4 DECEMBER 2005 - EYRETON AUTOCROSS II
27 NOVEMBER 2005 - MT ALEXANDER SPRINT
16 OCTOBER 2005 - KAIWARA ROAD SPRINT
25 SEPTEMBER 2005 - CANTERBURY RALLY
4 SEPTEMBER 2005 - EYRETON AUTOCROSS
28 AUGUST 2005 - MAKERIKERI ROAD SPRINT
17 JULY 2005 - TARN ROAD SPRINT
29 MAY 2005 - MT THOMAS SPRINT
8 MAY 2005 - SEFTON AUTOCROSS
25 APRIL 2005 - HANMER FOREST SPRINT
24 APRIL 2005 - HANMER FOREST RALLY
13 MARCH 2005 - RAKAIA ZIGZAG SPRINT
20 FEBRUARY  2005 - LOBURN AUTOCROSS
5 DECEMBER 2004 - ASHLEY AUTOCROSS
21 NOVEMBER 2004 - MT ALEXANDER SPRINT
17 OCTOBER 2004 - CANTERBURY RALLY
3 OCTOBER 2004 - OKUKU AUTOCROSS
20 SEPTEMBER 2004 - MAKERIKERI ROAD
15 AUGUST 2004 - LOBURN AUTOCROSS
25 JULY 2004 - KAIWARA ROAD SPRINT
17 MAY 2004 - HORORATA AUTOCROSS
26 APRIL 2004 - ASHLEY FOREST CLUB RALLY
7 MARCH 2004 - RAKAIA ZIGZAG SPRINT

By Rhys Ellison
Sunday the 4^th of December saw a return to the Bufton’s farm for the last event of the 2005 season. The course was much the same as last time but in reverse. The weather turned on a cracker of a day and we found ourselves battling dust storms rather than mud, which made for a nice change and a fast track.

The overall winner of the day was Hamish Gallatly in his WRX and once again an Autosport event win for the RATEC boys. I hear he was in for an earful once he got home as he blocked his wife’s car in and opted to finish his last two runs rather than go home to let her out. Very close behind in 2^nd overall (and first in 1300 – 1600 class) was Pete Abernethy in his Starlet – his motocross car tyres not having as much an advantage in the dry as they do in the wet. In 3^rd place was Dave Fletcher in the Suzuki and he continued his seasons consistency by taking out the 0 – 1300 class. In 4^th place was Andrew Allen in the crinkly Lancer putting in a good drive to take out the over 1600 class. Richard Towse was 5^th overall in his Datsun and 2^nd in the over 1600 class.

In 6^th place overall was Rhys Ellison in the WRC Chevette with a 2^nd in the 0-1300 class. 7^th overall (and 2^nd in the 1300-1600 class) was taken by Stacey Taylor in the CRX, successfully shrugging off the women driver stereotype. Placed 8^th and 9^th were Michael and Greg McIntosh with a bit of a family battle evolving in the Starlet. In 10^th place overall (and first road car) was Chris Hughes and swapping teams in his dads WRX – a fair trade after the Mt Alexander incident. In 11^th place was Steve Carr in the RX7 who takes out the award for the most dust slinging and his attempts at re-creating the Holden ad in real life. In 12^th place was Drew Jeffrey, the 2^nd CRX driver with consistent times throughout the day. In 13^th place was Mark Gerard in his Corolla improving his times greatly once settled in after the first run where he suffered a slowest time penalty for missing a cone. In 14^th place was Jonathan Bradshaw in the Starlet also ironing out some first run bugs to drive some good times. In 15^th place was Matt Jansen in the squidgey Bluebird (auto) which made for some tricky driving after a tyre popped off the rim on the last run (lucky he brought it on a trailer). Bringing up the rears in 16^th was Chris Herdman in his Starlet, still coming to terms in his first autocross with the new car.

With a lot of the club overall points positions being already decided, the numbers were a bit low. However, a great day was had by all with the only complaint being the lack of air-con in rally cars. Thanks to the Bufton’s for letting us use their paddock (sorry about the inch of dust on the house, hope you didn’t have washing out) and to Josh Marston, Dave Fletcher, Stacey Taylor, Les Summerfield and Richard Towse for running the show. Over and out.

Editor’s note: also thanks to Nick Marston for towing the dunny and Andrew Allan for helping get into the paddock and setting up,.. and to everyone who helped set up and pack up in record time!

click here for the results (pdf format)

Leigh Marston and Matt King were battling it out for 10^th overall, the former taking it by only 0.2 of a second. Andrew Sim had his newly acquired ex Rhys Musson Corolla out for a skid into 12^th overall and 2^nd in the big 2WD class. Gary Hawkes had the yellow BDA up to 3^rd in the big 2WD class. Alec Doig had his V8 Mk 1 Escort out for a skid, looking good and bringing the car home in 14^th. Barry Varcoe had the Ultimate Car Wash Café hot seat ride winner along for a ride, giving him more than he bargained for overcooking it in the second ford, breaking a wheel and ending his day in 15^th. Phil Gurney in another FXGT found his way home to 2^nd in the 1600cc 2WD class. Paul Jansen (now we know the car can do it ) and Dave Fletcher filled out 19^th and 20^th, the latter also taking a very commanding 0-1300cc class victory . Shane McKenzie had another good day piloting his car into 3^rd in the 1600cc class. Dave Carr was sharing the highly overpowered RX7 with Steve Carr finished the day without any damage in 22^nd overall. The Bufton Family were at it once again with a battle of age against youth with Stewart wining the father/son dust up when Andrew put it off the road in run 3, bouncing straight ahead at the last ford. Hamish Galletly had Trevor Crowe’s old WRX out for a blat into 28^th overall. Marcus Van Klink has the Datto into 2^nd in the 0- 1300cc class. As after match photos showed Jonathan Bradshaw’s big moment on run 3 in his Starlet. (Racey) Stacey Taylor showed a good 20 second improvement between run 1 and 3 .Chris Herdman had his wee Starlet in third in the 0-1300cc class, Matt Richards was sharing Marcus Van Klink’s Datto all going well for his first time on gravel. Rhys Ellison rounded out the days finishers in his WRC Fraud Focus (Vauxhall Chevette). Willie at the Waipara Hotel provided an excellent venue for the event prize giving and sponsored the schooner glass trophies.

Thanks to Andrew Sim and David Fletcher for organising, Dermot Martin for Assistant C of C duties, Richard Towse and John Weir for scrutineering, Andrew Wells for operating the timing all day, Michelle Reid and Nic Mulholland for documentation, Stewart Bufton for helping with the timing gear, Graham and Anne Wilson and the crew from Rangiora Rotary for marshalling, Keri Steventon for marshalling at the last minute, Craig Millar for liaising with the locals, Derek Simpson for being the starter, and all the helpers who set up and cleaned up afterwards (there were heaps which is fantastic) and of course the Waipara Hotel for sponsoring the event.

click here for the results (pdf format)

16 OCTOBER 2005 - KAIWARA ROAD SPRINT

25 SEPTEMBER 2005 - CANTERBURY RALLY

4 SEPTEMBER 2005 - EYRETON AUTOCROSS

28 AUGUST 2005 - MAKERIKERI ROAD SPRINT

17 JULY 2005 - TARN ROAD SPRINT

Of note was the effort of Brent and Hamish Collins who traveled from Timaru for the event and they had a good day aside from a bit of an off that needed the recovery vehicle for Hamish early in run 2. John Weir ran without a spare tyre and the subsequent puncture saw him limp out of run 2 after pulling over and recovery was sent in to see what the problem was.

