Results

Event: 21-Apr-2013

Note: BPLD = Best Performance by a Lady Driver, BPYD = Best Performance by a Young Driver, Max = Maximum penalty for incomplete test(s), DNF = Did Not Finish

Report

A significant increase in Autotest Competitors met at the Caldale Camp site on Sunday to contest the third event of the 2013 season. Despite some heavy showers the going would be described as dry with a dusty layer on the concrete surface, much to competitors liking.

Ella Spence, driving a borrowed Ford Ka, looked to be improving in speed on only her second event, the problem however was that, unlike her previous event, she picked up a big handful of penalty points dropping her to tail end of the field.

The day’s test routes were picked to provide two relatively simple but fast ones followed by two of greater duration and complexity. It was not the complexity that dropped Andrew Moar to twelfth spot though but rather the Dutton Phaeton’s engine which misfired despite his best efforts to rectify it. Andrew did, however, have a second car up his sleeve and this had a much different outcome.

Robbie Spence fielded his distinctive green and black Vauxhall Astra to good effect smoking his way to good results in the first tests. The mechanical gremlins were to appear on the fourth test when the Astra’s transmission was brought to a halt following a loud bang and a sound like it was eating rocks, Robbie was eleventh.

In tenth place was Aaron Moar sharing the drive of the Phaeton and the misery of its misfire. Aaron did though compound his result by also having a bucket of penalties, mostly acquired as he invented his own routes!

Karen Laughton, at the wheel of her Ford Ka, had a much better day than its other driver, Ella, and took ninth place with a penalty free drive that also netted her the Ladies Trophy for the Day.

The Mazda MX5 or Colin McAllister went well and would have been several places higher had he not made a hash of test three leaving him in eighth place.

Euan Barnett and Ryan Doull were sharing the drive of a blue Nissan Miccra with white ‘go faster’ stripes. Both drivers were penalty free and fairly flew around the course but Ryan just managed to squeeze a bit more out of the little car and took sixth place driving Euan back to seventh.

Father and son team Alan and Steven Tait brought out their venerable Vauxhall Corsa. Both drivers extracted every ounce of performance from the Corsa but Alan took out a course marker and this, plus Steven’s slightly improved times, left Alan in fifth and Steven in third with a step on the podium.

Splitting this father / son team was the reigning Club Champion Trevor Sutherland. It was evident that Trevor was not fully up to speed with his Ford Ka, making several near wrong route errors that added to his overall time and left him with fourth place.

Brothers Aaron and Andrew Moar were both entering in their Subaru Justy and, on the face of it, this unassuming vehicle looks to be an unlikely event winner. However, the car proved once again to be amazingly fast and nimble. Both brothers were equal on test one but then Andrew managed to make tiny improvement to his times and the upshot was Aaron took the win by just eleven points ahead of Aaron.

In two weeks time on 5th May the fourth Autotest is scheduled and it remains to be seen who will challenge for the top places

JMS