[T]wo dozen of the top auto testers in the UK came to Maryport for round five of the British Autotest Championship on Saturday.
This was a late change of venue as thee vent had been scheduled to take place at Dumfries under the banner of the South of Scotland Club, but the venue became unavailable and some quick re-arranging saw the event being run at the Maryport Business Park with Wigton Motor Club stepping in as co-organisers.
Autotesting is one of the most precise forms of motorsport and is one where rally champion Colin McRae started as well as top stunt driver Russ Swift and his son Paul who were both multiple champions. Some of the drivers taking part at Maryport also do stunt driving for Top Gear Live and the Grand Tour TV shows.
The venue proved very popular with the competitors with the available space being well used and it being a very smooth surface. There were no less than three past champions taking part and all the drivers put on a superb display of controlled high-speed manoeuvrability.
The event was dominated by the experienced drivers in their well developed autotest specials with past champion Malcolm Livingstone winning by nine seconds from Dave Mosey and Chris Chapman third. Local hot shod Jack Palmer who is sponsored by Wigton Motor Club was 16th and fourth in class with Peter wright 18th and Stephen Palmer 19th.
It was certainly exciting to see such great driving and the amount that they were ahead of our best local drivers put their performance into perspective.
