Meeke masters five different tests

THE Autotest Drivers Club hosted its Lee Lucas multi-event autotest which involved drivers from across Ireland performing each of the five tests four times.

First drama of the day was down to Tyrone’s own Norman Ferguson. On a test set in the grounds of Loughry College, Norman managed to touch a gate and damage a wheel, thus costing him a maximum time for the test and a panic repair of some bent suspension. The ever-resourceful Norman was back on the road in no time, and still managed to finish third in the Classic Class!

Competing in the same Classic Class, Simon Brien and son Jack were planning that both of them would complete the tests in their 1970s MG Midget Atlantis. It became apparent during the second set of tests that this was going to be too stressful on the 50 year old car, and Dad Simon elected to let Jack complete the event. Jack didn’t disappoint, and finished second in the class.

What can you say about Robert Dickson that hasn’t already been said at some time? His performance on the day in his beautiful Cooper S, with daughter Jennifer calling the directions, was simply amazing. Were it not for an error on one of his runs at the test at McIvor’s Yard, which cost him 30 seconds, he would have won the event outright. As it was, he easily won the Classics Class and finished third place overall.

The biggest class of the day was the Sports Car class with 24 crew lining up to tackle the tests. As is almost always the case, the avoidance of pylon faults and test errors is the key to success and it is hardly a coincidence that the top three drivers in the class were the only ones error free across all twenty runs.

Top Sports Car driver on the day was Belfast’s Paul Lowther and Mark Thompson in one of those Mazda MX5s, who finished over 16 seconds ahead of Adam and Mark Brogan in a similar car.

Third place in the class was Tyrone driver Trevor Ferguson. In the passenger seat with him was his son Mark, and after each test, the roles reversed and young Mark would drive the test.

The first ‘non-MX5’ was Cookstown’s Caleb Cuddy with yet another father, Robin, as navigator in his usual white Toyota MR2. Across the 20 tests he had just a single pylon fault in Hunter’s Lane and would finish fifth in class, only 0.1 of a second behind James Mansfield/Ian McCulloch, and a fine top 10 place overall.

Fourteen drivers from the Republic of Ireland made the journey to Cookstown and six of them were in the saloon car class.

Five of them were in Toyota Starlets, the exception being Eamonn and Zoe Byrne who were in their Toyota Yaris. Local honours were fought out between Harold Hassard/Melissa Donaldson (Nissan Sunny), Ian McCann/Brogan Lennon (Corsa) and Kevin and Dan McNamee (Nissan Micra).

In the end, Richard Meeke and Alex Lyone took the win in their Toyota Starlet, with Eamonn and Zoe Byrne in the runners-up spot in the red Yaris. Making it a complete Republic of Ireland podium in the class was John Nolan and Audrey McDonnell in yet another Starlet.

All through the field there were local rivalries to be resolved. In a four-way battle between Tyrone’s Colin Hazelton, Chris Nelson, Malcolm McQueen and Harry Barr, it would be Colin on top this time, with both he and Chris Nelson finishing inside the top 20 places overall.

Clerk of the Course, Steven Ferguson, ran a slick event with a simple format and a big emphasis on having fun. The army of marshals and timekeepers were kept entertained all day with fine displays of driving skill, and a few spills as well. Having let the cars away at 10am, the whole event was finished by 4pm back at Lindsay’s Restaurant where awards were presented and those who had travelled a long distance were able to get back on the road at a reasonable time.

Results:

Overall Winner: Richard Meeke and Alex Lyone (Starlet)

Class 1: Robert Dickson and Jennifer Dickson (Mini Cooper)

Class 2: Paul Lowther and Malcolm Thompson (Mazda MX5)

Class 3: Eamonn Byrne and Zoe Byrne (Toyota Yaris)

Class 4: Andrew Molyneaux and Andrew Molyneaux (Fiesta)

Fastest times for each test:

Test 1 John Nolan 65.8 sec

Test 2 Eamonn Byrne 60.2 sec

Test 3 Eamonn Byrne 57.2 sec

Test 4 John Nolan 48.7 sec

Test 5 Robert Dickson 62.0 sec