Chris Clarkes Edinburgh

After competing in Class 0 on The Lands end Chris Clarke took on the main event for the Edinburgh

After gaining a coveted tin medal in the Lands End at Easter, it was time to move on to the “grown-up” stuff in Class 1 and given that we had already attempted some of the main route hills on the Edinburgh, it seemed a good event to make the step. Unfortunately work commitments had rather curtailed the summer maintenance season, but we had been able to raise the front suspension some more (courtesy of Fourtune engineering) and repaired the reverse gear selector (no more excuses for special test foul-ups), so we felt well equipped to tackle the usual challenges.

At the start we carefully took notice of the published breakfast arrangements and some other technical stuff about tyre pressures, but fortunately, in view of the problems the organisers had faced prior to the event no route changes. From the start we made good time to Haven Hill, which was a nice warm up for the hills ahead. There was a queue at Clough Wood, so we took advantage of this for a quick nap. Both this and the following Deeprake were enjoyable climbs, unlike the descent to the start at Litton Slack, where I foolishly went too fast and scared both of us silly – lesson learned! You get a good view of the hill from the approach and we had some good ideas about how to play it after passing the telegraph pole. As it was, just reaching the start was tricky (more like the 5 minute rule?), but we got going well and then ground to a stop after about 15 feet – so much for the plan. It had started raining heavily while we were waiting, whether that actually had any effect I don’t know, but that’s my excuse (I had previously commented favourably on the sunny weather –some people never learn).

After Carlton it was time for an excellent breakfast at the Bull I’th Thorn. For reasons I can’t really understand we had been dropping back steadily all day, and were now running with cars that started 30-40 mins behind us, more of this later.

At Haggside we had our first serious problem, the Golf’s clutch (of unknown vintage) has been suffering from the hammering it gets since the big wheels raised the gear ratio and at the restart I finished with the engine going flat out, clutch fully engaged and wheels not turning, lots of very expensive smoke and a fail. Because of this we approached Bamford Clough with some trepidation, not helped by the steady stream of failures returning through the village. In fact, although we didn’t get much past the parking space half way up, it was a real laugh, full throttle, lots of wheelspin, and that feeling that you’re hanging onto the hill by your fingertips. We even had the bonus of watching Colin Perryman power his way past us as we waited to return. At Great Hucklow, the cheer we got showed that the spirit was there, but unfortunately we stopped perfectly in the restart box. On the exit via the class ‘O’ route I was extremely annoyed to hit the same rock that I hit last year and write off another wheel. Judging by the number of people changing wheels at the end of the section and the state of the rock, we were not alone, does anyone know of a source of suitable explosives?

On to the village hall at Hollingsclough, where the tea and scones were very welcome, although when we left it was starting to get dark and we were even further behind schedule. We couldn’t get up the steep bit at the start of Rakes Head and failed the restart at Excelsior, although it was good to see how much better the car went on this section than last year.

The combination of night and brain fade cost us some time as we got lost on the way to Wigber Low and Moneystones and we arrived very late at the finish, hence were declared as retired in the results. What did we learn? It’s a big but not impossible step up from class ‘O’ (We both feel that the class has real value as an introduction) and the schedule with more sections and distance to cover means you have to really work at it all the time. I’m not sure I stopped at the right place in the restart boxes and the question of tyre pressure was as imponderable as ever. We’re not sure why we seem to loose so much time, the tyre pumps we use are probably a bit slow, but that’s the only thing we can think of.

Did we enjoy ourselves – most definitely. It’s really exciting just to be a part of such of a large event, even as an also ran, it’s a genuinely challenging competition, the people are friendly, the foods good,…. Once again a big thank-you to the organisers; and marshals for standing waiting for us in the very wet conditions and we look forward to next year.

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Edinburgh 2005

It was a very competitive Edinburgh. Litton, Great Hucklow and the restart on Excelsior really shaking up the results. It certainly thinned out the triples. Only five cars and five bikes gaining the MCC’s premier award. The trial was well supported by Falcons, with 18 entries in the main trial and 2 in class 0. Colin Sumner put in the best performance, gaining Silver.

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Ian Bates and his team organised a very different route with some interesting “new” hills. After a nice easy introduction at the tree lined Haven Hill the entry soon found itself at the foot of a rather rough Clough Wood, and an hours delay, even for the early cars, as some of the bikers were falling off. With a long section and a tricky restart for the higher classes the delay built up, so later numbers were waiting for the best part of two and a half hours, although having arrived an hour early they were not so far behind scheduled time.

The section was quite rough and the restart caught out both Keith Oakes and Maureen Chattle/Ross Neuton. Ted Holloway had problems with the ruts at the bottom and got his very special rear engined Mini wedged sideways across the track on the lower reaches. Barrie Parker was another Falcon to fail in the big Audi 80.

Deep Rake was another very easy section, followed by a special test before the run to Litton. The descent was as hairy as ever, especially when the skies opened every now and again and the rain came down. The old hill was in fine form and only 15 cars made it to the summit. None of the cars in 1, 4, 5 or 6 got to the A boards, so the section didn’t count in the results. Brian Partridge was the first car to be shown it could be done in his Cannon and Pete Hart made a fine ascent to go clear. Waiting in the queue I saw Ray Goodright make a flawless climb in his Arkley MG and then Adrian Dommett and Julie Phillips fight and bounce their way to the summit after so nearly stopping just past the tree. I also saw Tim Whellock grind to a halt and loose his triple in the ex-John Parsons Fugitive. This was a real shame because Tim is taking over as Clerk of the Course for the Exeter and won’t get another chance for a while.

Calton is starting to get ruttier again at the summit but there was plenty of grip and it only stopped one car, unfortunately Maureen and Ross in their Mk2 Dellow. There was an excellent breakfast waiting at The Bull I’th Thorn before going off to Haydale, with a very muddy and rutted approach to where the gradient and hard surface starts. The section defeated Barrie Parker and Ted Holloway who had to retire afterwards.

The trial started to toughen up now, as the route wound its way down Winnats Pass and across the Ladybower reservoir to Haggside. This section was under threat a few years ago; full marks to the MCC for managing to keep it in the trial. As usual the main test was the restart just after the hairpin, right after the start. It can be very tricky if you don’t know its there, or position the car in the wrong place and it wasn’t that long ago it cost Falconry Editor David a triple. Most made it OK, although a few newcomers drove through before they realised it was there! It did stop a few though, including Colin Perryman in his lovely BMW and Falcons Peter Manning and Barrie Parker.

After a holding control came Bamford, a true prince amongst trials sections. OK, Litton can be more challenging but Bamford brings out the brave! It was much smoother than in previous years, thanks to the MCC road gang. Class eight had to restart as well, just to stop them getting complacent. Running at the front of the field Dave Nash and Julie Fleet stormed up in the MGeetle. Neil Bray and Mike Hayward had problems getting away from the restart but a kindly marshal took pity on them and gave them a clear. Simon Robson cleaned the section in his Liege but to the sounds of tinkling from his transmission. Driving away from the hill it was clear all was not well with the ‘box and Simon and Matt retired. Peter Thompson was delighted to go clear but Bamford wasn’t kind to rear engined cars and Colin Sumner and Brian Alexander had their first counting stops of the trial. Earlier Clive Booth had struggled to get away from the restart, floored the throttle, spinning the wheels which fortunately dropped into a hole with plenty of grip and went on to clear.

Great Hucklow was its evil self with the rocky deviation up to the left for all but class 0. The yellows and reds had to restart amongst the rocks. John Parsons was amongst many who couldn’t get away from the restart which some would say was just s he was one of the team who created the deviation back in the days of the SODC Conquest Trial!

