MARCH 2017

The

ACORN

THE MAGAZINE OF THE SEVENOAKS & DISTRICT MOTOR CLUB

Andy Elcomb receiving one of several awards from Andrew Marriott

Sevenoaks and District Motor Club Ltd PRESIDENT: John Symes VICE PRESIDENTs: Vic EIford, Grahame White

ACORN MAGAZINE March 2017 The Editor, Committee and Club do not necessarily agree with items and opinions expressed within ACORN magazine

OFFICERS and COMMITTEE

CHAIRMAN, Chris Judge, 66, Olivers Mill, New Ash Green, Kent DA3 8RF, 01474 873628 07765 663258, [email protected] MEMBERSHIP SEC: Andy Elcomb, The Cottage, Deans Hill, Bredgar, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8BB (Home) 01622 884856, (Mob) 07710 426801 [email protected] SECRETARY: TBA TREASURER: Clive Cooke, 1 Willow Bank, Robertsbridge, East Sussex TN32 5NH (Home) 01580 880568 [email protected] ACORN EDITOR.: Chin, 36, Churchside, Vigo, Kent, DA13 0SJ (Home) 01732 823132, (Work) 07889 668470 [email protected] COMPETITION SEC, Ian Crocker, (Home) 01892 546006 [email protected] SPEED LEAGUE David Balderson, 17 Glentrammon Close, Green Street Green, Kent BR6 6DL CONTACT: (Home) 01689 601661 [email protected] TROPHY RECORDS KEEPER Joy Waiton, [email protected] RALLY SECRETARY: Iain Gibson, 8 Knights Croft, New Ash Green, Kent DA3 8HT (Home) 01474 873573, [email protected] CHIEF MARSHAL: Glyn Williams, 6 Corporation Cottages, High Street, Aylesford, Kent, ME20 7DA 07989 896851 [email protected] SOCIAL SECRETARY: Russell Giddings, 45 Castle Drive, Kemsing, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 6RW (Home) 01959 524837 [email protected] PRESS & PR: TBA CPO: Dawn Travers, 91 Carlton Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 2DE (Home) 01737 210377 [email protected] WEBMASTER: Nigel Mead, 3 Heather Bank, Paddock Wood, Kent TN12 6BW(Home) 01892 832420 [email protected]

Website - www.sevenoaksmotorclub.com @SevenoaksMC

www.facebook.com/sevenoaksmc

Editorial

This year’s Awards Dinner was as good as usual. Joy had made a great job of displaying our trophies and Andrew Marriott gave an interesting talk before handing over the pots. Thanks to all involved especially Russell Giddings and Nigel Mead who set up the evening. If you weren’t there make sure you remember for next year, you won’t regret it. 2017 has really started—I’ve done my first event with Andy Kilby in the recently re-fettled (very smart looking!) MGBGT, which was the February Blackpalfrey MC Regularity 12-car organised by our own Joy Waiton and Andy Elcomb. They’d arranged a bright sunny day which made pottering round the interesting route even more enjoyable—the one drawback being the flickering light through the hedgerows made reading a bit difficult at times and probably wouldn’t have suited those with an epileptic tendency; I’m not complaining though. The ‘B’ ran well

and the only technical problems we had were intermittent failure of the tripmeter and the master clock. As a result I had an easy life just calling the roads while Andy had to use his skill at judging the average speed, at which he is very good. The net result was that we didn’t do well but had a very enjoyable day out. Following the recent fine weather a young man’s fancy should turn to Spring, and the first round of the Insite Graphics Speed League is almost on us. Please read the SSL regs. and make sure you’ve registered so that you have a good season of Speed. The rest of us will look forward to a sunny summer of Autotests and Autosolos and, what used to be a winter sport, Car trials. Talking of which our National Championship Trial is at Stoneacre on 19th March, so start getting your qualifying points by helping out.

Chin

ACORN COPY

Your articles etc. are very welcome but: All copy should be in either Word (or equivalent) or Publisher. Images should be a .jpeg file and sent separately to the text (attached to one email is fine but please send your pictures as separate files). Thanks for your cooperation Chin

The 2017 MSA Blue Book is viewable on line: https://www.msauk.org/assets/bluebook2017completevlow-res.pdf