Thanks to the Southbrook Hotel for sponsoring some prizes and to Tait Communications for lending us the repeater. Thanks to Andrew Sim and Dave Fletcher for organising, Dave McCahon for being Clerk of Course; Stewart Bufton, Chris Hughes, Blair Logan, Richard Towse, Barry Deuart, John Weir, Les Summerfield, Mark Smith, Michelle Reid, and Kieron Telford for their help with setup and documentation and scrutineering. Huge thanks to the crew from Rangiora Rotary who continue to impress as the event marshals. And a big thanks to Derek Simpson who came out on his birthday to stand in the rain and start the cars, as well as performing his usual sterling effort as recovery vehicle. And we couldn't go into the forest without the support of Paul Stanley and NZ Private Fire, and of course Carter Holt Harvey.

Results (PDF) are here. Excuse them being a bit manky but the printout got wet!

29 MAY 2005 - MT THOMAS SPRINT

8 MAY 2005 - SEFTON AUTOCROSS

Click here for results

Thanks to Josh Marston and David Fletcher for organising, Les Summerfield for scrutineering, Michelle Reid and Huri Timothy for documentation, and Huri also for helping Josh with the timing. A big thanks to Michael Price and Judith Harrington for letting us turn their paddock into a sloppy brown mess.

25 APRIL 2005 - HANMER FOREST SPRINT

The road was pretty quick although the overnight snow melt and a few passing cars made it pretty muddy in places. The last bit after the hairpin to the finish was like the proverbial butcher's apron. Royce Watson soon discovered this, the Corolla going off into the weeds and staying there until extricated. Dermot Martin started out where he'd left off the day before, tieing for first place after run 1 with a charging Hayden Paddon. Young Paddon got it back on run 2 and held on in run 3 to score his first event outright victory. Congratulations and great driving Hayden! Kieran Hall showed no lack of commitment in the Evo 5, chucking it into the first corner with gusto and coming out with a 2nd overall (on countback Dermot hesitates to add in 3rd overall). Les Summerfield was making the most of the day with a failing clutch getting into 4th overall. It eventually gave up the ghost and Andrea (who was sharing the car) missed out on a last run. Matt King had another good day (well, it's not on it's lid is it!) in the re-shelled WRX and got 5th. Leigh Marston was pretty disturbed that his new HSV Coupe 4 (and his wife) were nearly taken out by some lunatic speedster near the forest entrance and nevertheless piloted the WRX to 6th overall.

Gary Adcock had the big grunter TR7 V8 into 7th and first of the 2WD cars where he stayed all day, pretty impressive in the conditions. Andrew Sim was in 9th after the first run and 12th overall at the end of the day in the 1600cc FXGT, also reasonably on the case. We had a visitor from the north showing us he's still on the case too in the BDA. Neil Allport was testing the car for the coming Otago Classic Rally, and as it was his first time in 20 years in an rear drive rally car on gravel he didn't do too bad, in 11th after the first run and up to 8th by the end of proceedings. Another visitor, this time from out west, Tracey Mann was having a crack in RWD as well, the AE86 Levin looking pretty tidy through the slippy road and an 11th overall time scored.

Barry Varcoe only did two runs in the Evo 4 and was 9th followed by Darryl Campbell who ducked under the 3 minute barrier for the day and slipped into the top 10 in the Evo 1. Hayden Spatcher's FXGT had the edge all day over John Weir's Accord but it was close throughout for 13th and 14th, and Paul Jansen was liking the handling of his ex-Juddy WRX better than the Pulsar he's been using until recently, coming home 15th overall. Pete Abernethy wasn't feeling too flash but came out anyway, and proved he's getting to grips really well with the 1500cc Starlet in 16th. Murray Lancaster had the 323 improve 5 seconds between runs, and Rex Ford in the 180B bettered that improvement by 2 seconds but didn't quite do enough to catch Murray to jump a place in class C.

First of the small cars was Graham Wilson in the Suzuki twincam powered Starlet, recovering after a spin in run 2 on the first corner (captured on many a home video for prosterity) to take the class from rally class winner Bruce France. Shane Thornley had a ripper of a last run in the wee Starlet (it must've been the new paint being a bit lighter or something) improving a huge 10 seconds to wrestle 3rd in the class from Dave Fletcher in the Suzuki GTi, Fletcher having a bit of a mozza, stalling at the hairpin in run 2 and getting a bit loose trying too hard in run 3. Matt Jansen's car lost power going uphill, and to make matters worse for himself he took Josh "Jinx" Marston on a ride and the Datto's oil pressure gauge went to zero so they parked up (turned out it was a loose wire to the pressure sender).

In the ladies contest Andrea Summerfield drove the WRX and took out that prize, the 4WD proving a tad more handy in the conditions than Jennifer Spatcher's 2WD entry. Great to see some competition for the ladies prize anyway, it is after all a family show. The rain and snow didn't really put a damper on the day, although the idiot doing way over the speed limit who nearly took out our now quite shaken rally secretary and assistant clerk of course nearly did.

results click here. (pdf format).

Thanks to Dermot Martin, Andrew Sim, Tony Witheridge, and Dave Fletcher for making things happen on the day. Pre-event documentation thanks to Simone Trezise, on event documentation thanks to Nicole France, Michelle Reid, and Huri Timothy. Scrutineering thanks to Richard Towse, John Weir and Royce Watson. Leigh Marston for being Clerk (that's pronounced "Clark") of the Course, Kieron Telford did a faultless job of getting the results out, thanks Kieron. Thanks to Josh Marston for towing the dunny back to town. Thanks to Graham Wilson and the crew from Rangiora Rotary for marshalling and finish control, and thanks to Barry Deuart and Aaron Scott for standing out in the cold all event at the start control. Aaron kept his fingers warm by using a very good countdown technique. And a special thanks to our very understanding Steward, Barry Higham, and to the Hot Springs Hotel for their support of the event.

24 APRIL 2005 - HANMER FOREST RALLY

Gary Adcock had a good run in the impressive TR7 V8, in fourth ahead of Glenn Buist in the BDA. Chris Hughes was going well but had a bit of a slower run through stage 3 and nearly fell into the clutches of Blair Logan in the FX-GT who was top 1600cc runner, ahead of Andrew Sim in a similar car. Leigh and Nick Marston in the WRX STi started the event well on the pace but dropped off a bit throughout the day, niggling problems with the car persisting. Matt King in the WRX and Ryan Berry in the ex-Kieran Hall Mazda 323 GTX had a battle going with King taking the last spot in the overall top 10 and King also took the Rookie award. Hayden Spatcher drove well into 12th spot, followed by Allan Gibson with Tracey Mann in the co-driver's seat of the AE86. Top 1300cc runner was Bruce France with daughter Rachel calling the lefts and rights in 14th overall. Greg Tollis in the VR4 was followed very closely by Murray and Hannah Lancaster in the RWD 323. Paul Jansen had a steady run in the WRX, his co-pilot for the event Denise Chandler all the way from Arrowtown. John Weir in the well performing Accord was four seconds clear of Pete Abernethy who continues to drive well in the Starlet.

Dave Fletcher was second in the small cars with the wee Suzuki sounding pretty good on the stages. Graham Wilson had fuel filter problems but still managed to come home on the 1300cc podium. Shane Thornley was smiling as usual, having fun skidding in the mud in the Starlet, as were Andrew and Craig Allan in the RWD Lancer in their first rally. Paul and Daniel Cox were in the event to finish and that's what they did, as did Hayden and Raymond Manson in the Leone 4WD. Rex Ford in the 180B was going great but had a bit of a slower run through stage 5 and dropped a couple of places. Cameron Moore put the AE86 in the trees in SS2 and came back with a vengeance setting some great times on the following tests. Darryl Campbell had a bit of a shocker in SS1 and played catchup for the rest of the event. Greg Teece did well to keep the Pulsar on the road for his first rally although gearbox problems meant he couldn't take to the Autocross course. The Autocross was won by Andrew Sim with those tractor tyres that proved so successful at the Lobrun Autocross earlier in the year (and a fair amount of car control in the very slippery conditions didn't go amiss either!). There was a fair turnout of spectators at the Autocross even in the rain and cold.