Kings Stearndale was not to create to many problems but after the tea stop at Hollingsclough came a couple of horrors. Rakes Head was only just up the road. It was short but quite tricky. It started on the road before a sharp 90 left and a severe rise in gradient, with a restart for yellows and reds. Clive Booth was defeated by the combination of restart and harsh camber and didn’t get away, although he backed down and got up with a run. Colin Sumner was delighted to get the Beetle away from the restart but Geoff Hodge had his first failure since Litton. At the front of the field Neil Bray got away but Dave Nash in the MGeetle couldn’t make it.

Excelsior was the penultimate hill and was to prove a real sting in the tail. The problem was the restart, sited on polished stones just before a 90 left. Only 30 cars succeeded in getting away and none of these were Falcons! Class 0 tackled this one, although without a restart, and this was Verdun Webleys only failure. Verdun using the shopping Seat as the GTM wasn’t ready in time. Reg Taylor was more successful in his Anglia and went on to claim a class 0 award. Running at the back of the field the results show Simon Groves/Michael Leete as clear but they failed just like the rest. The “RB” was shown against Rakes Head (which they cleaned) and not Excelsior.

The route then went away from Buxton towards Ashbourne and quite a few of the late runners at the tail of the field decided to skip the section and call it a day as the trial was running quite late at this time. Chief Official Mike Pearson greeted those that did the hill. It was none other than Wigber Low, normally tackled at the start of the trial but at the end this time and still in the dark for some! The restart was to trap the unwary, including Brian Alexander whose diminutive Fiat wasn’t running too well by now.

After a final special test it was back to sign off at the Bull I’th thorn before most went back to Buxton for a nice club supper. It was a shame later runners were so late but this is what happens when the Edinburgh is run as a competitive trial and most competitors were willing to accept that. Well-done Ian Bates and his team.

Edinburgh 2004

Dawn is breaking as Dave Nash comes to the summit of Calton

Start

Tom Goggin was in charge. The signing on process took some time as there were a considerable number of route amendments posted on the wall which had to be copied down. There was also notice of a minimum 16 psi for all classes throughout the trial, apart from Bamford, although it was to transpire that very few of the Chief Officials knew about this and there were hardly any pressure checks.

Agnes Meadow

Only for Class 0. It was a shame for the rest of us to miss out on some green laneing and it must have been boring for the marshals.

Wigber Low

The first cars were there more than an hour early but the section was open and being nice and dry didn’t cause to many problems even with a restart. Myke Pocock had problems with his Skoda’s new rear suspension soon after the start. Unfortunately the repairs didn’t stand up to the rigours of the first section and Myke and Josie decided to spend the rest of the day spectating. The hill wasn’t friendly to Clive Booth either and he recorded a stop in his Dellow.

Clough Wood

There was a long wait for the first cars as there must have been at least 50 bikes still waiting for their go. Waiting in the queue Neil Bray noticed oil dripping out of his half shaft seal and for the rest of the trial tried to park on the level whenever possible.

Stuart Harrold and Chris Phillips were running the restart as the Troll’s back axle wasn’t ready. They reported that it was mostly down to positioning if cars got away or not and was particularly un-friendly to Lieges, most of which failed, Simon Robson being a notable exception.

Deeprake

The observed section in this quarry complex was just off the main road making life difficult for the marshals to keep queuing cars out of the way. Fortunately the section wasn’t very difficult. Competitors then had a long trip on the quarry roads to a nice simple special tests complete with a traffic light system. Quite a few competitors had problems with this as they started when red changed to Red and Amber and didn’t wait the five seconds or so for these lights to go out and the green to come on. Neil Bray was just one who jumped the start and was delighted when the test was scrubbed from the results.

Putwell

The organiser considered this to rough for the lower classes, who missed out on the superb views across to The Monsail Head Hotel. Fred Gregory was the first car to arrive and stuttered away from the start and fail to get over the step, only for the marshals to call him back, move the start a bit further back to give a run at the step and let him have another go, but they gave him a fail anyway! Fred was starting to worry about strange noises coming from underneath his Rickman Ranger which he thought was his new exhaust rubbing against the prop shaft. Despite the fact that it was a bit rough most other competitors recorded cleans.

Calton

There was a time when the ruts at the top made this a real stopper but its pretty tame these days where the biggest test was to see if the marshals could survive the biting wind.

Haydale

Veteran Biker Tom Beckerleg was in trouble here with an oiled plug on his Aerial which he reckoned was the oil scavenge pump not working properly. Tom slipped down the field amongst the cars but decided to carry onto the breakfast halt and see how things went. The main challenge occurred before the actual gradient started as it was the flat muddy rutted track that presented difficulties. Kevin Barnes, competing in class 2 with his famous Singer, didn’t have enough momentum , got stuck and needed a tow.

Breakfast

After a nice descent of Winnats Pass came breakfast at The Poachers Arms. The staff were taken by surprise when the first bikes arrived more than an hour early and they never managed to catch up.

Haggside

Haggside was it’s usual stony self with the restart just around the first corner as usual. There was a very pronounced step and competitors needed to either stop just inside the box and have a run at it, or go almost all the way through and get their rear wheels over. Later in the trial there was some aggro with a female rambler who got rather excited over the cars and threw the section begins board over the hedge.

Holding Control

Back on the A57 Alan Bellamy was in charge of the holding control for Bamford which was in a long lay-by alongside the reservoir. Unfortunately the best laid plans of mice and men go awry sometimes and he was having difficulty with non-competing cars parked there. As the event went on, and the delays for Bamford built up, it was necessary to open up another temporary holding control, courtesy of Travelling Marshal Simon Robson, and delay departures from The Poachers Arms for up to ¾ hour. Fred Gregory had retired by now as he found one of the rear springs on his Rickman Ranger had collapsed so he and Peter Stafford did a little spectating before going to the pub in Buxton.

Bamford Clough

Bamford was back on the agenda for everyone, except the girls in class 0, thanks to some very hard work by an MCC team led by Ian Bates. Their efforts were well rewarded as they had got the section just right. Not damaging provided you were sensible but not so easy as to make it un-interesting.

Early competitor Mike Pearson took a cautious approach but misjudged the severity of the gradient over one of the steps and stopped baulking Michael Leete who was following. Once Mike was in the lay-by marshal Paul Eamer kindly let the Beetle have a go from where he had come to a halt and Michael was tickled pink to climb Bamford with a restart.

Fellow Falcon John Parsons was not so lucky when the throttle pedal on his Buggy flipped when he lifted of for one of the bumps and without power that was that. Peter Thompson was having problems with his Manta’s exhaust and was in desperate need of a piece of steel for repairs. He found an unusual solution, cutting it from the wing of a fellow competitors 2CV!

Alistair Queen was back in a Skoda and celebrated by storming up Bamford to the sound of crashes and bangs from underneath as his Rapid is still a little on the low side. Alistair had run out of ground clearance on Clough Wood and from then on his passenger had stayed in the front and Alistair didn’t drop below 21 psi.

PCT Champion Barry Parker recorded his first stop of the day in his Audi 80 and Keith Oakes had the misfortune to break his gearbox. Although Keith had to retire he had the good fortune to have a recovery man who had two spare ones lying in the back of his garage! Like Mike Pearson, Peter Manning paid the price for a lack of momentum and didn’t make the summit

Great Hucklow

The early cars met a big queue of bikes here as the restart on the deviation was proving difficult and many of the riders were falling off in the rock strewn morass. It was a challenge for the cars as well but Dudley Sterry showed how it should be done with a storming climb, albeit at the expense of David Walls hat!

Ian Davis wasn’t so lucky and try as he may he couldn’t get his buggy away from the restart. Neither could fellow Buggy driver Simon Woodhall who knocked the car out of gear when applying the handbrake and slid back into a hole. Another Simon had problems here when the Robson Liege broke first gear and had to retire.

The lower classes were allowed a straight attack at the deviation. Still on for a Triple Giles Greenslade threw his Beetle at the hill and stormed through. Michael Leete was more cautious and paid the price when he didn’t have the momentum to get over one of the many big rocks.

