Auto Test
Dates for Auto Tests and Locations
16th February ..........Charity Autotest
16th February.....................Quiz Night
12th April.............................. Airfield - Millisle
14th May................................Dundonald
18th June...............................Autotest
6th August..............................Dundonald
6th September.....Autotest Multi Venue
Auto-Tests Costs
Driver £ 10
Juniors £5
Prizes - 1st & 2nd Place in Class (dependant on number of entries in class 3rd Place may also get a prize)
Multi Venue - £TBC
Auto tests
Anybody can take part in an Auto test, in just about any four-wheeled car. At least, it should have four wheels touching the ground at the start!
There are eight classes, ranging from modern saloon to vintage, so drivers are competing against other cars of comparable speed and ability. The tests take place on private or enclosed premises, non-road-going cars may be trailered to the event and no special equipment is required - you don't even have to wear a helmet, and the "Fun" Class (Class 0) caters for any car not covered elsewhere!
Courses are laid out to give the most awkward route possible, which has to be memorised. Two runs (and a lot of burnt rubber) later, sometimes we might give you three goes, the course is changed and you have to learn it all over again! It usually takes less than a minute to do the course, so agility wins over stamina. From a standing start, the timing starts when the front wheels cross the line. Five seconds are added to the time for every cone disturbed and, should the driver take the wrong route, maximum points (slowest in the Class plus 10 seconds) are awarded. Timing stops when the car finally comes to rest with the wheels straddling the stop line, ten seconds being added for a line fault!
Auto-tests qualify for Championship points - the Multi-venue plus the best two scores out of the four or five additional tests organised counting.
Junior Class (Production Class Auto-test)
14 & 15 year olds - Limited to the Production Car Class, which must comply with technical regulations 12 and E12 (MSA Blue Book pp. 78, 67 to 70) - standard saloons under 1400cc with 4 seats and no forced induction. Cars must be MOT'd, taxed, insured and driven to the event. Drivers must be accompanied by a road licensed experienced adult Auto-tester. Both occupants must wear seatbelts.
16 year olds - Either as above or TSCC Classes 4 (Mini and derivatives), 5 (Saloons pre 1975) or 6 (Saloons after 1975). Vehicles must be standard, under 1400cc, have 4 seats and no forced induction. Cars NEED NOT be MOT'd, taxed, insured or driven to the event, but they must be MOT-worthy. Drivers must compete unaccompanied.
17 year olds and over not in possession of a full Road Traffic Licence - conditions as for 16 year olds.
ALL Competitors will be required to produce their Road Traffic Licence (Provisional or Full) before signing on to determine their Class eligibility.
N.B. All road-going vehicles MUST display a current tax disc, MUST be MOT'd if applicable and MUST be insured for the driver bringing it to the event. This is an MSA Licence requirement.
Diesel cars running on biodiesel qualify for additional Brownie Points!
SUCCESSFUL DAY FOR LOCAL MOTOR CLUB and MARIE
CURIE CHARITY The Thoroughbred Sports Car Club of Northern Ireland lauched their
2008 season with two events in aid of the Marie Curie Foundation, last Saturday.
Thirty competitors gathered at the permises of North Down Grain near Greyabbey
for an autotest in the afternoon and a further seven teams contested a pub quiz
at Holywood Yacht Club in the evening, raising a total of £290 for the charity.
For the autotest, the TSCC regulars were joined by friends from the MG Car Club,
MINIS in Northern Ireland and the Ulster Vintage Car Club bringing an eclectic
spread of cars from the 1936 Riley of Roger Corry through to the late model
Civics and Clios in the TSCC Saloon Class. The event was contested over eight
tests across two sites in the NDG complex and it was local lad David Cochrane in
his father Noels' Ford Special who emerged the winner in a close fought contest
with experienced autotester David Jenkinson in his VW Beach Buggy and the Mini
of Brian McCurry.
Jenkinson led initially with McCurry less than a second behind and Cochrane a
further second adrift of the more experienced pair. A stunning time by Cochrane
on the second test, almost 1.5secs faster than anyone else, leapfrogged him in
to the lead. After three tests Cochrane led by just 0.4secs from Jenkinson with
McCurry having closed to within 0.8secs of the Buggy. Moving to the second site
for the next batch of tests, Jenkinsons' experience showed through as he turned
the deficit into a 1.2sec lead over Cochrane as the McCurry challenge waned on
these longer tests. Whilst the latter dropped a further 2 secs to the pair in
front on test 6, Cochrane regained his composure to beat Jenkinson by almost a
full second. Returning to site1 for the start of the final round Cochrane set
his fastest test time of the day, on this penultimate test, only for Jenkinson
to respond with the fastest individual test time by anyone and open his lead
back out to 0.8secs. On the final test McCurry went a full 2 secs faster than he
had previously, to keep himself in the hunt but Cochrane responded by lopping
1.7 secs off his previous best and could only watch as a minor error saw the
unfortunate Jenkinson drop a full 4 secs to his young pursuer and lose out by an
unrepresentative 3.1secs as McCurry steadied to finish a further 3 seconds back
in third.
In the Classes none of the Vintage runners completed the day thanks to a variety
of problems as Mike Adair continued his good form of 2007 to defeat Eric Martin
in the Midget/Sprite Class 2. Roger Gordon in an MR2 was best of the Class 3
Production Sports Cars beating father and son Paul and Chris McCulla who were
sharing the TVR 3000M. Jenkinson beat the Locost of Brian Lemon to Class 4
honours, whilst McCurry eclipsed Robert Milligan to be top Mini, the latter
having travelled all the way from Omagh, as he does for all TSCC events. Wallace
McKee in his Opel Kadett had only the clock to race against in Class 6 but a
real David and Goliath battle for the well supported Class 7 saw Eamon Kelly in
a Metro hold off the Sierra of Paul Keyes with Gareth Dunlop 3rd in his Honda
Civic a full 12 secs back, such was the pace of this class battle.
Likewise Cochrane took the Non Road Going and Specials Class 8 by over
12 secs from the shared Chevette of Adam McKee and Issac Harris.
The Thoroughbred Sports Car Club(NI) wish to thank North Down Grain and Holywood
Yacht Club for the free use of their premises which contributed significantly to
the amount raised for Marie Curie. This charity day season opener was a new
venture for the club but its' success will undoubtedly see it become a regular
fixture on the calendar, in the future.
FOOTNOTE to Editor -
Your photographer took a photo of the winner with the Marie Curie and Club
representatives.
Regards
William Heaney
TSCC Chairman