It had been pretty wet in the days leading up to the Edinburgh so the hills were going to be in prime condition in Derbyshire. The rain poured down during the night run and the bikers got pretty wet as did drivers of open cars, at least those that didn’t stop under motorway bridges to put the hood up!
The common routes converged at the Elf service station on the A5 near Atherstone for eligibility scruitineering, which was pretty painless. It wasn’t so good for the ladies as the toilets were closed for the second year in succession! Then it was back into the night to battle with a rather in-accurate route card to find the first hill at Agnes Meadow near Ashbourne. The water was streaming down the section, so much that most of the mud was washed away making this a nice gentle start before the serious proceedings. There were gates to be closed here but runners at the back of the field found them open. This continued through the trial and it’s something the MCC will have to watch out for if we are to stay out of trouble with the local landowners.
Wigber Low was just up the road, which I believe is a new hill. It starts just off the busy B5056 so there was a holding control for the cars to stop them queuing in the main road. The hill was pretty straightforward but it was a bit rough in places and this was the downfall of Colin Stevens who had the sump-shield ripped off his Skoda Coupe and he retired. Breakfast was waiting a few miles up the road at the Bentley Brook Inn. They had a wonderful open fire going and the room steamed as wet clothes were dried out. The food was good quality but there wasn’t much room inside or in the car park and competitors missed that wonderful transport café atmosphere of the Salt Box.
The bikers hit big problems just up the road, as the New Haven garage wasn’t open. Most of them were in desperate straits as they were relying on filling up here. Some waited for the staff to turn up, some went searching around for a 24-hour garage and sadly, some gave up. All this caused a big delay for the bikes and they dribbled into Excelsior with a considerable delay. The rain had made the hill pretty muddy and this caused further delays, which affected the cars who backed up onto the main road. Travelling marshals created an impromptu holding control in Hartington village and competitors queued around the village pond. This mostly worked pretty well but some later numbers got pretty annoyed with queue jumpers and there were a few raised voices and frayed tempers. The wind got up a bit which dried the hill itself out and it was pretty near bone dry towards the end, causing few problems for later numbers although Jonathan Baggott retired his Marlin soon afterwards.
Then it was off to the A6, up the hill to the Monsal Head Hotel with the wonderful view across the valley to Putwell, down again to Cressbrook and up the steep climb to the track down to Litton and “the queue”. The hill was in pretty good condition this year but Laurie Knight had spiced things up with a restart for Terry Ball plus class seven and eight. Why Terry Ball? Well he was the only starter in class six! The box was just before the trees, preventing the yellows and reds getting a good run at the steep bit where the deep ruts start. This caught out many of the class sevens, including Robin Howard, Dave Nash, Mike Furse and ACTC rights of way officer Andrew Brown. Fred Gregory and Pete Stafford persuaded their Dutton Melos up to the top without to much difficulty as did Mike Pearson and David Thompson in class eight but Clive Booth and John Allsop weren’t so lucky in their lower powered Dellow replica. All the non-restarting Falcons made it to the top OK but former Falcon Adrian Tucker-Peake couldn’t get his Peugeot to the summit. Yes we know Litton is a difficult prospect for class 1 but David Haizleden climbed it in his Golf Adrian! Sadly Litton saw the end of Robin Howard and Barry Blofield’s Edinburgh and they were last seen under the bonnet of their Dutton Sierra after failing the hill.
Calton was next. It’s not so many years ago when this was the last hill, providing a real sting in the tail as many Triple aspirations sunk without trace in the deep ruts at the summit. They’ve been filled in now and the hill itself is a pretty gentle run. However, it had been made competitive by adding a re-start just before the summit, presided over by Falcon’s Peter Mountain. It was OK if you just nudged your front wheels into the box but if you went at all deep your front wheels came up against some fair sized rocks making getting away pretty problematical, trapping quite a few, including Peter Mountains near neighbour Mike Furse.
It was a beautiful morning as the route wound up the steep hills towards Bareleg. The sky was clear and the views magnificent, but all this was spoilt by a terrible accident as a BMW pulled out to pass Adrian Dommett on the approach to Bareleg and collided head on with an approaching car. There were several people hurt and at this stage it’s not known how they are. Bareleg was not used as a section this year, and Mike Hayward and Arnold Lane were able to see where they stood in the fog for seven hours two years ago! The blues and whites went straight down to the special test at Old Long Hill but the pleasures of Corkscrew awaited the reds and yellows. This used to be known as Jenkins Chapel and regular readers of my column should be experts on the hill, I have written so much about it lately! Apart from Clive all the Falcon’s cleaned the section but it was pretty rough, several drivers saying it was the roughest section they have ever seen. Clive was particularly unlucky, urged on by John he was going really well until the engine cut out just before the section ends board. It started again OK and Clive thinks he must have knocked the ignition off with his knee as the Dellow Rep lept over a rock.
The special test at Old Long Hill passed without any great drama, then it was a twenty mile run up and over the hills to The Marquis of Granby. Things weren’t too bad for the early numbers but the delay built up and towards the end there was quite a bit of queue jumping causing the usual un-happiness. A lot of work had been done to Bamford and it was nowhere near as rough as it has been in recent years. It’s still a formidable obstacle, especially with a bit of damp in the air making the concrete steps a bit greasy. The worst problem was the step right the top and it was here most of the failures came to grief, including Simon and Matt Robson who didn’t have enough momentum to get over the final hump. There had been doubts that the MCC would get permission to use Haggside as part of it is a bridleway and the local Forestry Commission guy was being a bit difficult. All was well on the day and we had the challenge of the usual re-start just out of sight round the first corner. It wasn’t too bad if you didn’t go in to deep but it still caught a few, including Clive and John.