Chairman’s Chat I think I’ll start by congratulating Russ Giddings, Nigel Mead, Joy Waiton and Chin for organising and sorting out most of the workload and trophies for our annual awards night, held at the Hadlow Manor Hotel on 4 th February. Excellent food and a very good turn out ensured a great social evening. Our club President John Symes arranged for Andrew Marriot to be our guest speaker and he has obviously met some very interesting people from the world of motor sport in his role as commentator. Thank you Andrew for a most enlightening talk. We hope you and Carol enjoyed the evening. Also thanks to Alex Peters, David Balderson and Shelly Albrow for being our award speakers along with myself. We introduced a number of speakers to give the background on our various awards last year, as this approach appears to be acceptable. For many years Colin Billings was our main speaker and he always did a first class excellent job. But like all things, people sometimes need a break, so that’s one of the reasons we try and get three people to ‘spread the load’ as it were. If anyone wants to do anything for the club or be a speaker you only have to ask. We want to make the awards night informal with banter and jokes and I think we achieved this. With so many awards to get through, and a reasonable tight timescale, it is easy to overlook thanking individuals for all the help they gave the club in 2016. We had a very successful year with Crystal Palace, evening autotest success, car trials, rallies, a new autosolo and excellent social side. This success is only achieved by members making this happen. Some clubs now actually don’t exist due to input rather than loss of income, so I think we should thank all the people who have put in an enormous effort over last year to ensure our events are a success. We are all volunteers and I think it is the same in any particular club or organisation you belong to. The main thing is that if you have children or perhaps nephews, they want to start doing other things apart from what the parents want to do. For instance, football, guides, cubs and ballet etc. This all means that the time spent on doing things you perhaps want to do become more restricted but not in a bad way. I recently went to see my Nephews daughter take part in a major gymnastics competition in Essex. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was taking her dad for hand-brake turns at one of our autotests! I know that many club members time is spent doing things like this during evenings and weekends so it is not surprising we sometimes cannot always get the support that is required to run our events. One parent I know has football, swimming and dance classes in one week, and when it comes to the weekend she is completely drained. Also, can I ask…is it only the women that tend to do all this running around, while the male appears to disappear into his man cave? I do see a fair amount of that! Anyway, the thing is, if you can help the club in some way that is always great and very much appreciated. You all know who you are, so thank you for everything you did in 2016. Moving on to one of our first events is the car trial on 19th March at

Stoneacre Farm, Otham, near Maidstone. Entries close on 12th March. Our excellent Chief Marshal ‘Willie’ has already obtained names to help and entries are still available. We have named this event the ‘Basil Elkington Trial’. Some of our newer members may not know who this was, but Basil became a leading light in our club for many years. He held a number of positions within the club including Chairman and worked tirelessly to help others and loved his motor-sport. He is actually one of the main reasons I volunteer for things to help the club and I will always remember him greeting everyone as you turned into the gate at Valence School for the (then) hillclimb. His main emphasis was to have fun. Long may that continue. Our premier event is now the Crystal Palace sprint and much effort will now be devoted to ensure continued success. Karen Webber, Andy kilby, Chin and David Balderson have already put an enormous amount of time and effort to do the planning and administration required for such a big occasion and we must all work together to help one another. Plans are also underway to run our sprint at North Weald on 30th April and then we have some very exciting news as Lydden will return for sprinting on 15 th July. Sevenoaks, as well as Maidstone, Borough 19 and Tunbridge Wells have joined forces to promote this event and although the cost of running this is high (venue hire), the expenditure will be split between the four clubs accordingly. We believe that co-promoting events such as this is the way of the future as we cannot guarantee the same people will always be there to organise. We also have the dates (virtually) fixed for the autotest and autosolo’s, but some of these clash with other club’s events, so more consultation required as nobody wants date clashes within the South East. I mentioned about the problem with the new MSA ruling on roll over protection systems (ROPS) last month and said I have to address this. Well, I now understand the background and have read everything, but still totally disagree with the MSA’s findings. However, I have no choice, so my Jedi single seater will go to the factory later this month to be cut in half and have a lot of money spent on it to comply. (And then ‘I’ have to buy a certificate to show the MSA that the work complies!) Fortunately, I haven’t completely finished putting everything back on after the Hans devise welding was carried out, as I was told “that will all have to come off and be drilled out anyway”. Great stuff then. The cost to single seater manufacturers’ has been excessive and Jedi alone have had to invest in new roll cage units just before anyone commits to having the work done. Think of the cash flow problem this has caused to one make manufacturers’. Jedi have already done 39 alterations for their race car series which starts in April, so the pressure put upon them has been huge. They are working some seven days a week. Other manufacturers such as OMS are in a similar situation. After this work is carried out, perhaps the MSA will decide the car is simply too short for next year? You have to ask yourself is it any wonder people just do track days? Anyway, I was spurred onto Jedi sorting with Andy Webber’s article in the last Acorn which got me moving. His car looks great and I hope he will paint

it in Gold Leaf colours, which is one of the first colour schemes I saw when I went to Brands for a formula three meeting in 1972. I still have the photo slides that my late brother took - fantastic. I’m sure his car will look impressive and what a good engineer he is. Question then….does he live in his man cave while Karen does all the running around?. Best wishes