Litton Slack

The route card contained dire warnings of penalties for anyone stopping to reinflate their tyres in the lane at the top of the hill. This all turned out to academic as none of the cars cleaned the section. It would probably have been on for some of the Class 8 hot shots but the 16psi limit and a restart for 6, 7 and 8 put paid to their chances.

It was only Bikes that gained the summit. Amongst them John Lee’s who eased his big Triumph Twin off the re-start before turning on the power and storming to the summit.

Running later in the trial conditions became a bit easier and Colin Sumner was delighted to get to the A boards in his Morgan to win Class 5 and so were Simon Groves and Verdun Webley

It was raining when Giles Greenslade arrived and the Beetle didn’t get very far. Costing him his triple as a couple of competitors in class 4 got beyond the A boards. Triple wise things are more straightforward for Golf maestro Dave Haizelden and we can congratulate him on winning another one, tremendous achievement.

Old Long Hill

While 6, 7 and 8 went off to the challenge of Corkscrew the lower classes joined the girls on the gentle pastures of Old Long Hill where John and June Blakeley presided over a surprisingly slippery section down in the valley. It was good to see President Gerry Woolcott here, chatting to competitors.

Corkscrew

The former Jenkins Chaple was as tough as ever and caught out quite a few including Ed Nikel, Clive Booth and Dave Nash who had problems getting the long body of The MGeetle around the sunken hairpins.

Excelsior

This is a nice little section between stone walls. The early part of the section was muddy and quite rutted before rising on a stony surface after a ninety right. It proved to be a stopper fro quiet a few of the Class one’s and lower slung cars in other classes, including Brian Alexander’s diminutive Fiat.

Moneystones

This cuts the corner of the junction between the B5054 and A515. This was class 0 only which was a shame as although it isn’t a competitive section would have provided a nice bit of extra green laneing for the rest of the entry.

Moneyash Special Test

Another nice simple test finished off the trial after which it was just a short run to the finish. For most apart from Ed Nikel. Ed hit a hidden rock on the exit deranging the front suspension and had problems getting home when the recovery said it was a RTA and excluded from his cover!

Club Supper

The day finished with a mass club supper at The Pavilion Gardens. MCC President Gerry Woolcott made a short speech thanking the organisers and marshals that was just right for the occasion and went down very well.

2004 London to Edinburgh Centenary Trial

A glorious road on the way home. Picture by Peter Mountain

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Mike Hayward Reports

The idea appealed to me from the first time I heard word of an event to celebrate 100 years of the Edinburgh Trial. This must have been eighteen months ago and quite a lot of changes took place in that time. I thought the original idea was to start near Borehamwood on the A1. Great, just down the road from home. Somewhere down the line, the powers that be decided that a start from Popham would be appropriate. Why I don’t know, and what relationship Popham has to the Edinburgh, I don’t know that either. Oh well, what’s another 100 miles. The next thing to change was the date. Originally planed for the Whitsun weekend, which I would have thought would have given everyone the chance to enter, the powers that be decided to move the start to a Tuesday, so as to restrict the entry to those retired or with spare holiday entitlement. I fall into the latter in case you were wondering.

When the entry form arrived the biggest decision of all had to be taken. Shall I enter?. Of course I will, this is one of those once in a life time things. Next, which Car to enter. My Mkiii rear wheel drive Escort hasn’t gone down well with the MCC Committee and this isn’t the time or place to try and upset them. Next choice my XR4i. Expensive to run. I estimate £180 + in fuel alone. That leaves me with Sapphire, my two year old Ford Focus. Not really the period of car I’d hope to enter this sort of event with, but I estimate a saving of £80 in fuel and that’s a saving you can spend on a half decent room for the night. So the Focus it is then. Passenger next. Michael Leete was unable to take part due to work commitments, so I asked Mum if she’d like to go. Her eyes lit up, so that was a yes then.

So with hotels booked, everything was in place, even the weather was kind. We arrived at Popham at around 3pm to be greeted by Chris Phillips who was directing operations in the car park. With all the formalities over we were soon lining up to start our big adventure.

First car away was Peter & Deborah Lawley in a Toyota Privs, a bifuel, drive by wire, 21st century, technological master piece. This was followed by a varied selection of the automobile manufactures art including, Morgan’s, Dellow’s, a Liege, Mazda, Fiat, VW, Skoda, Ford, Marlin, MG, not forgetting the bike manufactures art represented by, Royal Enfield, Triumph, Honda, Vincent, Suzuki and BMW.

The route out of the Popham car park was different to the normal route. This time we went towards the airstrip and turned left into the field where Special Test 1 was laid out. The instructions said “start on line A finish on line B”. it didn’t say anything about the wiggle woggle between the cones. On the way out we met Peter Mountain who was the first victim of the Popham Services being closed, and had run out of petrol before he’d left the airfield. Richard Hoskin had a spare can and Peter was soon on his way again.

There were a few problems with the route instructions to get to the first control at Fair Mile, and several drivers and navigators struggled to make sense of a “R” that should have been “L” and a missing roundabout. However most crews made it to the control (eventually). The route then continued through Marlborough, Malmesbury and out into Cotswold Country. Following a route that would normally take competitors to Axe, but instead turned right at the cross-roads to Observed Section One, Old Hollow. Old Hollow was a hill used by Falcon Motor Club in the Guy Fawkes trials of the 1960’s. So as a Falcon member, this hill was of special interest to me. It was surprisingly slippery as well as steep, a damp surface with a sap covering from the overhanging trees caught out a few. After Old Hollow, the route led us through Dursley, passing the foot of “Crooked Mustard” and the top of “Crawley” and eventually to the Strensham Services on the M5 for a 1 hour break.

Forty Seven miles further on and we were into Clee Hill Country to attempt Section 2, “Farlow” The only surprise here was how long the organisers had made the section. Farlow was my first ever Classic trials hill and I made a mess of it only getting to the Seven marker if my memory serves me correctly. This time the section was all tarmac, as were all the sections, and we cleaned it. The route led us past the “Boyne Arms” through Much Wenlock and Stone, and into Derbyshire to tackle Section 3, “Wetton Low” and the first restart. There was time for a bit of ‘shut eye’ before attempting the section and I must have been half asleep still when I stopped with the front wheels just in the box. which was situated on the apex of the hairpin, needless to say we failed the restart in a cloud of tyre smoke.

Breakfast at the Hucklow gliding club was to be followed by Special Test 2. But this was cancelled because of all the cars in the car park, there was no where to lay it out. We left Derbyshire and headed towards Holmfirth checking in at the Heydon Control before passing the back of Nora Batty’s house as we passed through the town. There was some slight confusion in Huddersfield when my navigator misread the instructions and I think we went wrong just after Keighley but we ended up on the right road to Kettlewell and Coverdale through more spectacular scenery to Section 4 “Park Rash”. This section was longer than the previous sections and was very steep with the now obligatory hairpin. The restart was placed on the straight leading to the hairpin and we had no trouble getting away and cleaning the section. I stopped at the top to take some photos and it’s then you realise how steep the hill is. We watched a few bikes and cars make their attempts but sadly didn’t see Richard Hoskin’s attempt in his 3 wheel Morgan, as Richard was called back to the start line and both Richard and passenger, Andrew Hall, got out and started looking under the rear of the car.

A further 28 miles brought us to Section 5 “West Witton”. This had a restart with a difference. The restart box was just around a hairpin but was down hill so if you went too fast you’d over shoot the line and fail. We took it steady and had no problem stopping. The re- start Marshall promised us he’d make it harder next time!!

“Arn Gill” is on the Askrigg to Muker Road and was the last Observed Section. A straight climb with a restart half way up presented no problems for us. After “Arn Gill” there was a further 67 mile run into the lake district to Hartop where the trial finished for the night. By the time we got to the hotel we had travelled 591 since leaving home on Tuesday.

