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2nd January, Christmas Stages (2011) Rally
Happy New Rallying Year
and a touch of De ja Vue or is it "Dave ja Vue"? - 2010 2012 starts with the 2009 2011 running of the Specsavers Christmas Stages - one week late due to restrictions placed upon Croft Circuit by the High Court. But this time it is because they do not seem to have anyone who can count to FORTY!
Well, what an excellent days racing! Kevin Proctor, as usual, was going for it like a bus driver! however the slippery circuit assisted his drifting the Scooby a couple of times, costing a few seconds, though not enough to stop Kevin being the overall winner.
Close behind in the Fiesta was Chris Anderson, piling the pressure on Proctor and finishing a credible second only 3 seconds behind.
Paul Swift took a couple of laps to get into his stride but after that was awesome, particularly when overtaking another Escort on a 90 left in a 30 metre box no wider than one cars width - and neither of them moved a track marking tyre! Paul eventually finished third 20 seconds behind Kevin Proctor, probably due to a comparative slowness on SS1 & SS5.
Andrew Fawcett's Nova appeared to be set up wrong, then, suddenly, it all changed, either they had altered the set up or Andrew had woken up (or both) from SS3 onwards they were on fire ending the day with a class win and eighth overall.
Congratulations to Martyn Tinker who finished fourth in the Lotus Exige and all mentioned above and thanks to all competitors for a highly entertaining and a superb days rallying.
STATS: Entries, 67 Starters, 53 Completed the test, Retirements 14
WEATHER: Dry wet dry wet dry wetter wet wet wet .
ATTENDEES: (R) David Dykes, Keith Upton, Robin Barrett, (A) Paul Simpson, (J) William & Goerge Simpson
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19th February - Riponian Stages Rally
Up and about at 0630 and on the road heading for Helmsley to meet up with Tommy. We arrive at signing on, and a rallying first! to be greeted with " there is free Coffee and Tea over there if you would like some", several pinches later and we are not sleeping. A really appreciated gesture and it tasted so good!
We are on Waterloo and the first time that the stage has been used for over ten years and it is in excellent condition as one would expect having not been used for so long, windy and undulating and in parts very fast, we were on Junction 13 about 3 miles into the 33/4 mile stage, working with Radio Marshal Ian Briggs, Silk 3. Our junction was uneventful although the jungle drums did say that a car was on its side around Junction 5.
Charlie Payne and Craig Thorley triumphed in the Ford Focus completing the 12 stages in 37 minutes and 28 seconds, 2 minutes and 2 seconds ahead of Peter Stephenson/ Ian Windress. The first Historic was Matthew Robinson/ Nigel Hutchinson in the Ford Escort Mk 2 closely followed by Warren Philliskirk and Garry Green in the Ford Escort RS1800, 5th and 6th overall respectively. The irrepressible Bob Bean and Malcolm Smithson finished first in class (H1) and 26th overall.
The Team PG "Team of the day" however, goes to Mat Smith and Neil Colls in the Ford KA for finishing 7th overall a mere 5 minutes and 15 seconds behind the leader (in a car worth many thousands of pounds more) WELL DONE GUYS!!!!!
STATS: Entries: 68, Starters 64 of which 45 completed the test, Retirements: 14
WEATHER: Dry and sunny but bitterly cold in the wind.
ATTENDEES: (R) David Dykes, Keith Upton, Robin Barrett, Paul Simpson, Tommy Irvine.
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1st April - Lookout Stages
Cold but sunny was the order of the day for the 2012 running of the Trackrod Lookout Stages Rally, almost a sell out runner and rider wise (57 out of a maximum field of 60), which, considering the state of the country and the financial constraints we all suffer from not least being the spiral fuel costs, is a phenomenal feat.
The day was a few minutes late starting due to the organisers having a meeting and taking the decision to run only lap 2 of stage one to gauge the possible dust problem which seemed to be the same as every other year. Then, it was business as usual. Quite a good day as far as the attrition rate went. This was due to the progressive remedial work done at the venue which has finlly laid to rest it's reputation as a car breaker.
Only one major accident, when Frosty the Forester fouled up a flying lesson and suffered a large roll, strangely replicating an incident from last year. Having checked Frosty's facebook page Alex is hoping to have the car repaired and out rallying again soon, Cala says she and Alex are OK just a bit of bruising etc.
Mat Smith and Neil Colls again seem to have had an excellent drive and really "kept the foot in" once again - WELL DONE GUYS!!!!. We are currently awaiting confirmation of the results.
STATS: Entries: 57. Starters: 54.
WEATHER: Dry but cool all day.
ATTENDEES: (R) David Dykes, Keith Upton, Robin Barrett, Paul Simpson, Tommy Irvine (J) William Simpson
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Hallamshire Stages - 6th May 2012
Bzzzz Bzzzz BZZZZ: what's that noise at 3:30 in the morning? Alarm Clock? What day is it? SUNDAY! RALLYING! - Leaps out of bed.
On the road at 0430 for the 110 mile drive to a picnic area on the A47. Strange place for signing on but today's event is on RAF Wittering, a one time only venue due to the base being refurbished and due to re-open. After signing on we have a 3 mile drive back up the A1 to Wittering and a long queue at the guard house to have your passport (or other photo ID) scrutinised in order to obtain your pass onto the base.
10 stages, 106 stage miles, 72 entries and 65 starters. The event was well organised by Sheffield and Hallamshire Motor Club with two opposing loops, East and yes you've guessed it West, East held stages 1,3,5 and 7. We were on Junction 29a on the West Stage running stages 2,4,6 and 8. Stages 9 and 10 used both loops and came in at an impressive 17.25 stage Miles each. The weather was cool, changeable and at times threatening though we only saw rain on the drive home.
The racing was fast and furious but did have a high attrition rate of about 50%, being smooth tarmac/concrete construction the failures were fatigue based rather then structural although a couple of cars did manage to find a tree to hit!
Attendees: David Dykes, Paul Simpson and Robin Barrett
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