1967 UAC Crocus Tests

ULSTER Automobile Club CROCUS DRIVING TESTS

This report by Beatty Crawford is reproduced from Autosport Magazine – 3 March 1967.

The Ulster Automobile Club’s Crocus Driving Tests which took place on 18th February in a quarry near Ballygowan, Co Down, proved to be not only a test for driver and car but for the marshals as well. After a beautifully sunny morning the weather turned nasty just as the event was about to start, and throughout the remainder of the afternoon it rained torrentially, rendering the six test sites rivers of water in which the poor shivering marshals stood ankle deep. At least the drivers were able to remain in the comfort of the cars for most of the time, although to get out and inspect the tests was an uncomfortable business.

As in so many UAC driving test meetings the event turned out to be a Robert Woodside Volkswagen benefit. With very little class opposition, Woodside’s VW 1500, despite running on only three cylinders for the first three tests, had things all its own way and was not beaten by a classmate in any of the 12 tests, thus suffering a loss of zero marks.

The opposition in the sports cars and specials class was stiffer and Thompson Glass in the Hayrake did well to emerge the class winner and second overall with a loss of 0.6 marks. Glass lost, 0.2 of this to Ronnie White’s manx-tailed Sprite Special in test 10 and the remaining 0.4 to Roger Cree’s Sprite in the last test, which was quite a miniature special stage. Lee Lucas had a short run — his Grasshopper broke its gearbox in the first test.

Third best overall was Ted Hobson’s pokey Downton Mini. In the highly competitive small saloon class Ted had 1.2 marks taken off him.
At the other end of the scale, the large sports car class was anything but competitive, with only three entries; but George McBrinn nevertheless contrived to drop 3 marks in his Triumph TR2.

One of the best performances of the afternoon was that of David Grant, who won the Mini-Cooper S class with his 1293 c: model. Up against such stiff. opposition as Billy Morrison, who had a line fault, and Ronnie Mullen. Grant, who has been showing a steady improvement over the past year, was in fine form and dropped only 5 marks in this cut-throat class.

Beatty CRAWFORD.

RESULTS

Overall winner: R. J. Woodside (VW 1500), 0.0 marks lost.
Best Time of the Day: Dr D. T. Glass (Hayrake Special), 340.2s.
Class winners:
E. Hobson (Mini), 1.2;
W. D. Grant (Mini-Cooper S), 5.0;
W. K. Shields (VW 1300), 6.2;
R. Woodside (VW 1500), 0.0.
Dr T. Glass (Hayrake), 0.6;
G. McBrinn (Triumph TR2), 3.0.