COMMITTEE & OFFICERS
Chris Phillips – President
One of the longest serving members of the Club, Chris Phillips was appointed Honorary President in 2015, a non-executive position albeit considered to be one of the most important. Chris boasts a wealth of experience across all forms of motorsport and despite his enormous experience in rallying in a Mini, he is also a Licenced Clerk of the Course for Speed events, often heading the team at Abingdon Motorsport CAR-nival.
Now a retired Network Communications expert, Chris plays an active role in most club events, especially the social side where beer is involved.
Other hobbies include a major involvement with Model Steam and Traction Engines, engineering intricate components in his workshop at his home in Ash near Aldershot.
Ian Brooks – Chairman
Club Chairman, Ian Brooks competed in both rallycross and latterly Tarmac Stage Rallying at club, national and international level winning his class on a number of international events. Starting out in a MkI Escort in Rallycross Ian progressed to a Peugeot 106 Rallyee in which he initially competed in the 1400cc Group N class in international rallycross. In 1997 he converted the car to rally spec before upgrading to a 106 Gti in 1999. Ian’s rallycross was not without typical clubman competitor problems which included writing off the shell at Longcross whilst trying to win an event outright.
Having concluded that rallying at the level he wanted was too expensive Ian turned his attention to running events. As a qualified Clerk of Course Ian clerked all the Club’s popular Longmoor Loco rallies as well as a variety of other events. He and his van are an ever present sight at all the Sprint and Rally events the Club runs.
Ian is a keen sailor hence his relocation to the south coast near Chichester, where you will often find him ‘all at sea’ in and around the Solent. However during 2025 the motorsport bug struck again and Ian acquired a Sporting Trials car which he now campaigns around the country.
If you want first hand experience of what it takes to put an event together – stage/course design, setting up and knocking down – then Ian would be only too willing to accept your help and pass on his knowledge. Equally, if you want to know about Sporting Trials you won’t be able to stop him!
Dave Whyman – Secretary
As Secretary, Dave looks after much of the ‘behind the scenes’ stuff with Motorsport UK and other related organisations. He is also, for the last 17 years, the Championship Co-Ordinator of the Hamilton Classic ACSMC Sprint and Hillclimb Championships so he’s the man if you have any queries related to speed activities. He claims he is one of the few people that actually reads the General Regulations (commonly known as ‘The Blue Book’) as soon as it’s available!
If you have any interest in taking part in club level Sprints and or Hillclimbs, Dave is certainly the man to contact. He is also our Club Chief Marshal on competitive our events so expect to be contacted when we need more volunteers.
A former IT Project Manager (now retired), Dave started his motor sport career during the 70s and 80’s as a Navigator in rallying, sitting alongside his brother, and others on many National and local stage events so he knows a bit about the ‘Black Art’ of co-driving as well!
Barry Guess – Appreciation
Barry Guess held a life-long passion for motorsport and for delivering and supporting events and competitors.
Barry joined Sutton & Cheam Motor Club in 1986. He quickly became a stalwart of the Club and club motorsport in the South East. He held most positions on the Club’s committee most recently acting as its membership secretary.
Barry’s contribution to the Club cannot be overstated whether it was: organising socials (who can forget his Christmas quizzes and British Grand Prix Barbeques at Reigate Rugby Club, or the visits to spectate on Ypres (two mini buses) in the early 1990s, or to McLaren?); editing, contributing to, and printing the Club magazine; initiating Zoom club nights during COVID; supporting socials by participating in just about every event in the last 40 years – organising many of them himself; and organising motorsport events to be financially viable thereby securing the financial standing of the Club.
Barry chaired the ACSMC in the 1990s, a period during which it was highly proactive in promoting club motorsport and representing its clubs to the MSA. He was also a very effective Forestry Liaison and MoD Liaison officer. He pioneered realistic training events for organisers and marshals at venues such as Rushmoor. This initiative was noticed by the MSA who took the idea around the country.
Barry liked a challenge and nowhere was this more clearly demonstrated than in his ability to work out an appropriate event to overcome a new venue’s limitations or exploit its strengths. His mantra was to enable competitors to compete. This approach led to a Sprint, Rally, Autosolo and Off Road event at the same venue over one weekend (Abingdon Motorsport CAR-nival) – to add value, the sprint consisted of two courses with best times being combined to determine overall results. Other innovative events included: the Longmoor Loco 2WD-only rally; breaking the Tempest forest rally into separate 2WD and 4WD events starting simultaneously on different stages; sprints for restricted classes at Longcross; the summer Rallysprint at Bramley, various rallies at Rushmoor and the ‘out and return’ rally at Deepcut. The Longmoor and Rushmoor events were innovators in organising an event between Boxing Day and New Year to “blow away the cobwebs”!
