Nick had to fend off Bryn Corfield and a hard charging Pete Hart after dropping two marks early on. However, Nick stayed calm and was clean in the Cannon Alfa for the rest of the event to take an excellent win. It was quite dry and the stony surface took its toll on the cars and there were nine retirements. Despite this it was an enjoyable event, well organised, friendly and with super catering.
The weather was ideal for the fifth running of Windwhistle’s single venue Bovey Downs Trial. A little overnight rain ensured there was no dust but it was more or less dry on the day. There were 36 entries, perhaps a little surprising when the event offers several attempts at both Normans Hump and Clinton, in the daylight!
In the end there were 30 starters, in a wide range of cars, including a couple driven by Practical Classics Editor Matt Wright (Hillman Minx) and Features Writer Sam Glover (Triumph Dolomite). Neither car was exactly trials prepared and they both retired. However the guys appeared to enjoy themselves and stayed to the end to watch and take pictures. We are promised an article soon so look out for it.
There are no real clearings in the woods so competitors were stretched out in a line along the top track waiting for the off. The basic format was three “laps”, with some hills attempted twice on the first two, including Normans Hump and the bottom two parts of Clinton, the top part being used for access.
Things didn’t start very well for 2006 winner Peter Mountain when he was the first retirement, loosing first gear on section one. This hill, just up the bottom track from the start of Normans Hump, was one of those attempted twice on each lap and had deviations for the different classes. This was also unlucky hill for James Shallcross who dropped 11 in his Peugeot 205 whilst class rival Aaron Haizelden went clean.
After the first round of nine sections it was time for lunch, most choosing to indulge in the truly excellent cuisine on offer from the Sid Vale Carnival Club. At this stage there were still quite a few clean sheets but also a few retirements as well, mainly with broken transmissions, including both the Jago Jeeps and the Peugeot of Jason Byrom who had another diff let go.
The hills were more or less the same for the second round, apart from an additional section just inside the wood which replaced the special test. Although the sections hadn’t changed much they were more difficult as there was a little light rain for half an hour and some of the hills became loser with the passage of the cars.
The hill marshalled by Adrian Dommett and Judy Phillips was to define the event. Running parallel to the top part of Clinton it was steep with a very loose surface with a restart for classes seven and eight.
Clean up till now Nick Farmer (Cannon Alfa) dropped two, Pete Hart (Marlin) five and Reg Salway (BMW) eight during their first attempt, leaving only Bryn Corfield in his special on a clean sheet. The trial was decided on the second attempt on this hill during this round when Bryn dropped 4 while Pete and Nick went clear. None of them lost any more marks for the rest of the trial which left the overall result Nick Farmer (2), Bryn Corfield (4), Pete Hart (5). Pete was also the class seven win over Murray Motgomery-Smith in his Marlin, in class rather decimated by retirements.
Aaron Haizelden won Class 1 in the familiar Golf from James Shallcross. Classes four and five were merged which perhaps rather unfairly pitched Michael Leete’s Beetle against Brian Alexander’s Suzuki and Stephen Kingstone’s Midget. Stephen had repaired the wing damaged on Blue Hills 2 but added to his woes by breaking a diff after lunch.
Reg Salway took class three in his BMW, ahead of Rob Wells who was debuting a rather smart 1700 Escort Mk 2.
| Best Overall | Nick Farmer (Cannon Alfa) | 2 |
| Best Novice | James Shallcross (Peugeot 205) | 30 |
| Class Winners | ||
| 1 | Aaron Haizelden (VW Golf GTi) | 16 |
| 3 | Reg Salway (BMW) | 30 |
| 4 & 5 | Michael Leete (VW Beetle) | 74 |
| 6 & 7 | Pete Hart (Marlin) | 5 |
| 8 | Bryn Corfield (Shopland Mk2) | 4 |
We made a long week-end of it, travelling down on Saturday and staying in a rather nice hotel the other side of Exeter, well when we found it as it was rather in the wilds! It was really nice to see Bovey Woods in the daylight, Normans Hump and the upper part of Clinton look even steeper when you can see them!
The maps we received were a little confusing at first but we soon got into a system of finding the hills. Most of the “new” hills were similar in character to Normans Hump and Clinton, steep, straight with loose stones. Two of them defeated me all day, I just couldn’t find any grip on the loose stones. The other one, wasn’t so steep but deviated into the trees half way up. We mostly managed this OK but were defeated on the last round.
In the afternoon there was an additional section amongst the trees just inside the wood. This had a completely different character with soft ground and a circuitous route.
We really enjoyed our day, setting the tyres at 18 psi and leaving them at that all day. No punctures for us but the flint completely destroyed the rear tyres. No problem as we were warned in the finals that this would happened so were using some that could be sacrificed.
The event did seem rather hard on the cars and there were quite a few broken transmissions, no Beetles though.
The event finished before five and we followed the coast on the way back to the hotel, returning to Bedfordshire via The Jolly Diner and Haynes Museum on Monday.
We enjoyed our weekend and will return and do the trial again. The hills were fun, the event was well organised, there were plenty of marshals and everyone was friendly.
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