Chris Judge Chairman. Officials Roles 2—Clerk of the Course This role requires a bit more expertise in the type of event being run than Secretary; it is the most important job at any event no matter how high (or low) the status of the event as the Clerk has overall responsibility for the event. In some disciplines the Clerk must be licenced by the MSA; this applies to Speed, Stage Rally and Race events and there is a training process of maybe two years (unless you devote your whole time to this). There is quite a bit of difference in the workload on the Clerk in the different disciplines, Rallies require many enjoyable hours of pre-event work sorting the route etc. whereas Speed events can almost be just turn up on the day and take charge. If you would like to consider this role talk to any of our current licenced clerks (Andy Elcomb or Chris Scudder) or come along to any of our events such as the evening Autotests, Car Trials or Autosolos and join in on the organising team to see what’s involved. In our club there are many members who would be happy to talk about this role but being there on the day is the best way to get a feel for this important position. All the events I’ve clerked in the past (mostly road based Rallies) have been a very rewarding experience and there is a lot of satisfaction to be had from this role.

Chin PLEASE BE AWARE From now on, in order to score points in any of our championships you must send your results to our TRK, Joy Waiton. [email protected] Her task is sufficiently challenging without having to hunt for results. It’s a pretty logical process—if she doesn’t get the results, you don’t get the points, and who’s the loser then?

The Power Points Club is an initiative to hopefully encourage more existing and new club members to become involved in the Marshalling and organisation at 7Oaks events. Club motorsport needs this help so it can continue to offer a varied and efficiently run motorsport calendar for its membership. To help recognise the value of helping run 7Oaks events POWER POINTS will be awarded for marshalling organising or otherwise assisting on the day of the event. These points will have a nominal value which can be redeemed as full or partial entry at 7Oaks events e.g. the awards dinner. Terms and conditions of the scheme:  Only claimed by 7Oaks members at 7Oaks events. This includes physical pre event work such as Crystal Palace tyre strapping, however this DOES NOT include pre event administration work.  The points have no actual cash value they can only be redeemed against any 7 Oaks Fee. Initially the reward points have no expiry date though may be subject to review. Points must be claimed within 21 days following the event  Points are verified by reference to the event signing on sheet, which has now been up dated to incorporate more detail  POWER POINTS nominal value one point (pt) = £5 discount from a 7oaks Fee e.g. entry/membership/social event  These POWER POINTS will be awarded at the following rates  One point per 7Oaks qualifying activity, (marshalling, organising, or otherwise assisting on the day’s event (max one point per event).  The member is responsible for claiming their points by simply completing the online form on SDMC web site, located in the Power Points section within 21days of the event (if you have no internet access please talk to Paul Hebden who is the Power Points administrator and attends the majority of SDMC events who will arrange an alternative notification arrangement for you ) Members name, Membership number Select event/date from list what activity carried out (no points can be claimed after 21 day dead line) Power Points Club email Address [email protected] Sevenoaks motor club reserves the right to change, amend, modify, suspend, continue or terminate all or any part of the Power Points club

NEW CAR S.O.S – A MINI EPIC Early last Spring there was an Email from one of our friends at Eastbourne Ram Motor Club asking for volunteers who would like to bring their cars – preferably with some sort of competition pretensions - to a pub down near Arlington (the home of the Spedeworth stock car race circuit and also where the Eastbourne Speedway used to happen) where an episode of the TV series Car SOS was to have its climax filmed. For those not familiar with the idea, Tim and Fuzz are secretly contacted by a family who have a member whose car is, or has been, very important to them and who because of ill health or an accident or similar reason has not been able to look after and /or restore it so they can continue to enjoy it. It is then whisked away to the workshop and repaired to ‘as new’ and then the person involved is persuaded to attend some sort of, usually car or family orientated, event where their pride and joy is unexpectedly returned to them. In this case it was an ex-Eastbourne member whose Mini had been raced in the past but now languished under a cover in a barn at his farm. The team sneaked in while he was out, put the Mini on a trailer and then put another Mini under the cover and replaced everything back in its original position to avoid suspicion. Said Mini was then worked on and arrangements made, with the family’s cooperation of course, to reunite the owner and his car. A friend’s birthday provided the perfect excuse for a pub lunch for 4 to be organised, and the rest of the family would also be there, but in hiding. So we all turned up a couple of hours before this was due to happen, in a motley collection of vehicles, including Mick Rose in the Micra and Craig in his Marina. There was also a very convincing Audi Quattro, complete with Acropolis Rally livery and flame throwing exhaust! We were all briefed by the director as to how things would work and led off to a wooded area about half a mile away, from where we would in due course emerge to finish the ‘club run’ at the pub. The first run through then took place with us all driving into the car park behind the immaculate red and white Cooper S and lining up in some sort of order while the presenters went through their ‘spiel’. Very impressed with that as they had to do it two or three times and the stop/ start was seamless – very professional! The Mini had emerged from the barn a sort of rusty grey colour and it was the family that decided it would be good to create a Monte Carlo winning version lookalike complete with false number plate 33EJB – looked pretty good to me ! The original plate was retained underneath the ‘tear-off’ falsie. Anyway, the director then rearranged the order in which he wanted us to arrive and I was instructed to follow directly behind the Mini (you could still smell the fresh paint!) and then swing into the front car parking area, but leaving enough room for Tim to able to walk round the Mini when the time came for the ‘reveal’. Also on the front were an MGB, a Midget and Craig’s Marina – the very smart