After a debut as the Stage Commander on the Calma Stages in the Mid 1980s, Barry took over as Clerk of the Course and grew the Tempest forest rally to became a round of the BRC, eventually achieving international status.
Such innovation also led to Barry being invited to be Clerk of the Course for the Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium and, more recently, taking the lead role on the road section of the RAC Club’s London-Brighton run.
Barry was passionate about things being done properly. To achieve this he used his role as a Motorsport UK Steward to learn from other events and disciplines and see what he could apply to the rallies and sprints the Club ran. Barry demanded high standards from all the team and sometimes expected a degree in mind reading. Competitors and Officials were left in no doubt where they had not met Barry’s standards but it was clear that, once you had earned his trust and understood the standards he wanted to deliver, you would be given the room to get on with things. As a result, his events were always supported by large numbers of returning competitors and Officials.
Barry was a visionary in that in the late 1990s he realised that the bigger more costly events would become too big for a single club to run. He also recognised that by involving other clubs in the running of an event this would increase experience and offer training for clubs to be able to run their own smaller events. Despite the challenges this approach created for him as ‘lead organiser’, the Tempest Rally became a three club promotion and the CAR-nival also involves three clubs at its core.
Whilst Barry was often viewed as a rather ‘hard-nosed’ organiser there was a compassionate side of him which often appeared. It was not unusual to discover that Barry had found roles for people on events because he was aware of difficulties in their lives. After a tragic accident on a rally at Bramley Camp, alongside Barry’s concerns for the families of the competitors, was a recognition of the impact on all those at the event, in particular the marshals and rescue/ recovery crews. Barry arranged an evening where everyone could come together, have a drink and reflect on their experiences.
After retirement from BAE Heritage, he had the opportunity to pursue other interests. In recent years this involved the training and expert handing of two Retriever rescue dogs, who were very much part of the family, and rugby. Typically, Barry’s approach to rugby was unconventional becoming a passionate supporter of Leicester Tigers Rugby Club (hardly local) and England mens and womens rugby more generally. He was delighted with the World Cup win and liked noting more than planning and executing a weekend at a match, whether at home or abroad, with like-minded supporters.
Barry had suffered a range of ailments in recent years but this had not tempered his enthusiasm for motorsport – indeed planning for the CAR-nival and London to Brighton were well in hand. However a complex cancer diagnosis in early February proved too big a challenge, even for him, and he passed away on 9 March after 6 days in hospital.
Norman Phillips – Treasurer
Treasurer Norman Phillips, is truly the Finance Man of the Club, controlling all the checks and balances, keeping the club on a level footing so that is can organise and promote its events with sound financial confidence.
Norm prides himself on not having any motorsport competition background as it allows him to remain neutral having never experienced any ‘Red Mist’.
Norm is a former Metropolitan Policeman who ran both the Met Police and Biggin Hill Flying Clubs, as well as being the Secretary and Bar Manager of Reigate & Redhill Rugby Club. A lot of his time is now taken up overseeing sailing’s National Speed Week in Weymouth although Norm ‘relaxes’ by acting as Facilities Manager on all Sutton & Cheam events, making sure all the kit is in good order and available in the right place at the right time.
Nigel Griffiths – Competition Secretary and General Committee
Nigel is the ubiquitous quiet Welshman with an extraordinary knowledge of motor sport from all angles. Nigel, who lives in Farnham, works fulltime in IT although he is also well-known as the club’s Quizmaster. Nigel looks after the Competitor of the Month element of the club and always has his finger on the pulse of what is going on with the competitive element of Sutton & Cheam Motor Club. Nigel’s level headed approach makes him an ideal candidate when looking for someone to look after the important jobs such as a regular ‘Judge of Fact’ on the clubs events.
Martin Pickles – General Committee
Originally a Formula Ford racer, Martin is now better known as the man behind the wheel of the ‘Green Meanie’, a diminutive carbon fibre, Jedi single seater with bike engine power which he campaigns around the UK (and occasionally Europe) in the British Sprint Championship.
A retired engineer and living in Northamptonshire, he claims he is now devoting his time to further development of the car alongside his hidden passion for river boats.
Tony Perrett – General Committee
Tony is probably best known for his competition car preparation and repair business although he has been known to fiddle with the odd Dalek at charity events. Tony has competed in rallies and sprints for over 4 decades and apart from campaigning his latest Rally Car, he also hold a Speed National Clerks licence and supports a number of sister clubs throughout the south in that capacity.
2023 saw a return to the rally stages in his Fiesta where Tony contested a few selected local events alongside his son Ben.
Tony is always willing to talk with and advise and help anyone thinking about building a car for competition whether it be a road car or full-blown racer or those simply needing his mechanical abilities.
With around 50-years of motor sporting knowledge although she freely admits that nowadays everything needs to be written down in big typeface. She is always willing to talk to anyone either currently involved in motor sport safety communications, especially those looking for information and guidance on how to get started.