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Fred Gregory and Pete Stafford enjoyed The Mechanics Trial
Having competed in quite a few Cotswold Clouds, Pete Stafford and I knew that their Mechanic’s Trial was going to be a rough, tough event. We were not disappointed, and getting the chance to explore sections and tracks that we had never seen before, and had not been trialled for many years, heightened the experience.
The day dawned wet and misty. We were running quite early in the field; at number seven, so we hadn’t expected to see clubmates Michael Leete and Mike Hayward, who were among the tail end Charlie’s. It was a good job we didn’t hang around for them, because they didn’t make the start, when the Beetles front brakes locked on only a few miles from home.
Our adventure started even before the first hill. We were travelling in convoy on a long off road run-in to the first section when my Rickman Ranger got stuck. We were actually going down hill at the time and the car was well and truly stuck on its diff casing. We were stranded with our driven wheels practically off the ground. Clearly we weren’t going to drive off under our own power, so the ever resourceful Pete Stafford dived into the undergrowth to produce a strong tree branch that we used to lever the car off. Away we went towards the first section, not very far though, because just a few yards further on the track had been washed out. There was a triangular shaped gully up the middle with the sides at an angle of about 30 degrees. I tried my hardest to straddle it but the Rickman soon dropped in, to heel over at an enormous angle. Pete fell across on top of me but there was no choice but to keep my foot down. We scraped along with the side of the car wearing away as it rubbed along the side of the trench! We were not alone; one of the Moss Brothers in an Imp did the same, only he got stuck! I wonder how many other competitors followed suite?
The section was a no-no, too tight a turn at the bottom for us. On to section two, not so fast though as there was more off roading. Our convoy found a Cannon ahead trying to reach the tarmac road un-aided. Teamwork got him out, plus our entire group of six or so cars. Carl Talbot got all the way to the four in his class eight Trialsmaster and Ian Moss wasn’t far behind him in his Imp. Most of the entry was like me though, grinding to a halt at the eleven!
Some of the sections were sub divided, funnily enough we found these ones easier! The off-roading was great, the sections were often narrow, rough and challenging, absolutely marvellous stuff, never mind that two were abandoned.
By the time we reached the last section, called “Viaduct” we were running first on the road. The start was on a flat, deep leaf-moulded surface then a muddy bit, through a gate onto a soggy field, climbing, then harder ground followed by steep mud with ruts and it was sub-divided. We gave it full power. Pete on full bounce mode even using 2nd gear it was touch and go at times, a brilliant section. We stopped in sight of the section ends board for a one. No way out, it was back down to the start, nearly half a mile away.
While we waited for a way back to the road there was a medical emergency, a suspected heart attack. Nearly everybody had to leave to make room for an ambulance. We hoped the patient was OK but after the event we learned that he died.
The section was cancelled and the entry wound their sad way to the finish. A tragic end but thanks Stroud boys and girls we really enjoyed our Mechanics Trial.
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Golf Gti driver Michael Collins won a Clee Hills that was heavily handicapped against class eight. It was a sticky event, with everyone having to cope with deep ruts but the Class eights had some tough re-starts and alternative routes as well.
Peter Manning checking out his Midget in the queue for Round Oak which was later cancelled for his class.Michael Leete’s Beetle stands all alone at the back of the field while it waits it turn at HungerfordDick Glossop pictured on his unsuccessful attack on the left hander at HungerfordDick Glossop pictured on his unsuccessful attack on the left hander at Hungerford
There had been a fair amount of rain the week before the trial, but the weather was warm enough to ensure there was no snow this year. Cars run in class order on The Clee and Stuart Harrold and Chris Phillips led the field away from The Boyne Arms in Burwarton near Bridgenorth in Shropshire. As the rest of the field followed the more privileged (or is it disadvantaged?) had Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason’s brother Tony thrust a microphone under their noses as he interviewed them for a Discovery Channel program that will be shown some time in the summer.
Farlow was first on the agenda. It had not been used for three years, as it wasn’t included the last time the event was run because of PR problems with the occupier of the house at the bottom. The section is a straight, muddy blind, cutting off a hairpin on the tarmac road. Grip was quite a problem for the early numbers and Stuart Harrold, Nigel Moss and Mike Chatwin all floundered on the lower reaches in their Trolls. At least they got further than David Thompson who didn’t make the start when he couldn’t get the ex-David Alderson machine fired up and had to stay at home in Kettering. The ruts became deeper with the passing of each car but later numbers with sufficient ground clearance found plenty of grip and most of the Class One’s cleaned the section.
There was a long road section of over 20 miles to the next hill, an even muddier section with yet more deep ruts. This had never been used for car trials before, although bikes had used it in the 50’s and 60’s. Most of the class eights came out the top of this one, but Stuart Harrold ground to a halt again and so did Tony Rothin in the Cannon Alfa. Crews in the other classes really struggled and Terry Ball was the only saloon to gain a clear. The Escorts all hated this hill, grounding out in the deep ruts by the left hander and causing a big queue to build up while they were dragged out.
The Class fours didn’t fare much better and most of them under-steered into the bushes immediately after the start line, including Giles Greenslade and Richard Peck. When Richard backed out his Beetle looked decidedly lopsided and he retired, limping home to Derbyshire with a suspected broken torsion bar. Clerk of the Course Simon Woodhall was in attendance and he decided to cancel the hill for the remaining classes, leaving class four to run last on the road. Michael Leete made the penultimate ascent and he trickled through the mud at the start, staying in the ruts and slowly building momentum, blasting through the deep stuff at great speed before the clinging mud sucked him to a stop just short of the section ends board.
