& district & motorclub

Acorn

The

Acorn

Autotest ! ! Autotest

The

The magazine The of Sevenoaks the

Tandem

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February2015 Front cover - Lee Champion driving the rally Peugeot he shares with Joy Waiton (back cover) at the Tandem Autotest.

WHAT MOTORSPORT HAVE YOU DONE RECENTLY ?

Chris Berrisford & Helen Currie at Curborough sprint October 2014

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Sevenoaks and District Motor Club Ltd PRESIDENT: John Symes VICE PRESIDENTs: Vic EIford, Grahame White ACORN MAGAZINE - February 2015 The Editor, Committee and Club do not necessarily agree with items and opinions expressed within ACORN magazine

OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN, MEMBERSHIP SEC: Andy Elcomb, The Cottage, Deans Hill, Bredgar, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8BB (Home) 01622 884856 [email protected] SECRETARY: Tracey Niel, 35 Augustine Road, Orpington, Kent BR3 3JY (Home) 01689 602456 [email protected] TREASURER: Clive Cooke, 1 Willow Bank, Robertsbridge, East Sussex TN32 5NH (Home) 01580 880568 [email protected] DEP. CHAIRMAN & REGIONAL REP.: Chin, 36, Churchside, Vigo, Kent, DA13 0SJ (Home) 01732 823132, (Work) 020 8691 6221 [email protected] COMPETITION SEC.: Ian Crocker, (Home) 01892 546006 [email protected] SPEED LEAGUE: David Balderson, 17 Glentrammon Close, Green Street Green, Kent BR6 6DL (Home) 01689 601661 [email protected] SPEED LEAGUE SCORER: Colin Spark WITHOUT PORTFOLIO - Russell Giddings, 45 Castle Drive, Kemsing, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 6RW (Home) 01959 524837 [email protected] TROPHY RECORDS KEEPER: Joy Waiton, 7 Baring Road, Croydon CR0 7DD 07568 169585 [email protected] RALLY SECRETARY: Iain Gibson, 8 Knights Croft, New Ash Green, Kent DA3 8HT (Home) 01474 873573, [email protected] CHIEF MARSHAL: Chris Scudder, 4 Northdown Road, Longfield, Kent, DA3 7QW (Home) 07711 078552 [email protected] SOCIAL SECRETARY: Rosemary & Nigel Mead, 3 Heather Bank, Paddock Wood, Kent TN12 6BW (Home) 01892 832420 [email protected] [email protected] PRESS & PR: Darren Tyre, 35 Augustine Road, Orpington, Kent BR3 3JY (Home) 01689 602456 [email protected] 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] ACORN EDITOR: Alex Peters Castle Wood, Rhododendron Avenue, Meopham, Kent DA13 0TU 07980 210427 [email protected] Website - www.sevenoaksmotorclub.com

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EDITORIAL

Eagle eyed readers will have noticed that the Acorn cover date has jumped from December to January – this has been to overcome a number of editorial and printing difficulties so we now hope you will receive your printed copies in the month stated on the front cover !

A lot of people have bene working very hard behind the scenes to make the SDMC awards night happen on the 7th February. I certainly hadn’t realised how much planning was required until I became involved. Part of my own small contribution is the 2015 yearbook, of which you can see a draft copy online at http://www.sevenoaksmotorclub.com/yearbook It will be updated when the winner of the Trenham Cresswell trophy is announced at the awards night.

It doesn’t look like the “Wacky Races” championship will happen this year. Partly due to the difficulties of getting some rounds included in it, partly because many of the rounds that we feared would not be in the Speed League have now been included (Thanks David !) and partly because so few people had race licences and were worried about the costs of obtaining them. For this last point I will try and talk to MSV at Brands Hatch and see if I can negotiate a club deal.

We have a great article this month from the Tunbridge Wells Motor Club on their all circuit sprint championship. Like some other members of SDMC (David Balderson, Joy Waiton, Jeff Wiltshire and John Rawlins) I am a member of both clubs. The beauty of their championship is that it overlaps with many of the same rounds as the SDMC Speed League but has a different scoring systems and different contenders. So for just one set of event entry fees you get the experience of two championships, usually with quite different results! The TWMC are a very interesting and friendly bunch of people with some good social events and a number of other motorsport activities. They still have some places left for their annual awards dinner at the High Rocks hotel on the 28th February, so check them out and join up Page 4 of 52 at http://twmc.org.uk/

The pressures of editing Acorn are beginning to bite – so I have let of steam in the “Rant of the Month” in this issue, rather than include it in the editorial. Let’s hope people take it seriously and contribute to making the Acorn a better magazine for the good of the club.

This month’s article on MSAR, the motor sport equipment suppliers sees a special deal announced for SDMC members, so please check it out and please mention Acorn!

Happy Motorsport!

Alex Peters

NEWS

Colin Spark has set up the 2015 Speed League calendar and entry forms up on the club website. Read the article this month on how to get involved and have your name on the list of contenders article in next months Acorn! Register for the Speed League now – its free !

Membership renewal is now available by post or online. See more in this issue.

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CHAIRMANS CHAT

Chairman's Chat February 2015 A Happy New Year to everyone out there in 7Oaks land! I'm currently writing this from a foggy and snowy La Rosiere in the French Alps where I and a few other 7Oaks committee and friends are enjoying a few days away from motor based activities - unless we hijack a piste basher or snowmobile.... But the need for speed still persists! Our traditional New Year's Day walk was a very sociable event with around twenty human and two canine souls braving the muddy paths around Pembury, followed by a nice lunch at the Camden Arms. Thank you Nigel & Rosemary Mead for organising that. Less welcome was my early nomination for the Bent Con Rod when I broke a tooth at lunch. That meant a panic visit to the dentist the day before flying out to France. More social events to come include Curling but places are limited so shout quickly if you want to give it a go and of course our awards night on 7th February should be a must. Please support this even if you have missed a pot last year - we always have a good time. But we could do with some fresh blood on the social side so if you fancy contributing by arranging some activities for us, we would be very grateful. Just give the Meads a shout and they'll give advice if required. We've recently heard that the Aldershot Rally for Heroes may be back after a year's break and so we would like 7Oaks to get involved again in running part of this stage rally. It was fun before and I'm sure will be again so please respond to requests for help. Date to be confirmed, but probably sometime in April.

