OXFORD MOTOR CLUB

RosSolo

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Ross organised the second round of the CMSG Autosolo Championship on Sunday 9th March at the M5 Strensham services near Tewkesbury. Again a full entry of 40 turned and six Oxford members took part, which was great to see. Ross put on four tests that all proved to be very technical and tight in places which suited the smaller cars. However, as ever, a very well organised event.

I had the disadvantage of going in the first group as the course was still wet from the evening before and because the area used is a lorry park also had lots of diesel as well. However, the first test was an absolute hoot sliding sideways everywhere. I did a wrong test on my second run but I managed to get some half decent times in. The last group out had a big advantage as it dried out very quickly and they posted times about 3 seconds quicker than our group, but they did not have as much sideways fun.

The second test was equal for all and times reflected that with the Lotus boys posting fastest times. The test itself was the reverse of the first one and it was also quicker in this configuration. At the halfway point Jamie Yapp in a Nova was leading Chris Underwood in his Lotus by 2.7 seconds then me a further 0.4 second behind. The other Oxford crews were having very mixed days. Zenya was the second quickest Oxford driver at this point in her Peugeot 205 closely followed by Paul Woodhams in his Peugeot 306 that has a very bad turning circle, not good for solos. Tonya in her Audi was a little further back with Jennie Austen and Andrew Marsden bringing up the rear in their Honda Civic.

After lunch we had another layout to learn and this was little more open. The first run was good but the second was very untidy. My third was best but again Chris in his Lotus was very quick and he opened up a gap of 2.8 seconds and took the overall lead with me second.

The last test was again in the reverse direction and red mist descended upon me! My first run was untidy but the last two I approached a tricky section much too quick and overshot a cone and had to reverse. This cost me very dear and dropped me to 4th overall but I managed to win the class still. The winner was Chris Underwood in his Lotus.

The other Oxford drivers had varied success with Zenya picking up the Fastest Lady's award.

Oxford drivers' results:

Kev Belcher

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Zenya at the RosSolo 2008
Photo - Tonya Heap

Paul at the RosSolo 2008
Photo - Tonya Heap

Kevin at the RosSolo 2008
Photo - Tonya Heap