Oakington Stages - MCACOakington Airfield – 9th February 2003Report by Peter Wood, Photographs by Simon Clarke (www.sc-photography.co.uk) Thame had 6 crews out again for this opening round of the Oakington Challenge:
It was pouring with rain at 07:00, and didn’t stop until the afternoon, leaving some treacherous standing water. (Car 14 performed a perfect 720 double spin in front of the crowds!).
I found Andy Corner in a mini panic as the trusty car wouldn’t start off the trailer, and even after a tow was dead as a dodo! Big Ed swapped the airflow valve – no luck – and then the ECU and she fired up! Andy then scared us by taking the cutters to the ECU and said he was “pretty sure” this was the rev. limiter, and thankfully he got it right! We rushed him into noise (failed at 99 Db), then passed, into documentation inside the 30 minute to go limit, but we made it, just! SS2 was cancelled after a heavy crash from car 10, the Lada with the MI-16 engine. He hit a medium tree head-on, and the Co-driver was taken to hospital with a suspected fractured hip. The PSF of the car was pushed back a good two feet and the roof had buckled. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Dick Mauger / Andy Cadle: (Andy’s report) Failed noise by 1.4Db, but persuaded tester to check it away from large metal hanger door - suddenly we were 3.5Db inside! Drama on the first stage with power steering problems, Dick struggling to wind lock off out of corners! SS3 and slowed due to bad vibrations which turned out to be a loose drive shaft. SS4 – stopped ¾ mile into stage due to petrol fumes filling the car, loosing over 2 minutes. SS5 a clean run at last! Set 6th fastest on this one. SS6 slowed at end of stage due to another loose drive shaft. SS7 Very bad vibrations from underneath the car caused us to complete the 2nd lap at 20mph, stopping to let cars by at various points. Turned out to be transmission related, possibly something broken in the transfer box. End of rally! Andy Corner / Andrew Greenwood: After all the drama before the start the car ran faultlessly all day! Set 10th Fastest on SS1, but 2nd in class to a Peugeot 106 (9 seconds adrift). SS3 and set 7= fastest stage time to climb to 7th overall and class lead. Got faster and faster all day and finished 7th overall, winning the class by 1 ½ minutes. Well-done Andy, another giant killing performance!
Justin (Dingo) Middleton / Pete Gilham: Second outing for this pair, having finished an excellent 7th overall on the Loco Stages, albeit in a small field. The car looked really clean and tidy, although running on cheapy Millenium tyres at £30 each! Again fast from the start (and neither of them had competed at Oakington before) they set 15th fastest on SS1, and steadily improved throughout the day. They finished 12th overall and Second in class, only missing 1st in class by 9 seconds. They were awarded “The Spirit Of The Rally” trophy for the sheer bravado and sideways progress on a wet day. Excellent result again, chaps.
Simon Clark / Pete Gretton: We were all working at Vision on the day before the event, to discover that the west father and son had pulled out due to a family bereavement. Andy was fixed, but Simon spent the bits between instructing in searching out a co-driver. We finally convinced Pete in the put at about 18:00! Simon again enjoyed a trouble-free day – the discs stayed in one piece for a change. Pete was to be seen after each stage giving Simon detailed instructions in how to brake later and later, and it worked as they steadily improved through the day from 52nd overall to 42, 39, 36, 34, 34.
Mick Gregory / Neal Cuss: New member Mick and service crew have loads of Motorsport experience, having worked on touring cars for many years, but this was the first venture into Rallying. Car looked superb with a great paint job, and seemed to be fast and reliable – Mick said the car owed him £5k,which seems pretty reasonable for what it is (Sapphire 4x4 Cossy). SS1 and 21st O/all; improved top 18th after SS3, and then 15, 14, 13, 13, and finished 14th overall and won class 5. Well done guys, a great effort for first time out.
Richard Upton / Stuart Parkins: These two were members of TMC 10 years ago, and have rejoined as they have switched back from 2 wheels to 4. Richard had recently bought this ex-Rallycross G4 Escort Cosworth (i.e. rwd conversion) so it was going to be fast, or go bang! SS1 and car was wreathed in steam as a bung blew on the water pump. A quick stop, and they were lucky to execute a single lapper and get away with it! More problems on SS3, and retired on SS4 when the clutch cable melted onto the outer! So another impressive result for the Club at Oakington, with two class wins and a second in class (including a “Spirit of the Rally” award as well). If the WRC had been functioning well we may have added to the tally. This is the third Oakington in a row that we have fielded 6 or more entries. Home | News / Info | Calendar | Event Reports | Photo Gallery | Rally Teams | Contacts | Links - Updated Sunday, 24 February, 2008 |