Audi was relegated to the rear car park as it was considered it would take attention away from the Mini, and believe me it certainly would! All the family and friends who were in on the surprise were hiding in a minibus and instructed to emerge only when the trap had been sprung. As we all turned into the car park for the actual event to happen, the ‘victims’ attention was drawn to the cars by one of his dinner guests and Tim started to talk about the MGB, convincingly looking under the bonnet and chatting to the owner. Curiousity overcame our ‘victim’ and he emerged from the pub and Tim immediately engaged him in discussing the Min parked right in front of the door. I have one of those he said to which Tim feigned surprise and pointed out that this one was very special. At this stage the family were brought across from the minibus and loitered just out of sight. Tim them revealed just how special this Mini was by peeling off the false number plate and the ‘victim’s face was a picture as he recognised the number and the truth of what had happened slowly dawned on him, encouraged by applause from the family who now appeared as if by magic. He was slightly overcome and almost literally speechless, but recovered enough to tell the team how pleased he was and how much it meant to him. Tim then invited him to join him in a quick drive up the road and his delight was obvious to all. The trick had worked out very well and everybody was happy with the result, we were even offered a free lunch in the pub ! CLIVE COOKE PS the director turned up in a Nissan GTR and talking to him it appears that it might be a (relatively) cheap supercar but if you want to insure it, and you really ought to, then………………………………………………………….. ………ouch!!

SEVENOAKS SPEED LEAGUE Sponsored by INSITE GRAPHICS Regulations and entry form available here: http://www.sevenoaksmotorclub.com/speed-league First round is:

Rockingham 26th March

Belgium Rallying 2016 Our last event of 2016 was the Hemicuda Rally in early October based in the town of Koekelare, south of the coastal road to Brugge the nearest rally we do, just about an hour from Calais but different world away from UK events. Another weekend of perfect weather for us and after the early morning ferry trip on sat morning its straight to the local bar for the most social signing on you’ll ever go to, very hard not to start drinking with the locals and just go and watch the action instead. The three stages used three times were 2 new layouts and one the same from last year and the recce for these takes the rest of the day to complete with a quick break for scrutineering back at service. The stages themselves are classic Belgium with some superbly long straights and a lot of the Flanders 90’s but a lot of shiny new tarmac in

places which was super slippery. This Stage 1 of each loop, 12.5km in length, the start is on the right with

the long straights in the middle about 1km long each, with the added bonus of being down a main road. Stage 2 is about 20 mins away with a stage used in the Tour of Flanders Rally as well, and the last stage of each loop was back at the main town of the rally with the finish right by the service area. Sunday and it’s sunny again but a bit cold and on the road section to SS1 we have a cold rear tyres moment giving us a nod as to what the stages are like. Up to the startline and we see a trail of oil off the line and after we start its one of our class in a Astra parked up just round the corner, terminal gearbox destruction off the line!, the first few km’s are really slippy till we get to the main road part so we take it at a medium pace. Lots of gravel on the corners and we catch a EVO 6 near the end who’s been off and having trouble and a historic Golf rolled into a field just before the finish line which had no boards showing the line as a another car had knocked them down so felt good to get through without any mishaps. Stage 2 and the EVO we passed is working fine now so starts in front of us but it’s not his day as near the end its off again with a rear wheel missing so he’s out for the day. We finish okay but one of the other British crews are stopped at the finish control. We then head off for a quick petrol stop and regroup before a fairly long road section back to Koekelare going through the lovely unspoiled town of Diksmuide and on to Stage 3 last in this loop.

