It had been very wet in the week leading up to the trial, but it was dry when competitors set off from The Squirrel in Ludlow after completing the Clees very efficient administration. After many years in the hands of the Midland Automobile Club the reigns had been transferred to the Midland Manor Motor Club. However the old team were still at the helm in the form of Simon Woodall, Pat Toulmin and crew. Pat was using the Spotify App to keep competitors up to speed before, during and after the event and this was very successful.
Harton Wood and Heywood Common
Like last year the sections were all to the east of the A49, starting with Harton Wood and Heywood Common, a couple of classic sections. These didn’t cause problems for most but Jonathan Toulmin had some issues, commenting after the event that he failed the easy sections and cleaned the hard ones!
Coats Farm and Coats Wood
There was a special test in the farmyard which was rather tight with a risk of hitting some very solid farm machinery unless you took a long deviation.
The lower part of the Coats Wood section was very muddy and outside of Class Eight, most of whom managed to blast up, proved a real struggle.
Scott Aldridge put down the power of his Smart Roadster to get out of the field and through the wood for a clean as did Matt and Ian Facey in their BMW’s. Otherwise the lower classes floundered in the mud and a significant queue built up due to the time taken to extract failures.
Longville
This well known section, first used way back in 1948, contained a rare restart on the event and even this was only for Class Eight. This was situated right on the steep bank at the exit catching a few of the specials. These included Charlie Merson who is still acclimatising to the power of his newly acquired DP Wasp which can be difficult to control on restarts with so much grip.
Easthope 1
Easthope seemed to have more grip on the upper reaches this year, perhaps all the rain had washed some of the mud away. The problem was that you had to get to the upper reaches and this was an issue for the lower classes and two thirds of them spun out before half way.
A couple of the 7’s and 8’s had issues too, including former MCC organiser Dave Middleditch who was to struggle with ground clearance all day in his Dutton Phaeton.
The route divided now. Class Eight and the Solos went off to Majors Leap where Jack Selwood went out of contention, loosing his clean sheet in the well known DP Ford.
For the other classes the challenge was getting round the Ippikins Rock hairpin. Last years Class 7 winner Scott Aldridge wasn’t successful, the light front end on the Type R engined Smart Roadster ploughing straight on to drop six marks and a potential class win. This is a beautifully constructed car, looking so standard from the outside, but hiding some clever engineering used to fit the powerful motor.
Harley Bank
Competitors passed The Jenny Wind, which couldn’t be used this year, on the way to Harley Bank 1 or 2 according to which class they were in.
Harley Bank 2 for the lower car classes didn’t present a challenge but Harley Bank 1 for Solos, 7 and 8 was another issue. Only three of the Solos went clean here. When the cars came along most of the leading class eights went clean but the 7’s had more of a problem even though they didn’t have to do the full length of the section.
Scott Aldridge had issues with his cars light front end again and it jumped out of the ruts and only Dave Middleditch and eventual class winner Thomas Hunt reached the class 7 summit.
Meadowley
Some of the car classes bypassed this famous section which enjoys a love/hate relationship amongst competitors.
Heavily rutted and very slippery there are a couple of quite deep dips which require momentum to conquer. There was a reasonable success rate amongst the sevens and eights but only Matt Facey was clean in the other classes.
Hungerford Steps
Perhaps the feature section on The Clee Hills Trial this is another love/hate section. The first part of the section had loads of grip as the rain had washed away the mud covering the hard surface. However, once the section flattened out the rain had nowhere to go and the ruts were full of mud. This caused problems for those with limited ground clearance.
Oak Dingle
The rain had started for later competitors when they arrived at this new section. There was a restart for class six and an alternative route for solos, 7 and 8. Many considered this section out of character for the event. Presumably it had to be added to make up the numbers after losing The Jenny Wind and Flouders Folly. With no ruts and winding amongst substantial trees there was a real danger of damage on the alternative route.
Arriving at the start five competitors were still clean for the event. John Reeves was to go clean here and the last section to score zero for the event and be best Solo.
Amongst the cars tackling the alternative route Dean Partington fought his way to the one in his DP Falcon as did Jack Selwood in his DP Ford and Mark Hobbs (Troll) although Jack and Mark had dropped marks earlier. Also in Class 8 Ian Davis (VW Buggy) and Julian Lack (DP Wasp) had been clear until now but they both stopped at the seven.
Amongst those tackling the more straightforward, but still very slippery route, only the BMW’s of Matt and Ian Facey were clean. This put Matt in the lead of the trial with zero, one point in front of Dean.
Abdon Liberty
Starting on a stoney track with plenty of grip the surface soon changed to mud and ruts and this is where almost everyone stopped. There were exceptions of course.
John Reeves stayed upright on his KTM to clean the section and the event, his nearest rival dropping 26.
Three cars came out of the top, Dean Partington in his front engined DP Falcon and the two powerful rear engined DP Wasps of Julian Lack and Charlie Merson.
Matt Facey had spun out at the six marker so with his clean here Dean Partington was the best car on this years Clee Hills Trial.
Links:-
- Clee Hills Trial on the Classic Trials FB Group
- More Clee Hills on FB
- Photos by Ben Lawrence
- Photos by Peter Macfadyen
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