classictrials

Exeter 2001

The MCC ran a truly excellent Exeter Trial over the first weekend in January. There were two new early morning sections and the weather was just right and all the hills were in prime condition, although one or two were a bit on the rough side!

With all the bad weather between Christmas and New Year the Exeter organisers had an anxious Christmas. But by the Friday the snow had gone and the hills were in prime condition.

**Fred Gregory easing his Dutton Melos off the Passaford Lane re-start on a cold January dawn.**

DRAMA BEFORE THE START

There were a few notable non-starters. Ian Blackburn had been under the weather for a while and wasn’t able to get his Singer ready, or help Kevin Barnes prepare his, for what would have been Kevin’s first competitive MCC event. As it happens with Tillerton and Slippery Sam being so rough this may have been no bad thing!

We were also deprived of seeing Alan Bellamy’s unique Brasilia. Alan decided not to start with only 10 psi in his new dry sumped motor. David Alderson sold his ACTC championship winning Troll just before Christmas, but didn’t want to miss out, so he and John Boswell wheeled out son Liam’s ex Graham Brasier 1303 Beetle, complete with type 4 motor. Unfortunately the car had been the victim of some dodgy preparation in the past and one of the wheels parted company with it’s hub on the way to Cirencester, so they were relegated to spectating.

Fred Gregory made it to Popham, but not without drama. One of the sealed beam light units went on the blink on the way to the start. Not to worry, as Fred and Pete Stafford were carrying a complete spare. However, when they put it in that wasn’t working either! Thinking there was a problem with the wiring they swapped the good one over and it worked fine so the trouble was clearly with the units themselves. The predicament was that it was going to be pretty difficult to find a sealed beam unit at half past nine on a Friday night. But Fred and Pete didn’t intend to miss their weekend. Calling in at a garage they managed to convince the cashier behind a locked grille that they wanted a headlight bulb. Pete then carefully knocked the back of the sealed beam unit and our intrepid pair tank taped their precious bulb in place to make the start, albeit a bit late.

In class 7 both Pete Hart and John Salter had problems even before the action started. Neither car had been used for a while, and both played up in protest. John’s Vincent refused to run properly whatever he did to it. Finally, having to decided to give the trial a miss, he just threw it back together and gave one last turn of the key to drive it back in the garage. Low and behold, it purred sweetly into action, although as things were to transpire it was only lulling him into a false sense of security!

MORE DRAMA BEFORE BREAKFAST

Pete and Carlie hadn’t used their Marlin in anger since last years Lands End. All was well on the way to the start but the problems started once they had left Popham. The engine died in the middle of a roundabout and the crew had to push it some way to work on it safety. They managed to get going and limp to the Haynes museum. En-Route Carlie realised her handbag wasn’t in the car. They were about to retrace their steps when Pete decided to stop and ring Carlies mobile. It was answered by Patrick Osbourne’s passenger, as the Citeron 2CV crew had found it in the middle of the road and reunited it with it’s rightful owner at the Tintinhull breakfast halt. Who says trials are no longer an adventure!

Verdun Webley made the start OK but the Scruitineer at Tintinhull took exception to his new tyres and the Marlin continued under the threat of the MCC version of a Stewards enquiry. Barry Topgood’s Burlington Arrow was another car to spend a lot of time in the scruitineering bay, presumably it’s huge six bolt wheels infringed some rule or other.

THE ACTION BEGINS IN BOVEY WOODS

The field finally arrived at Gatcombe Lane on a clear dry night. With very limited gradient this opening hill didn’t pose any problems, so it was on into Bovey woods for the start of the real action. Normans Hump is long and dead straight. The recent wet weather had made nice and muddy but there was plenty of grip underneath. Class 8’s had it easy this year, as their restart was on the cross track along with the yellows, allowing them a nice run at the hump itself. This is defiantly not Stuart Cairney’s favourite hill as once again the Imp bogged down on the steep bit just before the section ends board. This is certainly a deceptive hill, it looks pretty slippy but there is usually bags of grip, and the penalty for going too low on the tyre pressures is to come off the cam if you loose momentum, which spells disaster for those of us with peaky engines.

Clinton, marshalled by Falcon Motor Club, whose crew included Barrie Parker the RAC/MSA PCT Champion, was the long version, with the re-start situated in the same place as the start was located last year. This years start was further down the hill, which meant competitors failing on the lower reaches had to be hauled up to the first cross track. When the long hill was used a couple of years ago Falcon had a super four wheel drive tractor allocated to them which made mince meat of the job. This year they were given an old two-wheel drive affair, over thirty years old, with a dodgy gearbox. This made life pretty difficult for the driver, who I believe is one of the Flay family, and with around a third of the entry having to be towed up he couldn’t avoid digging some pretty deep ruts. This made life more difficult for competitors causing even more to fail as time went on.

Neil Bray came out of the top, but with a puncture, the first of many as usual! Stuart Cairney wasn’t so lucky as the Imp just didn’t have the power to get up the gradient on the lower slope. The Pop team lost their leader here when Tommy Kalber broke his half shaft just after the restart. He had a spare but wasn’t able to get the broken bit out of the Fack Diff and retired.

THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO

Waterloo had a lot of loose stuff on the hill this year, causing problems for David Haizelden who failed on the lower reaches. Neil Bray got up OK but at the expense of another puncture. Verdun Webley was having problems with his lights and stopped in a garage forecourt to fix them. Neil Bray also stopped there to change his two ruined tubes and Dave Nash had to remind him that it was still night time and attacking the bent wheel rims with a club hammer was likely to disturb the neighbours!

At Stretes there was a long climb up the old section to a special test that started just as the hill flattens out at the top. It was a nice simple special test. Just flat out and stop aside line B. No taxing of the brain cells so early in the morning!

NEW SECTIONS AT SIDMOUTH

Normally the route goes north up to Honiton after Stretes but not this year. It was south down the A375, to loop back through Sidford and into the woods just West of Sidmouth, for two super new hills, Bulverton Steep and Passaford Lane. They were both similar in character. Start on the level with a blind ninety right immediately after the start, after which came the gradient, although you couldn’t see it from the line! There was a solid surface somewhere deep down but a fair old layer of mud covered it. Some ruts developed but basically nothing too damaging.

Just like Clinton and Waterloo the blind bends caught out a few competitors including Richard Tompkins and John Salter both of whom approached the corner with too much caution and didn’t have enough momentum to cope with the gradient.

Passaford Lane had a relatively gentle re-start for the yellows and Reds just before a final hillock at the top. Although they didn’t have to stop this hillock caused a few heart-stopping moments for some of the front wheel drive brigade as there was no recovery in sight and it was an awful long way if they had to reverse back down! Dudley Sterry had problems of a different kind on Passaford Lane when his bonnet strap got caught on a protruding branch and ripped right away, necessitating Darren Baker making a fair old hike to retrieve it once the MG got to the top.

RETIREMENTS AT EXETER SERVICES

There was no fettling allowed at Exeter Services and early entries got there well ahead of schedule. Plenty of time to catch up on all the gossip for some. But not for Tony Branson. The Marlin was becoming increasingly difficult to start, so he nipped off to the local Industrial Estate to work on the car. All seemed well and Tony and Sally Bolam continued, only to have to retire on the M5 slip road. Stuart Cairney had also run out of sparks and retired. The distributor was red hot, the advance/retard had seized and the electronic ignition cooked its goose. It ran after a fashion once it cooled down and Stuart went down to spectate on Simms.

TILLERTON ROCKS TEST TRANSMISSIONS AND SUMP-GUARDS

There was the usual queue on the approach road to Tillerton, even for the early numbers. The hill itself was pretty rough, as all the loose material had been washed away, leaving some large, awfully solid rock steps. The yellows and reds had it easy in a way as they had to stop here. The lower powered brigade were allowed to go straight through and had the dilemma of whether they should go through gently and risk bogging down or loosing grip, or building momentum and risk damaging the underside of the car.

David Heale chose the momentum way, necessitating a bit of club hammer work on the rear wings at the top where the body had distorted. There were a few broken transmissions as well. Alan Grassham broke the axle on his MG PB and was last seen taking the floor out trying to fix it. Richard Tompkins had his transaxle let go in a big way and with no way to fix it left his Imp at the foot of the hill till the next day so he could join his Falcon clubmates for the club supper in the evening.

While most of the competitive blues and whites could, blast their way over the boulders if they were brave, or stupid, enough things weren’t so clear cut for the restarting yellows and reds. It was very critical where you stopped. Tillerton has always been Fred Gregory’s problem hill, but this year he and Pete Stafford positioned the Melos in exactly the right place and pulled smoothly away. Clive Booth had been having a good run up until now. There was an unfamiliar face in the passenger seat. Regular bouncer John Allsop was not available for family reasons, so James (VW Fugitive) Lindsay was substituting. Young and energetic he may be, but James couldn’t bounce the Dellow Rep off the re-start. Clive dropped back six inches, still within the box and just drove away. Yes it was all to do with positioning and quite a few were to be caught out, including David Thompson and Mike Pearson.

WOOSTONS STEEP!

