And what have I been up to? Last weekend, the 28th to be precise, I was out in something old, something borrowed and something that used to be blue. It’s now an eyecatching shade of yellow and is simply missing the 270bhp phase 3 Swindon 2.4 litre 16 valve lump and the British Telecom Buzby livery. Yes, it’s Chin’s Manta.
He
had a spare weekend sandwiched between two road rallies and offered a double
drive at Southsea’s Autocross in Meonstoke, Hampshire. How does an Autocross
work I remarked. It’s a mixture of a sprint and race and you could say
autotest held in a stubble field, a fairly bumpy field in this case. Depending
on the width of the course and the weather conditions, cars can be started
4 abreast to complete a number of laps of the course, we were doing 3.
I couldn’t help but feel that Chin’s new paintwork might not look so new
after this and I recalled the last time I drove my Chevette with shiny
new paint on it!!!! I was a little nervous. You may recall that the 28th
July was the hottest day of the year at that point in time, reaching 32°C.
That meant a serious volume of dust was being lifted into the air by the
cars and the organisers decided to run 3 cars on the course starting some
15 seconds or so apart. For me and Chin, that removed the major worry and
we could concentrate on having some fun. And we proceeded to do just that.
I haven’t seen the results yet, save to say that we didn’t win anything.
The entry fee was £40, one car there had been recently bought for
£150 and was going back into the free ads for £300 straight
after the event. I wouldn’t want to do this type of event in my Puma or
Chevette, the cars do take a pounding, but an old motor can be picked up
so cheaply that Autocrossing has to rate highly in the value for money
stakes. As for the Manta, it held together admirably, with only one fuel
hose vibrating loose on my very last run just as I crossed the finish line.
Mind you, I think Chin’s wise to spanner check the car before taking it
up North for another road rally.
I briefly mentioned the Autotests just now. They have for us, now come to an end. Thanks to Clive Cooke for organising this years’ fun, and he’s even already said yes to the same again next year, what a guy! No-one can really believe that the 6 dates have already been and gone. 6 x 2 weeks apart = 12 weeks, 3 months!!!! That wasn’t a maths lesson, just me trying to account for the time going so quickly. The last event was poorly attended despite the superb conditions weather wise. The grass had even been cut for us so the distant cones could actually be seen from the start box. Those that know Daren Hall will know that he has a bit of a reputation for being reasonably competent behind the wheel!! For those that don’t know him, he has a reasonable reputation!!! He’s normally marshalling at these things but turned up a bit later this time. So I offered him a drive which he accepted, although not after I’d worked out that I couldn’t be beaten for the overall title, me not stupid. You can probably already guess the rest …. yep, the bugger beat me by 7 seconds in total. I didn’t even get him on a single test, just got close on two or three. I may now have to announce my retirement as he’s threatened to get a car sorted for next year. On a slightly more serious note, this sort of thing just goes to prove that there are such people who are natural drivers and it’s a great shame that Daren hasn’t been able to find any sponsorship for his desire to attack the BTRDA Silver Star Championship. With a reliable car and the back up that any serious rally driver needs, he is more than capable of winning. And what little thing is preventing this attack? MONEY. That lottery win might happen one day mate, but if there are any philanthropists out there …….. spare any change mate?
I may not be doing much competing this year speed wise, but I’m certainly turning my hand to different things. I’ve already talked about the Autocross, and now instead of my usual job on our Spotted Dick & Custard Stages at Longcross, I shall be sitting alongside the aforementioned Mr Hall in his Gp.A Sunny Gti. We need to put the tarmac suspension and brakes on the car and do a bit of testing here and there, but other than that not a lot else. This will be the car’s first outing in Daren’s hands and will hopefully show reliability more than anything. The car probably isn’t powerful enough to trouble the Mk2 Escorts on tarmac but the forest should make any horsepower deficit less of a disadvantage. Cheer us on won’t you. The day before the actual event will be for setting up the stages. Let’s please have a few more faces there this year, it really doesn’t take that long to do, a half day that’s all, with a drink and meal at the pub afterwards. All hands should report to Chris Scudder.
A couple of months ago in ACORN, you will have read the questions and answers regarding speed events abroad. More specifically, a hillclimb just outside Dieppe that Jim Giddings had competed in previously. Well Jim phoned me recently to say that it was on again on September 8th, that we were more than welcome, that he had translated copies of regs and did I fancy it? Now I always fancy it and a bit of international motorsport seemed like a sensible thing to do …. this was shortly after seeing one of Iain Gibson’s French and Belgian crash videos at a club night. I have yet to send my entry off but will be doing so along with Jim, John Milligan, probably Roy Nicholls and anyone else who wants to play. Let me now expand a bit more on this event.