Compost
 

Month No.2 is with us now and with that comes the Kent Road Rally, the club’s major event in the sport of road rallying. It is conceivably quite possible that it has already happened but just in case, and more importantly, just in case you haven’t offered to marshal on the rally, then now may be your last chance. Please give generously ….. your time is all we ask. Phone/email Chris Scudder  to volunteer.
The scheduled February scatter rally on the 20th has been cancelled. Mainly due the proximity of it to the Kent Road Rally but also, looking in the calendar at the back, Maidstone have a scatter running on the 21st which may mean that competitors would do one event but not both. The start venue for this event appears to have changed to The Mote, Wrotham Heath. I would suggest that you give Andy Jenner a call first just to double check. So our last scatter rally of this season will be the March 13th event, start TBA. Competitors whose email address I have will be notified but anyone else who fancies a go, last chance for a while remember, please phone me nearer the time. There is still Croydon’s scatter on March 27th which will start from Godstone Green Car Park. Phone Frank Collins  to register your interest. Whilst on the subject, Ian Crocker’s January 9th event happened with 7 crews in attendance, down slightly on numbers, but still OK and as good as we were getting last year. Daren and I finished 2nd again and Scared and Scary Elcomb took the win, well done …… mutter mutter!!! The clues were well, and I mean well, spread out. Dawn and Ralph got back and said the tide was out!!!!! That elusive fellow who fills the pages of ACORN so well was even out to play, Sam Collins teamed up with Graham Baker and both enjoyed themselves. Two days after, Colin Billings ran a 12car which started from the motorway services at Maidstone. 8 crews were out on this one, Daren and I starting first followed by Neil Ayling and Andy Cattini from Croydon MC. It was a foggy night, in places very much so and demanded a great deal of concentration, so much so that we—that is I— missed a codeboard….not good! Then after pulling into Chris Scudder’s TC with no problems, we pulled away and I thought, hello, steering’s a bit strange, bugger, we’ve got a flat. So whilst I changed the wheel, Daren plotted the tulip navigation onto the map and emerged in time to lean on the wheel brace a bit as I put the flat into the boot. ‘I’ve taken a bit of a guess through the middle bit of this section’ said Daren. ‘OK, let’s go’. When you can’t make the navigation fit, you have no choice but to best guess a bit. That meant we missed a second codeboard, double bugger, plus we arrived 6 minutes late because of the flat, not too bad I thought, and had the time penalty been our only penalty, it would have been enough to take a win. But it wasn’t so I’m wasting my breath saying that ….can you waste breath typing??? Anyway, we got to the finish at The Roebuck, Harrietsham and awaited the results. In last and 8th place ….. not us, phew!!! In 7th place, furtive look from Chin …..car 1, Mark and Daren with 2 fails and 6 minutes. Oh well, these things happen, but it once again goes to show that driving the correct route and not missing route checks is more important than being a bit late. Clever navigation Colin, cheers mate!!!
Too late for this issue but I’ll mention it anyway as the sport seems to be having a resurgence in interest. Borough 19 ran another PCT at their new venue, Chapman’s Hill, Ridley, Meopham on Feb 10th. Some of you will have received regs directly and hopefully one or two will have entered. Let us know how you got on if that’s the case. Regular readers will know that I did my first PCT in October last year and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I am going to do some more but won’t have been at this one as Daren and I are going on our now regular trip to the Forest of Dean for the Wyedean Rally on the 9th. I need the 10th free to do a bit of work on my place, yes it’s still there, coming on …..just slowly. Trouble is I’m too much of a perfectionist. Team Kemsing didn’t give me the nickname ‘Shiny’ for the glint in my eye!!! Covered three topics in one paragraph there, whatever next? Ah yes, one week after the Kent Road Rally, on the 23rd February, a band of Sevenoaks marshals will be making the annual pilgrimage to the Bournemouth area for the Rallye Sunseeeker. Extra help is always welcome and invariably there is time to go and spectate on stage as well. If you’re interested in joining us, please call/email Andy Elcomb.
The speed season will be underway in a month or so’s time. Our own Marketing Machine championship kicks off at our Lydden event which this year is on April 14th. Perhaps this slight delay will allow those last minute mods to be done in time and get someone challenging Andy Webber for the half season lead. He’s an early starter you know, perhaps that’s what you’re doing wrong Andy. Let some other sod have the pressure of being out in front early on and give them a complex when you start scoring heavily as the season progresses. Good luck to all contenders, Martyn Ellis has said he’s not gonna go for it this year, up to you whether you believe that or not!! I hope to wheel the Chevette out a few times and blow the cobwebs out of it. The Wales weekend is particularly appealing.

Mark Dawson

The Acorn : February Edition