The South Downs Stages 2007

Goodwood Motor Circuit, Sat 3rd February 2007

Report by Peter Wood

This was my first visit to Goodwood, and the Club had a splendid 6 entries out of 37, or 16% of the entry – one of our highest turnouts for a while.

Total entry here is limited to 40, and they had attracted 37, made up as follows: Class A 3, Class B 8, Class C 17, Class D 4, Class E 5.

3 Simon Mauger / Dave West Escort Mk11 1998
5 Richard Upton / Paul Bareham Sierra Cosworth
6 Paul Diamond / Steve Cox Escort Mk11 1998
19 Dave Keen / Brian Cammack Vauxhall Astra 1.6
20 Brian Farminer / Amanda Terry Ford Fiesta 1.8
29 James Vowles / Gary Johnson Ibiza Cupra R 1.8

Simon and Dave: Unfortunately a non-starter as Simon only 1 week out of hospital.

Richard and Paul: Finished an excellent 4th overall last year (you may remember the photo – with door mirror clearly detached from the car). Hit a big pallet on SS3, but still got mirrors. Organisers forgot the passage control after SS1 and SS3 so a lot of crews trying to find their start times – Richard was told to be out of Service and in time control in 1 minute!

They set 3rd or 4th fastest on SS 1, 2, 4, 5, and 1= fastest on SS3, but retired due to a cracked block. They beat the 6R4 on all 5 stages!

Paul and Steve: Even better out of the blocks, with 2nd fastest, and then 3rd on SS2 to be 2nd overall. Problem on SS3, when changing down for the chicane in front of the grandstand the throttles are fully open, so quickly shut off and bonnet up. Going again but dropped a disastrous 5 min 50 seconds. They set 6th fastest on SS4, and then 3rd fastest on the remaining 4 stages. They finished 24th overall and 9th in class, but if you take out the stop they would have been 3rd overall.

Dave and Brian: They are talking of doing more events together in the future. SS1 and second lap had full 360 spin in the cold and damp (not alone). SS2 and up to 19th overall. Had a trouble free day and finished 21st overall and 4th in class.

Brian and Amanda: Set 17th fastest on SS1, and 20th overall after SS2. SS4 and Amanda called a pallet in the road – no attempt to avoid, straight over the top! Event is stopped for clean-up and 12:00 curfew. Kept up a good steady pace all afternoon and finished 13th overall and 4th in class.

James and Gary: They had changed seats for the day, but problems right form the start. They blew the turbo pipe on SS1 and took a maximum. Thanks to Alan Terry for the use of a large Jubilee clip, but needed a tow back from SS2! SS3 another maximum, but out on SS4 and SS5 to set a time. All to no avail as retired after SS5 – not a good days sport.

So all a bit disappointing – we could have had 3 in the top 5, but that’s rallying. The venue? Very cute, looks like the 1950’s but the stages a little short and repetitive.

The organisation was a little weak – they failed to get the full 4 stages run by 12:00 curfew (remember they only had some 36 starters, and run time for car 1 was under 18 minutes). The results after SS2 (about 11:00) didn’t have a total for the two stages, and not sorted, so very difficult to understand who was where. They forgot the passage control after SS1 and SS3, causing confusion.

The whole venue was rallyfied by adding some 8 chicanes, but a basic mistake was using 4 cones and apexed with two pallets resting on each other – they frequently fell over, and stopped the stages when one broke up – they should have used the small tyre stacks at the venue.

The positives? I like the idea of the Scrutineer going to the Service area (all cars under cover in bike sheds) and also good access for the spectators to the Service and roof of Pits building.

Other Club members at the day: Alan Terry, Peter Wood, Richard Wood.