Bill Rosten had problems on the following road section. A lot of mud had been sucked into the engine compartment as he backed out of Round Oak and the alternator had stopped charging. The descent to the start of Adstone was pretty rutty and there was no going back if you changed your mind! The section didn’t present too many problems and neither did Rattlinghope or Gatten’s Gamble. They were all nice long sections though, with some absolutely fabulous views on what was now a clear day.
The views continued on the run over The Long Mynd with another long section before Harton Wood, which had to be tackled on road pressures after Pete Hart and his crew had leapt out in the road to do a diff test. There was another delay at Hugerford, one of the highlights of The Clee. This presented Mike Jones and John Sargeant with a lot of problems as they tried to get competitors queued up off the main road. The section is quite hard to turn into and drivers were allowed to swing into the road if they wished. The class eights didn’t have any problems at the bottom but they had a tough re-start just before the hump at the top and very few could get away. As the field went through so the bottom became very badly cut-up and it became difficult to get round the corner at all. It caught out both Dave Sargeant and Dick Glossop in their Beetles. Dave got around the corner at the expense of quite a bit of body damage while Dick just couldn’t get round at all. The character of the section had changed a lot since it was last used as the trees edging the gully had been felled and the section itself had become very muddy and cut up by the work vehicles. There were a few rocks remaining though and both Ian Ramsey and Neil Bray punctured. Hungerford also saw the end of Bill Rosten’s day when he retired with a broken Hardy Spicer joint.
Longville was nice and easy if you didn’t have any restarts; although it was all too much for Emma Flay’s Escort and she retired. The class eight’s had to re-start of course and only a couple got away cleanly, including Adrian Marfel and Mike Pearson in his Dellow Replica. The class eight handicap was hammered home when they diverted to Majors Leap while the rest of the field tackled the hairpin at Ippkins Rock. None of the class eights got beyond the ten marker while over at Ippkins around half the entry emerged without penalty, the right-hand hairpin causing the demise of the remainder.
The Clee’s traditional stopper, The Jenny Wind came next, despite some PR problems with the householder at the bottom. The club had tried to minimise the disturbance by erecting a huge tarpaulin to provide a visual screen and contain the flying dirt from spinning wheels. Class eight had a re-start at the eight marker, which slowed them down and the leaders only got as far as the five. Adrian Marfel was in the lead in his rear engined rail, a couple of marks ahead of Tony Young. Carl Talbot had been going well in the Morris Trialsmaster and would have been level with Adrian but for a fail on the first special test. Terry Ball came to The Jenny Wind with a clean sheet in his class six Beetle, as did Paul Allaway in his Astra, Michael Collins in his Gti and Terry Coventry in the AX, albeit the class ones were aided by Round Oak being cancelled for their class. All these clean sheets were blown to the wind here but Paul Allaway went that bit further to take the lead of the trial.
Harley Bank was a few hundred yards up the road. A lovely long blind up through the woods for the lower classes, although things were spiced up for seven and eight with a sharp left hander that proved impossible and an eight was the best anyone could muster. Even without the diversion Harley was pretty tough unless you had a lot of ground clearance and a fair amount of power to blast through the mud and ruts.
Talking of mud and ruts Simon Woodhall made sure a class eight wouldn’t win overall by sending them up Meadowley which was very slippery after all the rain. He reckoned without Adrian Marfel though, who actually made it to the top but the eight lost on the hairpin at Harley Bank dropped him out of overall contention as the field made it’s way back to Burwarton for the final sections within the Boyne estate with Paul Allaway in the overall lead by one mark. They were running last car on the road by now, after stopping to help David Haizelden who had mechanical problems. They had a great run on the last section called Forsters Fright but lost the lead to Michael Collins after getting a fail on the final special test.
So a class one emerged victorious with Michael Collins dropping 15 in his Golf Gti. He was one mark ahead of Terry Coventry on 16, the same score as Michael Leete but the Beetle driver had a much slower special test time. Adrian Marfel was best class eight but with their extra sections, restarts, alternative routes and high tyre pressures he could only manage ninth overall. Clive Kalber won class three on special test times after finishing on equal points with Paul Eamer.
The 2002 Clee will probably be a talking point for some time. In particular Were the class seven and eights to heavily handicapped. Perhaps they were, perhaps they weren’t. At the end of the day organiser Simon Woodhall is a class eight driver so he knew what they could or couldn’t do. It was unusual for class one to do so well and there’s no doubt that cancelling the muddy Round Oak helped them. Me, I thought it was a great event, but perhaps I am just a shade biased!
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Adrian Marfell won the first ACTC trial after the enforced break with a clear run on the Exmoor Clouds. He was chased hard all day by Paul Bartleman in his new Troll and Dudley Sterry in his venerable MG.
by Ian Davis
As in 2000, this year’s Exmoor Clouds started at the Ralegh’s Cross Inn high on the Brendon Hills. Unlike last year though the morning dawned bright and sunny and the 52 motorcycle and 66 car competitors enjoyed beautiful autumn sunshine all day. The hills were in prime condition after a wet week and although one or two of the old favourites were missing, due to foot and mouth precautions, the route was similar to that used in the last couple of years.
Giles Greenslade won class 4. Dudley Sterry only dropped three marks but was pipped at the post for second overall by Paul Bartleman on spevcial test times.Adrian Marfel (shown, like the ones below, in this John Salter picture on the Ebworth Chase) won first ACTC trial after the break with a clean run.
After a gentle opener in the form of Steep Lane, the trial moved on to Port Lane where considerable delays built up as the motorcyclists tackled (with varying degrees of success) this long classic section. Five saloons saw the section ends board although only four cleaned the hill. The fifth, driven by William Rosen, was judged to have stopped lower down and then got moving again – a pity as it is some achievement to get an Imp over the rock steps at the top on tiny 12″ wheels.
