Author: classictrials

Jack Williams – Cars I have owned

Jack Williams is a familiar face at our trials, always doing well in his smart red Tempest. I knew he had been trialling for a long time and after a brief chat on the phone he agreed to be the subject of my second “cars I have owned” feature. Jack let me borrow some pictures from his collection and in the lunch break at our Edlesborough trial we sat on his trailer and talked.

Jack chose a 1934 BMW 316 for his first Lands End in 1959, seen here on Hustyn

Jack was born and bred in Cornwall and his first recollection of motorsport was being taken to Bluehills on Easter Saturdays. This was in the mid 30’s and Jack remembers that the old hill was still used. There was no Bluehills One in those days. Competitors hairpined left up what is now the surfaced road.

After the war Jack passengered a few times before driving his first Lands End in 1959. In those days you could drive a genuine road car and Jack used his special bodied 1934 BMW 316. It had a six cylinder, 12hp engine and had two Solex updraft carburettors, sucking up like an Austin 7. So there’s nothing new about doing Classic Trials in old cars!

Jack driving the Morgan at the Trenwainton hillclimb on Easter Sunday 1961. He had just finished the Lands End!

By now the bug had really started to bite. Jack was managing a specialist sports car garage just outside Truro. They were the Morgan distributors for Cornwall so Jack naturally took one trialling and it wasn’t your standard car either. In conjunction with Peter Morgan Jack specified an alloy body and bucket seats. The car was also unique as the first Morgan to have its sidelights mounted on the wings. Originally a special for Jacks car Peter Morgan liked the idea so much it became standard.

The Morgan looked superb in British Racing Green and was registered FCV 444. It had a Standard Vanguard Engine because although Triumph’s Sir John Black was an ex-Morgan apprentice he wouldn’t give Morgan the TR engine. However, Jack persuaded Chris Lawrence, the Morgan wizard of the day, to tune the Standard Vanguard engine. By the time he had finished the car went jolly well and the motor looked just the business with it’s twin Strombergs.

Jack competed with the Morgan for a while. The car had to work for it’s living as it doubled as the business’s demonstrator. On the sporting front the Morgan wasn’t only trialled. Jack used to do the Lands End, stay in Penzance and then drive in the Speed Hill climb at Trenwainton on the Sunday.

After the Morgan Jack trialled a spate of Triumph Heralds. Starting with a 1200 Duo Tone in 1961. Then a customer, who was also a member of the local Motor Club, bought a 1200 and fitted it with a Shorrocks super-charger. Another member had an original 948 Herald with twin SU’s. Not to be outdone Jack’s partner got hold of a convertible and had it fitted with a Brabham conversion, complete with a 1200 Coventry Climax motor. The three entered a team in the ’61Lands End and won the team award, beating the Morgan works team when Sid Margullis blew his diff!

Jack rounding the bottom bend on Putwell 2 in one of the unloved Midgets in 1980

Next Jack dabbled with rear engined machinery when he bought a 750cc Renault CV4, the predecessor to the Renault Dauphine. This was a pretty little car but it was a bit short on power so Jack fitted a bigger engine from a Dauphine and souped it up with a Gordini head. They entered the Lands End but only got as far as Beggars where a drive shaft broke.

Then came a trials sabbatical as Jack moved up to Surrey and was out of action from 1963 to ’68/9. He came back with a couple of Midgets but wasn’t impressed with them. Then the garage took a BMW 2002 in part-exchange. Jack thought it would do the business on the hills but it blew its diff somewhere in darkest Devon. Jack was so disgusted he left it there!

It’s getting dark as the AMI mounts the concrete slab on Bluehills 2.

By now Jack’s garage was a Citroen distributor and he decided to take the marque trialling. However, they weren’t standard cars. There was a nice AMI Super. This came with an 1015cc motor. Jack swapped it for an 1,220 engine from a GSA and promptly won his class on the Exeter in 1983.

Jack negotiating Slippery Sam in 1983 when he won his class in the Mehari, one of his favourite cars.

The Mehari was a utility vehicle originally designed for the French army. It was a tough car, built strong enough to travel slung underneath a helicopter before being dropped the last few feet to the ground. The design was based on the AMI platform chassis. Jack really liked the Mehari and had it for some time, but the chassis on his car wasn’t very good. He had an AMI that he wasn’t using, so he wiped the body of that and put the Mehari “top” in its place, even though it was designed for a twin rather than 4 cyl engine. The only problem was the necessity to remove the headlights to change the spark plugs!

