THE OVERNIGHT RUN
All of the Falcon crews started from Toddington, the first away, well before midnight on a nice evening. There had been quite a bit of rain earlier in the week and the marshals at the start were full of cheer, telling tales of washed out sections!
We had a couple of non-starters. Mike Furse didn’t take part because illness in the family and in the event Alan Bellamy didn’t turn up with either the Brasilia or his type 3 Fastback, otherwise we were all present and correct. Scruitineering at Toddington was quite a simple affair, seemingly consisting of checking the car was the same colour as stated on the MOT certificate! Then it was off for a couple of hours drive up the A5 to Atherstone for yet more scruitineering, this time for eligibility. There was a big Falcon audience when Neil Bray pulled into the car wash, sorry scruitineereing bay, for what we all thought was going to be another battle. But Alan Foster just shrugged his shoulders and waved the Skoda through for John West to check. This was quite painless and Neil and Marc were soon back on the A5 again.
A SECTION IN THE DARK
On and on up the A5 drove the Falcons. Through Brownhills and up to Cannock Chase. If the route had gone much further West it would have reached the Mersey! Finally it turned North up the A515 through Ashbourne to Agnes Meadow which everyone would attempt in the dark.
Fred Gregory hit trouble on the approach track when his Dutton coughed and died. Fred and Pete Staffod had been noticing the lights getting dimmer and dimmer and now it wouldn’t re-start. Fortunately help was at hand and a host of Falcons gave him a backward push to bump start. Once away Fred found that the alternator would only charge at high revs, so he kept them up for the rest of the event!
The hill itself didn’t present any problems, providing a nice gentle warm up for what was to come! Then it was back through Ashborne and South down the A511 to Hatton for breakfast. But not before an hour and a half’s kip in a lay-by for most people, as early arrival was penalised and the time schedule was pretty slack.
BREAKFAST AT THE SALT BOX
Breakfast was up to standard for those that had time to eat it. Colin Stephens had work to do on his car. The Dutton special had been running badly for some time and Colin solicited the opinion of his clubmates at the Salt Box. Popular opinion was that the coil was at fault and one was procured from the dark recesses of someone’s toolbox. It was soon cable tied into place by Dave Nash and the Dutton fired up OK. Luck wasn’t on Colin’s side though, because twenty miles up the road she conked out again. This time Colin diagnosed the carb was at fault and being one of Mr Ford’s more grotty ones decided not to attempt fixing it but to find a replacement. This was located in a nearby scrapyard. But all this took time and Colin and Kevin missed out some sections, rejoining the route at Bamford and going on to enjoy the rest of the hills.
HEARTBREAK ON LITTON SLACK
Clough Wood didn’t present any problems so it was on to Litton with the dew still on the ground. The descent down to the start was as hairy as ever. Even Mike Furse in his Four Wheel drive was nervous. All our Dellow inspired class eight’s made the top in fine style, and so did Dave Nash and Fred Gregory. Peter and Christine Manning weren’t so lucky in their Midget, they didn’t build enough road speed and as Peter said it was a case of “so near and yet so far”. The Skoda’s in class four both cleaned it OK and so did Neil Birkett in Murray MacDonald’s Beetle. Michael Leete and Mike Hayward fluffed on the line when Michael didn’t get the rev’s up enough on his new 1300 engine. The marshal let him have another go though and he stormed to the top.
Our other class four’s weren’t so lucky. Brian Alexander didn’t make the top and neither did Stuart and Andrew Cairney in their Imp when a drive shaft bolt broke and the dreaded donuts burst asunder. Being a good Imp man Stuart had a spare and they were able to carry on. Brian Alexander couldn’t get his Fiat out of the top, despite the bouncing efforts of the third generation of the Alexander family. Neither could Peter Mountain in possibly his last drive in his Skoda. Peter left the line in fine style but the wheels were spinning to much. Peter didn’t ease off and came to a halt, tyres smoking, by the trees where the gradient increases so deceptively.
THE ROUTE DIVIDES
The route divided at the next section. Classes seven and eight tackled Lymer Rake, a long rocky section that has not been used on the Edinburgh for many years. All the Falcon’s got to the top OK but not completely intact, as Reg Taylor suffered a puncture and broke the bracket holding one of the rear wings. This was certainly one tough section and everyone didn’t make it, including Simon Woodall in his two ponit something VW Bitza.
Instead of tackling LymerRake the oyther classes forked right and went up Swan Rake, not so steep but certainly rocky and giving Neil Bray his first puncture of the day. Then it was off to Corkscrew or Bareleg, depending on your class and the special test on Old Long Hill before the Marquiss.
THE MAQUIS IMPROVES
The holding control at The Marquis of Granby been a nightmare in recent years. Competitors pushing, shoving and almost coming to blows as they staked their claim to get to the head of the line. It was certainly different this year. The MCC committee were there in strength, leading from the front and organising competitors in tidy lines to ensure we left in the order we arrived. There was a certain amount of fettling going on. Mike Pearson had lost a shock absorber bolt and was searching for a replacement. He found that the ones securing Murray’s lead ballet inside his bumper were just the right size and the Beetle’s ballast was held by two fastenings instead of three for the rest of the event.
Neil and Marc made the fatal mistake of repairing their punctured tyre . As soon as other competitors saw they had a bead breaker a crew formed so they could strip their tyres from the rims as well! Fred Gregory missed the entertainment. He and Pete Stafford were too busy getting lost up on the hilltops when they missed the turning at the Anchor Inn and didn’t realise their mistake till they were nearly back in Toddington!
