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The biggest convoy of 9 cars made its way, initially
starting from Ipswich at the unsociable hour of 6.00am
on the Saturday morning. And notwithstanding a couple
of unplanned navigational errors the convoy arrived at
Margam Park shortly after mid day.
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The afternoon was spent on a drive through the mountains
and valleys going as far North as Brecon over some very
twisty and exciting roads. Despite all we had heard
about the Welsh weather the afternoon was dry and for
most parts sunny.
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The evening saw one of the new legendary Eastern Region
(and guests) "have More Fun TM" BBQ’s take place on the
Margam Park campsite. The do was well attended by all
those Eastern Region members camping as well as some
that weren’t and as usual we had quite a large number of
other guests. Considering that the temperature during
the evening was anything but warm a good time was had by
all and once again we have to thank Daz for doing the
cooking. |
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The Sunday morning of the rally actually
saw the sun come out again which then shone for the
whole day. The big “motor sport “event of the day was
the Great Gambo Race. After having put quite as lot of
effort into our kart we were keen to do well. The so
called practice and qualifying runs, on a hill somewhat
different than we had imagined, were driven by Kendra. |
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Some spectacular action was to be seen with Kendra
managing to roll the kart over on a number of occasions
but still get up and walk away each time. Robbie then
assumed the position of designated driver and with the
Eastern Gambo at second fastest overall went into the
final run offs. In the last run against the clock the
Eastern Region Gambo driven by Robbie came a very good
third, only a few fractions of a second behind the
second and first place. Congratulations to Cornwall
Area who won.
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The Eastern Region had a couple of entries in the Best
Kept 5 competition including Steve’s Hider’s white
roadster with its immaculate engine bay and polished cam
cover etc. When the final results were announced it was
Steve who walked away with the first place trophy. A
well deserved reward for all his efforts in preparing
the car. Hopefully this is only the first of many such
wins for Steve. |
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The surprise result of the day was an award for
innovation or some such to be presented to a Gambo team,
which we won. Geoff was more than happy to accept this
on behalf of all those involved with the Eastern Region.
Gambo project, which included those people involved with
the design, the construction, the graphics, the T
shirts, the transportation to the event, the pushing and
the driving etc.
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We also adopted some honorary members for the day who
attended the bbq the evening before and then went on to
win the MX-5 sheep herding competition.
Overall a fantastic weekend away for the Eastern Region
and a big thanks to all those involved in the rally
organisation for making it such an entertaining event
and providing us with the, mostly, excellent weather.
Chris Field has produced a short video on DVD of the
Rally, from the campsite to the Gambo racing. If anyone
wants copies then either catch up with Chris at the next
monthly meeting or let me
know and I will pass on your request. There is a
nominal charge of £2.50 to cover the media, plus postage
if you can’t collect from a meet.
Follow this link to the
Rally Website which is going to have photos of the
event added. |
MX5OC
Spring Rally 2005
