 Ross and Will celebrating The MSA National Championship with a bottle of bubbly. The superb Witney track can be seen in the background.
My own Home Counties Championship exploits below.
Round 1… Bournemouth & District Car Club. 20th June.
From the outset the track layout looked good for my G32, but it soon became apparent we were doing a mini Dakar. The topsoil quickly eroded to expose a substrate the consistency of black talcum powder. The locals seemed to know what to expect, they were all bar a few driving small hatchbacks. The remaining entry was four 4WD’s, two specials and my mid engine sports car. Practice went well but as soon as the track surface started breaking up I was onto a looser. I was happy to record a reasonable first timed run and score a few points for the Home Counties Championship. Lunch break was fun with every competitor out walking the track debating the best route around the golf bunkers while trying not to loose small children in the pot holes.
My second timed run started satisfactory but my car soon lost power. Back in the paddock the reason was obvious; the K&N air filter was completely blocked with dust. With no replacement or the means to clean the filter my racing for the day was over.
The organisers made the wise decision to run one car at time for anyone attempting a 3rd timed run but most had come to the conclusion that they weren't going to improve and decided to retire. Bournemouth Car Club did their best to run a slick meeting but were ultimately beaten by a poor venue.
One last thing of note… no RWD Escorts? I think in 30 years of motorsport this is the first meeting I’ve attended devoid of the once ubiquitous MK1 and MK2 Ford.
Round 2… Dunmow Motor Factors Summer Autocross. 7th August 2010 (Saturday) Having suffered a delay due to problems with the Braintree venue Greenbelt Motor Club and Wickford Auto Club secured the use of a big stubble field near Much Hadham. Hertfordshire.
The forecast for was Saturday was for intermittent rain showers. I was I bit concerned driving to the meeting in torrential rain but needn’t have worried; the field quickly dried. I have a bit of a phobia about two car starts; I stopped Autocross’ing back in 1987 after a couple of 1st corner shunts, one with Alan Jones and the other with Mike Bedwell. I don’t know why I have the phobia; I’ve done plenty of circuit racing and Autograss racing in-between times. So far in my renewed Autocross career I’ve managed avoid the dreaded multi car start but this time with a big entry and a long track it was the only sensible way to run the meeting. I went out for practice with Melanie Stiles, she got a better start so I decided to not get into a first corner tangle and followed figuring I may learn something. Near the end of the run something big came flying towards me and smashed my windscreen. Talking to her after the run she assured me her Citroen AX still had its full compliment of springs. I had the good fortune to start the first timed run in my own. I think the start marshals felt sorry for me with my smashed windscreen. I had a steady run, didn’t make any mistakes and got a good time in the bag. The best race of the morning was between Roger Brunt in his four wheel drive Nova and Richard Davies in his MK2 Escort. Roger eventually pulled a tyre off a rim leaving Richard to score provisional FTD. If he got FTD I would inherit Class D so started praying for rain. More good luck, it started to rain. I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoons racing, the rain made the track slippery but not too muddy. I was able to have some fun power sliding the car in the knowledge that the afternoon times were going to be slower than the mornings. Roger Brunt did manage to go faster but not fast enough to get FTD, so I was very pleased to get 1st in class D. Results
FTD Richard Davies Ford Escort MK2 Class A1 1st Stephen Sizer Ford Fiesta XR2 Class A1 2nd Rob French Peugeot 205 Class A2 1st Derek Hill Vauxhall Astra Class B1 1st Keith Jeffrey Vauxhall Nova Class B1 2nd Mark Blackmore Vauxhall Corsa Class B1 3rd Mark Westgarth Vauxhall Nova Class B2 1st Philip Martin BMC Mini Class B2 2nd Gareth Wilcox Peugeot 205 Class C 1st Malcolm Davies Ford Escort MK2 Class C 2nd Michael Henderson Vauxhall Nova GSi Class D1 1st Vince Hawtree Ginetta G32 Class E 1st Roger Brunt Vauxhall Corsa 4x4 Class F 1st James Chisman Peugeot 205 Class F 2nd Will Barnard Peugeot 106 Rallye Class G 1st Helen Barnard Peugeot 106 Rallye Best GBMC Dave Ward Peugeot 205 GTi Best Wickford AC Carl stebbings VW Golf VR6 Best Lady Melanie Stiles Citroen AX Round 3... 8th August 2010 (Sunday)
The track was a slippery for practice due to more overnight rain but soon packed down (bone jarring corrugated clay). The two slower corners were re-profiled (smooth and loose). This is what I like about Autocross, the track is continually changing and always challenging.
