Loughborough Car Club Autotests

Event Report

The sixth round of the championship was held at the Grove Street Car Park in the centre of Coventry as part of the weekend-long Coventry Motofest. The warm, sunny weather was lost on the event, being held underneath one of the big flyovers of the inner ring road which was providing the arena for many of the other motor sport activities. Three tests were laid out, each to be attempted eight times with stops for lunch and afternoon tea (!) on a sloping site, and all used the solid concrete columns as course markers, in addition to the kerbs around the site and the usual road cones. Alastair Moffatt (Mini Special 1400) held a narrow 0-3 second lead over Willie Keaning (Sylva Striker 1800), who in turn was 0-6 second ahead of Malcolm Livingston (Lindsay Special 1600) after the first three tests.  After six tests, Livingston had caught Keaning for second place, but the time margin between the three was still in the tenths of seconds, with Paul Fobister (Fobby Special 1600) just 10 seconds behind in 4^th place.

Lunchtime after nine tests saw Moffatt with a slender 1 second lead over Livingston, Keaning now trailing Livingston by 12 seconds, having collected a penalty on test 7, and suffering a costly hesitation on test 8, with Fobister a further 12 seconds back. Behind Keaning in the sports car class, Steve Morten (Raw Striker 1800), Dave Evans (Raw Striker 1600) and Ian Chapman (Xmoor Riot 1700) were covered by 10 seconds in their own private battle, albeit 30 seconds down on Keaning, and the Minis of Charlie Lower (Mini 1380) and Bob Milligan (Mini 1275) were leading their respective classes. The saloon car class was being led by Warren Gillespie (Nova 1800) by just 7 seconds from Murray Walker (Nova 1600), Gillespie going on a penalty collecting spree all morning.

The pattern continued over the next three rounds, with Moffatt and Livingston trading tenths of seconds, but now with a 20 second lead over Keaning, whilst Fobister was a further 30 seconds behind. The other sports cars had established some parity amongst themselves, with Evans taking an 8 second lead over Chapman, and Morten a further 3 seconds back. Gillespie was paying for his collecting penalties all day, Walker was now leading the class by just 1 second!

The two afternoon rounds reflected the pace of the day. Two cars had already retired from the competition, and Gillespie continued to collect penalties, and now Walker collected some too, resulting in Gillespie winning the class by 8 seconds. The Minis continued on their way, but the road-going version of Milligan suffered over-heating problems and collected a couple of maximum times, but they both won their class. Another to start collecting penalties was Ian Chapman, who trailed Evans and Morten by 20 seconds, despite Morten breaking a front wishbone on one test and replacing it mid-round. The biggest break, and least costly, occurred three tests from the finish when Keaning broke his gearbox and collected a maximum penalty. As is the norm, three other competitors set to and helped change the box in good time for Keaning to retain his 3^rd place overall. Moffatt found some extra speed over the last three tests, and finished just 4 seconds ahead of Livingston.

Results;

1st        Alastair Moffatt                 Mini Special 1400                             1079-8 secs

2^nd          Malcolm Livingston         Lindsay Special 1600                        1084-2

3^rd           Willie Keaning                   RAW Striker 1800                              1137-5

4^th           Paul Fobister                      Fobby Special 1600                          1149-9

5^th           Dave Evans                         Raw Striker 1600                               1182-5

Demon Tweeks BTRDA Autotest Championship Scores;-

1st          Willie Keaning                   RAW Striker 1800                              100 pts

2nd       Paul Fobister                      Fobby Special 1600                            94

3rd         Chris Chapman                  Raw Striker 1700                                 87

4th         Ian Chapman                     Xmoor Riot 1700                                 86

5th         Warren Gillespie              Nova 1800                                             80