It was a stormy night for the run down to Haynes museum. Rain and gusts of wind making driving conditions difficult and a tough night for bikers and drivers of open cars. A couple of the Falcons were lucky to make the start. John Parsons had found problems with the lights on his buggy, discovering that mice had gnawed their way though the wires and had a go at a CV joint gaiter as well! Neil Bray ran Primrose back and forth to work for a few days before the event to make sure everything worked OK. It was a good job he did, as the engine coughed and died. Neil eventually found the problem was with the Rotor arm and had problems finding a replacement for the special distributor that has to be used with side draft Webers.
Scriutineering generated a bit of excitement, with numerous competitors given tickets because their rear lights couldn’t be seen from one side, obscured by the spare wheel carrier. The first competitive section was Windmill Hill, which is of course the exit road from Sugg Lane, which in turn became the exit road from Windmill Hill this time. This didn’t present any problems and neither did the next section.
After Gatcombe Lane it was into Bovey Woods for Normans Hump and Clinton. Normans was challenging this year, especially for the higher classes who had to restart, as the box was positioned on the gradient after the cross track. This caused severe problems, either with getting going at all or failing to build up enough momentum to carry the car over the steep bit at the end.
This fate befell a number of people, including Ed Nikel, who got within half a length of the section ends board. Peter Thompson didn’t have a restart in his Opel but was another to come to a stop within sight of his objective. It was certainly possible though. Peter Mountain and Mike Pearson both got cleans in class eight but Ian Davis didn’t get to the summit and John Pasons was given a run back on the restart.
Class 5’s were denied the challenge of the upper reaches and deviated off with the ones and twos. Colin Sumner probably wished he was back in his Morgan. He had to do the full hill in his class four Beetle and couldn’t get out the top. Clinton was easier, with only the upper part of the section being used and the restart on the level so it didn’t trouble the scorer too much.
Across the road was Waterloo, where there was a long delay, even for the early numbers in the main trial, as the class 0’s were having problems with their section, known as Rockenhayne, which is the failure route for the main trial. One of the Mini’s had got stuck broadside across the hairpin and by the time it was extricated a long queue had developed. Then a car over-turned. Even when the class 0’s had gone there was still a problem as classes one, two and five were using the escape road as their section, and every time one came along the recovery Landrover had to reposition from one section to another, causing the minutes to tick by. When the queue got all the way back to the road the marshals sent some of the cars up the escape road to keep things moving and the section had to be scrubbed from the results.
Plyford didn’t stop anyone but there were more delays at Stretes, again caused by the Class 0’s who had difficulty with the leaf mould at the top and a few of them got well and truly stuck, a Beetle broke its transmission and a car turned on its side reversing back down. Things weren’t a lot better for the early runners in the main trial and the chief official soon cancelled the restart in order to get things flowing.
The first cars were over an hour late at Exeter services, but still had to have the full 60 minutes rest break, time enough for many to pop to the local supermarket for petrol rather than pay motorway prices. In Fred Gregory’s case he and Pete Stafford tried to insert a spare leaf into the nearside rear suspension of their Rickman Ranger as it was sagging and the exhaust was banging on the prop-shaft. The delays built up and running down the field Stuart Harrold and Chris Phillips were two hours late for their breakfast.
Tillerton was smoother than in recent years, but its still a difficult one and Peter Mountain ran back on the restart to loose his clean sheet. Fingle was its normal glorious self. A super blast round the hairpins with little chance of failing. Unless you had a puncture that is, like Dave Nash who had to resort to a tow from the rescue Land Rover when the wheel started to spin inside the tyre. Ian Bovill also had problems with his magnificent ISOC Sport, not surprising he had problems with the hairpins when you consider the wheelbase!
Fingle was the scene of Nick Ikin’s first MCC retirement in 14 years of competition. Halfway up the car started making horrible noises and then it stopped steering. Nick kept going but after a couple more bends the car ground to a halt, lying on its belly. A critical eye-bolt had broken and it took considerable manhandling to get it onto a side track. Nick managed to rob a similar eye-bolt from the rear and block that corner up with a block of wood. This enabled the car to roll back down the hill to await the RAC.
