Category: ACTC

To quote Simon Woodall “Someone once said that the Camel Classic was ‘a trial organised by buggy drivers for buggy drivers’. It looks to me like it’s got to pass that handle to the Kyrle”. Indeed Simon and Ian Davis had a ding dong battle for the lead but it was spoilt by Adrian Dommett who pipped them for overall victory in his Wolseley Hornet. 

The organising team had chosen a mix of old and new hills in and around The Forest of Dean for their notoriously tough event. As well as some very steep hills they were aided by a fair amount of rain for a few days before so a competitive event was on the cards, without the necessity to impose tyre pressure restrictions. 

The first group of hills was just north of Monmouth and they set the tone of the event. Steep, long, rutted with near impossible hairpins, and that was just the approach road! There were three sections close together, with a map of the forest to ensure the crews found them OK. The first one started in a sea of mud and led straight up a steep, very rutted track. The ruts were very deep and defeated all the Escorts whose diff casings dug into ground in between the grooves. Most of the other classes succeeded, but it still caught out quite a few, including Keith Oakes in his Dutton Phaeton. 

Keith wasn’t any luckier on Widow Maker which came next, as classes 6, 7 and 8 had to restart. Most of the Class 8’s pulled away, but not Tony Young and the five he lost here cost him an overall win. It was different proposition for classes 6 and 7 and only Andrew Martin (Dutton Melos) and Brian Phipps (Marlin) succeeded. The third hill, Howards Way, was a bit easier and gave some respite, although Simon Groves picked up a puncture, his third on the day, the other two wee on the way to the start! 

Next it was back onto the A40 before turning back into the complex for Goldsmiths 1 and 2 and a greeting from the genial John Sergeant. They were both fearsomely steep and rutted, with a hairpin to liven up Goldsmiths 2. Again most of the class eights were successful, but the others struggled and even eventual winner Adrian Dommett dropped two on the first one. 

Back on the A40 again, in the direction of Ross, it was only a few miles to the new sections at Goodrich. These were some way off the road across the fields and down to the River Wye. On arrival at Ropers competitors were greeted by Simon Harris with the unusual opportunity to go past “section begins” and view the section. Wow, it was worth seeing. After a few yards on the level it was into a pool of mud, 90 left and up a straight muddy climb between the trees that was probably a fire break. It was a tough one but as Simon Woodall and Paul Bartleman proved it was possible to go clean and this put them in joint lead of the event. Geddes didn’t present too much of a problem and neither did Castle View that was only tackled by the lower classes. 

After the first long road run of the day the route wound its way into The Forest of Dean itself for a complex of four hills and a special test. Jack and Jill were first and were cleaned only by most of the class eights, Andrew Martin, Ray Goodnight and of course Adrian Dommett. In class 8 Simon Woodall dropped two on both of these horrors, putting Paul Bartleman into the sole lead. Class four lost Ian Moss here, the powerful Imp’s transmission crying enough for the second trial in succession. 

A few yards up the track came Burnbrae. The drop down to the stream is always the same but afterwards the route depends on the whim of the organisers. This year it was around the tree for everyone. This is very tough as it’s hard to regain traction after the corner and very few were successful. Paul Bartleman and Ian Davis were amongst the unlucky ones, dropping five and three respectively. Ian and and Simon Woodall were in the joint lead now, together with Mike Workman, one in front of Adrian Dommett. 

The tree was to take its toll. Not just on the section but also for the failures who dropped back onto the lay-by and were encouraged by the marshals to have a second go. Numerous saloons sustained body damage, the worst being Simon Groves who came near to ripping the side off the gold Escort. 

Just across the road lay a special test and the infamous Pludds where Andrew Brown reported on http://www.wheelspin.org.uk/blog/index.htm:- 

“For those that don’t know it, Pludds in an almost straight, very steep, climb on a stony/rocky track with a very rocky section just over half way up and that, of course, is where the restart is always placed. Clerk of the Course, Adrian Marfell, had inspected Pludds immediately before our arrival and imposed tyre pressure restrictions for just this one section – the rest of the trial being run unrestricted. 14psi for Class 8, and 12psi for Class 7, was to have a significant effect on the restarters. First up, once again, was Mike Workman who made it look easy after which car after car failed although there were notable climbs by Paul Bartleman (Troll) and Tony Young (VW Special), Tony being particularly pleased as his special does not like tyre pressure restrictions. Tony came back down, after his climb, to say “Hello” to Mark and it was interesting to hear that he’d spectated at Pludds last year and worked out what he thought was the best line on the restart – the same line that we’d worked out by watching this year. I’m certainly not telling anyone else the ‘secret’ except to say that a significant number of the failures stopped with their nearside front tyre up against a large rock step and we knew they were going nowhere long before the marshal’s flag dropped. The same decimation continued in Class 7 with the notable exception of Andrew Martin, who had time to shake Tony’s hand as he left the restart, Derek Tyler (VW Baja) and Ray Goodright. John Ludford (Marlin) certainly also cleared the section but may have spent too long on the restart – I haven’t seen the full results yet.” 

In fact the results show they were all were given a clean. All the class three’s bar Tom Jones went clean but it wasn’t very class four friendly and only David Shaylor was clear. Neither Ian Davis nor Simon Woodall got away from the restart, putting Mike Workman into an overall lead, one ahead of Adrian Dommett. 

There was an hours rest at the Speculation picnic site where a couple of dead cars were resting. David Wall’s Canhai Special had run its big ends on the Pludds restart and Andrew Rippons ex–Jason Collins Baja, now with 1935 power, had broken its diff. Saloon competitors were able to compare Burnbrae body damage and the judges unanimously voted Simon Groves the winner! 

After the second special test came Snompers. This was another ground clearance problem for many, with a restart for class eight. Mick Workman failed to get away from this passing the overall lead to Adrian Dommett. Bluebell was a rather strange hill in the same complex which stopped most of the entry but not Keith Sanders in his Scimitar which was going very well in class five and was to finish a very credible sixth overall. 

There was another longish road run to the final complex where 6, 7 and 8 attempted Dawes Tump. Attempt being the operative word as only Ian Davis, Simon Woodall, Russ Norman and Paul Bartleman were clean. 

Lane End was just up the track. A fearsome challenge. The start line was in a mud bath, followed by a very sharp hairpin left, then a straight steep bit with fearsome ruts and so on and so on! The early runners in class eight stormed up. The class sevens struggled a bit and Keith Oakes grounded out in the ruts but Andrew Martin got through them for a clean and a class win. The incredible Keith Sanders stormed up. David Dyer was the only successful class four and Colin Perryman the only class three after all the Escorts grounded out in the lower reaches and Nick Farmer failed on the third hairpin. 

Running at the end of the field conditions were at the worst for Adrian Dommett but he had no problems at all, cleaning the section for a well deserved overall win of a very rough, tough, Kyrle Trial.

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