My day was incident free; I had three good timed runs all within a second of each other to secure second in class (this time Richard didn’t get FTD). Elsewhere things are getting exciting. The national championship is nearing the finale. It possible this year we will get a Junior champion, Ross Westgarth is leading on 38 points and Will Barnard joint 2nd on 36 points. Also on 36 points is last years champion Michael Henderson. Mathew Reid, Leigh English and Roger Brunt are a few points down on the leaders but could still win. This time the entry included 3 Mini's and 3 MK2 Escorts, just like the good old days!
Results
FTD Roger Brunt Vauxhall Nova 4x4
Class A1 1st Stephen Sizer Ford Fiesta XR2 Class A12nd Rob French Peugeot 205 Class A2 1st Derek Hill Vauxhall Astra Class B1 1st Melanie Stiles Citroen AX Class B1 2nd Keith Jeffrey Vauxhall Nova Class B1 3rd Dean Clayton Citroen AX GT Class B2 1st Gareth Wilcox Peugeot 205 Class B 22nd Ian Barnard Vauxhall Nova Class B 23rd Leigh English Vauxhall Tigra Class C 1st Malcolm Davies Ford Escort MK2 Class C 2nd Michael Henderson Vauxhall Nova GSi Class C 3rd Nigel Booley Ford Escort RS Class D1 1st Richard Davies Ford Escort MK2 Class D1 2nd Vince Hawtree Ginetta G32 Class F 1st Ross Westgarth Citroen AX GTi Class F 2nd Will Barnard Peugeot 106 Rallye Class G 1st Helen Barnard Peugeot 106 Rallye Best GBMC Dave Ward Peugeot 205 GTi Best Wickford AC Carl Stebbings VW Golf VR6 Best Lady Teresa Westgarth Citroen AX GTi Well done to John White and his crew for running 2 superb meetings.
Round 5... Witney Motor Club Vauxshop Autocross. Sunday 29th August 2010.
All done, entry in, camping gear organised, race car ready, what could go wrong?
On the way back from the weekly Morrisons shopping trip my road car started miss-firing. It was still a runner but definitely didn't have enough power to pull a trailer. I spent all the next day in a panic trying to trace the fault but ultimately had to concede defeat and withdraw my Autocross entry. Mark Westward kindly offered to lend me a tow car. It was a very nice offer but Ross was in the running for the MSA championship, so I declined. I didn't want Mark to get sidetracked away from helping Ross win. (I have a vested interest in here. Ross, Mark and I are all Wickford Auto Club members) Anyway as it turned out I got the car working on the Saturday (ignition pack) so I quickly loaded the trailer for the Sunday event. My first reaction when I entered the venue on the Sunday was wow! Witney Motor Club had set-up the track at just over a mile long on a smooth stubble field with some superb fast sweeping corners, two 90 rights, one hairpin and the promise of 4 lap timed runs. Practice was interesting, on the second lap I tried to negotiate a sequence of sweeping corners in 5th gear and hit a large traffic cone (in hindsight this was a bit ambitious). The cone dented the fuel tank, ripped off the exhaust system and damaged the gear shift. I was about to have a go at the organisers for filling the plastic cone with concrete when someone explained a basic law of physics to me (kinetic energy increases as the square of the impact velocity). Having recovered the exhaust I had a mad rush to get it reattached to the car before the 1st timed run. The run went well considering I had to be very careful changing gear. Most of my lunch break was spent under the car fixing the shift so I didn't notice the impending storm coming our way. Everyone else had seen the storm and made a mad rush for the start-line to get their run in before the mud and rain, (most were unsuccessful). To get out of the rain I ran over to the Witney Motor Club marquee only to discover it was about to get blown away in the wind. When you go motor racing you don't expect the most exciting event of the day to be the rescue of an errant marquee (hanging onto the frame). I did feel sorry for the marshals out on the track. Its ages since I've done some marshalling and it never rained that bad. The track was dry for my second timed run; (the rain had stopped as quickly as it had started). Back in the paddock I relaxed, had a sandwich and watched everyone else clean the mud off their cars (he he he). I should have been more aggressive on the third timed run but was still intimidated by the cones. As always with an Autocross you are concentrating on your own event so mostly you don't notice what's going on elsewhere. The battle for the MSA British Autocross Championship had been decided. We have a new champion in Ross Westgarth and Will Barnard another Junior in second place. I think having a Junior Champion can only be good for Autocross. Young