By Phil Jobson

It’s been a quiet Stage Rallying year for me, so I thought I would treat myself to a crack at the full RAC. It seemed that every map reading nav in SMC was either already committed to another team, or wasn’t available for other reasons. So a quick call to Chris Sheridan who’d accompanied me on the Countdown secured a competing crew. Richard Clark & Squirt (Joe 90 or James McWhir) know Snowy inside out & were agreeable to service for us.

The plan had been to service with only a newly acquired Mitsubishi Pajero 2800 (dubbed ‘Chevy’, as in Chase), but it soon became apparent when formulating the service plan that a van was going to be necessary, at least to move tyres around. Barrie Thomson obliged, but also offered his Transit too. We’re grateful to Barrie who turned out to be indispensable.

 The journey to Pickering was uneventful other than a slight engine temp increase in Chevy causing us to switch trailer to Barrie’s Transit halfway up Stainmoor. Continue reading →

By Barry Lindsay

The Xmas stages is a popular event run on Croft racetrack between Xmas & New Year. 80 Entries for the event on the tarmac track and thankfully no snow but it was wet and cold.

The first round of the 2013 North of England Championship saw us seeded at 11 behind last year’s NE champion Paul Swift. Geoffrey Harkness & Caroline Lodge were at 68. Continue reading →

By Caroline Lodge

A surprise phone call the week before the Cheviot Stages lead to me sitting in with Jane Beebe, her son Matt had challenged her to do some rallying and after some good runs asphalt, she had a on track to win the N3 class in the BTRDA. Otterburn was to be her final rally. We were entering in an MG ZR 160.

We met at the ranges on a very cold Saturday afternoon for the recce. As we followed the fellow competitors nervous laughter commenced when we saw the covering of snow on the stages. After a very slow scrutineering appointment and making plans for the event we waved goodbye.

Sunday morning – rally day, I left a very wet Tindale Fell, as I carried on along the military road the wet road turned into a sparkly surface which then evolved into a good covering of white ice. My journey to Otterburn was ‘eventful’ as every time I tried to give the little Mazda a bit more revs it promptly tried to swap ends! Also just missing a black cow wandering around in the dark on an icy road added to the experience. So it was a slow slithery trip to the ranges. Barry and Mike took a slightly different route  as their truck refused to turn off where they wanted it to. Continue reading →

By Barry Lindsay

The final round of the AS Performance North of England Championships. The championship winner had been confirmed as Paul Swift at the previous round and with second place Chris Andersons car not repaired neither of these crews were there. Spadeadam members were there though. Peter Taylor was debuting the new Citroen DS3 and was seeded at 5. Barry and Michael Lindsay were seeded at 12, Dee Addison was navigating Alistair Tough who was at 34. Caroline Lodge was navigating Jane Beebe at 55 in an MG ZR.

Recce on the Saturday afternoon, crews were shocked to discover that the first few miles on Stage 1 was white with snow then the remainder of the stages were very wet and with a lot of water running across the roads. Continue reading →

By Barry Lindsay

The Pendragon is the only Cumbrian tarmac rally and always attracts out a lot of Spadeadam members for the event on Warcop. Dry tarmac met the crews as they lined up to start the first stage which then had stage 2 added in at 30 seconds in the mid pack to liven things up with two laps also. Peter Taylor / Andrew Roughead were quickest of SMC crews and leading overall by 3 seconds after 1 with a time of 9m 45. Barry & Michael Lindsay were next smc crew in 5^th with 10m 23. David Hope & Fiona Gourlay were a welcome return taking over a year out to rebuild the Subaru. Loosing none of there speed with 10m 42. On stage two it was who got least held up Peter & Andrew following a car got 9m 48 and dropped them behind Stobart/Richardson in the Fiesta WRC. Barry & Michael had a clear run to 10m 13 then David & Fiona on 10m27 despite loosing brakes then Geoffrey Harkness & Caroline Lodge on 10m 40. Chris Taylor & Jonny Sproat retired after this stage 2.

Continue reading →