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Fred Gregory and Pete Stafford enjoyed The Mechanics Trial
Having competed in quite a few Cotswold Clouds, Pete Stafford and I knew that their Mechanic’s Trial was going to be a rough, tough event. We were not disappointed, and getting the chance to explore sections and tracks that we had never seen before, and had not been trialled for many years, heightened the experience.
The day dawned wet and misty. We were running quite early in the field; at number seven, so we hadn’t expected to see clubmates Michael Leete and Mike Hayward, who were among the tail end Charlie’s. It was a good job we didn’t hang around for them, because they didn’t make the start, when the Beetles front brakes locked on only a few miles from home.
Our adventure started even before the first hill. We were travelling in convoy on a long off road run-in to the first section when my Rickman Ranger got stuck. We were actually going down hill at the time and the car was well and truly stuck on its diff casing. We were stranded with our driven wheels practically off the ground. Clearly we weren’t going to drive off under our own power, so the ever resourceful Pete Stafford dived into the undergrowth to produce a strong tree branch that we used to lever the car off. Away we went towards the first section, not very far though, because just a few yards further on the track had been washed out. There was a triangular shaped gully up the middle with the sides at an angle of about 30 degrees. I tried my hardest to straddle it but the Rickman soon dropped in, to heel over at an enormous angle. Pete fell across on top of me but there was no choice but to keep my foot down. We scraped along with the side of the car wearing away as it rubbed along the side of the trench! We were not alone; one of the Moss Brothers in an Imp did the same, only he got stuck! I wonder how many other competitors followed suite?
The section was a no-no, too tight a turn at the bottom for us. On to section two, not so fast though as there was more off roading. Our convoy found a Cannon ahead trying to reach the tarmac road un-aided. Teamwork got him out, plus our entire group of six or so cars. Carl Talbot got all the way to the four in his class eight Trialsmaster and Ian Moss wasn’t far behind him in his Imp. Most of the entry was like me though, grinding to a halt at the eleven!
Some of the sections were sub divided, funnily enough we found these ones easier! The off-roading was great, the sections were often narrow, rough and challenging, absolutely marvellous stuff, never mind that two were abandoned.
By the time we reached the last section, called “Viaduct” we were running first on the road. The start was on a flat, deep leaf-moulded surface then a muddy bit, through a gate onto a soggy field, climbing, then harder ground followed by steep mud with ruts and it was sub-divided. We gave it full power. Pete on full bounce mode even using 2nd gear it was touch and go at times, a brilliant section. We stopped in sight of the section ends board for a one. No way out, it was back down to the start, nearly half a mile away.
While we waited for a way back to the road there was a medical emergency, a suspected heart attack. Nearly everybody had to leave to make room for an ambulance. We hoped the patient was OK but after the event we learned that he died.
The section was cancelled and the entry wound their sad way to the finish. A tragic end but thanks Stroud boys and girls we really enjoyed our Mechanics Trial.
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There was plenty of room at the official start, perhaps too much room, too spread out, because it was completely devoid of atmosphere! Scrutineering was rather cursory, MOT certificate and reversing light and that was that! John Parsons was in a bit of trouble with his ex David Thompson VW Buggy and he had to rewire the feed on his to get it to work. JP has completely re-vamped his car, modifying the rear end to reduce the overhang and fitting a 2.1 Litre Type 4 engine from Jim Calvert of Stateside Tuning. To go back to the reversing lights the scrut was clearly aware, that many competitors would be reversing back down Bamford Clough in the dark!
Agnes Meadow
The run to Agnes Meadow was about 50 miles, punctuated by the steady flash of the many speed cameras on the main roads! Competitors reckon this section is a pretty gentle warm-up but Peter Mountain greeted yellow and red car competitors with the news that they had a muddy deviation off to the right immediately after the start. This sent everyone scurrying for their tyre pressure gauges as the route and surface were un-known. It was certainly a shock but I don’t think it was too difficult apart from the danger of getting cross-rutted on re-joining the main track. It did catch out a few though, including Pete hart and poor old Reg Taylor.
The run out of Agnes Meadow is a nice long green lane. There appeared to be a little local trouble at the exit onto the tarmac road by the “repaired barn” as there was a very irate local woman running around with a torch, writing down car numbers.
Wigber Low
Cars had the usual holding control before to prevent queuing on the main road. It was a nice still night and the quietness was punctuated by the occasional music of British single’s as the bikes passed the foot of the section on their way from breakfast to Clough Wood. The section is a nice one for the night, interesting but not too difficult, although the loose rocks may have been a bit of a shock to the low slung class 0 competitors.
Bentley Brook Inn
The car park was as cramped as ever but the breakfast was good and the service friendly, shame about the toilet! It started to drizzle here making competitors a little fearful about Litton in the early morning.
Clough Wood
John Parsons on the start line while he waits for Simon Robson to clear the hill. John is probably contemplating the fact that he has already used two litres of oil!
No real problems here as everything was nice and dry. It was a bit rocky but class 0 were spared their under-sides on this one.
Ballcross
Marshal John Blakeley reported that things went pretty smoothly apart from the Renault Meganne Scenic (unbelievable) in class 0 and even the Mini got up.
Litton Slack
John Parsons was the first car to clean Litton and is seen here just about to change into 2nd.Stephen – The Man in Black – Bailey gave it everything but smoked to a halt at the tricky area around the A boards.
Ian Davis was marshalling here with family and friends. As a car driver Ian doesn’t get to watch the bikes very often and was impressed by the different techniques employed by he riders. However, it was John Beaumont in the rear engined, A series Reliant, that was the most spectacular, clearing the hill going from one lock to the other to the applause of the crowd. It was pretty moist for the bikes and there was a lot of grass, which they didn’t clear away.
This made things pretty difficult for the first 50 or so cars and nobody got up, including aces like Arthur Vowden, Brian Partridge and Dean Partington, until John Parsons blasted his type 4 Buggy to the top. John was soon followed by Jeff Buchanan in the ex-Greenslade Reliant and Stuart Harrold and ACTC Championship Secretary Chris Phillips. Suddenly the grass and mud was gone and the rest of the entry mostly sailed serenely to the summit! Quite a few of the early cars failed within 50 yards, mostly because they didn’t build enough speed of the start. Dave Nash and Neil Bray were one of the many to stutter a stop on the lower reaches.
Amongst the early numbers Pete Hart made a a spirited attempt, storming past the A boards, but didn’t quite have enough momentum after jumping out of the ruts at the tricky part next to the tree on the left. Sadly this caused problems and Pete and Carlie had to retire. This part of the hill caused problems for quite a few others, including Simon Robson in his Liege and John Bennett in his smart class 4 Renault. Both David Turner and Philip Mitchell stormed up in their blown Beemers. Tony Branson was running near the back of the field and reported that the section had really dried out and Tony had a trouble free assent in the Marlin he had driven down from Northumberland to the start.
Putwell 1
There was certainly a bite on this normally easy section as there was a huge hole just after the start and the re-start was strategically positioned just before. David Turner was spectacular here with daylight under all four wheels as he went over the bump. It certainly put a load on transmissions and Ed Nikel had something break, shattering the case of his Imp, leaving Ed and his brother the worry of getting back to his trailer at Tamworth. Simon Robson had problems here as well as bouncer Matt couldn’t avoid his feet knocking off the battery cut-out switch in the passenger’s foot-well.
Richard Tompkins got away OK but stopped before the section end boards. This was Richards first event with a new engine in his Imp which was fluffing a bit on it’s twin 40’s as Richard hadn’t had enough time to tune them properly. Another to have trouble was Michael Leete whose brakes completely disappeared in the queue. They came back again but this was to be a worry on the road sections for the rest of the day. In class three Peter Thompson couldn’t get the Opel away but he dropped back a little, still within the box and pulled away without any problems.
Putwell 2
Jim Scott discussing how high Dave Turner managed to fly the blown BMW on Putwell 1Colin Perryman and Stuart Cairney flag an un-identified Escort away from the Putwell 2 re-start in front of a majestic back-drop
Class 4 drivers Jim Scott, Colin Perryman and Stuart Cairney were marshalling here. The re-start wasn’t too difficult but quite a few car drivers ran out of steam on the rocks above it as they got slipperier as the day went on. David Childs struggled here in his Pop and was pushed up by Stuart Cairney who was his passenger more that 30 years ago. Even the class eight’s found the re-start area was rough this year and Stuart Harrold was one amongst many who thinks major repairs are needed.
