classictrials

Exeter 2003

The 2003 Exeter ran very smoothly, despite all the rain the week before and being very cold on the night. However, some of the hills were very rough and will surely generate more debate on damaging sections. It was a very different trial depending what class you were in. The sevens and eights with high power to weight ratios thought it was easy, the lower classes thought it was hard!

**Andrew Brown smoking to a halt on Simms (picture by John Mac)**

Even on the journey to the start it was clearly going to be a cold night. Mike Pearson had bike competitor Richard Nixon in the passengers seat so he should be hardy enough! It was really nice to see David Alderson at the start. He was well wrapped up, as it was a bit cooler than Turkey! David was driving Peter James’s Troll. The plan was for Peter to navigate, but unfortunately he hasn’t been very well recently, so David had another passenger. Ed Nikel didn’t start as the Imp had a bad water leak that he couldn’t fix in time. Neil Bray appeared with Dave Nash in a very smart Skoda Fastback. It looked really super but why was it in class seven? The answer came with a peak under the bonnet where three point something litres of Mr Rovers V8 resided under the hood. It’s a very neat installation. All the external trim and bumpers are in place and everything fits neatly under the original silhouette. The suspension was raised quite a bit, although not as much as Neil’s normal “YEG” and he was soon to find lack of ground clearance to be a big problem.

The run down to the Haynes Motor Museum in Sparkford was classed as a Touring Assembly. This meant that competitors were free to devise their own route to the start. There were quicker ways to get to the start of the Trial proper than specified in the Route card and quite a few took advantage of this to get to Haynes early, fitting in some extra rest rather than go round the museum in the middle of the night. It was un-eventful for most, but not Clive Booth who hit a deer to the detriment of his Dellow Replica’s nose cone. Later numbers taking the official route regretted it when they arrived to find all the hot food had all gone!

Windmill Hill – The first hill may have had an unfamiliar name to many, but Lands End competitors recognised it when the got there, as it was the lane normally used to exit from Sugg Lane. It was dry and well surfaced so didn’t present any problems. Sugg Lane was different though, muddy with a lot of water running down the descent. This certainly kept the bikers alert, as did the cold on the forty-mile down to Bovey Woods.

Normans Hump – This was the usual hill, with the start line facing straight at the gradient, so there was no confusing stuff, like steering, to complicate life. That was for the cars, which could stay in the ruts. Life was different for the bikes. John Lees managed to stay in the middle for a clean climb, but this was easier said than done and most ended up in one of the ruts, whether they wanted to or not. Brian Sussex was one of many to fail this way although he cleaned everything else to gain Silver.

It was tough for the cars as well. The bottom part of the hill had very deep ruts with huge holes and a lot of loose rock. There was plenty of grip, it was just a case of how confident you were that your car would hold together if you went up at any speed while the underside was abraded away! Added to this classes six, seven and eight had their usual restart at the cross track. This reduced the possibility to attack the steep bit immediately after and this bought both Fred Gregory (Rickman Ranger) and Neil Bray (Skoda V8) to a halt. Ross Nuten had problems as well, he found his diff had locked up and he decided to limp home while the Dellow was still mobile.

Normans wasn’t kind to Imps and both Richard Tompkins and Stuart Cairney stopped when they ran our of ground clearance. It was possible to get up in one of Linwood’s little marvels, as Ian Moss proved when he flew up in his smart new yellow Imp. In class seven Simon Robson was the only Liege to get to the top. Most of the Marlins made successful climbs, but Verdun Webley fluffed to a halt with fuel starvation at high revs, a problem that was to bedevil him through most of the event and even riding mechanic Arnold Lane couldn’t cure the problem.

Clinton Bottom – Frankly I am not sure what version of Clinton this was, although it wasn’t the longest one as we started at least part way up the hill. There was no restart and after Normans Hump it was as smooth as a Billiard Table! It was still a problem though and Stuart Cairney was one of many failures. After Normans Stuart decided to pump the tyres up to 25 lbs and took off at maximum revs. He still found too much grip the car dropped into one of the many holes, practically stalling the motor and loosing so much momentum that Stuart stopped soon after.

Leaving the woods Stuart noticed an ominous clunking noise from the rear. Stuart checked the car over by jacking each rear wheel in turn and running it under load by applying the handbrake. The clunking noise could clearly be heard as soon as the handbrake was applied. Consensus was that one of the crown wheel teeth was damaged so he sadly retired from the event and went down to Simms as a spectator.

