Pendle District Motor Club Newsletter
August '95
CHAIRMAN'S CHAT
The AGM came and went, much as 1994's did. No major problems, no-one interested enough
to turn up, except the usual committee members and officials, who were all voted back into
office for a further 12 months. It would appear that finances took a bashing last
financial year. This was due in the main to the non-running of the Road Rally
(£500 profit the previous year) and the late cancellation of the "Lee Holland Memorial"
(due to lack of entries). It was felt that an increase in subs was warranted at this time,
the new rates are £8 single and £9.50 double.
During 1994 the RACMSA sent letters to Motor Clubs requesting a copy of their rules
and regulations. We found that we only had a draft copy of our rules, and as a result
of this we have decided to hold a Special AGM on 23rd August. The sole purpose of this
meeting is to adopt these draft rules as PDMC's constitution. You will find copies of
these rules and notes enclosed with this newsletter, please read them.
A good social night not to be missed, is the annual rounders match. The date this year
is Monday 14th August 6.30 pm prompt at the Earby Cricket Club, where we will be playing
our old friends from Keighley. We try to get the ladies to play, but everyone is welcome
and if it rains then we play Pool,Darts etc. and hopefully drink lots of falling down water.
A good time is had by all at these do's so please make an effort to come along.
The following weekend, 20th August, is the Scammonden Hillclimb and we need as many people
there to help and/or compete. We need people there by 8am and the day usually ends between
5.30 and 6.00 pm.
The Baitings Hillclimb saw 6 Pendle crews having a go, nice to see Ian & Christine
competing again in Ian's Golf. Bill was having a go in his newly acquired GP N 16 valve
Astra. I am pencilled in to do the Silva Stages with Bill on the 12th, although Bill has
said should I have a car by then he will seek another co-driver, thank you Bill.
On the subject of cars, due to the Clio project being nowhere near completion, I am having
to purchase something for Mull. The entry was sent off on the 10th July with all the
details blank!!! During the week ending the 23rd July, Ian and I went to see three cars
and in the process travelled nearly 1000 miles. A 1300cc Mk 2 Escort in Tamworth (OK but
wanted a lot of work to get it ready), a 1600cc Mk 2 Escort in Mansfield and a
2000cc Mk 2 Escort in Newcastle. The choice is between the 1600 and the 2000, deciding
factor is the resale value. Hopefully by the time the Hillclimb is with us I shall have
a car once more, so watch this space. That's it for now see you all on the 14th August.
Bye for now
Rod
Back to Contents
Hillclimb at Baitings Dam
by Bill Chadwick
18 June 1995
I entered this event, after buying a new Rally Car, just to give it a shakedown.
The car is a 2lt. 16v. Astra GTE and was Kevin Furber's at one time. I'm hoping to do the
Silva in it. I had never done a Hillclimb before so I was a bit apprehensive at first,
with all the quick motors in the paddock but soon got into it. Rod and Alan were out in
Rod's Clio, also Ian and Christine in the Golf. I enjoyed the event but would have liked
to get into 3rd gear. I was impressed with the Astra engine and can see why so many people
use it in rear wheel drive cars. Having enjoyed it so much I entered the sprint at
Three Sisters on 2-07-95 but it was all a bit of a rush, with me working about 80 hours
on site and then rushing back to the workshop to turn cars out for customers. I worked
late on the car (11pm) so I was on the M6 before I realised I'd left my helmet and racing
suit in the workshop, so I worked out how long it would take to go back and get them,
I could just make it! I was just about to turn off the motorway and head back when a tyre
blew on the trailer, by the time we had changed the wheel and loaded up the car, time
was very tight and with no spare for the trailer I decided to call it a day and go home
very cheesed off but that's what you get for rushing about.
Back to Contents
The Gordon Musgrove Rally
by Bill Chadwick
15th July 1995
It was Neil's idea for me to borrow his navigator, Abigail, for the rally as he and his
dad were going to the British G.P. that weekend, so we fixed up a night to have a practice
and for her to get used to my driving. We all met at Neil's mums' on the Tuesday before the
event, it had been a very stormy day and it was very foggy up on the hills, but as it
turned out we had picked a good proportion of the rally route so it was a good practice.