Haydale
Nothing to report on this one.
Highcliffe
Mike Pearson and Arnold Lane emerging onto the road at the top of Highcliffe
Nice hill with no particular problems.
Great Hucklow
Mike Telford waits to give the “Tucker Nipper Special” a chance to do it’s stuff on Hucklow
On the start line the hill looked innocuous enough. The route instructions said there was a re-start for all classes but made no reference to whether the section was going straight out onto the road or deviate left up the bank. Most people guessed correctly, up the bank it was. In recent years this steep little deviation has been very muddy, a little bit rough and not much grip and the only way to get up has been to storm it. This year it was very rough, bone dry and loads and loads of grip. The only problem was that by the time you found this out you were at full tilt on the storming technique! This causes loads of damage to the four-wheeled brigade.
Dave Haizelden suffered major damage to his offside front suspension and waved goodbye to his Triple. Dave Nash didn’t get over the hump as he was just not going fast enough but at least he didn’t damage the car. Simon Robson’s Liege hiccuped and he didn’t make it either . The top of the hill rang to the sound of club hammer against wheel rim as many drivers tried to straighten out the damage, including Michael Leete, Fred Gregory and even Stuart Harrold with 18 psi in the tyres. Sadly, Derek Reynolds and Fred Mills had more serious trouble, when the transmission on their Volvo failed and they were faced with the problem of getting the car all the way back to Cramlington in Northumberland.
Bradwell Edge Holding Control
After Hucklow the wreckage wound it’s way up onto the moor the Bamford holding control at Bradwell Edge. The wait here got longer and longer as the day went on and at the end was more than two hours. At least it was one long straight crocodile so there wasn’t all the hassle of queue jumping at the defunct Marquis of Granby. The problem at Bamford was not only that there were a lot of failures, they were mostly right at the top. This meant a long delay while competitors reversed down to the lay-by. With the high failure rate the marshals were reluctant to let more than one car on the hill at a time. All this meant that on average cars were taking an average of two or three minutes on the hill with the inevitable delay.
Elmore Special test
There was a nice simple special test on the descent down to civilisation, followed one of the roughest tracks I have ever been seen on a Classic Trial. Ruts, boulders it had the lot. Pity any low slung cars coming down here!
Shatton Moor Special test
This was a Class 0 only affair. Presumably, so they didn’t have to go down the track following The Elmore Special Test?
Bamford Clough
The old hill was in fine form, stopping loads of people and causing the inevitable delays. However, Bamford is worth all that for the challenge. For those of you who have never seen it I will explain. The section starts at the end of a tarmac road and goes up a gentle dirt track, overhung by trees. There is a 45-degree right hand corner, then the trees peter out and the majesty of Bamford lays before you, provided you look up to the sky thast is! It’s now straight as an arrow, very long and gets steeper and steeper till when you get near the top you can hardly stand up. It’s also pretty rough, mainly where over the years the MCC have repaired the holed with concrete. The problem is that spinning wheels and the weather keep eroding the bits immediately before and after, causing even more holes. The challenge this year was such a big hole just where the gradient starts to steepen. All but the most foolhardy backed off to some degree here, loosing momentum and as Bamford is all about momentum that’s where the trouble started. Yes they kept going, but not at enough speed to crest the steep humps at the top, where many failed with “wheels a spinning”.
Light cars were at an advantage as they could slowly build some momentum after the horror and Mike Pearson trickled for a clean, Simon Robson did to. Dave Nash stopped and got going but the marshals gave him a clean. John Parsons stopped as well, when his feet slipped of the pedals, but the marshals obviously preferred Skoda’s to VW’s and gave John a fail. Stuart Harrold thought Bamford was very rough but had the right power to weight ratio so could re-build his speed after lifting off for the bumps. David Haizelden was right at the back of the field, limping along in the dark after the damage suffered on Great Hucklow. Sadly the lights failed and Dave didn’t see how deep the holes were at the top, finishing off the nearside wishbone, shock absorber. The impact also removed the steering rack from the bulkhead and pushed the chassis leg back; leaving Dave with a major job to get the Golf repaired in time for the Ebworth Chase. When Dave got the car home he found the near-side chassis had moved back by 30mm and both the inner sills had moved upwards and been crushed. Dave also reported that the near-side door wouldn’t open and the offside door “you can reach inside without it being open”. All this was to no avail really as no cars in classes one or four cleaned Bamford so it didn’t count in the results for them!
Both Great Hucklow and Bamford were pretty rough for the bikers and even John Lees found them a bit of a strain on his arms. John reports that they kept catching up with class 0 and were allowed to jump in front of them at he foot of Bamford.
Simon and Matt Robson on Haggside – Perhaps for the last time?Michael Leete and Mike Hayward rounding the first hairpin (picture by Derek Hibbert)
Haggside
Haggside was a bit of an anti-climax after Bamford, although enjoyable none the less. It had the usual re-start, just after the first corner, marshalled by Peter and David Manning and George Nixon. They didn’t have to many victims this year (remember when David Alderson lost his triple) as you could stop well before the step and take a run at it. They had company for much of the event, one of the Rangers. As an individual he was very pro-motorsport but he was along to observe and submit a written report to the hierarchy on the event and in particular how much damage was being caused to the track. Apparently, as pro-motorsport as he was, it was going to be difficult for him to turn a blind eye to the holes being dug on the re-start and the powers-that-be are likely to deny us the use of Haggside in the future.
Poachers Arms Hope
The hours “lunch halt” was at the end of the trial and it was supper time for the late runners as they arrived here in the drizzle as they were more than four hours behind their scheduled time. Fortunately the marshals showed a little pity and cut the hour down a bit for later numbers, who then missed the excellent food in the pub!
Peak Pasture
Class 0 only section
Hassop Common Special Test
After a road run through Grindleford it was up into the hills for a special test, with the start, marshalled by fellow Gasser Jonathan Laver, amongst the quarries. This was where the trial ended for the cars as the remaining sections were cancelled.
Black Harry
Only the bikes had a go at this one which probably disappointed the marshal’s who apparently “doctored” the section with material from an adjoining wall, incurring the wrath of the “powers that be” Goodness what will happen to the perpetrators. I believe that when this happened on Clinton a few years ago the guilty parties (who if memory serves me correctly included Graham Marshall) were banned for a while. Now looking at my program the Chief Official is down as, no I better not say, take a look for yourself!!!
Overwheal
Calton
Bull L’Th Thorn Inn, Flagg Moor
The finish was moved away from Buxton this year so there could be a club supper which appeared to go down well with participants, although because there was no accommodation available many gave it a miss and enjoyed the Buxton nightlife. There wasn’t much time for the later numbers to dress for dinner though, as it was well past 8 o’clock when they staggered home.
Popular opinion after the event was that the event was far to rough and that Bamford, Hucklow and Putwell all need major repairs before they can be used again and this may well be beyond the resources of the MCC. Haggside should be included in this list but it looks as though we might not be allowed to use it anyway.
The Next Day
For those of you that looked out for, but didn’t find me, this is what I look like! (I think the cartoon is a good resemblance!) Michael Leete takes his own picture while Mike Hayward attends to the tyres on the Broad Walk in Buxton before the drive home to Bedfordshire.
Erratum:-
After publishing this I had an interesting e-mail from Stuart Cairney ….Enjoyed reading the Edinburgh report, one minor correction – on this occasion David Child was driving his Pop based special (the one that looks like an estate car, reg DMP 10 I think, ex Mike Furse? (Note from Michael – Yes this is right. Mike did own this car which he affectionately called “Dump” I wrote about this in the Falcon version of Classical Gas and it’s on my list of stuff to publish on the web when I get the time). I believe he still owns the Pop which, I assume, was being driven by one of his mates. Incidentally the guy I used to bounce for was the late John Simmons-Hodge who owned the Pop prior to David Child.
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The Brooklands manifestation was held to celebrate the centenary of both the MCC and the MAC. The celebrations kicked off with a Supper on the evening of Saturday 4th May with a gathering of member’s machinery in front of the clubhouse the following day. Some of this was much too polished and shinny for my liking so I will ignore that side of the proceedings and concentrate on the competitive event, which was called “The Banking Trial”.
