After several years absence Falcon Motor Club revived its March Hare Trial, moving it from the clubs home base in the Northern Home Counties to the Northern Cotswolds, the area where the club ran its Guy Fawkes Trial in the 60’s.
Clerk of the Course Dave Middleditch organised Falcons 75th Anniversary Trial in the area last year and the March Hare has been developed from that event. There were a few differences from most one day trials. The event included a lot of non-competitive green lanes and Gold, Silver or Bronze medals were awarded according to performance in class. Another difference was the start being some 40 miles from the finish, the 80 mile route winding its way down from the start at Porky’s Diner near Evesham to the finish at Egypt Mill, Nailsworth.
The event attracted a good entry, 55 cars and 17 motorcycles taking the start. There were some familiar faces in unfamiliar machinery. Greg Thomas and Tris White came up from Cornwall. Greg in the Class Five Midget he mainly uses for production trials, Tris in the yellow Escort he hadn’t used since the Camel some 18 years ago. Greg and Tris ran with another well known Escort exponent from the past, Paul Bartleman in a very smart white example.
Family connections on the March Hare.
Escort drivers Paul Bartleman and brothers Richard and Peter Hayward are cousins. Both their Grandfathers, Ken Hobbs and Alan Hobbs took part in the Guy Fawkes when it was held in the Northern Cotswolds some 50 years ago.
This years March Hare winner Mark Hobbs is Ken’s son. Richard Haywards passenger and partner, Jenny Thomas, is Greg Thomas’s daughter and Kellys sister. Kelly and Jenny’s grandfather Gerald Thomas would meet up with Ken Hobbs to work on the Lands End organisation.
The trials world is such a small community.
Class two had an excellent entry of eight cars including first timer Nick Skuse in his Austin Seven, Peter Spurr and Stuart Roach in Model A’s and two of the seven Dellows that took part.
New Kineton
A historic section, believed to be used last in 1952 and rediscovered by Andrew Brown for the March Hare. Muddy, with a drop off to the right, it proved a tricky proposition, especially for the lower classes. In Class 2 Carl Talbot made the only successful climb in his Buckler equaled by the Escorts of Tris White and Richard Hayward in Class 3.
After that it was only a handful of cars in classes 7 and 8 and the Beta Enduro of Phil Sanders who got to the top of the section.
Clean or fail competitors had to reverse out and this built on the delay at the first section after an early competitor had to be pulled out after his transmission failed.
Castlett Farm
Farmcote
There were three sections marked out PCT style at Farmcote. The start lines for the first two were close together and some competitors found it difficult to get to them from the road causing a delay.
Mark Hobbs (Troll) and Julian Lack (DP Wasp) in Class Eight were the only competitors to clean all three sections in the complex. Power wasn’t the only recipe for success though as Carl Talbot showed in his Buckler running on Cross Ply tyres and with a side valve engine. Carl cleaned the first two Farmcote’s and came close on the third.
Frys Quarry
Discovered by Tucker in the 60’s, and used on the Guy Fawkes Trial, Frys Quarry offered a surface of loose stones which made a change from mud. Dave Middleditch had laid out four interesting sections, challenging but mostly not rough, using restarts and alternative routes to equal out the difficulty between the classes.
This was successful with clean sheets here spread amongst the classes. Class 2 – Carl Talbot (Buckler) and Liam James (Dellow), Class 3 – Paul Bartleman (Escort), Class 6 -Tuckers nephew Adrian Tucker-Peake (MGF), Class 7 – Paul Watson (ImpVW), Class 8 – Mark Hobbs (Troll).
They were nearly joined by Julian Lack in his DP Wasp but he picked up his only lost mark of the event after the restart on the last section in the complex.
There were further delays as the event drew to a close with PR problems on Colesbourne and early competitors getting stuck in the mud on the non-competitive green lane at Througham.
Later numbers were notified of the problems at Througham and managed to divert to the penultimate section at Battlescombe. Unfortunately there was another long delay here while a beached car was unstuck and with gathering gloom the last two sections were cancelled.
Summary
This event was a departure from the norm. Successful in some ways and unsuccessful in others.
Let’s start with the negative and say that even with the last couple of sections cancelled there were cars finishing after 7pm. Faced with a long trip home and work the next day quite a few competitors started out for home after the delays at the end and missed out on an award as they didn’t sign off.
To be positive Dave Middleditch succeeded in his ambition of organising a Classic Trial that was suitable for beginners, or cars not normally seen, but still provided enough of a challenge for experienced competitors with developed machinery.
Delays apart most competitors regarded the event as an enjoyable trial.
Links:-
We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media
Classical Gas 
Added the Family Connections story
LikeLike