Next came a couple of 2CV’s. Jack got on well with these on PCT’’s, finding they would outclimb practically any other front wheel drive car, even though they had a very restricted lock with a 40 ft turning circle. This was because of the swinging arm front suspension. The larger engined 602cc cars were pretty low geared, but the original 425cc machines had an incredibly low diff, something like 8:1, so Jack naturally fitted his larger engined car with the ‘box from the smaller engine.

The Mazda had a hard life but was very reliable

Then came the famous Mazda that Jack used for many years. There weren’t many of this model imported. It was very narrow and short to suit the Japanese tax system. It was actually smaller than a Hillman Imp, ideal for trials, especially after Jack replaced the 1300 motor with a with a 1400 and fitted the ultra low diff from a 1000cc car. Jack won several MCC awards with the Mazda and competed in hundreds of PCT’s. Before Jack got hold of it the Mazda had been owned by the actress Prunella Scales, who loved it dearly. Jack’s business took it in part exchange but Ms Scales kept track of it and was horrified to hear about the ordeals it experienced in its new career!

The Mazda is still going strong and was last seen running around as a shopping car. It never failed to get Jack home, even when the pin came out of the diff in Derbyshire. However, because the crownwheel overlapped the pin it couldn’t come out completely although it got quite beaten up.

These days Jack Williams enjoys open air motoring in his Tempest

Finally comes the Tempest, Jacks current trial’s machine. This was selected as it could be used for trials and as an occasional second car for road use. Like me Jack believes that most cars specifically built for trialling are not really suitable for a trip down to the pub. However, Jack doesn’t believe the Tempest is man enough for classics, although a couple have been seen out with some success. So that’s the story so far. Jack is concentrating on PCT’s these days, very successfully, and has been in contention for the RAC title for the last couple of years.

Going back to classics we talked about how the events have changed. Immediately after the war entry lists were dominated by the E93A Ford Pop, complete with family, kids and suitcase on back! They did very well, often better than the specials. This was because in those days production cars could use Town and Country tyres. The Dellows had to use road pattern cross plies and a Pop with a decent driver could outclimb them. So it was hardly surprising that most of the entry comprised standard production cars. Jack feels very sad that these days production cars are in the minority and those that do compete have to be so heavily modified in order to cope with the rough conditions now the hills have deteriorated so much.

Apart from trials Jack competed in one or two speed events, remembering an “autotest” at Perranporth airdrome in 1962. It consisted of a third mile sprint down the runway. Round a pylon and back again. Very enjoyable, especially when Jack’s Morgan beat the TR’s.

We started to talk about some of the things Jack had seen over the years. Like when Sydney Allard charged around the Exeter on his new J2 Allard, only to find it was too wide for the bridge at Fingle! Then there was time for no more. Lunch was over and there was trialling to be done.

We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media

The Sprint – Geoff Jackson’s New Car

If there was a prize for the smartest car at the July Autotest it would have been won by Geoff Jacksons new trials car the “Sprint”. Geoff has all the qualifications for the job. My first recollection of him was on the 1971 Guy Fawkes when he was driving a Morris. Latterly he has campaigned a class eight Dellow on MCC events. (Kindly towing me out of a mud hole on the muddy exit from Calton a few years ago).

Geoff started to build his new car about five years ago. He started by putting a melamine “surface plate” on a couple of trestles and laying out the chassis tubes on that. The Sprint uses a Ford back axle located by twin trailing arms. A mark 4 Cortina provided the front hubs and the suspension owes a lot to Westfield and the Ford Transit, while a friendly Escort donated it’s steering rack!

Geoff resisted the temptation to fit a Ford Kent engine and the Sprint is powered by a 1500 lump from a Triumph Spitfire, running a single SU. The mechanics are finished off by a very well made body, nicely painted in Red. It’s a super car and did very well at Upper Caldecote in the hands of Geoff’s two sons. Watch out for the Sprint on the Edinburgh.