Tony Bransons Marlin with the Members Banking in the backgroundTerry Wright’s delightful Morgan “Standard” on the Members BankingMike Pearson and Arnold Lane were the fastest carJohn Lees was the fastest bike.
Dudley Sterry and Dick Peachey had laid out a series of tests on the remaining section of the Members banking. These were of the “special test” variety, involving reversing and wiggle, woggling on the historic concrete.
Competition started with an assault on The Test Hill, albeit with dire warnings of a severe penalty of wheels were sent “a-spinning” in the process. Digging into my first edition of Boddy I see that “on November 24th, R. G. J. Nash persuaded his Frazer-Nash “The Terror” to break the Test Hill record, setting it at 32.44 mph. It was estimated that Nash’s car, which used twin rear tyres, breasted the hill at some 50mph, and certainly, it was air-bourne for about 30 ft after reaching the summit, a truly hair-raising experience in view of the many trees. Nash’s time of 7.45 seconds has never been beaten.” Unfortunately, the MCC were to be killjoys, making competitors come to a stop at liner B at the top! So, the 1932 record remained safe. The fastest time in 2002 was set by John Lees who ascended in fifteen seconds, followed by Richard Nixon who “bombed” his 250cc Can Am up in 19.1 seconds. The fastest car was Duncan Welch in 25.3, illustrating that it was the power to weight ratio that was all-important.
John Lees on his 1961 Triumph Twin, who was consistently fastest on all the tests, dominated the Solo competition. Richard Nixon on his Can-Am Bombardier was doing well and fighting for second place with John Young’s very noisy 1938 Triumph when he incurred a maximum on the last test of round two to drop him out of the awards.
There were only three starters in Class B for Sidecars and three-wheelers, and only had two finishers, when Terry Wright retired his delightful 1926 Morgan Standard after the first round leaving Arthur Walton with an easy victory.
The car classes were well supported and competition was quite fierce, with only a handful actually trying to win the regularity award! Adrian Tucker-Peake was the easy winner in the Closed Car class, in his Peugeot 205 Gti, a combination of driver skill and a well set-up car giving him an early lead which he was not to lose all day. Bryan Bradbeer set some early fast times in his Skoda before a drive shaft popped out. He managed to get it back in and continue but it happened again later in the day and he had to retire. Peter Thompson and Alan Bellamy both went well, but had to give best to Adrian’s more nimble FWD machine. I should mention that Adrian’s uncle “Tucker” actually competed on the Outer Circuit on a motorcycle before the war.
Class D for Open Cars was a real battle between Mike Pearson (Dellow Replica), Duncan Welch (Austin Healey SS) and Keith Pettit (AH Sprite). It was Duncan who took the early lead, diving down and back up the muddy slope on the first test 0.1 seconds ahead of Mike. Onto the Members banking for test two and Duncan was fastest as well, but then on the third test Duncan dropped a massive ten seconds, letting Mike into a lead he was not to relinquish all day. Simon and Matt Robson started well before incurring a huge penalty on test four during the first round, which put them completely out of contention.
Bill Bennett was the easy winner in the pre-141 class driving his 1933 MG J2. The overall regularity winner came from this class. Neil Bray setting an overall regularity difference of 5.2 according to a formula, which I don’t understand, but I do know that Neil was more surprised than anyone to win this award! Primrose ran like a pig all the morning, breaking down with monotonous “regularity” on the way down and popping and banging all the morning. Mike Pearson lent Neil his spare at lunchtime after which Primrose behaved impeccably for the rest of the day.
Unfortunately John Aley had been feeling un-well and went home early, so the awards were presented by Alan Foster and Jonathan Toulmin to round off an enchanting day.
Mike Fowler
1997 KTM EGS/E
Regularity Award for Motorcycles
Don Friend
1994 Enfield Bullet
Regularity Class A
John Lees
1961 Triumph TR6
FTD Motorcycles
John Young
1938 Triumph T70
FTD Class A
Steve Hancock/Tim Stoffel
1938 Ariel VB
Regularity Class B
Arthur Walton/TBA
1949 Ariel VH
FTD Class B
Peter Chantler/Geoff Pickett
1965 Hillman Imp
Regularity Class C
Adrian & Liz Tucker-Peake
1985 Peugeot 205 GTi
FTD Class C
Hilary Foster/Charlotte Blight
1973 Morgan +8
Regularity Class D
Mike Pearson/Arnold Lane
1954 Dellow Replica Mk2
FTD Cars
Duncan & Eleanor Welch
1960 Austin Healey SS
FTD Class D
Bill & Liz Bennett
1933 MG J2
FTD Class E
Neil Bray/Dave Nash
1936 Ford Primrose
Regularity Award for Cars
Stephen & Madeleine Dear
1927 Wolseley 16/45
Regularity Class E
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The first “new look” Lands End was an enjoyable event, helped by very nice weather. This made the sections dry, minimising delays, so everything ran pretty smoothly. The downside was that the sections were rougher and dust was a problem on some of them
Colin Sumner smoking away as he trys to re-start his Morgan on Sutcombe Hill.John Lee’s hustles his Triumph Twin around the Bude special test as he trys to regain the time he lost when his electric’s burned out on Stoney Street.Team Falcon attacking Neil Bray’s Skoda wheel nuts with a cold chisel! Eric and Chris Wall starting off on their successful assault on Hoskin.
With Easter being early this year the clocks hadn’t changed, so it was dark as most of the competitors left the three starts, for the night run to the collecting control at the lorry park at North Petherton near Bridgewater. The thirty something competitors in Class 0 started from here for their trial which ended in the same place as the Lands End, but apart from the Bude Special Test, and some of the controls, it went its own way and followed its own route with its own sections. There was a diverse collection of machinery, mostly driven by familiar names. The MCC seems committed to the class which is a good thing for the sport as it allows newcomers to have a relatively easy introduction to Classic Trialling and old stagers to dust down some of those nice old cars lurking in the depths of their garages.
With no Sugg Lane this year (will the Exeter now be able to use this?) the first section was Felons Oak, a nice easy section that nobody can fail! Well that’s the theory but a few did, including Michael Leete and Verdun Webley. Then it was down to the A39, but sadly bypassing that delightful green lane with the rocky descent past the farm. Another place we missed was Minehead Rugby Club, which was cold and dark as we went by on the way to Stoney Street, where the approach lane was dry and the dust was still hanging in the air.
The section is not too steep, but it is long and rocky, with a horrendous drop on the left-hand side. There are no little lay-bys on the way up, so recovery is difficult if anyone has any problems. John Lees had his before the section even started when his lights suddenly went dead while waiting in the queue and smoke started to rise from under the seat of his Triumph Twin. Investigation revealed the main wire from the battery to the ammeter had shorted out and burned through. While getting things repaired John managed to lose the screw to the battery compartment cover so there was no way the battery would stay in place. John decided to leave the battery behind, which of course meant he had no lights. By this time the cars had come along, so John went up the section behind Duncan Welch with the aid of a torch, following Duncan and Dudley Sterry on the following road section to the halt at The County Gate Control where he waited for daylight to carry on.
Chris Sharrod had problems with his Skoda, causing a delay and a bit of confusion when there were problems with the radio and suddenly there were three cars and a bike on the hill, causing Neil Bray to claim a balk. With such a long hill it’s necessary to have more than one car on the hill at a time and the MCC has to rely on competitors being sensible in such circumstances. The dramas weren’t over yet as Stuart and Andrew Cairney were struggling with their clutch and stopped on the following road section to let things cool down. Unfortunately it didn’t get any better and Stuart decided to turn for home while he was still mobile. Everything was going fine until he got on the Motorway when the gearbox packed in and the remainder of the journey back to Reading was on the back of a Brittania Rescue recovery truck! With two nights booked at the “official” hotel Stuart didn’t want to waste his money so he and Andrew drove down to the West Country in their Peugeot daily driver to do some spectating.
