The tests were more complicated than most, to provide a more challenging event – most took the challenge in their stride and persevered – some didn’t! Chris Judge surprised himself by taking FTD after a close fought battle with eventual winner Mark Dawson and Class E “newcomer” Andy Gibson (with a very pretty Arkley Midget – but then I’m biased). Class A was taken by “long time no see” Graham White and it was good to see him and other “new” faces discovering or rediscovering the joys of Autotesting.
The final Autotest of the summer on 25th July, took place on another glorious evening with a select band of competitors who enjoyed the newly shortened grass and tests which were not too onerous.
FTD went to a different home this time, Daren Hall pedalling round Mark’s Puma with all his old aplomb (rusty? I don’t think so…!) leaving Mark with the class win as compensation – but not by much. Richard Wise has cured his overheating MR2 Turbo, which comfortably took the other class, very quick in a straight line but a real handful if you overdo the right foot on turns.
Once again my thanks to the happy band of marshals and be assured thoughts are turning to next year and how to make things even more interesting….? Here’s a cheeky thought… how about some of you sprinting/racing folk coming along and seeing what real car control is all about?
As a matter of interest, taking all 6 rounds of the Autotest Championship (the final results of which will appear in September’s Acorn) 29 competitors took part and of those, three did all 6 rounds.
Unsurprisingly they also did rather well in the overall positions, proving the old adage “to finish first, first you have to finish!”
Class A attracted 6 competitors, Class B no less than 17, Class C saw 2 entries, Class D nil and Class E had 4 participants.
Two people did 5 rounds, Three did 4 rounds, Four did 3 rounds, Six did 2 rounds and Eleven did just 1 round.
Value for money? Well FTD overall took 22.89 minutes and that of course is the faster of the two runs so his total “fun” time would be in the region of 50 minutes – just for £30! Of course if you go slower you get even better value for money….!