The New Year Autosolo

Sunday 20^th January 2008 at Demon Tweeks, Wrexham.

   You may have read in the last newsletter that CVMC was invited by Knutsford & District MC to participate in their New Year Autosolo held at Demon Tweeks. My dad and I had previously entered this event last year and as we’d enjoyed the event, we were determined to enter it again and as you are allowed up to 3 drivers per car, we’d also persuaded my Mum to have a go. The only problem was that the event was held the day after our awards night.
   Prior to the event we had a dilemma deciding which car to use: we’ve run my venerable Saxo before but as it’s up for sale (see shameless plug below!) and I was convinced that something untoward would happen to it, our only option was to re-commission my road rally Polo that had been off the road since stuffing it into a hedge on the Firefly. The car had been repaired but had no MOT was SORN’d and we only had a week to sort it out. For once everything went according to plan. The car was checked over, insurance arranged and booked in for its MOT. Thankfully the car passed and it was taxed and back on the road!
   After a thoroughly enjoyable awards do (and about 5 hours sleep) it was with heavily lidded eyes that I (auto) piloted the Polo to Tweeks, only for the alternator light to come on halfway there. Fortunately it went out again but I was beginning to wonder if I’d made the right choice!

The car the, admittedly basic, scrutineering (do you have your MOT, is the battery secure and steering wheel attached), and I milled about drinking coffee, waiting for my folks, hoping that I would soon wake up. When they arrived I re-parked the car next to theirs and we went to sign on. We returned to the Polo and were sticking the numbers on when there was a loud bang and the car suddenly lurched backwards. After first checking that I had actually left the handbrake on, I turned around to find that a fellow competitor hadn’t and his TR3 had clipped the front of the Polo before hitting the car next to us! Amazingly there were only minor scratches to the other cars and the Polo was unscathed. No matter what else happened, I was happy that I’d left the Saxo at home.
  
The day’s competition involved three different tests around the side car park and loading bay, with between three and four runs each per test. All times count bar your slowest from each test, so consistency is important as well as speed. Competitors were split into three groups (A ,B & C)), with A starting the first test while C marshalled and group B spectated. Test two is started by group B while A marshal, and so on. Through our previous experience, we’ve found that to achieve a good time on an autosolo, the trick is to be neat and tidy, keeping your momentum up without wasting time and speed with wheelspin, handbraking and sliding. Due to the changing conditions, I found that my attempts at neatness went out of the window, and I spent the day alternating between setting reasonable times and driving like a Friday night chav (maybe the Saxo would have been more appropriate).

My dad was slightly more conservative than me on the first test, as he’d only driven the car for about two minutes before the start and Mum was even steadier but to be fair she hadn’t even sat in the car before her first run. Mum’s times improved through the day and she seemed to enjoy herself despite her seat flying backwards at the start of one test leaving her unable to reach the pedals! The rain eased off during the second test and Dad soundly beat me (my times that is, not abusive behaviour), leaving me ahead by a slender 4sec margin, and he set quick times on the last test, just before the rain returned. However on the last test I managed to drive exceptionally and hammered him…..er…no…I drove like a monkey and was lucky to still be ahead at the end though only by about a second (partly due to my inspired line across one of the pavements on my last run).
   At the end of the day we’d finished 11^th, 12^th and 19^th in class and had a fun cheap day’s Motorsport,  and I’d managed not to crash the Polo, which is a competition first for me in that car!

Thanks to all at KDMC for the invite, hopefully we’ll bring more entries next time. Special thanks to Duncan Wild (CoC) who was extremely accommodating, allowing us to decide on the car entered on the day.
   Thanks also to Al Hayward and Automark for getting the car through the MOT at such short notice, and to all of the CVMC members who braved the weather and their hangovers to see what the fuss was about.
Until next time,

The Thomas Family.
 

(shameless plug: 2001 Citroen Saxo VTR, metallic gold, £2350 ono, 2 owners, fsh, 68,000, never raced or rallied….apart from night navs, gymkhana, autosolos, scatters….Contact Stu Thomas)