Thursday morning started out damp as the remaining crews reassembled at Southwait Services (Southbound) on the M6. that was to consist of a drive to Edinburgh and started out in spectacular style with a 1905 foot climb of Hartside. We then followed the A689, A69, and B6318 to Brampton where another error in the directions saw competitors passing and re passing each other trying to sort out the way ahead. Once back on the right route we ran along side Hadrians Wall and then on to the truly magnificent B709 to Innerleithen. 36 miles of empty road with wonderful scenery and a road surface so smooth it looked as if were new. Coffee and scones at Innerleithen Golf Club were most welcome before the final part of the journey, mainly along main roads to the finish at Hopetoun House, just west of Edinburgh. We were greeted at the finish by the smiling face of fellow Falcon member, Peter Manning, who was on holiday and offered to do his bit for the MCC whilst he was in the area.

I read in the event programme after we got home, that the aim of the celebration was to give the drivers “bigger mileage, much of it on lesser but really enjoyable roads” and I have to admit that the MCC succeeded in that aim. We covered a total of 1175 miles from Lunch time Tuesday to arriving home Tea time Friday. As we live next to the A1 our return journey was back down the A1. It took about seven hours, a bit different to 100 years ago.

Mike Hayward

PS – I Thought you might like a break-down on the results from the Centenary Trial. 8 cars hit a marker (Cone) on the first special test. 9 failed Old Hollow either by stopping or footing. No one failed Farlow. 12 failed Wetton Low. 2 Failed Park Rash. 4 stopped (or should that be didn’t stop) on West Witton, and everyone cleaned the last hill. Congratulations to Class C winner, Falcons very own Peter Thompson in his Opel Kadett.

Peter Mountain Reports

A few minor anomalies on the route card kept the crews alert, reminds me of the route cards 10 or 15 years ago. No use following the car in front, they were probably lost as well!

As Mike Hayward reported, we ran out of petrol just after the Popham special test; the petrol gauge has never worked since I got the car in 1968. Luckily Richard Hoskin was carrying a gallon of fuel in this three wheeler. Whatever happened to him, he seemed to disappear during the night run.

I remembered (too late) that Morgan handbrakes do not work on hills, so failed at least one restart, probably more.

Later I was reminded how efficient modern cars are; the Morgan averaged only 22mpg over the whole event and only 20mpg on the way home. We would have used less fuel in my Omega which is twice as heavy, automatic and has a litre bigger engine; Peter Lawley was probably doing more than 50mpg in his hybrid Toyota.

What must it have been like in 1904?, with poor roads, poor petrol, acetylene lights, punctures, infrequent fuel, etc.

As you saw in the photo, we had one minor mechanical malady, the accelerator cable got shifted and the revs would not go below 1500, easily cured with a cable tie, but during the wettest part of the trial. Navigator Jim took the attached photo of sunrise at Great Hucklow.

Edward Stobbs hustles his 2CV special along at thoroughly indecent speeds for 602cc and only 3 wheels. When we were following him there was no urge to overtake and when he was following us he had no problem keeping up.

Nice to see a familiar face at the finish; Peter Manning took the attached photo of us and the weatherstained Morgan at the end. There were many familiar faces on route as well, all marshalling; thanks to all the officials.

On the way home I navigated & whilst taking an unplanned “scenic route” we came across this delightful road just off the A68 (see photo).

I think there ought to be a special award for masochism, both Dellow drivers would qualify; 1100 miles in a Dellow is quite a round trip.

Peter Mountain

Edinburgh 2003

If you were car classes 1 to 5 it wasn’t a competitive trial because it was so dry and only the higher classes were let loose on Bamford and Corkscrew. But what a good day out. Nice weather, gorgeous views, a new road route and a nice club supper to finish the day. Super news, Brian Sussex won a gold and his triple.

Start at Moto Services Tamworth

The start was just as sterile and devoid of atmosphere as last year and most of the facilities were closed and locked up behind steel shutters. The President participated in scruitineering, shaking spare wheels vigorously to make sure they were secure. There were lost of abandoned tow cars and trailers around the car park and the management will have made a few quid if they all paid their £6 long term parking fee.

Agnes Meadow

The run to the first section followed the usual route up the A5 and north through Litchfield to Ashbourne and out on the A517 to Agnes Meadow. There was a deviation here for classes seven and eight but it didn’t catch many people out this year as they knew all about the sharp turn back onto the main track. Everyone wasn’t lucky though as both Maureen Chattle and Neil Bray were shown as failures in the results. I don’t know about Maureen but not only did I see Neil not fail I videoed him not failing!

Clough Wood

**With John Alssop not available Clive Booth coerced car builder Geoff Jackson into the passengers seat of his Dellow Replica.Corkscrew was Clive’s only failure.**

There was along run of around 20 miles through Matlock to petrol at Two Dales before crossing over the Peak Railway to a rather rough Clough Wood where the sharp rocks ripped the sidewall out of one of the front tyres of Stuart Harrolds Troll. The sidewall was too badly damaged to put in a new tube so Stuart and Chris put on a wide rear wheel so they could continue.

Wigber Low

Cars had the usual holding control in the breaking dawn before to prevent queuing on the main road. The section was pretty straightforward and the marshals, which included Morgan racer Rob Wells, weren’t troubled by many failures. Neil Bray was in problems on the following road section as one of his knock of hubs was coming loose from the flange. The problem was that the securing nuts had hobbed their way into the hub leaving almost no flats exposed to get a spanner to.

Bentley Brook Inn

**Ian and Phillip Bovill entered their ISOC Sports which has its origins in a Sherpa Van! According to the owner it qualified for class 7 because of the long wheelbase.**

The organisation creaked a bit here as the wait for breakfast grew longer and longed and the really late numbers had to wait for around an hour and a quarter. Needless to say quite a few left without any food inside them!

Putwell 1

Ian Blackburn is still enjoying the luxury of Tim Short chauffeuring him around Classic Trial sections in his Singer Nine Sports. Here they are tackling the big bump immediately after the start. (Picture by John Salter)

The normal start was just before a raised hump over a pipe but the big hole from last year was filled in. It was tricky getting away though, even for the front wheel drive cars who had a preferential start a bit lower down. There was quite a bit of blue smoke as competitors burned their tyre getting over the hump and the diff in Richard Tompkins Imp cried enough. Earlier Stuart Harrold and Chris Phillips had gone to let down their rear tyres only to find one was flat already so they were down to no spares!

Special Test One

**Richard & Edward Cooper raising the dust as they round the 90 right on the Putwell Special Test. (Picture by John Salter)**

The route card explained this as start on Line A, Stop astride Line B, Stop astride Line B affair but competitors were greeted on the start line with the news that it was a straight blast, stop on line B and that’s it. Nice and simple.

Putwell 2

**Dudley relaxing while Stephen and Phil Potter take their time in restarting their Trojan. Both the Trojans went on to Gold. (Picture by John Salter)**

Dudley Sterry and Eric and David Wall were in charge here with John Salter taking pictures. The re-start was in the usual place on the rocky slab and was very, very rough. Most competitors got away OK but positioning was critical.

Litton Slack

**Dave Nash and Julie Fleet attacking the upper reaches of Litton in The Skeetle.**

The old hill was kind to competitors this year with plenty of grip all the way up.

Black Harry

After Litton the route divided. Bikes and Classes 6 to 8 went straight to Great Hucklow while 1 to 5 went east on the A623 to turn off into the quarry complex to Black Harry, a nice simple straight track which didn’t trouble the scorer to much.

Great Hucklow

**Michael Leete and Mike Hayward demonstrating that their Beetle has plenty of ground clearance. (Picture by Derek Hibbert)**

There was a special test before the section which deviated up the bank as usual. There was plenty of grip and this was one section that didn’t seem as rough as usual. Brian and Kevin Alexander had a few problems and had to stop just before the section but soon got going again to claim a gold, only to find they were given a fail on Litton Slack.

Gliding Club Control

This was a compulsory 30 minute rest halt and the holding control for those lucky enough to be allowed to tackle Bamford Clough. The organisers had clearly been taking lessons from the Lands End as they had found the coldest, windiest godforsaken spot in the whole area for Stuart and Chris to replace the tube in one of their flats.

