Hamilton Classic 2009 Longmoor Loco Stages

Report:

Simon Mauger and Steve McNulty took the 9th Hamilton Classic Longmoor Loco Stages title on a icy Christmas Holiday Monday. The Escort pairing were testing new suspension until leaders Richard Edwards and Paul Brown wrong slotted on stage 5.

With 2nd placed Dave West and Keith Hounslow also falling foul of the revised stage layouts, Mauger suddenly found himself at the head of the field.

The event featured a mix of tight, twisty runs between the Camp buildings as combined with a mix of icy, challenging roads. West set the early pace in his Peugeot 306 Maxi although by the lunchtime it was Edwards who led the 8 stage event.
With an 11-second lead, Edwards took the wrong option at the split collecting a stage maximum and relegating him to the low 40’s. He was further surprised when he was soon joined by West, having committed the same error.

Inheriting the lead came as a shock to Mauger who had spent the morning testing different dampers and springs. ‘I knew I was in 3rd place and quite happy for Richard and Dave to battle it out amongst themselves’.

With the leaders relegated to the lower orders it was left to Essex Mk2 stalwarts Pete Rayner and Richard Bonner to take up the chase with event sponsor Alistair Flack and Ralph Higson in 3rd in their over-powerful Triumph TR8, not the most nimble of cars on ice.

Mauger had a 24-second lead after SS6 and although Rayner pushed hard he could only get within 1 second of the Buckinghamshire drivers time.

On SS7 Mauger kept his nerve although Rayner pushed hard enough to record an equal stage time. With 3 miles left, Rayner decided that the deficit was too large and 2nd place and an undamaged car would be a worthwhile Christmas present to take home to Essex.

Flack meanwhile, was struggling for grip on every turn and entertained the marshals with a series of power-slides and overshoots on his way to 3rd overall, a career best finish for the Awning Company Proprietor.

In the rankings James Muir and Liz Jordan claimed Class A in their Peugeot 205 Rallye whilst Class B fell to Dean Thomas and Lorraine Chappell who dominated Class C in the GTM- G Tec. With Dean rumoured to be emigrating down-under shortly, this could be his last win on British soil.

Previous event winners Andy Corner and Ade Camp collected Class C after another convincing drive on what he says is one of his favourite events whilst Class D fell to another previous Loco winner Ian Roberton and Kenny Roberts in the glorious Nissan 240RS.

Mauger’s win places the 9th name on the trophy in 9 years and goes a long way to explaining why this fun Christmas event is so popular.

Why The Longmoor Loco???

Ask anyone locally and they will explain that Longmoor was formerly a Training Camp in the true sense of the word - as the Home of Corps of Transport Military Railway.
Tracing its roots back as far as 1903, Longmoor Camp provided a Military Railway Trade Training School to the Royal Engineers through until 1969.
With tracks running from Liss in the South to Bordon in the North the track was branched off the L & SW Railway network.
Nowadays, Longmoor Camp is used by the broad spectrum of the Armed Services for training scenarios of all kind ranging from Fighting in Built Up Areas (FIBA) to Special Riot Control by the Police Authorities.