There was the first of many re-grouping controls at The Culbone Inn, up on the hills, where Dennis Greenslade worked very hard to get all the cars into a small car park. These controls certainly kept the trial together and provided a nice opportunity to socialise. Pete Crawford was enjoying his ride with Clive Booth in the Dellow Replica after John Allsop had to stay at home. Pete was particularly looking forward to Bluehills which he last visited back in the 70’s. PCT expert Barrie Parker was another Falcon trying an MCC event, driving his Citroen in class one and enjoying the experience. Colin Perryman was struggling a bit in an un-familiar Skoda, having gone and out bought a car for the event after he ran out of time trying to repair his trials car after The March Hare.
Beggars Roost is a bit tame compared to the old days, now the council doesn’t dump a couple of lorry load of shingle from the beach on the hill anymore! However, the restart can always catch you out and it was certainly a bit rough this year. Neither Neil Bray nor Peter Thompson could get away cleanly. Michael Leete/Mike Hayward got away this time but at the expense of a puncture on the exit road. Tony Branson had a puncture here as well, which prevented him getting of the re-start. Lands End débutantes Ed Nikel and Richard Tompkins were running right at the back of the field having taken their trailers down to Cornwall and started down there.
Riverton was bought into play on this “New Lands End” to break up the long road run to Sutcombe. There had been quite a bit of discussion on The Web Community about the hill, which was reported as pretty rough when used on The Exmoor Trial. However, the MCC road gang had been at work and it was fine on the day. The hill starts off a bit rough, then it zig zags up the slope with a couple of tight hairpins. These caused problems for some of the bikes that ran out of lock. The early cars had quite a wait here as a number of the bikes had problems. Then Peter Faxon stopped in his Reliant and there was considerable delay while the recovery Land Rover made a bit of a pigs ear pulling him out, causing a lot of damage to the car and Peter had to retire and head for home. The section didn’t cause to many problems for the cars and Riverton got the thumbs up from most four-wheeled competitors.
Sutcombe somehow epitomises all that is wonderful about The Lands End. The approach down to the river is picturesque, with primroses gracing the bank. It has a ford at the bottom, with Peter Mountain checking tyre pressures, and there’s such a warm welcome at the top with the ladies of the village dispensing tea and refreshments from their back door! The hill itself is quite gentle but competitors had to tackle a rocky re-start, under the eagle eye of Jim Travers. This stopped quite a few competitors including Michael Leete and Ed Nikel.
The route ventured out onto The Hartland peninsula as usual to tackle a nice gentle Darracott but missing out Cutliffe Lane, denying many competitors the chance to clean this hill in the dry conditions. There was quite a delay at the Bude special test, probably caused by the class 0 competitors feeding back into the route and jumping to the head of the queue. Triple Editor Charlotte Blight was given a real white knuckle ride round the cones by Dave Turner who really had his BMW on the bump stops as he took the corners. There was another holding control on the crowded beach car park just before Widmouth Bay where car competitors rather got in the way of the surfers.
Emma Flay easing her Troll away from the Crackington re-start (picture by Jim Scott)
Crackington hadn’t been doctored too much this year and only the red cars had to re-start, so the famous old hill didn’t claim as many victims as usual. You can’t take it for granted though as Peter Thompson found out in his Opel, which ground to a halt despite the urges and shouts of the spectators. The same happened for Ed Nikel who was finding that the ruts get deeper when you run at the back of the field.
It was warm and sunny at the Wilsey Down rest halt and competitors were able to really relax instead of shivering in the cold which seems to be the norm here! It was soon time to be off, to tackle Warleggan, absent for a few years. This turned out to be the roughest hill of the trial, which was probably why it was dropped in the first place!
Anyone that was clear so far approached Hoskin with some trepidation. It’s deep inside Cardinham Woods and has a steep gradient, a bit of doctoring and a re-start for the yellows and reds. It lived up to it’s reputation and competitors in the queue watched car after car reverse back down. It was possible to get up though, as Bill Rosten proved, although he had a puncture in the process. Joe Caudle was delighted to get the Torum away from the re-start for a clean and was having a good run apart from a broken wing stay which John Turner tie wrapped into place after the Wilsey Down halt. Class sevens struggled a bit with their restart and neither Tony Branson nor Simon Robson got away under the eye of a spectating Duncan Stephens. Neil Bray didn’t have a restart but failed when he punctured near the top. This was the start of a real drama as a wheel nut rounded off when Neil tried to remove it and nothing he or his Falcon team-mates did could remove it. Finally they decided to change the tube with the wheel in-situ. This became complicated when they found the tyre was wrecked so they had to remove one from one of the spare wheels. Then they found the aluminium rim was split. By now there was nothing to lose so it was beaten into place, taped up, a new wheel and tyre fitted and off they went.
There was a very nice special test at Bishops path, once the horses had got out of the way of the motorbikes! This was a new hill for many competitors who didn’t know what was coming. The section was in two parts , divided by a track. Once this was crossed competitors were faced by a steep bank and the yellow and red cars had to re-start just before it which caused problems for many including Simon Robson. So did Tony Branson but like everyone else he was enjoying his trial.
After another route check the route followed the familiar path down to Bluehills with spectators thronging the hillside beside the track across the valley. But the “silly little horseshoe” of Bluehills One had to be tackled first. Always ready to catch the un-wary, tired, driver if they cut the corner back onto the track too tightly. Most managed it OK although Chris Sharrod’s Skoda did something dreadful to its rotor arm causing a bit of a hold up.
Neil Plumridge at the end of the winch cable in this atmospheric picture of Bluehills taken by Jim Scott
Then it was up the track to tackle Bluehills 2. Not a forgone conclusion since then MCC put in it’s artificial chicanes. The blue classes were allowed a straight run through but the rest had to negotiate the artificial hazards causing all the usual problems. Joe Caudle lost his gold here when he parked in a hole on the re-start and couldn’t get away. Brian Sussex was another Classical Gas fan who lost Gold here when he had to put his foot down as he negotiated the MCC’s hazards on his Yamaha.
The competitive part of the trial ended here and despite the threats in the routecard most competitors lingered for a few minutes to relax and catch up with how everyone else was doing. Stuart Cairney and Jim Scott were here looking for Bill Rosten who hadn’t appeared. Neither had Verdun Webley and Mike Pearson. They had problems during the night with Silicon in the fuel lines. They fixed this but later on they had electrical gremlins and had to call it a day.
There was a new finish at The Bay Hotel in Newquay with a club supper in store for those who were staying ‘there. The only problem was that you had to stay two nights which isn’t conducive to family life for everyone but seemed to go down well with those who availed themselves of the facility. So ended the first “New lands End”. There were very few delays, although that could have been very different had it been wet, especially on a hill like Bishop’s Path. There are different opinions about The Lands End. Many people feel it should finish at Lands End but there are also Newquay fans who loved the new arrangements. However, whatever your opinion on that everyone voted this “new” Lands End a great success.
Tommy Kalber doing what every competitor wants to achieve – cleaning Bluehills in front of all those spectators! (Picture by Clive Kalber)
Lands End Results for some Falcons & Friends
Alan Bellamy VW Brasillia 132 – Class 6
Failed 3 hills, officially retired as did not sign off
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Ross Nuten won Murray’s March Hare in his Dellow with the only clean sheet of the day. It was a close run thing, with Dave Nash fastest on the special tests, and only missing victory when he failed the Edlesborough re-start.
Falcon had 31 entries for the third running of The March Hare as a road trial in recent years. It was a nice varied entry, with a number of Classic Trial debutantes, fulfilling Falcon’s ambition of using the event as a way to get a taste of the sport. The machinery was pretty varied, the only certain thing that either a Dellow, or a Dellow inspired car, was going to win class eight, as all six entries came from that stable. There were four original cars, plus Clive Booths Replica that was constructed by Reg Taylor and Geoff Jackson and the RDT, which Reg constructed on Dellow principles a few years ago, but with a wider body and IFS.
Keith Pettit about tackling the step at the summit of Cress Beds on his way to win class 5
Nick Iken led the field away from the Big Pub, next to Neil Bray’s garage in Graveley, for a gentle run through the Hertfordshire Lanes to the first two sections at Whitwell. Cress Beds and Water Tower are on the same lane, which is bisected by a tarmac road so the section is split into two parts. There was a brief delay at the foot of Cress Beds while Julian Robinson got the Herts VW team into position. The short opener had a re-start which caught out Peter Morley who was driving in only his second trial, and first classic, in a standard Beetle.
