Ian Bates and his team organised a very different route with some interesting “new” hills. After a nice easy introduction at the tree lined Haven Hill the entry soon found itself at the foot of a rather rough Clough Wood, and an hours delay, even for the early cars, as some of the bikers were falling off. With a long section and a tricky restart for the higher classes the delay built up, so later numbers were waiting for the best part of two and a half hours, although having arrived an hour early they were not so far behind scheduled time.
The section was quite rough and the restart caught out both Keith Oakes and Maureen Chattle/Ross Neuton. Ted Holloway had problems with the ruts at the bottom and got his very special rear engined Mini wedged sideways across the track on the lower reaches. Barrie Parker was another Falcon to fail in the big Audi 80.
Deep Rake was another very easy section, followed by a special test before the run to Litton. The descent was as hairy as ever, especially when the skies opened every now and again and the rain came down. The old hill was in fine form and only 15 cars made it to the summit. None of the cars in 1, 4, 5 or 6 got to the A boards, so the section didn’t count in the results. Brian Partridge was the first car to be shown it could be done in his Cannon and Pete Hart made a fine ascent to go clear. Waiting in the queue I saw Ray Goodright make a flawless climb in his Arkley MG and then Adrian Dommett and Julie Phillips fight and bounce their way to the summit after so nearly stopping just past the tree. I also saw Tim Whellock grind to a halt and loose his triple in the ex-John Parsons Fugitive. This was a real shame because Tim is taking over as Clerk of the Course for the Exeter and won’t get another chance for a while.
Calton is starting to get ruttier again at the summit but there was plenty of grip and it only stopped one car, unfortunately Maureen and Ross in their Mk2 Dellow. There was an excellent breakfast waiting at The Bull I’th Thorn before going off to Haydale, with a very muddy and rutted approach to where the gradient and hard surface starts. The section defeated Barrie Parker and Ted Holloway who had to retire afterwards.
The trial started to toughen up now, as the route wound its way down Winnats Pass and across the Ladybower reservoir to Haggside. This section was under threat a few years ago; full marks to the MCC for managing to keep it in the trial. As usual the main test was the restart just after the hairpin, right after the start. It can be very tricky if you don’t know its there, or position the car in the wrong place and it wasn’t that long ago it cost Falconry Editor David a triple. Most made it OK, although a few newcomers drove through before they realised it was there! It did stop a few though, including Colin Perryman in his lovely BMW and Falcons Peter Manning and Barrie Parker.
After a holding control came Bamford, a true prince amongst trials sections. OK, Litton can be more challenging but Bamford brings out the brave! It was much smoother than in previous years, thanks to the MCC road gang. Class eight had to restart as well, just to stop them getting complacent. Running at the front of the field Dave Nash and Julie Fleet stormed up in the MGeetle. Neil Bray and Mike Hayward had problems getting away from the restart but a kindly marshal took pity on them and gave them a clear. Simon Robson cleaned the section in his Liege but to the sounds of tinkling from his transmission. Driving away from the hill it was clear all was not well with the ‘box and Simon and Matt retired. Peter Thompson was delighted to go clear but Bamford wasn’t kind to rear engined cars and Colin Sumner and Brian Alexander had their first counting stops of the trial. Earlier Clive Booth had struggled to get away from the restart, floored the throttle, spinning the wheels which fortunately dropped into a hole with plenty of grip and went on to clear.
Great Hucklow was its evil self with the rocky deviation up to the left for all but class 0. The yellows and reds had to restart amongst the rocks. John Parsons was amongst many who couldn’t get away from the restart which some would say was just s he was one of the team who created the deviation back in the days of the SODC Conquest Trial!
Kings Stearndale was not to create to many problems but after the tea stop at Hollingsclough came a couple of horrors. Rakes Head was only just up the road. It was short but quite tricky. It started on the road before a sharp 90 left and a severe rise in gradient, with a restart for yellows and reds. Clive Booth was defeated by the combination of restart and harsh camber and didn’t get away, although he backed down and got up with a run. Colin Sumner was delighted to get the Beetle away from the restart but Geoff Hodge had his first failure since Litton. At the front of the field Neil Bray got away but Dave Nash in the MGeetle couldn’t make it.
Excelsior was the penultimate hill and was to prove a real sting in the tail. The problem was the restart, sited on polished stones just before a 90 left. Only 30 cars succeeded in getting away and none of these were Falcons! Class 0 tackled this one, although without a restart, and this was Verdun Webleys only failure. Verdun using the shopping Seat as the GTM wasn’t ready in time. Reg Taylor was more successful in his Anglia and went on to claim a class 0 award. Running at the back of the field the results show Simon Groves/Michael Leete as clear but they failed just like the rest. The “RB” was shown against Rakes Head (which they cleaned) and not Excelsior.
The route then went away from Buxton towards Ashbourne and quite a few of the late runners at the tail of the field decided to skip the section and call it a day as the trial was running quite late at this time. Chief Official Mike Pearson greeted those that did the hill. It was none other than Wigber Low, normally tackled at the start of the trial but at the end this time and still in the dark for some! The restart was to trap the unwary, including Brian Alexander whose diminutive Fiat wasn’t running too well by now.
After a final special test it was back to sign off at the Bull I’th thorn before most went back to Buxton for a nice club supper. It was a shame later runners were so late but this is what happens when the Edinburgh is run as a competitive trial and most competitors were willing to accept that. Well-done Ian Bates and his team.
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