Commiserations are due to Kieran Hall from Nelson in the Evo 5 who retired from the lead with an electrical problem. Hayden Paddon got stuck off the road (with the car in a tad of a precarious position!), and Regan Ross retired with gearbox problems. Groove McCallum had clutch failure and in the most spectacular accident of the event Gary Hawkes and Nic Mulholland were lucky to walk away given the imprint the tree that stopped the car made on the roof of the Escort. Josh Marston had a steering arm ball joint fail in the newly re-shelled Starlet. Tony Foster, with Stephen Petersen in the co-pilot's seat for a change, put the Corolla on it's side early on and Matt Jansen had fuel problems and so didn't take to SS4. Barry Gibb suffered gearbox issues and missed a few stages. Merv Hatcher had his newly built Starion out for an extended test and completed four stages before retiring. Jamie Powell had exhaust issues and chose to withdraw.

The prizegiving was again a well attended event with a packed house at the Hot Springs Hotel. The very nice meals and drinks were coming thick and fast, with everyone getting into the friendly fun atmosphere. It was a good night out.

Here's the rally results:

Hanmer Rally 2005 Results (PDF File).

Hanmer Autocross 2005 Results (PDF File).

A huge thanks goes to all the organisations and people who made the rally a great event. Carter Holt Harvey, NZ Private Fire, Agnew Brothers Upholstery, Tait Communications and of course the Hot Springs Hotel. To Andrea Summerfield, Les Summerfield, Leigh Marston, Susan Marston, Dave McCahon, and all the other organisers, marshals, stage crews and helpers, thank-you very much

It was a close run thing in the blue BDA battle, a second or two separating Bert and Crusty in the same car all day, in the end the blue BDA won that fight (well, it was always going to) at the hands of Bert by less than half a second. Darryl Campbell was pretty pleased with his first run time in the Evo 1 and managed to improve a further 5 seconds so he must have been ecstatic with that. Luke McHaffie's GT4 was very quick off the line up the first straight but it's fastest performance was in the second run. Ross Teesdale was concerned that the Sprinter lacked boost from the supercharger and was surprised to score a top 10 time. Brent Rawstron in his BDA put in a solid improvement throughout the day. Tony "Pine Tree" Morrison (ask Ross Teesdale) drove all the way from Dunedin in his classic Ferrari (in 3 hours word has it!) the morning of the event and was obviously in the mood for speed because he topped the timesheets in the mid-sized class.

Phil Sloan's Legacy was looking good on the first part of the hill and 5 seconds of run time betterment is good on this short hill. Andrew Sim had decided to pull finger in the last run after being pipped by John Weir in the second run, and two tenths of a second quicker in the last run saw both Sim and Weir happy with their performances. The Accord sure is singing at the moment. Pete Abernethy put in a strong showing in the 1500cc Starlet only a second behind a podium place in the 1600cc class. Andrea Summerfield was the only lady competitor on the day and although preferring the less edgy character of her ex-lease WRX, was performing well in Les's Mainland Series winning weapon. Phil Gurney had returned from a stint overseas and sat in Tony Haines' entry as well so got 6 cracks at the hill, getting steadily more into it as the day progressed. Ben Johnson was another to improve around 5 seconds throughout the day so we're thinking that could be attributed to road conditions, however it was pretty skatey in all three runs in places. Andrew Bufton benefited from a run with Andrew Sim and went charging up the hill in his last run to beat Stewart Bufton driving the same 4AGE powered Starlet by around 2 seconds, a great performance, although Stewart was taking it easy after a moment in run 2.

Paul Jansen had his newly acquired WRX out for a blat and was getting used to the car, lopping ten seconds off his card throughout the event. Trevor Crowe's 2WD WRX engined Subaru Justy was gathering a lot of onlookers and finished every run of the day, although it was expected to make more of an impact it must be remembered it was the car's first ever outing on gravel. Richard Towse was back into it in the Sunny after an extended break, it was great to see Richard back out having a skid and he was running a fairly standard engine while he builds his real one "properly". Shane McKenzie looked relaxed both in and out of the car during the day, not in the least contributed to by the continuing great weather and just enough breeze to drift the dust off the road by the time the next car went through! Peter Quinn had passed his WOF after a spell in hospital with heart problems and it was fantastic to see his smiling face in the immaculate AE86 Corolla take to the event, we hope to see Peter at many more events to come. Murray Lancaster had come a fair way to be at the event and the 323 was another in the 5 second betterment bracket. Andrew Allan in the older 2WD Mitsi Lancer was having a fun day out, all smiles both in and out of the car (apart from the race face on the line which has lots of potential, determination plus!). Rex Ford in the 180B rounded out the big 2WDs as did Lance Donald for the mid-sized motors, Lance hopes to get out and do a few more local sprint events this year which will be good to see.

Brent Tiney (or was that Pasi Hagstrom as the signwriting suggested?) got the BDA all crossed up in the first corner in run 2, and giving it a flick to try to recover dug the wheels in and over she went. It was nice of BT to roll on the first corner so that recovery could be done quickly and the event continue with minimal stoppage, thanks BT! The damage didn't look too bad so hopefully there's not too many late nights to spend on it before the next event.

There was drama aplenty in the small cars. David "I'm not used to this" Fletcher put the Suzuki GTi into top spot in the class after run 1 by a mere2 tenths from Barry Deuart.  Graham Wilson had a spin on the first corner but came back in run 2 to edge within one tenth of Fletcher again setting the pace by a whisker. Wilson was pushing really hard in his last run, so hard that the very last corner was a bit overcooked and the tyre marks left behind by the monumental tank-slapper that saw him pull two three-sixties over the finish line will go down in history. Deuart in his own words "had a shocker" of a second run and in the third Fletcher took another second off his previous time. Deuart pulled off a blinder, improving a full 8 seconds between runs 2 and 3 to snatch the class victory from Fletcher by a second! It's all on in the 1300's this year. Shane Thornley joked that he'd worked out what the right hand pedal did and was having fun, and Matt Jansen was looking to improve a lot as he shaved 6 seconds off between run 1 and 2 but lost it on the final run. Jamie Powell's wee red Starlet seemed to be having a bit of an issue with the steepness of the hill, but it's his second ever event on gravel so things can and will improve for Jamie.

Dermot Martin had his ex-Deborah Kibble Evo 6 out for it's first test and was sharing the car with Leigh Marston who had to put all preferences aside and came out swinging, propelling the car up the hill 5s quicker than it's owner in the first run (apparently Dermot's used to more grunt while Leigh has got used to making good with less!). A battle between the pair raged closely all day but in the end Leigh got the better run a second. Les Summerfield improved 10 seconds between first and last runs in the WRX and was closest to the top spot.

Stu Weeber came into the event declaring to the secretary he wanted to be put near the back "because I'm slow". He proved himself very wrong, winning the impressive trophy for first overall, first in every run in his WRX hillclimb special even though he claims he was taking it a bit easier past the smiling races of our Rangiora Rotary marshals so they wouldn't get too dusty! The win bodes well for Stu's assault on the Race to the Sky at Easter. Congratulations and well done.

