Duncan Stephens, Bernie Muir and Jason Daniel, who was competing in his first autotest for a number of years had a titanic battle throughout the September Autotest, trading times all day covered by fractions. Test one saw Bernie take the lead, revelling in the high revving little Alto in the dry conditions with three fastest times and Jason taking the fourth, meanwhile test two saw Bernie take another two and Duncan two also, Bernie just two second up at eight tests. It got serious, times were being hidden, less chat was had as all were concentrating. Duncan seemed to wake up on test three with three fastest times and Jason one. It must have been a Saxo test as Bernie’s lead translated into a six second deficit, which grew further as Duncan took a clean sweep of fastest times on test 4 to open a ten second lead, and Jason matching Bernie’s times eleven seconds behind. The third and final layout of tests saw Jason clip a finish cone on the first run of test 5, Bernie get lost momentarily completing an extra loop of a cone costing him eight seconds handing the advantage firmly to Duncan who had another three fastest times. The final fast flowing test of Nigel Barnett saw Jason close within nine second of Bernie with three fastest times. What a good hearted battle which all thoroughly enjoyed. The gloves were definitely off, we just needed Wayne back out in the (currently poorly) Nova and a four way battle would have been seen….roll on 2025!!!
Jordan Hodge had fitting a new diff to his MX5 in time for the event and was seen grinning from ear to ear all day going mostly sideways, sometimes backwards and even set the odd really quick time. Did he make it look serious fun, most definitely!!!
Meanwhile the Production car autotest saw three juniors competing. Charlie Frost fresh from sprinting at Portreath has to have someone sat beside him on a PCA (work that rule out…..80mph on own is ok at a sprint, but 20mph in a field isnt!!) had a couple of early penalties so Toby Daniel in the family Yellow Saxo led from early on. Toby times were enough to be knocking on the best of the rest in the autotest, some effort in his first year. Charlie started closing in on test four with four fastest times taking nine seconds out of Toby, but test five proved to a disaster with two wrong tests. Lets blame the navigator, Mr Club champion 2023 Steve Watts!!!!! Toby ended up taking the first overall from Charlie. Meanwhile Charlie Rundle was under the watchful eyes of her dad Alan gaining confidence every test and showing great car control. Boys you best watch out there’s a girl hunting you down come 2025!! Its wonderful to see these three next generation all competing reminding many of us where we started out motorsport journey, all obviously have much skill and are really really enjoying themselves.
Thanks to Wayne and Rhea making the journey from Devon to marshal, the land owner who definitely provided the best view of the year, Nigel again for some wonderful flowing tests that got slightly harder as the day went on.
The committtee and competitors all offer a huge thank you to Michelle Le Bailey who acted as secretary for all four autotests the club have run this year, sometimes also marshalling. Michelle has already said see us all next year!!
September Autotest and PCA Results combined