Haggside

**Chris and Linda Beaumont from Hereford arrive at the summit.**

The restart on Haggside was in the usual place just around the corner immediately after the start. There was plenty of grip in the dry conditions and only competitors who got their positioning totally wrong had any problems.

Old Long Hill

After Haggside it was back alongside the Ladybower Reservoir and the local constabulary wasting the taxpayers money in a very expensive camera vehicle trying to trap speeding motorists. At least they were nice and safe inside their van which they wouldn’t have been on the streets of nearby Sheffield protecting innocent citizens from murders, rapists and muggers. The long road section wound its way along the valley through Hope and Castleton and up the spectacular Winnats Pass before coming into Buxton from the north down the A6 and out on the A5004 where the car entry split. Classes 1 to 6 tackled Old Long Hill, complete with downhill start.

Corkscrew

Classes Seven, Eight and the bikes went on to Corkscrew, which was to pose a real challenge. Not only was it rough, narrow and twisty but it had a difficult restart, between the two hairpins, and it was wet. No, the MCC assure us it was not doctored, a natural spring runs down the hill. Amongst the bike entry Brian Sussex was on tenterhooks as he listened to first a crescendo of noise and then total silence. Fortunately when his turn came Brian kept his nerve and cleaned the section for a well earned triple.

It was a tough section for the four-wheeled brigade but it was cleanable with a lot of care and a fair slice of luck. The section was very slippery for the early numbers and Stuart Harrold was one of the few early numbers to get a clean. It wasn’t easy, although they got the Troll away from the restart Stuart and Chris had to fight for grip all the way to the summit. Fred Gregory got off the re-start OK only to come to a halt on the left hand corner. Mike Pearson came to grief when his left front wheel went up on a rock and the car pivoted on diagonal corners loosing drive. Ed Nikel failed as well but was happy as he was enjoying a nice reliable trial with VW power even if the engine was fluffing a bit. Corkscrew was Peter Montain’s only failure in his newly refurbished Dellow which was going very well apart from the carburation needing a bit of tweaking.

Haydale

As the routes re-joined there was another very long road run, north and then east in a huge circle around Buxton to Haydale where John and June Blakeley presided over a comparatively easy section in the dry conditions.

Calton

The final hill was Calton. It was pretty easy in the dry but the ruts are a slowly stating to come back so it could soon be returning to be a competitive section.

Bull L’Th Thorn Inn, Flagg Moor

**Reg Taylor and Bill Rule at the finish after a successful class 0 run in their RDT Anglia.**

The finish was at this rather desolate pub in the middle of nowhere again. But inside it was noisy and crowded with competitors eating and drinking as they signed off. Popular opinion was that it was a very nice day out but with the very dry conditions not a competitive trial unless you were one of the lucky ones allowed to have a go at Bamford andCorkscrew.

Pavilion Gardens Buxton

The MCC had organised a club supper at The Pavilion Gardens which made a very nice conclusion to an enjoyable day. Hopefully this will be a feature of future Edinburgh Trials. The only thing wrong was that many of us were waiting for a few words from the hierarchy which never came!

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Edinburgh 2002

Start at Moto Services Tamworth

There was plenty of room at the official start, perhaps too much room, too spread out, because it was completely devoid of atmosphere! Scrutineering was rather cursory, MOT certificate and reversing light and that was that! John Parsons was in a bit of trouble with his ex David Thompson VW Buggy and he had to rewire the feed on his to get it to work. JP has completely re-vamped his car, modifying the rear end to reduce the overhang and fitting a 2.1 Litre Type 4 engine from Jim Calvert of Stateside Tuning. To go back to the reversing lights the scrut was clearly aware, that many competitors would be reversing back down Bamford Clough in the dark!

Agnes Meadow

The run to Agnes Meadow was about 50 miles, punctuated by the steady flash of the many speed cameras on the main roads! Competitors reckon this section is a pretty gentle warm-up but Peter Mountain greeted yellow and red car competitors with the news that they had a muddy deviation off to the right immediately after the start. This sent everyone scurrying for their tyre pressure gauges as the route and surface were un-known. It was certainly a shock but I don’t think it was too difficult apart from the danger of getting cross-rutted on re-joining the main track. It did catch out a few though, including Pete hart and poor old Reg Taylor.

The run out of Agnes Meadow is a nice long green lane. There appeared to be a little local trouble at the exit onto the tarmac road by the “repaired barn” as there was a very irate local woman running around with a torch, writing down car numbers.

Wigber Low

Cars had the usual holding control before to prevent queuing on the main road. It was a nice still night and the quietness was punctuated by the occasional music of British single’s as the bikes passed the foot of the section on their way from breakfast to Clough Wood. The section is a nice one for the night, interesting but not too difficult, although the loose rocks may have been a bit of a shock to the low slung class 0 competitors.

Bentley Brook Inn

The car park was as cramped as ever but the breakfast was good and the service friendly, shame about the toilet! It started to drizzle here making competitors a little fearful about Litton in the early morning.

Clough Wood

**John Parsons on the start line while he waits for Simon Robson to clear the hill. John is probably contemplating the fact that he has already used two litres of oil!**

No real problems here as everything was nice and dry. It was a bit rocky but class 0 were spared their under-sides on this one.

Ballcross

Marshal John Blakeley reported that things went pretty smoothly apart from the Renault Meganne Scenic (unbelievable) in class 0 and even the Mini got up.

Litton Slack

**John Parsons was the first car to clean Litton and is seen here just about to change into 2nd.**

Ian Davis was marshalling here with family and friends. As a car driver Ian doesn’t get to watch the bikes very often and was impressed by the different techniques employed by he riders. However, it was John Beaumont in the rear engined, A series Reliant, that was the most spectacular, clearing the hill going from one lock to the other to the applause of the crowd. It was pretty moist for the bikes and there was a lot of grass, which they didn’t clear away.

This made things pretty difficult for the first 50 or so cars and nobody got up, including aces like Arthur Vowden, Brian Partridge and Dean Partington, until John Parsons blasted his type 4 Buggy to the top. John was soon followed by Jeff Buchanan in the ex-Greenslade Reliant and Stuart Harrold and ACTC Championship Secretary Chris Phillips. Suddenly the grass and mud was gone and the rest of the entry mostly sailed serenely to the summit! Quite a few of the early cars failed within 50 yards, mostly because they didn’t build enough speed of the start. Dave Nash and Neil Bray were one of the many to stutter a stop on the lower reaches.

Amongst the early numbers Pete Hart made a a spirited attempt, storming past the A boards, but didn’t quite have enough momentum after jumping out of the ruts at the tricky part next to the tree on the left. Sadly this caused problems and Pete and Carlie had to retire. This part of the hill caused problems for quite a few others, including Simon Robson in his Liege and John Bennett in his smart class 4 Renault. Both David Turner and Philip Mitchell stormed up in their blown Beemers. Tony Branson was running near the back of the field and reported that the section had really dried out and Tony had a trouble free assent in the Marlin he had driven down from Northumberland to the start.

Putwell 1

There was certainly a bite on this normally easy section as there was a huge hole just after the start and the re-start was strategically positioned just before. David Turner was spectacular here with daylight under all four wheels as he went over the bump. It certainly put a load on transmissions and Ed Nikel had something break, shattering the case of his Imp, leaving Ed and his brother the worry of getting back to his trailer at Tamworth. Simon Robson had problems here as well as bouncer Matt couldn’t avoid his feet knocking off the battery cut-out switch in the passenger’s foot-well.

Richard Tompkins got away OK but stopped before the section end boards. This was Richards first event with a new engine in his Imp which was fluffing a bit on it’s twin 40’s as Richard hadn’t had enough time to tune them properly. Another to have trouble was Michael Leete whose brakes completely disappeared in the queue. They came back again but this was to be a worry on the road sections for the rest of the day. In class three Peter Thompson couldn’t get the Opel away but he dropped back a little, still within the box and pulled away without any problems.

