It was a good Edinburgh Trial. Nice weather, wonderful views and some good sections. It wasn’t all plain sailing though. Litton was at its magnificent best, changing minute by minute with the weather.
There was some criticism of roughness, especially Great Hucklow which was a real car breaker and Nicola Wainwright and Bill Rosten lost their triples there.
The weather was mild and didn’t present any problems for the run from Tamworth Services up to Derbyshire. Haven Hill passed without incident, but the same couldn’t be said for Clough Wood where there were long delays because of radio problems and the marshals were only letting cars go every two minutes. The section was wet and a bit rough but didn’t trouble the scorer a great deal.
Ed Nikel was having electrical problems with his Buggy. Neil Bray and Dave Nash stopped to help and Ed only finally got away when they ran a feed direct from the battery to the coil. Neither Dave or Neil’s cars were running right either, but were cured by changing the coil on the MGeetle and tightening up the manifold nuts on Primrose. That wasn’t the end of the problems though, as Neil also found a hole in the exhaust, which had to be bodged up to enable him to continue.
Deep Rake was next, with no problems for the main trial. The same couldn’t be said for Litton Slack, which was just up the road. The higher classes had a restart and there were A boards beyond. It was very damp when the first Motorcycle competitors arrived, just after 5.30. The hill was quite difficult and the bikes really struggled for the first hour, only two of the first ten going clear. It got easier as time went on but at the hint of rain the challenge soon returned.
The first cars arrived at Litton around 8.45 and immediately found problems. Alistair Queen (Skoda), Mac Taylor and Ian Ramsay (Marlins) all failing. It wasn’t until Brian Partridge came along in his Cannon and Stuart Harrold in his Troll that the marshals saw their first clean. Like most of the early runners in class seven Keith and Claire Oakes didn’t succeed. It wasn’t until triple contender Andrew Martin (with Simon Groves in the hot seat) came along that a “seven” went up. Fellow triple hunter Clive Kalber was also clean, proving it was possible to climb the old hill in class three. Sitting in the queue Bill Rosten was wondering if it was possible for a class 4 to make it. In front of him Pete Barr made a great effort to get to the A boards but Bill went one better and came out the top of the section, although he didn’t change into second like Colin Perryman in his smart BMW! Just behind Neil Bray coaxed Primrose to the summit after an amazing re-start.
Both Nick Wollett and Mike Pearson got to the top in their Dellows. Mike must have pinched a tube as he had a slow puncture for the rest of the day. John Parsons had a successful climb as well and so did Nicola Wainwright (Beetle), David Haizelden (Golf) and Paul Bartleman (Troll), so all three were still on for a triple. The section was quite dry by the time it closed in the late morning and most cars were able to get up, quite a change from earlier!
Again, there were delays a Litton, and at times car competitors stretched back almost to the road. This time the problem was with Class 0 who tackled a different hill but used the same approach track. Unfortunately many of the Class 0’s had problems getting off the line, delaying proceedings not only for their class but also the main trial who were stacked up behind and couldn’t get down to their section.
Calton, breakfast, Haydale and Haggside came before the challenge of Bamford. It looked quite rough, but it was more a roller coaster before the steps than big holes and there was plenty of grip. The Red and Yellow categories had a restart right near the summit but failures from those that arrived here were limited to the odd bod who forgot to use their handbrake and a few who didn’t read their route card and stopped at the A boards just before. John Sawle was one who had handbrake trouble, which was a shame, as his supercharged Liege sounded really nice. Now he has more power John is able to solve the Liege tyre problem by running taxi tyres on 16-inch rims. Amongst the other Liege’s only Steve Kenny and Mark Worsfeld were running the newly permitted 15 inch rims. Mark was in class eight anyway because of his Fiat 1200 engine.
The problems at Bamford were down before the seat, on the steepest bit, and on the start itself, which was situated on the left hand bend and was quite slippery. Peter Thompson (Opel Manta), Dave Nash (MGeetle) and Myke Pocock were amongst those failed on the lower reaches. Northern Trial organiser Myke had had problems with his Skoda on the way to the start, but it was running fine now. Maureen Chattle and Ross Nuten didn’t attack the bottom part with enough verve and failed. Earlier they had also failed Litton when a bolt securing the distributor fell out.
Great Hucklow was next and was truly horrible. Peter Manning described the rocks as Dragon’s Teeth. It was very, very rough, especially for the later runners. There was very little solid material between the rocks and huge holes developed. It was hard to decide who was worse off. The higher classes who had to find a place to restart amongst the boulders or the lower classes that were allowed to go straight through and hit them at whatever speed they choose! Mike Pearson thought it was the most difficult hill of the trial. He stopped in the lower half of the box and managed to spin his way to the top and a Gold! Neil Bray broke his diff here, which was inconvenient, but not as heartbreaking as for Bill Rosten and Nicola Wainwright, both of whose Triple hopes sunk into the huge holes. Their only hope was that none in class four would come out the top, but there is always at least one and Arron Homewood succeeded in his Skoda Estelle. The other four wheeled Triple contenders all went clean with only a couple of sections to go!
Jim Mountain, driving Peter’s Dellow Mk1, was doing very well until Great Hucklow when the engine died after the restart. They discovered the problem was a loose King lead which must have caused the stalling, then made contact enough to start the engine again. They got a puncture there as well. The lead finally dropped off on the corner on the road before the tea halt. The engine went much better after the offending lead was put back firmly in its hole! After a nice run up King Sterndale, competitors had a break for tea and cakes at Hollinsclough Village Hall before Rakes Head, which dives left just up the road. There was a restart for the higher classes to catch the unwary but most succeeded OK.
There were a few anxious people on the approach to Excelsior, where there would be a restart on polished stones on the final bend. Quite a few failed to get away but all the remaining triple contenders were successful. Including David Haizelden who lost his here last year. This was the last section for the main trial. Only the Moneystones special test coming before the finish.
The Club supper was a nice end to the day. Competitors especially appreciated a working PA, the first time many had actually heard the presidential speech. Delivered in an appropriate fashion by Ron Butcher. Can the equipment be transported to Exeter in January!
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