Oakington Stages 2004 - MCACOakington Airfield, Cambridge - 8th February 2004Report by Peter Wood, Photographs by Simon Clarke (www.sc-photography.co.uk) Thame Motorsport Club had nine entries for this event, our second highest ever:
The field of 65 for this the first round of the Oakington Challenge 2004 showed a particularly strong entry in class 6 (the big boys) with 2 EVO’s, 3 Subaru, 5 Cossy and a Mazda. The field was lead away with Davidson’s Darrian T90, and Guy Wigley’s Maxi Escort was seeded down at Car 6.
The day started cold and damp, following a week of heavy rain, and even had a snow flurry in the early afternoon. The whole field took SS1 steadily in the suspect conditions and most posted SS2 times some 30s faster.
Car 3 Dick and Steve – Very few problems throughout the day, although Dick said himself that it took a couple of stages to really put the hammer down. Mister consistent was in 10th place after SS2, and was then 10/7/6/4/4. An over adjusted brake bias on SS8 led to a spin and dropped them to 5th overall and 1st in Class. Car 4 Mick and Dingo – Always a good pairing with Mick calm and Dingo, Dingo! Mick curbed a rear wheel on SS1 through the buildings, but got away with it. After SS2 they were 12th overall and 3rd in class. On SS5 were concerned to see they were dropping a pool of oil at the start – this turned out to be a leak from behind the oil gauge pick-up point and soon fixed by Mick (Dingo described it as an “Australian repair” – a self-tapper wrapped in paper hammered into place). Also on SS5 they “rubbed” the passenger side from front wing to rear door – Dingo said Mick had chased a quick 206 through a chicane and forgotten that the Sapphire was 6 inches wider than a Peugeot! They kept it together and held position around 10th to finish an excellent 11th overall and 2nd in class.
Car 16 Andy and James – Out to defend their Championship, and not a good start as Andy had managed about ½ hour sleep on the way to the venue! The class was stronger than usual with a pair of immaculate 206, said to be halfway between Cup cars and full Group A (so probably 180 bhp) and sponsored by the Ryton Employee Rally Team, and Lavers quick 106. SS2 and a big 2-wheel moment right in front of wife! Not a good idea, Andy! Now 21st overall and 3rd in class. It was so close that after SS4 were still 21st overall but 4th in class, 1 second off 3rd and 2 seconds off 2nd in class. The battle continued close and for once the service crew of Ed, Darren and Dan were busy, building a selector bracket after SS4, welding exhaust on SS5, adjusting clutch twice, and buy and fit 2 new Dunlops for SS7! Disaster on SS8 with a suspect little end failure dropping them 2 minutes 20 seconds and finishing down at 27th overall and 6th in class.
Car 26 Duncan and James – They all came up on Saturday and slept in a cosy camper van, although they thought it might fall over in the windy night (outside, not inside). Thanks for the cups of tea though the day from Nathan! Duncan only drove in one event last year so a little off the pace to start with, but soon up to full power! Were headed in class by 106 XSI at car 24 which won the class by over 2 minutes, and would have won the 1600 battle by 51 seconds! They set 30th fastest on SS2, but Duncan admits hitting a fire hydrant sign on SS3, and I saw him grass cutting on SS7 when they overshot a corner. Their overall placings steadily improved - 25/24/20/20/20 for finish an excellent 19th overall and 2nd in class. Car 28 Kevin and Tony – Great to see Kevin out in 2wd Escort and obviously having fun! Asked how it was going after SS2 “car great, driver a tosser” from Kevin. Got to grips with it and his positions were: SS2 35/31/30/26/23 but lost 5th gear somewhere mid-afternoon! SS7 and both throttle cables died so crawled back on tick-over. A big shame as a top 20 finish was on in only the second outing in the car.
Car 37 Richard and Stuart – A short and not very sweet day when the newly bought Harmonic rod (something to do with the turbo - don’t ask me, I only type it!) failed on SS2 and game over.
Car 44 Steve and John – After the trials and tribulations of the last 2 years building the car and two very short S/V attempts (both of which stopped on SS1) they were due a good one. The class featured a Porsche 911, Lotus Élan etc and looked quite challenging. They were 46th after SS2, and climbed steadily 41/37/35/33/32 and finished an excellent 31st overall, and first Historic – next outing the Robin Hood and forestry! Steve asked me to thank John Sinclair, his Service crew and sponsors for their patience.
Car 53 Rob and Liz – The red Nova GTE is on its 6th event and is now sporting a tuned head for a little extra power. In its class it is still a very standard car and they have gained good results by being consistent and smooth (3rd in class on last three events). They scruitineered on Saturday and enjoyed a local night B+B out of the wind! They set 26th fastest/ 4th in class after SS2, but then did not re-appear until towed in some 2 stages later with no drive – suspect clutch or main shaft failure. They had managed to make a pair of supersoft front tyres last Spring Stages 2003, Loco stages 2004 and 2 stages at this one. Car 79 Terry and Tom – The boys had another good run in their learning year. They were 50th after SS2 and climbed steadily 46/42/40/38/40 to finish well at 40th overall and 15th in class. I saw one small error where Terry had hit the drivers side just ahead of the A post – Every rally driver knows you always make sure you hit the co-drivers side!! A great day out for the club, with 2 class wins and 2 second in class – bad luck to Andy and Kevin for dropping back right at the end. |
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