After Fingle came Wooston Steep, where Mike Pearson made up for his disappointment on Tillerton and was first out the top, closely followed by David Thompson. Pete and Carlies Marlin was running like a train and they romped to the top, the first class seven car to clean the section. John Salters Vincent had been running a bit rough ever since Tillerton and gave up the ghost here when it lost most of its power in a cloud of smoke just after the restart. John carried onto to get a finish by voluntarily stopping just after the start line on the remaining hills. Keith Sanders was a bit luckier and came out of the top in his Rickman Ranger. However, a few miles up the road he lost drive when the prop came out of the gearbox when one of the “U” bolts securing the back axle broke. Several competitors stopped to help, notably Mike Warnes, Clive Kalber and Harvey (jump the queue on Hoskin) Waters. They got the Ranger mobile, but Keith was another who decided to retire and do some spectating on Simms.

**Geoff May about to tackle Wooston Steep**

SHATTERED DREAMS AT SIMMS

The trial was drawing to a close now, but there were still some formidable obstacles to come. A tremendous crowd of spectators greeted competitors and they were not to be disappointed. The old hill was in fine form, climbable, but certainly not suffering fools gladly. There were two elements in a successful climb. Momentum and going up the right track, which popular opinion reckoned was the middle this year.

The Dellow Reps of Clive Booth and Mike Pearson both failed but David Thompson and Ian Davies crested the summit with ease in their VW Buggies, in front of some distinguished spectators. These included PCT ace Mike Stephens and MSA head honcho John Quenby, who is still putting his MG back together after it’s trip across Houndkirk Moor on the Edinburgh. Simms was to break its usual quota of hearts though and Michael Leete and Pete Hart were among those that lost their clean sheets here.

A couple of the three wheelers had problems. Clive Cooke broke the transmission of The Old Spot Piglett and Sue and Paul Davey had a double roll in their Citeron Special when they lost control reversing back down. A spectating Stuart Cairney was impressed by the class eights of Stuart Harrold and Dudley Sterry, both for the noise they made on full throttle and the height they flew over the bumps on their way to clean climbs. He makes special award to Clive Booth who managed to slip backwards at least fifteen feet while the wheels wee still driving forward! However, the unanimous vote for “best entertainer” was Bill Foreshew, who managed to get three feet up the left bank, then three foot up the right bank, without lifting off, to clean the section while the spectators fled for their lives!

STING IN THE TAIL

All to soon the field arrived at the final Hill on the outskirts of Torquay. Higher Gabwell for the Boys and Slippery Sam for the Girls. Actually Slippery Sam was pretty rough this year. It had been resurfaced some time in the last few months. It wasn’t to bad at the bottom but the loose material became bigger and bigger as the summit beckoned and the contractor had dumped a load of dinosaur eggs art the top where the restart was positioned adjacent to a deep washed out gully. Most competitors choose the eggs, which reeked havoc on their undersides.

Over on Higher Gabwell the yellows were allowed a clean run but the poor old reds had to restart and again it was very critical where you stopped. Clive Booth got it right but Mike Pearson was among the many who failed.

At the Torquay finish, popular opinion was that it was a good Exeter. OK Tillerton and the last hill were a bit rough, probably far to rough for newcomers but just about acceptable to the regulars. The two new hills were great, filling a normally boring middle section of the trial.

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Adrian Marfell Wins Allen Trial on Special Tests

There were 12 clean sheets on this years Allen Trial so the overall winner and three of the classes were decided on the two special tests, both of which put a premium on reversing skills. This played into the hands of Adrian Marfell, with his famous head out the side style, and he emerged the easy winner. OK, the result wasn’t decided on the hills, but this was a brilliant Allen Trial, despite the loss of a couple of old favourite hills. The weather was reasonably kind and the organisers were rewarded by a wonderfully varied entry, including a magnificent old two stroke Trojan.

Adrian Marfell, hanging out the side to see the road ahead in his usual style, approaching the re-start on Burledge on his way to winning The Allen Trial (picture by Murray MacDonald)

Falcon’s Mike Massey Memorial Trophy winners Clive Booth and John Allsop led the field away from the Crown Inn at 8.30 sharp on a mild day. The autumn rain and storms had caused problems though and Pete Hart had to take Big Uplands out of the route, when he found all the water that had been running down the section had washed most of the track away. This was a shame as the trial has also lost Elwell, another favourite, because of resurfacing a few years ago.

Tog Hill was first on the agenda, after a last minute diversion to avoid some flooded roads. This is quite easy these days, since some resurfacing was done a few years ago, removing the big bump that put such a huge dent in one of my new floor pans! Anyway, this one didn’t trouble the scorer as they say, so it was right onto the A420, down the hill and past the Texaco garage. No drink for thirsty motor cars though, as it was all shuttered up, with builders working on a refurbishment.

Bitton Lane was next. This is the one with the tricky re-start, cunningly positioned on a left hand bend where the polished stones evilly glint in the light as you approach, warning of the challenge to come! Actually it wasn’t so bad this year, claiming only a couple of victims, including ACTC Rights of Way officer and Stroud Anniversary Trial organiser, Andrew Brown in his Marlin. The route emerged onto a busy A4175 to skirt the edge of urban Bristol, crossing the delightful river Avon into the town of Keysham. Does this ring a bell with you older triallers? Well, remember when you used to listen to radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes and the music was interrupted by Horace Bachelor with his ad for the scheme that would win you a fortune on the football pools? You sent your Postal Order to “box something or other, Keynsham, that’s K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M”. Don’t knock it, you can learn something here on Classical Gas, best value on the Internet, you get what you pay for!

No Big Uplands this year, so it was onto Guys, which didn’t trouble any of us girls who didn’t have to re-start. It put Mike Hobbs into the class six lead though, as his opposition both struggled on the re-start. Ace Beetle fettler Nigel Allen crawled to the five but bead breaker maker John Looker moved hardly at all on those smooth stones. Most of the class seven aces got away OK, including Classical gasser Mal Allen but poor old Tim Lakin stuttered to a halt after a tremendous tyre smoking attempt. It was pretty tough for the class eight’s as well and 12 of the 21 hot shoes failed, including notables such as Adrian Dommett and Stuart Harrold. Perhaps you could have to much power as there were great cleans by Clive Booth in the 1300 Dellow Rep and Iain Daniels in the Rebel TS with it’s little 700cc motor. Clean or fail there’s no way out the top of Guys these days, so it was back down to the start and through the field to the road. The rain showers had started by now and this could be a slip-sliding affair if you weren’t careful.

**Eric Wall catches up on his sleep as Dudley Sterry eases of the re-start to glide serenely to the summit and another clean sheet. (pictures by John Salter)**

Competitors relaxed a little on the way to Sandy Lane, as this is one of The Allen’s easier hills. Michael Leete stopped to investigate a funny feeling from the back, which felt like a tyre going down. Nothing appeared amiss but this was to re-occur later and looking back was the first warning of a mechanical problem. Did I say Sandy Lane was easy, well not this year? It was quite wet by now and the re-start was very muddy. As there is no bottom to the section it was quite tricky and got more so as the holes got deeper and deeper. Everyone had to re-start here. The classes ones were probably quite apprehensive about this but they needn’t have worried as they could get their driven wheels up steam of the holes and all but Paul Allaway got away. It caught a lot of the rest of us though. Percentage wise the class three’s fared worse and in class two Stephen Potter incurred his only fail of the day in the wonderful Trojan. The hill also spoilt David Thompson’s clean sheet, despite some frenetic bouncing from Hazel MacDonald, enjoying her first outing in an open car.

The Strode section was nice and easy but it saw the end of John Parsons trial when the big Westfield nudged the bank at the end and broke a wishbone on his front suspension. The Allen is not John’s lucky trial as I think it’s the third retirement in the last three outings. A special test followed, just up the track. A blind round a ninety right, through a big muddy puddle, all four wheels over line B then reverse back again. David Heale was fastest, completing the section in an un-believable 17.6 seconds in his Escort Estate.

The re-start on Travers caught the unwary yellows and reds, including Anthony Young, big wheels and all! Martin Jones was struggling with a very sick engine in the ex-Vowden VW Variant Special and had to retire just up the road. Martin wasn’t that surprised as this was a thrown together motor after the pukka job seized up on the last event. The whites and yellows could drive straight through and the section wasn’t too much of a problem if you maintained plenty of momentum over the loose stones and rocks just after the re-start. However, they caused a problem for Neil Bray who blew a tyre, changed the wheel only for that to go flat as well.

Lunch was taken, as usual, at the Chew Valley lake picnic area, where there was plenty of time to relax as the trial was running well to time. Neil Bray soon had his inner tubes changed with the help of Dave Nash, who would be in the Guinness book of records for the job if they had such a category! There wasn’t much else happening on the mechanical side, although the Trojan crew took time out to oil their drive chain.

