Kyrle – Page 2 – Classical Gas

Adrian Dommett’s Kyrle

Adrian Dommett won a really tough Kyrle Trial on 24th April. Rain the day before had made the steep sections slippery and they rutted up during the day making things particularly difficult for the later runners, including the Escorts in Class Three who spent much of the trial digging furrows with their diff casings. All credit to Adrian though, a great drive in a superbly prepared car.

*Adrian Dommett and Judy Phillips on Lane End*

David Dyer
*The only Class 4 to clean Lane End.*

2005_kyrle_results Download

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best Overall
Adrian Dommett	Wolseley Hornet	5
Class 1
David Haizelden	VW Golf	52
Terry Coventry	Peugeot 205 GTi	69
Class 2
Adrian Dommett	Wolseley Hornet	5
Bill Bennett	MGJ2	55
Class 3
Colin Perryman	BMW 2002	24
Nick Farmer	BMW 318S	33
Tristan White	Ford Escort	46
Class 4
David Shaylor	VW Beetle	41
David Dyer	VW Beetle	50
Class 5
Keith Sanders	Reliant Scimitar SS1	11
Chris Symons	Porshe 924	53
Class 6
Jon Robilliard	VW Beetle	38
Gary Browning	VW Beetle	48
Class 7
Andrew Martin	Dutton Melos	27
Ray Goodright	Arley-MG Midget	33
Bryan Phipps	Marlin	35
Class 8
Ian Davis	VW Buggy	9
Simon Woodall	VW Buggy	9
Tony Young	VW Special	10

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Kyrle Trial

Adrian Dommett won a wet Kyrle Trial, beating Peter Fear on special test times. It went to the wire though, when both registered a three on Deep Dean. David Turner won class three in his BMW, finally breaking through the Escort domination. The results showed Murray MacDonald as winning class 4, but Murray sportingly owned up to being given a wrong score on Lane End, handing the class to fellow Falcon Neil Bray for the second successive year

Class 5 winners Peter and David Manning managed to stay in the ruts but bottomed out before they got to the re-start.

The Ross Club had chosen Jack from it’s pair of horrors for it’s starter course, but this was preceded by a little canapé, a funny little reversing section called Old Down. Like last year competitors had to drive down hill, stop, and reverse back up again. Most people managed it OK but there were a few who didn’t go far enough over the line and struggled to get back over the little hump just behind their rear wheels. A few notable competitors failed here, including Giles Greenslade, who with Dennis alongside should didn’t lack expert advice! Rich Welches Beetle didn’t make it either. It wasn’t down to Rich though. He was in the passenger seat, giving Imp man Jim Scott a ride in decent car!

David Thompson was another to fail Old Down, but made up for it with a storming climb of Jack in his VW Buggy, the only Falcon to get to the summit. The class eight’s were running at the front of the field, their spirited attempts cut the bottom of the section up quite badly for the lower classes and Nigel Allen was the only saloon to get a clean. Most of the others got a 10, 11 or 12 apart from Murray MacDonald and Giles Greenslade, who got to the nine, and David Turner who got to the six in his Beemer, which made up for “cxxxxxg up” Old Down!

Pludds was the final hill in this part of the forest complex and was to claim it’s usual share of the un-wary. The class eight’s had quite a high tyre pressure limit and David Thompson was the only Falcon here to get away. All the Falcon class four contenders cleaned Pludds, but the others all failed, including Giles, putting Murray MacDonald into the lead of the class as Neil Bray had failed Burnbrae. Dave Turner stopped at the re-start by mistake, the marshals rather meanly failing him, even though he got going to successfully to climb out of the top!

There was quite a long road run before the next group of hills, deep in the forest near the village of Yorkley. The Classical Gas camera was on Snompers, ready to take the pictures for http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Mleete. The whites and blues went up the normal way but the yellows and reds had a dead end diversion on pure mud up through the trees. John Parsons under-steered into the bank on the “S” bend just after the diversion, a fate that was to befall a few more of the powerful cars. The bikes got the furthest, Nick Jones was the only clean on his solo, Ray Geering got to the two on his solo, equalled by an amazing performance by Michael Crocker with his chair. Adrian Dommett and Stuart Harrold got the furthest on four wheels with three, followed by Nigel Allen in his big Beetle, who got a four and then spent over a minute fruitlessly burning rubber and digging a hole to mess things up for the following cars. The other class six Beetles had under-steer problems on the lower “S” bend but Simon Woodhall did well to get the Baja around and go on to climb to the higher reaches.