Colin Perryman, going well on Water Tower, had to retire at Devils Pit
Then it was across the road to tackle Water Tower. The section starts with some really deep ruts, which weren’t too muddy. Most of the sections were pretty dry as the event took place in a bit of a dry window and the strong winds had dried the ground out appreciably in recent weeks. There was re-start again and this very long section claimed four victims.
Sponsor Murray MacDonald had organised three sections at Devils Pit in Barton, a venue mainly used for Four Wheel Drive off-roading. The first section had a tricky right hander at the start and caused problems for Colin Perryman when a drive shaft failed when he applied the power. Fortunately Colin was carrying a spare and set about changing it, only to derange the steering on the very next section. By this time Colin was running very late and decided to head for home. This section wasn’t very Skoda friendly as Neil Bray did exactly the same thing and had to spend half an hour doing an impromptu re-tracking job. Seeing all this back marker Simon Robson took things very gently in his Liege, lost momentum and failed at the nine.
Neil’s Skoda was fine on the drive to the next section at Mile Tree Farm, but didn’t go any further as a drive shaft broke. It was simple enough to change, except he wasn’t carrying a spare. No matter, Dave Nash lived nearby and nipped home to get a couple of Skoda drive shafts. No problem then? Well yes, there was a small one, Neil has modified his car to use Beetle shafts! The second section at Mile Tree claimed a number of victims where the re-start was positioned just before the steep final bank.
We were in the heart of Falcon trials territory now and organiser John Parsons had laid out two sections at Brickhill and these shaped the course of the event. The first one caused a few problems as the run up to the wood was slippery and neither Nick Iken nor John Rowland in class one managed to traverse the slippery patch. Michael Leete got over this part OK, but understeered off later in the section, to drop his only four marks of the day. Geoff May had been going well in his blown Dellow, despite (or because of?) having no rear shockers. One of the mountings had broken on the way to the start and rather than miss the fun Geoff solved the problem by disconnecting the other one as well.
Overall winner Ross Nuten, pictured at Edlesborough, was the only car to get a clean sheet
The section at Ivinghoe was all about the re-start where Arnold Lane was in charge on top of a very cold and windy hill. This was followed by a re-grouping control with Andrea Lane and Tom Goggin in the Falcon Chuck Wagon dispensing very welcome hot food and drink. While the competitors were relaxing, many of the marshals were travelling across country to officiate on the afternoon’s hills. These started at Edlesborough with Geoff Jackson in charge. This was un-believable, using almost every feature of this familiar PCT venue to produce one long section. The wind had dried everything out and conditions were very different to the Clubmans trial a few weeks before. It was here the event was decided, when Dave Nash dropped six, handing the lead and the trial to Ross Nuten.
At Kensworth the sections were named after John Barber, the land owner who sadly passed away recently. The first section was a pure grass slalom, with a nasty turn on a adverse camber which claimed the front wheel drive cars and some of the less experienced drivers. The second went straight up the stone track before venturing onto slippery grass beside the fence and most of the entry slid to a stop here.
The trial was drawing to a close now, but it was back to county roads and there were a couple of treats in store. The first was at Half Moon Lane where Mike Pearson had drained most of the water out of the sump in deference to the lower slung machinery! It wasn’t difficult if you had the ground clearance but a lot of fun never less. Simon Robson failed when he stayed out of the muddy ruts and got stuck sideways when he was forced back into them and had to be bodily lifted out by JP, Verdun Webley and the crew. There was a further treat in store just after the section ended where it was very difficult to get through the mud.
David Sheffield and Owen Turner trying in vain to re-start on Norton Street Lane
The final section was back at Whitwell, this time to Norton Street Lane. This is a very long section, which is always changing as the water alternately, washes mud and stones down the track. The big challenge is at the top where Julian Robinson and Murray MacDonald had positioned a re-start on loose stones with a diversion for class seven and eight. The only problem with this was, that with their narrow track, the Dellows were able to stay out of the ruts to find firm ground! For those forced into the ruts it required a delicate foot on the throttle as John Bell discovered in his Escort, but John, who has taken part in all three March Hares since it became a road trial again, still won class three. Most of the low slung cars needed a pull from the Range Rover here, but it could be done, even with relatively little ground clearance, as Keith Pettit proved in his Frogeye Sprite.
There was plenty of Food and Drink available back at The Big Pub, where Ross Nutern was the well-deserved and popular winner. The many competitors who had taken part in their first road trial were full of stories of their adventures and hopefully their appetites have been wetted for the future. The organisers had put on a really good event that was tremendous fun for those taking part. Role on the next Murray’s March Hare.
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Peter Fear won The Cotswold Clouds with a nearly perfect run, spoilt only by a misunderstanding about the restart on Nailsworth Ladder where he stopped in the wrong place. Richard Hayward had a magnificent run in his Escort to finish second overall, and would have won had he cleaned Crooked Mustard!
Stuart Cairney coming out the top of Ham Mill on his way to 3rd in class 4.Simon Woodall back behind the wheel cleaned Crooked Mustard with an unusual line. (picture by John Salter)Pictured on Bulls Bank 2 Richard Hayward came 2nd overall in his EscortPeter Fear on Meerves Swerve (photo by John Salter)
Stroud and District Motor Club had their usual full entry for their Cotswold Clouds, one of the most popular one day trials, despite it’s traditional non-championship status. Nigel Allen led the entry away on the Cloud’s established route, which has changed little in recent years apart from the addition or deletion of the occasional section. Crawley was first on the agenda, a nice easy start to the trial, especially when you knew the left-hand hairpin was coming! Soon competitors were in Dursley at the foot of Crooked Mustard, known most appropriately as Break Heart in its earlier life. This is one of the feature hills on The Clouds, retaining its teeth despite its age. There had been rumours at the start of some sort of construction work on the hill and while this wasn’t evident, the lower reaches were certainly cut up with a lot of loose stones.
Most of the class eight’s cleaned the section, although sadly not Classical Gas supporters, and former Dingo owners, Martin and Tom Jones. In class seven three of the Marlins made a clean ascent, including the determined Mal Allen. From the bottom it sounded as if Pete Hart had got up but despite a resolute attempt, he stopped at the final corner for a four. Nigel Allen in class six was the only rear engined car to come out the top but Colin Perryman did well to get to the five in his Skoda as did the Imp of Mike Trim. The best of the other Beetles in class four were Giles Greenslade and Dick Glossop one mark behind. The only other clean was in Class Three where John Bell stormed up to take the lead in the conventional saloon class. There were some magnificent climbs in Class One where Paul Allaway (Astra) got to the four, closely followed by Golf Gti drivers David Haizelden and Michael Collins in their usual closely fought battle.
There was no Rushmire this year but there was still a holding control just along the road, manned by Mr Moss senior and an enthusiastic local policeman who was very interested in all the cars. Axe has got more difficult in recent years and took a few victims once again if they had low ground clearance or didn’t build enough momentum to power through the mud and ruts just sort of the summit. There are a few pretty big steps as well, which can easily blow out a tyre or dent a rim. John Bell was caught out here as were the low slug MGB’s of Gill Hayward and Andy Biffen. The leading Front Wheel Drives all made clean ascents, albeit at the expense of a dented rim for David Haizlden. Neil Bray arrived at the top with both a front and a rear puncture and a shattered wheel rim and was grateful for the help from “Team Sargeant” in getting him on the road again.
Nailsworth Ladder was relatively easy this year. Classes one to seven didn’t have a restart and everyone made clean ascents. Even the class eight restart was kind to competitors, positioned a long way before the step so cars could get going before the obstruction. A handful were caught out though, including eventual winner Peter Fear who overran the restart line by mistake as he thought that some cones blocking off a gully defined the restart box. Chris Phillips was spectating here and reckoned that Bill Bennett won the prize for showing the most air under his car as he flew over the bump.
There was the usual holding control before Ham Mill and only six, seven and eight had to restart this year. Almost all the lower classes stormed through the tricky right hander although Paul Allaway stopped in the grassy ruts near the summit. Peter Davis in his Panther Lima was the only class five to get round the right hander, which also caught out Michael Leete and Rick Neale in class four. The restart for the higher classes was right on the corner and caught out Mike Hobbs and Mark Tooth in their big engined Beetles but didn’t present a problem to the seven’s and eight’s. Neil Bray cleaned the hill but at the expense of another puncture and such a horrible noise from the transmission that he decided to retire and head for home.