The next three hills were to prove decisive. The first, Northmoor, was very muddy at the bottom with a deviation off the main track to the restart line, which stopped three quarters of Class 8. The usual suspects went clear and were joined by Paul Bartleman in what was listed as a Ford Special but what everyone else seems to call the ‘Cream Cracker’ Troll.
Following on from Northmoor was the first Special test of the day where Bill Foreshew threw the GVS II round in style to set FTD. Ski Slope was next and with the sun warming the grass, we had hopes of getting off the steep and slippery restart. These were soon dashed as the hill proved to be in fine form with a sticky patch lower down which stopped all the saloons bar one – David Turner’s BMW. He was joined at the top by Tommy Kalber in his Dutton and just three Class 8 specials – eventual winner Adrian Marfell, Dudley Sterry (after some determined bouncing) and local man David Dyer in a Canon who made it look easy, despite having shifted his rear axle on Port Lane. Falcon’s Murray and Hazel Mac were marshalling on the hill and Murray described how one special had almost rolled when attempting to climb the bank up to the restart – apparently only the fact that the spare wheel carrier had dug into the ground stopped it from flipping over backwards.
Pin Quarry followed and in contrast to Ski Slope, where the whole hill can be seen from the bottom, the start was out of sight. Not many cars saw the top either, most being stopped by a muddy bank or the hollow that followed immediately after. Following the route thereafter was also something of a challenge as it twisted and turned PCT-style up to the top of the old section. We met a Dellow driver at the top who arrived from a completely different direction but was convinced he’d cleaned the hill!
Allercott also had something of the PCT about it starting downhill and after climbing slightly descending further before the steep rutted grassy slope at the finish. Having made a mess of this last year, I was determined to blast straight up the final slope. All went well until the 5 marker landed on the bonnet, followed shortly by the 4 marker! I suppose the marshal gamely jumping into our path to vainly try and direct us up the left hand side should have given the game away but we weren’t the only ones to be caught out by the subtle route-marking and the penalties incurred for striking marker posts.
On to Middlecombe Woods where the first of two sections featured another downhill start to a wide left hand bend and then a long roller coaster climb with a choice of routes at the six marker – either a tight squeeze between two stout trees or round to the left. Although fairly straightforward for class 8, no car cleared the section from Classes 1-7 and delays again built up. The situation wasn’t helped when the recovery vehicle got into difficulty trying to reach the Hazelden Golf and took a full half-hour to get mobile again.
The second Middlecombe section proved less challenging, much to the relief of most of the field who had cleared only two or three sections by this stage – two thirds of the way through the trial! Land’s End section Hindon also proved easy this year. The good relations Dick Hutchins and the team have with the locals were in evidence here as farmer and family was sat in the sunshine spectating. Apparently, the key to Dick’s success (he has something like 40 hills to chose from) is the invitation to the club’s annual dinner extended to the landowners of the sections used each year
Not far from Minehead, the slippery tree roots at the top of Avill Ball stopped all the saloons and most of the bikes although most in Class 8 managed to avoid the large stump at the top and clean the section.
On to Tarr Cot, which proved a real challenge for the saloons, only Clive Kalber in his Escort and Giles Greenslade going clear to secure their respective class wins. There appeared to be some communication problem here as some cars were sent off while others were coming back down having failed. Clearly not ideal, especially as you need to press on a bit to get across an adverse camber half way up… Those who made the top uninterrupted were treated to a glorious view over the Bristol Channel to South Wales.
Down through Roadwater and along the old mineral line to what looked like abandoned Iron ore workings for the final two stages – one for class 8 and one for everyone else. Getting to the start of these sections required climbing a track, which could serve as a section in itself. Unfortunately it proved too challenging for some of the saloons, especially as most arrived well after nightfall and their section was rightly cancelled – this area definitely not being somewhere to get stuck in the dark. Class 8 arrived earlier, however, and were able to tackle a long steep section with big drops to the right hand side and a slippery grassy finish which stopped most of the class. We gave it death and were pleased to get to the top only to see Adrian Marfell cruise up in second gear to complete the only clear round of the day and a well-deserved victory. Paul Bartleman finished a fine second, having dropped only 3 points, with Dudley Sterry a couple of seconds behind on special test times.
All in all a great day’s sport for us in class 8 – all the more so after an enforced close season of 8 months. For those in some of the other classes though it must have been a very long (and in places rough) day with the last competitor finishing at 8.30pm and then facing the drive home.
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Generally I don’t write first person accounts of Trials as I think “Triple” contains more than enough reports of “….and we lost the Milky Bar under the seat on Sugg Lane” variety. However, I hope you will appreciate this report is an exception as it’s about my day passengering with Dudley Sterry on The Exmoor Trial.
Dudley Sterry and Michael Leete put on their best grins for the photograherPeter Fear crests the rise on Floyd’s bank.The Jones family lift a wheel as they tackle the special test at Lower MollandWere’s Judy? Would Exmoor winner Adrian Dommett have got so close to that goarse bush if it had been his side?Bill and Carol Foreshew at speed on Sepscott 2
I had my first experience of trialling in an open car when I passengered Dudley Sterry on The Exmoor. The drive through the breaking dawn from The New Forest up to Barnstaple was of course an experience in itself. This I will write about later! All the class eight’s were running together at the head of the field and we were third car on the road. This meant that apart from a handful of class eight’s and the occasional late biker we saw very few other competitors all day.
Jenny Wren was the first section and we had a long wait, first at a holding control, then at the foot of the section itself, as the bikes were having major problems in the slippery conditions. We heard that Adrian Marfell, who is the current man to beat, didn’t get off the re-start, but when our time came we did. Although all the sections apart from Beggars were new to me none of them held any surprises for Dudley. He knew the class 8 restart was going to be on some slippery slate. His advance strategy was to trickle off, that’s exactly what he did and it worked!