Waterloo – A few words of explanation for those that don’t know this hill. It starts on a gentle gradient with an open gate a few yards ahead. The only thing is that you don’t go through the gate, there’s a 90 right immediately before. Once round this blind corner a steep slope immediately confronts competitors. This was a real problem this year as there was a lot of loose material on the surface and grip was at a premium. It was the downfall of many of the cars, including Neil Bray and Fred Gregory, who to add insult to injury picked up a puncture on the escape road!

The initial slope also defeated the West Country class one trio of Michael Collins and David Haizelden in their Golf’s and Paul Allaway in his Astra. Along came Adrian Tuker-Peake a few cars later and he stormed up. It will be interesting to see if a second FWD cleaned the hill to make it count for the class.

Stretes – This was a nice simple hill with a special test at the top, which provided a welcome “rest” before the unknown quantity of the next hill.

Higher Rill (Sandy Lane) was only a few yards up the road from Stretes. It has not been used on the Exeter for some time. Tucker’s notes in the MCC book say it was “In use in 1931 for stop-and-restart (9 failed). Approaches too bad for 1965 event”. In 2003 the approach was interesting but the hill itself presented few problems.

Bulverton Steep – The route passed through Sidford for the second time on the way to the woods at Bulverton Hill for two sections. Bulverton Steep started with a sharp ninety-left on a steep gradient. This was muddy and slippery and it was very easy to under-steer off into the trees, as John Bennett in his smart Renault Gordini was to prove.

**Derek Reynolds and Fred Mills at the top of Passaford Lane. Both of these crews came all the way from Tyneside to compete.**

Passaford Lane – There was quite a run along the forestry tracks to reach the next section at Passaford Lane where there was delay for mid-field runners while David Spraggetts stricken Morgan was removed from the section. The hill itself wasn’t too difficult, even though it started to rut up at the top as the event went on.

Exeter Services – There was a nice run to the rest halt, with a marvellous view out to the sea at Sidmouth. There were dire threats of exclusion if anyone as much as looked at a spanner at Exeter Services, so many nipped out on the road outside, or went down to the lorry park, to check over the mechanicals, or in Fred Gregory’s case get some help changing a tube. There were problems for some as a Midget had gone up the bank and overturned just before the halt. It looked terrible as the car had no roll cage and the screen was flattened, but the crew appear to have survived with only a few scratches so the main damage will be to the blood pressure of the MCC committee!

**Fred Gregory and Simon Robson qeue in front of the appropriate “Unsuitable For Motors” sign at the foot of Tillerton**

Tillerton Steep – Classes seven and eight had it easy here, they had to restart! The lower classes had a clear run and could drive over the terribly rough and rocky middle section as fast as they liked, or their car would stand! Most had sufficient speed to get through but Richard Tompkins took things easy to spare the car and paid for his lack of speed with a stop. Fred Gregory, Neil Bray and Verdun Webley were among the re-starters to fail the hill and in Neil’s case he wasn’t to go much further. The car was handling really strangely after the hill. Neil found the nearside rear suspension-mounting bolt was half out, allowing the wheel to move back and forth.

By this time Michael Leete and Mike Hayward had stopped to help and with a lot of heaving, shoving and hammering helped Neil and Dave Nash get the bolt back in against the tension of the suspension rubber. A quick run up the road revealed the car still had a problem; the offside wheel was very badly buckled. Jacking the wheel up revealed a broken driveshaft and the V8 Skoda was added to the retirement list.

Fingle – There was a diff test just before the section. The old hill itself wasn’t a problem but the corners were noticeably cut-up compared to usual.

Wooston Steep – Only seven and eight had to go up the steep bit this year. The problem appeared to be the slippery bit just after the re-start and this stopped quite a few. It’s a delicate balance between grip and bogging down and sadly Andrew Brown didn’t get it quite right on his new tyres. Stuart Harrold and Chris Phillips had plenty of grunt and plenty of grip in their Troll and accelerated all the way up to the hairpin right. Falcon’s Ian Davis, Mike Pearson and John Parsons all had successful climbs as well, but in class seven neither Simon Robson, Verdun Webley or Fred Gregory could get past the slippery section on the lower slopes. The lower classes had it easy of course, turning left and finishing just before the gradient really started.