We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media

The Skeetle – by Alan Bellamy

Have you noticed how most modern cars look the same. Ford or Fiat, Rover or Renault, from fifty yards it’s hard to tell the difference. It’s the same with trials machines. It’s all Beetles, Escorts, Marlins and Troll/Cannon/Dellow. When you do see a new special they tend to be what Tom Threlfall calls a “Latvian tractor chassis with a Beetle engine”. (Letters to Tom please, not me!).

Into this dull world come a couple of characters who liven the scene with something a bit different, Dave Nash and Alan Bellamy. Alan has campaigned a VW Notchback in class six for quite a few years and is currently restoring a Brasilia. After a few years with a very rapid Rapide, Dave Nash embarked on some special building. Here is the tale, told by Alan Bellamy.

The completed Skeetle has yet to be blooded in competition. It has a really super paint job. Will it compete in class seven or eight?
“Noddy” at the top of Calton on the Edinburgh in 1994, before the ruts were filled in. Afterwards Dave re-painted the car a conservative blue out of genuine concern for Alan Foster’s blood pressure.

“Nashy tells me you want to write about the Skeetle.  Well here’s how it all started, from my point of view.  Many years ago, like 35,  I used to do a bit of mud plugging.  Dave was quite a bit younger than me, so he could only come and watch.   I went on to have a go at many other forms of motor sport and lost touch with Dave when he moved to Milton Keynes.

Eventually we got together again, about eight years ago, when I was looking for a navigator for the Lands End.  Dave really enjoyed himself and decided he had to have a go himself.  I was the one with the work shop and tools but it was Dave who had the enthusiasm.  His step-father was a Skoda main agent so Dave decided to support the marque and use one of the Czech rear engined machines for his Classic attack.  We talked about all sorts of ideas and mods, mostly on the long drive home after MCC events.   We could see the potential and started with an ex autocross car from Holland, but the cam was a bit too hairy.  Then came a lovely blue car, which unfortunately ended up losing a head on clash with a fire engine!!!!

Next came the yellow car, and we really started to modify this machine.  However the main problem we had was getting a good power to weight ratio.  A tweaky cam was necessary to get the motor to produce any decent power but this was all at the top end and we wanted it lower down the rev band. So one day on our return from the Lands End we dreamt up the car that ended up as Noddy.  We had the opinion that removing all the interior trim would help to bring the power to weight ratio more in our favour.

Unfortunately we got a bit carried away and ended up removing 24 inches out of the middle of the car.  When we welded it back up again we eliminated all non-essentials, including the roof!  This had the desired effect and with the engine from one of the later Skoda’s went very well, picking up some medals on the way and setting FTD at the Testing Trial.  With my uncle having been the work shop foreman at Frazer Nash for over twenty years, and Dave’s surname being Nash, it just had to be Skoder-Nash .   When it was finished it looked just like Noddy’s car so we painted red blue and yellow!  Unfortunately some MCC luminaries didn’t share our sense of humour so we re-painted it in a conservative shade of blue.  Noddy hated his new colour and detached himself from the A frame while being towed home from the paint shop to the detriment of his body work!

We wanted more power so we started looking at bigger and more powerful engines. The Fiat twin cam was the top of our list, the question was would the gear box take the power?   After much debate it seemed obvious that a new car was going to come about.   With Dave’s passion for Skoda’s and mine for VW’s a bit of each seemed the way to go!  So the Skeetle was born.  Dave managed to get hold of one of the original Skoda Cabriolets, and we eventually married it to a Beetle floor pan.   Now we needed a 1600 VW engine and one came along thanks to a rather rusty Brasilia from Andy Clarke.  Dave wanted to take the engine out and scrap the rest.  But I managed to talk him out of this by giving him a good type three motor.  This fits well and gives a lower centre of gravity and more room in the boot area (enough for a spare wheel to be mounted over the engine).

Well, that’s about it, two years later the Skeetle is on the road, registered as a modified Beetle it sports a 25 year exempt tax disc.  What shall we do now?   There’s a Brasilia to finish, well that’s another story.”

We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media

A Fishy Tale

Susan Jamieson and Maralyn Knight with Tuckers Triple. Presented to Falcon as the clubs new Trials Trophy.

