The major event for the club in the past month has to have been the MSV Snetterton Sprint. It’s fair to say the weather was not entirely on our side but persistence paid off and we managed to get through the complete programme and within the schedule we’d set ourselves. I’m happy to report that Jonathan Palmer and the MSV management were very pleased with the event and as a result have offered dates at Snetterton and Cadwell Park for next year. So it’s big thank you to all those that helped on the day or supported the event by taking part.

Since Snetterton, the month seems to have been one succession of hotel rooms and if it’s not been time away working, it’s been competing in two rallies in two weeks. So I have to admit that I’ve had little time to look at Club business or attend the evening autotests.

West Essex’s National Rally at Millbrook has to be the most expensive single venue rally in the country, but it’s well worth it. Using the infamous Millbrook hill course the event tests crew and machine to the limit there are plenty of yumps and testing gradients over the 60 stage miles. Unfortunately we retired on stage 7 of 8 with a broken CV joint on a severe uphill right hand hairpin.

The Rally of the Midlands was a little more successful for us. The organisers (I use the term loosely) start the event with a 16.5 mile stage around Mira. It certainly sorted the field out and resulted in eight retirements. The second and third stages were two laps of Mallory Park, not a classic rally stage I have to say, but an entertaining interlude. The balance of the day was spent with another two visits to Mira and another visit to Mallory totalling 58 stage miles. Day two was another 24 stage miles but all short stages with nothing over 2.5 miles, through Bramcote Barracks, Arbury Hall and Merevale Hall. This meant it was case of keeping it tidy, there could be no great gains but it’s easy to throw places away. Bramcote was the usual loose gravel on concrete and tarmac and big cuts. I’m not sure how impressed the camp commander is with the state of some of the grass afterwards.

So it’s been a busy month all in all, and this column has been written in a bit of a last minute rush so I apologise for it’s lack of real news, however, I’m looking forward to reading what everyone else has been up to.