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I met a young guy last week at the Hawick & Border CC AGM. His
name is Eildon Hall. I first saw his rather memorable name –
well it is to anybody that knows the St. Boswells area – when he
joined HBCC in 2003. On his 2004 renewal form I noticed he had
circled Road Rallying and Navigating as his interests. And I was
still without a navigator for the Gropers, with just over a week
to go. So when I met him I offered him a baptism of fire, and he
accepted the challenge. Then I added the bit about my complex
plans, which he also agreed to without question. Roy had some
relatives staying too, so there was a real houseful, but we
never saw them, because we were in at about 2, and away again at
7. Roy was also the organiser of the rally, and it was a good
one. I won’t bother going over old ground, but I have done the
Gropers before, several times, with various results from wins to
non-finishes. I have also done loads of events with novices,
including at least two of SDMC’s events, but not this one.
Anyway, Eildon got a crash course in navigating from Alistair
Maxwell, and I reckon Alistair must have done a good job,
because Eildon seemed to pick it up very well. Most of my
“pupils” seem to take a few events to get the hang of it. It
took me years, but that’s another story. Only one has impressed
me right from the start. But Eildon wasn’t far behind him. I
think he has lots of promise, if he wants to pursue this branch
of the sport. So remember that name. He’s 19, so he has a long
potential rally career ahead of him.
Gropers
Nothing remarkable about the event, except that there were no
ESACC contenders from outside the north-east. Yes I’m
registered, but I’m not contesting it seriously without a
regular navigator, because I never know what class I’ll be in.
Last year I did more novice induction than real competing, and
this year looks like a repeat. So far I’ve done the Moonbeam
with Mike Curry, a first-timer, the Aquarius and Nuit Blanche
with Andrew Brougham (his 4th and 5th), and now the Gropers with
another first-timer, and they’ve all been thoroughly enjoyable.
So despite being out of my own class I actually get fun from
taking novices out.
It’s just dawned on me that I didn’t start this report with a
comment about the weather. There had been lots of snow earlier
in the week, but although there were some piles on the verges
here and there, the roads were entirely clear of the white
stuff. So my M&Ss should have been taken off, but I left them on
just in case.
There were only two Open class crews, all locals (well,
north-east), Charlie Brown/Gordon Reid in a Golf (clean) and
Dave MacKintosh/Tom Hynd in a 205. There were also two Non-Ex
crews, Alan Cowan/Lock Horsburgh in a 106, and Brian
Watson/Duncan Cameron in a Quattro. The rest of the 15 entries
were all novices, with about an equal split between National B
and local Clubman events. We won the National B Novice class on
50, with the rest way behind, although one of the Clubman crews
had 47, with the rest of theirs well down too.
Andrew Brougham had his first driving stint, with Claire Wood
navigating, in his Civic Type R. I think he found it a bit o.t.t.
for rallying, but Claire seemed to appreciate his previous,
albeit limited experience of navigating with me, and the two of
them seemed to get on well as a team, the only fly in the
ointment being that Andrew thought his fill in Dunfermline would
be enough to see him through. I was surprised when he didn’t
fill up at Stracathro. Running on fumes curtailed their last few
sections, and they just made a finish. They arrived back in
Stonehaven very late, having had to go and get fuel, presumably
in Aberdeen.
I spoke to a young man and woman at the finish that were doing
their first event. They seem to have had fun too. Alasdair
Matheson and Nicola Stewart in a Focus. Let’s hope they will
come back out and enjoy the fraternity as well as the sport.
Results are available on SDMC’s website.
www.sdmc.org.uk
Perth Autocross
The autocross was in a field I haven’t seen before, about 8 or
10 miles north-west of Perth in Little Glenshee. The direction
arrows were welcome, because I kept doubting my navigation. I
wasn’t wrong, but it seemed to be farther up this supposedly
brown road than I expected it to be.
It wasn’t a big field, about the same size as the previous
regular one at Dalcrue. Smooth, flat, fairly well-trodden grass,
so it stayed pretty firm. But there had been some rain, so it
started off damp, and grip was O.K. but not brilliant. After a
cold start it became a lovely day, with bright sunshine and the
odd cloud and a bit of wind. It was a slightly exposed place,
but with fantastic views to the Sidlaws, the Lomonds and the
Ochils.
I had my 214 out again, and Violet Keith and I were together on
the very first practice run, on fresh grass. Violet and I are
usually pretty well matched. To be honest, she often beats me,
especially getting off the line. This time it was an uphill
start and we made very slow progress, and we turned round and
looked at each other, reading each other’s minds while spinning
wheels furiously. “When are we going to move?” Violet and I got
paired up again twice in the competitive runs, purely
coincidentally, and she had misfire problems with her Fiat-engined
Fiesta. Fuel starvation, she reckoned. Or so she said. Fine
excuse!
There were a lot of new faces. That’s good news, especially when
some of the usual suspects were missing. I spoke to a few of
them, and they seem to be keen to come back for more. We need
you, guys, to make the events viable, so if ever you want to
stop coming you need our permission first.
There were a couple of left-handers, where rolls are more likely
than on right-handers, because of the weight of the driver on
the outside. And the left-handers always seem to be tighter than
the rights, and they always seem to get rutted, which increases
the risk of rolls. And indeed, there was one near one. Gordon
Naismith in the Range Rover based special did an even more
spectacular one than I had done at Errol, by all accounts. I
didn’t see it, but Gordon told me he had had to think very
quickly to avoid a sore head. When the car came down again it
broke a damper mounting and spun off, allowing the other car to
pass him. Maybe he should consider lowering it a bit?
Results are posted on 55CC’s website,
www.55cc.org.uk.
Drew Barker won Class 1, Grant McMaster took Class 2, about 3
seconds ahead of me, Jamie Stewart got Class 3, there was no
Class 4, Kevin Mollison got Class 5, and Gordon Naismith,
predictably, did FTD. Ramsey Al-Gayaar was the quickest in the
clubcross event, among 5 under-16s, most of whom he has been
personally responsible for dragging along, as far as I can
gather. Good on ye, Ramsey. And thanks again for offering to
store my 214 in your dad’s yard overnight. You’re another mate.
Grant has been there or thereabouts several times, sharing Alec
Kydd’s car for a while and then getting his own. This time he
had a Golf that was prepared a while back by Drew Barker and
Stuart Waite. Drew told me they had spent a lot of time saving
ounces here and there. The effort clearly paid off for Grant. I
now need to go and try and find more bits to take off the 214.
Eildon did a bit of marshalling here, as he was stuck with me.
And as marshals are always in short supply I had made it a
“condition” of his rally entry.
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It’s Sunday night, the 7th March, and I’m rather tired, after a
long hard weekend of fun.
No I’m not complaining. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it.
But I have just got up off my armchair after having sat down
several hours ago instead of making my tea. It’s too late now to
have any grub, so I’m killing time until my electric blanket
warms up the bed. It won’t do my waistline any harm to go hungry
anyway.
I usually have to spend ages before any multiple event making
sure I have all the gear I may need. This time the plan was to
use the rally car to tow the autocross car to Perth, go to
Stonehaven to do the Gropers, kip at Roy Maclennan’s in
Aberdeen, pick up the autocross car again this morning and take
it to the field, and eventually get home sometime tonight.
By and large it worked according to plan, but with the odd
hitch. And it will take me a few days to get all the gear back
into its original place. That means toolboxes, sleeping bag,
waterproofs, boots, etc. etc.
So it’s been hectic. Despite all the hassle, it was a terrific
weekend.
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