After Haggside it was back by Ladybower reservoir, past the foot of Bamford and The Marquis, through Hope, past the cement works to Pindale. The approach was pretty rough and there was a rather strange special test before the Pindale section itself. A split route waited. For the Blues and Whites there was a rough stony track through a gully but for Yellows and Reds there was a steep mound to be climbed first which defeated quite a few including Fred Gregory, Dave Nash and Mike Furse. This was really one for the brave. If you didn’t hit it hard enough you didn’t get up but hit it to hard and you broke the car.
Hucklow was next. All classes had to deviate left up the bank and this was to sort the men from the boys. The bikes found it pretty rough, especially some of the older, heavier one. John Lees told me how his 1961 Triumph, weighing all of 500 lbs, leapt from rock to rock on its way up, but he made it and won the class A award. Duncan Stephens was spectating on Hucklow and witnessed David Haizelden’s magnificent climb, he made it look very easy and actually eased off half way up! Duncan was also impressed with Roger Ugaldes Allard, the big heavy car going up without any problems. Falcon cleans here were few and far between, only David Thompson, Mike Person and Peter Manning were successful. Simon Robson had a magnificent attempt, but bogged down about half way up and the car came to a stop with wheels spinning. It didn’t slip backwards and with much bouncing from Matt and sawing at the wheel from Simon they get the white Skoda going again and it came out of the top to much applause from the spectators. Everyone thought Simon had cleaned it but the provisional results showed the Skoda as a failure so it looks like the marshals noticed it stopped! Andrew Brown had the misfortune to clip the exposed rock at the deviation. This stopped the car dead, slewed at 90 degrees across the track.
The trial was drawing to a close now and Ballcross didn’ t present any problems for the Blues and Whites. The higher classes gave this one a miss and went south down the A6, through Bakewell and down to Darley Dale. Old Edinburgh hands had a sense of deja vu as they passed the DFS car park and Texaco Supreme service station before turning left up to Halldale. The section was approached by going up the drive to somebody’s house and it will be interesting to see if the MCC can get to use this one again. The section itself was quite a long stony affair but the gradient was pretty gentle and didn’t trouble the scorer. The early cars did Putwell, but Clerk of the Course Laurie Knight was worried about the trial running late and exercised his right to cancel the section. Later numbers were treated to the full scenic tour of Derbyshire on a twenty-five mile run in to the finish without any sections to disturb the view.
Despite all the early drama’s the trial wasn’t too late in finishing, last man Arthur Vowden arriving at Buxton around quarter to eight. As the pubs and bars filled with triallers reliving their day, the verdict was that the 1999 Edinburgh was an enjoyable trial. It was certainly full of drama. A wet night, searches for fuel in the early hours of the morning, delays, disputes over queue jumping, the excitement of Litton and Bamford and a particularly tough section at Hucklow. Yes a pretty good Edinburgh!
MCC Murmuring:-
Falcons –
121 Stuart and Andrew Cairney (Imp) (4) – Did not start. Stuarts Imp was running very rough because of problems with the Dellorto carburettors. The problem couldn’t be sorted and Stuart decided not to start.
217 Robin Howard and Barry Blofield (Dutton Sierra) (7) – Retired after Litton Slack
222 Alan Bellamy and Jack Sheppard (VW Fastback) (6) – Did not start
223 Dave Nash and Julie (Skeetle) (7) – Failed Litton, Pindale and Hucklow
224 Colin and Mark Stevens (Skoda Coupe) (?) – Retired after Wigber Low when the sump guard came adrift
225 Clive Booth and John Allsop (Dellow Rep) (8) – Failed Litton and Haggside, Hucklow and probably failed Corkscrew as well when the engine cut out as they were about to pass the section end board, believed to be caused by Clives knee jogging the ignition switch!
227 David and Christine Manning (MG Midget) (5) – Gold and winner of class 5
241 Murray and Hazel MacDonald (VW 1302S) (4) – Silver, Failed Great Hucklow.
248 Mike Pearson and Arnold Lane (Dellow Rep) (8) – Gold
249 David Thompson and ? (VW Buggy) (8) – Gold
252 Mike and Shiela Furse (Racecorp) (7) Failed Calton, put front wheel against a rock, Pindale, couldn’t climb the steep bank, Hucklow.
253 Michael Leete and Mike Hayward (VW 1302S) (4) – Failed Great Hucklow
254 Neil Bray and Marc Lawrence (Skoda) (4) – Failed Great Hucklow
255 Simon and Matt Robson (Skoda) (4) – Failed Bamford Clough and Hucklow.
256 Fred Gregory and Peter Stafford (Dutton Melos) (7) – Failed Pindale and Hucklow
268 Jonathon Baggott and Ian Banton (Marlin) (7) – Retired after Excelsior
Some Others –
Barry Clarke retired his Austin 7 on the track after Hucklow with a dead battery. He was hoping to limp to his hotel using only dynamo power.
Derek Chatto (Cannon) Winner of JTP cup
Stuart Harrold (Troll) – Class 8
Andrew Brown (Marlin)- Failed Litton and Hucklow.
David Haizleden (Golf) won class 1 and went round clean – man how did he get a front wheel drive car up that bank at Hucklow with a re-start?
Adrian T-P (Peugeot) failed Litton and Bamford
W. J. Bennett (MG J2) won class 2
David Heale (Escort estate) won class 3
Bill Rosten (Imp) won class 4
Terry Ball won class 6 but then he was the only starter!
Roger Ugalde won class 7 in that wonderful Allard
Pete and Carlie Hart won a Gold in their Marlin
In the bikes John Lees won Class A
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