It sounds a bit monotonous but once again there was excellent Falcon entry with 16 crews in the program, plus a marshalling team on Clinton. We had a couple of non-starters on the day. Clive Booth and John Allsop were stricken with flu and Alan Bellamy didn’t get back from his overseas millennium trip in time to prepare the car. Verdun Webley had been all over his Marlin since it’s problems on the way to the Allen and had invested in rolling road time at NB Motors in attempt to sort the carb which was all over the place.
Peter Mountain and Mike Furse were entered in the anniversary run but Mike and Sheila were also struck by the bug and didn’t feel up to a long night in the open Buckler but they did drive down in the daylight to look in on how things were going. Most of the Falcon crews started from Cirencester and were able to find the venue this year as there were not only detailed directions in the final instructions but it was extremely well arrowed as well.
The run down to the Haynes motor museum was pretty uneventful for most people although Keith Pettit was struggling with a dodgy dynamo and resorted to following Peter Manning who had son David in the passengers seat for the first time. All was not well at Sparkford as the manager had confused the day and was not there to open up, shades of the Edinburgh! Fortunately the control was manned by a resourceful group of marshals, led by Jim Harvey of Dellow fame and including Steve Strutt. They quickly commandeered a nearby piece of land and stuck too, clearing a heap of tyres to accommodate the large number of competitors who had driven down at a reasonable speed in the belief they would be able to spend an hour browsing the bookshop!
Mike Pearson’s drama started immediately after the breakfast stop. The Dellow Rep started wandering all over the road and Mike found the bracket locating the panhard rod to the axle had broken. In his professional life Mike has learned to be resourceful in such situations and waited for the dawn to break to seek sought out a friendly welder to help him get underway again.
Gatcombe Lane provided it’s usual gentle introduction, always welcome to settle the nerves. Then it was into the woods at Bovey Downs where the battle would really begin. There was plenty of grip in there but the lower part of Normans Hump was very rutted. It looked truly horrifying but was relatively soft so didn’t do to much damage, although Neil Bray punctured. Tony Branson found far to much grip and didn’t have enough power to get over the hump following the restart. He got into problems reversing down in the dark, attacking a gorse bush at some speed and Sally Bolam collected some nasty cuts and scratches to her face.
Stuart Cairney was another one to suffer from excessive grip and couldn’t make the summit either. The top part of Norman’s is pretty steep. It’s essential to keep small, revvy engines on the cam, which on Norman’s needs a bit of wheel spin as its very difficult to build sufficient road speed because of the necessity to lift off a bit going over the cross track, even if you don’t have a re-start. In recent years the class eight’s have had a tougher affair higher up, but Ken Green was being generous this year and they restarted on the cross track along with the yellows. Our Red brethren weren’t let of the hook completely as they had to tackle Bovey bank, an extra section in the woods. This shattered their triple aspirations last year as only one car went clean. This year’s hill was a bit different and didn’t present the same challenge so most of them got up OK.
Falcon member’s hearts were in a bit of a flutter as they approached Clinton as they would have to strut their stuff in front of their teammates who were marshalling the hill. Simon Robson’s Skoda must have been very nervous as it gave a little flurry of protest, cutting out at low revs, necessitating a tune up in the queue for the section. I think all the Falcon’s got up OK, including a delighted Verdun Webley debuting his Marlin. Verdun was not without his troubles though as Lee Howells found his leg was getting a bit warm. Oil was pouring out the end of the pipe to the oil pressure gauge. Neil Bray was just behind and gave Verdun a hand to block it off.
Waterloo was it’s usual fun but was a little more than that for Michael Leete who failed immediately after the first right hander with a severe case of “operator error” and then had a puncture on the road section immediately afterwards. Stretes was pretty straightforward but the two Michael’s had to do a bit of PR work when a lady local approached them in the queue and asked them how many more hours they were going “round and round”. They tried to explain that there were several hundred competitors and that the field took five or six hours to go by. She departed home to the house on the corner where the route turned of the road leaving one or two choice and rather un-lady like words hanging in the air. She must have been out when the PR man called!
There was a long road section out to Greenslinch where the section finished before the slurry pit so this one didn’t trouble the score keeper to much, although Simon Robson still managed to ding the front wing of his Skoda on the exit onto the road.
John Parsons arrived at Exeter services with one of the front wheels all awry with a coil over shock unit broken. JP decided this was a good test for the RAC. The actual shocker on the adjustable Spax unit had broken. The RAC man was a little surprised but rallied round and helped JP ring round to find a replacement. Not surprisingly they couldn’t locate a replacement competition unit, but the RAC man took JP off to a motor factor to see what they could find. Meanwhile Tom Goggin kindly stayed with Dot so she wouldn’t be on her own when the Falcons disappeared to do battle with the remaining sections.
