Duncan Welch won Falcon’s March Hare Trial dropping six marks, the same as Thomas Aldrian in his Austin 7 Special.
Twenty Four Crews lined up at The Watling Street Café, just of Junction nine of the M1, on 13th March. There had been 27 entries James Diffey had broken his glorious Bresica Bugatti and two of the Lieges non-started including Stephen Kenny who had a bad boot of flu and didn’t relish the long journey down from Lancashire.
It was dry again this year so there was plenty of grip. The challenge was the rutted area at the top where the lower slung cars needed to be cautious in the interest of their under sides. Ted Holloway was the only failure when he got his rear engined Mini Special sideways and wedged across the track.
No problems here and everyone went clean.
Once again the challenge of Water Tower was the muddy ruts at the bottom which were avoided by most people and again everyone went clean.
Next came a special test at Kensworth. Duncan Welch set fastest time. This was to be very important at the end of the trial as it was to decide the event.
Dry conditions meant the sections could use the full extent of Edlesborough which is not possible when it is wet. The first section explored the ups and downs through the trees at the back of the hummock with a tricky restart for classes 7 and 8. This caught out both Fred Gregory and Roger Dudley who were to battle for 2nd in class 7 all day.
The second section utilised the steep bank at the far end before going up one of the tracks through the trees, back down again before a restart and going on through the trees. The Front Wheel Drives and the Trojans had problems with the bank at the start. Thomas Aldrian stormed up in his little Austin 7 and most of the others made it OK as well, vindicating the organisers decision to re-use this route after many years. In the Class 7 battle Fred Gregory got away from the restart, but Roger Dudley failed and so did Richard Irvine in his newly completed Liege.
John Parsons had problems setting out the Brickhill sections as the ground was still cut up from the 4 x 4 boys. Both were easily on for most of the entry provided they didn’t understeer off on the tight sandy turns.
The early numbers were able to watch the action by the later numbers as this was also the lunch break. Unfortunately there were a couple of retirements here. Christopher Jones didn’t continue with his Wolesley Hornet and Keith Pettit retired with clutch problems.
Ivinghoe setup the leadership race for the second part of the trial as a number of clean sheets went by the wayside and only Jim Mountain (Dellow Mk1), John Groves (Escort) and Thomas Aldrian (Austin Seven) remained on zero. The section was preceded by a special test and Jim Mountain presented his credentials for a win by setting the fastest time both on this one and for the two together so if he remained clean the win would be his.
Unfortunately Clerk of the Course Arnold Lane had to call off the new Ostrich Hill as the Ostrich’s were on heat! Nearby the established Hawridge Lane was there to trap the unwary. Ted Holloway failed the restart and so did roger Dudley, dropping him behind Keith Oakes and Fred Gregory in the Class 7 battle.
The lower reaches of Beetle Drive followed the route of last years Falcon’s Folly, on reaching the cross track though it continued up into the trees up a new bank discovered by Verdun Webley during the January working party and cleared with his chain saw by Mike Pearson. The bank itself was covered with leaf-mould and 7’s and 8’s had a restart just before to slow them down. Car after car failed the bank and it looked impossible until Duncan Welch came along and stormed up. This put him in an equal lead of the trial as Jim Mountain, John Groves and Thomas Aldrian all failed here.
The second section in Binghams Wood was changed only slightly from last year, complete with a tricky 7 and 8 restart on a tree root. Higher up there was a new deviation for 3 to 8 and they also had another restart right up at the summit. It was the restart on the tree root that was to prove difficult. The four leaders all succeeded and so did a delighted Fred Gregory, Peter Crawford, Roger Dudley and Keith Oakes. For the others it was curses, tyre smoke and a deeper hole for next year!
The lower reaches of the final section started by going up the bank that it went down last year. Crossing the track it then wound up a new track, created with Mike Pearson’s chain saw, sharp left and then exited alongside a disused compound. The left hander was very tight and there was an “impossible” restart here for class 8.
The left hander proved a real challenge. It was possible though and was cleaned by a varied selection of cars, starting with Steve Potter’s Trojan then Roger Dudley, Keith Oakes and Thomas Aldrian. John Groves failed to get round so there were now three cars tying for the lead on six. Along came Jim Mountain who like all the preceding class 8’s couldn’t get away from the restart. So it looked as if overall victory would go to an Austin Seven. The problem was that Duncan Welch hadn’t read the script, stopped on the line and just pulled away, turned the corner and went on to clean the hill.
This stunning performance put him in a joint lead of the trial with Thomas Aldrian on 6 marks, so it would be down to the special tests.
Back at the A5 truck stop the computerised results showed that Duncan was fasted on the special tests and won overall. Jim Mountain won class 8 for the second year. Keith Oakes won class 7, with Roger Dudley just pipping Fred Gregory for second place.
Looking Back
This was a very exciting March Hare with tremendous drama during the second half and the result decided on the last hill. Particular mention must go to Verdun Webley who assembled more than 50 marshals on the day; To Mike Pearson who worked very hard to create the new sections in Binghams Wood only to be to ill to participate on the day; To The local Herts VW Club who provided a marshalling team at Brickhill. Thanks guys.
| Overall Winner | Duncan Welch (Austin Healey SS)) | 6 |
| Best Falcon | Roger Dudley (Marlin) | |
| Class Winners | ||
| 0 | Martin Halliday (Fiat Panda) | 29 |
| 1 | Chris Clarke (VW Golf) | 32 |
| 2 | Thomas Aldrian (Austin 7) | 6 |
| 3 | John Groves (Escort) | 17 |
| 5 | Peter Manning (MG Midget) | 18 |
| 7 | Keith Oakes (Dutton Phaeton) | 12 |
| 8 | Jim Mountain (Dellow Mk 1) | 12 |
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