The Blues and Whites went the normal way up Snompers, although they had to negotiate a nasty little chicane just before the re-start. The re-start marshal was rather under-deployed as only two cars reached him! Most of the others got cross -rutted and ran out of grip. Neil Bray and Bill Bennett (MG J2) were the only two cars to get round the chicane and successfully climb the hill. They both managed to more or less stay in the ruts by judicious use of the throttle to stop the front end going to far awry. Peter and David Manning followed suit but ran out of ground clearance and bottomed out just inches away from the re-start line. Carl Talbot made one of the best performances in his Renault 5, getting around the corner OK but at the expense of losing so much momentum he lost all his grip.

Tolmins Splash was another hill where ground clearance was at a premium and most of the lower slung cars grounded out in the lower reaches, including Peter Manning, Simon Robson and Richard Peck. Special Test Bravo was the final challenge in this complex. It involved a bit of reversing and this was all too much for Richard Peck’s and Neil Bray’s transmissions. They both lost reverse gear but managed to continue never less.

Cuddleigh Bank was a complicated affair as the Bristol Club, under Pete and Carlie Hart; had to change things for the lower classes after the class eight’s went through. Last year it was a straight run up the track with a blast up the steep bank at the end. This year the class eight’s had to divert down through the trees to the right before climbing again to assault the traditional bank. The other classes diverted up a theoretically easier bank to the left. The problem was that it dropped away to the right and with precious little grip after the re-start, this made things quite exciting. Neil Bray fell off the section at the four marker and had to be rescued by fellow competitors. Giles Greenslade cleaned the section but then got into trouble descending the hill on the exit road. Murray MacDonald watched this from behind and soon he was sliding towards the trees with all wheels locked. Rich Welch jumped out of the passenger’s seat of the following car and tried to hold Murray’s Beetle bank but he couldn’t do it despite putting a dent in the wing. Murray slid on and was fortunate to slide gently into a tree before building up too much speed. Even so, it took fellow competitors half an hour to extricate JAZ.

Waterworks was being given a rest this year so the route went via Wallsprings, a long run up a nice track with a good stonw bottom, to Lane End and High Garlic. All the Falcon class eight’s got up OK, despite a difficult corner at the start. This caused problems for Giles Greenslade who couldn’t get around and most of the threes and fives had problems as well.

Deep Dean provided the traditional Kyrle finale with its two tough challenges, a very difficult re-start for the higher classes, followed by an “impossible” hairpin for everyone. The only successful re-starter according to the results was Ray Geering on his solo, but even he had problems controlling his machine around the hairpin. Most of the spectators thought that early runner Peter Fear had cleaned the hill but the results showed him dropping three, the same as for those who failed the restart. The problem on the re-start was that the first few cars dug such a huge hole there was no way following competitors stood a chance. Most of the class eight’s really tried though and quite few punctured in the process, including Dudley Sterry and John Parsons.

Experienced non-restarters knew what was in store and threw their machines at the obstruction, but most then couldn’t get around the following hairpin. The only exception was Dave Turner who put up a superb performance. He managed to get out of the ruts to the right just after the restart and power around the hairpin, blower whining, to a superb clean and class win.

The dramas weren’t over though. Nigel Allen broke the gearbox on his class six Beetle but still limped to the finish for a class win. Julian Dommett was disqualified for putting his car on his trailer before the finish. Finally, although Murray MacDonald was shown as winning class four, Murray noticed he had been given a wrong score on Lane End, which will put him in second place behind Neil Bray, who takes the class.

Overall, a difficult trial for the lower classes who struggled in the wet conditions which produced such a great event for the class eight’s. It’s always difficult for the organisers when so many of the sections don’t have a “bottom”. They are at the mercy of the conditions and it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea to drive a heavy saloon amongst the trees in deep mud! However, the Kyrle is an established trial and experienced competitors know what is in store! The event had a new Clerk of the Course in Adrian Marfell and most of the competitors reckoned he and the Ross club had dome a good job, keeping much of the old, but experimenting with some new things.

Kyrle Trophy	Adrian Dommett	Ford Special	12
Class 1	David Haizelden	VW Golf	21
Class 3	David Turner	BMW	35
	Paul Bartleman	Escort Estate	40
	David Heale	Escort Estate	45
Class4	Neil Bray*	Skoda	36
	Murray MacDonald	VW1302	39
Classes2 & 5	Peter Manning	Midget	56
Class6	Nigel Allen	VW	18
Class7	Roger Bricknell	Vincent	28
Class8	Peter Fear	Dingo	12
	Anthony Young	VW Special	18
	Stuart Harrold	Troll	26
Class A1	Ray Geering	Kawasaki KMX200	13
Class A2	Richard Thompson	Honda XR250	40
Class E	Michael Crocker	Yamaha	45

* Assumed outcome after Murray Macdonald’s e-mail to the organisers

2000_kyrle_results Download

Kyrle Trial

This year’s Kyrle lived up to its reputation as a rough, tough event. Rain the previous week had made the sections ultra-competitive and they certainly sorted out the men from the boys. Overall victory went to Peter Fear from the home club in his Dingo special who dropped 5 marks. Falcon’s Ian Davis chased hard for the lead all day, ending up losing 9 for 5th place overall and Neil Bray won a very competitive class four.