The Hallsinger test was a blast forward, then back and then forward again. Dudley directed me to hang on tight and hold the gear lever in place while we were reversing. All this while trying to keep clear of his flailing arms as they sawed away at the wheel trying to keep the little car in a straight line as we rocketed back and forth. While we were waiting our turn I saw Tony Young knock a marker flying, which according to the route card meant he should not have had a time recorded, but looking at the results he got away with it.
Sepscott 1 and 2 and Snapper 1 and 2 were in a wood and neither posed any problems for Dudley’s J2 although Snapper 1 was a bit hairy where the track was washed away. The worst bit was after the section ends and I should think the lower classes would have had problems getting out the top.
Riverton was reserved for Solo’s and Class 8. This was because the track was badly eroded. The J2 didn’t have any problems although if we had stopped it would have tipped on it’s side we were at such an angle.
We lost our clean sheet on High Bray. It looked easy from the start line but then I couldn’t see what was around the corner! We got of the re-start OK and Dudley tried to drive up the left-hand part of the track, avoiding the “Grand Canyon” on the right. Unfortunately we didn’t quite have enough momentum and the rear slid into the canyon and that was that, well after a spirited attempt to “burn-out” it was! Adrian Dommet went clear and that decided the result of the trial as Adrian Marfell failed to get his Fiat engined rail off the restart.
We were back into another wood at for Pheasants Hill and Lower Mouland, both of which we cleaned easily, although we got a flat front tyre and had to change the tube, which is nice and easy if you don’t have to break the bead! Beggars was a no problem at all. It looked completely different to The Lands End, when the restart area is rough and rocky, whether with doctoring or because it gets cut up by the earlier numbers, or both!
We got a route amendment at Beggars, substituting Lyncombe Bridge with Scoresdown (anybody know why?). This was nice and easy which is more than could be said for the last hill at Floyds Bank, a grassy weave amongst or through the gorse bushes. The J2 didn’t want to steer properly and Dudley couldn’t get it straight enough to attack the last bank so we dropped another couple of marks. I would think this would have been a nightmare for the lower classes.
John Lees came over for a quick chat at the finish then there just remained the matter of the drive back to The New Forest to pick up my Volvo to go back to Bedfordshire. I got home at 9.30 pm having left at 2.45 am. 600 miles in all, two thirds of it in an open car with no hood and no windscreen! A long day but what a fantastic adventure.
I will be honest the trial went much as I expected. Dudley is a very skilled and competitive driver. The car performed magnificently. The engine is beautifully tuned and will pull from almost nothing well into the high fives. The thing that really surprised me was how well it went on the road. Like many of you I guess I have been overtaken on the A303, the little J2 flashing by in a red blur, but this didn’t prepare me for just how well it performs on tarmac. The engine is extremely tractable at low revs and is very smooth as the speed increases to far beyond what the boys in blue are prepared turn a turn a blind eye to. We went along the A35, which has got a lot of long sweeping bends that the J2 handled with ease. Later Dudley showed me the modern suspension tweeks, all carefully hidden away so they don’t disturb the period look.
The class eights are certainly a varied lot. Some of them look a bit rough and there are some pretty weird contraptions that don’t look particularly road worthy no matter how well they go on the hills. Like Dudley I am anti-trailer and my view is that classic trial competitors should drive their cars to and from events. If this were ever to become a rule I am sure some of the stranger machines would disappear which (imho) would be good for the image of the sport.
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Snow caused the cancellation of this years Midland Automobile Club Clee Hills Trial
Competitors leave the start at The Boyne Arms, but the route led home rather than to the first section as “The Clee” was snowed off.
The weather was reasonably clear for most competitors travelling to Shropshire for The Clee Hills Trial. There was a little light snow but it wasn’t settling and they were looking forward to a good day. However, once they passed thorough Bridgenorth and started the climb to the start at Burwarton the snow started to settle and several who were trailering their pride and joy had problems getting up some of the hills.
By the time the first cars arrived at the start Clerk of the Course Simon Woodall had already re-routed the trail to avoid The Long Mynd and Barbera Selkirk issued amended directions bypassing sections three to six. The start was delayed by 30 minutes while Simon went out to inspect the route and it wasn’t long before he phoned in to say the lanes and byways had so much snow that he had no option but to cancel the trial.
So it was home for an early bath for the early numbers. As they descended the hills back towards Bridgenorth they passed later numbers who were still on their way to the trial who must have been very confused why so many people were going the wrong way!
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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)Everyone’s favourite car – Stephen Potter and John Wilton in the Trojan, 2 stroke engine, chain drive and all
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)Adrian Dommett and Judy Phillips seem to be going their separate ways after failing to bounce their way of the re-start.
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.Mick Workman and Philip Mitchell make a pit stop at the top of Mill Lane. Worky is pumping up, courtesy of the air line provided by the gentleman who owns that house while Phil changes a wheel.
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. Peter and David Manning are elated after John Walker.
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!
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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 7th 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!
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Adrian Dommett won a wet Kyrle Trial, beating Peter Fear on special test times. It went to the wire though, when both registered a three on Deep Dean. David Turner won class three in his BMW, finally breaking through the Escort domination. The results showed Murray MacDonald as winning class 4, but Murray sportingly owned up to being given a wrong score on Lane End, handing the class to fellow Falcon Neil Bray for the second successive year
Class 5 winners Peter and David Manning managed to stay in the ruts but bottomed out before they got to the re-start.“Giles – you should stay in the ruts!”. Giles and Dennis Greenslade failing to get to the re-start on SnompersMichael Crocker and Trevor Griffiths won class E
The Ross Club had chosen Jack from it’s pair of horrors for it’s starter course, but this was preceded by a little canapé, a funny little reversing section called Old Down. Like last year competitors had to drive down hill, stop, and reverse back up again. Most people managed it OK but there were a few who didn’t go far enough over the line and struggled to get back over the little hump just behind their rear wheels. A few notable competitors failed here, including Giles Greenslade, who with Dennis alongside should didn’t lack expert advice! Rich Welches Beetle didn’t make it either. It wasn’t down to Rich though. He was in the passenger seat, giving Imp man Jim Scott a ride in decent car!