The results were as follows:

Overall
1st Stu Weeber (WRX) 1m32.15s
2nd Les Summerfield (WRX) 1m34.08s
3rd Leigh Marston (Evo 6,..no, not a typo!) 1m36.54s

4WD
The 4WD class got shared around a bit as the prizes donated by Repco Burnside and the Hororata Hotel were plentiful.
1st Dermot Martin (Evo 6)  1m37.59s
2nd Darryl Campbell (Evo 1) 1m38.30s
3rd Luke McHaffie (Celica GT4) 1m38.64s

2WD 1600+cc
1st Brent Buist (Ford Escort) 1m36.88s
2nd Glenn Buist (Ford Escort) 1m37.10s
3rd Ross Teesdale (Sprinter) 1m39.35s

2WD 1301-1600cc
1st Tony Morrison (Accord) 1m40.62s
2nd Andrew Sim (Corolla) 1m41.27s
3rd John Weir (Accord) 1m41.49s

2WD 0-1300cc
There was a "clerical error" at the prizegiving, Barry Deuart had a blinder and took out the class win!
1st Barry Deuart (120Y) 1m47.42s
2nd David Fletcher (Suzuki GTi) 1m48.19s
3rd Graham Wilson (Starlet) 1m49.62s

Thanks go to Andrew Sim (organiser), David Fletcher (secretary, setup, timing), Shane Thornley (setup), Brent Buist (setup, scrutineering, packup), Les Summerfield (scrutineering), John Weir (scrutineering and packup shovel man), Michelle Reid (documentation and setup), Kieron Telford (documentation), Derek Simpson (recovery vehicle and start line), Tony Witheridge (timing), Barry Deuart (packup), Rangiora Rotary and Graham Wilson (marshals), Dermot Martin (packup), Stewart Bufton (setup, timing, packup) and Andrew Bufton (packup). Thanks also to St. John Ambulance, the Selwyn District Council, Julian Evans for the use of his paddock, and everyone who helped run this great event.

20 FEBRUARY 2005 - LOBURN AUTOCROSS

Phil Sloan was the quickest 4WD and overall on the day in his Legacy. Andrew Sim was taking part in his first paddock skid for a long while and had some secret weapon tractor tyres on the front of the Corolla, enabling him to take 2nd overall. Gavin Williams of CCC had his road going CRX cranking in the good conditions and was third overall. Kieron Telford took the battle of the Pulsar GTiR's after Paul Jansen missed a marker in run 1.  In the small cars Grant Goile had a wee spin in the Corolla, as did Matt Jansen in the Datsun Coupe (who won the first run) and David Fletcher was able to take the class win in the Suzuki, Goile second and Greg MacIntosh in the Starlet  (sounding a bit rorty with a holed exhaust) third. In the1301 to 1600cc class it was Andrew Sim kicking up the most dust to lead home the class, Pete Abernethy making use of his local knowledge and overcoming gearbox trouble next in the recently acquired ex-Geoff Combe Starlet, with Stewart Bufton an entertaining third in the class. There were no big 2WD cars at the event, the road cars filled in with Gavin Williams making good use of his CRX first, Rodney Walls in the MR2 having a consistently fast day second, and Rhys Ellison in the WRC Fraud Focus (a.k.a Chevette) in third.

Things went well with no incidents all day, John Weir didn't create any dust storms other than the one he left behind on the start line, Josh Marston had a big spin in run 1, Logan Stephens spun the DX-4AGE quite a bit, and there was an intense battle between Nicole and Matthew Summerfield both using the same car, the pair separated by 12 hundredths of a second going into run 3 but a stall by Matthew in the last run and a clean drive by Nicole saw the latter take that contest home. Chris Herdman had a wee Barina he'd "borrowed" from his Dad's car yard and hit a marker which affected his time. Andrew Bufton was gunning for style points by getting the Starlet up on two wheels, Dwight Parlane was uncharacteristically off the pace after collecting a marker in run 2 in the Civic.  Michael MacIntosh improved a lot throughout the day, Michelle Reid was steady in the grouse sounding wee Suzuki and took the ladies prize for the event. Derek Hartley was another who ruined his day early on with a big spin, James MacIntosh was ensuring the white Starlet was getting a workout and did well to steer clear of the stakes all day, and Jamie Powell in his tidy red Starlet had a good day with the tail out.

The results scored as follows:

Overall
1st Phil Sloan (Legacy) 4m25.31s
2nd Andrew Sim (Corolla) 4m28.11s
3rd Gavin Williams (CRX) 4m33.95s

4WD
1st Phil Sloan (Legacy) 4m25.31s
2nd Kieron Telford (Pulsar GTiR) 4m38.08s
3rd Paul Jansen (Pulsar GTiR) 5m00.51s

2WD 1301-1600cc
1st Andrew Sim (Corolla) 4m28.11s
2nd Pete Abernethy (Starlet) 4m37.49s
3rd Stewart Bufton (Starlet) 4m39.94s

2WD 0-1300cc
1st David Fletcher (Suzuki GTi) 4m36.08s
2nd Grant Goile (Corolla KE25) 4m42.61s
3rd Greg MacIntosh (Starlet) 4m52.52s

Thanks go to Josh Marston for organising, David Fletcher for helping with organising and timing, Michelle Reid for documentation, John Weir and Richard Towse for scrutineering, Kieron Telford for helping with documentation and membership renewals, Andrea Summerfield for spotting, Les Summerfield, Chris Hughes and Stewart Bufton for helping with timing, and the Abernethy's for helping set up the event and allowing us to use their superb paddock. Also thanks to everyone who helped set out the event and pack it up again. It all went really well.

5 DECEMBER 2004 - ASHLEY AUTOCROSS

Run 1 got underway pretty much on time with the rain starting to ease. Jamie Powell in one of the 12 Toyota Starlets competing in the event was the only driver to clout a marker in the first shot at the course, Matt Jansen in father Paul's Pulsar GTiR pipped Dave Fletcher in the Suzuki GTi by 11 hundredths of a second to take the unoffical top spot after the first run (Matt had elected to take points in his Datsun rather than the 4WD). Grant Goile suffered in the wetter conditions at the start of the run, and as the cars went by the ground dried out a bit. Shane McKenzie had his Starlet up into 6th overall after the first test but unfortunately due to the rain he would see that eroded as quickly as the course was. The second run was best for those who went first. It started raining again and the whole lot went to custard (well, mud to be precise) and penalties started to roll in. Grant Goile in the Starlet and Stewart Bufton also in a Starlet pulled out at the front of the field, it was going to be a battle between these two for the event win. Tim McCracken was sharing the bright yellow Corolla with Pete Abernethy, Pete got a 5 second penalty in the second run but had better conditions in the 3rd run to be first home in that car, and 5th overall at the end of the day.

Paul Jansen put in a great run on the second time around and was up into 3rd overall after that. Matt Jansen was having a ripper day, setting great times in the Datsun 1200 coupe. Andrea Summerfield had a slight altercation with the fence on the far side of the paddock, the fence was not visibly worse for wear but the driver's door of the WRX copped a wee dent (that you couldn't notice with all the mud on the car anyway). Les Summerfield was pulling Gilles Panizzi style "for ze fun" donuts in the WRX in full view of the spectator area, and ended up beating himself with his entry in Shane Thornley's Starlet. In return Shane got to drive the WRX and you could see his grin a mile off even through the mud-caked windscreen. Chris Herdman was out for a skid in Graham Wilson's Starlet, and with Graham doing a bit much reversing Chris came through to take that battle by less than a second!

Chris Hughes was out international competitor for the day, having flown back from a holiday in Australia (on air-points he is quick to point out!) to help with his club points tally, being in with a good shot at overall club champion if he could beat Les Summerfield by quite a bit. Unfortunately for Chris it didn't quite happen although his 7th overall tied him with Les at the top of the points table, on countback it looks like Les has got it. Andrew Bufton was debating the steady-as-she-goes approach against the keep-your-boot-in-it approach and was another to suffer from the conditions even with the first approach seemingly the best to adopt. The MacIntoshes had an internal contest going on in their Starlet with Greg, James and Michael all taking on the course in the car. Michelle Reid was sharing the TeamRFR Suzuki and did her best to test the rev limiter for most of the day, a good performance with no penalties saw Reid in the middle of the points.

