..........WE ARE NOT MEETING AT THE CARPENTERS TAVERN - SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS..................
Looks like half the Tavern club are going up to Longcross for the Carfax Stages! So far there are 15 members competing on this last round of the Cotswold championship. Brian Thomas is with me this time,hoping for another good finish which could just possibly give him the CMSG 1st in class C co-driver award. Dave Attiwell / Keith Emery are in the Astra, Jim Munden / TBA in the Escort, Martin & Georgina in the MG, Spencer Chard / Tim Babbage in the RWD Scooby, Roger Croft / JD in the BMW, Mark Chapman / Kevin Harbour in the co-drivers' 205 (the MG is still in pieces?), Gavin Rogers will be in his Escort, and Dale Lovegrove will be co-driving for R.Baker in another Escort.
It is possible that Dave Smailes will be out servicing for us provided all is well following his operation.
I heard a rumour that Phil Sprasson could be taking his Escort, if you are still wanting a co-driver Phil then another of 'my' co-drivers is ready to fill the seat! But you will have to get your entry in quick as with 5 weeks to go, the entry list is nearly full.
Last year there was snow on the ground when the first crews started..............
Update - There are now 19 Tavern members competing, with Phil & Tracey Sprasson and Steve Eldridge / Shaun Harding putting in entries.
If the reason for there being an odd number of Taverners is because Dale is co-driving for Rich Baker then you can make that 20 because Rich joined Tavern a couple of weeks ago and because he paid in October he is a member all next years as well.
Right, we have 20 going to Longcross now. Although R.B. should now enter under Tavern Motor Club if he wants to score points in the Club championship
Even with Richards very quick Escort it is probably a bit late to make an impact on this years championship now.
Good luck top everyone this weekend.
WET and SLIPPERY oh and abit DARK
Started damp then turned into monsoon conditions then stopped raining but didnt really dry out.
Good rally with no real problems for Dave and i except one 360 degree spin on the snake thought we were going into the trees but survived.Completed our first ever night stages which were fun but alittle short.
At least 25 members competing or servicing.
Phil Sprason/JD 7th o/a 1st class D
Jim/Antony Miunden 10th o/a 4th class C
Gavin Rogers/(Teresa Butler) 18th o/a 6th class C
Dave Attiwell/Keith Emery 24th o/a 9th class
Steve Conner/Brian Thomas 26th o/a 10th class C
Richard Baker/Dale Lovegrove 41st o/a 15th class C
Steve Eldridge/Shaun Harding 51st o/a 15th class B First rally for Steve
Mark Chapman/Kevin Harbour 54th o/a 17th class
Sadly retirements for Spencer Chard/Tim Babbage and Martin and Georgina Clark
Yes sure was slippery which made it very interesting! After the heavy downpour when the lower section became badly flooded we suffered a misfire for the last couple of miles which cost us about 30 secs and a place or two. Really enjoyed the day apart from the last two stages in the dark being too short. And being wet there were less retirements due to less stress on the quick cars transmissions, which meant we finished a little lower down the order than usual.........
The Astra completed the event needing no more than a top-up of oil and routine adjustments to tyre pressures etc. I made the mistake of not taking any very soft tyres - I didn't have any!- so did the first four stages on medium Yoko AO48's before changing to Michelin intermediates which I found were much grippier and wished I had put them on earlier. A lesson learned here!
Subject to confirmation, it looks like BT has just clinched the CSMG 1st class C award on a tie-decider.
Thanks to Dave for servicing for us yet again, and does anyone know what caused the two Tavern retirements? Martins MG was going really quick on the first three stages before he retired.
Results for the CMSG championship have just been posted and confirm BT has 1st in class C and 5th overall. No tie-decider was necessary.
Tavern have quite a few awards to collect this year. See Shaun Hardings report in members News and Events.
---The-Fat-Albert Stages---28 October 2012...........