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Our Speed League dates are now out so if you want to mount a challenge for this you'd best get your diary out and book some dates. I'm hoping to do some rounds with Jeff Wiltshire - it’s been a long time since I did anything other than the odd North Weald sprint so am looking forward to some new (to me) venues. Later in the year we also should be co-promoting a sprint at Goodwood with Tunbridge Wells MC and that will be a very welcome return to that great circuit. Again, if you aren't competing why not come and help? So, what it all boils down to is that we have another varied year in store, but everything is run by unpaid volunteers and we do need some more help from you guys out there - come and join us! Have fun and hope to see lots of you at Hadlow on 7th Feb at the awards night. Andy Elcomb.

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SDMC CALENDAR 2015

The following events are organised by SDMC or has a significant input / presence. Please let Acorn know of any other events that are planned. 26-Feb Scatter Rally 22-Mar Car Trial - Stoneacre 29-Mar Sprint – North Weald 16-Apr Scatter Rally 30-Apr Autotest – Brands Hatch 24-May Sprint – Crystal Palace 25-May Sprint – Crystal Palace 28-May Autotest – Brands Hatch 11-Jun Autotest – Brands Hatch 14-Jun Car Trial – Chapman’s Hill 25-Jun Autotest – Brands Hatch 28-Jun Autosolo – North Weald 9-Jul Autotest – Brands Hatch 2-Aug Autotest – Brands Hatch 30-Aug Autosolo – North Weald 17-Oct Sprint – Goodwood (co-pro TWMC) 1-Nov London to Brighton Veteran Run 6-Nov 12 car 10-Dec Scatter Rally

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S&DMC SOCIAL EVENTS CALENDAR

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN ORGANISING A SOCIAL EVENT? If you have any ideas for a future Social Event and wish to have a go at organising please contact Nigel or Rosemary Mead on 01892 832420 ([email protected] , [email protected] ) We will be happy to help and advertise the event for you. Also visit our website at www.sevenoaksmotorclub.com

Please contact The Bell if you will be purchasing food.

The Bell, High Street, Kemsing TN15 6BN Tel. No. 01732 76155

Saturday 7th Hadlow S&DMC AWARDS DINNER February 2015 Manor

Wednesday 18th The Bell, NOGGIN & NATTER February 2015 Kemsing Wednesday 18th The Bell, NOGGIN & NATTER March 2015 Kemsing

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RANT OF THE MONTH

By Alex Peters It had to happen sooner or later – I have received a complaint that there are too many Mustangs appearing in the Acorn. Given that I am meant to be an “editor” not an “author” of Acorn, I should be compiling stories sent in by club members, but in fact I have to write a good proportion of the magazine content myself, because I receive insufficient contributions. Therefore if you want to read about the motorsport antics of a variety of club members and not endless Mustang stories, then YOU need to get out of your armchair and write something, otherwise you lose any right to be able to complain. On a positive note, many people have enjoyed the memoirs of Steve Stringer, this has proved to be our most popular feature in Acorn. I am sure if you wanted to write your motorsports memoirs, many readers would find them equally fascinating. A number of members have written (or a are writing) about trying new forms of motorsport. – see Lee Champion’s article in this issue about the Tandem AutoTest and next issue we will see Paul Hebden’s adventures on the Targa Rally. I have just been approached by Alan Faggetter kindly offering to write about the Elva he races at Crystal Palace, whilst Stuart Giles is working on an article about the single seter race car he designed and built himself, based partly on a 1960s Brabham F1 car. In the meantime, I am receiving no contributions for even the short articles, such as “I learned about motorsport from that” or “what motorsport have you done this month”. Remember – if you want to change Acorn for the better – YOU must make a contribution! Page 10 of 52

CAPTION CONTEST

The funniest entries will be published in the next issue.

Last months winner “Its not that difficult boys!!!” by Clive Leatherby.

For this month can anyone tell us what Jim Giddings is dreaming about ?

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MSAR – LOCAL MOTORSPORTS SUPPLIER

By Alex Peters Recently, fellow SDMC member Colin Spark and I, went to our local motorsport supplier, MSAR, to buy new race equipment for the 2015 Sprint Season.

Alex Peters (left) and Colin Spark (right) of SDMC visiting Malcolm of MSAR.

New Sponsor for Black Sun Racing I decided to approach MSAR in South London as a potential sponsor as they are the only significant motorsports company local to me in London. It turned out that they were able to offer me far more than I had imagined possible, not just in terms of deals on equipment, but Page 12 of 52 also a lot of specific technical advice on developing the car !

I first met Malcolm, owner of MSAR, at Crystal Palace in 2013 where he appeared to be hugging Jim Giddings – however, it turned out he was merely helping Jim try on a HANS collar.

Low cost race equipment You would expect most equipment vendors to try and sell you the most expensive equipment they could to maximise their profits – they are after all trying to run a business. However, we were most impressed by Malcolm’s approach of understanding customer needs and matching it to their budget. We were shown a range of HANS helmets that were effective and very competitively priced. However, Colin tried a more expensive carbon fibre helmet which he found more comfortable and selected that, with no pushing from Malcolm.

MSAR have great range of items in stock, as well as access to even larger ranges to meet customer requirements. I was able to try out a range of different race boots to find something that fitted well and

Page 13 of 52 gave great feel for heel-and-toe manoeuvres. In the end I chose a pair of high ankle Alpine Stars boots with a Velcro adjustment strap.

