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Spotted Dick & Custard Stages - Longcross - 15th October.
Certainly the majority of the speedy members who came along to help had not seen the place before and many were quite impressed. Goodwood they knew well, but they were surprised just how varied this venue was. A relatively small team did setting up on the Saturday. Not a particular problem though as it had all been planned ahead by Colin Billings, George Vost & Co, and it was completed quite readily within the four hour time limit. There had been some worries about flooding in the area beforehand, but there were no problems like that at all. Indeed they say the sun shines on the righteous - well, we didn't get pure sunshine but we did hit a very lucky weather window that weekend, as the heavens opened again on the Monday! The entry was full long before the closing date, with a good mixture of machinery, from 6R4s, Escort Cosworths and a RS200 to 1300 Chevettes and everything in between. Seasoned campaigners and raw novices alike, we attracted some entries from Teeside, Wales and Birmingham as well as the more expected local crews. The signing-on team, headed by Chin and Vivien Elcomb, welcomed the competitors once they had passed scrutineering and processed them quickly and efficiently - so efficiently that we even relieved the chairman of Bexley Light car Club of £20 towards 7Oaks membership because he had forgotten his club card! (We'll probably give it back in due course!). The first couple of stages always see a few dramas - whether it be from some trying too hard, too soon or poor car preparation or just sheer bad luck - and our event was no exception. Car 1, a 6R4, broke the propshaft to the front diff and only got half way round the first stage. The crew were very philosophical about it though and enjoyed watching some other cars making a mess of the incredibly busy 3-way split junction at the bottom of the infamous ramp. Most cars made it to the flying finish of the first stage, although one did need to be pushed from the finish to the stop control. Just as this car was clear of the control, a Monza came hurtling down from the flying finish with flames belching out from the engine bay! We put the fire out - no thanks to the on board plumbed-in extinguisher whose pull handle broke in the author's hand! We suspect that they crew hadn't taken the pin out!! Lesson to be learned here chaps! Car 2 (Mitsubishi EVO5) managed a couple more stages before the co-driver fell ill, whilst car 7, a very rapid Escort Cosworth, demolished a chicane big time and incurred the wrath of CoC Colin B in the form of a maximum time penalty. That dropped them out of contention, but they went on to post fastest times for the last three stages. The above shenanigans left they way open for Dave Jacobs from Sutton & Cheam in his 6R4 to take the laurels from a couple of extremely rapid rwd MK11 Escorts. Dave, of course, knows us quite well having competed at Crystal Palace. 24 of the maximum 70 starters retired for various reasons - with at least two going out on the very last stage. One of these also had an engine fire - but this time the car's own extinguishers worked, resulting in a lot less damage than to the Monza. A Nova engined Mini had its front suspension collapse as it went past the service area and another Escort went off in 'The Snake', unfortunately beaching itself over a large brick drain which was covered by bushes and small trees. "Blimey!" says the disgruntled driver as we go in to tow him out, "I'm not coming back here again, wot they doing putting bl**dy great drains round the edge of the track….blah blah blah." "Pillock" thinks I, that drain is over six feet from the edge of the track in an area that is heavily wooded and no barriers! Methinks he ought to stick to the Playstation if he can't admit his own error! Colin Rodger was in charge of results and early on complained that he couldn't keep up with 30-second starts, the timecards came in too quickly! He soon got the hang of things though and regular results were posted in the service area throughout the day. Come the end of the day, final results were swiftly posted, with the prize giving following shortly after whilst the track was cleared up. All in all a very successful day, with no real problems at all. We had decided to limit the entry to 70 cars as we weren't sure quite how the timetable would work out, but there is no doubt that we could accommodate another 15 or so with ease next time. The DERA people were delighted with us, we left the venue in good shape and they said that they had never seen it cleared up so quickly before. We were very pleased with the way things went - of course, we learned a few things along the way - and we are looking forward to next year. In particular, we were pleased with the level of support from the speed side of things and the number of unsolicited offers to marshal from people we didn't even know! That makes things so much easier, although we could always use a few more bodies here and there. Thanks must also be expressed to Chris Scudder and David Balderson for arranging the transport for shifting the equipment, David coming up with hundreds of cones for us - and then taking them away at the end of the day! Cheers, David! There will be a video of the event showing at clubnight on the 15th, and probably in December too if this Acorn doesn't get to you in time! Good fun, good sport - long may it continue! Andy Elcomb |