What connects a Nipper to a Lobster besides the fact that it’s claw nips?  You don’t know, really!…. read on.It all began with my frightful gaff in the April edition of Classical Gas, saying that Falconry’s former editor, Maralyn Knight, was the first lady to gain a coveted MCC Triple.  Fortunately for historians Ron Warren corrected me the following month.  I was delighted, not only that he set the record straight, it also confirmed that someone out there is reading this stuff!

Ron’s correction sent me scurrying to Peter Garniers book, not that I didn’t believe him.  In the thirty years since I first met Ron I have learned that he doesn’t say something unless he’s pretty certain it’s right!    No, I was after material for a story and here it is.

Maralyn’s father, Tucker, was president of both Falcon and the MCC.  Tuck conceived, built and drove the Tucker MG, perhaps the ultimate all round sporting machine.  Not only did he campaign it in trials, it was also his circuit racer.  Tucker and Betty had two daughters, Maralyn and Susan, and they took them trialling whenever possible, Tuck even converted his car to a four seater!    However, the time came when they couldn’t go with mum and dad anymore.   Tucker responded by building them a trial’s machine of their own, based on a 5cwt Ford Van.  The name was inspiration itself, “The Tucker Nipper Special”.   With sister Sue as passenger Maralyn had five successful years with the car,   becoming the second woman to win a triple and the first to win two.

The Miss Tucker-Peakes in the “Tucker-Nipper Special” at the foot of Bluehills 2

Maralyn married Peter Knight in 1967 and gave up trials driving, but not motorsport.  The couple became RAC timekeepers, officiating in many major events, especially at Silverstone.  Maralyn didn’t severe her trial’s connections completely as she is heavily involved in producing “Triple”, the MCC’s magazine.  I don’t  know what happened to the “Nipper”, but the Tucker MG is presently being restored by Jim Templeton.

Meanwhile, sister Susan had taken to saloon car racing, first with an Anglia, then an Escort and finally a season racing all over Europe as a Skoda works driver.  When Tuck built Susan’s Escort she sold the Anglia to boy friend David Ovey.  David later went on to race at Le Mans in Charles Ivey’s Porsche and became an airline pilot.  He is now married to Tomorrows World presenter Sharnaz Pakravan, lives in London, and is fully occupied as a house husband!

I can remember marshalling at Nottingham Sports Car Club meetings at Silverstone when Sue and David were racing.  David’s sister Marion was also a Falcon member around this time.  She was a keen marshal, and an occasional rally driver, she even had a certain Michael Leete as her navigator on one occasion!  Marion was a studying hotel and catering management at the time.   Today she owns and runs the Lobster Tail restaurant in Great Offley.   Specialising in fish this is a very nice place with excellent food, it’s recommended.

As Ron pointed out Margaret Woodall was the first lady to win a Triple.  Margaret was married to Bert Woodall who with his brother Victor built the big Wolseley-Ford special in 1938.  After the war Bertie built a second (Mk 2) Ford special in 1951, winning him a triple in 1952 with Maggie getting hers in the same car in 1955.  Margaret is still involved with the sport, running the finish controls at MCC events.

Bert and Margaret’s son, Simon, organised   the Clee Hills classic for many years and is the current ACTC chairman.  Simon competes in the ACTC series with a class 8 VW buggy and a rather special convertible BAJA in class 7 in the MCC events.

Isn’t amazing what you can learn by reading Classical Gas!!!

Bertie Woodall in the Wolesley-Ford Special.

Link to a Nipper Update

We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media

Michael’s Mechanic’s

I was really looking forward to my Mechanic’s Trial, and so was Mike Hayward. It promised to be really interesting, the first “new” event for us since we did The Exe Valley a few years ago. It was particularly poignant for us as Falcon enthusiasts, as it promised to use some of the sections from The Guy Fawkes, back when it was a road trial in The Cotswolds.

by Michael Leete

The event was first planned as “The Anniversary Trial” to celebrate Stroud’s 50th. Andrew Brown and Rich Welch organised it as a day/night event, with relatively easy sections, with the emphasis on the team award. They had sought out a mixture of old and new sections in the Cotswolds, using the area to the North of “The Cloud’s” stamping ground. Andrew had done a tremendous amount of research, including seeking out some of the sections used on the old Falcon Guy Fawkes. The event was first called off because of floods and then Foot and Mouth got in the way. By this time both Andrew and Rich ran into time problems and the event was put on the back burner.

