There was another strong Falcon contingent on the Midland Automobile Clubs Clee Hills Trial. Neil Bray had Allison reading the route card as Marc Lawrence was hosting an Escort owners club meeting back on the ranch. Murray MacDonald was our other class four competitor, delighted that Hazel let him have a drive in her Beetle. PCT specialists, but not (yet) Falcon members, Mike and Duncan Stephens in a 1300 Beetle followed them.
David Thompson was driving in his first one day ACTC classic in his VW Buggy, running with Mike Pearson and Arnold Lane in Mikes Dellow Replica. Falcon’s trio of class eight’s was completed by ACTC Chairman David Alderson with Emma in the passengers seat. This was David’s first run in his Troll since last years Kyrle.
Mike Hayward was our only class seven competitor, driving in his first Classic trial in his highly modified Mk3 Escort. Finally there was another rather distinguished local driver, although he is not yet a Falcon member. John Quenby, the chief executive of the MSA, was giving his MG TC a run in the green sticker MAC closed to club event. I may be wrong but I believe, that as MSA head honcho, John is not allowed to hold a competition licence himself, so can only compete in closed to club events, like the MCC classics and this rare Clee MAC only class.
Competitors assembled for the start at The Boyne Arms, on the fringe of the Boyne Estate. With their usual professionalism Jonathan and Pat Toulmin had arranged for Lady Rosemary Boyne, mother of the present Lord Boyne, to present the awards at the finish. They did have some last minute problems. BT had dug large hole at bottom of Boynes Bouncer. It had been filled in but was to cause problems later as very heavy rain over last week had made this, and many of the other sections, very claggy.
FARLOW was the first section. Classes 2 to 8 went up the muddy track that cuts across a hairpin bend. The other classes had a re-start on the tarmac. The track became softer and more rutted the higher you went. The hill was covered in mud when the early numbers arrived and this played a significant role in the results in class four, which was running at the front of the field. Neil Bray was first to arrive and stopped at the ten. Each competitor got a little further as his predecessor ploughed a little more mud from the surface. Murray MacDonald was running half way through the class and dropped seven but the wily Giles Greenslade had his go last and got as far as the four.
In class eight both David’s Alderson and Thomson came out of the top for a clean but Mike Pearson stopped at the four. Farlow was Mike Haywards first ever classic trials hill and like most debutantes he didn’t give it enough welly off the line. The Kent motor coughed and spluttered in protest and by the time it had recovered the Escort had lost that all-important momentum and stopped at the seven.
The route returned to the Boyne estate for a group of sections. BRADBURYS BANK was more or less going to decide the trial. It’s a soft muddy track through the woods. After a gentle start there’s a sharp right hand bend up a very steep bank. All but one of the entry either under-steered straight on at the corner or floundered on the bank. Adrian Dommett was the hero who made it to the summit. The next best score was a seven, giving Adrian a substantial lead that he hung onto all day.
A note in the route card said BOYNES BOUNCER has never been climbed and it wasn’t going to be today either. It’s a steep muddy path and BT work had turned the bottom into a quagmire. Too far to the right down into a ditch. Too far left into a bottomless pit of goo. After the first couple of class two’s got well and truly stuck in the mud it was called of for everyone except class eight. Adrian Dommmett, David Alderson and Adrian Linecor were the three super-men who at least saw the top of the hill, even if they didn’t actually get there. Getting through the goo at the bottom was enough achievement for most people.
HILLSIDE was another section that got easier as the day went on. It’s a long, straight muddy affair, traversing across the slope of a wooded hill. There were some big bumps half way up just before Red & Yellow restart and David Alderson was the only Falcon to get through this difficult part of the section although Neil gave it a real good go.
BEAMFORD was approached via a track with a “we object” sign outside the only house along its length. Apparently the householder maintained the byway himself and thought the competitors would mess up the surface. Some post event work by Jonathan Toulmin managed to turn him into a possible supporter rather than an objector! The section started on the bank of a small river and went along its course for ten yards or so before coming out along a very muddy track. David Thompson dropped three here and both Murray and Neil had problems when they both hit the same boulder on the exit road the impact bending Neil’s suspension a bit.
There was more drama a mile up the road at HUNGERFORD. This is a great section. It starts on the road and turns right up the track. The section begins twenty yards up hill but you are allowed to start on the run. Murray and Hazel remembered this as a rough section and didn’t drop the pressures much. The wheel’s started spinning as soon as they hit the rough and they passed “section begins” at a crawl. They managed to continue until the big hump at the top, but by now they were going so slowly they couldn’t coax JAZ over. Mike Hayward experienced a similar problem. He was going much faster but his Escort is much lower and he grounded out. Mike Pearson and Arnold Lane didn’t get that far. They rocketed up the track but the side-wall blew out of a tyre with a tremendous bang just after section begins and they had to reverse back down.
HARTON WOOD was a nice blast up a tree lined rack and came with protesting local at the top for some. Sections nine and ten were the LONGVILLE Special Test and Section. Not too difficult unless you were yellow or red when you had one of those horrible restarts on polished stones to get back on the main road.
IPKINS ROCK looked nice and easy from the bottom, but there was a very sharp hairpin right near the top where the reds had to do a restart. In a way this was a blessing in disguise as it forced them to slow. A few of the non restarting lower classes had too much speed on and went over the side, including Greenslade’s senior and junior, costing Giles a class win.
THE JENNY WIND is a long straight blast up an old cable tramway, without very much grip. This was worse for the later numbers as it had started to rain, but at least this compensated for their easy run up Farlow. HARLEY BANK was a few yards up the track. It started with easy gradient but got a bit rutted near the summit where Mike Hayward ran out of ground clearance and stopped
MEADOWLEY was only for yellows and reds. It was particularly slimy and evil with deep ruts and tree routs to complete the challenge. Nobody came out of the top and it was the on-form Adrian Dommett who got the furthest to re-enforce his overall win, aided considerably by those huge wheels. The LOUGHTON SPECIAL TEST finished off the day. This was a dive down a muddy track, hairpin round a cone and back. All in the dark for the later numbers
Back at the Boyne Arms it was Adrian Dommett who was declared the winner, dropping only ten marks. This was despite having to do two more hills than most of the other classes. David Alderson was the best Falcon, winning class eight. Competitors were pretty spread out at the end. Running towards the front of the field Murray finished by three and was back home in Welwyn Garden City by six, while Mike Hayward had only just got to the finish.
The end of the event wasn’t the end of the excitement for Neil and Allison. They had a good run back to Bedfordshire but just a few miles from home the transmission gave up the ghost when Neil was changing down for a roundabout. Looking at the car afterwards Neil also found more water and dirt in the fuel system, lets hope he can get it fixed in time for the Cotswold Clouds.
- Best Overall – Adrian Dommett – Ford Special – 10 marks
- Class 0 for MAC members – Jeremy Nightingale (Dellow) 28
- Class 1 – Adrian Tucker-Peake (Peugeot 205 GTi) 28
- Class 2 – Barry Clarke (Grotty Chummy) 38
- Class 3 and 5 combined Paul Bartleman (Ford Escort) 18
- Class 4 Dave Sargeant (VW Beetle) 34
- Class 6 – Mark Smith (VW Beetle) 17
- Class 7 Adrian Marfell (VW-Alfa) 16
- Class 8 David Alderson (Troll T6E) 22
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