MG AUTOTEST AT DELAMONT ON 11th MARCH 2017 – REPORT, RESULTS & PHOTOS

First outing of Michael Workman/Sam Lyle's superb new Nova Special

Some initial photos have been added to the Gallery. Access these by clicking on the ‘Gallery’ tab above and look for the file entitled “Delamont Autotest 11 March 2017” Sorry it is not in chronological order within the gallery.

Results here: Delamont Results 11 March 2017

Event Report:

It was good to be back to Delamont. Such good people who help us out time and again. The Park is developing and, hopefully, this won’t be a problem with availability in years to come. A new building has magically appeared and we were originally not going to be able to use the Heron’s Nest for sign-on etc. but, as things work out, it suddenly became available and we were back in our second home. Also luckily, the rain that threatened never materialised and the overnight rain slowly dried as the event went on.

There were essentially two tests, one in each of the large car parks … and what superb tests they proved to be. Round the islands as always but with some nice tail throws and fun slaloms. We completed these 4 times before joining them up and running our almost traditional mega test to see if we had learned how to do it all without mishap. Very rewarding, even if there is always some room for docking off a little more time.

Getting it absolutely right was Jeremy Tomalin in his home made Ford Special, now after all these years resplendent in white livery with a smart stripe instead of the bare aluminium panels. What a terrific comeback by Jeremy who hasn’t driven the car for several years.

Runner-up with 4 seconds between them was brother Tim in the Mini Special. Tim must be regretting picking up 15 penalty seconds and giving the bragging rights to Jeremy but that is the name of the game.

Third and with an excellent showing and punching above his weight was Richard Earney in the Mini beating Gareth Dillon to the podium, Gareth having picked up a fail at Test 2 and opening the door. Behind Gareth was Andrew Earney in another superb showing in the standard Toyota Yaris.

First MG and driving neatly, as always, was Michael Reid followed by David Cochrane in the Toyota engined Midget who suffered with a fail at Test 1. The top ten was completed by Gordon Buckley who lost two places with a pylon fault, Alex Lyttle and Jimmy Dougan.

First MX5 home was Rodney McCready who also had a good day at the clubman round at Carn the previous week.

Class winners were as follows:

  • Class 4 – Michael Reid
  • Class 5 – Richard Earney
  • Class 6 – Rodney McCready
  • Class 7 – Tim Tomalin (o/a winner forfeiting class place)
  • Class 9 – Redmond McNamee

It was nice to see Kevin McNamee getting a drive when Ian McCann generously offered him a dual drive. Also good to see John Gardner out again in the Pinto engined Special and getting to grips with it. We were also treated to the first outing of a Nova Special that has been built by Michael Workman and Sam Lyle. It is a remarkable vehicle but, sadly, its first outing was short lived when a gear lever snapped. James Mansfield, who came a long way, had a clevis pin fall out and a replacement could not be found. Very bad luck indeed. Brendan Mullan was also forced to retire.

All in all a terrific event with the tests pitched at a perfect level for a club autotest and enjoyed by all. Well done COC Stephen Dawson and all marshals and officials who came along and gave up their time.

Our next event is our ANICC Championship round at TTS on 1st April. Please note that there is a clubman event running in tandem with the main championship event and that you are encouraged to take part. If you have any questions regarding this, contact Carol or Malcolm McQueen whose details can be found in the ANICC yearbook or website.

Results can be found here: Delamont Results 11 March 2017