By Barry Lindsay

The Solway Coast was a new rally in the AS Performance NE tarmac championship for 2011. With very few crews knowing what the surface of the stages were like, but the event was advertised as having 8 mile of loose in the 40 stage miles.

Three cars represented Spadeadam in the 43 entries. Barry & Michael Lindsay seeded at 8 in the 106 after some body repairs after coming together with a Focus WRC on the Tyneside only two weeks before. Phil & Caroline Jobson were at 22 in ‘snowy’ the Mk2, then James McWhir was navigating Michael Hunter in the Lada Samara at 32

The scrutineering and service area was in the base near Dundrennan, with two stages with a mile road section between, the layout was good and compact.

Stage one was slippy from overnight rain and with the first half tree lined it wouldn’t get any sun. Most crews went out on tarmac tyres with a treaded pattern. Barry & Michael getting 6m 08 would be joint class lead with a C2 Max. Phil & Caroline got 6m 44 despite a spin and a stall in the slippy conditions. Michael & James got 7m 07 thinking the new clutch was slipping but then realised it was just spinning the wheels. Straight into stage 2 this contained a couple of sections of gravel.  The first a section along a field with a right over a crest then a gate. It caught a few crews out including Barry & Michael who were well up the bank, they also had a spin and had to reverse on a hairpin, 7m 33. Michael & James getting 8m34 while Phil & Caroline picked up two punctures on the gravel section and got a stage maximum.

Continue reading →

By Phil Jobson

After continuous rain showers in the days beforehand, Sunday 14^th August dawned dry and sunny. This relatively new round of the North of England Tarmac Championship had attracted fewer competitors but there were lots of questions on the forums about the best tyre choice.

Organisers Solway Car Club put on two cracking stages with lots of variety from tight twisty sections beneath trees with water draining off making the tarmac slippery, to flat out wide concrete aprons and significant mileage sections of compacted gravel loose or broken tarmac loose sections. Not all competitors were happy with the loose, though Snowy revelled on it. Some resorted to using worn gravel tyres. Four loops of the two identical stages, meant times would tumble through the day.

Continue reading →

By Barry Lindsay

Greystoke was a forest I’d never competed in and 2011 was going to be the best opportunity for me to do it. However reading the regs I noticed that it was maps only no notes. With Michael not reading OS maps, I had decided not to bother, then I asked map reader Caroline Lodge to navigate. Caroline agreed so it was all systems go.

Leading up to the event we were both nervous. Caroline because she hadn’t called maps in 1 to 9 before. Myself because I hadn’t had anyone else navigate me in 18 years and damaging the car with a tarmac title at grasp in the next few months would be silly.

Scrutineering was done on the Saturday and once we had the route Caroline set about marking her maps with as much information as possible from the route book.

The morning of the event was warm and sunny, dust was now going to be a problem. Going to the first stage it became apparent that a large number of people know Caroline, I was beginning to feel that I was just a chauffeur for a VIP celebrity, blacked out windows should there be a next time.

Continue reading →

By Barry Lindsay

The Pendragon Stages had to change date this year due to army commitments in August. It had also lost the use of Lowther stages so the 2011 Pendragon was a single venue rally on the Warcop ranges in May.

Spadeadam MC had a good attendance at the event which with the new date being the day after the dinner dance. James Coxon was the highest seeded SMC member, sitting in with Michael Johns in the EVo6 at 10, followed by Barry and Michael Lindsay at 11, then Keith Taylor and Paul Hughes at 12 in the Subaru. Tim Finch was at 19, but wasn’t well enough to compete and non-started. Peter Taylor with Andrew Roughead had the Clio at 21 and using the event as practice for the Jim Clark, which followed the next weekend. Chris Taylor and Jonny Sproat were at 27 in the front wheel drive RS2000, Barrie Thomson and Jerry Hettrick had their 106 at 36. Nigel Hepburn and James McWhir had the 206 at 51.

The heavy overnight rain left everything wet with heavy showers mixed with sunny spells it was a day of which tyre to be on. Barry and Michael used the knowledge of both Warcop and wet tarmac to set 7m30 for the stage (4th fastest behind Stobart, Hall and Benn!) Keith and Paul were 5 seconds behind with 7m 35, then Mike and James on 7m 55. Peter and Andrew stuck the Clio off backwards losing over a minute.

Stage two was a rerun and slightly drier, Keith and Paul were quickest with 7m20 with Barry and Michael on 7m 23 then Mike and James on 7m29, then Chris and Jonny with 7m 34.

Continue reading →

By Fiona Gourlay

I was really looking forward to the Jim Clark National as I had not been out competeing on notes since october last year.

Garry had been working all hours and not had time to spend preparing the Manta since he had done Charterhall with Hollie, his daughter, in the navigators seat. So preparation was all last minute- All was ready, we’re through scrutineering- home for tea and time to start. This being our home town I told him to make sure we went through the Duns stage with no damage. We started with a good dance along North Street. He was very close to the kerb on my side at the hotel, we got through and down Station road and into the Industrial Site, just missing the kerb on his side to the finish of the stage. We were now in 48th o/a.

Away on the 20 miles road section to do Bothwel after that we were up to 35th with no mishaps, doing well and enjoying it.

Continue reading →