This is a well used stage but this year two sections had been resurfaced days before the rally, one 800m long straight with a 90 left at the end with zero run off and then a series of flowing bends and boy was this unbelievably slippery at rally pace and after all the cars had been through pulling all the mud onto the road it was tricky just to get through this bit. If you check

Youtube you will see loads of action from this bit, lots of cameras out here with cars spinning out and a Clio rolling into the field. In the photo here during the recce the edge of the road was neat and tidy with the tarmac and grass in perfect condition...... but once a few cars cut the corner we all have to do it so after 140 cars have been though 3 times it was more mud than tarmac. Onto the second loop and temp has gone right up and it’s like summer again and the tarmac is now getting grippy but on the first stage the ultra rapid Clio in our class is out down a very deep ditch after hitting the only chicane, but they were super tight and had Armco bolted onto straw bales!, our Sunbeam mates are also out with a blown engine. We pick up our pace going 24 secs faster on the first stage and continue the rest of the loop like this. As usual in these events it’s non stop all day with short service time it’s back out again for the third runs, with the fantastic weather it’s turned out to be one of the best events we’ve done. We do similar times on the last runs as the road conditions get worse with all the cutting and at the last regroup it’s a chance to get out of car for 5 mins and escape the heat in the car. Off to the final stage and apart from a half spin we make it to the end but a UK historic spec Cortina is off across a ditch into a field just a couple miles short of the finish. So after an hour and 3 minutes of stage time we finish 50th Overall and 6th in class and just 4.3 secs behind 5th with us 10th front wheel drive, not bad against the quality entry. Got all the stages from incar on youtube, search hondarallyman.

Iain & Andy Gibson.

Random Ramblings 1 In talking to people about taking on committee or event responsibilities a point that has been raised is that, in an age of “when it all goes wrong it is someone else’s fault”, can an individual organiser or committee member be sued? Not an unreasonable question at all and the simple answer is anyone can sue anybody for anything that is part of life. For all events, for which a valid MSA Permit has been issued, be it the British Grand Prix or a “club car trial” there is a comprehensive insurance package in place with the liability policy capped at £67million and Personal Accident schemes for both officials and competitors. The liability policy deals with any third party claims made against the MSA, landowners, organisers, officials and competitors. Thus, even if such as an individual official is named as a defendant, insurers will deal with the matter. As with all classes of insurance there are conditions and exceptions but in the long history of the MSA arranged insurance, no club or individual has been left “high & dry”. The PA schemes pay defined benefits. Details of the insurance arrangements can be found in the MSA Yearbook. For club social events there is automatic cover provided as part of the MSA Registration. The final protection is that SDMC is a “Company limited by Guarantee” which means the maximum liability for any individual member is £1. The MSA insurance programme is probably the most comprehensive of any motorsport governing body and equally it is known to be substantially more comprehensive than those arranged by other sports and leisure activities organisations.

John Symes

PLEASE BE AWARE

From now on, in order to score points in any of our championships you must send your results to our TRK, Joy Waiton. [email protected] Her task is sufficiently challenging without having to hunt for results. It’s a pretty logical process—if she doesn’t get the results, you don’t get the points, and who’s the loser then?

Sevenoaks MC Basil Elkington Car Trial Sunday 19th March Stoneacre Farm, Otham, Kent Regulations from our Web-site or from Chris Judge: [email protected] Tel: 07765 663 258 Marshals to Glyn Williams (Willie) at [email protected] or Tel: 07989 896851. Please let Willie know in advance. This is greatly appreciated. If you want some exercise, we will be putting the course together on the Saturday from 10.00am. Social Spiel 15-03-17 Autotest Registration – at the Bell Kemsing 8pm A chance to pre-register for our ever popular Autotest championship. It will again be held at Brands Hatch in 2017, but their 8pm curfew imposed by the council, means we are limited to running a maximum of 40 cars. So please come along to register so you can secure a spot for the season. 19-04-17 Rally Notes – at the Bell Kemsing 8pm Discover the different types of rallying; what they are and what you need to do them (other than two people and a vehicle). We hope to cover everything from Scatter Rallying to Stage Rallying. If there’s time there might even be the chance to brush up on the skills required for plotting on navigational rallies by breaking out the maps & pencils.

17-05-17 Club AGM - at the Bell Kemsing 8:30pm start Come along to hear how the club is getting on, voice your opinions, volunteer to help with the running of OUR club. It’s a good night to get a better understanding of where the club is heading & what WE need to do to try to achieve that. I hope to see you there. Please let me know if you have any ideas for social events, be it at our stronghold at the Bell Kemsing or a night away somewhere. Russ Giddings

Competition Talk We start the competition year and already have a change! Our scatter on Feb 23rd has been cancelled and the slot given to MMKMC – this was because they had to cancel their January event but with all the paperwork complete and the event ready to go it made sense to let them run the Feb 23rd event. The MMKMC event starts at the George, Trottiscliffe. After that it will be full steam ahead in March and April so get the below dates in your diary! The regs for the car trial are on the website. Regs for the sprint will be available about 6 weeks prior to the event.

