As usual there was plenty of Falcon support, with some interesting crew variations. Hazel was driving the MacDonald Beetle again, but with Veronica otherwise engaged; she had to be on her best behaviour as Murray was alongside in the passenger seat. Mike Hayward was driving his hybrid Escort in its second classic, and first MCC event, with Michael Leete entwining himself around the roll bar in the back. In class one our RAC PCT champion, Matt Clarke, was enjoying his first MCC outing, passengering Ken Payne in his Golf. Ken is the owner of the Golf Nick Pollitt campaigns although I am not sure if this is the same car.
There should have been another debutante, but Verdun Webley non-started when he couldn’t get his Marlin ready in time, discovering the motor had two head gaskets. Closer examination revealed the head was warped quite badly and Verdun wisely decided to delay things until the car was right. Stuart and Andrew Cairney had a nice restful Good Friday, fitting new pistons and rings to their Imp. Firing it up just in time to drive to the start!
Is it imagination or does the Lands End start earlier every year? Anyway, it was still light when most of the Popham starters got away, ideal for the film crew from Merdian Television who were interviewing Geoff and Reg! The revellers were out at Sugg Lane, cheering and waving at the competitors, who were just praying that they wouldn’t throw the beer bottles they were holding. The route instructions for the exit route were very specific. There was to be no stopping until the main road. No fear of that as the track was lined with a new age traveller encampment. You got the feeling they would have the dogs on you for disturbing their beauty sleep.
The holes on Felons Oak are getting deeper and caused quite a bit of trouble on the re-start for a few people, including Neil Bray who had his first puncture and Tony Branson who had come all the way down from Hexham in his 1300 Marlin. Stuart failed as well, after a struggle to stay awake on the long preceding road section. Minehead Rugby Club gave a twenty-minute rest for some but it was all go for Neil Bray as he adjusted Mikes timing. The Escort had lost all its low down power after its pre-event tune-up and Mike was having a real struggle to get it away on the re-starts.
Stoney Street came and went without drama and Beggars Roost wasn’t too much of a problem as the re-start was on a straight bit. Mike Hayward cleaned the section OK, at the cost of a puncture, but will probably be penalised for rolling back as the handbrake was slipping very badly. As always there are some amusing MCC organisational sub-issues. The road book stated that you had to deflate your tyres on the main road and threatened exclusion if you stopped on the entry track to let them down. The problem was that the main road was lined with parked cars and you had to pull off a long way before to find a space to stop. This meant a long drive on flat tyres and we all know this is a road traffic offence!
The mist came down for the fifty-mile drive over Exmoor to Simonsbath and on to the Hartland peninsula. Sutcombe and Darracott were both up to form. Classic hills in beautiful surroundings but not ones to cost anyone a triple. That was to change on the third Hartland hill, Cutliffe Lane. This is not too difficult in the dry but it’s a different story in the wet, and for this 78th Lands End wet it was. The section starts on a gentle slope, and then it’s a sharp right hander through a gate. The gradient gets steeper and the hill rises sharply up a gully cut into the side of a wooded slope A combination of things make it difficult. Rocks, mud, gradient, they all contribute. This was a hill for the brave and the super-hero’s. Dudley climbed it of course but things were not so easy for mere mortals. You needed plenty of momentum when you got to the straight bit, which meant maximum speed through the gate. This caused problems for some. Dave Turner got his BMW off the line in fine style only to loose traction. He snicked it into second, the tyres bit and the Beemer under-steered straight into one of the gate posts, uprooting it and leaving the BMW in need of a helping hand from the recovery tractor to pull the body-work of the front wheels. The same gatepost was the downfall of Lee and Dani Dove who gave it a mighty blow with their Troll, leaving them with the task of getting the wreckage all the way back to Perth.