**Adrian and Andrew Tucker-Peake confer on how better that man Haizelden. They got a clean sheet but lost out on the special tests.**

Burledge was interesting this year. The rain had washed all the mud away from the lower reaches, so the rocks were exposed and there was plenty of grip here. Yellows and Reds had a re-start at the bottom of the straight gully. This caused a few problems, particularly for Peter Fear who got penalised for jumping the re-start flag. This is where the ruts started and they were quite bad this year, becoming deeper and deeper towards the top. Apart from the re-start these were the deciding factor. A spectaing Murray MacDonald said that you knew if a car would come out the top by how they went over the big bump on the left hander. Anyone who bashed their bottom here would bottom out their belly up at the top. This was the fate befalling about a third of the entry. Things became more difficult as time went on. The Range Rover towing the failures out of the top was backing down into the section to hook up, and the driver hadn’t been to classes on throttle control, making the holes deeper and deeper as time went on. The other organisational problem on Burledge was that failures that came back down the hill had to go over the village green to get past the queue, which made quite a mess. This was a shame, but there wasn’t much chief official Nigel Moss could do about it without establishing some form of holding control well before the section.

Nanny Hurns was a combined special test and section. Pete Hart taking the opportunity to sub-divide the tricky bit over the bump to help sort a result. The special test bit was very similar to Strode. Forward round a corner and reverse back. Adrian Marfell won the trial here, setting a time of 15.2, nearly a second quicker than his nearest rival. Most of the yellows and reds went clean and so did all the class ones and the Trojan! The three’s, four’s and five’s all struggled and Neil Bray was the only one of the lot to come out the top. This was where some of the results were decided though. John Bell went one mark better than Paul Eamer to claim class three. Colin Perryman got to the two but because he had dropped one on Burledge it bought him level with Giles Greenslade and Jim Scott. The class going to Giles in the Nigel Allen prepared Beetle by being 0.1 seconds quicker on the special tests!

The trial was drawing to a close now. As things were running on time competitors were able to do Mill Lane in the light. Nobody failed but that doesn’t matter. This is a lovely long hill. The locals enter into the spirit and a guy at the top has an airline available outside his house for competitors to pump-up. The section wasn’t kind to Skoda tyres with both Philip Mitchell and Neil Bray knocking out sidewalls on the same rock.

Competitors wound their way through Bath alongside Gods Wonderful Railway on their way to Stony Hill, which started just off the A4. There was plenty of grip but there were a few failures on the restart. Michael Leete’s handbrake had disappeared by now. The problem after Guys had been an early warning of something breaking inside the drum and with no socket cable of undoing a couple of hundred foot lbs of torque Michael had carried on to the sound of much graunching. All this meant the Beetle slipped back on the restart. The section wasn’t kind to Mick Workman in the Ford engined Imp either and he broke something in the driveline.

**Mark and Will Rosten-Edwards coming out the top of Mill Lane.**

John Walker rounded off the day. It was in prime condition, nice and muddy and a glorious thrash. It wasn’t a formality though. The water at the bottom caught out Neil Bray and he stuttered to a halt before the crossroads. Stuart Cairney didn’t fair much better. Stuart went a bit to fast to soon and when the right hand front wheel dipped into a rut the Imp got sucked into the muddy bank and came to a halt just before the cross track. The class eight’s didn’t have too much trouble but don’t say that to Bill Foreshew who incurred a fail with the Fiat engined GVS Mk 2.

That rounded off another magnificent Allen Trial. OK with the terrain available it will probably always be necessary for the special tests to sort out the results amongst the super stars. For the rest of us it is a superb event, with everything, apart from the deviation on nanny Hurns, on real tracks and roads. Pete, Carlie, Mark and Tim were rewarded by a truly diverse entry; long may they continue with the event in this format. Well done Adrian Marfell and a special message for Stephen Potter, please bring the Trojan back next year!

1st Overall	The Allen Trophy	Adrian Marfell (Buggy)	0
Best Navigator	The Bob Wood Trophy	J. Paterson
Class 1	The Henly Trophy	David Haizelden (VW Golf GTi)	0
Class 2	The Woodberry Chillcott Trophy	Bill Bennett (MG J2)	0
Class 3	The Bryan Brothers Trophy	John Bell (Excort RS 2000)	4
Class 4	The Renwicks Trophy	Giles Greenslade (VW Beetle)	3
Class 5	The Rumsey Trophy	Rob Cull (MG Midget)	4
Class 6	The Highland Circle Trophy	Mike Hobbs (VW Beetle)	0
Class 7	The Rootes Trophy	Arthur Vowden (Marlin)	0

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The Exmoor Clouds

For as long as most people can remember the Clouds has been based at the Minehead Barbarians rugby club. This year, however, the event started and finished at the Ralegh’s Cross Inn, high up on Exmoor. This new venue was chosen partly because it could offer hot food and drink and partly because for the last few years there has been a cycling event starting and finishing at the rugby club on the day of the trial. You can imagine the organisers’ surprise when they found out that the Ralegh’s Cross Inn was being used as the headquarters for a huge (1,000+ riders) mountain bike orienteering event on the same weekend as the trial!

When Dick Hutchings and other members of Minehead MC were marking the sections out on the day before the trial they discovered to their horror that not only were the mountain bikers using the pub but most of his sections as well. Luckily on the day of the trial the mountain bikers had moved on to other areas and we saw very little of them on the trial itself.

47 motorbikes and nearly 60 cars started the trial this year, more than in previous years when the trial’s rough, tough reputation has probably kept entries down. Although this is deepest Troll country you wouldn’t have known it as the only one entered (that of fellow Falconer Dave Alderson) didn’t start. Where have they all gone? Instead, Class 8 looked like a meeting of the buggy owner’s club with 9 of the 19 vehicles in this class being VW based! With the exception of the escort boys in class 3 the saloon entries were pretty thin on the ground with only Nigel Allen turning out in class 6.

With a different start venue we also got a new route; although it featured mostly the same hills as in 1998 and 1999 they all appeared in a different order. The first hill for the bikes and classes 6, 7 & 8 was Steep Lane with a restart for class 8. The hill itself was fairly straightforward but the route to it down a steep grassy field was very slippery.

The next section for us was Port Lane. To my mind this is one of the best sections on the entire trials calendar; a long, sunken lane with deep mud, ruts and a huge rock slab near the top. Thanks to the heavy rain in the preceding weeks, much of the usual mud had been washed down the hill and into the village at the bottom. Although there was plenty of grip this year the resulting gullies meant that only solos and Class 8 were allowed to tackle the section.

Following an ‘impossible’ restart for classes 7 & 8 in 1998, Northmoor seems to have got progressively easier. The section itself was followed by the first special test which involved a quick blast round a corner to line B, a short reverse over line C and a longer forward section around a tree and over a bump to stop astride line D. I’m not sure if it was the mist or the reversing that caused confusion here but quite a few lost their way and failed to record a time. As the stop watch was giving the time-keeper some trouble the car in front of us got two attempts at the test. We thought we’d ask for another go if we didn’t record a fast time but the timekeeper told us that we had done the best time so far so we didn’t argue!

A few miles further on and we joined the queue for South Hill. Although not that steep, once away from the start (on tarmac), the section was very slippery with a deep rut on the right at about the 7 marker and a tight hairpin just before the restart. The rut seemed to attract quite a few cars and once in, it must have taken some effort to get out of again.

There was also quite a deep gully by the side of the road, as Thomas Bricknell found out when he parked his dad’s Vincent in it, leaving the offside wheel at a very peculiar angle and the diff on the ground. Judging by the look on Roger’s face as he ran back up the road it may be some time before we see Thomas behind the wheel of this trials car again…as the results show though, the Vincent seems to like this treatment as Roger finished a fine fourth overall. Charlie Shopland (first gear again – modification on its way) and Arthur Vowden were less fortunate and both retired here.

Ski Slope was next and only those who haven’t seen it will be wondering why it is so named. Dead straight and formidably steep, this section was to take points off all but 3 car entrants although most bikes cleaned it OK. Classes 1-5 tackled the hill non-stop (in theory) whilst 6 & 7 had a restart on the steepest part of the track. We were lucky enough to see one of the few clears as Nigel Allen blasted the big Beetle off the restart to clear the hill impressively. The class 8 restart was situated on slippery grass to the side of the track and although a few heroes got out of the ruts, over the bank and onto the restart line, none managed to clear it and get back to the main track.

A bit downhearted at losing our first points of the day, we moved on to Pin Quarry which we usually manage to get up. Each year the hill takes a different route and this year after a blind start on a stony track the hill turned sharp left and up a steep muddy bank. We didn’t give it quite enough right foot and ended up stuck at the 8 marker. Five other class 8 cars cleaned the section but for the rest of the field 9’s and 10’s were the order of the day.

If not enough right foot was the problem at Pin Quarry, too much was definitely our downfall on the 7^th section, Allercott, and after fishtailing from side to side across the hill we ended up all crossed up at the 2 marker. Due to the heavy rain the muddy dip was bypassed this year and the section started fairly flat before turning left and becoming steeper and more rutted.

The classes divided after Allercott, with solo’s and class 8 going straight on to a new section called Muddlecombe and the rest heading off for Ewart’s Pickle (aka Slade Lane). When I first saw this in the route card it seemed odd as Ewart’s Pickle is usually one of the roughest sections on the trial but Dick Hutchings explained later on that the council had recently graded the section with loose chippings (it is a RUPP). We didn’t see the hill itself but the results show that this was the only hill not to claim a point from a single competitor.

