Tulie’s ‘phenomenal’ car leaves driver speechless

Pleasant sunshine greeted those who had turned up to Le Val des Terres and a healthy crop of six records resulted, but the Evo 00 driver shone particularly brightly in clocking the fastest time of the day.

Although taking FTDs and setting class records is always a joy, it was the sheer quality of Tulie’s performance – 28.13sec. – that ultimately left him gobsmacked.

‘I am speechless,’ he said.

‘I was not expecting those times today – or ever, to be honest.’

Tulie ultimately ended up racing against himself, given that Nick Saunders – the only other currently-active driver who produces such times – was away at a wedding.

Having entered with a mid-28sec. best from a Nationals round, he would have been happy enough to simply chip down his existing Guernsey Kart and Motor Club class record, which was 28.94.

‘I was not expecting to break it by that much of a chunk of time,’ he added.

‘The car has been phenomenal. I could not ask for much more from a 1,100cc car, as it does lack the power of the bigger 1,600s and that.’

He was on the money from run two, a 28.44, which he soon backed up with 28.36 and 28.13 – all to his amazement.

‘I honestly do not know where those times came from, but the car felt amazing.’

It was overall a feel-good day for many drivers and riders, while a fairly small field and very few accidents meant each got plenty of runs and with little time in-between.

Tim Torode (29.89) and Ian Le Messurier (29.93) in the sports libre classes also ducked under the half-minute barrier, but just outside that came a real secondary highlight.

That came with young Adam Le Ray breaking into the 30sec. range on a 125cc kart.

With his own record previously set at 31.26, he enjoyed five runs below that but his fourth, a 30.84, was the clincher.

‘I did a 31.2 last year – that was the record – so I wanted to get it and I’m well happy to go under,’ he said.

‘That’s what I came for today.’

As for one day joining the sub-30sec. club in his kart? ‘Not on one of these,’ he replied.

‘Maybe 30.5 if I get it right, get everything cleaned up, but not much nearer than that.’

Nick Mann’s patience paid off in the unlimited roadgoing specialist production cars. After bombarding Dan Bichard’s class record of 34.35 with impeccable consistency, he suddenly hit a sweet 34.22 to conclude.

Dale Crowsley knocked down his seven-year-old record in the rally cars, from 35.13 to 34.38.

Motorcyclist Owen Poynder also got his name into the record books.

The relatively young competitor powered his upgraded 300 TM SMX to a 34.87 for a marginal new record in the motorcycles 250-350cc class, taking four-hundredths off Pete Le Page’s 11-year-old record after being in the ballpark all day.

That excellent effort put him behind only Leigh Digard’s 33.98 and Andy Mechem’s 34.24, both on bigger bikes, in the battle for fastest two-wheeler.

Meanwhile, although Le Page lost a record, he improved another.

Unsurprisingly, he could not keep pace with the top riders on his old ‘classic’ Rickman 441, but he made his mark immediately by lowering his own class record – for pre-1975 bikes – marginally to 38.99.