**Bob Thorpe and Colin Shepherd tackling the left hander half way up Simms!**

Simms – Competitors had a chance to mentally prepare themselves for Simms with a 25 mile run onto Dartmoor. The old hill was in fine form again. It’s all about momentum here. Cars with a high power to weight ratio were able to build enough speed to blast over the step but those without enough speed found there was very little grip on the slimy, slippery rock. There were plenty of triallers here to watch the fun, including Duncan Stephens and Ed Nikel and retirees Stuart Cairney and Mike Furse. They saw a spirited and successful climb by Stuart Harrold, re-starting very high on the left, flooring the throttle and driving straight up the middle. There was a lot of leaping and banging before Stuart had to brake the Troll at the stop board. John Parsons in the VW Buggy gave it some of the same treatment but Mike Pearson’s more considered approach in his Dellow Replica wasn’t successful and he spun to a stop. This was annoying as Nick Wollett had a successful climb just before in his Dellow and Tim Wellock immediately afterwards in the Fugitive.

Ian Davis was on song and set for a clean climb when his throttle cable broke on the restart. He tried to get up on tick-over but this wasn’t possible so Ian had to slide down back to the bottom to fix it. When all was well mechanically he persuaded the marshals to let him have a go up the hill itself “for fun” and he drove up easily. None of the class Seven Falcon’s were successful, Simon Robson, Fred Gregory and Verdun Webley all spun to a stop and so did ACTC rights of way officer Andrew Brown in his Marlin. The saloon car classes’ struggled and Michael Leete stopped on the slab. It was certainly possible to clean the hill in class four as Ian Moss proved in his “new” car. He stormed up at a time when there was very little grip. Ian’s Imp was immaculate at the start but by Simms was showing some battle scars with stress-induced ripples around the rear wheel arches.

Tipley – After Simms it was left at the crossroads at the top and down the track to Tipley. The gradient isn’t too severe here and there aren’t any corners, this hill is all about its rocks. There weren’t any loose ones and although it was very rough it was possible to ease off and pick your way around the bad bits.

Slippery Sam – It looked innocuous at the bottom and the restart was pretty easy but boy were the corners at the top rough. They had really cut-up on the inside and there was a lot of loose rock as well. Unlike Tipley it wasn’t easy to select your own line and cars cleaned the hill to the accompaniment of crashing and banging as the rocks tried to hammer their way through the floor-pan! There was worst to come. Competitors are well used to the lakes of red clay on the exit road. However, the big problem this year was overhanging branches. Goodness knows what it was like on a bike, especially a chair with the bike on the right. Even cars running at the end of the field had to fend of the overhanging briars, which was very unpleasant in an open car.

So that was Exeter 2003. There was of course a Class 0, which is an excellent idea, taking in some of the less damaging sections of the main event, together with some unique sections, including the escape roads on Waterloo, Simms and Wooston. The whole thing was rounded off by the usual evening at The Trecarn Hotel, a very nice finish to the event where the sections were re-run over a glass or two

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The History of The March Hare Trial

by Mike Hayward

**1959 March Hare Trial – Sapsed’s Stopper – The final section on which everything appeared to depend for the results is tackled determinedly by I. C. Wilson (Wilson-Ford)**

Unlike Falcon’s Guy Fawkes, which was based in The Cotswolds, its March Hare was a local Trial, using hills in the Herts, Beds and Bucks area. The first running of the March Hare was in 1958. But a trial was first held in June 1956 and again in 1957 when it was known as the Midsummer Trial. The trouble with running a Trial in midsummer is that you can’t see the tracks for the brambles growing along side, which means a lot of hard work clearing the tracks before you can run the event. So in 1958 the date was moved to March and given the name “The March Hare”. Tucker (H. W. Tucker-Peake – The driving Force behind Falcon and the MCC for so many years) was Clerk-of-the-Course and arranged two starts, one in Royston, the other in Hatfield. The finish was at the club’s headquarters, “The Chequers” in Woolmer Green. The main award, the appropriately named “Mad Hatter”, for Best Performance went to, N. Tyler, Best Category 1: F. Freeman, Category 2: A. Hay, Category 3: K. Hobbs. There was one serious incident that was reported on the 1958 March Hare when some competitors cars blocked the road at Hill House and a local resident was upset when the navigator of one car refused to move it.

As with the Guy Fawkes the March Hare seemed to change every year. In 1959 the Trial started from Lisles Garage in Woolmer Green and finished at the Kings Arms, Berkhamsted. Telegraph Hill was introduced to the route. This was, and indeed still is, a very steep hill on The Icknield Way Roman Road between Lilley and Pegsdon. It must have been one of the toughest hills in the trial. Today it’s part of a nature reserve. Another hill that must have been used about that time was Jeremiah’s Nob (also known as Jeremiah’s Hump) a chalk track in Barton-le-Clay which was quite easy in the dry but quite impossible in the wet. Another hill that was included was a hill Tucker called “Harlington” because it was at Harlington! Today it has a nice slab of concrete half way up which would make a good place for a restart. Back in 1959, the hill was just a nice muddy climb. It’s reported that “There was a smaller entry than the previous year but early morning rain did improve some sections”. The Mad Hatter award again went to N. Tyler.

