An issue packed with goodness for you lot out there this month.  I have been overwhelmed with articles from members about everything they have been up to with their cars.  Keep up the good work everyone.
The rally side is well supported with Stefan Davis and John Bond doing well in the Peugeot 205 Challenge Cup so far, and also Daren Hall and Andy Elcomb taking the Nissan Sunny all over the country.  Both of these crews’ latest exploits are described within.  Colin Rodger is keeping up the circuit racing end of things with a recent outing a Castle Combe; and the speed side is all action with an event almost every weekend and lots of reports from the Marketing Machine championship to catch up on.  The Autotest series so far has seen high entry numbers and has been very competitive and we have seen a few more ladies taking to the grass in their cars (although we could definitely do with a few more – girls, stop watching and start competing!!).
So what have we, the family Von Travers been doing?  Well apart from dropping gearbox oil on the M25 from Clackets Lane to Redhill, when the oil drain plug dropped out of the gearbox after the latest Autotest, we entered the Croydon DMC Treasure Hunt, which started at Limpsfield Chart.  For those of you who aren’t sure what a treasure hunt is, well it is kind of like a scatter in daylight.  The route is defined (unlike a scatter where you can pick and choose your own route to the clues) and you are told how far you will be going and what time you need to be back.  It was about a 30 mile round trip and we were allowed three hours.  We were given a sheet with clues to look out for in order round the route, not really the usual scatter type clues - walking into brambles to find a padlock number.  No this was much more civilised, one could see 99% of them from the car whilst driving steadily along.  We were also given a sheet with photo clues on, which weren’t in order, so you had to sort of memorise these and try and spot them whilst driving round.  Things like unusual barn roofs or gable windows and tourist signs etc.  We gave that sheet to Emma and Ryan to concentrate on and they did extremely well, shouting out the landmarks so Ralph could mark them as accurately as possible, on the extract of Map we were given.
We finished within the allocated 15 minutes of the end of the time allowed and were first crew back (Ralph was slightly worried about this, but it was okay) and we ordered our Sunday roast in the Carpenter’s Arms while waiting for everyone else to arrive. John Lloyd and his team were soon busy marking the answer sheets as the other crews arrived together.  After a very nice lunch, the results were announced.  Points were awarded for correct answers and penalties deducted for late arrival and inaccurate plotting of the picture clues on the map.  We were surprised and delighted to find that we had got 2nd place and a nice bottle of wine as a prize. It had been a tie between us and the eventually winners, but the accuracy of the picture clues decided the outright winners. We got an extra penalty because Ralph was slightly less accurate about the marking of a railway tunnel picture.  The said tunnel was actually the place where we had marshalled our Sector TC on the Kent Rally. We were so busy reminiscing that he marked down where the tunnel was and the plot should have been where the picture was taken from apparently.  Just as much work goes into a treasure hunt as does a scatter, so it was nice to see this event was well supported by their members. Our thanks to John Lloyd and the Croydon members for making us welcome on their event.
Another event I took part in with Sue Burt, Ross Saville’s partner, was the Brooklands Ladies Challenge.  Unfortunately lack of time and space means that you will all have to wait with baited breath until next month’s Acorn, for a full report and pictures of this exciting event. If you can’t wait that long then check out the chat forum for a summary.
Finally don’t forget that our North Weald Sprint takes place on Sunday 22nd June.  If you haven’t already volunteered to marshal then ring Chin.  We have ordered good weather and with super “Sloggiman” clerking it will be a cert! You will find this plea repeated throughout the magazine this month.  Please act now.
There is also the Gliding event organised for this month’s social night, please ring Colin Rodger if you want to come. But make it quick.
See you at North Weald.

Dawn Travers