Putwell 2

**Jim Scott discussing how high Dave Turner managed to fly the blown BMW on Putwell 1**

Class 4 drivers Jim Scott, Colin Perryman and Stuart Cairney were marshalling here. The re-start wasn’t too difficult but quite a few car drivers ran out of steam on the rocks above it as they got slipperier as the day went on. David Childs struggled here in his Pop and was pushed up by Stuart Cairney who was his passenger more that 30 years ago. Even the class eight’s found the re-start area was rough this year and Stuart Harrold was one amongst many who thinks major repairs are needed.

Haydale

Nothing to report on this one.

Highcliffe

Nice hill with no particular problems.

Great Hucklow

**Mike Telford waits to give the “Tucker Nipper Special” a chance to do it’s stuff on Hucklow**

On the start line the hill looked innocuous enough. The route instructions said there was a re-start for all classes but made no reference to whether the section was going straight out onto the road or deviate left up the bank. Most people guessed correctly, up the bank it was. In recent years this steep little deviation has been very muddy, a little bit rough and not much grip and the only way to get up has been to storm it. This year it was very rough, bone dry and loads and loads of grip. The only problem was that by the time you found this out you were at full tilt on the storming technique! This causes loads of damage to the four-wheeled brigade.

Dave Haizelden suffered major damage to his offside front suspension and waved goodbye to his Triple. Dave Nash didn’t get over the hump as he was just not going fast enough but at least he didn’t damage the car. Simon Robson’s Liege hiccuped and he didn’t make it either . The top of the hill rang to the sound of club hammer against wheel rim as many drivers tried to straighten out the damage, including Michael Leete, Fred Gregory and even Stuart Harrold with 18 psi in the tyres. Sadly, Derek Reynolds and Fred Mills had more serious trouble, when the transmission on their Volvo failed and they were faced with the problem of getting the car all the way back to Cramlington in Northumberland.

Bradwell Edge Holding Control

After Hucklow the wreckage wound it’s way up onto the moor the Bamford holding control at Bradwell Edge. The wait here got longer and longer as the day went on and at the end was more than two hours. At least it was one long straight crocodile so there wasn’t all the hassle of queue jumping at the defunct Marquis of Granby. The problem at Bamford was not only that there were a lot of failures, they were mostly right at the top. This meant a long delay while competitors reversed down to the lay-by. With the high failure rate the marshals were reluctant to let more than one car on the hill at a time. All this meant that on average cars were taking an average of two or three minutes on the hill with the inevitable delay.

Elmore Special test

There was a nice simple special test on the descent down to civilisation, followed one of the roughest tracks I have ever been seen on a Classic Trial. Ruts, boulders it had the lot. Pity any low slung cars coming down here!

Shatton Moor Special test

This was a Class 0 only affair. Presumably, so they didn’t have to go down the track following The Elmore Special Test?

Bamford Clough

The old hill was in fine form, stopping loads of people and causing the inevitable delays. However, Bamford is worth all that for the challenge. For those of you who have never seen it I will explain. The section starts at the end of a tarmac road and goes up a gentle dirt track, overhung by trees. There is a 45-degree right hand corner, then the trees peter out and the majesty of Bamford lays before you, provided you look up to the sky thast is! It’s now straight as an arrow, very long and gets steeper and steeper till when you get near the top you can hardly stand up. It’s also pretty rough, mainly where over the years the MCC have repaired the holed with concrete. The problem is that spinning wheels and the weather keep eroding the bits immediately before and after, causing even more holes. The challenge this year was such a big hole just where the gradient starts to steepen. All but the most foolhardy backed off to some degree here, loosing momentum and as Bamford is all about momentum that’s where the trouble started. Yes they kept going, but not at enough speed to crest the steep humps at the top, where many failed with “wheels a spinning”.

Light cars were at an advantage as they could slowly build some momentum after the horror and Mike Pearson trickled for a clean, Simon Robson did to. Dave Nash stopped and got going but the marshals gave him a clean. John Parsons stopped as well, when his feet slipped of the pedals, but the marshals obviously preferred Skoda’s to VW’s and gave John a fail. Stuart Harrold thought Bamford was very rough but had the right power to weight ratio so could re-build his speed after lifting off for the bumps. David Haizelden was right at the back of the field, limping along in the dark after the damage suffered on Great Hucklow. Sadly the lights failed and Dave didn’t see how deep the holes were at the top, finishing off the nearside wishbone, shock absorber. The impact also removed the steering rack from the bulkhead and pushed the chassis leg back; leaving Dave with a major job to get the Golf repaired in time for the Ebworth Chase. When Dave got the car home he found the near-side chassis had moved back by 30mm and both the inner sills had moved upwards and been crushed. Dave also reported that the near-side door wouldn’t open and the offside door “you can reach inside without it being open”. All this was to no avail really as no cars in classes one or four cleaned Bamford so it didn’t count in the results for them!

Both Great Hucklow and Bamford were pretty rough for the bikers and even John Lees found them a bit of a strain on his arms. John reports that they kept catching up with class 0 and were allowed to jump in front of them at he foot of Bamford.

Haggside

Haggside was a bit of an anti-climax after Bamford, although enjoyable none the less. It had the usual re-start, just after the first corner, marshalled by Peter and David Manning and George Nixon. They didn’t have to many victims this year (remember when David Alderson lost his triple) as you could stop well before the step and take a run at it. They had company for much of the event, one of the Rangers. As an individual he was very pro-motorsport but he was along to observe and submit a written report to the hierarchy on the event and in particular how much damage was being caused to the track. Apparently, as pro-motorsport as he was, it was going to be difficult for him to turn a blind eye to the holes being dug on the re-start and the powers-that-be are likely to deny us the use of Haggside in the future.

Poachers Arms Hope

The hours “lunch halt” was at the end of the trial and it was supper time for the late runners as they arrived here in the drizzle as they were more than four hours behind their scheduled time. Fortunately the marshals showed a little pity and cut the hour down a bit for later numbers, who then missed the excellent food in the pub!

Peak Pasture

Class 0 only section

Hassop Common Special Test

After a road run through Grindleford it was up into the hills for a special test, with the start, marshalled by fellow Gasser Jonathan Laver, amongst the quarries. This was where the trial ended for the cars as the remaining sections were cancelled.

Black Harry

Only the bikes had a go at this one which probably disappointed the marshal’s who apparently “doctored” the section with material from an adjoining wall, incurring the wrath of the “powers that be” Goodness what will happen to the perpetrators. I believe that when this happened on Clinton a few years ago the guilty parties (who if memory serves me correctly included Graham Marshall) were banned for a while. Now looking at my program the Chief Official is down as, no I better not say, take a look for yourself!!!

Overwheal

Calton

Bull L’Th Thorn Inn, Flagg Moor

The finish was moved away from Buxton this year so there could be a club supper which appeared to go down well with participants, although because there was no accommodation available many gave it a miss and enjoyed the Buxton nightlife. There wasn’t much time for the later numbers to dress for dinner though, as it was well past 8 o’clock when they staggered home.

Popular opinion after the event was that the event was far to rough and that Bamford, Hucklow and Putwell all need major repairs before they can be used again and this may well be beyond the resources of the MCC. Haggside should be included in this list but it looks as though we might not be allowed to use it anyway.

The Next Day

For those of you that looked out for, but didn’t find me, this is what I look like! (I think the cartoon is a good resemblance!) Michael Leete takes his own picture while Mike Hayward attends to the tyres on the Broad Walk in Buxton before the drive home to Bedfordshire.

