SEE YOU ALL AT THREE SISTERS FOR THE START OF A NEW SEASON!

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1 IN THIS ISSUE Building a Kitten Longton Championship Calendar Motor sport snippets April 2015 Issue 52 Bulletin Editor: Geoff Ward editor@longton-dmc.co.uk Tel: THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF LONGTON AND DISTRICT MOTOR CLUB takes place on April 13, at 8.30pm at the Lonsdale Social Club in Fulwood Hall Lane, Fulwood, Preston. All members are welcome, although the deadline has now passed for offering items to be included on the agenda. Come along the beer's cheap and you can join the club's officials at work and have a good gossip afterwards. SEE YOU ALL AT THREE SISTERS FOR THE START OF A NEW SEASON! There's less than a week to go before the start of the Longton season. The fun starts with the traditional opening sprint at Three Sisters on April 12. Hopefully the weather will be fine as drivers and mechanics blow off the winter cobwebs and test out their latest tweaks. The layout that will be used is 'Course 1', with the start on the straight before piling up the fast sweep over the blind brow of the hill followed by the twisty and technical series of challenging corners to the finish alongside the paddock. The rest of the year's programme will be pretty familiar to regular competitors. However, the Monday Bank Holiday sprint at Teeside on May 25 has unfortunately been cancelled by the organisers. On the up side, on May 17 there is the extra Blyton sprint over two laps of the fast and challenging Lincolnshire circuit, so there plenty to go for that month. AND... if you think you've been busy working on your car over the winter, enjoy the picture feature on the following pages following the progress of Andrew Jackson who is busy on a Mk 2 version of his clever and unique Reliant Kitten kit car.

2 A KITTY KIT CAR THAT'S A BIT OF A BIG CAT UNDER THE SKIN The fastest Reliant Kitten in the world? Andrew at Three Sisters last year Anyone who attended Longton events last year can hardly have failed to notice the remarkable spectacle of a 'Reliant' Kitten going indecently quickly and exhibiting all the signs of a beautifully and cleverly constructed kit car built around a neatly conceived space frame with built in roll cage. This car was driven, designed and constructed by Andrew Jackson from Carnforth. He is now busy working on a new bodyshell and plugging in an even more powerful Honda S2000 engine this one stroked up from the previous standard 1997cc to 2465cc. That should produce some pretty ferocious power in a short wheelbase car, potentially ideal for twisty hillclimbs and sprint circuits. In a message to our Competition Secretary Craig Powers, Andrew explains: I built the Kitten as a track car and reasonably fast road car, but got a bit bored with the track days and it was a bit silly as a road car so I decided to do a few hillclimbs and sprints. I ve really enjoyed the events as they remind me of all the really good mates, like minded folks, I still have from way back when I used to do the road rallies (when they were proper) like more competitive miles than the then RAC rally - Tour of Mull in '87 was awesome, as it still is. After struggling with massive oversteer and the swapping of ends in a split second I soon realised with the short wheelbase I needed slightly wider rear tyres which caused a few comments and problems at events with scrutineers as they stuck out a tad, so I decided to re-make the bodywork to accommodate the new rear track. So here I am with my new shell pattern with hopefully a bit more aero than before, a good guess is better than a bad measure after all! I will be testing for most of 2015 while doing the events as there s loads of potential with the car set up, but finding my feet, reaction time is more difficult than when I was a spring chicken. Still struggling with spring rates and front anti roll bars, but I ll get it right eventually with help from you guys on the sprint scene. Also popping a fresh motor in for 2015 which makes getting the set up right even more important. Andrew has a photo-rich blog at kittenkitcar.co.uk if you want to follow his progress. The body building enterprise seems to dominate recently, although the demon-looking S2000 engine with dry sump, throttle bodies and DTA engine-management looks more than a little interesting. You can't help but be impressed with the style and skill of the whole project. And the old carpet on the garage floor and scrubbing off body panels in the bath are rather admirable...

3 A KITTEN UNDER DEVELOPMENT... IMPRESSIVE OR WHAT?! A small selection of pictures from Andrew's blog. Good luck getting it finished and we look forwards to seeing the car, and Andrew, out on the local speed scene soon.

4 LONGTON S NORTHERN SPEED CHAMPIONSHIP events from 22 to count Date Club Venue 12 April Sunday Longton & DMC S Three Sisters (Course 1) 25 April Saturday Liverpool MC S Aintree 02 May Saturday Auto 66 H Oliver s Mount 03 May Sunday Auto 66 H Oliver s Mount 17 May Sunday Mini-Cross Drivers Assoc S Blyton Park (2 lap) 06 June Saturday BARC (Yorks) H Harewood 13 June Saturday Liverpool MC H Barbon Manor 27 June Saturday Liverpool MC S Aintree 05 July Sunday Longton & DMC S Three Sisters (Course 2) 11 July Saturday Westfield SCC S Blyton Park 12 July Sunday Westfield SCC S Blyton Park 01 August Saturday Longton & DMC S Three Sisters (Course 1) 02 August Sunday Chester MC / Lancs AC S Three Sisters (2 Lap) 16 August Sunday Auto 66 H Oliver s Mount 30 August Sunday BARC (Yorks) H Harewood 05 September Saturday Liverpool MC S Aintree 12 September Saturday Nottingham SCC S Thoresby Park 13 September Sunday Nottingham SCC S Thoresby Park 20 September Sunday BARC (Yorks) H Harewood 03 October Saturday Longton & DMC S Anglesey (National) 04 October Sunday Longton & DMC S Anglesey (International) LONGTON SPRINT SERIES 3 events from 5 to count Separate Trophies & Awards! 12 April Sunday S Three Sisters 05 July Sunday S Three Sisters 01 August Saturday S Three Sisters 03 October Saturday S Anglesey (National) 04 October Sunday S Anglesey (International) FULL REGULATIONS WILL BE PUBLISHED ON THE CLUB S WEBSITE on receipt of MSA Championship Permit No. Tbc. To register your interest Eric Leadbetter (Championship Co-ordinator) on ericleadbetter@yahoo.co.uk

5 MOTOR SPORT SNIPPETS CHESHIRE CLASSICS RALLY: The Historic Rally Car Register's North West Area will be organising a new event to test navigators and drivers on June 27. Designed to encourage those who have been active participants in scenic tours to move towards competitive rallies, plus seasoned rally crews, the occasion will be in the form of a tour but with the emphasis on testing the navigator s skills and driver s awareness. There will be no competitive timing and a variety of navigational styles will be used to determine the route. The event is open to all-comers and a competition licence is not required. Classic and interesting cars are welcomed with a maximum entry of 60 cars. An interesting route of around 160 miles has been planned with the start at Gawsworth Hall, near Congleton, with lunch and the finish near Holmes Chapel. An entry fee of 59 for a crew of two includes tea/coffee at the start plus a breakfast roll, route instructions, and tour plate. A buffet lunch is also included in the entry fee. Regulations and entry forms are at or from the Entries Secretary, Anwen Mountford at entries@cheshireplainstour.co.uk. ROAD CLOSURES: In a huge boost for British motor sports, new legislation facilitating closed road-events on mainland Britain has been approved by the government. The new law contains a framework for running motor sports on closed public roads without needing a costly Act of Parliament for each event. This news is the culmination of a long campaign by the Motor Sports Association that began before the last General Election in Rob Jones, MSA Chief Executive, said: "This landmark development is the result of a lot of hard work by a small handful of people behind the scenes, with vital backing from thousands of supporters within the British motor sport community." Before the law can become available to event organisers, secondary legislation is required after the General Election ENDS