The last Rally Action/Light Car Club motorsport event of the year took the form of a Twilight Khanacross.
Like every event we’d run this year, rain had made the choice of tracks we could use for tests interesting for our September event.
The clouds had looked ominous as the 29 drivers arrived and we crossed our fingers the rains weren’t so heavy we have to postpone another one. As it turned out the rains held out with only a couple of patches of light drizzle, however the weather was cool and the breeze picked up now and again during the day.
Mixed in with “the regulars” were a few drivers new to motorsport and a some new cars. The race was on as mid afternoon rolled around with everyone keen to have a good crack at the last Khanacross for the year.
The eight tests of the day threw up various challenges. Puddles in some places produced a few slippery moments and some markers were knocked over as well as an overshoot here and there. Several wrong ways also crept in with a few drivers forgetting which way to run around a turn-around loop or passing on the wrong side of a cone.
When we called it a night, the results were interesting with four different drivers setting fastest times during the day.
Ben Kitchen brought his Mitsubishi Lancer home in tenth. Robert Macleod brought his four door Lancer home in a tidy ninth in his second ever event. Bob Percival had a measured and safe drive during the day finishing eighth, sharing his Hyundai Excel with daughter Allyka. Neil Trethowen fought hard in his Excel and took seventh, trailing Neal Johnson by a shade over three seconds in Sixth. Despite Neal’s Hyundai Lantra consuming coolant, he didn’t stop trying and set two fastest times. Rohan Keltie has returned to form in the last two events, on this one he took fifth in his shared Excel. Proving consistency over outright speed, Rohan also held the lead after the first four tests. Using the same car as Rohan, Mark Keltie stayed in front of his son to claim fourth. The gap between Mark and third placed Jace Van Sar Loos was 0.2 seconds! Again the well used “Mickey Mouse” Excel had carried three drivers into the top five and Jace had used it to set two fastest times. Craig Puzey set the quickest time on the penultimate test. Driving a V6 Mazda Eunos, he was trying hard to recover from an earlier overshoot that cost him a penalty. In the end he got within three and a quarter seconds of top spot, finishing second. Andrew Percival had won three tests during the day with his Honda Civic. With the quickest times and some consistent driving, he took the overall event win.
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