Erratum:-

After publishing this I had an interesting e-mail from Stuart Cairney ….Enjoyed reading the Edinburgh report, one minor correction – on this occasion David Child was driving his Pop based special (the one that looks like an estate car, reg DMP 10 I think, ex Mike Furse? (Note from Michael – Yes this is right. Mike did own this car which he affectionately called “Dump” I wrote about this in the Falcon version of Classical Gas and it’s on my list of stuff to publish on the web when I get the time). I believe he still owns the Pop which, I assume, was being driven by one of his mates. Incidentally the guy I used to bounce for was the late John Simmons-Hodge who owned the Pop prior to David Child.

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Classical Gassers report on their Edinburgh Trial

John Lees was competing in Class A on his Triumph Twin

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

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

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

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

Stuart Cairney was driving his Imp

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

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

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

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

Wet and Windy Edinburgh

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

Simon and Matt Robson climbing Haggside on their way to Liege

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2000_edinburgh_results Download

Edinburgh Notes – By Mike Furse

An Edinburgh Montage, featuring Andrew Brown, Pete and Carlie Hart, Ken Green and Terry Ball in the only competing Class Six Beetle. The organisers are trying to clamp down on class 6 so they handicapped him by making him drag his spare wheels to the top.

A few comments from my Edinburgh. Peter Manning certainly whitewashed class five with the only clean sheet. The next best being a bronze. I’m particularly pleased for Gary Booth who has persevered with his old and rather delicate Buckler, which was built by his late father-in-law, and looks like winning the Buckler Register’s trophy for the most successful Buckler in 1999. (To be fair to the others he hasn’t really had a lot of competition this year!)

I should have got a bronze, but choose to park one front wheel against an outcrop on the restart at Calton, under the eye of Peter Mountain, who will, no doubt, remind me of the incident for some time to come! The other two hills I failed were a bit of a lottery. It rained as I approached Great Hucklow so a successful climb from a restart with 18 psi in the tyres was a bit much for me, and by the time we reached Pindale at the tail end of the trial it was rather dug out to say the least. Not a good excuse, that one, as Arthur Vowden climbed it just after me! Incidentally, I discovered before the start that my Racecorp does not comply with the ACTC Kitcar Spec. sheet, recently revised. I declared this at the start and put myself in Class 8. So, we had the rather strange situation of one Racecorp in Class 8 and the other in Class 7. No one at the A5 scruitineering point was interested at all and the results team didn’t pick it up. Because of the rather strange practice that the Edinburgh organisers have of making Classes 6, 7 and 8 do exactly the same things throughout the trial, it didn’t make a bit of difference, but I hope it can be sorted before I use the Racecorp on a Classic again.

I met Robin Howard at the breakfast halt. He had an alternator problem and was going to do a few hills before the battery gave up. Then he would go home! Another thing the results team didn’t pick up was that Col (Colin Stevens) used a Skoda instead of the Dutton Special. I suspect that if you don’t finish they don’t bother to check all the details! Alan Bellamy didn’t run after putting a screwdriver through his finger but was well enough to go up to marshal on Corkscrew, for which the club is suitably grateful! I’m told that when we next see the Brasilia, we should be prepared to be impressed….

**Bill Bennet exiting Litton in his MG (picture by Ken Green**

The cancellation of Putwell for the car classes was inevitable. We were badly let down by the filling station at Newhaven, who apparently couldn’t distinguish between Saturday and Sunday. As a result, the bikes had severe problems finding fuel, and hence got very late indeed. This was not helped by conditions at Excelsior, where a lot of the bikes had great difficulty. This caused such a delay that Dave Turner and Adrian Tucker-Peake established an adhoc control in the village. The villagers, bless them, did not appear to be upset. At one time, we had about 60 cars there and everyone behaved extremely well, although the running order got very distorted! Some competitors were dismayed at the amount of mud left on the main road leading out of the village and there is a looooong storey of how John Hayes dealt with this problem. Suffice to say that the duty policeman who took his call could not believe that the person who made the mess was actually reporting it and offering to pay to clean it up!

Looking back at the event as a whole, as a competitor I felt it went as well as could be expected, given the difficulties the organisers had. I certainly enjoyed it and have had many positive comments from other competitors. One of the most positive things that I felt about this event is that, at long last, we seem to be building up the popularity with the locals that the Exeter and, particularly, the Lands End have enjoyed for some time.

1999 Edinburgh Trial

Simon Robson building speed for his successful assult on the bank at Great Hucklow.

It had been pretty wet in the days leading up to the Edinburgh so the hills were going to be in prime condition in Derbyshire. The rain poured down during the night run and the bikers got pretty wet as did drivers of open cars, at least those that didn’t stop under motorway bridges to put the hood up!

The common routes converged at the Elf service station on the A5 near Atherstone for eligibility scruitineering, which was pretty painless. It wasn’t so good for the ladies as the toilets were closed for the second year in succession! Then it was back into the night to battle with a rather in-accurate route card to find the first hill at Agnes Meadow near Ashbourne. The water was streaming down the section, so much that most of the mud was washed away making this a nice gentle start before the serious proceedings. There were gates to be closed here but runners at the back of the field found them open. This continued through the trial and it’s something the MCC will have to watch out for if we are to stay out of trouble with the local landowners.

Wigber Low was just up the road, which I believe is a new hill. It starts just off the busy B5056 so there was a holding control for the cars to stop them queuing in the main road. The hill was pretty straightforward but it was a bit rough in places and this was the downfall of Colin Stevens who had the sump-shield ripped off his Skoda Coupe and he retired. Breakfast was waiting a few miles up the road at the Bentley Brook Inn. They had a wonderful open fire going and the room steamed as wet clothes were dried out. The food was good quality but there wasn’t much room inside or in the car park and competitors missed that wonderful transport café atmosphere of the Salt Box.

The bikers hit big problems just up the road, as the New Haven garage wasn’t open. Most of them were in desperate straits as they were relying on filling up here. Some waited for the staff to turn up, some went searching around for a 24-hour garage and sadly, some gave up. All this caused a big delay for the bikes and they dribbled into Excelsior with a considerable delay. The rain had made the hill pretty muddy and this caused further delays, which affected the cars who backed up onto the main road. Travelling marshals created an impromptu holding control in Hartington village and competitors queued around the village pond. This mostly worked pretty well but some later numbers got pretty annoyed with queue jumpers and there were a few raised voices and frayed tempers. The wind got up a bit which dried the hill itself out and it was pretty near bone dry towards the end, causing few problems for later numbers although Jonathan Baggott retired his Marlin soon afterwards.

Then it was off to the A6, up the hill to the Monsal Head Hotel with the wonderful view across the valley to Putwell, down again to Cressbrook and up the steep climb to the track down to Litton and “the queue”. The hill was in pretty good condition this year but Laurie Knight had spiced things up with a restart for Terry Ball plus class seven and eight. Why Terry Ball? Well he was the only starter in class six! The box was just before the trees, preventing the yellows and reds getting a good run at the steep bit where the deep ruts start. This caught out many of the class sevens, including Robin Howard, Dave Nash, Mike Furse and ACTC rights of way officer Andrew Brown. Fred Gregory and Pete Stafford persuaded their Dutton Melos up to the top without to much difficulty as did Mike Pearson and David Thompson in class eight but Clive Booth and John Allsop weren’t so lucky in their lower powered Dellow replica. All the non-restarting Falcons made it to the top OK but former Falcon Adrian Tucker-Peake couldn’t get his Peugeot to the summit. Yes we know Litton is a difficult prospect for class 1 but David Haizleden climbed it in his Golf Adrian! Sadly Litton saw the end of Robin Howard and Barry Blofield’s Edinburgh and they were last seen under the bonnet of their Dutton Sierra after failing the hill.

Calton was next. It’s not so many years ago when this was the last hill, providing a real sting in the tail as many Triple aspirations sunk without trace in the deep ruts at the summit. They’ve been filled in now and the hill itself is a pretty gentle run. However, it had been made competitive by adding a re-start just before the summit, presided over by Falcon’s Peter Mountain. It was OK if you just nudged your front wheels into the box but if you went at all deep your front wheels came up against some fair sized rocks making getting away pretty problematical, trapping quite a few, including Peter Mountains near neighbour Mike Furse.

