Clearly, MSCC members were suffering from “cabin fever” as there was a record turnout of competitors and marshals for the first trial of the season on Sunday March
Several new faces and some new competing cars took to the hills in an effort to find some traction on the very wet and slippery grass. It was definitely a case of, to quote Paul Simon, “the nearer your destination, the more you’re slip-slidin’ away“.
Class 1 had a total of 10 entrants and it was good to see the Thomson family competing with the big MG ZT, Ken eventually winning the Non-Experts Award. Victory in the class went to Jamie Gibbon in the Nissan Micra with a 6 point lead over Raymond Gilbert.
Class 3 saw two Midgets, a BGT and the Minor 1000 of Pete Babbs unsuccessfully attempt to dethrone Brian Hopkins in the Austin Seven Special but the conditions were such that the low horsepower and skinny tyres of the bathtub-on-wheels were just what was needed to secure a class win.
Class 5 was an all-Morgan class with four cars and six drivers. Marion Hopkins debuted the latest addition to the fleet in the form of a very original, early +8 and it clearly worked as she carried off the Ladies’ Award. Colin Mackay mastered the conditions to win the class and take overall victory with a total points loss of 68 which indicates just how difficult the conditions were. On the final runs, some competitors were having great difficulty just getting to the start line of some of the hills. Unusually, all three MG’s in Class 3 failed to finish.
Thanks are due to all the marshals who endured the cold, windy and eventually wet conditions with good humour, to Keith for opening up and closing down and of course, to our own “blonde bombshell” Shonah for her efforts at the helm of the barbecue.
The results are available here on the events page or here as a direct link to the PDF.