All classes met up again for section 9, Muddlecombe. This section was a late substitute for Middlecombe woods as the woodland was hosting a motorcross event which had been postponed by the fuel crisis in late September, hence the name. Entry to the section required traversing a steep grassy field, which proved as much of a challenge to some as the section itself! Adrian Dommett and Dave Hazelden were just two who suffered punctures on the adverse camber. After a sharp right hairpin the section climbed steeply up the side of the hill behind Land’s End section Hindon, with a surface of slippery grass and bracken. Only two cleans were achieved, by Dudley Sterry and Roger Bricknell.

It was only a few yards down the lane to the next section, the aforementioned Hindon, with the usual slippery grass at the top and restart for classes 6, 7 & 8. Aville Ball followed shortly after and, although the route directions to it were more straightforward this year than last, someone had removed a direction marker within the woods. Very helpful! This is another very long hill, steep and slippery towards the end with a restart for solo’s and 8’s at the top under the trees. The bikes really struggled on this one with only eventual winners Michael Crocker and Trevor Griffiths getting up it on their Yamaha outfit. Although most 7’s and 8’s got up, only three saloons did so – the escorts of Tommy Kalber and Philip Roberts and Nigel Allen’s big-engined Beetle.

Vinegar Hill, another steep forestry section, also caused the bikes quite a few problems although most cars managed to get through OK.

With the night starting to draw in we moved on to the special test at Maddocks which must be one of the longest and most enjoyable around (especially for pretend rally drivers). We were determined to record a fast time here, as this is where Tony Young won the overall award from us last year. We got to the top in just over 29 seconds and were quite pleased with that (although it didn’t mean a lot as we had by now dropped more points than in the previous three years put together). The timekeeper told us that the fastest time was under 27 seconds and then added ‘he was flying’. He must have been! Not surprisingly, ‘he’ turned out to be Tony Young and fast special test times again won him the overall award from fellow ‘Big Wheeler’ Adrian Dommet.

Just down the road was Druids, which this year was for bikes and car classes 6, 7 & 8 only due to the deep, deep muddy ruts. Those with good ground clearance generally got to the restart at the 6 marker and then sank, those with less clearance grounded out further down at the 9 or 10 marker – so the other saloon drivers didn’t miss out on too much. I suspect Nigel Allen may agree as after a strong run he dropped 9 here and then 12 each on the final two sections suggesting the Beetle developed a problem somewhere nearby. First car Adrian Marfell, in his Fiat(?)/VW special, excelled here to reach the two marker, whilst the amazing outfit of Michael Crocker/Trevor Griffiths went two better to record the only clean of the day.

The penultimate section of the day was at Tarr Cott and was another very long section (you certainly get value for money on this event!). This section climbs up the side of a deep Exmoor valley and seems to finish right on the top of the moor but few competitors got that far and long delays built up. The problem was an adverse camber section with a deep gully on the left, which the start marshal described, to us in glorious Technicolor. This rather un-nerved Lesley in the passenger seat but before she could clamber out of the car we were off and she spent most of the time on the way up looking for the gully which had been described so dramatically to us! A handful in classes 7 & 8 made it to the top together with only 2 saloons – another great climb for Dave Hazleden in the GTI and a class winning effort for Harvey Waters in his Escort.

On to the final section Tim Wood, now in total darkness, which was a new find close to the start/finish pub. After a very muddy start, which stopped a high proportion of the entry, the section divided to the left for classes 6, 7 & 8 and to the right for the rest (or should that be for Giles Greenslade as his was the only saloon to pass the 9 marker). We couldn’t see very well here – I’m not sure if this was down to the pathetically low output of the buggy’s dynamo or because the headlights were liberally coated with mud. After a close encounter with a tree in the lower reaches we got to the 5 marker but Tony Young and Adrian Dommet must have much better electrics (or they must eat a lot more carrots) as they were the only two carrying enough speed to clean the section.

In conclusion, another a great Exmoor Clouds and, after the dry events of the last few years, one which was very challenging. Now with slicker organisation and slightly less rough sections than when I first started doing it (in the mid 1980s), it may be time for some of those who stayed away this year to consider putting the event in next year’s diary. Better make sure your lights are working though because it still finishes in the dark!

Classical Gassers report on their Edinburgh Trial

John Lees was competing in Class A on his Triumph Twin

I finally got onto the communities site through IE instead of my usual Netscape only to find that, as you say, I could not post a message. Three of us Mike Robinson, Tom Beckerleg and myself all failed to spot the last sentence of the final instructions because at the breakfast stop they were papier mache. The next day we managed to read the bit that casually mentions that class A follow route to Corkscrew. We did not have this on our route as we cut out the bits that don’t apply and this year we were not to do Corkscrew or so we thought! So there we are exclusion we presume.

We had got behind after leaving the first time control, we waited 50 mins until time to go in to discover that early arrival did not matter! We left after quickly reading the bits abouts local councils and rights of way not realizing the punch line for us at the bottom. Well thats enough for us and the Edinburgh only possible on a specialized machine, Goatscliff was near impossible and stupid. I came across two riders on road tyres struggling half way up. I had to stop as well but could not stop at the marshal to claim a bulk as this was the last thing in my mind until I got to the top, too late I did not have the energy to go back down and complain.

A very miserable trial made worse by an important route change, our last Edinburgh as we feel at the moment, no point in doing it if exclusion is so easy. We take a lot of trouble in checking the route and annotating the various instructions regarding restarts etc. before the event if a section is deleted that is OK but to add one in for a motorcycle makes life very difficult. We even laquer our route sheets after photocopying them at 120%. No we can do without last minute changes !

Editors Note – John was writing this before the results came out. They show him failing Goatscliffe but marked as not having to do Corkscrew! John was best in Class A as noboddy in his class climbed every hill. I have read and re-read the original route card and the ammendment and like John I am confused!

Stuart Cairney was driving his Imp

First drama of the trial for me was at my local filling station when I couldn’t open the bonnet to access the filler cap! As you can imagine I was reluctant to butcher it open with a lever and wondering what the heck to do when Andrew managed to slide a screwdriver in and jiggle the catch – subsequently we discovered that slight pressure on the front edge of the bonnet wwould release it. All this was a legacy of fitting a repair section to the bottom of the front panel. It had been working fine but I hadn’t strapped in the spare wheel until the last minute and this must have caused slight distortion.

Anyway as far as the trial is concerned I failed Litton – I had deliberately left the engine in PCT spec to see how it would go and but the conditions there were such that I could have done with the extra revs. At least I got to the start line at the first attempt! For much the same reason the only other failure was Bamford although I must admit to lifting for one of the concrete troughs which left us on the final relatively smooth bit of concrete before the end with only about 1200 -1500 revs and it just petered out.

We encountered a problem on the first green lane across the moors due to a BMW parked right in front of the gate – not sure whether it was deliberate or just inconsiderate; the sun roof had been left open (tilted) in the rain so maybe they were just plain stupid… However we discovered that the small pedestrian gate alongside was just wide enough for an Imp, literally by about half an inch, so we were able to continue; albeit pretty slowly as it was so rough. We saw a police car in the village at the foot of Jacobs Ladder and there was talk of protesters organising a sponsored walk to deliberatley co-inside with the trial – lets hope this is not the sign of things to come….

Jim Scott heard something go on Hucklow but couldn’t see anything amiss but by the time he’d cleaned Bamford the diff was graunching and he called it a day in the hope of restricting the damage. Final point of satisfaction for me was trickling off the Old Longhill restart with no wheelspin whatsoever, whilst the final mistake was a slight caused by missing slots when we were running on our own and getting tired near the end – the electric woodpecker in the back signalling that we were out of fuel. Fortunately we were able to coast down the hill into Buxton which left a brisk walk to Safeway’s petrol station with the can… All in all a good trial – shame about the rain.

Wet and Windy Edinburgh

The weather was truly wonderful on Friday for final preparations, and on Sunday for the drive home, but the Saturday was another storey. It rained, it drizzled, poured cats and dogs and when it wasn’t doing any of those things it was wet because we were up in the clouds! Despite all that it was a good event, with Litton sorting the men from the boys before it was cancelled for the lower classes.

Simon and Matt Robson climbing Haggside on their way to Liege

All the Falcon’s started from Toddington, although there were a few notable no-shows. Alan Bellamy was marshalling at the start, along with John and Dot Parsons, David Alderson, Dave Nash and Lee Howells. JAZ wasn’t ready for the fray as it hadn’t recovered from the stresses and strains incurred when Murray took it Green Laning with the local Land Rover boys, so Hazel missed her drive and Mike Furse was another Falcon who marshalled rather than drove on the day.