Help and advice As well as providing specific advice on the selection of race equipment, Malcolm was able to provide a load of advice on topics such as unconventional tyre pressure strategies and roll cage padding. This is a very serious subject, particularly for race cars that are also used on the road when not wearing a crash helmet. I strongly advise everyone with a cage fitted to their car to talk to Malcolm to ensure that they are safe – many of the commercially available padding products do not offer the level of protection that you would expect.

Location, Location, Location ! The greatest thing for SDMC members is that the MSAR showroom, Parkhall Business Centre, is easily accessible to try out equipment, being right next door to Crystal Palace. It is based in a magnificent Art Deco building (that used to be the PYE electronics factory). There are many other business based in the building, including a company that can do vinyl graphics for your car, whom MSAR can introduce you to. Also on the ground floor is the most amazing café – spacious, comfortable and with brilliant home-made cakes. Well worth a visit just to relax in the café !

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The magnificent building where MSAR are based.

Special offer for SDMC members ! As MSAR are by far the most local motorsports supplier for SDMC club members, Malcolm has very kindly offered a 10% discount on most full price items (there are always some restrictions) to all club members ! Give him a call to find out more about what he can offer, you can find his details at http://www.msar.co.uk/ Page 15 of 52

About MSAR MSAR is dedicated to helping our customers pursue their passion for motorsport as safely as possible by using the latest safety equipment and highest quality products available. As a racewear supplier we are committed to understanding the products we sell, not just on paper, but on the race track, with most items tried and tested by a member of our team personally. We pride ourselves on excellent customer service and expert advice.

We have recently expanded to open a showroom in London, which will display a range of our products on offer for you to try. We hold a comprehensive amount of stock so we can satisfy your needs.

MSAR is committed to providing expert advice about all the products that we offer and will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. Motorsport is a dangerous sport and we take safety very seriously, which is why we feel it’s important that you know all the latest information from manufacturers and sanctioning bodies.

We offer an excellent fast delivery service worldwide. Our next day service covers the whole of the UK so for those of you that leave things to the last minute – don’t panic MSAR can deliver on time!

MSAR Ltd Web sales: 0208 655 7877 Parkhall Mobile: 0780 9394968 London Fax: 0208 655 7879 SE21 8EN

Email: [email protected] Web: www.msar.co.uk

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TANDEM AUTOTEST

Article by Lee Champion, Pictures by Colin Shipway The idea for the tandem autotest came about, as usual, in the pub, after one of the Brands Hatch autotests. Me, Joy, Paul Hebden and Lee Claydon were discussing how maybe these fun events could take a twist and encourage more people to get involved at grass roots. My daughter Ella is a keen horse jumper, and a friend Matt Chiappa is big in the drifting scene. Through both these two I had heard of the term “barrel racing“. On horseback, this originated in the USA where riders would, similar to our autotests and autosolo competitions, ride a course made up of barrels. Sometimes they rode two at once, head- to-head on identical courses. The Japanese and American car scenes both took the idea on board and ran similar competitions, although from my research only very simple small courses were used, often with just two or three barrels.

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This got us thinking if we could put our spin on the same principle, offering both drivers and the crowd a pleasing spectacle within the rules of the MSA. Over the course of a few months of ideas, Barney Lower got on board as he is a veteran of designing and running our Autosolo, and crucially Norman Redhead of Tunbridge Wells Motor Club who offered to host the first event at the Gabriels Farm Edenbridge autotest venue.

There are however quite a few “rules” within the MSA blue book which have to be adhered to. The main one being these types of autotests must still be against the clock and not directly another competitor as that will obviously be “racing”. So while two cars can start at identical times, on identical tracks, crucially the first car over the finish line would not always “win” as the time penalties and wrong route rules still applied. But when two cars get the course right, it would be clear who would be advancing into the next round. Page 18 of 52

Barney came up with some excellent layouts including lots of handbrake and reversing action, and the scene was set for one Saturday in October....

16 cars took part, which was the ideal number to work into an elimination competition. 8 v 8, winners go 4 v 4 into the semi-final, then the grand final. Barney put the majority of the hard work in on the start and finish flags, which were a very patriotic Union Flag to start and a chequered for the finish. The competition ran very smoothly considering it was an experimental day and subject to change and tweaking if we felt it needed to be. The only real downside was the inevitable mud, making launching off the starts a real problem by the end, and also generally all around the courses by the end too. We learnt a lot however, and hopefully this event will run again in 2015 with just a few tweaks. One of which will probably be that the course will be run all forward as in an autosolo. That would minimise the mud as the transition areas got a bit messed up Page 19 of 52 early on due to handbrake usage. Also one of the courses turned out to be several seconds faster than the other, had we moved the start line a little or the furthest barrel out a bit more we could maybe have

equalised them, but with no practice it was not fair to play with the layout during times which counted. As it happened the winning car was the fastest combined time of a run on both so it was still 100% fair, it’s just the spectacle for the people watching could have been improved by moving them a little. Another option would be another pair of courses to give more running time and less wear on the grass. We will see. But by and large the day was great fun and a success, thanks to everybody who came and supported us and those that made the event happen.

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Double Top – TWMC Sprint Championship 2014

By Steve Goodwin

Malcolm Boorman, first ever two time AC winner

In 2014 Malcolm Boorman became the first two-time winner in the All Circuit Sprint Championships history taking back-to-back titles. Malcolm (OMS2000M) was run very close to the title this year, taking the championship by a single point from Jeff Wiltshire (Sylva Phoenix).

Before one season is finished we try to sort out the dates for the following season. This year we were facing the possibility of losing rounds at Lydden Hill and Mallory Park having already lost Brands Hatch, which put us in a bit of a spin as we now had to look for other events and circuits. The first of the new venues added was the BARC event at Rockingham, the first time a sprint had been run at the Northamptonshire circuit. Interested to see the venue, brother Steve and me spent the day in the company of reigning Page 21 of 52 champ Malcolm Boorman and Bill Johnson. On arrival at the Speedway we unloaded the trailer, kicked a few tyres and took a walk around this 1.94 mile circuit. It is quite an interesting circuit with sweeping high-speed bends including the infamous Turn One and Gracelands and a lower speed, highly technical infield section.