It was a beautiful morning as the route wound up the steep hills towards Bareleg. The sky was clear and the views magnificent, but all this was spoilt by a terrible accident as a BMW pulled out to pass Adrian Dommett on the approach to Bareleg and collided head on with an approaching car. There were several people hurt and at this stage it’s not known how they are. Bareleg was not used as a section this year, and Mike Hayward and Arnold Lane were able to see where they stood in the fog for seven hours two years ago! The blues and whites went straight down to the special test at Old Long Hill but the pleasures of Corkscrew awaited the reds and yellows. This used to be known as Jenkins Chapel and regular readers of my column should be experts on the hill, I have written so much about it lately! Apart from Clive all the Falcon’s cleaned the section but it was pretty rough, several drivers saying it was the roughest section they have ever seen. Clive was particularly unlucky, urged on by John he was going really well until the engine cut out just before the section ends board. It started again OK and Clive thinks he must have knocked the ignition off with his knee as the Dellow Rep lept over a rock.

Michael Leete and Mike Hayward storming Bamford Clough

The special test at Old Long Hill passed without any great drama, then it was a twenty mile run up and over the hills to The Marquis of Granby. Things weren’t too bad for the early numbers but the delay built up and towards the end there was quite a bit of queue jumping causing the usual un-happiness. A lot of work had been done to Bamford and it was nowhere near as rough as it has been in recent years. It’s still a formidable obstacle, especially with a bit of damp in the air making the concrete steps a bit greasy. The worst problem was the step right the top and it was here most of the failures came to grief, including Simon and Matt Robson who didn’t have enough momentum to get over the final hump. There had been doubts that the MCC would get permission to use Haggside as part of it is a bridleway and the local Forestry Commission guy was being a bit difficult. All was well on the day and we had the challenge of the usual re-start just out of sight round the first corner. It wasn’t too bad if you didn’t go in to deep but it still caught a few, including Clive and John.

After Haggside it was back by Ladybower reservoir, past the foot of Bamford and The Marquis, through Hope, past the cement works to Pindale. The approach was pretty rough and there was a rather strange special test before the Pindale section itself. A split route waited. For the Blues and Whites there was a rough stony track through a gully but for Yellows and Reds there was a steep mound to be climbed first which defeated quite a few including Fred Gregory, Dave Nash and Mike Furse. This was really one for the brave. If you didn’t hit it hard enough you didn’t get up but hit it to hard and you broke the car.

Hucklow was next. All classes had to deviate left up the bank and this was to sort the men from the boys. The bikes found it pretty rough, especially some of the older, heavier one. John Lees told me how his 1961 Triumph, weighing all of 500 lbs, leapt from rock to rock on its way up, but he made it and won the class A award. Duncan Stephens was spectating on Hucklow and witnessed David Haizelden’s magnificent climb, he made it look very easy and actually eased off half way up! Duncan was also impressed with Roger Ugaldes Allard, the big heavy car going up without any problems. Falcon cleans here were few and far between, only David Thompson, Mike Person and Peter Manning were successful. Simon Robson had a magnificent attempt, but bogged down about half way up and the car came to a stop with wheels spinning. It didn’t slip backwards and with much bouncing from Matt and sawing at the wheel from Simon they get the white Skoda going again and it came out of the top to much applause from the spectators. Everyone thought Simon had cleaned it but the provisional results showed the Skoda as a failure so it looks like the marshals noticed it stopped! Andrew Brown had the misfortune to clip the exposed rock at the deviation. This stopped the car dead, slewed at 90 degrees across the track.

The trial was drawing to a close now and Ballcross didn’ t present any problems for the Blues and Whites. The higher classes gave this one a miss and went south down the A6, through Bakewell and down to Darley Dale. Old Edinburgh hands had a sense of deja vu as they passed the DFS car park and Texaco Supreme service station before turning left up to Halldale. The section was approached by going up the drive to somebody’s house and it will be interesting to see if the MCC can get to use this one again. The section itself was quite a long stony affair but the gradient was pretty gentle and didn’t trouble the scorer. The early cars did Putwell, but Clerk of the Course Laurie Knight was worried about the trial running late and exercised his right to cancel the section. Later numbers were treated to the full scenic tour of Derbyshire on a twenty-five mile run in to the finish without any sections to disturb the view.

Despite all the early drama’s the trial wasn’t too late in finishing, last man Arthur Vowden arriving at Buxton around quarter to eight. As the pubs and bars filled with triallers reliving their day, the verdict was that the 1999 Edinburgh was an enjoyable trial. It was certainly full of drama. A wet night, searches for fuel in the early hours of the morning, delays, disputes over queue jumping, the excitement of Litton and Bamford and a particularly tough section at Hucklow. Yes a pretty good Edinburgh!

1999_edinburgh_results Download

MCC Murmuring:-

Falcons –

121 Stuart and Andrew Cairney (Imp) (4) – Did not start. Stuarts Imp was running very rough because of problems with the Dellorto carburettors. The problem couldn’t be sorted and Stuart decided not to start.

217 Robin Howard and Barry Blofield (Dutton Sierra) (7) – Retired after Litton Slack

222 Alan Bellamy and Jack Sheppard (VW Fastback) (6) – Did not start

223 Dave Nash and Julie (Skeetle) (7) – Failed Litton, Pindale and Hucklow

224 Colin and Mark Stevens (Skoda Coupe) (?) – Retired after Wigber Low when the sump guard came adrift

225 Clive Booth and John Allsop (Dellow Rep) (8) – Failed Litton and Haggside, Hucklow and probably failed Corkscrew as well when the engine cut out as they were about to pass the section end board, believed to be caused by Clives knee jogging the ignition switch!

227 David and Christine Manning (MG Midget) (5) – Gold and winner of class 5

241 Murray and Hazel MacDonald (VW 1302S) (4) – Silver, Failed Great Hucklow.

248 Mike Pearson and Arnold Lane (Dellow Rep) (8) – Gold

249 David Thompson and ? (VW Buggy) (8) – Gold

252 Mike and Shiela Furse (Racecorp) (7) Failed Calton, put front wheel against a rock, Pindale, couldn’t climb the steep bank, Hucklow.

253 Michael Leete and Mike Hayward (VW 1302S) (4) – Failed Great Hucklow

254 Neil Bray and Marc Lawrence (Skoda) (4) – Failed Great Hucklow

255 Simon and Matt Robson (Skoda) (4) – Failed Bamford Clough and Hucklow.

256 Fred Gregory and Peter Stafford (Dutton Melos) (7) – Failed Pindale and Hucklow

268 Jonathon Baggott and Ian Banton (Marlin) (7) – Retired after Excelsior

Some Others –

Barry Clarke retired his Austin 7 on the track after Hucklow with a dead battery. He was hoping to limp to his hotel using only dynamo power.

Derek Chatto (Cannon) Winner of JTP cup

Stuart Harrold (Troll) – Class 8

Andrew Brown (Marlin)- Failed Litton and Hucklow.

David Haizleden (Golf) won class 1 and went round clean – man how did he get a front wheel drive car up that bank at Hucklow with a re-start?

Adrian T-P (Peugeot) failed Litton and Bamford

W. J. Bennett (MG J2) won class 2

David Heale (Escort estate) won class 3

Bill Rosten (Imp) won class 4

Terry Ball won class 6 but then he was the only starter!

Roger Ugalde won class 7 in that wonderful Allard

Pete and Carlie Hart won a Gold in their Marlin

In the bikes John Lees won Class A

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Start

Agnes Meadow

Wigber Low

Clough Wood

Deeprake

Putwell

Calton

Haydale

Breakfast

Haggside

Holding Control

Bamford Clough

Great Hucklow

Litton Slack

Old Long Hill

Corkscrew

Excelsior

Moneystones

Moneyash Special Test

Club Supper

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