Rally Reports

The Disorganised Organiser

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

 By David Love

Have you ever wanted to be a member of a rally organising committee?  No!  Sensible person.  The word committee is a big clue, it means that you have to be committed but I think it’s more likely you should be committed.  After 20 years or so of marshalling on the Tour of Cumbria/ Pirelli International Rally I was invited to join the committee.  This was not because I’d excelled at the job but due to the fact that my friend and SMC stalwart Alan Bateman felt he could no longer manage due to cancer.  I hoped that it would only be temporary and Alan would recover and return the following year.  Sadly it was not to be.  So I took over the roles of Equipment Officer and Start/Finish Co-coordinator without the foggiest idea what I was doing.  I’m still not sure that I yet know!

From the beginning of February I spend on average 2 hours a day on rally business and for the two weeks before the rally it’s nearer 5 hours a day minimum.  That’s a lot of time especially as I’m only one of 15 people on the committee who all have different responsibilities but I do the most work, wish I could keep a straight face when I say that.  Some have more than one responsibility and overlap with other committee members.  We have a Chairman & Sponsor Liaison, Route Planner, Entry Secretary & Treasurer, Safety Officer, Communications Officer, Webmaster, Chief Marshal & Deputy, Service Area Co-coordinator, Clerk of the Course, Rally Secretary, Media Officer, Programme Editor & Distributor, Rally Promotion, Accommodation Organiser and my deputy & me.

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Ingliston – 2012

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Barry Lindsay

The fourth round of the North of England tarmac championship was held at Ingliston Nr Edinburgh Airport. 62 entries in the main field and added to this was 12 in the juniors. The first year of the Scottish Juniors where 14-17 year olds can compete in 1000cc cars.

Geoffrey Harkness / Caroline Lodge

Geoffrey Harkness / Caroline Lodge
Image courtesy of David Hattrick

Barry & Michael Lindsay had the reshelled 106 out following the longer than planned winter project seeded 6. Geoffrey Harkness & Caroline Lodge returned to the championship for this round in the Corsa at 32. Richard Clark & James McWhir were having a rare outing in the 205 with “for sale” signs on the windows at 59.

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Granite City rally 2012

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Neil Thomlinson

With an offer from Phil Jobson of co-driving on my first stage event it seemed like I could not refuse, although with only doing 12 cars, a couple of road rallies and only ever looking at notes once then it was looking like I was going to need some assistance. With this in mind I had a word with Barry Lindsay and he put me in the direction of Spadeadam’s co-driving instructor Caroline Lodge.

Luckily, with only 2 weeks until the event, I found some accommodation for the Friday night only 5 minutes away from the start, borrowed the suit off Jonathan Lodge and borrowed the helmet of Caroline Jobson.

With the route notes, DVD, OS maps and regs printed off it was then that I needed the help from Caroline to make sure that I actually knew what I was doing.

The Friday came round quicker than expected and off up to Aberdeen we went, with John Ross and Barry Lindsay as service crew.

Phil Jobson / Neil Thomlinson

Phil Jobson / Neil Thomlinson

A repair on the car saw us pass scrutineering at the 2nd attempt and once we were signed on we could all go and relax at the b&b which was also conveniently a pub and restaurant. With a little help from Barry the route note amendments were made and with a double check I had everything sorted I felt ready for the day ahead.

Next thing it was Saturday morning and we were in the queue for the start, away from TC0 at 9:18 and my first stage rally was underway. Next thing was stage 1, it seemed like seconds between the countdown and the flying finish, as did stage 2 and stage 3. Both Phil and I were happy and the car was performing well… up until towards the end of stage 3 where Phil was experiencing difficulty in selecting some gears, with a quick visit to Barry to report on the problem we went to the re-group then onto service, with help from a few marshals to push start the car at the end of re-group due to a wire coming adrift from the starter motor. Onto service and the wire was put back on the starter and the difficulty of selecting gears was put down to the clutch this was adjusted until it was okay. With these problems we used some of the lateness out of service and then onto stage 4. Unfortunately the clutch did not last the road section and we were forced to retire.

Hopefully I will compete in more events in the future as I really enjoyed this one. Thanks to all involved in helping me to compete on my first stage rally.

(Image © B. Lindsay/ Spadeadam Motor Club 2012)

Behind the scenes on the 2012 Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland.

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Eric Ritchie

4 a.m. and alarms are going off all over Carlisle and Brampton!  Me, I’m tucked up in bed in my Newcastle hotel room, with another hour to go before I am also rudely awakened. Our rendezvous, Newcastle Airport, at 6 a.m. on Thursday 5th April. It sounds like something out of the Apprentice. The “we” is, Alan Cathers, Rob Grant, David and Bev Love, Heather Grizedale and of course me.  Thanks to Lord Sugar, aka John Parker and Nick aka Brian Kinghorn, we are off to Ireland to spend the Easter weekend with the guests, dealers, VIP’s, directors and staff of Skoda, as they compete in the 2012 Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland Rally.

Alan confident in the fact that he met the sales director of Easy Jet at a boozy bash earlier in the year, decided to test the strength of his new friendship  by taking on board two items of hand luggage. Despite the fact that this could have cost him over £2000 in excess baggage charges, he boldly marched through security as the rest of us were strip searched. What is it about airports in the early hours of the morning that bring out the best in the “jobs worth’s”? However, after our short flight we were greeted at Belfast International Airport by BK and big brother Stephen and the lovely Diane.

