New Year's Resolution? Join your local Motor Club!

So you've finished off the turkey, the tinsel is back in it's box and you're looking for something to do with your car over the new year. If you've seen our first edition of Overdrive, you'll know a bit about getting started in Autotesting, but what does an actual event look like?

Land Rover Discoveries are a rare sight in most motorsports!

The Ystrad Mynach motor club likes to celebrate the new year with an annual autotest held at a local farm. It's a fine example of the many varied events that take place every week around the UK, The venue can be almost anywhere and the vehicles competing can be almost anything! With the entry costs being very inexpensive, it's no wonder that the club had a strong turn out of competitors and spectators for this year's event, even on a very cold January Morning. A fantastic way to blow away the winter blues and get you and your car ready for the oncoming season.

Are you from a Motor Club? Do you have a report for us? Send it in to us at info@overdrive-uk.com

With well over 200 spectators Ystrad Mynach Motor Club’s New Year’s Autotest proved to be a great success. Set on Gelliargwellt Uchaf Farm near Gelligaer the competitors were in for a really tough afternoon from the start. With persistent rain from the weekend, conditions were muddy and extremely slippery.

This Austin A35 is more than it appears...

There was a large selection of vehicles on show. We had everything from Ford Escorts and Peugeot 205s right through to off road quads. With a strong entry of 40 competitors there was a plentiful array of vehicles for everyone to see.

Stand out vehicles on the day were Roger Holder’s “Mint” Ford Escort RS2000 (Coming in as a last minute replacement for his Honda Civic), the A35 of Toby Down, the Renault Clio (with suspect racing stripes) and the poor Citroen Saxo that has every inch of its gearbox taken away from it! A special mention has to go to Matthew Maidment after parking his Peugoet 205 Rally car into one of the many skips located on the site. In his words “I only crash on straights!”.

Congratulations to overall event winner Stephen Giles. Taking the overall win on his quad. Winner of the Car Class Carl Davies had to swap cars half way through after damaging the steering arm on his BMW mid way through the event.

The full results book can be found by clicking here.

This quad seems to be hell bent on becoming a motorcycle!

A big thank you to the venue owners, TSL Sports Timing, the competitors, helpers, marshals and spectators. Without you none of this would have been possible. With your help we were able to make a generous donation to the Childrens Cancer and Leaukemia Charity LATCH.

Many of you have been asking when the next event will be. At the moment we don’t have a firm date but we are sticking with Gelliargwellt Uchaf Farm and are looking a firming up a date for the summer. Please keep checking www.ystradmynachmotorclub.co.uk for regular updates.

UPDATE : If you've arrived here from the Austin A30/A35 owners club forum ( http://forum.austina30a35ownersclub.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2312&start=615#p41946 ), I'm afraid we don't have much information about that little blue car other than it has a Cosworth engine and is apparently a very potent machine on this sort of event!

Video, Report and Photos courtesy of Ystrad Mynach Motor Club