There was the usual civilised stop for lunch at the Tesco Cafeteria, although there wasn’t as much time as some of us would have liked because of delays at Crooked Mustard, Axe and Ham Mill. Bulls Cross followed this, promoted from a special test to an observed section, before going into the woods across the road for Freds Folly. This is a nice long section with a muddy right hander at the top that again took a small crop of victims.
Catswood was a stopper in the woods before Merve’s Swerve, reached after a nice long trek along some muddy tracks through the trees. There was a restart for classes six to eight but this really didn’t make much difference, as the lower classes couldn’t build much speed through the “chicane” anyway. The challenge here is the bank across the track. The ruts looked deep and muddy although there was quite a bit of grip for the later runners as the early numbers cut down to the solid stuff. About half the class eight’s went clean but the best anyone else could do was Bill Bennett in the J2 who got to the one.
There was the usual crowd of spectators at Merves Swerve, which had Stuart Harrold and Chris Phillips marshalling instead of driving their usual Troll. Chris reported that “Merve’s was looking absolutely horrible when we got there. The restart area was very claggy. The steps even more so, and if you got over that there was a significant rut around the three marker. The first two or three customers merely confirmed my opinion that it was going to be a day of backing down. Then Pete Fear appeared (about car four), got out of the ruts left on the restart and just went away making it look easy. Car No1, Nigel Allen, also cleaned, but without the restart, but then there were no more successes for about 40-50 cars until the restart area had worn down to the rock underneath.
Gallant efforts from David Haizelden (how does he get a front wheel drive car that far up hills) and lots of local Stroud boys in Escorts who gave it absolute death and made it to the four marker. My prize for the best attempt went to the big old Riley (in class 2) which got a 2, I believe, and the driver was mighty disgusted that he hadn’t cleaned it. In total, I think five class 8 cleaned it and the big VW from class 6.”
There were usual two hills in the Highwood complex. The first section features a very muddy patch where the track deviates to the right. Classes 1 to 6 had a straight run though, without a re-start, but it was still very difficult and only a handful of cars got through for a clear, including David Haizelden and Paul Allaway in class one. Peter Fear was the only restarter to go clear, making up for his error on Nailsworth Ladder and putting him in the lead of the trial. Highwood Two was as fearsome as ever. It’s not going up that’s the trouble, it’s coming back down again when you fail! Even Giles Greenslade had to reverse back down! But a string of good climbs had put him in back in front of Colin Perryman after slipping behind on Crooked Mustard.
Clerk of the Course Nigel Moss cancelled Climperswell after some of the early numbers damaged their cars when they came out of the ruts and hit trees. This left only the usual two Bulls Bank sections which didn’t affect the results much apart from in class 4 where Stuart Cairney lost second place to Colin Perryman when he failed the first one. The restart wasn’t on a particularly steep place but there was a nasty rock to put the front wheel against if you didn’t stop in exactly the right place. The second Bulls Bank didn’t have any obstructions but it was on a steeper gradient and the stones were as slippery and polished as usual, necessitating a gentle take-off, something rather lacking in some attempts, to the amusement of some of the competitors spectating now the last hill was finished.
Then there was just the run to the finish to round off another excellent Cotswold Clouds. It was a well-judged trial, which Peter Fear would have cleaned, had it not been for stopping in the wrong place on Nailsworth Ladder. The adjustments to the restarts for the lower classes seemed just right and were fortuitous as they stopped too many delays. The organisation was as professional as ever in the usual Stroud relaxed way, with a lot of top competitors marshalling the hills.
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My first time in the passenger seat. My father, Bill, had asked me to passenger him on the Exmoor Trial in his Class 4 Imp “Jade”. It needed an early start from Ealing to Camberley and then onwards down the A303 to the start just the other side of Barnstaple. Bill had fitted a couple of new undertrays to the rear of the car in an effort to keep more of the mud out of the engine bay after the trouble this caused after the Clee. These seemed to be making the car run a little hotter when cruising but she ran fine all day. We past Giles Greenslade on the way to the start but as he was starting last for some reason we pressed on to scrutineering as we wanted to leave the suggested 45 minutes for the signing process.
After diff check, general inspection and check of the documents and we were through to signing on. We took on fuel as suggested along with Stuart Cairney, with Jim Scott in the passengers seat in his Imp and went down to Sepcott 1. We had a couple of Escorts in front of us now and we watched them fail to move off the start line. We got some wheelspin and with a few “bounces” we were off line, past the restart for 7&8 to clean the first hill.
Sepcott 2 next and a small delay for a Class 6 Beetle to change a wheel on the approach to the start line. The hill and the restart presented no problems. A short drive to Snapper 1 & Snapper 2 complete with a restart. Neither caused a problem for Dad and the Imp.
Riverton up next and a hill Dad had not seen before as last year it was the reserve of the Class 8 and the bikes. First queue of the morning heralded the hills intent. I heard Stuart trying hard and cleaning the hill in his Imp. I had a quick chat to a man with an Avenger which was running on Castrol R. That smelt good! Our turn came and the hill was looking ok but turning right and going past the Class 6-8 restart the track became rutted and full of mud leading up to a tight left hand bend. We ploughed through to the left hander and found some grip to take us up and out of the section.
High Bray up next and another queue. The hill was in fair form. Stuart screamed his way over the rock slab and cleared the section. We went a little lower on tyre pressure which resulted in bent wheel, puncture and us sitting in hole around the six marker. We later learned from Giles that he also cleaned the section in the blue Beetle.
Onwards to Beggars Roost. I was particularly looking forward to the Roost as it was the only hill I had done before in my Escort. The Imp found loads of grip off the restart, a failing of the Escort in past years, and continued serenely up the remainder of the hill over a lot of loose rocks.
A route change resulted in Swaincote being used complete with a third special test. All the special tests (there were two earlier in the day) were very well thought out tests. Forwards, backwards and forwards again over various lines but long enough for the lower geared cars to requiring a gear change going forwards to be slightly penalised going backwards.
Unfortunately Stuart’s transmission gave up and we found the Imp abandoned at the top of the hill with no sign of either Stuart or Jim. Very bad news as he was clean so far with the Class win to go for on Floyd’s Bank. Also in trouble here was Tony Young in his VW Special with the front suspension broken.
Floyd’s Bank turned out to be a short section which was completely visible from the road with a very slippery mud surface. The fine rain was keeping it way! A reasonable queue of cars had formed with some earlier competitors spectating on the section. Unfortunately some of the later competitors chose to join them before attempting the section and left their cars more in the lane than off preventing some local traffic from getting past. This caused a delay as the start marshal tried to sort the problem calling several times before the competitors came back down from their perches to move their cars. Probably not what the organisers would have liked!
We got as far as the 8 or 9 board before we got struck in the ruts. We saw some spirited attempts one of which saw John Bell get through the ruts but slid sideways into a gorse bush and had a moment or two on the descent. David Turner got to the 3 marker and took a trim off the BMW against the gorse bush on the way down. Best Class 3 attempt was a purple Mk1 Escort (I can’t remember the car number or name) who made it to the 1 board. An excellent effort as the only other people to get anywhere while I was watching was Peter Fear with the Dingo, which cleared the hill and Tim Whellock who got the Fugitive’s front wheels near the section ends board.
All that was left was to sign off and drive home. I was back at home in London by 8.40pm. The Exmoor was a very enjoyable trial, well organised and finished at a reasonable hour. To be recommended.
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Golf Gti driver Michael Collins won a Clee Hills that was heavily handicapped against class eight. It was a sticky event, with everyone having to cope with deep ruts but the Class eights had some tough re-starts and alternative routes as well.
Peter Manning checking out his Midget in the queue for Round Oak which was later cancelled for his class.Michael Leete’s Beetle stands all alone at the back of the field while it waits it turn at HungerfordDick Glossop pictured on his unsuccessful attack on the left hander at HungerfordDick Glossop pictured on his unsuccessful attack on the left hander at Hungerford
There had been a fair amount of rain the week before the trial, but the weather was warm enough to ensure there was no snow this year. Cars run in class order on The Clee and Stuart Harrold and Chris Phillips led the field away from The Boyne Arms in Burwarton near Bridgenorth in Shropshire. As the rest of the field followed the more privileged (or is it disadvantaged?) had Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason’s brother Tony thrust a microphone under their noses as he interviewed them for a Discovery Channel program that will be shown some time in the summer.
