Carfax Stages 2006

Longcross, Sunday 26th November 2006

Report by Peter Wood

A very strong entry for a very wet Longcross! 3 6R4, 5 Subaru, a Hyundai WRC and 7 Escort Cossy’s lead the field. By class they were: 18 class E; 9 class D; 20 class C; 15 class B; 5 class A.

It poured and poured most of the day, split by the odd rainbow, before it opened up again. The organisers must have been close to cancelling some stages, as cars started to misfire, and slither about even on full wets on the slippery leaves.

It kept the crowd amused as several span in front of the Service area to huge cheers.

We had two entries:

Simon Mauger and Dave West
Mk2 Escort – Vauxhall power.
Kevin Pead and Brian Cammack
Mk2 Escort - Vauxhal power

both about 240bhp.

Kevin’s day didn’t last long, unfortunately, as on SS1 they lost 5th and then 2nd gear. Game over, and remember Kevin flew in from Ireland for the events in preparation for Rockingham, so the day cost some £600, without any gearbox rebuild costs.

Simon Mauger is on a roll at the moment: In the last month or so:

4th Overall, 1st in class, 1st 2wd, and 1st non-islander on Jersey (closed roads)

7th Overall, 1st in class, 1st 2wd on the Tempest (forest)

He had had dramas before the day, with a rush to remove the gearbox and get back to the manufacturer and the missing circlip fitted and back in the car. Even then they could not get reverse gear on the sequential box, so don’t over-run any corners!

They set a storming time on SS1, only beaten by Indri’s 6R4, and a beautiful, rapid, Celica GT4.

They dropped to 4th overall on SS2 as Marcus Dodds (Hyundai Accent WRC) and Peter Lloyd (Subaru S9) got the power down in the wet.

They set 6th quickest on SS3, but SS4 was cancelled when Marcus Dodds had a massive “off” at the top of the ramp and made a real mess of his lovely Hyundai and had some superficial facial cuts as well.

SS5+ 6 and they are beaten by David Wilks in his 2ltr RWD Corsa. David had been seeded at 8 as he has a good history of class victory at Longcross.

SS7 + SS8 see them back in top form, setting 5th and 4th fastest and easing ahead of Wilks for the Class.

SS9+SS10 are single lappers, but in the dark.

Simon shows his true colours here and sets 3rd fastest on both.

Simon finished an excellent 4th overall, only missing 3rd (Celica GT4) by 1 second, and winning the class from Wilks by 16 seconds. The first 2 were both 6R4’s!

Car survives and next sees action on our own event at Rockingham in 2 weeks.

Also there from the Club were: Kathy and Dick Mauger, Paul Diamond, Dave and Steve McDonald, Ian Hucklebridge, self.