We were seeded at 14 for the event, Abigail was a bit nervous at first but as we got the
route information and started to plot she was more relaxed. After the start we had a short
run up the M6 to J36. TC 1 was on the bridge over the motorway. The route started just
north of Killington and went over the back of "Lupton Ford", after the first cars had
gone through someone locked the gate so this section was cocked up. Then there was a
herring bone that would not plot due to some maps having "whites" coloured "yellow". We
missed a PC on the red here because we were on a yellow looking for code boards. Over
to Bentham and on to map 98 and Lythe Fell back onto map 97 and over "White Moss" down
into "Wry". TC 5 was just outside Hornby, we stopped here to work on the lights but didn't
have time to fix it so we carried on with the spots going out on every bump. After TC 5 came
the classic roads north of Aughton and up past the "Red Well Inn" then down "Sunny Bank",
I got a bit excited here and Abigail was looking worried but I calmed down after we got out
of "Wash Dub Woods" and into half way, we had dropped 4 mins and 2 fails, both fails were
PC's, one a mis-plot and one on the herring bone. The lights had gone on the blink about
half way through the first half, it was the relay for the spots, so I wired them direct to
the main beam wire and hoped it wouldn't cook the wiring. I think Abigail was pleased to
be back and still within the time. The first control after the restart was a regularity
section which was defined by black spots and timed at 26.8 mph. My average speed computer
designed and built by Andrew Errington (plug) was working brilliantly and was only 9 secs.
out over 11 miles. At TC 7 a set of Tulips some with app/dep and others without. We made
a mistake on this one and we were off route for about 5/6 miles but this was enough to put
us 6 mins. down at the next control. It wasn't Abigail's fault as we were trying to pick
up give ways that were not en-route. I can't personally see the point of giving out red
herrings as it would take the same time and effort to plot correct information, but anyway
beef over. We got back on route and went over the "Trough of Bowland" to Dunsop Bridge and
TC 8. TC 9 was just south of Dunsop Bridge and was the start of a 75 min. section with a
lot of instructions but we found these straightforward. So we were quickly away, Abigail
had plotted it spot on and was now on the boil shouting the bends in good style. We had
picked up some dirt in the carb jets, on the trough due to some spirited driving, when
we had taken off on a jump about 4ft, the landing gave us a shower of sparks, shook
everything including Abigail (sorry). Everything was going well and we were flying when
Abigail shouted long right into a ford, I saw it and it looked flat we were only 30ft off
it when I realised it was steep but it was too late, we hit it at about 40 mph. As the
water went over the roof I saw the number plate go over as well. The guard took the force,
the potty plug fell out and the inside of the car looked like we'd had burglars. We stopped
at the next junction to let the bemused crew of the car behind past and regain our composure.
Off we went again to Oakenclough and over "Harrisend Fell" which went into Forton Services
and the finish. After the usual arguments provisional results showed us 11th O/A and the
winner Dave Evans/Criss Ware from Rhyl DMC, my old club. The other crew from PDMC Paul
Hombergilan Vale cleaned the route on time but picked up 9 fails. I was pleased with the
result, we got 17 mins, 7 fails because 5 of the fails were due to us not plotting correctly
and we lost 6 mins due to being off route after TC 7. So a good night's sport and Abigail's
first finish, I think with a bit more confidence and a lot of practice she will be a good
navigator. Hope we can do another rally together in the not too distant future.
Back to Contents
From the Web
A friend of Bill's at Lancaster Univerisity Computer dept. put a copy of our PDMC newsletter
on the internet way back in May. this produced the following reply:
Dear Mr Errington,
I could not resist replying to the information I picked up from the Internet
Re: PDMC. I am an old resident of Barlic, an old pupil of "Barlic Modern" in the period
1955-1960. I now live and work in Brisbane. It was great to read about the countryside I knew
well. Thanks for the memory revival.
Back to Contents