Grass Autotest – 22nd May

Event details

▪ Date: Sunday 22nd May
▪ Venue: Irelandton, Twynholm
▪ Results: pdf link >here<
▪ Points: updated after Rd 6 >here<

Event Report

Eighteen entries for Solway Car Club’s first Grass Autotest of the year, with the kind permission of the Graham family at Irelandton Farm near Twynholm on Sunday. With a wet start making things rather tricky for the competitors to find the best lines, but were soon getting the hang of things with more grip as runs progressed.

Class 1 (under 1400cc FWD): The 2021 Club Champion Rab Henderson was quick out of the blocks in the Rover, closely chased by Aaran Ferguson in the Nissan with Grant Carson hot on their tail. A mistake by Aaran on test four hitting a cone dropped him back a bit, but still in front of Grant, leaving Rab to take the class and overall win.

Class 2 (over 1400cc FWD): The usual class battle between Richard Dickson and Thomas McCarney continued in their Micras, with Richard taking the upper hand to start, but Thomas fighting back – but was not enough and under a second separating them at the finish. Their Wives Nancy and Karen having much the same kind of battle for third, with Karen coming up on top on this one.

Class 4 (over 1400cc RWD): The RWD lads found it real tricky on the first few tests, with Craig Smith in his MX5 finding the best grip and lines to take the class from Ian Gemmell in the RWD Fiesta with Hal Renwick in the shared MX5.

Class 5 (Specials): The buggies of Mark & Michael McCornick were struggling with the power on the slippy surface, but so enjoyed themselves on their first Solway event, with Mark taking the win.

So nice to see some old and new faces at this event, with Ashley Thomson & Jack Gaffney enjoying their very first taste of Grass Autotesting.

After 6 runs, just 1.68 seconds separated the Top 3 finishers, with Rab Henderson taking the Overall win, closely followed by Richard Dickson and Thomas McCarney.

Thanks go to the Graham family again for the venue, to Norman & Leah Gowans for Timing & Results, to Andrew & Nancy for Marshalling, to Albert & Richard for Organising, and to all that helped set up and tidy up at the finish.

The next event will be a Grass Autotest on Sunday 5th June – more information here.