By Eric Ritchie
As those of you who attended Englishtown Autocross will have noticed, there was a distinct lack of grass and mud. As you will appreciate, the original intention was to hold a Grass Autocross but the weather on the previous two weeks put paid to this idea. However, Jim Taylor being the good fellow that he is kindly loaned his farmyard to stage one of the most unusual events we have had for a long time. Actually the real reason was that Jim didn’t want to take the Opel into the field!
Farms being what they are, it did make for some interesting spectating. First to come to grief being Jim Vevers in the Escort when he attacked the slurry pit! Amazing how quickly you can lose friends when you smell like a slurry pit!” On home ground, Jim Taylor set the ball rolling with 1.20 in the “Massey Ferguson” prepared Opel. From the outset it was obvious that the event was to be fast, Bob Harrison managing to get the Toyota to sound like a swarm of pregnant bees as screamed down cowshed straight. My apologies to John Walker, who I have been trying to convince to enter an S.M.C. Autocross for months. Knobblies and concrete are no the best combination! However, who worries about tyres when you corner on the door handles. Certainly not Geoff Steel. Spectators, cats, dogs, cows, all fled as the Peugeot powered Mr. Steel hurled about like a man possessed. Pity you went the wrong way Geoff! Chairman Brian and Michael Coward both Escort powered were separated by only 8/10ths of a second after the first round. Colin Rowntree in the Avenger took almost 13 seconds off his firts round time to turn 1.19.8 and finish 9th overall. Japanese ingenuity and the strength of John Johnston’s arms kept the Mazda estate on the track, sometimes he even managed to keep it straight. Not an easy car to turn in a time of 1.16 with.
Eric Ritchie
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