Its been a while since I have been to a Northern Ireland Autotest Championship round but I decided seeing as the weather would be good to head down to get a few snaps. To anyone who hasnt been to an autotest before you need to get out and see what these guys can do in their cars. Im from an autotest background myself but these drivers, the best in the UK and Ireland, still never fail to amaze me in their driving ability and what their cars can be put through.
Three tests had been set out in the industrial estate, each competitor to compete each test four times each against the clock. A good mixture of cars were there including Nova’s, Mini’s, Westfield’s, Striker’s and the popular Mini Special’s. After the first found of tests only 4 seconds covered the top 8 with southern driver Peter Grimes heading the leader board from Robin Lyons a close 0.7 seconds behind. Three tests later and half way through the event Ashley Lamont had pulled out 3 fast times to move from third position to the lead and now 3.7 seconds ahead of Peter. Peter unfortunately had a fail (+20 seonds) on test 9 dropping him down the board and letting Steven Feguson take second position with Ashley now extending his lead to 5.7 seconds from second place Steven. The final three tests seen Ashley pull another 5.6 seconds from Steven after another round of great driving and winning the event overall and the first time in 27 years a rear wheel drive car has won a Northern Ireland Championship Round.
Top 5 :
Ashley Lamont – Westfield 771.1s
Steven Ferguson – Mini Special 782.4s
Paul Blair – Striker 783.0s
Sam Bowden – Mini 786.6s
Eamon Byrne – Mini 788.1s