First stop, after the traditional Ulster Fry breakfast, was to pick up the vehicles we would be driving for the next few days. Courtesy of the Donnelley Group, the event sponsor, we would be driving a fleet of VW Caravelle’s and very nice they are to be sure. At around £45K each so they should be! Mine still had the polythene wrapping paper on!

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Been a bit busy lately

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Caroline Lodge

After a slow start to 2012, I’ve spectated at a couple of events and done a bit of rescue work, however,  things seem to have kicked off since the end of March.

A surprise phone call one evening, lead to me sitting in the hot seat, next to Ivor Clark at Charterhall for the PJ Hunter Plant Hire and Groundworks Stages. (AKA the day Ivor lost his underpants) The couple of days leading up to the rally were entertaining. After a call from Ivor inviting me to come and see if my bum would fit in the rally car seat, I ventured up to his place – yes my bum did fit in the seat. Driving through Gretna with the roof down and Ivor in the passenger seat of my Mazda I felt a bit like the guy who drives the Pope-mobile, Ivor’s head was sticking out of the top of the car as he waved and called ‘Hellooooooo’ to every person we passed. He’d also told folk that I was a masseuse!

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Rally Results (March 2012)

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

Malcolm Wilson Rally-  Peter Taylor 24th  O/a (6th in class) Darren Martin / Martin Steele 54th O/a (5th in class) David Coleman / Jonathan Fowler 77th (4th in class)

Sunseeker –  Peter Taylor on the first round of the British Championship 5th O/a (4th in class).

Border Counties –  Rory Young & Allan Cathers had a good run to 5th O/a (1st in class) in the GpN Evo. Phil Jobson & Jerry Hettrick finished 44th O/a (7th in class) despite gear selection trouble. Peter Taylor  retired the Focus with propshaft failure at first service. Darren Martin & Martin Steele retired (something pretty rare to them) when a front damper broke. David Coleman & Kyle Gass rolled out on the first stage.

Bulldog-  Peter Taylor back out in the Clio had to adapt back to 2wd and finished 10th O/a (7th in class).

Rally Results (January & February 2012)

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

Jonathan Lodge on his first event of the year navigated his way to 25th OA (1st in Class) on the Roger Albert Clark. Caroline Lodge finished 2nd in class, 27th OA on same, main event. On the Sunday Clubman event on the RAC Phil Jobson & Jerry Hettrick were setting good times until the gearbox locked solid and retired on the spot. David Coleman and Josh Davidson had an “off” in the snow of Ae, on the first stage missing SS2, but then rejoined for the remaining mileage but were classified as DNF.

The Snowman saw Peter Taylor get 3rd Overall (3rd in class), just behind was Rory Young & Allan Cathers in 4th Overall (1st in class).

(I see you wondering if Peter was 3rd & Rory was 4th, How has Rory got more points??? Well it’s to do with Peter being 3rd in class & Rory Winning his class… It’s complicated but my computer seems to know what its doing!!! And the fact that Peter’s class had more cars in was also in the equation…..)

RAC (Part 3)

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Jonathan Lodge

Pulling into Newcastleton arrival control with 3 seconds to spare to book in on our minute
Jim’s desire not to drop penalty free lateness has worked again. At this point we realise the
Lancia has got ahead of us on the road section & is on the start line. We have been consistently quicker in stage so there is the concern of catching it, checking that there are no other cars in the queue behind us the navigator commits the equivalent to a professional foul by accidentally catching his seat belt buckle so cannot start on next minute.

After making the right tyre choice for the Monte Carlo (Steel Road) Stage Section we were
left with completely the wrong tyres for the Newcastleton Stage as it was gravel all the way
through. Then to Carlisle aqua mud service & back to Newcastleton now with a full set of
working candles bolted to the front, & back on forest tyres. Second run through was more
interesting as it was freezing quite hard now, but this is proper rallying – forest in the dark
on maps after being on the go for about 14 hours. This was until we got to the last 2 miles
where the stage runs along the river to Kershope Foot. Continue reading →

RAC 2011 (Part 2)

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Jonathan Lodge

After an interesting road rally/road section to Hamsterley we were put straight into the stage.  It was at this point I learned that Jim does not give up penalty free lateness easily.  It was dusk / dark at Croft, now in the trees it was black dark.  With additional bumper spots not fit, the headcandles & main spots were going to earn their keep.

We got the 10 seconds call from the start marshal & put main candle power on – I see very little change in illumination (but I am the person who has promoted the benefits of HID’s for several years), as I ensure the varifocals & potti are tuned in I hear switches being abused & the immortal words ‘the spot lights will not work’.  Muttered reply was along lines of – ‘better listen to me & hope the stage is as per map.’

After a very caution start – OK very slow, even for a Saab we find some sort of rhythm / system to send Jim into the darkness with a minute bit of confidence I might be calling the next corner the right way.  This was working well until Jim decided to boost my confidence by stating how he was relying entirely on my calls to guestimate where the road may disappear to next.  By now this was with a reasonable level of commitment.  All I can remember is telling myself not to look up, (not because of the velocity we dream of travelling at in a Saab) but so I did not lose my place on the map.  It would be seriously embarrassing to be blamed for an accident due to a wrong call at that speed!!

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Rally Results (December 2011)

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

Jonathan Lodge on his first event of the year navigated his way to 25th Overall (1st in class) on the Roger Albert Clark. Caroline Lodge finished 2nd in class/27th O/A on the same, main event. On the Sunday Clubman event on the RAC Phil Jobson & Jerry Hettrick were setting good times until the gearbox locked solid and retired on the spot. David Coleman & Josh Davison had a ‘off’ in the snow of Ae the first stage missing SS2 but then rejoined for the remaining mileage but were classified as DNF.