There was another new start, Jacks Hill Cafe, in 1963. Jacks Hill is on the old A1 north of Stevenage. This was a traditional “Greasy Spoon” Transport cafe. Over the years, the building has played a big part in Falcon’s history. The Start of the March Hare in 1963, it later became a Night Club and bar called “The Silver Hall” and not only hosted Falcon’s annual dinners for a few years but became the club’s headquarters as well. Today it is still a part of the clubs history. Under the name of “The Big Pub” it’s the start and finish venue of the March Hare.

In 1964 The March Hare started in Hemel Hempstead, and finished in Berkhamsted. Starting in Berkhamsted meant that the route must have used “Tunnel Hill” in Nettleden and Hill Farm near Cholesbury. It is possible that the route also included “The Crong” near Dancers End.

In 1965 the 59 competitors in the March Hare Trial started from Stevenage to follow a 30 mile course to finish at the Roebuck Hotel. Seven sections were at Latchford Farm, and despite the good weather and apparent easiness of the course, only slightly more than a third of the entry were clean.

The March Hare of 1966 had the tea stop dropped from the route to avoid route troubles. What sort of troubles isn’t reported. The start was at Zenith Motors Stevenage with a route 15 miles long and finishing at Latchford Farm near Puckeridge.

You will have noticed that The March Hare’s road mileage was becoming shorter and the venues less. The trend continued in 1967. The first hill may have been called Bury Lane as its the continuation of a lane of the same name that runs from north of Datchworth to Watton Road, which links Knebworth to Bragbury End. This is now a Bridleway/Footpath. After Bury Lane, the route then included Leatherfield Common followed by Kings Hill. Leatherfield Common is south of Bennington and just north of Blue Hill and is a tree lined mud covered track between two fields. Kings Hill is a little further west, between Haultwick and Levens Green, and passes through a Ford before a short climb on a mud covered stony track. A road section followed this, to Latchford Farm, Colliers End, where the remaining sections were held.

By 1968 the trial had become a single venue event, which that year was held at Ringshall Farm near Hemel Hempstead. Despite the fact that only a single venue was used, the trial was still run under Classic rules. Class winners were, P. Marr, B. Walsh, P. Kerridge, F. Jackson, D. Piper, P. LeCouteur. Special Award to C. Morre1l, Best Lady Miss Ann Robbins. Other Falcon award winners were H. Frost, R. Robbins (both lst), M. Dockray, M. Murray, B. Butler. E. Walsh, Mrs. M. Knight (all won 2nd class awards)

The March Hare Trial was held at Ringshall Farm again in 1969. Class Winners that year were Class 1 P. G. Kerridge, Class 3 C. N. Morrell, Class 5 J. Ventur.

In 1970, the March Hare was held on the 2nd November as, the Guy Fawkes was held in March (very confusing). The venue was Tring Park, a picturesque venue on the outskirts of Tring, which became very popular with competitors. The 1971 event also took place in Tring Park but it had returned to a date in March.

It was touch and go as to whether the 1972 March Hare would take place as there was snow on the ground. Tucker took the decision to let the event run. It was a brave decision but in the end the weather got worse and the event had to be abandoned with one and a half inches of snow on the ground. Enough hills were run however to get a result:- Best Falcon, P. Le Couteur, Venus Cup, M. Furse, 1st Class Awards, D. Greenslade, C. Morrell, W. Hone, J. Tucker-Peake, D. Ovey, A. Davies.

The following year the conditions were completely different, Very dry. Despite Tuckers best efforts to stop the competitors, there were still seven clean sheets from the entry of sixty six. The result was decided on a tie deciding test with John Tucker-Peake the eventual winner in his 1600 cc Ford Pop. Laurie Knight took the award for best invited club in his 1500 cc Ford Escort fitted with a down-draught SU carburettor. Other class winners were Ian Blackburn. (Singer Le Mans). M. Clarke. (VW), J. Bonnett. (Morris), R. Walker (Mini) and Jack Frost. (Beach Buggy), who beat J. Whalley. (Ford Special) and Mike Furse (also in a Ford Special) in the tie deciding test. Cliff Morell was the best Imp on the day dropping 10 marks.