Neil Bray assaulting Waterworks on his way to winning class four.

Ten Falcon crews ventured West to the Forest of Dean for the Ross club’s end of term classic, starting from the services at the end of the M50. Apart from the MCC Falcon tied with Stroud for providing the most entries, which shows how strong we are in the trials world these days. Two of our newer devotees were running near the front of the field in class eight. James Lindsay had his type 4-powered Fugitive, while Ross Nuten bought out his ex-Geoff Margetts Dellow.

At breakfast Falcon members were anxious to glean reactions to the previous weeks March Hare. They were pretty positive and Dudley Sterry and Anthony Young seemed pleased with their awards. Shame yours truly mixed them up! I was able to give March Hare event reports to the people had taken part and was pleasantly surprised to discover how many people had already seen it on the Web. I maybe need to be a little more careful what I write in the future!

Scruitineering was a little painful if you were un-lucky enough to draw the wrong person. John Sargent was OK but the other guy was a bit excruciating, wanting to see things like Beetle batteries which is a long job as it involves removing the complete rear seat. All this was soon forgotten as the field got away under threatening sky’s, for the long run down to the first group of sections. Old Down was certainly new variation. Normally it’s the uphill exit track from Jack and Jill. This time it was a downhill observed section. You went down the hill to stop astride a line, then you had to back up to clear the line before proceeding down again. It was an interesting change and one we could consider for our own classic.

Jack lay in wait at the bottom of the steep descent from Old Down. This is a fearsome ascent through the trees without any fancy stuff like corners to complicate life. There was a deep hole a few yards from the start line and this was the end of the road for over half the entry. Ian Davis was the only Falcon to register a clean but Ross Nuten, David Thompson and Clive Booth all did well to get to the four and James Lindsay and Neil Bray weren’t far behind.

Jean was next on the agenda for classes 6,7 and 8. Nobody climbed it and Peter Fear dropped five, the only marks he was to lose all day. Ian Davis did better in his VW Buggy, getting all the way to the two to take the lead. The hill is a similar affair to Jack, but the start was on the track and there was a steep right-hander before the main part of the section, so there was no possibility to build up speed. This trapped David Thompson who under-steered straight on.

The lower classes tackled Jackson. The slope on this one was much gentler, but it was quite slippery and the ruts were very deep. It was an exciting full throttle drive, but didn’t have much affect on the results as most people cleaned it. By now the rain was falling steadily and this made the first special test quite slippery. The fast times were set by people who were able to spin turn around the bollard in the lane. The three point turners were much slower but didn’t put their bodywork at so much risk! The diff test was just up the lane. It was the normal rollers but it was far from a formality for some half dozen competitors who gave the organisers “cause for concern” and they said so in the results. However, as they were unable to carry out any further testing the let things stand at that.

Pludds followed the diff test. This is one of the Kyrle’s feature hills. Steep, straight and stony. A longer Simms without the spectators? There was plenty of grip, too much if you let the tyres down to much. Neil Bray and Matthew Sharrattt were the only class fours to clean it and from then on indulged in their own private battle for the class, leaving the rest fighting for third place. The yellow and reds had a re-start to spice things up. This defeated John Parsons, who probably had too much power and Clive Booth who probably didn’t have enough!

There was another long road section before the next group of three hills, buried deep in the forest. The rain had started to ease off but they were very, very slippery. Snompers was pretty straight forward but claimed the scalps of Ross Nuten and Murray MacDonald, Murray announcing that he was not having a good day. Tomlins Splash had alternative routes for the different classes. The blues and whites had a gentle, but rough track, the yellows and reds a steep smooth one. There were very few casualties, but one of them was quite a distinguished one, Julian Dommett failing for a four. Cockshoot had not been used on a trial for some years. The bottom was very rutted and rough. A slippery grass hairpin followed the ruts and the rest of the hill was pretty straightforward. Most of the class eight’s got up, but Ian Davis was a noticeable exception as he couldn’t get round the hairpin, dropping three and letting Peter Fear, Mick Workman and Adrian Dommett catch him and tie for a four man equal lead. The lower classes found it pretty difficult . Only two class fours got up, Michael Leete and Matthew Sharratt, and they both suffered quit bad body damage as they scraped up the side of the deep rut. Lunch was next, taken in a nearby picnic area, giving Michael a chance to see how the impact on the front wing had pushed in the double skinned panel in front of the A post.