Ian Crocker Date Sun 19th Mar Sat 1st April Thur 13th April Thurs 27th April Sun 30th April

Event Status Car Trial CM/Nat B 20/20 Rally Clubmans Scatter Clubmans Autotest Clubmans Sprint Nat B

Venue Stoneacre Kent TBA Brands Hatch North Weald

Instant Graphics Speed League Championship Sorting out event dates for any championship is always a challenge for you are trying to get a good variety of events, an even spread of dates, variety of events etc., etc. Improbable as it sounds it all starts with the Formula One Calendar round which the premier motorsport activity dates are set and so it goes on to other events. We hope we are “there” but the dates below currently remain PROVISIONAL for not all venue dates are confirmed. The number of championship qualifying events is much reduced compared to 2016, One factor is that by doing this there is increased chance that at the rounds you choose to do you will find other Championship contenders, it is after all a club competition so good to see your fellow contenders.

March 26 April 2 April 9 April 23 April 23 April 29 April 30 May 6 May 21 June 10 June 18 June 25 July 1 July 2 July 9 July 15 July 29 August 5 August 6 August 12 September 8 September 9 September 10 September 23 September 30 October 8 October 22

BARC (Midlands) B19MC Sutton & Cheam MC Green Belt MC Farnborough & DMC Bognor Regis MC SDMC Midland AC Midlands AC Sutton & Cheam MC MGCC Green Belt MC BARC Wales Swansea MC TBA SDMC/B19MC/MMKMC Bristol MC BARC (Yorkshire) B19MC BARC (Midlands) Westfield SCC Midland AC Harrow CC SDMC/TWMC Longton & DMC Midland AC BARC (Midlands)

Rockingham Sprint Hethel Sprint Abingdon Sprint North Weald Rushmoor Arena Sprint Goodwood Sprint NORTH WEALD Shelsley Walsh Curborough Sprint Abingdon Sprint Silverstone Stowe Debden Sprint Llandow Sprint Lys-Y- Fran Hill climb Woodbridge MC LYDDEN SPRINT Castle Combe Sprint Harewood Hill Climb Hethel Sprint CurboroughFig.8 Sprint Blyton Sprint MIRA Sprint North Weald Sprint Goodwood Sprint Blyton Park Sprint Curborough Sprint Rockingham Sprint

A word on the venues: Rockingham – Uses part of the infield network within the high speed oval Hethel – The Lotus test track laid on part of what was a WW2 airfield, fast with a variety of turns Abingdon – Another WW2 airfield, one course is a quarter mile straight the other uses a section of the perimeter track and part of the cross runway. North Weald – Three course available at this airfield venue with clubs liaising to not run the same course every time. Rushmoor Arena – Uses roadways within the military arena, not the smoothest road surface but fun. Goodwood – The classic race circuit we all know! Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb – The oldest motor sport venue, beautiful scenery and with barriers at track edge you need to be precise to the mm to get a good time. Curborough – Uses part of a long disused WW2 airfield with 3 different layouts available. Silverstone Stowe – The small circuit built as a training and test facility, one long straight and a variety of turns. Debden – Uses access roads and a section of runway at this ex WW2 airfield Llandow – Many years back a race circuit and now long used as a test and experience venue, reasonably fast with a couple of slower technical features. Lys-y-Fran, - A country park around a water reservoir, good facilities with a challenging but enjoyable course. Its a hill climb but from the start goes downhill! The second part of a “Welsh Weekend”! Blyton – Ex WW2 airfield and apart from one turn, wide open spaces so mistakes are generally only punished by loss of time. MIRA – A huge vehicle test and research centre the sprint course uses the “vehicle handling facility” DAVID BALDERSON

Shelly Albrow announces the Historic Speed League results

Jim Giddings, winner of the Historic Speed League

Chris Berrrisford winner of the Insite Speed League

So do you fancy doing a rally in the sunbeam? OK sounds like fun, well that was brands hatch summer stages august 24 th 2014. We had an absolute blast! The Sunbeam was not up for serious work but did a good job, 4th in class I believe before we started the final stage. We didn’t end up 4th in class but got a stage bogey time now if you want to know why ask Martyn Ellis! So we pondered as to what we could do as neither my TR6 or martyn Lotus Sunbeam ticked enough boxes to start so we started looking. What about this? An ex Brands Hatch rally school car, fully sorted in terms of safety except in date seats and belts oh and a log book. We bought it along with belts, seat, an MOT and Log Book. Wethersfield was the destination, again it was a great day, the debrief suggested we were a little underpowered but that we didn’t need anything else. A week later Martyn sends me an email, what about this? A Clio Cup Car!! Well I had previous with these as Point CNC sponsored Chris Dymond in the Clio Cup Challenge a few years back. It looked good so I simply replied lets buy it! So Martyn made a bid and after not even driving it we loaded it on the trailer and it was ours, we are not a good combination for considered purchases as we both have the breaking strain of a KitKat! Mathew Ellis recommended Area Sports to check it over, a few bits needed sorting but all was good. Our 1st Event in the Clio was Mallory which was a quick learning curve – up on two wheels after chasing a fiesta that demolished a chicane then the next one on one wheel, I studied carefully the underside of it!! ! A championship leader did not fare so well either on the first stage he spun and put his rear quarter through a gate post and into a porta cabin finishing his day. Our second was Cadwell – he damaged MY SIDE in a little off, the next was onto Rockingham where we suffered a VVT error which left the pull away resembling Mrs Goggin’s coming out of a parking space at Tesco’s! it was a great venue and a must each year. Onto Brands on a frosty Saturday. We had a fantastic day coming 36th out of 90 entrants. Martyn had benefited from some tuition on the Friday from………………………….shhh …………..his son Matt! Martyn certainly got more from the Clio. We did see a big off I think on stage 5, it was at the merge point, whilst its

