The old world War 1 army camp near Stobs Castle boasts a maze of roadways and tracks, many of them now well covered with grass and these were put to good use. Providing a series of innovative and interesting tests. The first loop of 4 tests saw Tom Hall’s Mini take an early lead from the Simmonds and David |Agnew’s Porsche. Ralph and Paul Miller became the first retirement, their Triumph TR3A suffering oil pressure problems. Then Terry and Maureen Dixon, having done 3 wrong tests out of the first 4, decided it just wasn’t their day and headed for home.

The second lop of tests saw the Simmonds get into their stride and a string of fastest times put them at the head of the leaderboard, although they couldn’t afford any slip ups as Tom Hall was a mere 6 seconds in arrears. A good battle was emerging between the Escorts of John Bertram and Andy Burns with Bertram sneaking ahead when Burns car cut out due to a malfunctioning alternator. The spectacular Escort of Campbell/ Horne was temporarily sidelined with a duff starter motor but a lot of frantic “Wire Wiggling” got them back into action.

For the second half of the event, the tests became markedly longer and this seemed to suit the Simmonds who extended their lead to over 30 seconds from Hall and Agnew. Behind the leading trio came the Escorts of Burns, Campbell and Bertram, all bunched closely together. An interesting entry was the Series 3 Landrover of Donald and Mairi Urquhart which was picking it’s way adroitly round the tests, the 12 year old navigator doing an excellent job of pointing her driver in the correction direction. Joe Norman pulled out at this point, his Mini Cooper’s rear suspension having collapsed.

The final three tests were of really epic proportions , together they totalled over 5 miles in length and even contained several passage checks to keep the co-drivers on their toes and ensure they followed the correct course. This innovation proved interesting, not least for the spectators who witnessed numerous crews franticly locking up when they realised they had to record the code boards.

The Simmonds continued to set the pace and consolidated their lead, behind them, a late charge from David Agnew saw the Porsche pilot overtake Tom Hall’s Mini and move into second spot. The following three places all went to Escorts, the order reading Burns, Bertram and Campbell, Further down the field, Stuart Bankier must have worked really hard to heave the big Volvo Amazon round the cones to take second in class while David Heirs was delighted to finish second in Class Three with his SAAB 96, it was the cars first competitive outing and David’s first time in a front wheel drive car for 30 years !!

Jason Ferry and his team are to be congratulated on putting on a very enjoyable days sport with some really interesting and complex tests that ensured that both crew members had to be on top form all day. The Stobs complex provides an excellent opportunity to string a whole series of tests together without having to travel any great distance, making for a social, as well as a competitive, day out.

Results :-

1. Archie & Richard Simmonds (MG Midget) 2056,

2. David Agnew/ Alan Jackson (Porsche) 2139,

3, Tom Hall/ Tony Chrisp ( Morris Mini) 2145,

4. Andy Burns/ Andrew Fish (Escort) 2175,

5, John Bertram/ Niall Thomson (Escort) 2233,

6. Neil Campbell/ Sandy Horne (Escort) 2240,

7. Michael Stead/ Alan Elliot (Austin Jimny) 2422,

8. Andrew Swanston/ Lewis Wyatt (Escort),

9. David Heirs/ Austin Leask (Saab 96),

10. Stuart Bankier/ David Alexander (Volvo Amazon) 2474.