Spring Stages 2004Oakington Airfield, Cambridge - 8th April 2004Report by Peter Wood, Photographs by Simon Clarke (www.sc-photography.co.uk) Thame Motorsport Club had six entries for this event:
The thin field of 43 for this the second round of the Oakington Challenge 2004 reflected the fact that it was running only 1 week after the Mini-Tempest at Longcross which had a maximum 90 car entry. It also clashed with MIRA and Tour of Cornwall.
Car 1 was the WRC Impreza of Steve Simpson that won outright here on the last Oakington round. On some stages he was taking nearly 30s out of the T90 in 2nd place! Andy Corner had taken the momentous step of finally moving away from the trusty 1600 engine that had cried “Enough” on the last Oakington, and opted for a hybrid MI-16 unit with throttle bodies. Typical Andy, he had no sooner decided to find a suitable donor unit – next thing he has three various engines/cars and is busy matching bits to make one good one. Six days before the event he finally gets the wiring diagram for the ECU that drives the throttle bodies. The day started damp, bright and slippy. The sun and wind soon dried the venue out, but heavy rain hit at 14:00, and followed in bursts all afternoon (even had hail for a while). The whole field took SS1 steadily in the suspect conditions and most posted SS2 times some 20-30s faster.
Car 5 Mick and Dingo - Set 7= fastest on SS1, and already 2nd in class. Were 36s quicker on SS2 and reported tyres better/ brakes excellent. Passed car 14 on stage, now up to 6th overall. Hit chicane hard on SS3 (bale covered in plastic sheeting) resulting in the drivers door mirror shearing off and coming through the window at 100mph! This broke Mick’s front tooth and cut his face with the flying glass! Didn’t slow him at all, and moved up to 4th overall. Dingo rigged a window net by using the helmet bags, and this passed with the Scrutineer. SS4 fast, but a cutting out problem on SS5. Disaster at the end of SS7 whilst still holding 4th overall – they overshot the stop line and committed the cardinal sin of reversing instead of Dingo running back. Result exclusion!!
Car 8 Andy and James – Now running in the bigger class C (up to 2 litre) for the first time with an engine on standard MI-16 cams so were not expecting fireworks. They were very pleased to set 7= fastest on SS1, but a mini-disaster on SS2 when the start blew the exhaust off the down-pipe. Forced to stop and fix it by the officials, this resulted in a maximum, dropping around 8 minutes and down to 35th and last runner! Pressure now off and car running a treat so foot to the metal and rapidly climbed 32nd / 27th/ 22nd, 20th, 18th and finished an excellent 17th overall and 7th in class of 21. They set top five times on the last 6 stages, and were particularly quick in the wet. I estimate they would have taken 4th overall without the exhaust dropping off!
Car 16 Duncan and James – came up on the Saturday for Scrutineering and stayed in the warm campervan. Classes’ 1+2 merged with only 9 entries between them. Very slippy on SS1 resulting in two 180 spins and 1 full rotation! Already up to 24th overall. Embarrassed a Cossy on SS2, but did a huge tank slapper down the straight and climbed to 16th o/all. SS3 and blew a front brake hose – "no F***ing brakes!" Thanks to Andy Corner for the bits. Broke second door mirror of the day! Now 15th overall. Kept getting quicker and quicker and finished an excellent 8th overall and 1st in class (i.e. second 1,600 in a 1,400!).
Car 20 Kevin and Tony – New twin throttle cables and a rebuilt gearbox since the last event here and hopeful of a finished event and good result. All over the place on the damp track on SS1 and set 15th fastest, 2nd in class. Passed two cars on SS2 (Subaru and Sunbeam) and up to 11th o/all. ˝ spin on SS3, and the brakes overheated on SS5. Nightmare in the wet with the car skating about all over the shop, and bonnet flew up on SS7 with the wiper going walkabout not helping much! Finished 10th overall and 2nd in class (4th in combined classes 4 & 5).
Car 21 Rob and Liz – a full final drive rebuild after the terminal gear disintegration on the last Oakington and the first event with LSD. Dented the bonnet on SS1 (straw bale) but already up to 13th overall/1st in class. SS2 and missed a corner, requiring a quick reverse, passed a Cleo and up to 10th overall. SS3 and up on 2 wheels – good stuff! SS4 held up by 2ltr Escort, and lost wipers in the rain on SS5 (only a fuse). Big lift-off over-steer on SS6 but held it together to finish an excellent 7th overall and 1st in class.
Car 34 Ivan and Neal – The Beemer was last seen here driven by Dingo with great style (i.e. sideways all the time!) and we expected the same as they were running on economy tyres for their first event in the car. SS1 and no problems, 23rd overall and 4th in class. SS2 and an oil leak is seeping onto the clutch, causing some slip – up to 19th. SS3 and still slipping clutch to worry Ivan, but climbing to 18th overall.
SS4 and a big moment when they catch a lorry tyre, which launches them up on to 2 wheels big time! They hang on through the afternoon, but very sideways in the wet and slippy conditions. Ivan is a very happy man at the end to get a good finish at 15th overall and 4th in class (6th in combined classes 4 & 5) on his first event in the car (and his first rally for over 18 months) and everything is still in one piece. A great day out for the club, with 2 class wins and 2 class A/B in the top 8! We managed all 5 finishers in the top 17. |
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