The missing committee minutes are no help again, in recording events until 1977, when The March Hare trial took place at Bury Farm, Houghton Conquest. Secretary: Alan Davies. Clerk-of-the-Course: David Maitland, Scrutineer: Simon Robson, Chief Marshal: C Brown. There were 32 entries, but one was sent home for misbehaviour!

By 1981 The March Hare Trial had been dropped from the calendar of events due to a lack of venues to run the event. With the loss of Tring Park, we had only one good venue at Bury Farm, Houghton Conquest and that was lost due to problems between the landowner and some of the clubs that used it to run events there. I have found an entry form for the 1980 March Hare to be run under Classic Regulations at Bury Farm. But as I can’t find any results or reports, I can only assume the event had to be cancelled.

Falcon was out of the trials scene for a few years, until 1995 when a one of the other local clubs became un-friendly to triallers and a number of renowned local enthusiasts joined Falcon, bringing with them years of organising experience and a host of contacts with local landowners. Soon Trials returned to the Falcon calendar and on 3^rd March 1996 the March Hare took place on Edlesborough Hill.

The 1998 event was given the name “The March Hare Mini Classic”. The event was again held on Edlesborough Hill, only instead of having 8 or more hills laid out, there were only four. These were much longer than the previous years PCT type sections. The idea was to make them more like Classic Trials sections. The organisers (Mike Pearson & John Parsons) tried to run everything as close to Classic rules as possible. The morning went brilliantly with 8 challenging hills and two special tests for the 26 starters to enjoy. Unfortunately after lunch, rain made all the hills un-climbable and the event had to be abandoned. The special test times were used to decide the winner from the three clean sheets of, Fred Gregory (Dutton Melos ), Ian Davis (VW Buggy) and Henry Allen (Racecorp). Ian Davis was the winner with Fred Gregory, Tom Goggin and Murray MacDonald all winning their classes.

After the success of the first Mini Classic, the possibility of running another event, linking several venues together was discussed. By the time the year 2000 event took place four venues had been linked to road sections to make the event even more of a Classic Trial. The start and finish were at Brickhill on the 18th April. The competitors then followed the 62-mile route calling in at Mile Tree Farm, Edlesborough and Kensworth, returning to Edlesborough and Miletree Farm and Brickhill for a second time, to complete 14 hills and 2 special tests. Thirty starters enjoyed a smoothly run event, sponsored for the first time by Murray Macdonald’s company, Murray’s VW Spares, with favourable comments from most of the competitors.

It was felt after the 2000 event, that if we were to run a proper Classic Trial, a more suitable Start Finish venue should be found. The Big Pub, on the old Al Trunk Road at Jacks Hill had the space, but was a long way from the venues we wanted to use. The answer was to find some sections between Jacks Hill and the other venues to the west. A new route was planed taking in two sections in Whitwell. Cress Bed Lane and Water Tower Lane. Both lanes were used in the fifties (they were probably named differently). Cress Bed Lane is not very challenging in the dry but is a nice opening to any trial, as is Water Tower Lane which was again used in the March Hare of the Fifties. This hill is a lot longer than Cress Bed Lane and despite being only a few yards further up the hill, is more mud covered than Cress Bed Lane, which has a more stony covering. The route then headed out to Mile Tree Farm and Brickhill. After Brickhill there was another new section used as a special test at Ivinghoe before continuing to Edlesborough and Kensworth. After Kensworth, Half Moon Lane, at Markyate, was added before the competitors returned to Whitwell to climb Nortonstreet Lane and return to The Big Pub and the finish. Norton Street Lane was again used in the March Hare of the fifties but it had a lot more mud on the hill than it does today and as a result was much more of a challenge to the competitors.

Well that was the plan. However, delays in submitting the route to the RAC MSA, because the local Route Liaison Officer didn’t reply to our request’s for approval, forced the organisers to run the event became as a navigational scatter. Not what the organisers (John Parsons, Mike Pearson joint Clarks of the Course, or Verdum Webley, Secretary) or the competitors wanted at all. However 30 cars started from the Big Pub, with most of the competitors returning some hours later having enjoyed the hills, but not finding their own way to them! 2000 winner was Mathew Sharrett.

Having been caught out the previous year, the organisers of the 2001 “Murrays March Hare” started to prepare early in October. All was going well, with the route submitted and approved and the entry getting close to the maximum permitted (fifty). With a month to go to the big day, Foot and Mouth disease reared its ugly head again and the event was cancelled.