By the double loop of run 3 the course was changed a bit to open up the sharper corners. This confused a few as the tracks already laid stuck out like the proverbial canine crotch, but most managed well. Chris Hughes copped 15 seconds of penalties which ultimately could cost him the club championship. Les also scored 15 seconds of penalties trying to be a good sport. Stewart Bufton had a blinder and took the event win by 6 seconds overall from Grant Goile, although second sewed up the Autocross trophy for another year for him. It was a very testing day on a great track configuration in a good paddock, hopefully we can use this one sometime in the dry!  Results were:

Overall
1st Stewart Bufton (Starlet)
2nd Grant Goile (Starlet)
3rd Paul Jansen (Pulsar GTiR)

4WD
1st Paul Jansen (Pulsar GTiR)
2nd Chris Hughes (Evo)
3rd Andrea Summerfield (WRX)

2WD 1301-1600cc
1st Stewart Bufton (Starlet)
2nd Pete Abernethy (Corolla)
3rd Andrew Bufton (Starlet)

2WD 0-1300cc
1st Grant Goile (Starlet)
2nd Matt Jansen (Datsun 1200)
3rd David Fletcher (Suzuki GTi)

Thanks to Josh Marston for organising and C or C duties, Nick Marston for helping set up and being course spotter, Andrea Summerfield for timing assistance, Sarah for course spotting, Michelle Reid for documentation, Les Summerfield for scrutineering, Dave Fletcher for timing and organisation, and thanks to Don Robertson for letting us use a really good big paddock. See you all at the club prize giving on the 15th!

Just into run 1 Matt King rolled the Autotech lease WRX in the twisty mid-section of the course and the event was red flagged while the car was righted and dragged off the road. Phil Sloan had a couple of punctures in the Legacy but was back in action for the next two runs. Brent Collins set a great time in the Omega in run 1 to be fastest but pulled over in run 2 and didn't return to the event for the final pass. Josh Marston missed the second ford and put the corner of the Starlet into the ditch and came to a stop, the bent steering meaning a retirement for the day unfortunately for both himself and brother Nick who was sharing the car. Some speculation was that this was carefully calculated retribution for Nick lunching the motor at Leeston, however Josh assures us that he would not waste an entry fee in this manner when he has had plenty of retribution for free. Paul Jansen trailered the GTiR after run 1 with some sort of exhaust problem, and at this point we don't know if Matt is gloating or not about setting a quicker time in the Datto 1200. Andrea Summerfield was to share the Autotech WRX but with it out of action jumped into the blue Impreza and got three runs in, unfortunately a bit of trouble off the line stopping any improvement in run 3 after 10 seconds of gain between runs 1 and 2.

Spectators are still talking about Deane Buist's big moment in run 1, the BDA stepping out on a right hander in the twisty bit and riding up the bank on the inside onto two wheels and nearly rolling. He survived, recovered well, and finished second in the big 2WD class to a flying Jeff Judd who was third overall in the black BDA. Crusty Buist fondly remembered his incident on the bridge of a couple of years back and not wanting to scare the bridge again and in the interest of keeping the locals on side (we don't want the bridge packing up and leaving) was holding back slightly, and Bert got him by a second to take third in the big 2WDs. Leigh Marston showed the STi is getting sorted, putting up a great time in run 2 with second fastest. Brad Harris surprised a few by setting the quickest time on the second run.

Chris Hughes in the Evo 2 and Fred Merkin in the WRX were locked together on the scorecards after run 2, Hughes pulled out a bit of a gap in run three to come in 14th overall. Gary Hawkes in the Eccy was only a smidgen ahead of Hughes when all was done and dusted, after having a good day with the tail out as usual. Brent Sibley had the 4 door Escort going well, and climbed up the scorecards this time into 21st overall. Brent Rawstron's BDA developed a missfire and didn't sound too healthy as he took off for run 2. It was a shame to see the car trailered after that. Geoff Hughes was sharing the Evo for the event and improved well throughout the day. Brent Tiney in the Escort twincam posted nearly identical times in runs 2 and 3 having improved just over 12 seconds between the first and second tests. John Weir was giving it heaps off the line, the launch control in the Accord working well with the car hooking up great, and scoring third in the mid-sized class. Things were going Andrew Sim's way in that class even before Hayden Paddon's car decided to give trouble. Unfortunately traveling from Geraldine for the event and entering twice to take sponsors for rides didn't go well for the Mainland 1600cc champion.

We had quite a few travellers at the event aside from those mentioned above with Richard Bethune coming up from Dunedin in the left hook BDA Escort, Bert providing some pointers from the co-pilots seat throughout the day. Murray Lancaster from the northern part of the island improved well throughout the event in the RWD 323. Members from other clubs also included Darryl Campbell in the Evo who improved 13 seconds between the second and final tests after a DNF in run 1, and Ian Latham in the 1600 Escort chalked up 13 seconds of gain throughout the three runs, running under his TR Register membership. Pete Abernethy and Paul Cox were close in their battle for 6th and 7th in the mid-sized class, the former coming out on top in that contest by only half a second. Rex Ford in the 180B and Lance Donald in the Corolla DX were another pair running close all day, no closer than 6 hundredths of a second after the first run though as Ford pulled out a bit of a lead throughout the event..

In the small engined battle Stephen Petersen took class honours by three seconds from a cranking Barry Deuart, with Grant Goile back in the good ol' KE25 only a second behind. Graham Wilson was also only a second behind Goile, a good drive considering this tricky bit of road was practically new to him. Ryan McDonald did well improving 20 seconds over the event to pip David Fletcher by a tenth of a second, Fletcher driving his front skidder Suzuki Gti for the very first time.

Carl Vaughan was entertaining the spectators in the valley as well as at the finish line, coming around the corner after the finish really hot and putting the rear of the Evo over the bank! He survived to post a time that until the last run of the day was looking at being the winner. Les Summerfield's day wasn't going too well. A mistime and a missed run and various other things going on meant he only recorded two times out of his two entries. In his final run, last car on the road for the day, he had a blinder, and pipped Carl Vaughan by 17 hundredths of a second to take the event win.  Willie at the Waipara Hotel provided an excellent venue for the event prizegiving and sponsored the schooner glass trophies. The burgers were superb and the beer tasted good, especially for the organisers who had been through quite a trying day. The results were:

Results were:

Overall
1st Les Summerfield (WRX) 2m45.37s
2nd Carl Vaughan (Evo) 2m45.54s
3rd Jeff Judd (Escort) 2m46.85s

4WD
1st Les Summerfield (WRX) 2m45.37s
2nd Carl Vaughan (Evo) 2m45.54s
3rd Brad Harris (Evo) 2m47.78s

2WD 1601+cc
1st Jeff Judd (Escort) 2m46.85s
2nd Deane Buist (Escort) 2m47.79s
3rd Brent Buist (Escort) 2m49.98s

2WD 1301-1600cc
1st Andrew Sim (Corolla) 2m54.92s
2nd Hayden Paddon (Levin) 2m57.13s
3rd John Weir (Accord) 3m05.48s

2WD 0-1300cc
1st Stephen Petersen (Starlet EP71) 3m06.07s
2nd Barry Deuart (Datsun 120Y) 3m09.26s
3rd Grant Goile (Corolla) 3m10.91s

Thanks go to Richard Towse for organising, C of C duties, timing, and driving the club van and dunny; Andrew Sim for organising, and assistant C of C duties; David Fletcher for organising, timing, and paperwork; Michelle Reid and Nic Mulholland for documentation; Les Summerfield, Gary Hawkes and John Weir for scrutineering; Craig Millar for resident visiting, on the day help, and organising the prizegiving, Deane Buist and Dermot Martin for helping set up; Leigh, Josh, and Nick Marston, along with Chris Hughes and Nick Brownlee for helping pack up, St. John for first aid, and Derek Simpson for another stirling job being starter all day and recovery vehicle. A big vote of thanks to Graham Wilson and the marshals from Rangiora Rotary who again provided excellent help with running the event. Finally thanks to the residents and to the Waipara Hotel for supporting the event.

