Last two events of Drive…

 

The Ross &DMC AutoSolo       Strensham Services M5    5th October

 

 

The weatherman said it would rain very heavily til 2, it did. A full entry of 45 cars included the BTRDA Drive Micra for John Fox and Julian Archard. They were both rather looking forward to this their second AutoSolo in the 2008 programme of events.

Competition in their Class would come from Kevin Hardwick's Peugeot 205, reigning Champion Sam Williams' Saxo, and  10 other very capable entrants. What they hadn't bargained for was the indecently quick Mini 1000 of Liam Rollings who at one point during the day actually led the event overall.

In their own private Micra battle, Julian (still not 17 yet) had the early edge taking full advantage of the slippery lorry park surface, but John got to grips with it on the 3rd and 4th runs, finishing 5th in Class just two tenths down on Sam, and three tenths up on none other than AutoSolo challenge leader Jamie Yapp in his Nova. Julian was just a few seconds back in 8th.

A brilliant drive by both our BTRDA Drive stars, and a special thank you to MSF members Sam Williams for a little coaching, John Moffatt for sloshing some Tesco 99 into the Micra when required, and to Tom Bricknell for entertainment.

 

 

 

The Owen MC Car Trial        Catton Hall         29th September

 

The second Car Trial of the BTRDA Drive programme was held over 40 challenging sections expertly set out by Garry Preston and Barrie Parker. Julian Archard, 16, took up where he left off from the first trial back in June, with some superb climbs and attracting the attention of  onlookers.

 

John seemed to really get the hang of trialing on this his second attempt, and was much more on the pace. At lunchime, Julian was in 3rd place in Class 1 on 124 just a point up on an embarassed Nick Pollitt (in Sam Williams' Saxo) and only 8 down on the experienced Derek Barnes in his Ka, John not far behind on 141. Following the afternoon sections, Julian and John continued to impress, with Julian finishing on 220 in 4th place (Nick 207, Derek 214) and John 6th on 232. To cap a fine day Julian won the Novice Award. A great day for the team.