obvious care needs to be taken it’s not always clear to go. The instruction from Clerk of the Course is no contact which is fair enough but as I understand it there are no rules. Surely the car on course should take priority over a car entering the stage? Also could the merge points be longer? This would give the on course car time to get clear or the oncoming car to accelerate and go safely past or asses the speed of the on stage car and make a judgement to give way? Just a thought. A very enjoyable day was had with many Sevenoaks Members coming over to say hello, even a chilly David Balderstone.

Possible rounds to go are Snetterton then Donnington, and Anglesey.

Martyn Ellis & Clive Letherby

VALENCE SCHOOL SHOW AND DEMO RUN

Back again in May. We’ll have a Club Stand there so come along and help.

Random Ramblings 2 Interesting that, predictably, a number of people who purchased VW cars are now intent on suing VW for, as one paper reported, “selling them a polluting vehicle”. There is a saying “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”. There is no doubt that a piece of software was used to facilitate vehicles passing a specific test and that is not acceptable. That this was done does not however mean that the cars are “pollution monsters”. Few would claim the “Urban Cycle” is realistic but it is a standard test. It is doubted if any make or model of car can ever be driven and achieve the fuel consumption attained under the “Urban Cycle”. There is one emission level which it is understood is extremely difficult to achieve and this is what lead to this “deceit”. The question then becomes as to whether the vehicle is overall less polluting in “test mode” than it is in “non-test mode”. Not a question we can answer but suspect it may be that the overall effect on the environment in non-test mode is possibly less than in “test mode”. To illustrate if there are maximum levels for, say, five different pollutants is it a better deal to accept that having a slightly higher level of “A” if that results in lower levels for the other four? Or is it better that “A” is at the lower level but the levels of the other four are increased as a consequence? Pollution and environmental issues are complex subjects and certainly I am not clever enough to understand them all. What is clear however is that many of those pushing different things often fail to take into account all factors. One of the things that the motor industry looks at is the environmental cost on a cradle to grave basis. One paper I have read compared the Range Rover Sport to a Toyota Prius. In simple terms the environmental cost of manufacturing the Range Rover is relatively modest, that of the Prius is higher as a result of the “exotic materials” needed to manufacture its batteries and electronic systems. In active use the Prius beats the Sport and end of life 98% of the Sport economically recycles sympathetically to the environment whereas the environmental cost of disposing of the Prius is higher. Net result is that there is a good argument that the “Sport” is more environmentally friendly than the Prius! We are sure such can be disputed and debated but it goes to show that there is nothing straightforward when you look at environmental matters.

John Symes

What's On - London and the South East March & April 2017 Date

Event

3rd March 5th March 16th March 17th March 19th March 19th March 19th March 26th March 26th March 31st March 1st April 2nd April 9th April 13th April 16th April 17th April 23rd April 23rd April 23rd April 26th April 27th April 29th April 29/30thApril 30th April

12 Car Boundless by CSMA Car Trial Falcon MC Scatter Maidstone & Mid Kent MC 12 Car Chelmsford MC Car Trial Sevenoaks & District MC 12 Car Reg. Blackpalfrey MC of Kent Kart races Buckmore Park Kart Club Targa Rally Chelmsford MC Car Trial Falcon MC 12 Car Boundless by CSMA 20/20 Sevenoaks & District MC 12 Car Reg. Blackpalfrey MC of Kent CarTrial Maidstone & Mid Kent MC Scatter Sevenoaks & District MC Kart races Buckmore Park Kart Club Treasure Hunt Maidstone & Mid Kent MC Sprint Green Belt MC, Harrow CC 12 Car Reg. Blackpalfrey MC of Kent Autosolo/Autotest West Suffolk MC Autotest Maidstone & Mid Kent MC Autotest Sevenoaks & District MC 20/20 Chelmsford MC Kart races Buckmore Park Kart Club Sprint Sevenoaks & District MC

Organising Club / Event

Venue Chesham Redbourn Start TBA Henny Street Stoneacre Airport Café, A20 Buckmore Park Wethersfield Ivinghoe Starts Ware Folkestone Start TBA TBA Start TBA Buckmore Park Start TBA North Weald Start TBA Wethersfield Headcorn Brands Hatch Bishops Stortford Buckmore Park North Weald

