MGCC SW Centre Autotest by invitation from Minehead Motor Club
If on the fourth Sunday in June this year somebody, somewhere was watching a weather radar screen, they would have seen a brief, but heavy shower arrive over Minehead at about 11am. They could have then tracked the dark clouds until they arrived at Cranmore and the MGCCSW Summer Picnic at apparently 2:30pm. Such was the story of the day. The shower, so unwelcome at the Picnic in fact brought a little touch of excitement and numerous harmless spins at the Minehead venue.
The long-suffering rugby practice pitch that has been the home of the Ellicombe Autotest for several years had been initially dry and tending to dust until the shower made for a very greasy top. However, after lunch conditions had dried out to a just perfect surface.
An eclectic mix of eleven cars started the event. There were two tests with four runs each before lunch and a further two tests also with four runs in the afternoon. Tests were all forwards and included the perennial favourite “Brands Hatch Indy Circuit”. Cars were split into four classes, basically FWD and RWD, driven to or trailered to the event. Unfortunately, the clash with the MGCC Picnic meant only Chris Pelmear in the red Midget 1275 made the event this year, but thanks to Rob Woodward’s F, in fact 20% of the finishers were MGs! Rob Hall’s BMW was a DNF.
The event always suits a well driven FWD and Tom Seymour’s Fiat Punto took FTD and Class C, whilst Charlie Merson’s very powerful 2.0l Clio Sport came second and took Class A. There was a close battle between the two trailered MX5s in Class D with, both using their LSDs to have lots of tail out fun. Finally, our club friend Clive Rayson took Class B with his Westfield from Chris Pelmear who was second in this class of five starters.
If there had been a “driver of the day” award then it would surely have gone to Omar Ateem in his first competitive event and driving his 100hp Fiat Panda Sport. Omar handled the little beast well and but what appears to have been a disaster on Test Four he would have been much further up the order. His huge smile certainly indicated this would not be his last competitive event..
Huge thanks to Minehead Motor Club for yet another hugely enjoyable, friendly, non-damaging event with plenty of healthy competitiveness.
See you next year!
Chris Pelmear