Farlow was first on the agenda. It had not been used for three years, as it wasn’t included the last time the event was run because of PR problems with the occupier of the house at the bottom. The section is a straight, muddy blind, cutting off a hairpin on the tarmac road. Grip was quite a problem for the early numbers and Stuart Harrold, Nigel Moss and Mike Chatwin all floundered on the lower reaches in their Trolls. At least they got further than David Thompson who didn’t make the start when he couldn’t get the ex-David Alderson machine fired up and had to stay at home in Kettering. The ruts became deeper with the passing of each car but later numbers with sufficient ground clearance found plenty of grip and most of the Class One’s cleaned the section.
There was a long road section of over 20 miles to the next hill, an even muddier section with yet more deep ruts. This had never been used for car trials before, although bikes had used it in the 50’s and 60’s. Most of the class eights came out the top of this one, but Stuart Harrold ground to a halt again and so did Tony Rothin in the Cannon Alfa. Crews in the other classes really struggled and Terry Ball was the only saloon to gain a clear. The Escorts all hated this hill, grounding out in the deep ruts by the left hander and causing a big queue to build up while they were dragged out.
The Class fours didn’t fare much better and most of them under-steered into the bushes immediately after the start line, including Giles Greenslade and Richard Peck. When Richard backed out his Beetle looked decidedly lopsided and he retired, limping home to Derbyshire with a suspected broken torsion bar. Clerk of the Course Simon Woodhall was in attendance and he decided to cancel the hill for the remaining classes, leaving class four to run last on the road. Michael Leete made the penultimate ascent and he trickled through the mud at the start, staying in the ruts and slowly building momentum, blasting through the deep stuff at great speed before the clinging mud sucked him to a stop just short of the section ends board.
Bill Rosten had problems on the following road section. A lot of mud had been sucked into the engine compartment as he backed out of Round Oak and the alternator had stopped charging. The descent to the start of Adstone was pretty rutty and there was no going back if you changed your mind! The section didn’t present too many problems and neither did Rattlinghope or Gatten’s Gamble. They were all nice long sections though, with some absolutely fabulous views on what was now a clear day.
The views continued on the run over The Long Mynd with another long section before Harton Wood, which had to be tackled on road pressures after Pete Hart and his crew had leapt out in the road to do a diff test. There was another delay at Hugerford, one of the highlights of The Clee. This presented Mike Jones and John Sargeant with a lot of problems as they tried to get competitors queued up off the main road. The section is quite hard to turn into and drivers were allowed to swing into the road if they wished. The class eights didn’t have any problems at the bottom but they had a tough re-start just before the hump at the top and very few could get away. As the field went through so the bottom became very badly cut-up and it became difficult to get round the corner at all. It caught out both Dave Sargeant and Dick Glossop in their Beetles. Dave got around the corner at the expense of quite a bit of body damage while Dick just couldn’t get round at all. The character of the section had changed a lot since it was last used as the trees edging the gully had been felled and the section itself had become very muddy and cut up by the work vehicles. There were a few rocks remaining though and both Ian Ramsey and Neil Bray punctured. Hungerford also saw the end of Bill Rosten’s day when he retired with a broken Hardy Spicer joint.
Longville was nice and easy if you didn’t have any restarts; although it was all too much for Emma Flay’s Escort and she retired. The class eight’s had to re-start of course and only a couple got away cleanly, including Adrian Marfel and Mike Pearson in his Dellow Replica. The class eight handicap was hammered home when they diverted to Majors Leap while the rest of the field tackled the hairpin at Ippkins Rock. None of the class eights got beyond the ten marker while over at Ippkins around half the entry emerged without penalty, the right-hand hairpin causing the demise of the remainder.
The Clee’s traditional stopper, The Jenny Wind came next, despite some PR problems with the householder at the bottom. The club had tried to minimise the disturbance by erecting a huge tarpaulin to provide a visual screen and contain the flying dirt from spinning wheels. Class eight had a re-start at the eight marker, which slowed them down and the leaders only got as far as the five. Adrian Marfel was in the lead in his rear engined rail, a couple of marks ahead of Tony Young. Carl Talbot had been going well in the Morris Trialsmaster and would have been level with Adrian but for a fail on the first special test. Terry Ball came to The Jenny Wind with a clean sheet in his class six Beetle, as did Paul Allaway in his Astra, Michael Collins in his Gti and Terry Coventry in the AX, albeit the class ones were aided by Round Oak being cancelled for their class. All these clean sheets were blown to the wind here but Paul Allaway went that bit further to take the lead of the trial.
Harley Bank was a few hundred yards up the road. A lovely long blind up through the woods for the lower classes, although things were spiced up for seven and eight with a sharp left hander that proved impossible and an eight was the best anyone could muster. Even without the diversion Harley was pretty tough unless you had a lot of ground clearance and a fair amount of power to blast through the mud and ruts.
Talking of mud and ruts Simon Woodhall made sure a class eight wouldn’t win overall by sending them up Meadowley which was very slippery after all the rain. He reckoned without Adrian Marfel though, who actually made it to the top but the eight lost on the hairpin at Harley Bank dropped him out of overall contention as the field made it’s way back to Burwarton for the final sections within the Boyne estate with Paul Allaway in the overall lead by one mark. They were running last car on the road by now, after stopping to help David Haizelden who had mechanical problems. They had a great run on the last section called Forsters Fright but lost the lead to Michael Collins after getting a fail on the final special test.
So a class one emerged victorious with Michael Collins dropping 15 in his Golf Gti. He was one mark ahead of Terry Coventry on 16, the same score as Michael Leete but the Beetle driver had a much slower special test time. Adrian Marfel was best class eight but with their extra sections, restarts, alternative routes and high tyre pressures he could only manage ninth overall. Clive Kalber won class three on special test times after finishing on equal points with Paul Eamer.
The 2002 Clee will probably be a talking point for some time. In particular Were the class seven and eights to heavily handicapped. Perhaps they were, perhaps they weren’t. At the end of the day organiser Simon Woodhall is a class eight driver so he knew what they could or couldn’t do. It was unusual for class one to do so well and there’s no doubt that cancelling the muddy Round Oak helped them. Me, I thought it was a great event, but perhaps I am just a shade biased!
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With Foot and Mouth out of the way the MCC started the New Year with a splendid Exeter Trial. The conditions were near perfect, the hills were in good condition and Simms was in fine form to shatter the hopes of many Triple aspirants!
It had been very cold during the week leading up to the trial, but come the Friday the temperature rose above freezing and fog rather than frost was the main enemy on the run town to Tintinhull. Gatcombe Lane was first the first section on the agenda, despite fears that it may fall victim to F&M. A gentle cruise for the old timers but important for some of the class 0 competitors as it was their first ever trials hill.
Then it was into Bovey Woods for Normans Hump and Clinton. Norman’s Hump is my sort of trials hill, round the corner, trotter down and point at the sky! The re-start was quite high up for the yellows this year, but there was plenty of grip, so it wasn’t too much trouble. The problem was lower down where it was pretty rough and the ruts got deeper with each car, even trapping David Thompson in his Troll. John Parsons was running near the front of the field in his ex Graham Marshall, ex David Thompson Buggy but disaster struck on Clinton when something broke in the front end and one of the wheels folded back, leaving John and Dot with the problem of getting a three wheeler out of the woods to seek a recovery truck. Richard Tompkins, who had engine problems before the event and was running a new motor, was having his troubles and failed both of the Bovey sections.
Keith Pettit and Peter Manning were running towards the back of the field in Sprite and Midget respectively, reporting both sections were pretty rough by the time they arrived. Keith had a puncture on Normans Hump and Peter followed suite on Clinton. Both had more problems later. Keith with both the electric’s and more punctures and Peter had a rear shocker-mounting break but apart from Simms cleared everything.