It was a waste to throw away all the hard work, so Stroud’s Hayward clan took up the mantle and the club decided to make their Mechanic’s Trial a road event. It was to use some of the defunct “Anniversary’s” route, but with some new ones to make it a rather tougher event, in the normal Stroud style. Mike and I had originally planned to do The Anniversary in Mike’s Escort but we entered The Mechanic’s in my Beetle.

The car had been resting in the garage over the summer and I hadn’t really done anything to it since The Lands End. It had gone well on The Edinburgh, despite the little problem when the brakes disappeared. The first time this happened was in the queue for Putwell. I went to move the car forward and the footbrake went to the floor! A pump of the pedal and there was a little bit of brake, another pump and it was back to normal. I leapt out of the car and dived underneath. No evidence of leaks. Up with the hood to check the reservoir, all looked well and the pedal was back.

We continued with caution and all seemed well. An hour or so later we were coming down a hill in convoy with Mike Pearson and Simon Robson and the pedal went to the floor again. Turning into a lay by we checked. Again there was no fluid loss and the pedal came back after a pump or two. I went back and talked to Mike and Arnold and they reckoned the master cylinder was on the way out. I decided to continue albeit at quite a slow pace! We finished the trial and drove home the next day with no problems. Back at base, I could find nothing wrong, although I noticed the front brakes were dragging a bit.

The next weekend I fitted a new master cylinder, which was bit of an effort, as the other one hadn’t been fitted properly. The pushrod passed through the double-skinned front bulkhead on the floor pan. It is only supposed to bolt to the outer skin, using a couple of spacers to extend the length of the bolts. The manual gives dire warnings about not dropping these down into the void. I didn’t, because they weren’t there! Someone had lost them when changing the master cylinder on a previous occasion! I used a magnet to fish about down the hole to no avail, presumably they had fallen out when I had a section of the frame head replaced in the early days of owning the car. 

The previous owner had secured the master cylinder by putting large washers under the bolts and securing the master cylinder through both skins, which without the spacers had collapsed the inner one in a bit. I didn’t want to repeat the error so I made a couple of new ones up out of a couple of bits of pipe, skimming them flat with the little model makers lathe I bought earlier in the year. I put everything back together and everything worked, except the front brakes seemed to be dragging a bit. I took the car for a spin and everything seemed to function so I put it away until the Mechanics Trial.

Mike and I set out early, chatting away, without a care in the world. We got to Ampthill, about ten miles away from home and I braked for a roundabout. Pulling away I smelt burning and soon realised it as coming from the brakes. We stopped and I saw how hot the front hubs were. Hoping whatever was wrong would right itself we carried, on but the car wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding. Stopping we jacked the front up. The brakes were locked on pretty solid.

It was raining but we had good look but couldn’t come up with any better ideas other than the new master cylinder was faulty. I hammered away at the pads until they were free of the disks and we limped home on the handbrake. We talked of going down and spectating on The Mechanics but decided this was not a good idea as we didn’t know where any of the hills were so we went to the VW Swap Meet at Slough instead.

In order for the fluid to go back up to the reservoir when the pedal is released so the pads can go back channel A must be open which means there must be clearance b between the pushrod and cylinder.

Looking at the car the first idea was that I hadn’t adjusted the master cylinder pushrod correctly, preventing the fluid going back up to the reservoir when the brakes are released. I slackened this right off and it made no difference. Then I undid the bleed nipples, releasing any pressure, still no difference. Then I took the brake pipes off, still no difference! So that only left the callipers, which were only a couple of years old but there was nothing else. Putting the pipes back, I persuaded Lesley to get in the car and put the brakes on. I then got a drift and knocked one of the pads back. I got her to put her foot on the pedal again. The piston didn’t move. Harder and harder, she pushed and slowly it moved forward with many creaks and groans. I took the pad out and got my big crowbar and levered the piston back. We repeated the process for about ten minutes until the piston moved freely. I put the pad back and went on top the next one.

I was pretty annoyed with myself for not trying this in the lay-by but there we are. The brakes worked but I decided not to take any chances and got a new pair of callipers. Now all I have to do is stop the fluid leaks having undone all those brake pipes! So, why had the brakes failed on The Edinburgh? Murray’s theory is that they were rubbing then and that the heat had boiled the brake fluid. Any better idea’s?

We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media