17 OCTOBER 2004 - CANTERBURY RALLY

In the classes it was of course Deane Buist taking out the 2WD (class D) honours. Hayden Paddon with Nicole France reading the notes took out the 1301-1600cc class in 12th overall and 2nd class D from Andrew Sim and Tony Witheridge in second in class B and third in class D. Evan Cook from Porirua with Jason Delaney from Titahi Bay brought their Corolla DX (with a pretty mean looking rear wing on it!) home in 3rd of the class B mid-sized cars. The 0-1300cc class was all action and at the end it was Graham Wilson and Chris Herdman in the Starlet that came out on top after a great drive. Barry Deuart and Iain Pow in the Datsun 120Y had a relatively smooth run and took second in the class ahead of Shane Thornley and Nicole Summerfield in another Starlet. There could have been a Starlet class in the event, with 13 taking part. The small(ish) classics were headed home by Barry Mills and Mark Allington in the Avenger, with Ian and David Latham in the Eccy in second almost 9 minutes down on the flying Mills, and Paul Cox with Peter Abernethy in third in the class. The big classics had Robert "Groove" McCallum and Sean Sands in top spot with a very well driven example of sideways action to 7th overall. Gary Hawkes with Nicola Mulholland sitting beside him put in a fantastic comeback performance with third 2WD car home and inside the top 10 at number 9 and second big classic, while Derek Ayson and Andrew Graves were in 10th, 3rd big classic and with it claimed the NZ 2WD club rally championship, congratulations Derek! Rookie award went to Russell Burney of Gore who cranked along in the wee Civic, seeded 68th and finishing 23rd.

The pre-rally talk from Crunch Bennet at Canary Furniture was the most comfortable rally forum most had attended, and we don't know of anyone who ended up adding a lounge suite to the rally budget although there were several people looking at going back at a later date to have a closer look. The ceremonial start was relaxed as local personality Jo Giles conversed with the drivers and sent them on their way. The rally had some fantastic roads, stage 1 was a real challenge first up with a good mix of twisty forestry and wide open main roads, along with some very fast straights down in the valley. The second test was even twistier, some interesting very tight corners that came from nowhere up the hill, and an almost unrecognisable downhill on the Ashley Forest sprint course to finish, the trees were all gone. The top of SS3 Demmocks was a real treat, twisting it's way along the ridgeline and the downhill wasn't as slippery as many expected although still a challenge. The Karetu stage had a couple of fords that weren't too much trouble if taken carefully, a great middle section that reminded drivers of the top road around the back at the Hanmer rally, and had a really fast downhill on Paringa Road to the finish. Onepunga Road was the only public road in the event and was fast and flowing with a tricky downhill hairpin section into a bridge mid-way through, finishing flat out on tarmac. The Lake Janet stage was great, nice flowing roads down to a pretty beat up concrete bridge (there were some big holes in that thing) and fast to finish, and the last stage was flat out main forestry roads, raising the excitement level even more. Finishing in Cathedral Square it was a real treat to see all the cars lined up outside the cathedral.

There was quite a high attrition rate in the rally, with 42 of the 74 starters finishing the event. The forest roads proved a bit tricky for some and hard on equipment for others. Neville Kidd's Starlet had a strut collapse in SS1, in the same stage Brent Buist thought he'd lost all his gears but second and temporarily withdrew, but investigation found the problem and he was able to continue. Fred Merkin parked up the WRX in SS2. Michael Prichard in the Cyborg had a crash and really bent it against a tree, Sara Randall had a fatal clutch problem and retired after trying to cure the problem and rejoin. Stewart Bufton's diff problems forced him to retire, and Steve Carr's run of bad luck continued with the motor losing compression and stopping. Euan Fuge was honking along as video footage showed but the engine in the RX3 cried enough. Mark McMillan's WRX melted some of it's own wiring and rubber mounts and the Southlander retired not wanting further damage. Stephen Peterson was in the lead of the 1300cc class when his car refused to start and he was forced to withdraw. Kevin Lynch damaged the front of his Starlet in SS7 and withdrew, Ryan Berry in the Pritchard's Starlet 4-AGE had an engine failure, Neville Pettigrew's Bluebird Turbo began belching smoke early on in the event and by SS4 had given up the ghost. It was close to retirement for Dave Fletcher, who pushed the KE20 into Cathedral Square after the clutch packed up in Colombo St! He also had to tour the last three stages due to a broken leaf spring, the diff tube held in with a ratchet tie-down and some welding wire.

The prizegiving was held at Warners hotel in the Square. It was a good turnout and by all accounts the food was great. The impressive silver cups were handed to all the winners and crews mingled long into the night. It was a sociable end to a fun but challenging event.

3 OCTOBER 2004 - OKUKU AUTOCROSS

The open bits of the course in the slippy first run suited the 4WD turbos and Chris Hughes in the Evo led by less than a second from Kieron Telford's Pulsar. Derek Hartley's Barina GTi was obviously a great wee car to do Autocrosses in, and he set a really good time to be running in third, although Grant Goile was only a tenth of a second behind. Jonathan Hughes running in Chris's Evo and Dave Fletcher in the KE20 were best of the rest a couple of seconds back. As the grip improved things were going to get interesting. Andy Reid had a big spin at the end of the long sweeper that tightened, and everyone steered clear of the markers. Paul Jansen did well to steer clear of the marker he was sliding towards as he missed the second last hairpin; he recovered well although was now out of the running.

In the second run the course remained the same and the line had got a bit of grip, but off track it was still slippery in the grass. Grant Goile had an absolute blinder and was 2 seconds faster than anyone else, taking the lead from Chris Hughes by a second. Kieron Telford dropped to third even though he scored second fastest time in run 2. Hartley's Barina GTi was 2-tenths behind and in fourth on accumulated time.

The course was changed slightly for the last run and an indian file was run. This laid a bit of a track but competitors would have to be wary of not following the well worn tracks from the previous course as the corners were mostly side by side with the older ones. Dave Fletcher overcooked it a bit being first on the course for the last run and not used to the slippery grass, and had a half spin right in the shoot-through to the second lap (he says he was distracted by spotter Richard Towse laughing as he went by, Towse maintains he only started laughing after the spin so that couldn't possibly have affected Fletcher's performance). Derek Hartley would have been in the running for an overall place if it weren't for missing the first corner of the last run and getting a slowest time penalty.

Grant Goile had hit his straps and scorched through the last taking the run by two seconds and the event by three from Hughes who wasn't holding back either. Telford consolidated third place. Geoff Douch had the wee Starlet Turbo up into 4th overall and took the big-engined 2WD (well, it's not that big but it's got a hair dryer stuck to it) and due to a fantastic third run Shane Thornley showed he must have been doing a bit of skidding after hours in his home paddock to move into 5th. Matt Jansen again won the family battle but there was only two seconds in it after Paul's surging recovery of run 2. In the other family contest Andrew Bufton was glad of Stewart's slower time in run 1 and managed to hang onto the lead throughout the event with some smooth driving, winning the Class 2 award by only 5 hundredths of a second from Shane McKenzie. Robert McCallum did well to keep the rear-wheels under control in the Eccy and took second in the big 2WD class from Brent Sibley, after Sibley made best time in run 1 in the class Groove thought he'd better pull finger.