They found something the right length and JP made up a couple of spring locators with some exhaust clamps. The man from the RAC was truly amazed at this, but before they parted thanked JP for giving him the most interesting morning in the job! Although the Westfield was mobile JP didn’t risk throwing the big car up the hills in its delicate state and he and Dot went directly down to the hotel in Torquay. While all this was going on news came through on the Mobile phone that Mike Pearson was underway again and was about to tackle Stretes although he was running some way down the field. Unfortunately the repair failed again later on and Mike was another addition to the retirement list.
Windout was the Exeter’s mandatory tarmac section and then it was on to Tillerton. The re-start was pretty rough and it was essential to put your car in exactly the right place. This caught out quite a few of the class sevens including Fred Gregory and Andrew Brown. Mike Furse was spectating here but was still suffering from the flu and Sheila wisely stayed in the warm of the car. Allen organiser Pete Hart got up at the expense of a damaged exhaust and was having a lot of problems with the Marlins fuel pump.
There was a time control just before the bridge at Fingle. This was a new variation and caused a few problems later in the event when the Classic run competitors were on the same minute as competitors in the main event. This was very important to the Anniversary boys and girls as their award depended on them sticking to a strict time schedule. Those who attempted Fingle enjoyed the experience and it was great to see the period cars on this piece of MCC history. Neil Bray had to change another tyre before the special test which was pretty rough and wasn’t a pleasant experience for car competitors trying for a class win who had to throw their machines at a suspension breaking bump.
The second special test was just up the road on the approach road to Wooston and was a much smoother affair. It involved a bit of reversing which put paid to David Aldersons AH Trophy hopes when the clutch on the Troll shattered to smithereens. Conditions on Wooston were quite favourable and the class sixes has things easy as they were allowed to take the deviation to the left. I have to say this was a problem as I don’t thing either the route or instructions or section markings made it clear where the turn was. In pervious years there has been a map at the start and the deviation has been well signed. It was OK for regulars but Peter Manning went up the wrong bit and I’m sure there will have been other competitors who got lost on the hill. Fred Gregory and Pete Stafford were delighted to make the summit and reported that the higher reaches are even more horrendous than the bit you can see at the bottom.
There were only two sections remaining but they weren’t going to be easy. Simms was the first one, with a re-start for seven’s and eight’s but the sixes were allowed to have a uninterrupted run. The old hill was on form and broke it’s usual quota of hearts. Last year there were quite a few successful climbs up the right but not this year. The successful track was over to the left, halfway up the bank if possible according to a spectating John Sargeant. Falconwise I believe that David Thompson was our only successful climber and all of us in the lower classes came to a grinding halt. It was possible though as both Colin Perryman and Giles Greenslade got up OK in Skoda and Beetle respectively. Duncan Stephens was spectating here and said that the hill got more difficult as the day went on. It was relatively easy for the first 100 cars but then there was a few spots of rain, after which it was a real achievement to reach the A boards. Duncan didn’t see any class 1 or 5 cars reach the summit and witnessed a nasty accident when Barry Clarke rolled the Grotty Chummy.
There was only one section left now. Slippery Sam for the blues and whites and Higher Gabwell for the yellows and reds. The restart on Slippery Sam had been on the right-hand hairpin for many years, probably to slow people down after the Yugo overturned here back in 1991. This time it was back in the old place and a good position was absolutely crucial, as there was a huge step. Michael Leete was delighted to get it just right but many didn’t including Hazel Mac in JAZ who had to tackle the obstacle in the dark and Neil Bray and Marc Lawrence who didn’t stop at all.
Over on Higher Gabwell there was a real sting in the tail with a re-start spicing up a section that was pretty tough anyway. This cost David Thompson his gold and the other Falcons faired no better. This section really was a snorter and also claimed Classical Gas Web Community members Stuart Harrold, John Salter, Pete Hart and Sndrew Brown.
Back at the finish, we heard that Colin Stevens had retired with gearbox gremlins and Dave Nash had been fighting with a broken gearbox mounting and failed two hills. The sevens and eight’s reckoned this year’s Exeter was a pretty tough challenge, perhaps a bit more than necessary in an attempt to slow down the “super-stars”. It ran pretty smoothly though, the weather was good and the organisation and conditions ensured things finished in good time for the traditional club supper where John Aley presented a select group with their Triples, including Classical Gas Web community member John Lees to considerable applause.
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