Neil Bray’s first challenge was to get his Skoda through scruitineering and with John West in charge this was no mean feat! It’s John who advised Dave Nash that the Skeetle was a class eight, even though it complies with the rules for seven and there are some far more extreme motors in the class. (Yes I know this is supposed to be an event report, but your favourite column has to keep it’s reputation for controversy and have a little stir now and again. Perhaps we could have some letters on the subject!)
Once we were underway there was a long road run to the first group of hills, starting with Burnbrae, which had a diversion for blue and white. Even so it was no walk over and Murray MacDoanld couldn’ t negotiate the slippery hairpin. Simon Robson got round OK and cleaned the hill, his celebrations echoing through the trees! Neil made it, as did Frank Burton’s Skoda, but Giles Greenslade’s was the only successful Beetle.
Andrews Alley was a few hundred yards up the track. This steep and muddy horror defeated most of the lower classes but was cleaned by the competitive six, seven and eight’s. The dreaded Jill was next on the route card. Fortunately for mere mortals logging operations had made it inaccessible, to be replaced by a milder affair called Jackson. This wasn’t a pussycat though, long, muddy and rutted, you really needed to keep the power hard on, there wasn’t any fear of going off course, the ruts saw to that! Simon ran out of puff and grip by the four but the other Falcons cleaned it OK.
Then it was across the road to a special test marshalled by Simon Harris, who has competed on some of our PCT’s in a Golf GTi. Pludds was next, a steep rocky slope that defeated Murray and Neil. Simon made up for his Jackson’s debacle with a clean and so did Michael, despite a re-start, from which Mike Hayward bounced the Beetle away in fine style.
The next group of sections lay at the end of a couple of miles of well-made forest road. It was easy to imagine Colin McRae blasting down here in a glorious four wheel drift. Dream it had to be as the spoil sport organisers had imposed a 15 mph speed limit! Neither Snompers nor Tomlin Splash troubled any of the Falcons, although Simon was docked six on the latter, presumably because he stopped! It’s now down to our Mr Robson to convince the organisers that he ground to a halt after the section ends board. If he does he will take the second in class award away from Matthew Sharratt.
The half way halt at Wenchford picnic area saw some frantic work to put a new tube in one of Michael Leete’s tyres, punctured on the second special test. It was left to Neil to complete the job and as a result the pair left the stop near the back of the field. They were to drop further behind when one of Neils tubeless tyres left the rim on the slippery track up to Cuddleigh Bank and the bag jack kept slipping out from under the Skoda. The section itself was pretty horrific, very steep and slippery and only climbed by a couple of competitors, including our own David Alderson. David then proceeded to make the only successful climb of Lambswell to lead the trial. This was a really difficult ascent through the trees. It was very muddy and rutted but unfortunately not that steep at the bottom, allowing cars to build up a fair bit of speed. The problem was that there were some frightful bumps about half way up. They threw a couple of the faster motors out of the ruts and into the trees, including Murray MacDonald, to the detriment of the Beetles bodywork.
By now the later numbers were seeing some rain and this caused a major problem at Water Works as it made the lower part pretty impossible. It trapped David Alderson, he couldn’t get up the first bank, dropping twelve, which cost him the trial. Lane End came next, appropriately named as is at the end of a long muddy lane. The route card said that the hill had reverted to the original three-hairpin climb on ruts and rocks. This was academic for many competitors as the first corner was very tight and muddy and they under-steered straight on into the trees. David got round OK, and went on to clean the hill, but the rest of the Falcons failed at the twelve and Neil Bray picked up another puncture in the process. The inflatable jack got another fit of the sulks, so Michael Leete’s trolley jack was pressed into service again. By the time things were sorted out the other competitors had gone by and the two Falcon crews were running last on the road.
There was a sizeable delay at High Garlic and this gave Neil and Marc the opportunity to put tubes into the two dead tubeless tyres. The hill is another long, straight climb through the trees, with some nice deep ruts to keep you on the straight and narrow. Last year Murray had problems at the start and his Beetle slipped sideways to fail before the proper hill began. He did a bit better this year, but couldn’t make the summit and had to reverse down. The other Falcons did better and scored cleans.
Deep Dean’s one and two provided the finale. “Two” is the one with the hairpin at the end with Simon Robson’s wall ready to trap the unwary. The hairpin was pretty slippery and it was hard to stop the car under-steering in the mud. It was possible to get round as David and Murray proved. Neil gave the Skoda everything as usual but to no avail. The front wheels skated over the mire and Neil and Marc powered the Czech wonder into Robsons wall. Then it was back to Ross on Wye to sign off and head for home. An enjoyable event, pretty well organised, tough but not as fearsome as its reputation. Congratulations to Neil Bray on winning class four and commiseration’s to David Alderson on the win slipping away at Water Works. But as David himself says, class eight is very competitive and I am sure Adrian Dommett thoroughly deserved his victory.
- Kyrle Trophy (6 marks lost) – Adrian Dommett (Ford 100E s/c)
- Classes 1 + 2 (53) – David Haizelden (VW Golf GTi)
- 3 (41) – Paul Bartleman (Escort Estate)
- 4 + 5 (52) – Neil Bray (Skoda)
- 6 (17) – Nigel Allen (VW Beetle)
- 7 (11) – Roger Bricknell (Vincent MPH)
- 8 (11) – Mick Workman (Golden Valley Special)
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