All that hard work was not wasted as we now had an approved route ready for the 2002 event and with three new sections added in Devils Pit, south of Barton-Le-Clay and a lunch halt at Ivinghoe everything was set for another March Hare Trial.

However, the 2002 event was not without its problems. The Big Pub decided not to open early for us, which meant that there were no loos or food available at the start. The 4-wheel drive people had churned all the sections at Devils Pit up, and it was very difficult to find three sections to lay out on the Saturday before. The day itself went without a hitch. There was a shortage of marshals on some hills but we just managed to scrape through. The weather was very kind as well and didn’t start to rain until after the last car had reached the finish. There were 32 entries and 28 starters with Ross Nuten the overall winner cleaning every thing in his Dellow.

That’s the story so far but it isn’t finished yet as Falcon’s March Hare is still going strong and there will soon be much more to add to The History Book.

Julian Dommett wins Allen 2002

Julian Dommett won the Allen for a record third time. It was a close thing though, as there were four clean sheets. Julian won by a second on special test times, beating Giles Greenslade, Bill Bennett and Philip Mitchell. David Foreshew was the best class eight but everyone in this class dropped marks somewhere as a result of their extra restarts.

**Michale Leete smiling for the camera, as in the background competitors can be seen tackling the new section at Birch Hill**

Pete Hart and his team kept The Allen to its established format, with all the hills, with the exception of Nanny Hurns, run on well-established tracks. There were changes though. There was a new hill and the route was a little different as the start had to be moved a few miles up the road this year.

Last years winner, Adrian Marfell, led the field away from The White Hart in Cold Ashton in near ideal trialling conditions. The weather was overcast, but dry, after some very heavy rain the previous two days, and even on the morning itself, to spice things up. This was a good thing as The Allen’s sections are not particularly difficult in the dry.

The route from the start passed the top of Tog Hill, the normal first hill, on the way to Bitton Lane, which was the first competitive section this time. The Blues and Whites had a clean run at the hill. Yellows and Reds had the usual restart on the left hand bend but this didn’t present much of a problem and only Arthur Jones in his Liege failed to get away.

The trial followed its usual route through Keynsham to Uplands where “Little Uplands” was on the agenda this year while it’s “big” cousin was given a rest. This was the end of Stephen Potters trial when his magnificent Trojan cried enough. This was a shame but Trojan fans still had John Wilton’s similar machine to watch. Like all except the reds the Trojan crew had a clear run through, so they could build a bit of momentum over the rough rocky bit in the middle. Class eight weren’t let off so easy and this is where they had their restart, which was to prove pretty challenging. Last year’s winner Adrian Marfell failed to get away properly and he wasn’t the only one. Stuart Harrold (Troll), Anthony Young (VW Special) didn’t get away either. The three class eight Falcon’s all failed to re-start. Although John Parsons actually got going he slipped back quite a few inches in the process and was given a fail.

Next came the infamous Guy’s Hill, where everyone has to reverse and come back down after the land-mark right-of-way judgement of a few years ago. Guy’s Hill is dead straight and doesn’t have a tremendous gradient. It’s the surface that makes the section difficult, with a combination of polished stones and tree roots. Blue and White were allowed a clean run and those who built up sufficient momentum got to the summit OK. There were a few that didn’t though. In class One Paul Allaway stopped at the one and Adrian Tucker-Peake couldn’t get past the six. All the class three’s got up except Stuart Deacon (Escort) and Murray Montgomery-Smith (Morris Minor), both of whom retired not long afterwards. The section didn’t present much of a problem to class four although Michael Leete didn’t drive it very well and stopped at the two.

Life was different for the Yellows and Reds who had to restart half way up and tackle the upper reaches without the benefit of momentum. Most either failed for a six or stuttered a few yards to gain a five. It was cleanable though and Mike Hobbs stormed to the top in his Big Beetle, followed by Julian Dommett in his side valve Dellow Mk 1. A few of the class eights were successful including Adrian Marfell, Carl Talbot and Falcon’s Mike Pearson.

Everyone had to restart on Sandy Lane and this was all about stopping in the right place. Surprisingly it was the class seven’s who seemed to have the most difficulty and ACTC Rights of Way Officer and “Wheelspin” webmaster Andrew Brown was one of the failures. After a wonderfully muddy, rutted track and a series of tiny lanes came Strode, which is also all about the restart for all except the blues. This one didn’t present many problems and it was followed more or less immediately by a special test involving going across and then back through a puddle of muddy water!