Waterloo can always catch the unwary and Neil Bray didn’t get the first corner right and spun to a stop. Fred Gregory was going well in his Rickman Ranger, finding the soft suspension really allowed the back end to dig in and find plenty of grip. They were clean so far but the worry was they didn’t think they had signed in at the start!
Everyone tackled Stretes. No problem for full trials prepared machinery but a challenge for some of the class 0’s. This was the end of the road for Tony and Stephanie Boyle’s 1200 Beetle when the clutch gave out. They left the VW in a car park at Otterley St Mary and went to the finish for an early bath. Stretes also saw the end of Kevin Barnes when his Singer Le Mans stopped running properly and they decided to retire. As so often happens it then cleared up all on it’s own but they were too far on the way home to continue. Falcon’s Dave Nash was going well in his Skeetle, which now has a Type Four engine. This had been for an expensive re-build and Dave was still running it, so had transferred to Class 0, finding it easier than battling with all those Marlin’s!
It was into the woods again for Bulverton Steep and Passaford lane. Ed Nikel was having problems with his fuel pump and stopped to fix it, arriving quite late at Exeter. The corner at the top of Passaford Lane caused problems for many but it was the bend at the bottom that was the downfall of Richard Tompkins. Last year he didn’t go fast enough and stalled out on the slope. This year he had too much speed and understeered into the trees.
Photos from Tillerton
Keith Oakes demonstrates as slips and slides on the upper reaches.Nice to get a pictute of a happy John Salter who has helped so much with pictures for Classical Gas over the years, even if he didn’t get of the re-start!The re-start on Tillerton presented quite a challenge this year. Like most of the Trolls David Thompson didn’t get away.Neither did Tim Wellock
The early numbers arrived at Exeter Services well ahead of time as there had been no delays and they were soon off to Windout, which is tarmac and didn’t present any problems. They came soon enough when the field arrived at Tillerton. It was smoother than usual. The restart moved had been moved lower down the hill. This should have allowed a good run at the big step but it was very slippery and caught out quite a few of the aces. These included Tim “Triple” Wellock and Dudley Sterry, neither of who stopped in the right place. It could be done though. Ian Davis got it exactly right, driving off the re-start in his Buggy without spinning the wheels at all. Most of the cleans weren’t so elegant. Mal Allen made it with a lot of smoke and so did Keith Oakes, after a really determined attempt. Tony Rothin’s face looked pretty grim when his Cannon didn’t move, but he kept his trotter to the floor, sawing at the steering wheel. The little car slid sideways back and forth, wheels spinning until the wheels dug down to something solid and it inched up the hill.
Ed Nikel stopped to fix some carb problems but his had luck just got worse and worse when someone side-swiped his car doing tremendous damage to all the panels on one side. Ed continued only to be forced to retire with a slipping clutch caused by problems with the release mechanism.
Fingle was the usual blast, which was a bit too much for Colin Perryman’s Skoda, blowing its engine in protest. Wooston Steep was a challenge for quite a few of the yellows as usual. There were cars going everywhere around here with an extra route for class 0 in addition to the two normal ones. Pepperdon was cancelled for class 0 so they just drove up the tarmac road.
The field regrouped at Islington Village and down the lane to the bottom of Simms. Class 0 branched off to the right here to tackle Penhale’s Plantation. The majority of the other classes were to traverse this track as well, as it is the Simms escape road! It was too much for Richard Hoskins Morgan F4, which lost bottom gear and needed a tow from a friendly Escort.
Photos from Simms
Simon Robson goes to the right to give the admiring spectators a close up view of his Leige.Peter and Carlie Hart didn’t have much time so just drove straight up the hill for a clean. I didn’t get the chance to ask Mal Allen why he decided to jump out of his Marlin just when it got to the interesting bit.Andrew Brown taking is ACTC Rights of Way Officer role very seriously, sacrifcing a clean in the interst of exploring a new route to the left on Simms.
Simms was on fine form this year and most car competitors floundered on the slippery step half way up. It was all about momentum. Unless you hit the step at a decent speed you just spun to a stop. There were some impressive ascents though. None more than Dave Turner whose BMW, blower whistling, stormed the summit at great speed. Pete and Carlie Hart were one of the few Marlins’ to succeed, much to the crew’s delight. Mal Allen got his Ford engined Marlin past the A boards but despite some very energetic bouncing couldn’t repeat his success on Tillerton. In class eight some of the famous names failed, including Ian Davis in his Buggy, Duncan Welch and most of the Dellow’s. Dudley stormed up in his MG and so did Simon Woodhall in his Buggy. Tim Wellock slowed and struggled in the ex John Parsons Fugative but kept his foot down and inched past the section ends board.
Bill Rosten and Terry Ball both got to the top OK but most cars in classes 4 and 6 didn’t. The Trolls didn’t have much success and the Leige’s didn’t fare any better. Simon Robson was faithful to the old John T-P doctrine of heading for the right hand side, over by where the spectators stand, but the gradient was too much for his fire pump engine. Interestingly Adrian T-P took the same line, one of the few cars to go that way. The Pop Asylum team, running in class seven, re-start and all, had a 100% record on Simms and went onto Gold, although Clive Kalber was driving Tommy’s Melos as his ex Tucker-Peake Pop was languishing at home with engine problems.
There were a lot of people spectating on Simms this year. They saw plenty of action with a chair turning end over end and a Dellow plunging down backwards with brake failure. One spectator got a bit more involved than he planned when Ken Payne lost control of his Golf and ploughed into the spectators on the right, running over someone’s foot, the poor unfortunate was helped away afterwards, presumably for medical attention.
Only Tipley was left now, a hill that had not been used on the Exeter for many years. It was just as rough as ever but competitors were spared the Torbay re-start. It ended Verdun Webley’s trial when his growling prop shaft finally broke and he had to be towed the final few miles to The Trecarn. The general talk at the bar was that the 2002 Exeter was a thoroughly enjoyable trial with a couple of very difficult sections in the form of Tillerton and Simms. In summary it was great to be back!
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Got car MOTd 3pm Friday and for the first time in a while actually managed 4hours kip before setting off for a 01.03 start from Popham (ever mindfull of the recent discusions…) which made a heck of a difference I must admit.
Although I thought I’d read the route card properly, like many others I failed to spot the fact that only the route from Haynes onwards was compulsory, not the route from Popham to Haynes museum. As it happened we didn’t miss any slots this time but with the fog as it was I would have probably opted for the 303 if I’d realised.
I have just swopped my emission type Dellortos for non-emission Dellortos allows much more adjustment of the bottom end which is usefull for PCTs). Although it seemed to be running OK I knew it was a bit rich down the bottom but had other preparation to worry about so thought it would be OK; which it was until we had dawdled our way for the last few miles to Normans. By then the plugs had sooted up and we couldn’t get off the line due to the resultant missfire. Same thing on Clinton but we were invited to roll back and take a run up and consequently got to the top albeit having already failed – this blast seemed to clear things and from then on we went OK.
Tillerton seemed as rough as ever around the restart area which we fortunatley don’t have to stop at and on the road section soon after this we stopped briefly when we saw Ed Nickle parked up having had carb problems then somebody side swipeing his Imp and I gather he toubles were still not over as he eventually retired with a slipping clutch which apparently was caused by a problem with the thrust mechanism.
Comparing notes with Richard Tompkins later on we both agreed that Windout, with no restarts this year, was great fun in an Imp and a bit of a hooligan’s delight being all tarmac with slippery hairpins!
Colin Perryman blew his Skoda’s engine on Fingle. On Wooston steep I was a little suprised to pass two ‘section ends’ boards till I realised that after our section had ended we joined the class 0 route at the fork just after the short steep downhill bit.
And so to Simms – I was determined to have a good shot at it and mindfull of the earlier problems changed the plugs before the attempt. We had a real good go at it but I probably went too far to the left, hit a rock with the rear wheel, punctured and stopped.
I attach a pic of the wheel which is the worst wheel damage I have incurred with the Imp. My tyres were nowhere near flat and well into double figoures at xx lbs(!) and the mind boggles at the force required to damage a rim like that with one hit.
Bill Roston was the only Imp to clean Simms, I believe, on his way to Gold. Tipley was quite rough and very slippery but without the restart which causes all the failures on the Torbay trial. Overall a really enjoyable event after the lay off which was still competitive without the restarts for us girlies!
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Classical Gas 