set up the first test so that with either no moving of cones or moving one or two cones they were able to run a variety of test patterns in a very quick set up time.

i-fn3gkgx-m Continue reading →