Bluebell lay just across the road. It started with a very steep, slippery bank, surmounted by only the best of the class eight’s, plus super hero’s Julian Dommett, Adrian Marfell and Giles Greenslade. Most of the others in the lower classes dropped eleven, including Neil Bray, allowing Giles to gain the lead in class four. Adrian Tucker-Peake was marshalling on Cuddleigh Bank which was a very strange section, consisting of a long straight run up a flat muddy track before assaulting an impossibly steep bank. Waterworks was another strange section, weaving through the trees on a slippery camber, always assuming you could get up the steep bank at the start, which most couldn’t. This was probably the toughest hill of the trial, only five people cleaning it, including the incredible Julian Dommett in his side valve Dellow. Ian Davis was one of the un-lucky ones, dropping him from overall contention.

The trial was starting to draw to a close now, but not before another gem of a section, Lane End. If Pludds is a long Simms then Lane End is Darracott with teeth. It starts with a series of hairpins, leading to a straight, rutted sunken lane, all very slippery and pretty rough. Once again most of the class eight’s didn’t have to much trouble, apart from James Lindsay who couldn’t coax the long Fugitive around the hairpins at the bottom, Neil Bray got up OK but Giles Greenslade didn’t, and this allowed Neil to regain the lead in class four. Unbelievably David Haizelden climbed out the top in his Golf, making some people wonder if this machine has four wheel drive!

High Garlic lay at the top of Lane End, severely curtailed this year, emasculated as Anne Templeton used to say. This didn’t present any problems so it was on to the two Deep Dean sections to close the trial. This is the site of the famed “Robsons wall” but there was to be more entertainment this year as almost everyone had problems lower down. A few of the class eight’s cleaned it, but not Ian Davis who couldn’t get round the hairpin at Robson’s wall, dropping him back to fourth in his class. Outside of class eight there were only two cleans, the incredible Julian Dommett and David Haizelden who got up in his amazing Golf. For the rest it was a smoky end as they spun to a stop on the rocks, in full view of spectating competitors as they waited to watch before heading back to the finish at Ross on Wye.

1st Overall	Peter Fear	Dingo	5 marks lost
Class 1 & 2	David Haizelden	Golf Gti	36
Class 3	Paul Bartleman	Escort	36
2nd in Class 3	David Heale	Escort	38
Class 4	Neil Bray (Falcon)	Skoda	34
2nd in Class 4	Matthew Sharratt	Beetle	40
Class 6	Nigel Allen	Beetle	18
Class 7	Julian Dommett	Dellow Mk 1	9
Class 8	Mick Workman	GVS Mk 1	7
2nd in class 8	Adrian Dommett	Ford Special s/c	7
3rd in class 8	Ian Davis (Falcon)	VW Buggy	9
4th in class 8	David Foreshew	GVS Mk II	9

1999_kyrle_results Download

Kyrle win for Adrian Dommett

Five Falcons took part in the Ross clubs end of term frolic in the Forest of Dean. It had been raining heavily during the week and the hills were in prime condition. It was mainly sunny on the day, but there were a few showers. These made the running order important and affected the results quite a bit, catching David Alderson while he was waiting for Water Works, and he couldn’t get up the bank on to the main track. If he had David would have been the overall winner. However, we had the consolation of a well-earned class win by Neil Bray, after numerous punctures.

Neil Bray stuffs his Skoda into Simon Robsons wall on Deep Dean 2

Neil Bray’s first challenge was to get his Skoda through scruitineering and with John West in charge this was no mean feat! It’s John who advised Dave Nash that the Skeetle was a class eight, even though it complies with the rules for seven and there are some far more extreme motors in the class. (Yes I know this is supposed to be an event report, but your favourite column has to keep it’s reputation for controversy and have a little stir now and again. Perhaps we could have some letters on the subject!)

Once we were underway there was a long road run to the first group of hills, starting with Burnbrae, which had a diversion for blue and white. Even so it was no walk over and Murray MacDoanld couldn’ t negotiate the slippery hairpin. Simon Robson got round OK and cleaned the hill, his celebrations echoing through the trees! Neil made it, as did Frank Burton’s Skoda, but Giles Greenslade’s was the only successful Beetle.

