Rally Reports

Rally Results (April 2016)

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

DCC Stages, Ingliston. Nigel & Helen Harkness finished 38th Overall (12th in class), Barrie Thomson / Jerry Hettrick failed to Finish due to a concern over oil pressure.

Rally North Wales was round 2 of the British Historic Championship Phil Jobson finished 20th Overall (3rd in class).

Circuit of Ireland – The three Spadeadam teams in the BRC all had a bad weekend. Elfin / Craig had the speed and set quite a few fastest stage times but a snapped Aux belt put them out of the event. Fredrik / Morton adapted to tarmac quickly and were leading the BRC event but a couple of little offs led to a bigger one on SS10 and had to retire. Max / Jacques retired on stage 7 with mechanical problems also.

April 12 Car

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

Organized by Jerry & Barrie the event started from ALS on Kingstown for a 95mile Saturday night run. 6 crews set off as dusk descended into Darkness. Route went around the Orton area before heading south via Thursby then east via Skip Rigg and Durdar before petrol at Carrow House. The remainder of the route cris crossed the M6 via Armathwaite and Ivegill etc before finishing near Southwaite. Continue reading →

Malcolm Wilson Stages 2016

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Barry Lindsay

Seven Spadeadam crews lined up to stage the BTRDA event which started from M-sport base at Cockermouth. Comb, Wythop and Greystoke before service at Penrith then Thornsgill, Grizedale North, Grizedale South and Thornsgill 2 before the second service then Greystoke 2 before finishing at Penrith Auction.

Rory Young & Allan Cathers were in the R5 and seeded at 7.Barry & Michael Lindsay were  at 52 in the 206. Phil & Caroline Jobson were at 63 closely followed at 67 by Darren Martin & Martin Steele in the Evo9. Mark Shaw & James Coxon were at 72 in the Sunbeam, Rob Graham & Helen Harkness in the Historic class Mk1 at 90 then Jimmy Hall & Caroline Lodge at 95.

Barry & Michael were first to find out how slippy the stages were. Near the end of the Comb stage the 206 entered a 90 left hairpin right almost backwards clipping a bank and slamming it into some big rocks. Over a minute was lost as spectators manhandle the car backwards as reverse couldn’t be selected. The impact had bent the bottom arm, steering arm and subframe eventually getting a time of 7m 59. Quickest through the stage was Rory & Allan with 6m09 ahead of Darren & Martin in the Evo with 6m 47. Phil & Caroline were next with 6m 58, then Mark & James on 7m01. Jimmy & Caroline got 7m03 but this included a spin at the same place as Barry & Michael hit the rock. The silly thing is they all know the corner as its where Caroline rolled navigating for Dave Head a few years ago. Rob & Helen getting 7m 21.

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DCC Stages Ingliston 2016

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Nigel Harkness

Back in March, at 7pm on a Sunday night, the entries opened for the DCC stages. Helen was primed and sat ready to fill in the entry, as fast as her fingers could type. The entry went in at 7.09pm, and not many minutes after that the entries were full, and the site wouldn’t accept any more.

Now all we had to do was wait to see if we did actually hit the  “enter” button in time! There was a phone call to Helen the next morning to compare times (of the email “receipt of entry”) from the only other SMC crew to get an entry in- Barrie Thomson & Jerry Hettrick. This was becoming nail biting stuff, and we hadn’t even turned a wheel yet. Entry list was published, BT & Jerry were on the reserves, but Helen & I were on the list! Right, first hurdle done!  Then it came to the seeded entry list being published, BT & Jerry were seeded at 28 & we were at 58 out of 80.  We were very happy  with that, as it was the highest we’d been seeded with the Corsa so far.

On the Saturday morning of the rally…. No, I’ll re-phrase that… in the wee small, godforsaken hours of Saturday morning, we headed north! On arrival at the show ground we found a  small, Corsa sized spot to service from, and joined the queue for scrutineering. Paperwork & signing on out the way, we had enough time for a quick walk round some of the first stage.  Right – Left – Right – Right – Left – Right… continue for 46 miles +  the odd split and merge!

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Rally Results – (February / March 2016)

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Riponian – Barry Lindsay & Caroline Lodge finished the day 14th Overall and winning the 1600 class. Mark & Amanda Talbot finished there 2nd rally 2nd in the 1400 class, 44th Overall.

Mid Wales – British Rally championship returns. SMC members Elfyn Evans & Craig Parry won the event getting a max in our system. Fredrik Ahlin & Morton Abrahamsen finished 2nd O/A 92nd in class), Max Vatanen / Jacques Renucci were 17th O/A (12th in class)

Malcolm Wilson – Rory Young & Allan Cathers took the R5 Fiesta to 7th O/A (5th in class), Phil & Caroline Jobson took the Mk1 Escort to 38th O/A (8th in class), Caroline Lodge navigated Jimmy Hall to 44th O/A (3rd in class), Barry & Michael Lindsay finished 46th O/A (4th in class), James Coxon navigated Mark Shaw in the Sunbeam to 54th O/A (7th in class), Rob Graham & Helen Harkness finished 63rd O/A (3rd in Class)

Border Counties – John McIlwraith had his first outing of the year finishing 31st Overall and winning his class.

