The Tamar Stages

Sunday 4th October saw the second running of the Tamar Stages near Plymouth.

After a 5 month lay off due to a back injury, Mark Shoosmith and co-driver Chris had entered the event hoping to improve on last years finishing position of 4th overall. With the Mazda 323 hooked on behind their new toy, a 26 ft motor-home, they set off from Cranleigh, mid morning the day before the event to take a leisurely trip to Plymouth, where they would be camping at Newnham park, the venue for the main spectator stage.

Arriving at Newnham they were greeted by the Stage Commander, who confirmed that as last year, crews could walk the stage if they wished. While Chris and the service crew went to inspect the new water splash and a couple of the hairpins, Mark managed to get a ride through one of the stages with the Stage Commander! There were 4 stages planned for Newnham all on roads built by Plymouth M.C and Camel Vale M.C with the assistance of event sponsors McNicholas. The surfaces varied from good quality gravel to undulating earth roads through the woods to rougher tracks newly bulldozed across the heather.

Two other venues were also to be used; a short run through Hemerdon Mine and a stage laid out at the china clay works at Lee Moor.

The seeding was to say the least interesting. Mark and Chris had been put in at 21, whilst a Rover V8 engined Escort had been placed behind a Skoda!

The top 3 seeds were Simon Allen/John Simpson - Metro 6R4, Stuart Larbey/Simon Staddon - Metro 6R4 and Will Nicholls/Tim Walker in their Escort RS.

Stage 1 at Newnham Park started in the lower meadow. A good quality gravel road led to a gateway and a 90 right before a long 180 left to the water splash, which needed to be treated with caution as it was a steep entry and exit and had several inches of water running through it.

From the start line it was obvious that Mark was going to go all out. Taking the yump a few hundred yards from the start at 85 m.p.h. was probably not a great idea but it entertained the spectators! Exiting the water splash disaster struck when the front right hand tyre punctured, (a new one that had only done 5 road miles and ½ a mile on a stage). For the next 4 miles, Mark struggled with the car visiting various ditches and slamming sideways into a bank on the way. Fortunately there was a service point at the end of the stage and the Gaston Gate Garage mechanics quickly made the change. They had dropped over a minute to the leaders, but more time would have been lost if they had stopped to change the tyre in mid stage - although they had wrecked the wheel.

Two stages followed at Lee Moor. Mine workings had encroached on the original stage layout and in an effort to increase the stage layout, English China Clay had bulldozed a new road to create a loop. Unfortunately this cut up very badly and on each run they caught cars on this section. The second stage saw them virtually pushing a Peugeot 205, they were so close.

Stage 4 was a run through Hemerdon mine where the only really interesting bit was a 90 right down a ramp followed by a 90 left between some of the old mine buildings.

Service 2 came next followed by a run through the reversed Newnham Park. Mark and Chris were sixth fastest here before returning to Lee Moore to tackle 2 more stages.

Turning 90 left to run down the side of an uninviting lake (a rescue boat and diver were on station) the Mazda suddenly lost drive and even worse steering. A bottom ball joint had pulled out and the offside front wheel and drive shaft were tucked neatly into the wheel arch. By the time they were dragged clear of the stage they were OTL. The service crew was summoned and effected repairs and the crew made their way back to Newnham service area. Although OTL they carried on to get some much need practice.