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.
Matt Robsons interpretation of “normally seated” on Cockshoot.
John Parsons using V8 power in his assault on the bank.
David Thompson working off his lunch with a run at Bluebell.

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 OverallPeter FearDingo5 marks lost
Class 1 & 2David HaizeldenGolf Gti36
Class 3Paul BartlemanEscort36
2nd in Class 3David HealeEscort38
Class 4Neil Bray (Falcon)Skoda34
2nd in Class 4Matthew SharrattBeetle40
Class 6Nigel AllenBeetle18
Class 7Julian DommettDellow Mk 19
Class 8Mick WorkmanGVS Mk 17
2nd in class 8Adrian DommettFord Special s/c7
3rd in class 8Ian Davis (Falcon)VW Buggy9
4th in class 8David ForeshewGVS Mk II9
1999_kyrle_resultsDownload

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March Hare Mini Classic – Murray wins his Own Trial

Yes, sponsor Murray MacDonald won Falcon’s first road going Classic Trial after a daylong dice with Giles Greenslade, who resurrected his Sunbeam for the occasion. The class eight’s were handicapped with some tough re-starts, victory going to Dudley Sterry after a close battle with Anthony Young in his new Buggy.

March Hare winner Murray MacDonald being presented with his trophy by Hazel MacDonald, the sponsors wife!
Dudley Sterry delighted Falcon’s with his determined driving in his wonderful MG
Clive Kalber just leapt at the chance to give the “Runner Bean” a run back where it was born.
Like Dudley and “The Bean” Clive Booth was a competitor in the March Hare’s of the sixties and seventies. Here he corners in fine style at Kensworth.
Robin Howard had his first Classic Trials outing in his new Dutton Sierra.

The sun certainly shone on Falcon Motor Club for what was billed as a “Mini-Classic”. It wasn’t just the clerk of the weather that was on Falcon’s side. There was a handsome group of the trials elite to do battle with the Bedfordshire countryside. The organisers had hoped to have sections comprising some old tracks mixed in with visits to some of the clubs traditional PCT venues. Unfortunately the tracks had to be dropped in the rush to get a route approved, as they were all found to be adjacent to “black-spots” and although PR revealed no objection from the locals there wasn’t enough time to negotiate the use of the access roads. 

    The entry assembled bright and early at Brickhill where the first two sections were located. Anthony Young’s new VW Buggy was the main centre of attention. Its certainly some machine, the frame is made of light alloy, all plastic coated for protection. Most of the suspension comes from the States or is beautifully home-made. All drilled to reduce the un-sprung weight. A two-litre VW type one engine provides the motive power. The surprise is that it’s mid-engined, driving though a genuine Hewland trans-axle. Some tool! Nestling nearby was another formidable machine, no less spectacular, but a rather more familiar sight. Dudley Sterry had bought his MG J2 along, returning to do battle with the March Hare and try to regain the Falcon Trophy after an absence of some twenty-five years. There was another very welcome machine from way back then. Clive Kalber had come all the way up from Cornwall in the Runner Bean; the Capri based Ford Pop constructed by John Tucker-Peake in the early seventies. Other well known Classic drivers included John Bell in his Escort and Giles Greenslade, whose father Dennis was another March Hare competitor all those years ago. Giles wasn’t driving the familiar Greenslade orange Beetle. He was giving his old Sunbeam its first run in class three for many years. Giles dragged it out of the garage in the week, gave it a quick service and it was ready to go. He stepped back, took a look and didn’t like what he saw; the old car was far too tatty for such a special occasion. So it was down to the local DIY for a couple of cans of Dulux so it could look its best on the day! 

