Grass Autotest – 3rd July

Event details

▪ Date: Sunday 3rd July
▪ Venue: Springholm
▪ Results: pdf link >here<
▪ Points: updated after Rd 8 >here<

Event Report

Following high winds, our third Grass Autotest of the year was rescheduled to take place on Sunday 3rd July, at Springholm, with the kind permission of the Sommerville family.

Class 1 (under 1400cc FWD): There was no catching Rab Henderson on Sunday! The MG (and the Driver!) were untouchable, coming in 35+ seconds ahead of the shared Nissan Sunny of Grant Carson, Aaran Ferguson and Jack Gaffney. In 5th it was returnee David White, also in a Nissan Sunny (eh… that’s not a Chrysler!?) with David Drummond again making the trip from Ayrshire to finish 6th in the Fiesta.

Class 2 (over 1400cc FWD): In the battle of the Nissan Micras, it was again close between Messrs Dickson & McCarney, with just 1.5 seconds separating them after Run 2. Thomas then had bit of a nightmare in Test 3, dropping 12 seconds when reversing back to get a cone, so their battle was over and Richard Dickson sped on to take the Class Win, but Thomas McCarney did manage to do enough in the final four tests to snatch back 2nd in Class from his wife Karen McCarney who finished 3rd, ahead of Nancy Dickson who was 4th in Class. In the mid-field, there were close battles between the Mini of Ron Orr and Alan McMorran in the Puma, and also Claire Harvey who had this time come in a C2 and Grace Orr in the family Mini, with both pairings finishing within 3 seconds of each other. Close. Gavin Murray made his Solway Car Club Autotest debut in the Rover 25, surviving a fairly dramatic spin and general lack of grip on the wet grass on Test 1 to finish 8th in Class.

Class 5 (Specials): The cones mistakenly thought they were safe this week as neither Peter Game or The Captain had entered. Wrong! Billy Biagi was the sole entry in Class 5 in his Buggy, notching up 6th overall, plus a cone penalty on 3 of the 6 tests.

After six runs, it was Rab Henderson who won by over 16 seconds, with Richard Dickson taking second overall and first Senior, just ahead of Thomas McCarney.  First Lady went to Karen McCarney in 4th Overall, with Jack Gaffney finishing as top Novice.

It was an extra special day for our reigning Club Champion Rab Henderson, as he welcomed the Birth of his second Grandson early that morning. All of us at Solway Car Club send our congratulations to ‘Papa’ Rab, to his son and Club member Jake Henderson and his partner Danielle, and their families, on the birth of their son, Khai.

Thanks go to the Sommerville family again for the venue, to Thomas for Organising, and to Norman, Kirsty, Barbara, Bob (& Willis!) and all who helped on the day.

The next event will be a Grass Autotest on Sunday 17th July – more information here.

(Note: this event was rescheduled from the 26th June, as that event was  cancelled on the Sunday morning due to high winds. Thanks to Joe McKeand for the use of the field on that day, and to Barbara & Bob for collecting in the cones from Southerness in the torrential rain!)