Bedford Car Club

21 February “November” Mini Rally

4 crews made it to Colin’s event that was postponed twice last year.

In danger of being cancelled again, but due to overnight snow this time, up till lunchtime, it eventually ran on clear roads apart from a few damp patches that got tricky when it started to freeze later. (It was interesting collecting the boards back in, as it snowed again – concentrated the mind somewhat!)

6 sections – with plotting the first 3 being against the clock gave them enough to think about.

Interesting that while most quickly grasped the concept of driving OVER a bridge over the bypass, they couldn’t quite cope with going UNDER it as well!

A minor apology from me – when I first drew it up, I was going to finish at the Green Man and did the herringbone to suit. Later I changed my mind and went to the Half Moon instead, but somehow the herringbone sneaked through uncorrected. (No, Rod the start reference for Section 6 was right!)

Results:-

1^st Andrew Green / Sarah Green 0F

Tie Break

Section 1 2:40

Section 2 3:42

Section 3 8:30

Total 14:52

2^nd Rod Botteley / Amber Botteley 0F

Tie Break

Section 1 4:05

Section 2 10:10

Section 3 6:40

Total 20:55

3^rd Gill Findlay / Don Findlay 1F – missed shortest route through Ravensden (not round which was more ‘obvious’).

Tie Break

Section 1 2:12

Section 2 7:38

Section 3 7:25

Total 17:15

4^th Andrew Martin / Michael Stern 3F – missed ‘that’ loop in Felmersham, then ran out of time to complete last section.

Tie Break

Section 1 5:15

Section 2 OTL

Section 3 OTL

Total OTL

27 December “Hangover” Autotests

14 brave souls ventured out on what turned out to be not too bad a day. There was some ice along the bank and at the top end, which concentrated the mind, but it cleared quite soon.

No real dramas apart from Christina exploring the gravel heap at the end of test 4.

Results Here

Photos:

Andrew G and again Amber Andrew D and again Christina and again

Dave Nicholas Darren Armitage Matt Helm Mike Bishop

Mike B or Darren Mike Helm Pete Nicholas Rob Dudley twice

Rod Botteley Sarah Green Sorry, Stephen, haven’t got one of you!

14 December – “Santa Special” Mini Rally

Report and details to follow, but:-

1Andrew Green 5F on Tie Break

2Mike Bishop 5F

3= Dale Barker 6F

Andrew Martin

5 Mike Helm 10F

6 Dave Cox 14F

8 November Autotest 4

A new format tried out – 6 tests with 3 goes at each, best 2 to count. 9 entries and 8 of those were sports cars. Russell Davies found us on the Internet and he’s got an MX5. So have 2 of his mates. Spookily Andrew D chose to bring his along as well, instead of the trusty Escort and was suitably pleased with it. So 5 of the 9 were Mazda’s! Robert Green was trusted with his first go in the Midget – and his first time ever with rear wheel drive. Matt Helm brought Dad’s Spitfire – Club Triumph were in somewhere foreign doing what they do, so the only saloon was Roger’s Mini! Definitely a first for us.

Test 4 caused chaos. Russell got 2 WC’s, Greens got a box full of neutrals on the reverse. Matt picked up a non-penalty cone from the sand heap behind the Logs, which jammed in his nearside wheel arch. The loss of steering caused him to then pick up another non-penalty marker cone in the offside wheel arch, with which he then proceeded to knock a ‘real’ cone on the final slalom! Good job they weren’t the new ones!

Results

Photos and Videos at:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23297299@N02/sets/72157622646777187/

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=autotest+little+houghton&search_type=&aq=f

6 September Autotest 3

Quite a poor entry, more than made up for by a sparkling performance by Matthew Helm in Dad’s Spitfire.

6 seconds clear at halfway he very nearly threw it away on the last test but went on to win Club Triumph’s first FTD on one of our events.

Results here

Photos deleted ask Colin.

5 July Autotest 2

A reasonable entry on a very dry and therefore dusty day.

Competition was again remarkably close. An unusual lack of Junior entries but a number of others on their first event to make up for it.

Results here

Photos courtesy Roger Dudley deleted – ask Colin.

14 June A Blast From the Past Treasure Hunt

Thanks to Heather for a very enjoyable afternoon.

1 Colin / Andrew / Steph 86

2= Rod / Amber / Rachael / Marta 78

Maureen / Tim / Sarah / Paul

4 Keri / Andy / Amy/ Aron 76

5 Andrew / Stephen / Sarah 74

6 Karl / Roger 60

17 May Autotest 1

10 entrants on what could be described as a “changeable” day.

It absolutely wee’d down during tests 3 & 4, making it nice and damp underfoot, as well as right through the timekeepers.

At halfway Sarah Hare was frightening the life out of the 2 Andrews – being equal with AG and the pair only 0.4 seconds behind AD.