Rhys Ellison took the Focus WRC/Peugeot 206 WRC/Vauxhall Chevette into top spot in the road cars and 13th overall, followed only 1 second later by Ryan Pool's Legacy RS/Legacy RS/Legacy RS. Guy Anderson's Corolla FX-GT aided by the extra aerodynamic downforce of huge ski-racks was third road car. Craig McCulloch recalled the last event he did in the Corolla (the mud-plug) but unfortunately couldn't call up the class winning form this time. Rene Spijkerman had the Escort Mk1 out for a blat looking a little less creased now than it did at the Ashley Rally. Greg MacIntosh has bought Nigel Tyson's Starlet rally car to replace the crashed Datsun Bluebird and he, and (12 year old)  James and Michael had their first paddock skids in the car at this event. It was the first event for James and Michael and they did really well to steer clear of all the markers through all three runs.

The results were:

Overall
1st Grant Goile (Starlet) 4m06.35s
2nd Chris Hughes (Evo) 4m09.60s
3rd Kieron Telford (Pulsar) 4m17.29s

4WD
1st Chris Hughes (Evo) 4m09.60s
2nd Kieron Telford (Pulsar) 4m17.29s
3rd Jonathan Hughes (Evo) 4m22.52s

2WD 1601+cc
1st Geoff Douch (Starlet) 4m19.55s
2nd Robert McCallum (Escort) 4m26.52s
3rd Brent Sibley (Escort) 4m30.64s

2WD 1301-1600cc
1st Andrew Bufton (Starlet) 4m25.26s
2nd Shane McKenzie (Starlet) 4m25.31s
3rd Stewart Bufton (Starlet) 4m26.80s

2WD 0-1300cc
1st Grant Goile (Starlet) 4m06.35s
2nd Shane Thornley (Starlet) 4m19.59s
3rd Matt Jansen (Datsun 1200) 4m20.97s

Thanks to Richard Towse, Dave Fletcher and Josh Marston for organising and running the event; Michelle Reid and Huri Timothy for documentation; Groove McCallum and Andy Reid for scrutineering; Lynne McKenzie for operating the hockey stick; Stewart and Andrew Bufton for course help, Haydo Riddle for spotting, and all those who helped pack up the event who had it all done before the results were tallied, well done! By 3:00pm everyone was off home and Wayne Summerfield had some interesting tracks on his lawn. Hopefully he lets us back in next time. Thanks very much Wayne!

20 SEPTEMBER 2004 - MAKERIKERI ROAD

With the damp conditions leading up to the event it was hard to judge what the course was going to be like, and it was interesting to find that on this totally windless day in the Ashley Forest that the dust hung in the air from the previous car a minute ahead. While an indian file was lacking many felt it would have been hard to see the road with all the dust in the air, and as it turned out the timed practise turned into one of the high speed runs. Unlucky to go off the road in a big way on the timed practise was David Clearwater in the Celica, his tyre suffering a puncture and the car rolling sideways off the road and well into the trees. Brent McDonald in the Lancer was also unlucky in that he talked to Bart before the run. He was informed the ford could be taken flat. The resulting crunch saw the car trailered after limping back to the pits. Bart wasn't wrong, the ford can be taken flat if you are driving a tank. Unlucky was Richard Towse whose Sunny broke the camshaft in the practise. In the first competitive run Kieron Telford had a puncture which bent the rim and the resulting wobble sheared the wheel nuts on the front of the Pulsar GTiR. That was the end of his event too.

The winner on the day was Brent Collins from Timaru, and he made up for his lateness at arriving by driving very quickly in the ex- Graham Coey Subaru Vortex. The lightweight special just pipping Les Summerfield for the outright win. Congratulations Brent. For his efforts he received the very interactive Pottery International trophy. Ryan Berry led the chasing pack in the Evo, with Brent Buist the top of the 2WDs in 4th overall. Those BDAs were a sight to behold coming down the hill to the spectator area, hanging the rear out in the weeds while nearing supersonic speeds. Glen Simpson made it into the top 5 in the Autoteach lease WRX, Bart was driving it like he owned it and it was a shame he braked too late at the spectator corner and handbraked into the run-off road. The time lost there could have easily seen him break into the top 3.

Jeff Judd and Groove McCallum were neck and neck after the first run with Judd opening up a gap by the last competitive pass. Andrew Sim was very fast in the FX-GT, taking 1600cc class honours in 8th overall and using good racing lines as the photos on KeenKiwi attest. Junior driver Brad Harris showed good speed in 9th overall with Blair Logan making a rare appearance these days in the yellow FX-GT next on the scorecard and second in the 1600cc class. Matt King did well in the lease Autotech lease WRX, some saying the car was used to the road by now but Matt was definitely showing that sitting alongside Les Summerfield on rallies sure helps in the learning process. Chris Hughes was again all smiles in the Evo2 in 12th overall, more time in the saddle is all good. Leigh Marston was a bit down on power due to continuing computer niggles. Brent Tiney was another driver using the good lines with the Escort twincam sounding great off the line and piloted well into 14th overall.

First of the small cars was Stephen Petersen, the only front skidding 1300cc car in the event pulled well away from the chasing pack, although the class 1's were less of a pack at this event than the 4WD cars which were very numerous. Hayden Spatcher was third in the 1600cc class, ahead of Petersen on the cards after the first run but not quite managing the run to run improvement that the Starlet driver pulled out. Paul Jansen was next in the GTiR and had no trouble keeping well clear of son Matt in this event, the younger Jansen definitely had a top speed disadvantage in that matchup on the long sweeping sections in his Datsun 1200. The battle of the Datsun 1200's was hotter than ever this event though, Ryan McDonald closing to within three quarters of a second of Jansen in run 2, in 38th overall. Graham Wilson and Josh Marston were 2nd and 3rd respectively in the small car class, both pulling a massive improvement from their first run times although Josh had an easier time improving after a big spin into the bank on the last corner in run 1. Ben Johnson is steadily improving and was mid-field at the end of the day in the Pulsar GTi front skidder. Dave Fletcher spent too much time going sideways down the road after the pond and the high-speed half spin saw him finish in 4th in the small car class.

Stewart Bufton was seen trying to get more downforce in the Starlet by leaving the rear hatch open. Unfortunately the experiment didn't quite work and created more drag than the car is used to and so Andrew took the honours in the father-son contest on this occasion, finishing in 22nd overall. Phil Sloane did well to keep the Lecacy RS on the island in the tricky surface conditions in only his second gravel event in the club, narrowly pipping Bruce France for 23rd overall, France distracted by taking Dave Fletcher for a ride in the last run, the passenger asking difficult questions about quick-racks in the middle of corners. Fletcher responded that it was not a deliberate attempt to slow the competition, then immediately went to find Josh Marston to try to get a ride with him.

Cameron Moore in the AE86 Levin was 25th overall and kept things pretty tidy (like the car really) most of the day although ran a bit wide at the first intersection at Mt. Grey road. Barry Deuart in the mighty 120Y was only a couple of seconds behind the leading rear wheel drive 1300cc cars, 1200cc just being a wee bit off the pace in the high speed event. Brent Sibley could be forgiven for thinking it's the weight in the two extra doors carried by his Escort that saw him in 27th overall, as his car control was going good and his lines were quite tidy. Darryl Campbell's Evo didn't take the start of the second timed run but his first time was enough to get up to 28th overall and if other competitors' improvement was anything to go by he may have broken into the top 20. Stewart Bufton edged out Grant Goile by half a second, Goile giving the Starlet another run while the KE25 Corolla is rested, no wonder it goes so fast as it obviously returns the care shown to it! Andrea Summerfield was the day's only lady driver and finished in 31st overall, a bit out of practise but having a bit of fun. Want to ease the pressure on yourself after running documentation? Just take a WRX for a spin in the event too!