competitors are the biggest potential growth area for any sport; Autocross is a natural training ground for young aspiring rally drivers. Hopefully with more junior entries we will get more events and with more events we will get more entries. Well done Witney Motor Club, great event, see you next year. GBMC and WAC Autumn Autocross - 26th September 2010 Home Counties and East Anglian Championship Finals For the second time this year we were on a big stubble field near Much Hedham. Overnight drizzle had made the track surface just right, not too wet for mud, not too dry for dust. As the day progressed the track packed down really well to create a nice smooth progressive surface only breaking up a bit on the slower corners. Its probably common knowledge by now I like long fast tracks. This one was perfect, plenty of fast 3rd gear corners, a couple of 2nd gear corners and an awesome 4th gear chicane. It wasn’t only my Ginetta that benefited from the fast track layout; all the rear wheel drive cars beat all the FWD cars (interesting statistic?). This was a complete turn around from the FWD dominated Mini Dakar event at the beginning of the year. Steve Sizer deserves a mention, fastest FWD, 1st class A1 and 2010 East Anglia Champion. This is all very impressive considering the Fiesta XR2 is not the fastest production ‘hot hatch’ available. It is rumoured he is building a Citroën Saxo for next year. It was nice to see Ron Gravestock back doing an Autocross. He managed to secure class A2 despite engine management issues. Class B was dominated by the Westgarth’s (numerically). MSA Champion Ross now a senior citizen was back in his Nova (his dad having reclaimed the Citroën AX). Mel Stiles won the class handing the Best Lady award to Teresa Westgarth. Nigel Booley in his Escort RS was second in class C behind Malcolm Davis (5th overall). If there was an award for best prepared car Nigel would win. Richard Davis won Class D in his MK2 Escort beating both 4WD cars in the process. I was pleased to get 6th overall, a long way behind Richard but only 1.3 seconds behind Malcolm (my next target). Ben Everett in his Ford Focus finished 3rd in class and 9th overall. Colin Anderson got FTD in his Alfa Special, the two 4WD cars were 3rd and 4th overall. Will Barnard won the junior class in his Peugeot 106 Rallye by the very slender margin of 0.4 seconds from James Chisman in his Peugeot 205. Jon Whitnall was 3rd in his Vauxhall Corsa. Just as the 4th timed runs were getting under way the anticipated heavy rain arrived, the field quickly turned into a quagmire. Having had great days racing most drivers decided to forgo the last time run to let the organisers dismantle the track and get their cars out of the field into the farm yard. Whoever pulled my road car and trailer out of the field with a Toyota Pick-up, thank you! 2010 Season Conclusion It was a pity about the Braintree events, I’m aware everyone concerned tried their very best to secure this superb venue for 2010. The loss of the first two championship rounds resulted in a long wait before the season finally got under-way. I didn’t really enjoy the trip down south, my car being unsuitable for the venue. Perhaps I should have gone north to do the first two rounds of the National Championship or supplemented my Autocross with a few Airfield Sprints? However the Wickford/GBMC events at Much Hedham were superb. I really enjoyed my trip to the Whitney Motor Club Vauxshop Autocross, another excellent event. So overall a short but very enjoyable season. I plan to do the Wickford/GBMC events next year plus the Whitney Autocross and a few Sprints. It’s rumoured that the Brantree venue is back for next season. To any NASA racers who may be reading this, who may wish to supplement their Autograss with something a bit different e-mail me at vhawtree@tesco.net. I’m sure we can workout a way to get your NASA cars to comply with MSA Autocross regulations while still complying with NASA regulations. See you all next year… Vince. GBMC and WAC Autumn Autocross Award Winners FTD Colin Anderdson Alfa Special Class A1 1st Stephen Sizer Ford Fiesta XR2 2nd Rob French Peugeot 205 Class A2 1st Roy Gravestock Vauxhall Corsa Class B 1st Melanie Stiles Citroen AX 2nd Dean Clayton Citroen AX GT Class C 1st Malcolm Davies Ford Escort 2nd Nigel Booley Ford Escort RS Class D 1st Richard Davies Ford Escort 2nd Vince Hawtree Ginetta G32 Class E 1st Roger Brunt Vauxhall Nova Class F 1st Will Barnard Peugeot 106 Rallye 2nd James Chisman Peugeot 205 Best GBMC Bob Ward Peugeot 205 GTi Best Wickford AC Vince Hawtree Ginetta G32 Best Lady Teresa Westgarth Citroen AX GTi |