The MCC had been concerned they would be able to use Wooston because of PR problems with the exit road. Fortunately these problems were solved and classes seven and eight were able to tackle the steep hill after the fork. Michael Collins had a go at this route as well in his Golf and was well on his way to getting up the hill when he realised his mistake and had to back down. This was a shame as his fail cost him a gold and probably the FWD All-Stars the team award as both Paul Allaway and Dave Haizelden went round clean.
The restart caused problems for the early numbers and apart from Ian Davis the Falcons either failed to get away or couldn’t build enough momentum to keep going when the gradient was at its steepest. John Parsons made a valiant attempt but his wheels were spinning as he came away from the restart, he tried to back-off but lost speed on the steep bit and finally stopped. Ed Nikel made a good climb but again his wheels were spinning too much and he stopped on the upper reaches, high enough for the marshals to push him out the top.
Running further down the field Mike Pearson made his climb when there was more grip but there was little doubt he would have cleaned the section anyway with his smooth driving style. Peter Mountain was smooth as well in his Mk1 Dellow and cleaned the section. The climb of the day was made by David Wall in the family Dellow. He pulled smoothly away from the restart, accelerated away and was still increasing his speed as he passed the section ends board.
The lower classes were denied an assault on the main track and deviated off to the right as usual, with only class six having to restart. It wasn’t too much of a problem for most but neither of the Trojans had the momentum to get to the fork and nor did Derek Reynolds in the DAF who came to a halt with an un-believable scream of the drive belts. Ted Holloway had to retire his rear engined Mini here after failing the restart.
The MCC road gang had spent done a lot of work on Simms during the summer, including bringing a Ready Mix truck along the exit track to the top of the section. So the organisers were concerned when a couple of weeks before the trial they heard their work had been damaged by a 4×4 invasion. Roger Uglade visited the week before and pronounced the section OK to use and on the day most competitors thought it was much smoother than the late few years.
The old hill is a tough one, even though the restart for the higher classes gave them more of a run at the gradient than usual. Stuart Cairney was spectating on Simms, reporting that the results showed a number of failures as clearing the section! These included Dave Nash who’s MGeetle couldn’t make the gradient and neither could Fred Gregory. Barrie Parker also came to grief here with the big Audi 80. This was shame as Falcons multiple PCT champion was otherwise clean. There were organisational problems as the summit marshal didn’t record who got to the top of the section un-aided. So anyone who got to the A boards was given a clean.
In class 5 Peter Manning didn’t clean the section but got past the A boards in his Midget to win class five. Keith Pettit wasn’t so lucky in his venerable Frogeye Sprite which was a pity as he had faster special test times. Like Dave Nash Keith had no less than three punctures during the event. Ed Nikel and Peter Thompson were both thrilled to clean Simms. It’s a tough section though and both Peter Mountain and Simon Groves had to retire with broken cars. Simon’s half shafts snapped as he bounced over the step, captured on video by Stuart Cairney, as was Dick Bolt who suffered a similar fate. Peter Mountain had the A frame sheer off the axle on his Mk1 Dellow. This damaged the rear of the gearbox and the prop-shaft and was glad to have a steel transmission tunnel to keep the flailing UJ away from his vitals. There were soon problems in recovering the car as the A frame was digging in the ground preventing Peter coming back down but it was soon accomplished with the many bodies that are always at Simms.
The trial was drawing to a close now, with only two sections remaining. Tipley was just over the road from Simms and was quite rough as usual. The gradient isn’t to severe though, so drivers can chose their line and it didn’t stop many, although it did catch out Colin Sumner in his shocking pink Beetle, quite a change from his usual Morgan. Slippery Sam was the final hill and only claimed a handful of victims this year as it didn’t’ have its usual re-start.
The days activities were concluded by the usual club supper at the finish venue which was enjoyed and appreciated by All. MCC President Gerry Wollcott presented last years premier awards although he lost his struggle with an ineffective PA. The general conclusion was that this was good Exeter which finished on time despite the delays during the night.
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