Sunday 25th September dawned quite bright at Burton Dassett as the Midland Centre of the MG Car Club welcomed 31 drivers in 23 cars to the annual Autumn Trial. The size of the puddles in the car park were a bit of a giveaway as to what the conditions would be like early on, very muddy and slippery, typical Autumn Trial conditions that we haven’t seen for some years.
Six MGs entered, good to see after a lean period. With a bit of shuffling around of the rear engine cars and specials we managed to get a competition going in all the classes. Also rewarding that three first time crews, Warwick and Mark Endley, Andrew Everton and Peter Tuckley in Lieges and David and Christopher Edwards sharing a very standard MG F took part, along with MG old timers, Stuart Dean, John Dorney and Frank Vautier returning to the fray after a gap of some years. David Bowlas and Robert Meakin took care of scrutineering.
Clerk of the Course Brian Osborn and a gang of very welcome and willing helpers laid out 7 sections in time for a 10:30 start.
Those rear engine Imps were at it again; scrabbling and finding prodigious grip where none seemed to exist for others. By lunchtime Steve Courts was 8 marks to the good over Dave and Jennie Oliver, a margin which improved to 11 marks by the end as Steve ran out winner of the Autumn Cup.
The competition was even closer between Adrian and Liz Tucker-Peake’s MG F and the Peter Manning/Frank Sluter Midget, Adrian and Liz winning the Allen Trophy for the best MG by a single mark.
Don Adderley and Jimmy Milligan showed the front wheel drive Celica who was boss by winning class 1. Don and Helen Skelton won class 2 in their A7 Sports Special, both Claire and Robert Renshaw competed hard in their more standard 1930 A7, we do need more lady drivers taking part
Five Lieges with seven drivers competed in class 7B in what turned out to be nip and tuck all day, Ray and Hannah Ferguson beat Mark and Warwick Endley by the same 11 marks to win the class. John and Margaret Charles tied with Oliver and Richard Irvine but a special test margin of just 0.1 seconds saw John and Margaret take 3rd place. However, Oliver was the clear winner of the best Novice award, well done.
Family rivalry was well to the fore all day with seven cars shared by 14 drivers, a great deal of comparison went on with a number of the parents coming out on the wrong end of the scores, well done to their offspring.
A fun day seemed to be had by all with plenty of socialising and help for the new crews. it goes without saying what a debt of gratitude we owe to the marshals who although spread pretty thin kept score all day. Finally hats off to the results team of Jane Bury and Andrea Marquez Carnacho who once again added up remarkably quickly so that we were able to present all the trophies on the day.
Thanks for all the support you gave, including the lunch time chat about how we can drum up more entries for trials. Look forward to seeing you in Spring 2017 at Lintridge Farm at a revitalised Spring Trial.
Regards
Tony Lake
On behalf of the Midland Centre MGCC
Rp