The route continued it’s traditional way to Travers where again the yellows and reds had to re-start, although this was a little higher up the section than usual. Without a restart it wasn’t too difficult, provided you didn’t have a puncture of course! Unfortunately Neil Bray did and had to change the wheel on the section in order to clear the way for those following. The restart area was quite rocky. John Parsons stopped quite high up and got away but Mike Pearson chose to come to a halt lower down and got his wheels stuck in a dip.

There were a dozen clean sheets at the Chew Valley reservoir rest halt, but that was to change just up the road at Burledge. This is a real classic trials hill. The lower reaches are in a tree-lined gully, rocky but pretty smooth. After a 45 degree right hander the section goes straight as an arrow up a rutted track with a restart for yellows and reds and less and less ground clearance a you get near the top. Tyre pressures are critical, especially for the restarters. As Chief Official Nigel Moss said, “you need 6 psi to get off the re-start then fifty psi to maximise ground clearance at the top!

The guys with the big wheels did well here; although the section was to see the end of Dudley Sterry. In Class One David Haizelden and Michael Collins were to loose their only marks of the day in their VW Golf’s. Phillip Mitchell stormed up in his David Turner prepared blower BMW and so did Giles Greenslade and Dick Glossop in Class Four. It was a tough section for the restarters although it clearly suited the big Beetles as four of them got up. In class seven wheel size was everything and all the Marlins failed but Julian Dommett (Dellow) and Arthur Jones (Liege) were clean.

Quite a few of the class eights stopped, either failing to get away from the restart or running out of ground clearance just before the summit. Mike Pearson couldn’t get away but Clive Booth in his similar Reg Taylor/Geoff Jackson built Dellow Replica got off the re-start only to fail at the two. Poor John Parsons got out the top of the section but was judged to have failed the restart.

Seven competitors lost their clean sheets on Burledge and the remaining five approached Nanny Hurns with all to play for. The special test was separate to the section this year. Julian Dommett set another fast time and this put him in the lead of the trial. The section was its usual self, short, muddy and slippery but cleanable with skill. It’s necessary to get the speed just right. To slow and you won’t get over the bank, to fast and you under-steer into the trees. All of the leaders slid over the bank OK and the entire field cleaned the following Tog Hill after Stony Hill had to be cancelled due to an influx of New Age Travellers. Neil Bray had to change a drive shaft on the way when a rat-tat-tat from the rear indicated that one of the CV’s were on its way out.

It was north up the A46 now, over the M4 in the gathering gloom to a new section called Birch Hill, presided over by John Sargeant. The hill was quite long. The first bit had a gentle gradient but was quite badly rutted, catching out Mike Hobbs in his Big Beetle. It entered a tunnel of trees, rounded a gentle right hander then wiggled through a muddy quagmire with a restart for Reds right on the edge where the grip went away. The weather was to play its part here as the heavens opened up to make things more interesting. Getting through the mud was all about burning your way through with sheer power or building speed and using pure momentum if you didn’t have to re-start. Jeremy Flann (Austin Seven) lost his clean sheet here so it was down to four as then field wound it’s way to John Walker which was to be the final hill of the day.

The section was it’s usual magnificent self, by no means a “stopper” but a pure pleasure to drive. It can catch out the unwary though, as Clive Booth found out when he flooded out in the ford. So there were four clean sheets in the end, with overall victory going to Julian Dommett on Special Test times. It was a well-fought trial and the result could have been different. Clee winner Michael Collins had faster times than Julian but got a three on Burledge. What a year if a Class One driver had won two ACTC events! And spare a thought for Adrian Marfell who also did better on the Special Tests but couldn’t restart on the dinosaurs eggs at Little Uplands! But well done to Julian Dommett who on the day was the best driver in a well-prepared car. And thank you to Pete & Carlie Hart, Mark Tooth and all the team for another excellent and well judged Allen Trial.

Class 1	David Haizelden (VW Golf GTi)	2
	Michael Collins (VW Golf)	3
Class 2	Bill Bennett (MG J2)	0
Class 3	Phillip Mitchell (BMW 318i)	0
Class 4	Giles Greenslade (VW Beetle)	0
	Dave Sargeant (VW Beetle)	8
Class 5	Mike Wordsworth (MG Midget)	6
Class 6	Gary Browning (VW Beetle)	5
Class 7	Julian Dommett (Dellow Mk 1)	0	Overall Winner
	Arthur Vowden (Marlin)	7
Class 8	David Foreshew (GVS Mkll)	5
	Stuart Ridge (Cannon)	5

2002_allen_results Download

Mechanics Trial

by Fred Gregory

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 2^nd 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.