Richard Bowater in the racy wee Starlet made the trip up from Ashburton to have a fun day on the gravel, all smiles afterwards showed the travel was worth it. Rex Ford's 180B was next on the scoresheets, the driver gaining in confidence with each event. Jonathan Bradshaw went sideways all day, having a blast. Paul Stanley took a break from keeping an eye on proceedings as part of the forest management crew to go for a blat in the Eccy, flares now painted the same colour as the car so it slips through the air a bit better. Peter Quinn's Levin was back in action looking it's usual resplendant best, Peter managed to stay ahead of the chasing Datsun 1200 battle mentioned earlier. Nigel Ackers showed a 12s improvement between the two runs which he's got to be happy with. Luke McHaffie had a problem with the GT4 and didn't take the second competitive run. Nick Marston was sharing the RDL Starlet for the day and improved a massive 57 seconds between runs. Greg and Stuart MacIntosh were sharing the Nissan Bluebird turbo and both completed the first competitive run however an accident where Stuart ran into a bank head on in the second run halted the event.

The accident happened on a reasonably fast bit of road and the impact bent the front of the car substantially, forcing the suspension back into the firewall with enough force to bend and dent the firewall. The event's safety procedures worked well, with a marshal hearing the crash and investigating and a following competitor ascertaining damage then then proceeding to report it to another marshal who radioed for assistance. The intervention vehicle called for the ambulance when it became clear that the crashed car's passenger Andrew Bufton had suffered a cut chin and whiplash. The ambulance was dispatched into the course and retrieved Andrew and took him to hospital for a check over. While the ambulance was away the event was stopped, and only when it returned could the event proceed, the delay forcing the cancellation of the last competitive run. Competitors were briefed on this and everyone seemed happy as three runs had been accomplished if the timed practise was counted. Thankfully Andrew was not seriously hurt, although a couple of days off were needed because of the whiplash. Stuart MacIntosh was shaken but (thankfully again) unhurt. This is the first event this author has been at where an injury accident has occurred and it was impressive to see the quick response of the emergency crews, a great job by all involved. When the event got underway again the remaining cars had no further incidents (well, apart from those wee moments that always seem to happen when your result needs it the least!).

Results were:

Overall
1st Brent Collins (Subaru Vortex) 4m00.83s
2nd Les Summerfield (Subaru WRX) 4m01.55s
3rd Ryan Berry (Evo 3) 4m04.84s

4WD
1st Glen Simpson (WRX) 4m10.72s
2nd Brad Harris (Evo) 4m16.99s
3rd Matt King (WRX) 4m20.83s

2WD 1601+cc
1st Brent Buist (Escort) 4m07.32s
2nd Jeff Judd (Escort) 4m11.33s
3rd Robert McCallum (Escort) 4m14.07s

2WD 1301-1600cc
1st Andrew Sim (Corolla) 4m14.30s
2nd Blair Logan (Corolla FX-GT) 4m20.06s
3rd Hayden Spatcher (Corolla) 4m32.09s

2WD 0-1300cc
1st Stephen Petersen (Starlet EP71) 4m30.33s
2nd Graham Wilson (Starlet) 4m36.59s
3rd Josh Marston (Starlet) 4m38.95s

Thanks to Andrew Sim for organising the event and Les Summerfield for helping with organisation. Thanks to Paul Stanley for acting as forest laison officer for the day and Andrea Summerfield and Kieron Telford for documentation. John Weir, Richard Towse and Robert McCallum did a great job of getting through the 20 cars that needs scrutineering audits. Tony Witheridge did another great job operating the timing gear. Thanks again to the team from Rangiora Rotary for marshalling. There were lots of helpers on the day, including Derek Simpson, Brent Buist, Leigh Marston, Chris Hughes, Nick Brownlee, David Fletcher, and Michelle Reid (sorry to those we missed by name and THANKS!). Thanks also to St. John Ambulance for ensuring our injured competitors were well taken care of. And a big thanks to Geoff Bone of Pottery International for sponsoring the event, and putting up an impressive returning trophy.

full results in pdf format

15 AUGUST 2004 - LOBURN AUTOCROSS

The indian file was too much for Jamie Fisher's Commodore road car that withdrew after not being able to get going in the queue for the start line. The course was well and truly rutted even after the one-pass look by all the competitors. Things were going to be very interesting indeed, then it started to sleet. Grant Goile got things off to a flying start, setting a time an amazing 14 seconds faster than anyone else! Phillip Sloan in the newly built Legacy was coming off a good run at the Taumutu Sprint and was the best of the rest for the first test. Kieron Telford drove well to put the Pulsar into third spot. Andy Reid had a blinder in the Corolla (lots better than his effort in getting their van stuck on the way out of the paddock and having to be towed out by the farm tractor after the event) and cranked around into 4th overall. Paul Jansen had his Pulsar GTiR well up the scorecard in 5th. David Fletcher in the Corolla and Matt Jansen in the Datto 1200 were neck and neck one place back, the former not doing too bad for running last on the road in the run after performing timing duties.

The MacIntoshes had a Bluebird SSS RWD out for a skid but ended up having to withdraw after the car wouldn't go anywhere, the tyre pressures were too high but they had to drive the car home again so couldn't lower them and there were no compressors on site to pump them up. Even a helping hand with a push in the rear by their 4WD couldn't keep the Nissan going which was really unfortunate, and early exit for the guys who usually do well in the road car class.  Josh Marston lamented the lack of a limited slip diff as the Starlet got bogged down and had to be towed. Luckily for the Clerk of Course the call was made before the event to give anyone who got stuck slowest time +5s to keep them in the event! Everyone else was getting around without too much problem although it was the slowest event we've seen!

The second run saw the course changed to be more open so that people didn't get bogged in the corners. Steve Carr did the indian file for everyone to watch so that he could judge where the course went wasn't confusing and after a few spins said it was no problems. To make things fair cars were run in reverse order from run 1. The open course meant the fast 4WDs had an advantage over the smaller cars. Grant Goile hit a marker and went down the leaderboard. Paul Bradshaw showed a good turn of speed keeping things tidy and Matthew King had some of Les Summerfield's go hard aura from Catlins rub off on him and moved up to take second place for the run. Pete Abernethy who's Dad's paddock we had taken over for the event denied all accusations of illegal recce'ing and took the Autotech lease WRX to a run 1 is the second contest. Rhys Ellison's Chevette had miraculously transformed from a 206WRC look-alike into quite a convincing Focus WRC look-alike and with rally tires was doing the business, getting around the very challenging track well.  BT's Escort Twincam was looking pretty good too and he was after a place in the big 2WD class.  Another of the road car competitors Troy Earl in the Starlet found the conditions too nasty and headed home. Haydo Riddle got a bit stuck but managed to get going again in GTX road car, 4WD was a distinct advantage although he lost a lot of time and dropped from his usual high spot in the road car class. Nick Marston was sharing Josh's Starlet and had a good day. Well, any day you don't break a valve spring is a good day ay!

The cars were getting heavier with all the mud (heaven help the cleaners at Quick-E-Wash!) but the run 2 course had held together well so it was decided to run it again as a 1-lapper for the final test. Brent Sibley's smile could be seen through the windscreen of the Eccy (but only just) as he was kicking up enough mud to cover the car many times over. Craig McCulloch was driving a great event in the FWD Corolla road car, smoothly and maintaining momentum around the corners was the way to do it and this was rewarded with a class win. Michelle Reid had a disadvantage of the three-driver TeamRFR Corolla gathering more weight in mud than anyone else's cars but she edged further ahead of Gemma Bone in the ladies contest and Karen Robinson driving the black Pulsar GTiR was keeping the top two honest, gaining on them throughout the event. Simon Bagnall was sharing the car (and consequently Geoff Bone's rally tires) with Gemma for the day and was driving smoothly and consistently and running close to the leaders in the mid-sized class. Jonathan Bradshaw was managing to stay ahead of Bagnall while trying to catch Paul Bradshaw piloting the same car. John Weir was generating a bit much wheelspin in the Accord but it still sounded great.  Craig Millar was sharing the turbo RX7 as well as performing many vehicle rescues in the Safari 4WD recovery truck, and found thin