It was another excellent Falcon entry on the Allen. Nine crews leaving the start just off Junction 18 of the M4. It would have been more, but the entry was over-subscribed and Simon Robson had his turned away. Neil Bray was down as a reserve and it was only on the Thursday that he got a phone call from Carlie Hart to say he would get a run.
The route followed a similar pattern to recent years, starting at Tog Hill which didn’t create any problems. These began at Bitton Lane and centred around the infamous re-start. This is situated on a left hand bend, it looks easy but it’s very deceptive. The gradient increases markedly just where the line is and the surface consists of small polished stones that offer very little grip. To make things more difficult this year they were covered in mud!
Neither Fred nor Michael got away cleanly, although Fred managed to get about ten feet before coming to a stop, wheels spinning, in a cloud of smoke. Murray found a good position, feathered the throttle, and drove away cleanly. Ian Davis was the only other Falcon to get a clear. In overall terms class four was the most successful, with over 50% clean, while in class six car only one car succeeded out of five, even Graham Brazier failing to burn his way up.
The later numbers arrived at Big Uplands to find a long queue. Conditions were quite slippery and there were quite few failures. This causes a problem as they had to reverse down the section, which is tricky because it’s quite rough. Then comes the big problem, passing the queue of cars waiting to attempt the section. All of this caused an increasing delay, up to ninety minutes for the tail-end-Charlie’s.
The first part of the section is straight and rough, with a surface of solid rock. This changes to loose rock just before a sharp left hander, where there is a re-start for the yellow and red classes. This area was very tricky. The rain the week before had washed a lot mud onto the rocks and they were very slippery. It would actually had been easier if it had been raining as the water would have washed the mud away!
Neither Neil Bray nor Stuart Cairney could get round the corner. Michael and Mike got a bit further but not much leaving Murray as out only clean class four. Fred didn’t make it off the re-start and had the misfortune to get his diff stuck on a rock reversing down. Now, the marshals on Big Uplands are notorious for not giving competitors a helping shove. Today was no exception, but eventually they summoned a recovery truck, a four wheel drive Toyota pick-up. This attempted to pull Fred up but it failed to move, all four wheels spinning fruitlessly. Meanwhile Fred had pumped his tyres up and this gave him the necessary increase in ground clearance to untangle his diff. Fred reversed down the hill but the drama was not over. First the Toyota had difficulty in getting back up the hill. Then after Michael failed he got stuck on a muddy verge trying to get past the queue for the section. Ron Bradshaw kindly towed him out, but the back bumper was wedged around a tree and got rather bent in the process! Mike Pearson and John Parsons both got away from the restart OK and went on to clear the hill, but neither Clive Booth nor Ian Davis were successful.
Guys Hill was next. Name sound familiar? This is the one that all the legal business is about concerning the road out of the top. I can remember on my first Allen we went out the end of the section. These days the gate at the top is firmly closed. It’s another one of these “polished stones” sections, made devilishly difficult for the yellows and reds as they have to re-start. It’s also one of the Allen’s two subdivided hills, the other being Burledge.
Stuart started off the line pretty well, but a plug lead jumped off about half way up. The engine fluffed and the Imp ground to a halt at the two. It was the same story for Neil and Marc in the Skoda, which really wasn’t running at all well. Our other class fours made it OK but none of the yellows and reds could get off that slippery re-start.
Fred and Murray were unaware of all Michael’s dramas on Big Uplands and were waiting for him at Guys Hill. They were able to watch a superb restart from Dudley Sterry. They reckon it took him the best part of a minute, but he got his rather special class 8 MG J2 off the line and up the hill for a clean. Julian Dommett and Tony Young were the only other re-starters to get away and clean the section. How does Julian do so well with that 1172 Dellow?
After Sandy Lane and Strode came Travers, which didn’t present any difficulty to the lower classes, but was more tricky for the yellows and reds who had to re-start. Earlier in the ear the Bristol club had made a gully near the top of the hill to reduce the damage caused by water. Fred and Pete got away well in their Dutton and so did Mike Pearson. The others weren’t so lucky and succumbed to the step and slippery rocks after the re-start.
The organisers had been carrying out more construction work on Burledge to reduce the depth of the ruts and make it less of a test of ground clearance. This certainly made a difference to Falcons class fours and only Stuart failed to drive out of the top, grounding out at the one. Fred and Pete made it OK in class seven, but class eight had things a bit more difficult as they had to re-start. This prevented a full blooded run at the rutted part and Clive wasn’t able to build up sufficient momentum, grinding to a halt at the one.
Mill Lane didn’t present any problems for most competitors but it was rough enough to break the suspension on Dennis Greenslades Reliant. Dennis seems to be breaking this car pretty regularly. I wonder how long he will persevere with it as it doesn’t appear to be very strong. Clive Booth was in trouble as well, with a broken exhaust manifold on his Dellow. It’s a casting and there was little hope of doing a satisfactory repair, so Clive and John retired. In all probability it was Burledge’s ruts that did the damage and they didn’t fancy knocking it off completely on John Walker!
Very soon competitors were going back down the rather wet lane approaching Big Uplands. Only this time it was sharp left after the bridge to tackle “Little Uplands” instead. By now Neil’s Skoda was running quite roughly and he was taking things easy to preserve the car. A little too easy as it turns out, as he didn’t have enough momentum to get over the big hump covering the drainage pipe, grinding to a halt. He needed the services of the Toyota, which was a little better than when it tried to help Fred but not much. About as much use as a chocolate teapot as they say!
Things weren’t much better for Neil on John Walker. The Skoda cut out about fifty yards after the water splash and had to be retrieved out of the section. Not an easy task in the dark as those of you that know the hill will testify. The remaining Falcon’s cleared the hill OK, so it was back to the finish for a well earned rest. Then it was off home, but not before the final challenge, turning right out of the start venue onto the busy main road. Think I’m joking? I’m not, and several competitors got so fed up waiting for a break in the traffic that they turned left and went several miles up the road to “U-turn” at the next roundabout!
So ended another Allen. Normally reckoned to be the easiest of the ACTC events, this one certainly had a few surprises in store for the complacent. It was a great event, run 100% on “real” tracks by a nice bunch of people. Long may it continue.
- 1 David Haizelden VW Golf 11
- 2 Peter Treliving Austin 7 0
- 3 John Bell Ford Escort 12
- 4 Giles Greenslade VW Beetle 0
- 5 Gillian Hayward MGB GT 19
- 6 Nigel Allen VW Beetle 6
- 7 Julian Dommett Dellow 0
- 8 Dudley Sterry MG J2 0
- Overall Tony Young Ardley 0
We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media
Classical Gas 