We had a few new cars to see. Richard Tompkins was making his MCC debut in his smart turquoise Imp, but may have doubted the wisdom of this with his clubmate’s telling him hair raising stories about Bamford and Litton Slack! Stuart Cairney made the start, but only just, when he found that last minute welding prevented the bonnet opening to access the petrol filler cap! Fred Gregory had been studying the weather forecast and decided to treat Peter Stafford to a bit of luxury, forsaking his usual Dutton Melos for a Citroen BX, complete with suspension height adjustment. Last, but not least, Simon and Matt Robson were the centre of attention with their new Liege.

JP and his team showed no mercy to their clubmate’s, sending Michael Leete off to get his stoplights working and Mike Pearson to locate his MOT certificate. This was all soon sorted and it was off up the A5 on a fine October evening to the joys of eligibility scruitineering at the Elf service station, just south of Atherstone, where Alan Foster was conducting operations in the car wash bay, quite appropriate as it turned out. Tyres seemed the major concern of the day and Scrut Foster was soliciting opinions from other Skoda drivers about the acceptability of 14 inch rubber on the ex Simon Robson Czech wonder machine.

The rain had started by the time the field reached Agnes Meadow and this was to continue all day. This first section was not one to trouble the scorer as they say. But just up the road Wigber Low was to prove a bit tricky for one or two people, including Fred Gregory and Pete Stafford who couldn’t get their Citroen BX away from the start.

They has a roaring log fire going at The Bentley Brook Inn and bikers and the crews of open cars were already drying out their sodden gear. These included Mike Pearson who can’t get into his Dellow Rep with the hood on and Simon and Matt Robson who haven’t got one yet as the guy making it had left out the fasteners! Simon had been quite busy since the Testing Trial. Rather than fix the troublesome Reliant back axle he had replaced it with a modified “A” series component. This had to be narrowed by removing some of the axle tubes and re-welding and shortening the half shafts. RAC supremo John Quenby was another eschewing a roof, claiming he has never owned one for his TC ex-racer.

Fred Gregory was in further trouble at Clough Wood when the Citroen stalled and refused to re-start on the exit road. Neil Bray stopped to help but tinkering under the bonnet didn’t do any good and they decided to tow the fuel-injected machine to the nearest surfaced road. The Citroen took one look at the tow rope and started immediately!

Litton Slack soon beckoned, but first came that hairy descent down the muddy track that barely clings to the side of the hill. Peter Thompson scared himself, and those following, when he got his Opel sideways and was only inches from plunging to oblivion when he managed to regain control.

The old hill was in fine form in the rain and drizzle. The first challenge was of course actually getting to the start line. You certainly weren’t going to do it by following the instructions in the route card, which directed you to go around the telegraph pole and approach the start line from the direction of Litton Mill. With the grass an absolute quagmire the only way was to take a run down the approach track, aiming for the gateposts and backing down the section to the line if you were fortunate enough to reach them. Even then quite a few couldn’t get to the start and one really pitied the poor class ones. All credit then to Mike Relf, who not only got his Mitsubishi to the line, but got a fair way up the hill as well. A much better effort than Brian Partridge who made a right pigs ear of things, sliding down towards Litton Mill with spinning wheels in a crescendo of revs. Duncan Walsh made the first clean climb in his special and Steve Austin was the first saloon clear in his 1641 Baja, which unfortunately broke its diff later in the trial. There were only two Volvo’s in the trial and they both played football with large rocks. Rob Wells dislodged the boulder up by the bush at the top, creating a chicane for those following. Later Tony Branson got a bit out of shape coming down the escape route, dislodging bits from a stone wall in the process. Stuart Harrold was also in trouble coming down the escape road, scaring the life out of driver and passenger as the Troll slipped sideways (writers note – I can remember doing the same on the White Peaks once).

The field split after Litton. The Solo’s went through Stoney Middleton on the A623, turning left onto the B6001 before diving through the hedge and up a bank to Goatscliffe, a section known as Excelsior on the White Peaks, a name used for a hill near Hartington, many miles to the east, on the Edinburgh. Cars and Three Wheelers turned off in the village of Stony Middleton, to tackle Jacobs Ladder, amidst an organised protest against the trial, arranged by a woman in the village in the form of a “sponsored walk”. Fortunately the Clerk of the Course had the courage to run the hill, even though the competitive bit was barely twenty yards, so competitors could make their runs in between the bedraggled protestors. The section itself wasn’t too bad, but the bits before and after were a bit rough. Fred Gregory’s Citroen had to be towed out by a Land Rover when Fred thought his clutch had gone, although it turned out to be a flat with the wheel spinning inside the tyre.

The bikes went directly to Great Hucklow, a mere two miles away, missing out a twelve mile loop tackled by the three and four wheelers. This traversed the old road across Houndkirk Moor and then went almost into the suburbs of Sheffield before going up what I believe was the Bassett section on a recent Edinburgh, looping back to Gridleford to bring competitors a few hundred yards from whence they had come! It appears the organisers were trying out this route in the hope that some of it could be used as sections in the future. However, without any form of route check it was a little galling to some drivers of open cars who got wet and cold when they could have short cut the loop without any penalty!

All classes had to restart on Great Hucklow before diverting up the bank to the left. In the past this has been very tricky, muddy with a terrible camber dropping away to the right. However, it seems the MCC road gang had been at work as the surface was pretty solid, with little or no adverse camber. It was rough though, catching out quite a few people, including Richard Tompkins who didn’t give his Imp enough welly. The trial saw the end of Fred Gregory here, when he and Pete Stafford gave up the struggle to keep the fuel injected motor on the Citroen running properly. Jim Scott was another one to experience problems, but continued with funny noises coming from the back of his Imp.

Then it was past the Gliding Club, before some more green laning, up and over Bradwell Edge to a cold and desolate holding control for Bamford. This was manned by a guy whose name I can’t remember, but he was the one who incurred the wrath of the MCC committee by painting a funny face on the front of his Beetle when he was told off for having a scruffy car!

There were no loose stones on Bamford itself which was not too difficult this year, if you had the engine characteristics and good sense to trickle, or the courage to give it some gun. If you took the middle course you were in trouble and it certainly wasn’t an Imp hill. Richard Tompkins was surprised by the roughness, backed off and lost too much momentum. Old campaigner Stuart Cairney ran out of puff on the last step with his PCT spec engine and Jim Scott’s Stiletto finally broke the diff that had been growling away for some time. The Haggside re-start was OK if you stopped in the right place, which was either just in or almost out. You were in trouble though if you stopped in the middle!

Recrossing the Ladybower reservoir, which is pretty full these days, there was a well organised half hour meal break at The Marquis of Granby. A special test at Pindale was next on the agenda. It was another of those stop on line B and restart in your own time jobs. The problem was that line B was on a horrible greasy bit of raw cement and a lot of people couldn’t get away. The route card was very clear about this. Rolling back on the restart constitutes a fail. Lets hope this doesn’t cost too many triples!

Dirtlow Rake was scheduled to immediately follow the special test, but the deviation was in very bad condition so it was cancelled making Putwell next on the agenda. There was only one section again this year. The long one with the re-start on the rock slab at the top. John Beaumont was in trouble on the lower slopes when his Reliant, which has a Mini engine in the back, punctured. The marshals wouldn’t let John change a wheel on the section and insisted on dragging the three-wheeler to the top behind a Land Rover which ripped one side off the rear suspension. Keith Pettit blew his clean sheet here when he couldn’t get the venerable Frogeye away on the re-sart.

Calton is coming back into condition, with a nice deep hole developing on the re-start. John Parsons, who was leading the Falcon marshalling team, explained that the ploy for the early numbers was to just put the front wheels into the box. However, as the day went on a big hole developed and the trick was to drive further in. Mike Furse was watching here and said Dave Turner was the only driver to park his rear wheels in the hole and drive out. For the yellows and reds the holes on Calton were a mere warm up for the monsters on Corkscrew, which was rated mega-rough by most competitors. It was easily on though, provided you got the re-start right. You had to keep your rear wheels on the hard stuff. Go a bit to one side and get a bit on the grass and you were in trouble, as Simon Robson, making his Corkscrew début in the pretty Liege, discovered!

John Beaumont had limped to a garage and fixed the suspension on his Reliant by the time he got to Old Long Hill. John was now running with the cars, well down the field, and showed the four wheelers how to do the tricky re-start on slippery grass. There was only Haydale left now. The muddy approach is quite tricky and fools you into using very low pressures on what turns out to be a very rocky climb. No problems for Ross Neuten or Mike Perason here though and they both reported clean sheets for the trail, and a toolbox fill of water in Mike’s case.

So it was back to Buxton to dry out and chew things over. Rain aside it was reckoned a pretty good event by most people. Shame about Litton but at least most people had the chance to pit their skill against the old hill ,even if it didn’t figure in the results. Wonder who got a triple?

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The Trials Career of Arthur Mallock

Even if Arthur’s name is not immediately familiar all Motor-Sport fans will know about the cars he and his family have created.. The modern Nissans and Vauxhall’s are well known to today’s younger generation. Those of us a little older fondly recall those front-engined U2 sports racers that even found their way into Formula Ford. But how many of you knew that Arthur Mallock had a profound influence on today’s trials cars.

EGP 171 was the first car Arthur built. Nicknamed “Bren” it was based on an Austin Seven van but incorporated a great many innovative idea’s, including the independent front suspension which is working so well in this 1946 picture.