David Thompson was another to fail Old Down, but made up for it with a storming climb of Jack in his VW Buggy, the only Falcon to get to the summit. The class eight’s were running at the front of the field, their spirited attempts cut the bottom of the section up quite badly for the lower classes and Nigel Allen was the only saloon to get a clean. Most of the others got a 10, 11 or 12 apart from Murray MacDonald and Giles Greenslade, who got to the nine, and David Turner who got to the six in his Beemer, which made up for “cxxxxxg up” Old Down!
Pludds was the final hill in this part of the forest complex and was to claim it’s usual share of the un-wary. The class eight’s had quite a high tyre pressure limit and David Thompson was the only Falcon here to get away. All the Falcon class four contenders cleaned Pludds, but the others all failed, including Giles, putting Murray MacDonald into the lead of the class as Neil Bray had failed Burnbrae. Dave Turner stopped at the re-start by mistake, the marshals rather meanly failing him, even though he got going to successfully to climb out of the top!
There was quite a long road run before the next group of hills, deep in the forest near the village of Yorkley. The Classical Gas camera was on Snompers, ready to take the pictures for http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Mleete. The whites and blues went up the normal way but the yellows and reds had a dead end diversion on pure mud up through the trees. John Parsons under-steered into the bank on the “S” bend just after the diversion, a fate that was to befall a few more of the powerful cars. The bikes got the furthest, Nick Jones was the only clean on his solo, Ray Geering got to the two on his solo, equalled by an amazing performance by Michael Crocker with his chair. Adrian Dommett and Stuart Harrold got the furthest on four wheels with three, followed by Nigel Allen in his big Beetle, who got a four and then spent over a minute fruitlessly burning rubber and digging a hole to mess things up for the following cars. The other class six Beetles had under-steer problems on the lower “S” bend but Simon Woodhall did well to get the Baja around and go on to climb to the higher reaches.
The Blues and Whites went the normal way up Snompers, although they had to negotiate a nasty little chicane just before the re-start. The re-start marshal was rather under-deployed as only two cars reached him! Most of the others got cross -rutted and ran out of grip. Neil Bray and Bill Bennett (MG J2) were the only two cars to get round the chicane and successfully climb the hill. They both managed to more or less stay in the ruts by judicious use of the throttle to stop the front end going to far awry. Peter and David Manning followed suit but ran out of ground clearance and bottomed out just inches away from the re-start line. Carl Talbot made one of the best performances in his Renault 5, getting around the corner OK but at the expense of losing so much momentum he lost all his grip.
Tolmins Splash was another hill where ground clearance was at a premium and most of the lower slung cars grounded out in the lower reaches, including Peter Manning, Simon Robson and Richard Peck. Special Test Bravo was the final challenge in this complex. It involved a bit of reversing and this was all too much for Richard Peck’s and Neil Bray’s transmissions. They both lost reverse gear but managed to continue never less.
Cuddleigh Bank was a complicated affair as the Bristol Club, under Pete and Carlie Hart; had to change things for the lower classes after the class eight’s went through. Last year it was a straight run up the track with a blast up the steep bank at the end. This year the class eight’s had to divert down through the trees to the right before climbing again to assault the traditional bank. The other classes diverted up a theoretically easier bank to the left. The problem was that it dropped away to the right and with precious little grip after the re-start, this made things quite exciting. Neil Bray fell off the section at the four marker and had to be rescued by fellow competitors. Giles Greenslade cleaned the section but then got into trouble descending the hill on the exit road. Murray MacDonald watched this from behind and soon he was sliding towards the trees with all wheels locked. Rich Welch jumped out of the passenger’s seat of the following car and tried to hold Murray’s Beetle bank but he couldn’t do it despite putting a dent in the wing. Murray slid on and was fortunate to slide gently into a tree before building up too much speed. Even so, it took fellow competitors half an hour to extricate JAZ.
Waterworks was being given a rest this year so the route went via Wallsprings, a long run up a nice track with a good stonw bottom, to Lane End and High Garlic. All the Falcon class eight’s got up OK, despite a difficult corner at the start. This caused problems for Giles Greenslade who couldn’t get around and most of the threes and fives had problems as well.
Deep Dean provided the traditional Kyrle finale with its two tough challenges, a very difficult re-start for the higher classes, followed by an “impossible” hairpin for everyone. The only successful re-starter according to the results was Ray Geering on his solo, but even he had problems controlling his machine around the hairpin. Most of the spectators thought that early runner Peter Fear had cleaned the hill but the results showed him dropping three, the same as for those who failed the restart. The problem on the re-start was that the first few cars dug such a huge hole there was no way following competitors stood a chance. Most of the class eight’s really tried though and quite few punctured in the process, including Dudley Sterry and John Parsons.
Experienced non-restarters knew what was in store and threw their machines at the obstruction, but most then couldn’t get around the following hairpin. The only exception was Dave Turner who put up a superb performance. He managed to get out of the ruts to the right just after the restart and power around the hairpin, blower whining, to a superb clean and class win.
The dramas weren’t over though. Nigel Allen broke the gearbox on his class six Beetle but still limped to the finish for a class win. Julian Dommett was disqualified for putting his car on his trailer before the finish. Finally, although Murray MacDonald was shown as winning class four, Murray noticed he had been given a wrong score on Lane End, which will put him in second place behind Neil Bray, who takes the class.
