The Cross Border Speed Championship

2022 XBC Boyndie Report

2022 06 25 Boyndie Tents

The forecast wall to wall Boyndie Weekend rain failed to appear, other than a slight overnight shower on Friday night. Just enough to wash the fine Sahara dust from the vehicles. Something we might have appreciated on the Saturday night too. Instead we had to put up with blue skies and sunshine, served with a brisk breeze.

Memory suggests that ten years ago, or so, the Boyndie paddock was awash with a plethora of campers under canvas. This photo provides an interesting perspective on the current sea of tents !!

The weekend ran very smoothly, and the organising team from SSHC and all of their support personnel on the ground are to be commended. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable event.

There were a few people with technical issues, and from those, if there was an award for artistic examples of crystalline fracture then with the fine Last Run Saturday Drive Shaft example in this photo, the award would go to Stuart Mather !!

2022 06 25 Mather Fracture

Actually, one of the best things about this sport is to be seen in the people involved. With Louise Calder managing to bend and fold a rear hub upright, there were two cars destined to go home on Saturday night. Not so. With the kindness and cooperation of Stuart, Helen Highley, Louise, and not to mention the considerable mechanical skills of Michael Sutherland, a pooling of resources meant that both cars were able to run on the Sunday.

Please note that the above paragraph was skilfully written, avoiding the need to establish the plural of the word “Jedi” !!

2022 06 26 Young Murchie

Finally, in this photo, we have a rare glimpse of what one of our veteran competitors might have looked like as an infant. A man who can still lay down the gauntlet to old men half his age. Yes Mr Murchie (Snr) (Snr) (Snr) . . . . . . What a handsome chap you once were !!

Back to reality . . . . .

The XBC website has been updated with Boyndie Results and Scoring, to be found on the 2022 Events Page. Dropped scores are starting to kick in, and anybody that thinks they might be winning, having competed in a high number of events may very soon need to reconsider !!

Our next XBC fixtures are Barbon and July Kames. We hope to see you there.

Have fun !!

2022 XBC Forrestburn Update

2022 06 11 Forrestburn Rain

This weekend past, the Forrestburn Stunt Gazebo Kite Flying Competition failed to get off the ground when not one Competitor was prepared to take theirs out of the bag !!

This photo gives an impression of the view that most Competitors enjoyed. Yes, Forrestburn’s reputation as a bleak, wild and exposed barren spot remains untarnished, and of course who would expect rain to fall in the vicinity of a reservoir.

Perhaps it was the incredible foresight of the venue’s designers, that one day they would need vast quantities of water on hand in order to allow lithium battery electric vehicles to compete.

Joyous was the news, in times where a single Practise run is the norm, that we would have four Practise runs. The risk here is that Competitors have several “dryish” runs provided in order to practise for their subsequent wet timed runs !! Similar in fact to stopping for an hour for lunch as everything dries up, only to start the afternoon’s proceedings with the onset of rain again. Joy indeed !!

It is in weather like this that four wheel drive is a great advantage, but even the two wheel drive cars are able to reduce the time gap normally found between them and the single seaters.

Of the single seaters, only Stuart Mather had the good sense to use a set of List 1A tyres for the whole weekend !!

Despite the weather, a good weekend, a more efficient throughput of vehicles than we perhaps remember. Vehicle carnage was almost non-existent considering the track conditions. That is not to say that there was not some excitement, as you might gauge from the following photograph of Forrestburn scenery from an unusual perspective. No awards were issued to any of the Competitors who helped to trim the grass !!

2022 06 11 Forrestburn Backwards

The XBC website has been updated with Forrestburn Results and Scoring, to be found on the 2022 Events Page. Perhaps possible class leaders are already emerging, but we are only a few rounds away from dropped scores starting to kick in, and that is when it all starts to get very interesting. Any errors or omissions, please let us know.

Our next XBC fixture is Boyndie which at the time of writing still seems to be open for entries if you are quick. Hope to see you there.

2022 XBC Golspie Update

After the blue skies and heat of the Golspie weekend, for the handful of Competitors who stayed over to the Monday, the cooler cloud cover was very welcome and made it easier to appreciate the beauty of the countryside surrounding the track.

This is a great venue, one of our XBC favourites, and well worth the treck north. As far as we know, only one of our number suffered mechanical failure leading to an early departure, with the unusual clutch bellhousing fracture of Fraser’s Mini. We won’t mention the reasons for the paddock panel beating of Keith and Neil’s MX5s, other than to say that they both seemed to like the same stretch of barrier !! Apparently, according to Neil, everything is fixable with T-Cut !! Ross Glen avoided going home by repairing his diff to gearbox brace with a bit of scrap metal and a few odd bolts. No one mentioned the consequential increase in the value of his car !! Is this video clip before or after the repair ?



One of the most impressive cars off the line was the Spire GT3 of Charlie Fraser. He may well have gone faster over the weekend, but this 99mph start straight is pretty impressive.



And so, just in time for the Forrestburn weekend, the XBC site has been updated with the Golspie results and scoring, available from the 2022 Events Page.

Back to Golspie . . . If anyone can suggest what this red sandstone turf topped building was originally used for, I’d be interested to know. Answers written on a £20 note, handed to me at Forrestburn please. Actually, . . . with current rates of inflation, make that a fifty !!!

2022 06 06 Sandstone

Let’s hope the Golspie weather extends to Forrestburn. Hmmmm . . . . .