Carl Talbot (Trialmaster)	10	First Overall, The Mechanics Trophy
Michael Collins (VW Golf)	16	1st Class 1
Paul Bartleman (Escort)	11	1st Class 3
Stuart Deacon (Escort)	17	2nd Class 3
Giles Greenslade (VW Beetle)	11	1st Class 4
Ian Moss (Imp)	17	2nd Class 4
Rob Cull (MG Midget)	23	1st Class 5
Mal Allen (Marlin)	15	1st Class 7
Arthur Vowden (Marlin)	17	2nd Class 7
Bill Foreshew (GVS)	15	1st Class 8
Iain Daniels (Rebel)	17	2nd Class 8

2002_mechanics_results_route_report Download

Edinburgh 2002

Start at Moto Services Tamworth

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.**

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 1**

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

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.

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.

2002_edinburgh_results Download

MCC Brooklands

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 background**

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 24^th, 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

Lands End 2002

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.**

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
Ross Nuten Dellow 134 – Class 8	Failed HoskinSilver Medal
Nick Woolett Dellow 148 – Class 8	Failed Hoskin, Bishops Wood & Blue Hills 2
Stuart Cairney Imp 164 – Class 4	Retired with slipping clutch after Stoney Street
Neil Bray Skoda 170 – Class 4	Failes Beggars Roost & Hoskin, Bronze Medal
Michael Leete VW 1302S 171 – Class 4	Failed Sutcombe and Hoskin, Bronze Medal
Simon Robson Liege 172 – Class 7	Failed Hoskin, Bishops Wood and Blue Hills 2
Clive Booth Dellow Replica 178 – Class 8	Failed Hoskin, Bishops Wood and Blue Hills 2
Barrie Parker Citroen 181 – Class 1	Failed Crackington, Warleggan, Hoskin & BH2
Peter Thompson Ope l184 – Class 3	Failed Crackington, Hoskin and Blue Hills 2
Nick Iken Citroen 2CV 194 – Class 1	Failed Crackington, Warleggan & Blue Hills 2
Owen Briggs Winney 196 – Class 8	Failed Bude Special Test, Hoskin & Bishops Wood
Verdun Webley Marlin 204 – Class 7	Retired after Hoskin
Adrian Tucker-Peake, Peugeot 284 – Class 1	Failed Hoskin, Silver Medal
Ed Nikel Imp 341 – Class 4	Failed six hills
Richard Thompkins Imp 342 – Class 4	Failed seven hills
Reg Taylor RDT Special 356 – Class 8	Failed Felons Oak and Bude ST, Bronze Medal

2002_lands_end_results Download

Ross Nuten wins March Hare

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.

Class 1	Elizabeth Tucker-Peake (Peugeot)	25	1st Class
Class 2	Richard Scott (Riley)	54	1st Class
Class 3	John Bell (Escort)	14	1st Class
Class 4	Michael Leete (VW1302S)	4	1st Class
	Ed Nikel (Imp)	15	2nd Class
Class 5	Keith Pettit (AH Sprite)	10	1st Class
Class 7	Dave Nash (Skeetle)	6	1st Class
	Simon Robson (Liege)	15	2nd in Class
Class 8	Ross Nuten (Dellow)	0	First Overall
	Clive Booth (Dellow Rep)	12	1st Class
	Geoff May (Delllow)	16	2nd Class

2002_march_hare_results Download

Fearsome Cotswold Clouds

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.**

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.

1st Overall	Peter Fear (Dingo)	6
Best Stroud	Richard Hayward (Escort)	9
Class 1	David Haizelden (VW Golf Gti)	17
Class 2	Bill Bennett (MG J2)	22
Class 3	Paul Eamer (Escort)	27
	Mark Linforth (Escort)	28
	Stuart Deacon (Escort)	28
Class 4	Giles Greenslade (Beetle)	16
	Colin Perryman (Skoda)	21
	Stuart Cairney (Imp)	27
Class 5	Peter Davies (Panther Lima)	28
Class 6	Nigel Allen (Beetle)	18
	Gary Browning (Beetle)	23
Class 7	Arthur Vowden (Marlin)	20
	Tim Lakin (Marlin)	25
	Mal Allen (Marlin)	25
Class 8	Paul Bartleman (Troll)	10
	Mike Chatwin (Troll)	10
	Dudley Sterry (MG J2)	10

2002_cotswold_clouds_results Download

Exmoor 2002

by Mark Rosten-Edwards

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.

2002_exmoor_results Download

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