The Grass Gymkhana was to be held in April but with all the dreadful weather back then we had to push it out to May, however, we got there in the end. Even so we had our concerns because the day before, wouldn’t you know it, it absolutely bucketed down.

Thanks to Rod and Shanlee’s well positioned property and the day dawning with clear skies and sunshine, the field we were to use was firm, even if the grass was wet, which made for a fun day trying to control and navigate our beautiful, pristine and clean cars around the course. Much cleaning will be required later on.

It was great to see our newer members showing off their cars and venturing onto the race course.

First up was the Show ‘n Shine – Andy Eilenstein won the pre 1990 class with his gorgeous 1983 light green W123 and Russell Clarke won the post 1990 class, again, with his much-cleaned SL500.

Moving on to the gymkhana, the course was set up by Ken Williams with a couple of helpers (Arthur and the other Ken). Each competitor had three rounds of the course to achieve their best time. Some of us borrowed cars to avoid getting their own dirty and I’m not sure if one or two had a couple of extra rounds as a result! Whatever. The competition was fierce to achieve the quickest time, but it became clear early on that Cornelius and Ken Williams were going to be the ones to beat.

After we had made our mark in the field on the slalom course, we headed back to Rod and Shanlee’s house for a BBQ lunch to plan our moves for the next round of the gymkhana, over a new course. Again, the grass and dirt were flying, cars were going sideways, with only a couple of marker cones getting knocked off their poles. No cars were harmed while running in this event.

But there can only be one winner.

In the Classic division, Cornelius (in Ken William’s 1972 350 SL) was the winner over Ken with just 0.4 seconds between them. That car goes like the clappers and the driver may have had some influence too!

In the Ladies division, Janine was the winner in her 2005 SLK 55.

In the Modern division, Cornelius was again the winner, this time in Pree’s 2019 A250.

So, the day was again fun filled, with new members and old having a great time of it.

Thanks to Shanlee and Rod for their generous hospitality and we look forward to next year.

Cheers everyone

Trevor

Ed note – thanks Trevor for keeping this show on the road, always a highlight of our Mercedes year.

Click on this link for the S&S and Gymkhana results

Click here to view more photos on our Gallery page