The trial returned to Bude for the first special test. A wiggle woggle around the cones of a deserted car park after a fight to get through the centre of town crowded with Saturday shoppers. David Heale was voted one of the most spectacular, lifting the front wheel of his Escort a foot of the ground before slowing when the passengers clip-board got stuck under the pedals. The lady concerned was Mark Hobb’s wife who complained hadn’t let her finish making a phone call! Near neighbours Stuart and Andrew were in trouble again, wrong slotting and going the wrong way around the final bollard.
The MCC had threatened to cancel Crackington if the locals doctored it too much. They responded by dumping one tractor load of slurry on the upper surface instead of the usual two. It seemed to do the trick and the hill was competitive without being impossible. It was reckoned to be rougher though and took its toll on the Falcon contingent. Geoff Jackson had a half shaft go and although Mike Pearson had a spare it was the wrong sort. He managed to find one out the back of a local garage and get down to Newquay nice and early for dinner. He was joined by Tom Goggin who retired when his clutch wouldn’t disengage. Punctures were pretty prevalent. Matt Clarke experienced the joys of being winched up a section when Ken Payne’s Golf lost a tyre and Neil Bray had a similar fate. Mike Hayward got out of the top OK, a great achievement, as he had to do a re-start in what is far from the most suitable car. Pumping the tyres up, whilst the other Michael ran back to do some videoing, Mike found a puncture on one of the rears. Unfortunately the remaining spare was flat, leaving Michael to demonstrate his skills as a tyre mechanic before they could continue.
After Treworld competitors were promised an improvement in facilities at the rest halt. Only to find the cold, barren, windy St Kitts had been replaced by a cold, barren, windy, dirty and smelly cattle market, where you would be excluded if you were caught answering a call of nature behind the shed! The usual frenetic activity was taking place in the car park to repair some of the damage wrought by the event so far. Many competitors were repairing tyres and a local entrepreneur was trying to sell instant repair gel. Mike Hayward had found the problem with his flat spare. Mr Colway had moulded a nail in his “new” remould.
Soon the call of the West beckoned and it was onto the A30 down to Hoskin, deep in Cardinham Woods. This is another doctored section, with a mud bath halfway up, complete with yellow and red re-start. Simon Robson made a successful ascent in his Skoda but Neil Bray wasn’t so lucky. A CV joint had been growling away since Minehead and now it let go in a big way. Coasting down to the bottom Neil got Fred Gregory to tow him out of the woods so he could fit the spare. Unfortunately the special tool needed to loosen the screws was at home so Fred kindly nipped into Bude to buy him a new one. By the time he came back David Thompson had stopped and lent Neil his, so he and Marc had one each! Suitably equipped they managed to fix the Skoda and they were soon on their way back on the A30 towards Bluehills.
The mist had gone by now and the sun was shinning on the spectators that thronged the cliffs at Bluehills. “One” seems to be getting trickier and was catching out quite a few people, including Stuart Cairney and Peter Manning who had to be saved from toppling over as he tried to wall of death his way around the corner at the top. The failures were pulled out by a bunch of marshals tugging on a rope, they included none other than MSA head honcho John Quenby, marshalling at grass roots level. The second Bluehills section had been “improved” by creating an artificial corner just after the start. This certainly spiced things up, especially for the yellow and red re-starters, as the new bit was both rough and steep. It’s sure to attract plenty of comment in Triple! Things looked a bit grim at the beginning as none of the first dozen cars got up. Then along came Mrs MacDonald to show how it should be done. The first person to climb the new hill. Mike Hayward punctured a front tyre on the track linking the two sections and then the long-suffering clutch cried enough. It was just about drivable on the road and Verdun Webley shepherded the two Michael’s to their hotel in Newquay, giving them a friendly tow up the last hill.
The survivors only had a few sections remaining. Trungle Mill was pretty easy but Flambards was quite competitive and provided a sting in the tail for many. There just remained the final special test and signing off at Penzance where there was a major disaster at the finishing hotel. They ran out of beer!
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