Ernest Owen PCT

Date: 7th October 2007

Steve Courts use every single cc of his 1040cc Imp to climb a steep finish

Owen Motoring Club promised something different and thought-provoking for the last qualifying PCT of the season. They were succesful and their efforts were well received by the competitors.

They kicked off with two timed sections, which caused some to lose their trialling instincts and get too much wheelspin on the damp grass. However, although the marks lost were fairly even across the main contenders, interest and banter was entertaining.

So to the real hills, and another innovation. The competitors weren't allowed to pre-walk one of them. Having said that, it was pretty obvious what the best line would be on that section and the handicap wasn't too onerous. The experts had a different start line on that section too. Elsewhere, novices were allowed the full width of the course, while the experts found themselves limited to tighter turns and more onerous lines. They even had a stop and re-start on one hill.

Les Andrew (Peugeot 104) took and early lead in Class A, and Neil Mackay and David Holmes (Pandas both) could do little about it. Nick Pollitt borrowed Sam Williams' Saxo for the day and pronounced it "a good trillaing car". Although he stayed in touch up till lunch, the tougher afternoon sections saw him fall away. Novice Sam and Jo Preston, who was out in the Motorsports Future Nissan Micra, had ‘learning' days.

Alastair Moffatt (205) entered his first PCT of the year, looking for allrounders points, and he gave the ballasted Golfs of Simon Harris and Derek Barnes a bit of a fright: the three were within 8 points of each other at the lunch halt. Sion Matthews & Gruffydd Parry, along with Richard & Jaimie Yapp (all in Novas) were also looking for allrounders points, but they finished at the lower end of the class. Battle royal continued after the break, but Harris knuckled down and made the extra torque of the GTi tell on the steeper afternoon hills to win the class relatively easily.

The day-long battle in Class C continued till the end with Malcolm Brown (Westfield) just ahead of Howard Blackwell (Suzuki X-90) and Richard Harrison's MGBGT.

Colin Weeks (Midget) and John Ludford (Marlin) had no answer to the amazing Imps of Steve Courts and Dave Oliver. Oliver lost just one mark on the hills on the first round - a quite staggering score. Courts did his best to hold on, but Oliver won the class with the lowest score of the day: just 30.

However, with only four in the class, Oliver's index of performance was only enough to net him second spot and the overall win went to Simon Harris in the Mk1 Golf - his first overall win for over three years.

All the innovations were very non-PC(T), but all were welcomed and although not everything was met with wild enthusiasm by every single competitor, the vast majority were very happy with the event and the different conceptions which may well be repeated on events next year.

See the latest results for more details.

Simon Harris chasing Allrounders points and wins overall in his Mk1 Golf GTi