| Easter weekend was mostly fine, rain kept threatening but only
occasionally happened.... this is just my impressions of it. I can't comment on Friday's Concours since I was occupied at the time doing the opposite of car-cleaning on certain gravel roads. It took me about ten hours to drive from Auckland to New Plymouth. On the way, I discovered that the best roads this year were Waikorea Valley Road (thanks to Andrew for causing me to rediscover this road for the first time in decades, on his Huntly trial of last year) and Waitewhena Road between Aria and Ohura, both loose and smooth and with nice flowing bends. Next year the best may be different as road surfaces always change. I also discovered early on that one of the nuts on the Escort's exhaust joint had fallen off and so-called service stations are too busy selling groceries to bother with boring things like M10 nuts. Every perishing service station. What a surprise. It took 100 miles (during which the remaining nut rather surprisingly held the joint together) before morose reflection on the decay of the Number 8 wire mythos and the decline of country workshops and wondering what farmers did for nuts led me to reflect that farm gates probably have nuts and bolts and, on investigation, I found that in the middle of nowhere I was surrounded by M10 nuts! How fortunate. I affixed my ill-gotten nuts on the footpath outside the Cossie Club in Ohura main street, where (from the sound of it) a flourishing pi----, err, cultural event was going on inside. Nobody came past to bother me. Saturday, there was a grass motorkhana and autocross at Omata, just west of the city. Clarrie Withers very kindly furnished a big flat paddock with green grass on it just by the main road. It looked rather bumpy but turned out to be deceptively smooth and very slippery, though it got rapidly more grippy as the grass dried out. As a result, quite a few people were surprised and delighted to put up 'fastest-times-so-far' only to be beaten by the very next car. Guess how I know. Twice. My frantic mental rain dances please-make-it-rain-NOW were totally ignored by the weather gods, what a surprise. The threatened rain did occur, lightly and intermittently, but just not at the right times. The grass proved to be surprisingly tough and didn't cut up until late in the day. Noteworthy were several T-types, Ross Armstrong's TD did remarkably well in the motorkhana and Mark Master's TC was being driven in enterprising fashion, particularly in the autocross where it was trailing a wave of dirt like a motorboat. I haven't seen T-types going like that for several decades. The autocross was again smooth, and fast. At Ewan's farm autocross at Makarau a couple of weeks ago, there had been not much point in changing out of first gear and the trick was to guess which way the car would bounce next; at this Easter event, I was flat out at peak revs in second and with the tail trying to drift off line, before braking hard for the chicane/corner before the timing line. Very exhilarating. Most drivers found the same. The top 'corner' was a semicircular sweeper, cambered by the slope at the end of the paddock, and slippery enough that most people took it with tail out all the way round. Much fun was had by all balancing the power with opposite lock, though some people got a bit too keen and had more power than lock, most notably Paul. Later on, times stopped falling as the corners started to cut up, which was less fun, and Scott Walbran lost a tyre off the rim, fortunately without sustaining any other damage. Sunday started at a suitably late (= civilised) hour, with a short trial around Brooklands and Frankleigh, plotted by Andrew. Most people were early on this. Then followed a touring run with questions to answer, at an interesting average speed, over some of the delightful narrow sealed roads (yes that's what I said. No it's not an oxymoron. Yes I'm quite well, thank you) in the country to the southwest. Plymouth Road, Carrington Road past Pukeiti, and Dover Road come to mind; the latter was the scene of a sealed hillclimb at an Easter some decades ago. I decided not to bother looking too hard for the questions, just try to keep time, more or less, because it was obvious that looking hard for answers could make one very late. Besides, it was more fun just driving. As it turned out, this was a bad strategy, as timing was scrubbed. What of it, I enjoyed the drive! The trial finished at the harbour. A number of people walked out along the breakwater, in bright sunlight but a stiff near-gale; Paul and I then went on to climb the track up Paritutu, suitably wrapped up against the wind, and promptly overheated because the entire track is on the sheltered side of the peak. It's 500 feet high, and very steep, but with nice angular natural rock steps and handholds all the way, heights are not my thing but this was a satisfying excursion, even if there was a lot of traffic on the track. (I've always found 'don't look down' to be singularly daft advice, I get far more dizzy looking up). The day concluded with a dinner at the Plymouth International, a fairly low-key but pleasant affair. I'm pleased I was persuaded at the last minute (against my usual anti-social habit) to attend. It was good to catch up with friends I hadn't seen for ages. Monday was driving-back-home day, I encountered a flock of sheep on Junction Road (bad), almost no traffic on the Whangamomona road, and none in the Tangarakau gorge (unexpected, but a Good Thing), some shocking corrugations on Ngapaenga Road, a nice enjoyable run through Hauturu, and got home in daylight. Those with social consciences will be pleased to hear that the obliging farm gate on Waitewhena Road was repaid with two shiny new M10 nuts. Many thanks to the organisers and all helpers for a most enjoyable Easter. CR and Farmgate Escort |