The Mallock family have had a tremendous impact on UK Motorsport over the last fifty or so years. Ray Mallock’s RML company prepared the championship winning Nissans for the British Touring Car championship, were responsible for the development of the Astra Formula 2 rally kit car for Opel, and run the works Astra’s for Vauxhall in the British Rally Championship.

Earlier in the companies life it worked in a consultancy role for Aston Martin and took responsibility for the entire design, manufacture, and race management of another long-distance sports racing car, the Group C2 Ecurie Ecosse Ford. In 1985, this was placed second in the World Championship for Teams, and in 1986, with factory support from Austin Rover, RML won the World title.

Next was an Aston Martin Cl design, with carbon-composite chassis and bodywork, but when the marque withdrew suddenly from racing on the brink of the 1990 season, RML was enrolled by Nissan to develop and run its R90C Le-Mans car. It was a potential race winning programme as the team battled with the front runners, including the eventual TWR/Jaguar victor, for over 16 hours, leading for 5 hours and setting a new lap record.

Before RML Ray and his brother, Richard worked with their father Arthur, designing and building the all-conquering clubmans formula Mallock U2 racing cars. From a personal point of view, this was my only point of contact with the Mallock family. Peter “Mad Dog” Smith and I looked at buying a U2 with a 1 litre A series engine in it and wrote to the Mallock’s asking for information. Arthur wrote back to say he couldn’t read my writing and that was that!

But its trials not racing cars that this piece is about, for Arthur Mallock was one of the men who laid the foundations for today’s successful lightweight, highly manoeuvrable, class eight machines. By the 1930’s, trials had very much taken the shape we know today, with the competitive part of the event being decided on non-stop observed sections. The early part of the decade was dominated by modified “off the shelf” sports cars. The MG, Singer and Austin marque’s were very much to the fore, with several works teams and a host of enthusiastic private owners. By 1936, the heavy brigade had arrived in the form of the original Allard special, which had been developed, from an ex-TT Ford.

The immediate post war years were dominated by the Ford V8 special’s, big robust machines fitted with the ubiquitous 30 hp 3.6 litre Ford V8, which provided plenty of power and torque in standard tune. These were generally installed in specially built chassis, with standard Ford axles and rudimentary bodywork. There were variations of this “big car” theme and some are still around today in the form of Roger Ugalde’s wonderful Allard and Mike Furse’s Mercury Special. The big V8’s started to sweep all before them, but they soon had challengers, for there were some who believed that a light, manoeuvrable car could beat brute power. There were several exponents of this theme. Cornishman Ashley Cleeve in his famous Morris special, Ken Wharton with his Ford 10 engine mounted in an Austin Seven chassis, a much imitated theme, and Arthur Mallock with his Austin Seven based specials.

Arthur was born in 1918, just as the Great War finished. He purchased his first car, an Austin Seven, at the tender age of 17 and set off on a 200-mile journey to spectate at Fingle on the 1935 Exeter Trial. His trials debut was on two wheels, rather than four, riding a BSA in the 1936 Berkhamstead schoolboys trial. By 1939 Arthur was in the army and constructing his first “trials special” Arthur was always a chassis and in particular a suspension man. He eschewed the fashion for brute power, in the form of the dominant Ford V8’s. Independent front suspension, a lightweight body and chassis and manoeuvrability were his themes. He based his lightweight special on a 1932 Austin Seven van, which he got running just before the Second World War. Unfortunately, Arthur only managed a couple of speed events before the conflict bought motor sport to an end for many years.

While serving in the forces, Arthur managed to find the time to develop his Austin Seven special into quite a respectable machine. EGP 171 was nicknamed “Bren”, after the gun. “Bren” had independent front suspension and skinny motorcycle tyres, designed to dig through the mud to the solid stuff in search of grip. Arthur’s theories were proved right on Burledge in the Bristol Clubs Full Moon Trial in January 1946. The hill is still used today on The Allen Trial and can be pretty tricky. The bottom part is in a tree lined gully with a reasonable solid base which is OK in the dry but can get pretty slimy when mud is washed down the hill in the rain. You go round a right hander, then it’s straight up a muddy rutted track.

It had been very, very cold for over a week, but the thaw set in just before the trial. Mud was washed down the hill and grip was very hard to find. Mallock’s little Austin, with it’s LMB Independent front suspension, locked diff and skinny motorcycle tyres, was one of only two cars to clean the hill. Arthur got a first class award on the event and would have won overall if the gear lever hadn’t broken! Further success followed during the season but Arthur was increasingly of the opinion he needed more power and less weight and decided to build a new car he could use for speed events as well as trials.

WJ 1515, sometimes known as “Bombsk” was also based on an Austin Seven chassis and the car included all the best ideas from “Bren” plus some new ones, including a blower for the 750cc motor, 19 inch wheels and a big weight reduction. The car took about a year to build, it would have taken longer but basic petrol rationing was about to be suspended, prompting a rash of events to compete in. Arthur’s new car was a runner by now and he took part in it with it straight away, before it even had a body. He caused a storm by driving it in chassis form, winning the” Northern Experts”

While he enjoyed a lot of success with “Bren” Arthur felt he could do better and built WJ 1515. This was a much lighter car that was originally intended to be a used for both trials and speed events. As time went on it became a dedicated racer and was eventually broken up to provide parts for the U2 Mk 1.

Arthur didn’t want to miss out on his Motorsport completely while building his new car. Bren had been sold so he competed in the Ford Eight family car. It was souped it up a bit for trials. The puny “eight” motor was thrown out and in went a “ten”. A couple of hundredweight of ballast was bolted across the back bumper to increase the grip and the doors to were removed to lighten the front. Eligibility was a problem even in those days!

Gradually Arthur competed in more and more speed events and fewer and fewer trials. By the time, the 50’s came along WJ 1515 was a dedicated racer, taking part in 1172 Formula races. Arthur developed and raced WJ 1515 for several more years until the winter of 1957, when he designed and built the U2 Mk 1 from scratch, cannibalising WJ 1515 for many parts in the process and the famous old car was no more.

Arthur and his family went on to design and build a whole series of Mallock U2 racing cars, Arthur remaining true to his creed by believing the secret was in the suspension. He did return to trials briefly in 1962/63, competing in the 750 MC’s championship in a newly constructed Austin Seven base special and finished runner-up. But apart from that he dedicated the rest of his life to his racing cars.

WJ 1515 had a rather brief career in trials as Arthur competed in more and more speed events and it became a dedicated racer. Arthur raced the car until the winter of 1957/58. By this time it had a Ford motor and was cannibalised to provided engine, gearbox and suspension components for the original Mallock U2 Mk 1. You can see Arthur’s ingenious Independent Front Suspension in this picture.

You can learn a lot more about Arthur Mallock in Paul Lawrence’s book “The Lone Furrow”, published by TFM, ISBN 0 9530052 0 8

A “Testing” Trial by Simon Robson

**Simon’s new Liege on the Testing Trial. John Salter took all the picture’s on this page.**

After our disappointing Lands End Matt and I were determined to début our new Liege on the MCC’s Testing Trial, even if it wasn’t quite finished. The mechanical stuff was sorted, but there was still some detail finishing to do and the hood wasn’t done yet, so the new car was still at the builders over in Evesham. We left Hitchin for Evesham in the Vauxhall on Saturday afternoon, complete with tent and sleeping bags. The plan was to pick up the Liege and drive down to camp at the venue. As well as the camping gear we had our cooking equipment and all the ingredients for breakfast.

We got to Evesham OK and transferred the gear to the Liege. Not an easy job as it’s a tiny bit smaller than the Vauxhall! We started off OK, but by the time we got to Cheltenham the engine temperature had started to rise. We stopped to find we had lost all the water because the temperature sender had popped out of it’s hole. It appears that when the car was put back together after painting the builder had shortened the hose extension where the sender fits, and the clamp wouldn’t hold it in properly any more.

We had stopped outside a house and a chap popped out to give us some water. We re-tightened the sender clamp, filled her up and crossed our fingers while we slowly warmed up the engine. It was to no avail, the sender popped out right before our eyes. Our rescuer kindly offered to drive us in his car to try to find a new hose, but we gave up after trying three or four filling stations because it was getting late and all the motor factors were now closed. The chap took us back to his house and we rummaged about in his shed and found a piece of half inch copper pipe with a valve on the end, left over from when he installed his washing machine. This did the trick and we drove off with a wave and a bit of pipe hanging from the top hose!

Like true MCC people we followed the Exeter route down to Warminster and stopped at a Little Chef for a bite to eat. It was raining pretty hard by now, they had rooms free at the adjoining Travel Lodge, so we stayed there rather than “enjoy” the camping experience.

We were up bright and early on the Sunday morning for the Testing Trial. It was the first time we had done the event and enjoyed the experience, despite the weather and problems with the fuel pump which kept packing up in the morning. This cost us a good time on the early rounds as we kept having to jump out and give it a clout. We managed to scrounge a new one from a Sprite driver during the break and thought our problems were solved. However, no sooner had we got going after lunch when the throttle cable pulled out. We soon fixed that and had a good last round but didn’t put up the sort of performance that would trouble the scorer.