Overall, a difficult trial for the lower classes who struggled in the wet conditions which produced such a great event for the class eight’s. It’s always difficult for the organisers when so many of the sections don’t have a “bottom”. They are at the mercy of the conditions and it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea to drive a heavy saloon amongst the trees in deep mud! However, the Kyrle is an established trial and experienced competitors know what is in store! The event had a new Clerk of the Course in Adrian Marfell and most of the competitors reckoned he and the Ross club had dome a good job, keeping much of the old, but experimenting with some new things.
Kyrle Trophy
Adrian Dommett
Ford Special
12
Class 1
David Haizelden
VW Golf
21
Class 3
David Turner
BMW
35
Paul Bartleman
Escort Estate
40
David Heale
Escort Estate
45
Class4
Neil Bray*
Skoda
36
Murray MacDonald
VW1302
39
Classes2 & 5
Peter Manning
Midget
56
Class6
Nigel Allen
VW
18
Class7
Roger Bricknell
Vincent
28
Class8
Peter Fear
Dingo
12
Anthony Young
VW Special
18
Stuart Harrold
Troll
26
Class A1
Ray Geering
Kawasaki KMX200
13
Class A2
Richard Thompson
Honda XR250
40
Class E
Michael Crocker
Yamaha
45
* Assumed outcome after Murray Macdonald’s e-mail to the organisers
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The regulations for the Midland Automobile Clubs Clee Hills promised some interesting “new” sections and the event more than lived up to this commitment. Regulars like Longville and Hungerford were retained, but out went much of the artificial stuff of recent years, replaced by a host of “new” hills, two of which were brand new, and two revived pre-war sections not used since the 50’s. There were three clean sheets. Overall victory went to Paul Bartleman who was faster than Adrian Dommett and Stuart Harrold on the special tests.
Stuart Harrold and Chris Phillips pictured leaving the start on the way to a clean sheet. Unfortunately they lost out to Paul Bartleman on special test times
Pat and Jonathan Toulmin had thought of everything, and even organised good weather for their trial. So conditions were ideal when Falcons David Thompson led the entry, in class order, away from the start. Unfortunately this didn’t include David Alderson’s Troll. No sooner had he fixed the clutch he blew on the Exeter, than there were major problems with the front suspension and the bits to fix it didn’t arrive in time. The thorough Toulmin organisation had started the class eight’s at one minute intervals, but spaced the lower orders two minutes apart so they wouldn’t get in each others way too much when they got stuck! Jonathan must have been reading the “hanging back” debate over on the Web Community, because he instituted penalties for slipping too far back down the field.
Classical Gas Web Community member Tony Branson’s dramas started before the off, when he had had minor problems with his lights at scruitineering. But it was good to see that Sally Bolam had recovered from the cuts to her face that she sustained when their Marlin dived into the bushes on the Exeter’s Normans Hump.
Tony Branson and Sally Bolam weaving through the trees at Starvecrow. At the time I thought this section had no place in the event, but reflecting afterwards it sorted out the results so I think it was a good thing.
Farlow has been the Clee’s first section in recent years, but there were problems with the neighbours this year so Jonathan substituted the woods at Starvecrow. These were very muddy and several competitors, including Mike Hayward and Robin Howard, had problems getting to and from the sections. It wasn’t David Thompson or Maureen Chattle’s favourite place either, as they both failed in the lower reaches of the section and the following special test as well.
Starvecrow was followed by a long 20-mile road run to Allez Oop, a hill first used in 1938 and described in detail in C. A. N. May’s book “Wheelspin”. These days the hill is surfaced with shale so there was a fair amount of grip and Jonathan spiced things up with a re-start for the yellows and reds.
Simon Woodall and Adrian Marfell tackel Allez ‘Oop on their unique machines. As you would expect from Adrian he ain’t got no VW lump in the back!
Mike Hayward got off the re-start OK, but with a slipping clutch and massive clouds of white smoke, so much that he was concerned the engine was on fire! At the summit Mike found a fair amount of oil all over the engine, so stopped to clean it up and adjust the clutch before the next section.
There was a diff check just before the next section called Stanbatch which was a long easy section, much loved by the VSCC. A bunch of marshal’s leapt out from behind the hedge with a trolley jack and proceeded to check the diff in the middle of a single-track road.
Adstone was approached down a steep muddy rutted track that would have been a good challenge for the class 8 boys if used uphill. There was a rocky ford at the bottom, which was the downfall of Robin Howard, as he hit something nasty in the middle causing the front brakes to lock on and even the Land Rover had problems in dragging the Dutton Sierra out of the section.
Gatten’s Gamble was a great section but a bit heavy on tyres!
This was followed by a long blast up Ratlinghope and Jonathan continued to delight by finding a brand new hill he called Gatten’s Gamble. This long section stated with a steepish bank before the gradient eased off. It didn’t get any easier though, as the surface changed from rocks to mud and the ruts got pretty fearsome as well. This was certainly not one for the faint hearted, as you would stop if you eased off, as Neil Bray found out when he punctured. Mike Hayward had tyre problems as well, but kept his trotter down and came out of the top OK. There were a couple of notable class eight failures here as both Mike Pearson (Dellow Replica) and Bill Foreshew (GVS) ground to a halt on the final grassy bank.
The traditional Clee sections of Harton Wood and Hungerford didn’t trouble the scorer too much, although it was pretty difficult to get out of the latter because of some very deep ruts. Peter Thompson had come all the way from Essex in his Opel Kadett and must have thought it was never going to get back there when he well and truly grounded out. The route card suggested straddling the right hand track, but this wasn’t practical as the car just slipped back in the ruts again. Finally Peter managed to back out, lightened his load by jettisoning his passenger and charged the obstacle at full speed to get out.