After the mandatory bacon sandwich and mug of tea the drivers took on this challenging, cold but dry circuit. Mike Edwards in his trusty yellow Mini looked great in the twisty infield while Jeff Wiltshire in his Sylvia Phoenix finished a good second in class beating off an array of Lotus and Westfields.

Ricky Gardner at Rockingham

Ricky Gardner was not fazed by the fast-banking as he took a class win by over two seconds. Our hosts also had a great day with Malcolm taking fifth overall and Bill Johnson seventh.

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Tim Cole at Castle Combe

The next of our new venues was the round three trip to Borough 19’s sprint at the 2.2 mile Hethel Lotus test track in Norfolk. The event attracted a good entry and a wide mix of cars. It was Tony Beesley who took the overall win in his very rapid British racing green Jedi Mk4 with Tony Staines (Reynard Formula Opel) second. Tim Cole took a class win from Mike Edwards despite having to retire after his first time run. Tim Simpson in his Honda S2000 had an easy win in class four with a margin of almost six seconds from the Morgan of Paul Bryan.

Malcolm Boorman and Bill Johnson had a frustrating trip when they suffered a rare failure on the OMS. Without even finishing practice a weld failed on the chassis at the rear and they were forced to make the long trip home.

Porsche drivers Bill McKenna and Brian Winstone took a one/two in class five, while Jeff Wilshire had a tough class of powerful Westfield’s and Caterham’s but took a fine second in class and a credible seventh overall.

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Round four was thanks to Andy Stevens who did a deal with the organisers of the Apex Festival to run a morning sprint at Lydden Hill for National A and B cars. Despite this being the only sprint at Lydden this year entries were disappointingly low. After driving through a sea of VW campervans, lowered Beetles and trade stands, practice started wet and gloomy. Times where naturally slower as drivers navigated the mile long circuit, but things began to hot up on the timed runs with all drivers knocking at least three or four seconds off their practice times.

Graham Kendall at Goodwood

Mini driver Mike Edwards got the better of Tim Cole this time out knocking six seconds off his first timed run to win class three. But it was TWMC member Matt Weeks in his Citroen Saxo who kicked off the day’s dramas. Matt was determined to keep the pressure on Ricky Garner after he had knocked eight seconds of his practice time, entered Paddock Bend a little too hot and exited via the tyre wall. The force through the car in the air and it ending up facing the wrong way against a pile of dislodged tyres. Luckily Matt was okay unlike

Page 24 of 52 his poor car, which was written off. Red flags were shown so that the Lydden slide and tilt truck could retrieve the stricken Saxo. Sadly as the truck was recovering the car it blew a hydraulic pipe spraying it’s oil over the track. Hydraulic oil on a wet track is not a good mix, add in a truck with a Saxo on its now stuck out flat bed and you have quite a problem. A tractor had to hold the back of the lorry and the Saxo up as it drove off the circuit and after a massive effort deploying vast quantities of detergent by the rescue crew, marshals and circuit staff the track was finally cleared after an 80 minute delay. That was all the bad news, the good news was that during that time the rain had stopped and we could continue with a now drying track.

Alex Peters first outing of the year in his Mustang this season finished with a second in class. Porsche driver Steve Henson benefited from the drying track to win class 11. Malcolm Boorman in his OMS won class 15 and took FTD in the National B Sprint.

A week later we were at Snetterton using the Club 100 circuit. Brian Winstone got the better of fellow Porsche driver Bill McKenna to win class five; there were also class wins for Tim Cole (Mini) and Tim Simpson in his

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Honda S2000. Ricky Garner narrowly missed out on a class win in his Renault Clio Cup. Tony Beesley won class 14 in his Jedi while the Force PC of Gary Thomas piped Malcolm Boorman to a class win.

Goodwood played host to three rounds in this year’s championship courtesy of events by Bognor Regis, Brighton & Hove and TWMC.

TWMCs event was on the May bank holiday Monday. Naturally, being a bank holiday, it was wet. Despite this though we had a good event with very few incidences, but a few more competitors would of been nice as the entries most Goodwood events receive do not cover the costs.

Jeff Wiltshire AC runner up by a single point

Malcolm Boorman showed everyone how to get the best out of the weather conditions taking FTD from Tony Beesley in his Jedi who scarcely was using slicks. Bill Johnson won class 15, Graham Kendall in his beautiful Ford Anglia won class 12 and Steve Henson in his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup secured a class win and fourth overall. Jeff Wiltshire had an easy win in class eight in his Sylva

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Phoenix. If you need some excitement on a wet bank holiday try a 4.6 litre Ford Mustang on a wet Goodwood circuit, Alex Peters can vouch for that! Another car with a lot of power and then some, also came armed with four- wheel drive. Driven all the way from Germany via the Crystal Palace sprint the day before, this Audi A6 had a whopping 700bhp.

