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Ranson Times - Craigantlet
Hot on the heels of a time consuming Wiscombe weekend comes Craigantlet. It's
the same driving distance as Doune with the added excitement and expense of a
sea crossing. That said I'm not sure why so few make the trip since the track is
fantastic to drive and the organisation welcoming. This year the core of the top
10 (with the exception of Simon Durling) went and the competition for points was
as hard as it is anywhere.
Most people seem to travel up to Stranraer and get a ferry pretty much directly
to Belfast. I really can't face this, and go via Dublin. It's the same driving
but the last 100 miles is from Dublin to Belfast mostly on a motorway with the
tang of foreign adventure rather than Carlisle to Stranraer on a Scottish A road
in the dark. I left home at 8pm Thursday, returning at 7pm Sunday. The
travelling is about 12 hours each way from end to end. The Thursday start allows
some slack should the Irish Sea get moody. A bonus is that diesel only costs
1€10/litre in the Republic. The outward leg seemed to involve a lot of following
trucks, we got a good tow from an Irish registered artic up the M6 from
Birmingham most of the way to Chester. And leaving Dublin short of fuel we
trailed a tanker off the motorway directly to a fuel station that had only just
opened for the day.
 Friday
was spent at Kirkistown watching the sprint. Last year the café in the tower
provided a great breakfast, this year the contractor had declined to operate the
facility and we had to wait for a burger van to turn up at lunchtime. This soon
generated a static queue which Georgia gamely waited in.
The gathering of hillclimb GR55 users tried to give Roy Dawson, the sole Gould
sprint representative, some support and assistance. I dug in the bowels of the
trailer and found a box with some varied springs for the rear suspension. Moose
helped reset the gear shift and generally took the Bedrock Boys under his
armpit.
I naively thought that a 24 car entry would be pretty much done by lunchtime. In
the event it took all day and the runoff was held in the rain. Some of the
moments were interesting but the gaps between them yawned. Roy was fastest in
the dry but the Pilbeam of John Leinster looked a much more comfortable drive.
Two runs in the runoff seemed pointless, why would you need another go? Why not
best two of three? Anyway time to repair to the hotel for beer.
Saturday morning was dry albeit overcast. We had a leisurely breakfast and
headed over to the hill at a sensible hour of the morning with the trailer to
find a parking spot. A walk of the hill followed to remind ourselves which way
it went and where the chicane would be built.
Then it was time for the Swangoose ritual. This was necessary to ensure that
rain wouldn't affect the event. Powerful magic was required and a big swan
indicated. Fortuitously there was one in a garden just around the corner. This
is the trouble with sprinting on race tracks, not enough wild fowl. Perhaps the
Sprinters need to try Mallory Park?
Bill Bristow rolled up in a hire car and helped us operate all day. This is
tremendously useful, especially with the quick turnarounds, so thanks Bill.
Practice passed uneventfully, except for a minor thing that caused absolutely no
drama at all. Then there was a lunch break.
Realistically qualifying was not going to be too challenging, there were only 15
or so registered for the championship in the 70 odd entry, but when it started
to drizzle before my run I got a little concerned, perhaps the Swan Magic was
wearing off? In the event the track was unaffected and I recorded a reasonable
time with Scott Moran somewhat faster. What happened next was bizarre, all the
following batch went slower leaving Scott fastest and me second. It's pretty
cool being able to pose about during the runoff without getting into the car
until the end. I could get used to that but I did miss the leading for a bit
bit. In the event Scott won, Martin was subdued in 4th and I ended up 5th. The
'cool' went away a bit when chief rival Chris Merrick recorded a very good time
and I had to go out and beat it, usually it's the other way around, I get to set
a time and it's up to everybody else to go faster or not. Anyway now we were
level pegging in the championship. Hot stuff. At the less interesting end of the
table Scott had slipped past Martin into first.
It's a rapid turn around at this event, after the first run off it was time for
batch one again, which meant me. It was hardly worth getting out of the car but
we had to refuel and change the battery and tyres. This time it was my turn to
be subdued and the normal running order was re-established.
Looking out over Belfast to the swirling weather systems and low cloud it was
obvious that the cygna devoveum was still powerful; the road remained dry.
The Mason's car had cried enough during the first runoff so Alastair Crawford
took up the gauntlet on his first visit to Craigantlet and the final qualifying
place was taken by Michael Beattie in his rather tasty roadgoing Lancia Fulvia.
So I tried quite hard and set another personal best, Roger who followed me up
made an error somewhere and slipped behind. Moose had a steady and effective
run. Martin set the best time of day so it was all up to Scott. There was some
concern in the Moran camp about 5th gear so they were taking that shift
steadily. Perhaps that was enough to make the difference. Scott's split was on
record breaking pace but the final time slipped to second behind Martin, Moose
in 3rd, me 4th and Roger 5th. Chris Merrick maintained 6th so Roger's error had
gifted me an extra point in my personal battle.
The Championship regulations state that you can count your best 28 scores from a
maximum of 34 rounds. This makes evaluating the current standings complex. As it
stands Scott leads, but Martin's score contains 3 zeroes. On the other hand
Scott can afford 5 or 6 disasters, Martin cannot.
 The
Bedrock Boys were parked just in front of us, Roy was running his first
hillclimb in the GR55, and he went very well indeed albeit unregistered. Let's
hope we can encourage him over to the dark side some more next year.
Anyway thanks to the Dunns for navigation, company, coffee and Euros. And to the
Holywood residents who provide swans and tolerate the inconvenience of a
hillclimb on their road with what seems like good grace. Long may it last.
Paul
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