BAMFORD BECKONS
After a commendably short wait it was off to Bamford. This is a section that seems to get rougher as it gets easier. The concrete steps were totally exposed, with no loose material covering them at all, so their was grip a plenty. All the Falcon’s cleaned the section OK but Bamford being Bamford their were drama’s. Neil Bray got another puncture but got out of the top OK, thanks to his tyres being bolted to the rims, otherwise the wheel would have spun inside the tyre. Dave Nash entertained the spectators with a clean amidst huge clouds of smoke when the oil pressure sender came out, spraying hot oil over the exhaust. Dave was at the top pondering what to do when a young spectator came running up with the missing part and he was able to continue. It wasn’t a bed of roses though as the Skeetle was getting a bit short of cogs to swap as it steadfastly refused too find second or reverse.
Keith Pettit had the prop shaft on his A35 break. Inevitably the car ran back down the hill until the prop shaft dug in and it was stuck, blocking the hill for quite a while. David Thompson stormed to the top in his buggy and was still clean on his first Classic. The only local casualty as far as I can ascertain was Jonathan Baggot who tried to slow trickle his Marlin at walking pace and found the old hill is a lot steeper than it looks!
The bridges over Ladybower reservoir were being repaired and it took sometime to get to Haggside. Experienced competitors were ready for the re-start, cunningly hidden just around the first hairpin, so the MCC didn’t claim to many Falcon scalps with this one. So it was back through the roadworks and past the Marquis to Great Hucklow. The roadbook issued before the start had not raised any fears for the lower classes. We were to have a straight climb, leaving the hard men in class eight to storm the bank. The route amendments issued at The Salt Box were to change that, we all had to climb the bank.
HORROR AT HUCKLOW
The Cambridge boys all got up OK, so did Clive and Mike. Stuart Cairney and Brian Alexander weren’t so lucky in their Imp and Fiat respectively. You needed big wheels and plenty of ground clearance for this one! The section started in the usual place. It was a bit muddier than usual and one or two people did have a bit of a problem getting away from the line. However, if you managed this OK it didn’t look to bad at all, not to much gradient and not to rough. As with Haggside the problem lay unseen around the corner. The normal exit onto the road was coned off, the route dived sharply to the left around a solid post, and up the bank of the cutting. It’s very steep muddy, rocky with deep ruts, otherwise it’s not to bad! It wouldn’t be to difficult if you could take a run at it but Laurie Knight, Tom Goggin et al are getting cunning in their old age, they needed something to slow down the gold rush on what is traditionally the MCC’s easiest event. So their was a re-start about ten yard’s before the deviation.
Stuart and Brian both tried to build their speed but weren’t going fast enough to drag the bottom of their low slung machines over the boulders. Their class four colleagues in The New Falconers Team were waiting in the queue, out of sight of the drama. They knew about it though as a spectating Dave Turner (former Boris the Beetle and Citeron AX man) was delighting in telling the waiting drivers how long it had been since the last clean! It was s**t or bust for Michael in his “new” Beetle, the b*****d was going up there or break in the process. Michael and Mike approached the re-start slowly and stopped with the front wheels just inside the box. The marshal dropped the flag. 4500 on the rev counter, dump the clutch, remember the Lords prayer and hang on.
The Yellow Beetle flew up the track, Michael turned the wheel to go up the bank and the car understeered straight on towards the trees. It was all or nothing. He kept his foot flat to the floor, the front wheels gripped just in time, found the ruts and the car was drawn around the corner and onto the bank, foot still flat on the floor, wheels spinning, six thousand how many on the clock? It shot out of the section like a champagne cork. Skilful stuff this Classic Trials driving!
Although all this ws taking place out of the sight of the other New Falconers they could here what was happening. Running in a team the real competition is not to fail a section one of your team-mates has climbed, especially if he is now in the same class as you. Honour was at stake, and was satisfied, Neil, Simon and Fred all cleaned Hucklow as well. Neil Birkett wasn’t so lucky in Murray’s Beetle. Despite Murray’s advise he went to far into the box and didn’t build enough speed, so it was the humiliation of the escape road for JAZ.
THE END IS NIGH
The event was drawing to a close now, but we had some good stuff to come. Jacobs Ladder was included for the first time in my Edinburgh career. It’s a long narrow section, a bit rocky but not too difficult. It’s approached through a lovely little village and up a very narrow track, the problem comes if a breakdown has to be retrieved. The MCC had tied to cater for this by having a holding control before the village to prevent queues blocking off access to peoples houses. This seemed successful and competitors appreciated having a go at such a nice section. It didn’t cause Falcon’s to many problems, although Simon picked up a puncture.
DISASTER AT DEEP RAKE
Then it was off to the quarry for the Deep Rake special test. This was a “start with front wheels on line A, stop with all four wheels in box B, drive in your own time to stop on line C” affair. It was quite a nice blast, including a hairpin and a deep puddle. However, box B was not very big and it was tricky to know if you had all four wheels in or not. This caught out quite a few people, including Peter Manning and Neil Bray who lost his gold.The Putwell’s rounded off the day and it was back to Buxton, more or less on time, thanks to good planning by the organisers and hard work by the marshals. As usual a substantial group of Falcons met up in the pub in the marketplace for an evening meal. Is it that the music gets louder and the youngsters younger or are we getting old? Who knows, who cares, it was an Excellent Edinburgh.
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