Championship results 2014 Name 16/ 9/ 4/ 10/ 17/ 26/ 26/ 2/ 4/1 Total 3 4 5 5 5 5 7 8 0 (class) David A2 11 11 22 Balderson John Brookes A2 11 9 9 12 41 (1st)

Mike Edwards A3 10 9 11 13 43 Tim Cole A3 11 11 9* 10 10 18 13 11 84* (1st)

Yaser A4 9 11 20 Almaghrbi Tim Simpson A4 13 12 12 11 20 19 87 (1st)

Mike Chalk A5 Brian Winstone A5 11 13 24 Alex Peters A5 11 10 15 10 46 (1st) Bill Mckenna A5 13 11 24

John Smith A8 10 11 11 12 44 (1st) Paul Bowden A8 12 17 29 2014 Runner Up: Jeff Wiltshire A8 16 12 15 11 13 16 18 101

John Rawlins B9 11 10 10 15 46 (1st)

Mitchell Perry B10 9 9 Ricky Garner B10 14 11 10 11 13 59 (1st) Page 27 of 52

Stuart Gilbert B11 Steve Henson B11 14 14 28 Tony Bradfield B11 11 10 11 10 11 53 (1st)

Graham C12 10 11 12 10 10 53 (1st) Kendall

Phil Williams D14 9 9 15 33 Tony Beesley D14 13 10 13 36 (1st) Simon Boulter D14 11 11 22

George H D15 9 8 10 27 Harris Roy Millbank D15 17 17 2014 Champion: Malcolm D15 11 12 18 20 12 15 14 102 Boorman Bill Johnson D15 9 12 13 11 10 10 65 (1st)

After a packed May we had a long wait until we enjoyed our first trip to another new venue, Castle Combe in Wiltshire. Using an adapted circuit layout it started from the pit lane. Entering the circuit at Follys, through the tricky Esses section it went through the sweeping right-hander, Tower Corner, through another chicane at Bobbies just before a short dash to the finish at Westways. In dry and sunny conditions Tim Cole in his Mini finished a great second in a large class two, Jeff Wiltshire secured another class win, Phil Williams’ in his Jedi finished second in his class just behind fellow Jedi driver Bradley Hobday. Malcolm Boorman also scored another class win and was fifth overall.

Last round of this year’s championship was a visit to Curborough in Staffordshire. In changeable conditions Alex Peters (Ford Mustang) was hoping that engine and suspension upgrades where going to help tame this beast of a car. Despite a gearbox issue on his last timed run, Alex finished Page 28 of 52 third in class behind two Porsche Caymans while Ricky Garner took a great class win in his Renault Clio. Graham Kendall enjoyed his trip up north despite five hours of Friday afternoon traffic, finding the Ford Anglia great fun on this 0.8 mile purpose built sprint circuit.

Congratulations to our winners in 2014. Malcolm Boorman for retaining the championship crown for a second consecutive year and Jeff Wiltshire for taking second by the narrowest of margins, just a single point between them.

Finally a big thank you to club stewards, Norman Redhead, Jon Low and Alan Povey for their support again this year. Thanks also to our retiring championship Scruiteer Chris Gadd for his years of support. We also need to say a big thank you to all the clubs, officials and marshals for their support through out the season.

Provisional 2015 Calendar 22 March Rockingham BARC Midlands 25 April Goodwood Bognor Regis MC 3 May Hethel Borough 19 MC 9 May Lydden TWMC 16 May Goodwood Brighton & HMC 17 May Snetterton Borough 19 MC 30/31 May Coventry Street Circuit BARC Midlands 20 June Castle Combe Bristol MC 1 August Goodwood Brighton & HMC 17 October Goodwood TWMC & Sevenoaks

Dinner Dance and Presentation Evening Saturday 28th February 2015, High Rocks, Tunbridge Wells.

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MY LIFE IN MOTORSPORT PART 3

The continuing memoirs of Steve Stringer. For the following years caravan rally I serviced, and the droop snoots were retired, everyone had Victors, they were 2300s with Blydenstein heads and exhausts, with Koni shocks, they were a fabulous tow car. Martin Lumby thumped a fence with his and put a decent dent in the front, after the event I bought it from Drake and Fletcher, still with dent. Flip and I were by then towing to events, I had come home one Friday to be greeted by dad who had bought a trailer!! (cheap I am glad to say) we hooked it on the beetle and it had land rover wheels, the back was about 4 feet off the ground… we had to do a bit of re engineering, it was shortened by 5 feet, and a pair of Indespension units put on. That trailer survived several reincarnations (including becoming a 4 wheeler) until 2000, when I gave it to Graham Standen, who has now passed it on ….. Anyway when we both towed as my Beetle was slower I led and Flip followed in the MGB GT, I hadn’t mentioned the purchase of the Victor, I just turned up on a Friday night in it, she didn’t think it was good plan, until she took it out for a quick run she came back and said from now on she was leading, she never knew a Victor went like that.

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Stepping back a little HKJ had been like it’s predecessor an all rounder, but I decided it needed more power, and I had also bought a Mini Clubman estate to run about in, that also did a few autotests and broke a drive shaft which Premier motors replaced under warrantee… HKJ had acquired some Formula Vee heads and a cam from Mike Jeffries, as well as twin minnow carbs, it would now rev to 6500 rather than 4500 and went pretty well. Soon after we had a the fuel crisis with no events… eventually the beetle’s engine dropped onto 3 while I was chasing a Merc down the Sevenoaks bypass, I calculated we were doing about 125!! I later read that the airflow to a Beetle engine stops at about 95. As there were no events, and I had the seven now, I exchanged the engine for a VW unit, so somewhere in Germany there was probably a confused man rebuilding an engine that wasn’t as he expected.. I think that D&F actually took the car in part ex. After I took the cage etc. out ..

Sometime around 1978 BTRDA started the allrounders championship, so I had a few goes at that, as well as the autotests. My best result was second and in that year I bought a 970S autocross car, it was an evil beast, and I was up against Tom Law, but managed a class win on three occasions, it had an LSD and would fight you all the way, after three laps I couldn’t get my hands up to undo the crash Page 31 of 52 helmet my arms were so pumped up! Sold it at the end of the year for the same money I bought it for.

About 1979 I thought rallying would be a good idea… so I found a rolled ex Jersey 1100 mk2 escort hire car. I then bought a mk1 autocross car to get the suspension etc, took what I wanted out and sold the shell. That had a really strong pinto, but I wanted to go 1600, and bought Trevor Smith’s cross flow. Flip had done the Faberge fiesta championship in ’79 and then bought a rolling shell, Mk1, a rough green beast, the pinto went in that and we shared it at autocross.