With a long way to go we left the trial at 5.30, dropped the Liege off in Evesham and finally got back to Hitchin in the Vauxhall just before midnight. It was a good weekend and we found out a lot about our new car. Role on the Edinburgh.

Testing Trial 2000

The sun didn’t shine kindly on the MCC’s summer jolly on 9th July. Never-less 70 odd boys and girls, of many ages, wound their way down their beloved A303 to Cucklington near Wincanton for their fun day. John Aley’s baby is a one-off, neither a trial nor an autotest, but a mixture of the two. Perhaps you could describe it as a series of short speed hill climbs on grass with a risk of not getting up the hill!

by Michael Leete with lots of help and pictures from John Salter, Chris Phillips and Stuart Cairney

**Gary Booth got 3rd in Rhona Boswell’s Buckler Mk 6**

The class structure is pretty simple. A is for Solo Bikes, B chairs and three wheelers, C closed cars and D open cars. The solo’s are by far the quickest at this game so the overall winner is awarded The John Aley trophy on an index system related to the class performances from the previous year.

Competitors did four rounds of nine or ten sections which were both timed and observed. They became greasier as the day went on and Clerk of the Course Dick Peachey had to simplify things during the day as the conditions deteriorated and in the end had to leave a couple of sections out entirely for the final round.

Geoff Hilton dominated the proceedings on his 1976 Yamaha XT500, setting fastest time of the day overall, fastest time on three of the four rounds and winning on index, so he was definitely the winner which ever way you look at things! Geoff was chased home by Trevor Hughes on a Honda L185S and Neil Browne on a 37 year old 650 Triumph twin, a varied selection of machinery!

Geoff Westcott and Robert Vivlan led the three wheeled contingent home on their Triumph chair. It was interesting to see that the chairs were faster than the three wheelers by a considerable order of magnitude.

Clive Kalber was the fastest car by a country mile in his Mk1 Escort, resplendent in it’s new body shell. David Haizelden won the FWD in his Golf ahead of some interesting competition including a supercharged 2CV and Colin and Michael Weeks in their familiar PCT Mini.

John Ludford was fastest open car in his Marlin ahead of Tony Rothin in his Cannon which now sports an Alfa Romeo engine! It was great to see Rhona Boswell’s Buckler Mk 6 finish third in this class in the hands of it’s fettler Gary Booth.

**The 3 wheelers didn’t fair very well in the slippery conditions, but Steve White coped well in his Riley and won the veterans award.**

Solo’s
Geoff Hilton	Yamaha XT500	539.2	Index andJohn Aley Challenge Trophy
Trevor Hughes	Honda XL 185S	581.2	First
Neil Browne	Triumph Metisse	595.5	Second
Dave Mason	Yamaha Serrow	630.8	Third
Chairs and Three Wheelers
Geoff Westcott/Robert Vivlan	Triumph TR7	616.2	First and Jack Pouncy Trophy
John Grimshaw/George Cook	Triumph	635.5	Second
Michael Crocker/Trvor Griffiths	Yamaha XS	637.1	Third
Closed Cars
Clive and Tommy Kalber	Ford Escort Mk1	638.9	First
Martin and Tom Jones	VW Variation Special	798.7	Second
Steve and Les Austin	VW Baja	821.6	Third
David and Aaron Haizelden	VW Golf	846.4	FWD Trophy
Open Cars
John and Sue Ludford	Marlin	809.5	First
Tony and Anne Rothin	Cannon Alfa Romeo	823.5	Second
Gary Booth/TBA	Buckler Mk 6	879.5	Third
Steve and Joanne White	Riley 2/4 ST Tourer	985.3	Veteran’s award

Rhona’s Buckler

One of the really nice things about Classic Trial’s is the variety of machinery and crews taking part. Every event seems to bring out something or somebody new and the March Hare was no exception with Rhona Boswell making her début in the family Buckler Mk 6. The story of both car and driver are fascinating.

**Rhona Boswell in action in her Buckler Mk 6 on Falcon Motor Clubs millennium March Hare Trial.**

Rhona’s Buckler was re-built from a wreck by her husband Peter, who joined the MCC in 1992. Peter made a new body himself, using the nose cone from Stan Hibbert’s Mk 53. Peter used the car quite a lot on MCC events but Rhona never passengered him. Sadly Peter had a heart attack while he was at work a few years ago and died.

Rhona decided to keep the car and to keep it on the hills where it belonged. This was in the tradition of the cars history as it was used to hard work and had received a trophy for “most used car” at shows. It needed a lot of work but this wasn’t a problem as her daughters partners, Gary Booth and Steve Maskell are both pretty keen and it was Gary who drove the Mk 6 on the 1999 March Hare. This year Rhona decided to drive herself and enjoyed herself, despite a bit of clutch trouble. Lets hope she repeats the experience.

Some other Bucklers

There are quite a few Bucklers in the MCC. Mike Furse has one (or is it more?) and so does Exeter organiser Ken Green who owns a Mk 5 and also runs the Buckler register. You may have seen this car on this years Clee when it was driven by Dave Lucas.

Stan Hibberd is another enthusiast. Stan bough his car back in the early 60’s, used it mainly for autocross and has owned it ever since. He used to race it back then and it made it’s re-acquaintance with a race-track when Stan drove it in a most spirited fashion in a lunchtime demonstration at last years MCC Silverstone bike meeting. Not bad for a guy who had recently recovered from a heart operation!

**MCC General Secretary Mike Furse driving his Buckler Mk 5**

Bucklers

The Buckler was one of the first commercially available “specials” or “kit cars”. Derek Buckler started by making a car for himself in his well-equipped engineering shop back in 1947. DDP 201 had a tubular construction, space frame chassis and a Ford 10 engine.

Derek used his car with some success in club motorsport of the day and decided to go into production with the design. He had referred to his own car as the “Buckler Colonial”, but he started production with the Buckler Mk V! Derek’s expertise was in building the frame or chassis. Constructed from 40 ton/sq. in tensile CDS alloy steel tube these frames weighed in at 60 to 75 lbs., depending on the model, and being extremely rigid did not require the panelling to help stiffen up the chassis. In consequence, most Bucklers are very light, some weighing little over nine hundredweight. Derek’s idea was to sell the Mk 5 as a general-purpose two seater competition car, that you could use for anything, from 1172 formula racing to trials.

The first production Mk 5 was ERD 96, purchased for speed events by Mike Parrott. Mike bought from Buckler without the body, which was made from aluminium by the man next door! Derek generally sold his cars without a body, thus avoiding paying the 30% purchase tax of the day. The guy next door built bodies for a lot of the cars but owners were free to go where they wished which is why many Bucklers look so different.

Derek went on to build about 500 Bucklers in his Reading factory before ill health forced him to sell-up in 1962. The new owners only built a couple more cars before they closed the business. The number of cars that still survive are testimony to the strength and success of the original design. The great variety of specifications is due to the sheer number of options that were available, most of which were produced in-house. I.F.S conversions, special springs and wheels, alternative diff and box ratio’s and many stages of engine tuning were just for starters. Clearly an enthusiasts dream.

Lands End Trial

Rain, sun, hail, the 79th Lands End Trial had it all. It was a cracking event, with just the right balance to give the experienced boys a bit of a challenge, but still left the beginners the chance to climb a few hills.

**Beggars took it’s toll this year and at least a dozen people broke their diffs. Mike Hayward had plenty of help to get going.**

Gordano Services Bristol had the honour of seeing the first competitors away, and by far the majority wanted to start from here. Nobody really wants to arrive at Penzance nine o’clock Saturday night! As usual, there were dramas at the start, or before it in Alan Bellamy’s case. First, the oil pressure light stubbornly refused to go out on his Brasilia’s re-vamped dry sumped motor. Then the engine started to cut out with a re-occurrence of last years fuel supply problems and Alan decided to give the event a miss. He still came along to the Bristol start though, to wish his buddies well.

Fellow Falcon Verdun Webley got to the start but the B series motor in his Marlin wasn’t running properly and Neil Bray dived under the bonnet for the first of many carburettor adjustments. While all this was going on a breathless, Simon Robson arrived, but in his familiar Skoda rather than the Leige he was entered in. Simon had made a super-human effort to get the lightweight class 8 machine finished and through the SVA bureaucracy. He thought everything was ready on the afternoon of the start, but a quick run up the road revealed the back axle was up-the-shoot, so it was back to the Skoda.

Verdun wasn’t the only one with a sick Marlin. Pete and Carlie Hart’s clutch was all spongy and getting worse. Fortunately help was at hand and with John Salter’s help they managed to get it sorted out before the off.

The early runners managed to get to the holding control at Haynes Motor Museum in the dry, but later numbers weren’t so lucky and the heavens opened, so they were grateful that they weren’t locked out this time! Sugg Lane provided the usual warm up and a bit of a delay when Verdun’s Marlin refused to start at the head of the queue. There was plenty of grip here, the rain washing away any mud that was around. Remember last year when a new age traveller commune flanked the exit road? Not this time, as the farmer had constructed massive earth banks to flank the track, so there was no possibility to pull off the road!