Joke Page One day a father gets out of work and on his way home he suddenly remembers that it’s his daughter’s birthday. He pulls over to a toy shop and asks the sales person, “ How much for one of those Barbies in the display window?” The salesperson answers “Which one do you mean, sir? We have Work Out Barbie for £19.95, Shopping Barbie for £19.95, Beach Barbie for £19.95, Disco Barbie for £19.95, Ballerina Barbie for £19.95, Astronaut Barbie for £19.95, Skater Barbie for £19.95 and Divorced Barbie for £265.95.” The amazed father asks “It’s what? Why is Divorced Barbie £265.95 and the others only £19.95?” The salesperson rolls her eyes, sighs and answers: “Sir, Divorced Barbie comes with Ken’s Car, Ken’s House, Ken’s Boat, Ken’s Furniture, Ken’s Computer and one of Kens friends, and a key chain made with Ken’s balls!”

Random Ramblings 3 Interesting to read the various opinions as to how Formula One racing should be disciplined and how “the racing can be spiced up”. Comparison has been made to Moto GP where, in 2016, four different manufacturers and nine different riders have achieved wins. In Formula One Hamilton won 10, Rosberg 9 with Ricciardo and Verstappen one a piece and other than Red Bull taking two wins it was a Mercedes show. Bernie suggests there should be walls at the track edge to stop abuse of circuit limits, works at places like Monaco! Others favour gravel traps up to the track edge. Yes if a car gets into the gravel there is an inherent penalty, BUT gravel migrates onto the track, damage cars and with the wide low pressure tyres and minimal ground clearance FI cars often toboggan over gravel with little effect on retardation. Blocking is now “acceptable”, we never have supported the regulation that a driver can, on one occasion block an overtaking driver. If a driver runs wide or cuts an apex should he not be penalised irrespective of whether “an advantage was gained”? What happens in F1 tends to cascade down so it is not just an F1 issue. “Racing improves the breed”. Undeniable but does aerodynamic development in F1 have application elsewhere? Many feel that the only aerodynamic devices should be front and rear wings of specified maximum sizes so as to get rid of all these “winglets” etc. would be a good start and having a sensible minimum ground clearance, perhaps 40mm, perhaps more, would be good. Take some grip out of the tyres and perhaps there will be racing again. Reputedly current F1 cars are only physically demanding in respect of cornering g loads and although way beyond my abilities the proverbial “anyone” can set a very respectable time in an F1 car. There is an inherent risk in motorsport, risk can never be removed and that is life. Competitors, and not just in F1, think, consciously or otherwise that they cannot get hurt. We once heard Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks discussing driving standards and safety issues. One said to the other, “In our day we knew if we did that we’d be hurt, so we didn’t do it!”. Moto GP has inherent risks, riders have much improved PPE but if you abuse track limits you’ll likely suffer a penalty of going slower or may hurt yourself. To quote an old biker friend, “if you’re on the grass, you’re on your arse”. Looking back over the years there has always been one F1 team that tends to dominate in a season but having one team so dominant is never going to help. The psychology of safety is an interesting subject, we are not alone in thinking that whether consciously or sub consciously a person feels safer, they take more risk. When at BHL plc we eventually got planning permission to remove the stone built barn located 1m from the outside track edge at Cadwell Park’s “Barn Corner”, so allowing the creation of a run off area. Primarily a bike circuit with the barn in place during a year typically we’d have no more than a couple of fallers at “Barn Corner” during any year. At the first bike meeting with the barn removed and run off area in place, no other change, nine

fallers! Clearly building stone barns on the outside of any turn, 1m from the track edge, would improve safety!

POINTS MAKE PRIZES

John Symes

Don’t forget to keep Joy posted with your results as soon as you get them.

And your committee aware of any noteworthy incidents, successes, Andy Elcomb won the most pots in 2016 but take heart as he hopes to have a easier year this year.

2017 Stage Rally Championship Here are the first group of results for this years championship, if you don't feature please send a copy or link to any results to the Rally Secretary and Trophy Records Keeper. The points are based on class position and the number of competitors beaten, including non finishers. DRIVERS Oliver Howard: Brands Hatch Winter 33, Goodwood 24 Total 57 Barry Strong: Snetterton 24 Martyn Ellis: Brands Hatch Winter 21 CO DRIVERS Simon Howard: Brands Hatch Winter 33, Goodwood 24 Total 57 Russell Burton: Brands Hatch Winter 34 Graham Child: Brands Hatch Winter 24 Clive Letherby: Brands Hatch Winter 21 Derek Adams: Goodwood 5 IainGibson

OUR AWARDS PRESENTATION FOR 2016.