Longville was nice and simple for the lower orders, but the yellows and reds had restarts actually on the steep ramp onto the main road. This was a gathering point for spectators, who included web community participants Kevin Barnes and Falcons Dave Nash and Alan Bellamy. This was Anthony Young’s downfall as he dropped his only mark of the day. If he hadn’t he would have been the overall winner as he had by far the best time on the special tests. Mind you he wasn’t the only one as very few class eights got away cleanly, and even Dudley Sterry dropped a three. Notable class eight cleans were Adrian Dommett and Stuart Harrold, both retaining their clean sheets. David Thompson was also successful in his Buggy, a small consolation for all the marks he had dropped at Starvecrow first thing in the morning.
The Railway Special Test was a funny affair. To get a good time you had too crawl up a steep hill very slowly by slipping the clutch. Until you got half way when you blasted the rest. Yes was an interesting variation but not popular amongst those who liked to take care of their clutch! This was where Paul Bartleman won the event. He was one of three drivers to still have clean sheets and his time here was light years ahead of Adrian and Stuarts.
The trial was drawing a close now. The leading contenders are growing wise to the hairpin at Ippkins Rock and it didn’t influence the result. It still catches out the unary though including ace class seven man Roger Bricknell.
The Clee started and finished with “tree weaving” and it was these sections that provided the results. It was worth it so we could tackle all those wonderful sections in the middle. Here Giles Greenslade and Murray MacDonald blast up Hillside 2
Just as the trial started with a muddy section through the woods so it finished, this time with Hillside, located within the Boyne Estate, just a mile or so from the finish. The principle class eight contenders and Paul Bartleman all went clear so it had no effect on the overall result. None of the Falcons got up but like everyone else I spoke to they enjoyed the event enormously. It was imaginative, with the challenge judged to perfection as the results show. Jonathan and Pat must be congratulated for finding those new sections and devising such a beautifully scenic route. They have run The Clee for four years now, during which thy have listened and improved their trial. Long may this excellent event continue under their stewardship.
The result of this years Allen was decided on the re-starts and Special Tests. There were seventeen clean sheets at the end, including at least one on every class.
Allen Tropy winner David Foreshew takes an unusual line while Teresa Middleton bounces the GVS Mk2 away from the re-start on Guys Hill (Picture by John Salter)
The Bristol club had their usual full entry, plus reserves, for their Allen Trial on 28th November. The week before Pete Hart and his team were getting worried, as everything was bone dry, and it looked as if the hills were going to be too easy. Fortunately the rain came down pretty hard on the Thursday and Friday so there was a bit of mud about on the Sunday, even though it was a dry day.
We had an excellent Falcon entry. Fifteen crews coming across from Beds, Herts and Bucks to do battle with the Bristol hills. Well, that’s not quite right. Robin Howard came a lot further, all the way from Bury St Edmunds, to take part in his first ACTC Classic Trial. There was drama, even at the start, for the Falcon contingent. Verdun Webley had set of in convoy with John Parsons. Both of them were solo as they were going to meet up with their passengers at the start. John was to be accompanied by Keith Harris, with Sarah Harris riding with Mike Pearson in his Dellow Replica. Arnold Lane traveled to Bristol in Mike’s passenger seat, and was due to ride with Verdun, taking part in his first trial in the Marlin he bought after last years Exeter. That was the plan, however it all fell apart on the outskirts of Buckingham when the B series motor shredded its fanbelt. Verdun had a spare but it was too long and the alternator bracket fouled the steering so he couldn’t make the start.
This left Arnold without a ride, and with no car to go spectating or marshalling. In the end he went round the route with Simon Robson, getting out to walk or run up the hills so not to burden the Skoda with the extra weight! Tog Hill was the usual introduction to the competitive stuff, nice and gentle since the bumps were smoothed out a few years ago, and it didn’t trouble the scorer. Simon Robson had given his Skoda quite a bit of welly and dented a rim badly enough to need removing for some gentle adjustment with a club hammer on the following road section.
Bitton Lane had its usual re-start on the corner. There was a little more grip on the slippery stones this year and only four cars were recorded as failing to get away. I say that as Mike Hayward was not one of them, but as his passenger I know we failed as we backed down a good ten yards to get a good run afterwards! Neil Bray got away OK, but picked up a puncture in the process. There were a lot of delays on Big Uplands last year when failures couldn’t get past cars queuing at the bottom. To avoid this happening again the route went down Little Uplands, with a holding control at the bottom to keep the failure route clear. The descent was quite interesting as it gave competitors the opportunity to see just how horrendous the step is at the top!
Big Uplands itself started to sort the results out a bit as around 40% of the entry failed the hill. The Blues and Whites had a clean run, with no re-start, but even so there were quite a few that didn’t make the summit, including Neil Bray and all of class five apart from Rob Cull. Simon Robson was in determined mood, and flew round the ninety left at full speed, using the bank and scattering marshals and spectators alike. The yellows and reds had their usual re-start on the ninety left. The approach to this was nice and smooth this year as the Bristol club had spent the year filling in the gullies, caused by water flowing down the hill, with over forty tons of stone! The majority of the yellows came to grief here. Dave Nash, Mike Hayward, Robin Howard and Tony Branson all failed to get off the re-start. Andrew Brown and Fred Gregory got away OK but couldn’t build up enough momentum to get over the rough stuff immediately afterwards and got fours.
The reds fared a little better but again there were quite a few failures including Falcon’s Mike Pearson, David Thompson, James Lindsay and Maureen Chattle. They were in distinguished company as neither Adrian Dommett, Duncan Welch or Anthony Young made it either. Going back to the Falcon’s James had Julian Robinson in the passengers “seat” of his Fugitive and I believe this was actually Maureen’s debut.
