Kemble Targa

Event Report

A very nice day at Kemble. Good weather, great atmosphere, varying fortunes for many.

Bob Milligan was first BTRDA Championship Contender, finishing a fine 8th overall in his classic Mini. This was despite a misfire at low revs, a suspected ignition issue. Much popping and banging between Tests, but fine on the Tests.

Second BTRDA Contender was myself, out on my first Targa since before Covid. My “new” Micra had suffered a wide range of issues for years, from driveshafts popping out of the new diff, bearings failing, no handbrake, … As I gradually move back towards more standard, the car improves! But reliability is the main goal, the reason I went Micra, I don’t want to be fixing the car all the time. Maybe running very old Kumho R800 tyres, which I found in the shed, wasn’t the best idea. But a good day of testing.

Just behind was Lewis Ayris. After his excellent second overall on the Stu Wood, Lewis now leads the Drivers’ Championship and the Under 25 Driver’s Championship.

John Fox and Jamie Yapp were next in the Clio, John’s second event in the car after the Stu Wood. John is getting used to the “rougher stuff” after years of Autosolos, Autotests and Sprinting. A bent wheel appeared to be the only issue on the day, plus a few “shunts” to stay on the right route. Jamie took maximum Navigator’s points!!

Elliott Sharp had “one of those days”, breaking a driveshaft on the first Test. He then found that he’s left his spare shafts at home. But a borrowed shaft got him back out running again, only to be hit by Test penalties, with no way to query them.

Alex Reynolds appeared to have a quiet day in the Toyota (well I didn’t hear of anything), but there is a picture being way too close to a cone!

Richard Yapp and Peter Cox had an uneventful day in their MX5, but did pick up some penalties for passing cones on the wrong side. It happens to us all.

Ben Pritchard was enjoying himself! Certainly pushing the limits, as seen from his lairy progress, or lack of forward progress 😁 But a good finish.

Simon Bailey and Daryl Bailey were extremely distinctive in the green 206, having a good run.

Raymond Davies and Llinos Davies were running last on the road (but definitely not last in the results) in their 1 litre Micra. Running at car 4, I could see their every move while we queued to start the Test. Yes, many of the comes were confusing, I got one wrong when it was my turn to navigate! But a good hall of points, seeing Llinos lying second overall Navigator and second Under 25 Navigator.

James Griffiths and Matt Venables were flying, holding third overall at the lunch break in their Astra. They’d been suffering with gearbox issues all year and had tried different options. At the stop line on Test 4, the gearbox locked up! Another DNF, but hopefully some lessons learned on the way to reliability.

Navigators, where were you all? Relatively few registered Navigators were out there, but this meant good pickings for those who were competing.

Even though he wasn’t competing, Sam Weller (only 15 years old) picked up his Marshal score and still leads the Championship.

We’re at the time of year where Marshal points can make a big difference to the Championship tables, but this can change as more events happen. You WILL be rewarded for your performance on events, which can provide more points than the one-off Marshal score.

Lewis Ayris and Sam Weller lead the Drivers’ and Navigators’ Championships at present. Will that continue? In many respects, it’s good to see new names at the top of the tables, but can the established crews topple their leads? Only time will tell.

Full results can be found at: http://rallyroots.com/index.html

All pictures courtesy of Scott Boulton at Jack Flash Photography.