    The first Brickhill section started at the far end of the wood. It began with a straight slippery climb up to the tree line where it weaved around the trees before a re-start just before the hump at the top. This wasn’t the difficult bit. The problem was at the bottom. It needed a fair old bit of welly to get over the mud to the tree line where the grip started. A number of people were caught out here, including Robin Howard, giving his Dutton Sierra it’s first outing. Everyone survived this first hill and the field went on to the second Brickhill section. This started with a blast up the gully, turning left at the sandpit to climb the steep bank. The ruts in the gully were bread and butter to Classic regulars but a bit of a shock to the debutantes. They were the downfall of both Reliant Kittens. First Ken Martin put the fan through the radiator. He cleaned the section OK but the steam at he top indicated an early trip back to Farnborough for Ken. Along came Dave Smith, going like a good ‘un before “crack”, the axle case split in two and there was a second Kitten in the dead car park. But not for long, Dave sportingly offered Ken his radiator and they soon made one good Kitten out of the two broken ones. Ken continued with the trial, ending up second in class. 

    It was up with the tyres and out on the road for the run up to Edlesborough. There was quite a queue for the regularity section here, lucky for Giles Greenslade as it gave him time to fix a puncture. You had to drive at 7.5 miles an hour for 1,320 feet. The intellectuals, and those with schoolchildren as passengers, quickly worked out this should take two minutes and most of the entry crossed the line within a few seconds of this. However, the test did have another effect, it caused a bit of a queue and spread the entry out for the rest of the trial. There had been some rain the night before and grip was at its usual premium at Edlesborough. The first problem was getting to the start of observed section three and Dennis the landowner was there with his tractor to give a helping tow where needed. There was a tricky re-start at the end and only Murray MacDonald and Giles Greenslade, running at the back of the field, emerged with clean sheets. The next section had a sharp turn in the bomb hole. Murray and Giles cleaned this as well but this time they were joined by Simon Robson, John Bell and Ken Martin, making up for lost time in his repaired Kitten. 

    Cliff Morrell was waiting at Kensworth. There had been last minute problems when the hills had to be changed to preserve the grass in the far field. However, Cliff laid out a couple of good sections with his trademark of a tricky turn just where the gradient steepens. The first hill went up the side of the fence. It was very slippery, defeating everyone but Dudley Sterry and Clive Kalber, who both made superb climbs, Dudley’s blower howling in joy as he crested the summit. Clive wasn’t so fortunate on the next section, which went up the track behind the old barn, turning sharp right through the gate with a re-start in the cross ruts. These caught out quite a few people, including Clive and Neil Bray. 

    Mile Tree Farm was new to many people although it is the home of the CSMA’s annual trial. This was a long roller coaster section with many up’s and downs. Over half the entry failed to climb the final bank, including Giles Greenslade, which put Murray MacDonald into a three-point lead before heading out on the second circuit, which led back to Edlesborough. The two sections here had not been changed much since the morning, but the surface was much drier and grip was easier to find so the only failures were those who made silly mistakes, like Simon Robson, Fred Gregory and Colin Stevens. Sorry boys! 

    Back at Kensworth Cliff Morrell had made a few subtle changes, not many, but just enough for half the entry to fail the first hill again, although the second one was much easier. John Bell didn’t get this far as he was stopped at the side of the road with a hole in his diff casing. He wasn’t very pleased as he had broken his second “un-breakable” Fack on the Cotswold Clouds and it looked as if the damage on this third one had come from within. The second visit to Kensworth had also affected the leader board. Murray MacDonald had spun to a halt on the first section, dropping three and putting him back to equal first with Giles. He was to regain it back at Mile Tree though as Giles was one of many to be penalised nine when he bellied out on one of the humps, putting Murray into an unassailable lead. These humps were a bit of a handful for some of the lower slung cars and John Yorke did a bit of damage to the front of his Skoda. 

    Later numbers returned to Brickhill to do their thing in front of the early finishers. The penultimate section was a very long weave through the trees. It was pretty tight but still on for most people, except James Lindsay who wedged his Fugitive on one of the bends. The final section was another trip up the gully, followed by a nice blast round the sandpit, to finish off a really super day. Murray MacDonald was the worthy winner, although he acknowledged the class eight’s were handicapped with some tough re-starts and a high tyre pressure limit in the morning. Giles Greenslade had put up a good fight in the Sunbeam but the day had a final twist for him as the diff on the Sunbeam cried enough just half a mile up the road on the way home.

