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After unsettled weather on the Saturday we were lucky to get a full day of dry running on Sunday. There were great tracks laid out for us by Steve Whittington and Bill Mexson who organised a great event. Matt Downes and Ian Rogers helped to make sure we had as smooth a day as possible. This was needed as we had a big entry with 49 competitors entered and a large number of new faces to Autosolos which resulted in a large convoy at the beginning of the day (cars were checked for old hats like me sneaking a free lap!). 

Steve Sherwood in his Smart Roadster was attending his first club event and set some great times in a very competitive Class F and coming 4th in class with only a 700cc Smart Roadster.

Classes A & B were amalgamated due to the low entries in Class A. In a repeat of 2015 Paul Prescott and Peter Manning took 1st and 2nd respectively with Sam Wright taking 3rd in his VW Polo. Paul did his best to pass the trophy over to someone else but despite losing coolant his Mini just wouldn’t give up. They don’t build them like that anymore!

Class C was closely contested with Neil Brown taking 1st and Russell Higgs beating Mark Straker to second on the decisive last test.

Class D was dominated by the Garsides with Adam winning the family battle over David. Ian Grant chased down 3rd place in a competitive class.

Class E also known at the MX5 class had some infiltrators. Euan Muirhead (Vauxhall VX220), Simon Currie (Ford StreetKA) Trevor Newman and Charlotte Newman (Toyota MR2) were all looking to take down the 17 MX5’s in their class. It was Jim Bryant who took the crown as the fastest in Class E… This is no easy feat with the such a strong field. Claude Matons was 2rd and Kraigy Haughton 3rd. It was Steve Woodings and his trio who gave us the show of the day as they triple drove his MX5 burning through set after set of tyres giving a drift masterclass. This shows why the MX5 is the weapon of choice!

Class F gave us the battle of the Westfields with only a 3 second gap between 1st and 2nd. Jennifer Caldecourt took the win from David Buttle and Robert Solarski came in in 3rd with his Subaru Justy.

The FDMC Index Award went to James Matons who was 9 seconds faster than the FTD on indexed time and also the fastest MX5!

The fastest time of the day went to Andrew Thompson. He deserved this title after he recovered from a bumpy start to be unbeatable in EVERY test and ultimately taking his Caterham 7 to a great result.

Overall this seasons Autosolos have been a great success with loads of new and old faces. I would like to take the time to thank all the organisers, time keepers and marshals over the year that have given up their precious time to let us enjoy the sport we love. I am sure I speak for all the drivers when I say… Thank You!

Award Winners

Fastest Time of Day Andrew Thompson
Index Award James Matons
First Lady Alice Tribe
1st Class A & B Paul Prescott
1st Class C Neil Brown
1st Class D Adam Garside
1st Class E Jim Bryant
1st Class F Jennifer Caldecourt
2nd Class A & B Peter Manning
2nd Class C Russell Higgs
2nd Class D David Garside
2nd Class E Claude Matons
2nd Class F David Buttle
3rd Class A & B Sam Wright
3rd Class C Mark Straker
3rd Class D Ian Grant
3rd Class E Kraigy Haughton
3rd Class F Robert Solarski

Write-up: Neil Brown.

Posted by: Geoff Wade.

After a mixed Saturday for setting up we were pleasantly surprised to see perfect weather conditions for the event. Changes to the area available to us did mean a different approach to the course lay out, the result being a course using every square metre possible but taking into account the nature of the surface.

Great to see a good number of first time soloists.

Straight out of the box saw class E making the running Mantas Sliogeris in front of Michael Yates, class F were struggling with Paul Prescott (Class B) in sixth.

Course 2 was faster giving a small advantage to Andrew with Mantas staying ahead but class E still held the running, Paul however was still there in his 1275 mini.

Course 3 saw a change of direction with similar times and little change in positions, Paul suffered some reliability issues and dropped back and Jenifer Caldecourt started to give the leaders something to think about.

Course 4 took a few seconds longer but kept the pressure up, Steve Woodings got the hang of his ‘new’ car to catch up in class E but Mantas remained unbeatable all day.

Here then are the final results:

Fastest Overall Mantas Sliogeris
Best on Index Martin Prescott
1st in Class B John Nicholls
1st in Class C Neil Brown
1st in Class D Ian Grant
1st in Class E Michael Yates
1st in Class F Andrew Thompson
2nd in Class B Paul Prescott
2nd in Class C Tim Cartledge
2nd in Class D Richard Corney
2nd in Class E Steve Woodings
2nd in Class F Richard Whittington
3rd in Class B Sam Wright
3rd in Class E Aaron Roffey
Fastest Lady Jenny Caldercourt

Full results are at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwvGR4 … sp=sharing 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwvGR4 … sp=sharing 

Special thanks of course goes to the non-competing marshals who as always stood out in the sunshine to ensure you all had a good, efficiently run day. Calculations of the scores, was ably carried out by Ian & Chriss who gave you all up to the minute scores. Simon May saw to it that all the cars were safe to compete. Helen & Alan kept you moving on the start line with Helen in the background ensuring good/safe organisation

Write up: Keith Pettit & Pete Manning.

Posted by: Geoff Wade.

Well, what a good day out of motorsport that was! 

The event marked the debut of Adam Quinn as an FDMC Clerk of the Course, and what a good set of tests were laid out.  We had a full entry to the Clubmans event, and were additionally pleased to welcome some BTRDA championship contenders to the National B permit event.

For the first two morning courses we were able to add the new loop in each direction, which added length but also some driver caution, and therefore time, to the overall runs. The feedback I got suggested the loop was a bit Marmite… some competitors loved it, some found it a bit difficult to navigate. Fair play to those who were able to attack the course & eek out what proved to be some significant time advantages over their fellows.

At the later than planned lunch time break, the top 3 honours were:-

Some tough choices had to be made during lunch and the organisers reluctantly had to acknowledge that keeping the extended loop would mean seriously overunning on end-time. So the afternoon resumed, with courses 3 and 4 being the same layout back to back, and without the loop.  Instantly, the competitor fun-factor was back, and significantly faster times were being posted by all.  The event finished strongly at around 4.30, and awards presented after the site tidy-up.

Overall, a sunny day, relatively stoppage free, and Doug Mancini’s lovely Austin Mini Cooper-S the only retirement (& fuel filler cap since retrieved off the course).

Awards & Winners were:-

Links to Final Results
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwvGR … WhiZFJFY3c
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwvG … GlrcmdnN0U

Write-up by Matt Downes.

Posted by Geoff Wade.