Arnold's Surprise

Most of the "usual suspects" were present , along with some first timers. Mike Axon was sharing Peter Barker’s Mini, although some of us were rather disappointed that the duo didn’t use the exciting looking Kart they had in the back of their van! Also Mini mounted was Lee Sample who was sharing his car with Kerry Higgins, both making their Autotest debut. Talking of Matt Robson, he has "served his time" now and is back in action with a car if his own, a nice looking Mini with a 1275 engine under the hood.

Robin Howard was driving his Citroen, which rather towered above some of the other cars on its trials prepared suspension. We had three Metro’s, all driven by members of our neighbouring Watling Motor Sport Club. Mike Turner was behind the wheel of his standard looking beige machine. Jamie Turner had his red rally prepared machine and Owen Turner and novice Adrian Gladwin were sharing a standard looking Red one.

Clerk of the Course Peter Manning tried out some new ideas with the tests this time. Two tests were laid out the full length of the field, using its full width. When you got to the end of the first of the tests this became the star of the second. The two tests were identical and there was a flag start, consequently there were two cars doing the same course at the same time and on-lookers could enjoy "the race". I thought I would try a different way of reporting this time. I managed to get hold of almost all the time cards after the event, the exceptions being Peter Barker and Mike Axon who wanted to take their’s home, so I will write some notes for each competitor.

Mike Turner (Metro)	Mike is the President of Watling Motor Sports Club and is a real Metro enthusiast in private and in business! Mike is an irregular autotester and took a while to warm up but he was into the top ten after the 3^rd test and was 5^th quickest on test five to end 7^th fastest overall.
Arnold Lane (Mini)	Arnold’s Mini is only 1000cc but Arnold knows his way around Upper Caldecote and added another FTD award to his trophy cabinet after being in the fastest three on every test. The Mini went very well and hasn’t had any mods since it’s last outing, although Arnold has replaced the doors which are now a different colour to the car!
Owen Turner (Metro)	Owen left his fabulous K series Imp at home for the weekend and drove a standard looking red Metro. Owen started smoothly and was fourth fastest on the first two tests and quickest on test three. At this stage Owen was leading the event overall but was a fraction behind Arnold on test four. Then on the long fifth test he got a penalty on the second run, and lost quite a lot of time on the last test as well, to finish around eight seconds behind Arnold, to end second overall and winner of class A.
Rachel Lane (Mini)	Unfortunately Rachel was the only competitor in the Production class after Richard Leete non-started as he was at home feeling a bit under the weather.
George Nixon (Mini)	George was sharing David Manning’s Mini but had to retire after test five with mechanical problems.
Jamie Turner (Metro)	Jamie was driving his rally Metro, built after his Maestro was stolen. It was eventually recovered but is now in the hands of another Watling member. Jamie was in the top six all day and was fastest on the long, long test five which was tests three and four combined. This test went down very well with competitors, mainly because it was so long. Even Jamie took 1m 26 seconds! Jamie was 3^rd in class A.
David Manning (Mini)	David was going faster and faster as the event went on and was fourth quickest on the long test five. Then came silence as David switched off and cruised to a stop. One of the blades on the fan had twisted and embedded itself in the radiator. Amazingly, the belt had remained in place, locking the engine solid!
Peter Barker (Mini)	Peter drove his blue Mini, which we have seen at Upper Caldecote on a number of occasions. Peter improved his times as the day went on and was fifth quickest on the last test.
Martin Cheshire (Peugeot 206)	Sadly Martin’s familiar Polo failed the MOT and he used the family Peugeot 206 which is an Auto. Martin had an up and down day in his new car, finishing way down on four of the test and setting a first and two seconds on the other two and came second in class A.
Mike Axon (Mini)	Mike shared Peter Barker’s Mini on what I believe was his first autotest.
Michael Leete (Nova)	Michael did quite well on the first two tests but faded away rather as the event went on!
Robin Howard (Citroen AX)	Robin forsook his Marlin and bought his other trials car to Upper Caldecote. Robin is slowly developing the car and has solved the problem of the drive shafts popping out because of the raised suspension. Robin enjoyed his day but the AX was a bit high to let rip on the fast turns.
Adrian Gladwin (Metro)	Adrian was sharing one of the red Turner Metro’s and was the winner of the Novice award after a consistent day.
Alan Titmus (Corsa)	Alan was another to start slowly but improved as time went on and was consistently on the leader board at the conclusion of the day.
Lee Sample (Mini)	This was Lee’s first event after Matt Robson introduced him to Falcon. He set quite a few quick times, but rather offset this by penalties and a Wrong Course. Something we all do from time to time!
Matt Robson (Mini)	Matt’s Mini was making it’s competition debut. It started as a 998 but Matt acquired a 1275 in bits and has put that in the car. There were a few teething problems, not least with the steering column, which came loose but Arnold, Neil and Simon may well have to watch out in the future when Matt gets the hang of his car.
Kerry Higgins (Mini)	Kerry was sharing the Mini with Lee sample and managed to beat him with a penalty free day.
Simon Robson (Liege)	The Liege went well all day and Simon was as competitive as ever to finish third overall. The engine still isn’t producing much power, which was probably a big disadvantage on the long open tests.
Keith Pettit (AH Sprite)	Keith started out well and was fastest on the fourth test but slipped away a bit after that to finish sixth overall.

So that’s how all the runners and riders fared. It was certainly a Falcon Autotest with a difference. The nature of the tests was such that they took a long time to run, which coupled with the big entry meant we didn’t get as many in as usual. However, this was more than offset by the spectacle of seeing two cars run against each other and the fact that the tests were so long and open so it was voted a success by all. Well done to Peter Manning

October 2002 - Part 1

Arnold's September Surprise

Arnold Lane studying the test diagrams before going out to set FTD at Falcon's September Surprise Autotest.

An excellent entry of 19 gathered at Upper Caldecote to do battle with Peter Manning’s new style tests for Falcon’s September Surprise Autotest on 1^st September. We nearly had the maximum of 20, but land-owner Neil Bray was attending a family party while his clubmates played in his back garden!

October 2002 - Part 1

Arnold's September Surprise

Arnold Lane studying the test diagrams before going out to set FTD at Falcon's September Surprise Autotest.

An excellent entry of 19 gathered at Upper Caldecote to do battle with Peter Manning’s new style tests for Falcon’s September Surprise Autotest on 1st September. We nearly had the maximum of 20, but land-owner Neil Bray was attending a family party while his clubmates played in his back garden!