IN LIFE they say only two things are certain - death and taxes. But to those certainties you can also add victory for Brian Luker in the Bournemouth and District Car Club New Year's Day Autotest.

For as long as anyone can remember the Ensbury Park driver has been taking the spoils in the January 1st event with his Topless Mini and this week was no exception as he gave a near faultless performance around the tight twisting courses set in Baiter Car Park at Poole.

With Luker grabbing fastest time of the day, the Specials class award went to his long-time co-driver Des England from Bournemouth - the pair ending five hours of competition well clear of the 15-strong autotest entry.

While it was a forgone conclusion who would win the Class C category for cars between 11 and 13 ft, the competition went down to the wire.

Three drivers were in contention all day and going into the final test Dave Crook in his VW Polo was just ahead, but a mistake hitting a post proved very expensive and dropped him back to third.

This left his Martin Berry (sharing the Polo) to leapfrog into the lead with the two Volkswagen drivers being split by rally regular David Gamblin who left his Subaru Impreza at home in favour of a more agile Toyota Starlet.

Things were much more clear cut in Class D where the hugely experienced Steve Candy from Verwood was unstoppable in his MKI Ford Escort, going on to snap up yet more silverware. And it was a similar situation in Class B where the Peugeot 106 of Tim Walker finished the day with a clear margin of victory.

Top Novice and best of the Under-25 entrants was newcomer James Carter who was making his debut in a club event with his classic Mk I Ford Escort and enjoying every minute of participation.

Heading a two-way fight for the title of top lady driver was Natasha Brett in a 1400cc Vauxhall Nova.