During the Fiesta year I did little except service for Flip, it was a Ford find a lady rally driver competition, and Flip was one of twelve given a Fiesta 1.3S to rally. The winner getting a works drive, which is how Louise Aitkin (Walker) was found. It was a very alcoholic year for us, the guy from Flip’s sponsor (Spruce Howlet) the MSA scrutineer and one of the Boreham mechanics and I tried to drink very where we went dry of port. It also included some races, and it was a bit out of order occasionally after events, I remember one of the girls being handcuffed to her steering wheel (another was a WPC) it was then noticed that she didn’t have a key, it turned out Cheshire police had different keys, in the end they had to drive from Oulton Park to Birmingham to get unlocked… Graham Robson (author and ex triumph team manager) was ‘’in charge’’ we picked his Fiesta up and put it lengthways between two trees, took him ages to get it out. We went to Belgium for a race, there was a dinner for all the Ford Belgium top brass, which was boring, so Leslie crawled under the table a tied their shoe laces together…. Sense of humour failure occurred… I think John Taylor secretly found it rather funny.

Anyway back to the Mk2, as it was an import it got a new reg number GKR759V, getting to the first event was as always a bit of a rush, so I did it without an MOT on the basis that no one would expect a month old car to need one, we arrived at Llandudno, and the first stage was the Orme, I set off with great enthusiasm changed into second and Page 32 of 52 pulled the gear lever out, so we did the stage in 2nd, at the finish the marshal said you are on fire…. I said no it’s just hot, he said well there are flames… so a quick puff of BCF sorted that and we pushed it to service, where it was found that the fuel pipe tee piece had come apart and pumped fuel over the distributor. It had also burnt some plug leads, all of which accounted for the two cylinder running at the end of the stage. We got it fixed and finished the event, but every time we hit water it got in the burnt plug leads!!

Before the roll !

I can’t remember the order of BTRDA rounds then, but Peter Singleton and Martin Kiernon shared codriving. I did a Welsh event with Martin which used the Esgair Dafid stage that featured on the BBC televised rallysprints, it was a sequence of open hairpins down hill, I lost it at the top, and collected it at the bottom, even having to

Page 33 of 52 open the side window to see as it was covered in mud… Martin was very quiet all the way down.. Later in the year I did Somerset with Peter and on the second run through a stage understeered off, got the front wheel behind a log and climbed a bank, the car then fell over!!

Peter and I climbed out and enlisted some spectators, who had never seen a car roll, and were in a bit of a flap, as well as playing pass the baby, anyway we got it the right way up and finished. I also did Keilder with Peter who had one of those duck call things shooters use… at one stage start he had the marshal’s 6 year old looking for duck under the car, we were laughing so much 15 seconds had gone before I found a gear and got going, needless to say the prize giving was a little noisy…

Later in the year Martin and I did another welsh event, remember no notes in those days, and martin didn’t call a lot off the map, we arrived at a crest flat in third, the tree line went straight on… but the road went 60 right, I tried the handbrake, but we were in the air… when we landed in tree stumps it flipped very quickly and landed on the wheels, I started it and a speccy opened the door to say we were the eleventh to roll. The car wouldn’t move, it turned out the handbrake rod had gone through the diff casing and locked the crown wheel!!

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Martin is holding the screen in, his hand was a bit bloody by stage end (Wouldham Quarry)

With that sorted we were pushed out and on our way, then I noticed wheezing noises coming from Martin.. still again we finished, Martin drove back to Kent and on Monday went to A&E where they said he had bust two ribs, another lesson do not use reclining seats, even RS ones jump the stops. I came back via an autocross at Stafford where some friends of my uncle couldn’t understand how I could do that to a new V reg car… !! I have to admit it was a bit shabby.

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Another autocross in Essex

By this time Flip and I had split up, and in late ’81 I started my own business, so a few autocross and one or two local events were the menu for a few years.

A practice day near Faversham

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Then I met Pam, whose brother did scrambles (he was national champion in pre ‘65s about ten years ago) so she was into motorsport, so she had a few goes in the escort, sprints at West Malling etc On one occasion the finish marshal had to run for his life.. it was some time later we realised that when it was sideways she didn’t have enough strength to steer one handed… she then took up co-driving for me and was very good.

The first rally we did together on Salisbury Plain.

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Wouldham again any car that went in there had white under wheel arches and in every crevice for all time.

The escort went to help the business, and then Pam joined me and did the drawings, so for a while money was short, however Pam bought a 1000cc mini DLM 996J as a road car.

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Immediately friends found bits in the back of garages and it became known as the ‘oxfam’ mini!!

Simon autocrossed the mini and that was where it died…

Chris Brown had a roll cage, and alloy wheels, Mike Jordan some full harness, another mate had an S rotting in his garden, that had some seats, and we sold the log book!! My cousin put his 1275 GT into gate post so we bought the front subframe and engine for £50, and so it went on. Stage rally regs were still lax so we did a few, and some slaloms at various venues.. one event was an airfield south of Oxford, we were reserves and got to run at number 9!! A local wanted to know how we got such a high speed, I told him we were just quick… he didn’t like that, and it turned out he had a full spec 1340 on split Webbers and all the bits, I don’t think to this day he believes we had a standard 70k mile 1275 GT, when we beat him well and truly!! I did knock the door mirror off on a chicane gateway that Pam convinced me was flat… we also collected an arrow every time round one corner! (photo) I did some PCTs in it as well for allrounders…

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We also used my mum’s Volvo for few PCTs…

More adventures from Steve next month !

COMING NEXT MONTH !

Features planned for inclusion in the next issue of Acorn are:

 SDMC awards night 2015  Targa Rally – Paul Hebdens experience of a new kind of motorsport  A guide to social media for the Graham Hill generation  The cars and drivers of the 2015 Speed League  My life in motorsport part 4

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SPEED LEAGUE 2015

Colin Spark has put the 2015 speed league calendar up on the SDMC website at http://www.sevenoaksmotorclub.com/speed-league including the regulations and entry form. As they become available, Colin will also be adding the regs and entry forms for each round, together with the event results and overall championship status. At the time of writing the Rockingham entry form is already available online.

