Several things have been said about Gymkhanas. Quite a lot has been said by folk who have never been to one but have spoken to people who sat next to someone who overheard someone else’s aunt talking to a chap who thought he might have seen one but wasn’t sure. I’ve never been to one either. Firstly, I’m too old for the Pony Club. Secondly, I don’t have a horse. Thirdly and allegedly, to demonstrate that you take the sport seriously, it is required to partake in a handbag fight with the officials when the results come out. Therefore I have no interest in or experience of anything to do with gymkhanas, nor have I ever driven on a stage rally, come to that. The above preamble is to act as some form of disclaimer to avoid upsetting anyone and to confirm to those who feel the need for confirmation that this silly old fool doesn’t know what he’s talking about either.
For a number of years, certainly sufficient for them to be getting good at it, Chelmsford have been running their own invention called, for want of another permit definition, a gymkhana. Probably it fits that title because it is the only classification I am aware of which has more than one discipline. A sort of biathlon in a car.
The old runway and buildings area at Woodbridge was the venue for Chelmsford’s 8th Javalin sponsored event on an unbelievably wet and windy November 1st. Classes were for proper cars so they had to have full trim and MOT’s and proper tyres; no slicks or competition only rubber. Endurance rally cars ran together with other prepared rally cars split above and below 1400 cc. There was a similar division for totally standard road cars. Turbos and 4wd were also outlawed and although there was a class for historics which allowed modification the regs kept out anything that would be daredevil quick.
The results are decided by timing runs of tests and adding to that penalties for performance in skill tests and question papers which are also judged in time penalties to allow the whole thing to be added up at the end to give a result. It is necessary to have a co-driver because the tests are rather long and get changed during the day so the driver needs someone to tell him where to go and, since drivers generally know nothing about the Highway Code for example, they also need someone to answer the test questions for them. Thus it is a proper team event, and I have to thank Jonathon Ager for helping me find my way and knowing his roadsigns.
ECMC had about half its active driving membership out on the day. John Peterson took his super little Cooper S to 2nd in class in the Historics. Will Burchnall and Lucy Harris, whose first ever competitive motorsport event this was, double drove the Fiesta !.4 and I gave my 205 GTi its first run. Full results and some really good photographs are on the Chelmsford website. Close examination of them on one test will show that Lucy, Will and I were within two seconds on one test lasting over three minutes. Do not be surprised that Lucy is getting quite excited about the prospect of the next event at Bentwaters in February. I did see Roy and Joyce Smith marshalling on what was a really filthy day. Mr and Mrs President give the sport an unparalleled amount of support, much of which goes unacknowledged but which is an example to all of us. Thanks, you two.
As for the event, the results were up within about fifteen minutes of the last car finishing, thanks to Chelmsford’s brilliant timing system, and we were back at home by the fire by 4.00. Results were on the internet by 7.00 pm and excellent photos on Andy Manston’s site the next day.
Every car that started also finished. There were no retirements. How unusual is that?
So it certainly was not a car breaker. Tyre wear was not too bad either.
Prior to competing on this one we had marshalled on a couple of others, Bentwaters and Honington. I am convinced these types of event which have much more to offer than a track day and give a real challenge to the crew without wrecking the car or spending fortunes of money have a lot to offer. They need to be run slickly but there are few more capable than Chelmsford at that. I suggest that you book up to marshal for the next one and have a look but , whatever you do, don’t put an entry in, because there is a danger that , if your entry goes, in there might not be room for mine. And I will regret telling you what fun we had.
Tony Burchnall. Event results can be found here . |