Guys Hill became famous because of the court case regarding the exit road. Unfortunately the case was lost and these days we have to stop at the top and come back down, rather than go straight out the top. This was academic for many of the yellows and reds, as they couldn’t get off their restart on some very greasy polished stones. David Thompson couldn’t get his VW Buggy off the line and neither could Maureen Chattle and Ross Neuten in their Dellow. Mike Pearson did well to get his Dellow away, but even he couldn’t get much beyond the four marker. Dave Nash had the Skeetles new type four motor cut out on the approach but fiddling with the battery got it away. Looking at the results it’s fascinating to see that with a few exceptions successful restarters on Guys had also succeeded on Big Uplands and visa versa. The exceptions included Falcon’s Ian Davis in his Buggy and Classical Gas Web Community member Stuart Harrold, both of whom lost their clean sheets here.
Sandy Lane wasn’t very difficult, despite a large amount of water on the approach, which was not very Sandy. The two Michael’s caused a minor delay when they found another flat tyre on the start line and had to change a wheel. The section at Strode was pretty simple but the special test was more complicated. After going forward around a corner you had to go all four wheels over line B, and reverse back round the corner to stop astride line C. Adrian Tucker-Peake set the fastest time in his Peugeot followed by David Foreshew, which was to be important by the end of the trial.
Travers was before the lunch break this year. It had a very tough restart for the yellows and reds with some horrible holes to get your front wheels stuck into. Very few of the yellows got away and a lot of the reds failed as well including Adrian Dommett and Anthony Young, neither of whom were having a very good day. Mike Hayward had another puncture and joined Fred and Pete at the top while they fixed their exhaust. They were enjoying the trial but were having a pretty torrid time results wise.
Dudley Sterry looking very worried as he approaches the re-start on Burledge. (Picture by John Salter)Rob Cull, pictured by John Salter on Guys Hill, on his way to winning class 5Clive bounces faster than the shutter on John Salters camera as Tommy Kalber eases his Dutton Melos away from the Guys Hill re-start.Simon and Matt Robson blasting up Burledge on their way to a class win.
The lunch halt was held in a windswept car park alongside Chew Valley Lake. The Falcon tyre-changing brigade was in full force and Mike Hayward, Neil Bray and Dave Nash were all fixing punctures. The ruts on Burledge were not as deep as in previous years, but they were deep enough to cause problems for the non-giraffes amongst the yellows and reds as their re-start prevented a full frontal assault. The Falcons were starting to fall at this stage. Through the wonders of the mobile phone we heard that John Parsons had retired with electronic Gremlins in his V8 motor. Dave Nash was in trouble with his electric’s again. He got to the start line on Burledge when the engine cut out and wouldn’t restart. Dave and Julie retired and eventually Dave found the problem was as simple as the wire coming of the starter solenoid.
Nanny Hurns was not quite as straightforward as usual with a bit of to and froing required before the assault on the bank. This meant the dip was not approached at quite the same speed as pervious years, reducing the time in the air for the successful climbers as they crested the hump. David Foreshew set the fastest time, which was to give him the overall win and The Allen Trophy, as there were to be 17 clean sheets at the end.
The water at the start of Mill Lane was as deep as usual and the section itself was as fun, but not one to trouble the scorer as they say. The gentleman at the top had his airline out for us to use, which was very nice of him. He was beavering away in his garage amongst his restoration projects and there was a restored Ford Consul and old Caravan outside as well as a very tidy looking Marlin, albeit one that had clearly never set a wheel on a trials hill!
The route now skirted the suburbs of Bath on its way to Stoney. I don’t know if it’s a new hill but it was certainly new to me. The slope was quite gentle but the restart was a nasty, slippery thing and quite a few people really struggled to get away, including David Thompson and Murray MacDonald who lost his clean sheet here.
John Walker was the final hill. Most people view this as a nice thrash but not one they are likely to fail. This year it was a real sting in the tail though. The ruts were very deep at the top, giving major problems to people who didn’t have a lot of ground clearance. There was an additional hazard in the form of big rock close to the track. Several of the early numbers gave this a fair clout, including a Dellow. This caused quite a queue to build up early on. I don’t know exactly what happened to Rich Welch but he got stuck on the upper reaches for at least ten or fifteen minutes.
The ford at the bottom took its toll among the Falcons and both Neil Bray and Mike Hayward drowned out here. This final hill was to be a real sting in the tail for Stuart Cairney as he lost his clean sheet here. This left Simon Robson and Giles Greenslade on zero in class four, Simon taking the class win by being faster on the special tests. That bought another excellent Allen trial to an end, for many of us the last event of the millennium.
Giles Greenslade had a different Beetle. The engine was the same but it was in a new shell. This had been built for trials and done a few events when the owner retired because of a bad back and Giles snapped it up.
After the event I asked Pete Hart what happened to Elwell, always one of my favorite hills. Apparently the local farmer planned to use it for access to his land and told the club he was going to surface the whole track. He has started from the bottom and completed about 25% of the job after which the work stopped some 18 months ago. Pete intends to have another look next year with a view to bringing it back. He always enjoyed blasting up when he was competing on the Allen, but, as an organiser is more circumspect because of the problems in clearing failures.
Tommy and Clive Kalber were giving their Dutton an outing. This is a really smart car. How do they manage to get all that ground clearance at the back?
Tim and Anne Whellock drove a VW Fugitive and Adrian Marfell was also competing in class eight.
Dennis Greenslade has won the historic rally championship, navigating the infamous oil-dropping Imp that achieved so much notoriety on last years RAC Rally.
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