Speed League Contenders Like the many F1 magazines over the winter that have articles listing the cars and drivers for the next season, it would be great to have a look at the entrants for the Speed League in 2015. Therefore, if you are thinking of entering, please could you send in your details before the end of February. These should include: Your name, a picture of your car, a picture of yourself, the class you are entering, the first year you entered the Speed League, your highest overall placing in the Speed League (with year), your total number of class wins over the years in the speed league and any interesting notes.

Name: Alex Peters Car: Ford Mustang GT Started SL: 2013 Highest placing: 3rd (2014) Class wins: 5 Class: A5 Notes: The Mustang now has nearly 600BHP with improved brakes and chassis for 2015. I plan to enter between 16 and 21 rounds.

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Classes are as follows: Category A: Road-Going Series/Specialist Production Cars Road- Going Series Production Cars (S.10.10.1) - Saloons and Sports Cars produced in quantities of not less than 1000 per annum. 1. Standard Production cars up to 1600cc, 2WD, List 1A tyres only 2. Standard Production cars from 1601cc to 2000cc, 2WD, List 1A tyres only 3. Up to 1400cc - 2wd only, list 1A or 1B tyres 4. From 1401cc to 2000cc – 2wd only, list 1A or 1B tyres 5. 2001cc and over – 2wd only, list 1A or 1B tyres 6. 4wd cars of all capacities - list 1A or 1B tyres Road-Going Specialist production cars (S10.10.2) – Cars with a minimum annual production of 20 Chassis which do not qualify as Road-Going Series Production Cars. Examples of road-going specialist cars are – Caterham; Westfield; Sylva; Fisher; Lotus (all models); Vauxhall 220; X-Bow and similar types/derivatives of these cars. 7. Up to 1700cc excluding motorcycle engined cars- – list 1A or 1B tyres 8. 1701cc and over including motorcycle engined cars of any capacity – list 1A or 1B tyres Category B: Modified Series/Specialist Production Cars (S.10.10.3/4) 9. Up to 1400cc excluding motorcycle engined cars 10. From 1401cc to 2000cc excluding motorcycle engined cars 11. 2001cc and over excluding motorcycle engined cars Category C: Sports Libre Cars (S.10.10.6) 12. Up to 1800cc (Motor cycle engined cars up to 1100cc) 13. 1801cc and over (Motor cycle engined cars over 1100cc) Category D: Racing Cars (S10.10.7) 14. Up to 1100cc 15. 1101cc and over

The Speed League is free to enter and already 2015 season is looking like being the most challenging ever with 39 rounds to choose from and many past entrants returning to challenge !

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WHATS ON IN OUR AREA

Event list kindly provided by ASEMC

Date Club Type Location Status

Sunday Blackpalfrey MC of Regularit CM 08.02.15 Kent y 12 car Sunday Buckmore Park KC Kart Buck CM 15.02.15 Meeting more Park Friday Eastbourne & RAM Weald 12 CM 20.02.15 MC Car Rally Thursday Sevenoaks & DMC Scatter CM 26.02.15 Friday Chelmsford MC 12 Car CM 27.02.15 Rally Sunday Borough 19 MC Autosolo North CM 01.03.15 Weald Sunday Falcon MC Classic March Hare NB/C 01.03.15 Reliability M Trial Friday Bexley LCC Weald 12 CM 13.03.15 Car Rally Sunday Blackpalfrey MC of Regularit CM 15.03.15 Kent y 12 Car Sunday Buckmore Park KC Kart Buck CM 15.03.15 Meeting more Park Sunday Borough 19 MC Sprint North NB 15.03.15 Weald Thursday Maidstone & Mid Scatter CM 19.03.15 Kent Friday Chelmsford MC 12 Car CM 20.03.15 Rally Saturday BARC Midlands Sprint Rockingham NB 22.03.15 Centre Sunday Sevenoaks & DMC Car Trial Stoneacre CM Page 43 of 52

22.03.15 Farm Sunday Chelmsford MC Single MOD Wood NB 29.03.15 Venue bridge Stage Rally Sunday Sevenoaks & DMC Sprint North NB 29.03.15 Weald

RALLY CORNER

Rally School This winter’s series of Rally Schools continues on the second Wednesday of each month (11th February 2015). All are welcome you just need a map (OS Landranger 188), a few soft pencils and a brain. If you know you’ll be attending please let Chin know ([email protected] ) so that he can print enough course materials. IT’S FREE !

JGF ACORN TANKARD AWARD

In 2014, we did not have any entries for the JGF Tankard award, awarded for the best ‘Acorn on Tour’ picture – so send in your selfies with Acorn as soon as you can !

SDMC MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

You can renew your membership to the Sevenoaks and District Motor Club through the website at the following link:, This includes options for online processing using paypal for payment, or printing out a form and posting it the old fashioned way. http://www.sevenoaksmotorclub.com/membership-renewal

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CLUB REGALIA Ark Trading, who have provided our clothing regalia for many years now have set up the club on their website for the online ordering of their products. These include sweatshirts, polo shirts, etc.

Log on to http://www.arktrading.com

From the menu on the left select ‘Club Sites’ click on ‘Motor Clubs’ and click on our badge to access the products directly. The password for ordering is sdmc123

MOTOR SPORTS ASSOCIATION

The 2015 MSA Blue Book is viewable on line: https://www.msauk.org/assets/2015msayearbook.pdf

ADVERTISING IN ACORN

You can advertise your in Acorn and reach hundreds of target readers, their friends and families. In particular if your business focuses on motoring, mechanical work and associated services or covers Kent and surrounding areas.

Rates are very reasonable £75 for a half page advert, £100 for a whole page. For this one payment you will appear in every issue for a year !