Felon’s Oak was the only other section before a very soggy break at Minehead Rugby club, which had about an inch of water on the floor and seems to get seedier every year. The descent down the rough track just before Minehead caused problems for Derek Reynolds and Fred Mills, when the radiator on their venerable Volvo parted company with the engine, but the resourceful crew fixed things with a wire coat hanger. At Minehead competitors learned, that Stoney Street was cancelled. There had been an accident when the chief official and his wife drove their 4×4 off the track and over the steep drop to the left while setting up the section and had to be taken to hospital with some nasty injuries.

The route diverted by the foot of the section and through the winding lanes that by-pass Porlock where car competitors saw David Northover’s abandoned Yamaha leaning forlornly against a tree. John Lee’s was another biker to retire here when water got into his magneto, so it’s no triple for John this year.

Soon it was Beggars. A bit easy in recent years but not this time. Later numbers were warned by all the broken machinery, either being repaired or awaiting recovery. Some reckoned that the best part of a dozen car competitors broke their diffs or transmissions. Alan Selwood was one of the first, his standard Ford diff broke on his Escort and he set to in the forecourt of the garage at the foot of the hill to change it for one of the two spares he was carrying. Mike Hayward, who was just crawling off the re-start when his diff let go with a resounding, crack soon joined him. Neil Bray had stopped too high in the box, and failed, so he was able to tow the stricken class 7 Escort to the garage forecourt and help fit the spare Mike was carrying. Neil Plumridge, had also broken his Ford diff and soon joined them, but there was no changing it by the roadside as it was installed in the transaxle of an Imp! Likewise, it was a recovery job for Philip Mitchell who had felt the rear of his Skoda locking on corners ever since Felons Oak and the diff finally cried enough on Beggars. This is not Phillip’s lucky hill as he was excluded here last year for doing his tyres in the wrong place. At least he didn’t get caught this time, despite John West “lurking in the bushes” as one rather un-kind web community member put it!

The Beggars re-start area was certainly taking its toll. It seemed a lot rougher than recent years, all rough solid rock rather than the usual loose stuff. It certainly caught out David Alderson, running in convoy with Lee Dove, and Troll creator Peter James. The rain was coming down pretty steadily and the team were all pretty wet and cold. Lee and Peter jumped out, let their tyres down and stormed up. David stayed put behind the wheel, suffering a bit from cramp, caused by hours imprisoned in the tiny cockpit. He stormed off the line OK, stopped in the re-start box and there he stayed, the tyres finding no grip at all at 18psi. Verdun Webley lost revs on his Marlin and failed, but the Web Community Marlins of Pete Hart and Mal Allen made storming climbs, as did John Salter in his Vincent. Tony Branson wasn’t so lucky in his A series Marlin which didn’t have the horses to burn it’s way of the re-start line. Nick Wollett was giving his Dellow it’s MCC debut and failed when the clutch went on strike. He summoned the RAC to recover him, but they actually got the car going, and Nick was able to carry on for a finish.

The sun came out on the long 50-mile road run to Sutcombe. Dudley Sterry for one was glad of that, as he had been having problems during the night with his dynamo not charging below 3000 rpm. Dudley was a bit peeved, as he had only just fitted a new one. Dudley wasn’t the only one getting a bit fed up with Joe Lucas as Stuart Harrold’s brand new starter motor had gone on the blink. Stuart and Chris Phillips were relying on push starts and running only eight cars from the back were praying there would be always someone there to give them a shove.

Sutcombe was it’s usual picturesque self and was another hill with one of the fashionable “safety stop” lines at the summit. Poor Mike Hayward didn’t see it and carried on, to get a right rollicking from the chief official. Brian Osbourne broke the prop shaft on his venerable MGB at Darracott, causing a delay whilst it was recovered from the lower reaches of the hill.

Cutliffe Lane was next on the agenda. This is one of the Lands End’s tougher hills, a combination of gradient, roughness and mud conspiring to bring competitors to a halt. The rain had washed much of the mud away but this is a tough hill and there were a lot of failures, especially amongst the later numbers and Neil Bray was very disappointed to fail, especially when he found that Simon Robson had got his Skoda to the summit. Inertia was the order of the day in order to get over the rough bits half way up, the type of hill that made John Salter glad he had fitted a Fack diff in his Vincent! RAC PCT champion Barrie Parker was spectating here to see David Haizeldens impressive clean in his Golf.

Most competitors enjoyed the special test at Bude and put their trotter down to provide a show for the spectators. It was a good job you couldn’t get a “fail” as there were quite a few distinguished wrong courses, including John Salter, Allen organiser Pete Hart and Tony Branson who was also suffering from tight steering as the column bolt was catching something. Derek Reynolds had a good run in his Volvo, but at the expense of the transmission and they had no reverse gear for the remainder of the trial. They retired later with a smell of burning rubber from the their Variomatic transmission.

Crackington came and went without any drama. It was pretty tame as there was little or no doctoring, so it was a bit of a non-event, apart from it’s usual quota of punctures. If Crackington is getting easier, Treworld is getting harder. It doesn’t look any different, but it’s one of those sections that is all about the re-start and I guess that as the years go by the holes get imperceptibly deeper!

There was a hard to find diff test at the cattle market stop before the long run down the A30 to Hoskin, buried deep in the Cardinham Woods. This was the hill that sorted the men from the boys. David Thompson was clean up to now in his VW Buggy and didn’t loose his clean sheet here. Passenger Mike Pearson reported David just “let out the clutch and drove away from the re-start” and spectators said it was a similar storey when Dudley Sterry came along.

The whites and blues didn’t have to re-start but it was still a tough hill for them. Neil Bray couldn’t get his Skoda to the summit but Simon Robson proved it could be done and was still clean in yet another final outing for his Czech wonder machine! Simon and Matt were still running with Gari Jones but they had lost Peter Davis. The hastily prepared Leige had a series of problems and Peter finally gave up when the diffs lifeblood started bleeding all over the A30 and couldn’t be repaired.

Hoskin was John Salter’s Waterloo when he couldn’t re-start his Vincent but the spectators reckoned he gave up too soon. Mal Allen was successful in his Marlin. Mal and Donny were still clean and were to go on to get gold. Pete Hart saw Mal’s climb and reckoned he got it just right, trickling off the re-start without any wheel-spin and slowly increasing the revs as they built their speed. Pete broke traction and stalled when he backed-off. Tony Branson managed to creep off the line but used too much throttle to soon, lost adhesion and that was that. Stuart Harrold and Chris Phillips had to work hard in their Troll but made it OK to remain clean, but some of the other Troll’s weren’t so successful. Lee Dove trickled up but David Alderson blasted it and despite an incredible effort from Emma, and around four gear changes from David, he only managed to move a couple of car lengths.

Back on the A30 competitors were starting to get heavy eyed as they headed south-west into the sun on their way to Bluehills, where the MCC road gang had been hard at work since last year. It was difficult to see what they had done to Bluehills 1, perhaps nothing at all, but with tired eyes and a numb brain, after having been on the go for so long, it claimed a fair crop of failures. Tony Branson saw Jonathan Toulmin having a lot of trouble on the cobbles and went hell for leather around the hairpin. He crested the hump back onto the road in fine style before under-steering straight into the bank, bending the front suspension and nearly ripping off the front tie bar mounting. Verdun Webley wasn’t any luckier in his Marlin when the diff broke asunder. Verun had a spare but, having lost so much time helping Mike Hayward change his diff earlier, he had to retire.

There had been more changes to Bluehills 2. The chicane had been removed, but a lot of earth working had made the re-start area much steeper. Then the track through the gully had been narrowed and the corner made sharper. This was to catch out quite a few people, and damage a lot of cars, as it was necessary to tackle the steep narrow gully on full power and the hard walls were very un-forgiving if anything went wrong. David Heale and Simon Robson both did a lot of damage to the front of their cars when they hit the bank. At least they could keep going. Peter James went flying into the air when he hit the right hand bank and snapped a lower wishbone on landing. Neil Bray was another to go flying in the air, but his Skoda miraculously stayed in on piece on landing and he went on to clean the hill.

The end of the trial was near for the remaining wreckage. Trungle Mill was a nice easy section, a very welcome diversion after the recent excitement. Also welcome was the special test at Flambards. A simple, out and back affair over a spoil heap in a bus depot car park. This was also used as a holding control for Flambards as the section started just off quite a busy road. This is a good final hill for the Lands End, pretty straight, slippy and a fair gradient. It isn’t a formality though and can catch the un-wary as poor Neil Bray was to discover.

There just remained the run-in to the finish at Penzance, with a special test in the little car park just outside the pub. This was popular, despite being very tight and un-forgiving, with walls and railings waiting to trap the un-wary. Both the test and the pub had a nice intimate atmosphere and most competitors put on a good show for the spectators. Overall, most competitors voted this as a good Lands End Trial. The god of the weather was on the clubs side, there were no major delays and the finish arrangements were voted a major success.

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