Andrews Alley was a few hundred yards up the track. This steep and muddy horror defeated most of the lower classes but was cleaned by the competitive six, seven and eight’s. The dreaded Jill was next on the route card. Fortunately for mere mortals logging operations had made it inaccessible, to be replaced by a milder affair called Jackson. This wasn’t a pussycat though, long, muddy and rutted, you really needed to keep the power hard on, there wasn’t any fear of going off course, the ruts saw to that! Simon ran out of puff and grip by the four but the other Falcons cleaned it OK.

Then it was across the road to a special test marshalled by Simon Harris, who has competed on some of our PCT’s in a Golf GTi. Pludds was next, a steep rocky slope that defeated Murray and Neil. Simon made up for his Jackson’s debacle with a clean and so did Michael, despite a re-start, from which Mike Hayward bounced the Beetle away in fine style.

The next group of sections lay at the end of a couple of miles of well-made forest road. It was easy to imagine Colin McRae blasting down here in a glorious four wheel drift. Dream it had to be as the spoil sport organisers had imposed a 15 mph speed limit! Neither Snompers nor Tomlin Splash troubled any of the Falcons, although Simon was docked six on the latter, presumably because he stopped! It’s now down to our Mr Robson to convince the organisers that he ground to a halt after the section ends board. If he does he will take the second in class award away from Matthew Sharratt.

The half way halt at Wenchford picnic area saw some frantic work to put a new tube in one of Michael Leete’s tyres, punctured on the second special test. It was left to Neil to complete the job and as a result the pair left the stop near the back of the field. They were to drop further behind when one of Neils tubeless tyres left the rim on the slippery track up to Cuddleigh Bank and the bag jack kept slipping out from under the Skoda. The section itself was pretty horrific, very steep and slippery and only climbed by a couple of competitors, including our own David Alderson. David then proceeded to make the only successful climb of Lambswell to lead the trial. This was a really difficult ascent through the trees. It was very muddy and rutted but unfortunately not that steep at the bottom, allowing cars to build up a fair bit of speed. The problem was that there were some frightful bumps about half way up. They threw a couple of the faster motors out of the ruts and into the trees, including Murray MacDonald, to the detriment of the Beetles bodywork.

By now the later numbers were seeing some rain and this caused a major problem at Water Works as it made the lower part pretty impossible. It trapped David Alderson, he couldn’t get up the first bank, dropping twelve, which cost him the trial. Lane End came next, appropriately named as is at the end of a long muddy lane. The route card said that the hill had reverted to the original three-hairpin climb on ruts and rocks. This was academic for many competitors as the first corner was very tight and muddy and they under-steered straight on into the trees. David got round OK, and went on to clean the hill, but the rest of the Falcons failed at the twelve and Neil Bray picked up another puncture in the process. The inflatable jack got another fit of the sulks, so Michael Leete’s trolley jack was pressed into service again. By the time things were sorted out the other competitors had gone by and the two Falcon crews were running last on the road.

There was a sizeable delay at High Garlic and this gave Neil and Marc the opportunity to put tubes into the two dead tubeless tyres. The hill is another long, straight climb through the trees, with some nice deep ruts to keep you on the straight and narrow. Last year Murray had problems at the start and his Beetle slipped sideways to fail before the proper hill began. He did a bit better this year, but couldn’t make the summit and had to reverse down. The other Falcons did better and scored cleans.

Deep Dean’s one and two provided the finale. “Two” is the one with the hairpin at the end with Simon Robson’s wall ready to trap the unwary. The hairpin was pretty slippery and it was hard to stop the car under-steering in the mud. It was possible to get round as David and Murray proved. Neil gave the Skoda everything as usual but to no avail. The front wheels skated over the mire and Neil and Marc powered the Czech wonder into Robsons wall. Then it was back to Ross on Wye to sign off and head for home. An enjoyable event, pretty well organised, tough but not as fearsome as its reputation. Congratulations to Neil Bray on winning class four and commiseration’s to David Alderson on the win slipping away at Water Works. But as David himself says, class eight is very competitive and I am sure Adrian Dommett thoroughly deserved his victory.

Kyrle Trophy (6 marks lost) – Adrian Dommett (Ford 100E s/c)
Classes 1 + 2 (53) – David Haizelden (VW Golf GTi)
3 (41) – Paul Bartleman (Escort Estate)
4 + 5 (52) – Neil Bray (Skoda)
6 (17) – Nigel Allen (VW Beetle)
7 (11) – Roger Bricknell (Vincent MPH)
8 (11) – Mick Workman (Golden Valley Special)

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