HSCCQ / Interclub Challenge Motorkhana

By Dick Reynolds, photos by Shane Murphy.

If there’s one thing about Motorkhanas, it’s that you need a good memory. No point being quick if you can’t remember where you are going. The tests for this event, which took place on 9th April, looked easy but were in fact rather tricky.

Particularly Happy Birthday and Dragonfly. As usual the HSCCQ guys, who do these all the time, sailed along pushing the cars hard as. The rest of us had to be a lot more circumspect.

Having said that, between Shane, Phil and myself we only had three WD’s (Wrong Directions). Theory was to get one in the bank, as in take the first run easy so as not to WD, then go like hell in the second. (We only get two runs for each, fastest time counted.) The problem being, if you WD, your time is the slowest run by the slowest competitor, plus 5 seconds. Basically, it puts you out of the running.

A look at the run times will show Shane had little regard for the “bank” theory. Very courageous!

The other issue we Clubman / Elise people suffer, is: no meaningful handbrake. This can be got around by going a circuitous route around the flags, keeping the speed up. Again, the times show we proved OK at this.

Easily the quickest car was the Datsun 1600 of Ken and Pauline Graham. They comfortably won the event, and were nothing short of thrilling to watch. Likewise, the “Specials” of Noel Caplet and Keith Butcher. “Specials” being cars built specifically for Motorkhanas – lightweight and unregistered with trick hand brakes and slicks. Given that we came fifth, twelfth and fourteenth in the event, Lotus / Caterham cars have proved their worth once again. Having done a few of these events, I can safely say it was one of the best, and had a lot of very happy drivers at the conclusion.

As for the ICC component, Lotus probably haven’t reached the top – by a long shot, but we are certainly in there with a chance. HSCCQ will clean up, and we hope to have kept the Porsche people at bay.

Thank you to the HSCCQ for another beautifully run event. Particularly Scott Longton, Clerk of Course, Keith Butcher, Chief Facilitator (or something) and Mary Caplet and her protégé on the timing. Not forgetting the guys who set up the track, of course.

It would be nice to get a few more Lotus entrants along next time. Have a look at the videos when you can, and they may just pique your interest.