Test 7 sorted them out, though. The only one with any reversing in it, AG absolutely nailed it and took 3 seconds out of AD to record a well deserved FTD.

Results here

March Hare Mini Rally

These results on the night were later changed as both the boards in Section 1 either went missing or blew down. It only affects 5^th and 6^th places, though.

1^st Andrew Green 1F 1F 17:19

2^nd Andrew Lewis/ Colin Lewis 2F 0F 21:58

3^rd Tim Bancroft / Ellis Stokes 3F 0F 31:52

4^th Don Findlay / Michael Botteley 4F 0F 45:21

5^th DaleBarker / Nigel Abdullah 6F 1F 35:21

6^th Mike Bishop / Darren Armitage 6F 2F 29:34

Frosty February Mini Rally

1^st Gill & Don Findlay 2F

2^nd Andrew & Sarah Green 2F

3^rd Tim Bancroft / Ellis Stokes 2F

4^th Heather / Rod / Amber Botteley 5F

5^th Dale Barker /Nigel Abdullah 6F

6^th Andrew / Colin Lewis DNF

Hangover Autotests 28^th December

A good entry of 20 for what looks like becoming an annual half-day event. Very tight competition again, with the 3 Andrews vying for 1^st. Less than a second separated D & L at halfway, which L overturned to take the lead after test 3, only to get over excited and let D back in front, by 0.86 seconds!

New member Bob Isaacs was lying a very handy 4^th at halfway, only to get a WC and a cone on Test 4 to drop him to 13^th and last in class. Several first timers and a bunch of Triumphs made for a good day – until the sun went behind the clouds and we were glad to reach the end.

Santa Special 14th December

An encouraging 12 crews turned out for this one. 8 of them were Triumphs as they had nominated it as the last round of their 2008 'Driver Challenge' which as it happened would be decided on our event. At their request I had made it quite simple (or so I thought) Navigation.

Starting from the Yardley Hastings layby, people who know me could have drawn in the first 2 sections without seeing the navigation, because I always use Castle Ashby and Great Houghton - but somehow they didn't trust me, when I assured them it was really that easy! First section was crossing grid lines which everybody dealt with. Next was some references with approach directions. There was some discussion over one junction where I thought I was being helpful by making it SSW to distinguish it from the other possible approach which was undisputably SW. However sanity prevailed and apart from Nigel forgetting to plot the approach round 'my favourite' layby, all was well, apart from Rod forgetting to have a 'P'. Section 3 caused some chaos - just 5 Spot Heights. Sadly I probably started it, because when I drew in the route on my map, I put my line over what should have been the second one in the series, so I missed it! This caused people to suspect it was alternates or something devious. The first 3 of the series were obvious, once you realised the 113 on the A508 was just off the Brixworth junction. There was then a long gap to the 113 I wanted them to use. The catch was a 141on an alternative shorter route where the number was a little way off the spot. This caught one or two who promptly blamed old age eyesight! Section 4 was a straightforward herring bone with dot and arrow that evryone got once they had sorted out their 'leaves' from their 'turns', as well as right from left.

To reflect the spirit of the event, Tie Breaker was a series of questions to be answered, ranging from Sebastion Loeb, to mountains, to Partridge Poo! This invoked all sorts of cheating, from phoning children at home, to using WAP-enabled handsets whatever they are - I think I have just been overtaken by technology. Only one crew scored all 15.

1 Andrew Lewis / Pat Lewis / Steph Donoghue 0F 15

2= Mike Bishop / Darren Armitage 0F 14

Tim Bancroft / Ellis Stokes

4 Colin Wake / David Constable 0F 8

5 Mike Helm / Tim Hunt 0F 6

6= Andrew Green / Sarah Green 1F 14

Don Findlay

8 Dale Barker / Nigel Abdullah 1F 13

9 Steven Needham / Jennifer Bartram 1F 11

10 Rod Botteley 1F 10

11 Andrew Martin / Kevin Martin 2F 14

12 Peter Fern / Dave Wilson 9F

November 9^th- Autotests

Another good entry, boosted by our friends from Club Triumph. Roger Dudley, in the only Mini entered was way out in front all day, but there were only 1.5 seconds between the next 5 places at half-way.

Eddie Jarvis, on only his second ever event opened enough of a gap in the second half to win the PCA, which allowed 14 year old Rob Dudley to take the Class win.

July 20^th

30 people attended the Annual Barbecue and Prizegiving, courtesy of Pauline and Roger Rigby.

Despite the wind being even more biting than the diners, a good time was had by all.

We welcomed our newest member – 11 week old Evelyn Piper.

July 6th

Good entry this time – very close competition all day.

First and second split by just 0.41 seconds after 8 tests!

Congratulations to Eddie Jarvis and Ruth Price on their first ever event.

May 11 - Autotest

Only 8 entries at a warm Little Houghton, but good fun was had by all.

What's new?

MR 1 Results