Lee Holland Stages – Caroline Lodge Navigated Tyrone Lawton to 27th O/A (3rd in class).

March 12 Car Results

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Barry Lindsay

A clear night with the stars in the sky was a great night for a 12 car… or was it, the sound of revving engines and tyre howl echoed for miles. Competitors on the whole had smiles on their faces as they returned to Skitby to work out where they had gone wrong.

Thanks to Ian Robinson, Nigel Harkness, Jonathan Lodge, Michael Lindsay, Geoffrey Harkness & Martyn Perty for marshalling

1st 1st NOV Phil Jobson / Paul Hettrick               Escort     0F 1min

2nd 1st EXP Helen Harkness / Neil Thomlinson    Corsa      0F 3min

3rd 2nd EXP Barrie Thomson / Jerry Hettrick        C2         0F 5min

4th 2nd NOV Kenton Pattison / Rob                    Astra      2F 13min

Riponian Stages 2016 – Talbot Rallying

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By Mark Talbot

After the Jack Frost it was apparent our car was underpowered, tall geared and liked to spin its cocked leg on the exit of every corner, despite having the softest compound tyres we could get.  I knew with the standard gearing and open diff, a gravel event would be very frustrating so with only two weeks to go we took on the mammoth task of swapping out the gearbox and diff.  That might sound like a straight forward task but we decided to go with a stronger gearbox from a different model which opened a whole world of complications.  After changing engine mounts, gear box mounts, drive shafts, hubs, bearings, brakes, shifter, gear linkages and having to relocate various items including the power steering pump to inside the car it all started to take shape.  All this work was carried out without a garage or ramp in a farm yard so many hours were spent lying in puddles and snow with frozen tools sticking to the ground when the freeze came in the evening and the portable lights came out.  After what was probably the most stressful week of my life we got the car running the night before needing to set off to Thirsk!  20 mins before setting off to make it in time for Scrutineering the car was loaded onto the trailer with a cloud of unknowns hanging over its reliability.  Scrutineering went fine and we got the stickers on ready for Sunday.  At least it looked the part at this stage.  First thing Sunday morning we were outside the B&B doing the final spanner check and fitting under body protection flaps.  Clutching at straws perhaps but I felt I had to keep working until it was time to start. Continue reading →

Riponian Rally 2016

/ Spadeadam Motor Club

By Barry Lindsay

Round two of the SG Petch / ANECCC championship and also the final round of the Northern Forest Winter Challenge. The challenge was based on four rounds, Caroline Lodge and I had won our class on the previous three as had two other contenders. It would come down to this round and the number in the classes. Mark & Amanda Talbot also made the journey over to Thirsk for their second rally in the 106.

We got off to a bad start before the event began, whilst waiting for noise test I started with early signs of a migraine day. Not wanting to believe it was going to happen but blurred vision and not been able to focus is the early signs. After signing on we got ready and discussed whether to carry on. There was a town centre start and a long run out to the first stage so we would go to the first stage and see what had happened by then.

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Rally Results (January / February 2016)

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Rally Results this month (January /February)

 Jack Frost – Barry & Michael Lindsay finished 12th OA (7th in  class)  in the Evo. Geoffrey Harkness & Jonathan Lodge were 39th OA  (6th  in class), Nigel & Helen Harkness were 43rd Overall (8th in class), Tim Finch was 52nd Overall (12th in class), Mark & Amanda Talbot were 64th Overall (7th in class), Kieron & Jon Stynes were 67th Overall (16th in class)

North  West  – Phil Jobson got the furthest but Retired with an oil   leak from the engine and pulled out rather than risk further damage. Barrie Thomson & Jerry Hettrrick retired when the fan belt came off. Tim Finch retired the Subaru just after the start of the event with a clutch problem.

Red Kite – Phil Jobson finished 21st Overall in the first round of the BHRC (3rd in class)

 

SMC Members Spreading Their Wings!

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As some of you may known SMC member Jonathan lodge is teaming up with Jim Valentine to compete on the epic Peking to Paris challenge later this year. Jim is the driving force behind the ‘Saab Historic Rally Team’, many club members will have seen him competing locally on the Roger Albert Clark Rally in his 2 Stroke Saab 96. In a complete contrast to the 2 stroke they have chosen to take on the challenge of the Peking to Paris event in a 1968 V8 AMC AMX. After a great deal of time and effort the AMX looks ready to go. The AMX comprises of mainly JEEP parts and the roar of the mighty V8 engine has earned it the nickname ‘The Beast’.

As the Peking to Paris event crosses areas of extreme terrain such as Mongolia and Russia, Jim and Jonathan felt and extreme shakedown was necessary. As is it vital to identify and rectify any potential issues with the car, also giving them an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the route presentation and use of the GPS. After some thought and research they have opted follow the route of the 2015 Sahara Challenge (Madrid to Marrakech).

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