TheAcorn

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COMMITTEE REPORT

Summary of the Committee Meeting held at the Bell, Kemsing Wednesday 3rd December 2014

Recent Events - November: 12 car ran; it was organised by Tim & Paul and started at the Malt Shovel at Eynsford. CC won and everyone had a good evening.

Trials - The MSA would like to use the March trial as a National Championship round again in 2015 – this was agreed. Chris Judge will be Entries Secretary for the event.

North Weald Noise - Ian Crocker and David Balderson & DB recently attended the noise meeting at North Weald. Representatives attended from B19, CMA and the Noise Abatement Officer from the local council. This meeting was only for motor clubs using the airfield and a separate meeting is to be held with other users such as Car Limits.

Firstly the workings of a sprint were explained to the council representatives – it appears that there are 3 people complaining, one from the farm on the right, one from the new estate and another behind the distribution unit. It is noted that complaints were recently received for an event that was cancelled at the last minute. Approx half the complaints are from weekends and the other half in the week with the main issue being noise which starts early and then continues all day. Discussion followed to find a compromise. If possible the starts should be delayed until 10.00 a.m. or at the very earliest 09.30 a.m. and there must be a break of 1 hour for lunch – this must all be strictly enforced. We will get a set of keys to gate D which will mean that we have access away from the houses but no-one is to be at the venue before 8.00 a.m. If we have an issue with loss of numbers of entries as a result of this later start then we may get a lower track rental price.

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The club must be strict – with no demo runs at all from cars that we now are noisy.

Following the Halcrow report in 2011 the consultants are reviewing North Weald and it is possible that the area might become a leisure centre or housing in the future so they cannot commit to our long term use of the airfield.

Speed Report - the speed league forum meeting took place – meeting was well attended. New ideas were raised in the form of a pre-1980 Historic Sprint Championship – Jason Andrews suggested this and has drawn up some sample/idea regulations which DB is currently looking at. He is pulling them together into a set of supplementary regulations and will show them to the MSA for some feedback. DB enquired whether or not this is something that the club would be interested in trying. Costs would be minimal with just the cost of a permit and up to 3 awards for each of the classes – Race and Road Going. JA will score and entrants must be members of SDMC to take part.

Russ Giddings and Alex Peters had a meeting with Andy Barnes (owner of Kleers) who runs the Time Attach Championship and Wednesday evening meets at Brands Hatch. RG is investigating using the meets as a way to further promote the club and maybe set up a demo/taster autotest. This would need to start early due to the 8.00 p.m. curfew. Everyone agreed that RG should pursue this line of enquiry.

A Wacky Races event was also raised at the Speed League Forum which would include events such as the Pomeroy; Time Attack, Motorsport at the Palace; Brittany and Coventry sprints. Chin is to investigate with the MSA the inclusion of Motorsport at the Palace and also the French events.

Russ Giddings announced that he will be standing down from scoring the speed league championship in 2015. Colin Spark will take Page 47 of 52 over this role. Russ will remain on the committee.

Crystal Palace - No further progress has been made on finding a replacement Event director; Andy Elcomb will email members and write something for inclusion in the Acorn.

Rally - 2014 Championship Results:

Stage Drivers

 Jack Brazil: Brands Hatch Winter 37; Southdowns Goodwood 36; Middlewick Woodbridge 5; Brands Hatch Summer 5 83  Oliver Howard: Brands Hatch Winter 29; Southdowns Goodwood 37; Middlewick Woodbridge 5 71  Martyn Ellis: Brands Hatch Summer 28  Conner Bateup: Brands Hatch Summer 21

Stage Co-Drivers

 Martin Brazil: Brands Hatch Winter 37; Southdowns Goodwood 36; Middlewick Woodbridge 5; Brands Hatch Summer 5 83  Simon Howard: Brands Hatch Winter 29; Southdowns Goodwood 37; Middlewick Woodbridge 5 71  Clive Letherby: Brands Hatch Summer 28  Andy Elcomb: Brands Hatch Summer 21  Russell Burton: Brands Hatch Summer 5

Road Drivers

 Graham Child: S W Endurance 5; Ross Endurance 5; Bournemouth Endurance 33; Great Bustard Endurance 25 68

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Road Navigators

 Kevin Ablitt: S W Endurance 33; Ross Endurance 5; Bournemouth Endurance 28; Great Bustard Endurance 35 101  Andy Elcomb: S W Endurance 5; Ross Endurance 5; Bournemouth Endurance 33; Great Bustard Endurance 25 68

Social – Rosemary and Nigel Mead announced that they will be stepping down from the role of Social Secretary at the AGM in April but are happy to assist in organising one-off events such as quizzes and scatters in the future.

 November: Speed League Forum and Autotest awards were well supported; the Autotest awards were quite short notice so there were a number of people unable to attend and collect their awards – these will be posted out to recipients.  December : Seasonal Noggin & Natter on the 17th at the Bell, Kemsing  January : New Year’s Day Walk – RM, NM and Chin to liaise  Noggin & Natter on the 21st at The Bell, Kemsing.  February: RM is investigating a Curling evening for either February or March. £160 per lane with a maximum of 8 people per lane which would work out at £20 per head; a refundable deposit of £60 is required (refundable up to 28 days before)  February Awards night on 7th February – menus have been received and will be posted on the website and also included in the Acorn. Actual cost is £29.50 a head and we will charge £35.00 a head – everyone agreed.  April AGM on the 15th

MSA/Affiliations - MSA have increased Club Development Fund grants to £6,000. Dave Town is the new ASEMC Chairman

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David Balderson announced he will not be involved in the Speed League in 2016

Joy and Alex receiving their award of the SDMC “Mug of the Month” from Chin.

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“What motorsport have you done recently” – from front cover

Stuart Giles (above) with the single seat race car he built himself and a welcome appearance from Chris Judge (below) back on the race track, both at Debden Sprint, September 2014.

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