Anthony Young in his incredible new Class 8 machine. It has mid engined   2-litre VW power and a Hewland gearbox!
David Sheffield at Edlesborough 
Ken Martin at Brickhill
Michael Leete blasts his Beetle through the mud in the final section.
st OverallMurray MacDonaldVW 13026 marks lost
Best FalconClive BoothDellow Rep36
Best NoviceKeith OakesDutton51
Class 2/5Rob CullMG Midget33
Class 3Giles GreensladeSunbeam9
2nd in Class 3Ken MartinReliant Kitten33
Class 4Simon RobsonSkoda39
Class 7Clive KalberFord Pop “The Runner Bean”21
2nd in Class 7Mike FurseRacecorp27
Class 8Dudley SterryMG J215
2nd in Class 8Anthony YoungBuggy18
1999_march_hare_resultsDownload

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Murray’s March hare

by David Alderson

Clive Kalber at Edlesborough in Falcon’s favourite car
Fred Gregory and Pete Stafford at Kensworth

Having tested the waters with a successful single venue ‘classic’ regulations trial last year, Falcon Motor Club ventured forth again on the 18th of April extending the event to four sites just south of Milton Keynes linked by a pleasant 65 mile road route. Generous event sponsorship from Murray’s Independent VW-Audi Discount Store enabled the club to put together a tidy little trial. Add the cancellation of Silverton MC’s Championship Exe Valley trial, and Falcon was able to assemble a star-studded entry of thirty-two for their first serious attempt at a road trial for many a long year. Assembling for the start at Home Farm, Great Brickhill, competitors and marshals alike were able to enjoy sizzling bacon butties dispensed with a smile from the club’s own catering caravan whilst scrutineering and signing on formalities were completed.

Mike Furse in his Racecorp led of into the first two sections amongst the trees and gullies of the sandy Home Farm site. Surprisingly enough, despite the available grip, Section 1 took maximum penalties from eleven of the entry whilst Section 2 also contrived to extract marks from seven hapless souls. Out onto the public highway for the start of the day, the route meandered along the back lanes to Leighton Buzzard and then on to Edlesborough for the first special test and second pair of sections. For those unfamiliar with the Herts, Beds, Bucks area let me explain that it is not particularly hilly but is blessed with an assortment of sand pits and clay pits. The sand is extracted for various commercial uses whilst the clay is used to feed the areas traditional brick making industry. Situated on the lower plain below the Dunstable Downs escarpment, Edlesborough is a knob of chalky clay covered in patchy scrub and gorse bushes. The site is notorious for its complete lack of grip when wet and that is how competitors found it on the morning of the March Hare after the previous afternoons heavy rain!

Michael Leete on the special test at Mile Tree Farm

Special Test 1 took the form of a quarter mile regularity set at 7.5 mph all on a loose slippery track incorporating both a ninety-degree right and ninety-degree left turns. Despite the notorious inaccuracy of trials car speedos five competitors managed to drop only one second penalties, the most distant attempt being some 34 seconds adrift of target. Straight into Section 3 on the aforementioned grass covered clay hillside. The Alderson Troll made the first attempt but brain fade caused an embarrassing failure when the Troll attempted to mount a bank, which could easily have been circumvented in the early part of the section. John Bell, another ACTC expert, followed suit in his Escort a few cars later. The section was sub divided at 12 – 9 – 6 – and 3. For a long time it looked as if three was going to be the best score. But right at the end of the entry both Giles Greenslade in his Sunbeam and event sponsor Murray MacDonald in his 1300 Beetle mastered the hill. Section 4, a little further over, had a restart for classes 7 and 8 followed by a steep bank, which proved impossible to climb from such a short approach. The other classes were more fortunate and John Bell made up for his previous faux pas by cleaning the section. Greenslade, MacDonald and Rob Cull, Midget, joined him.

Back out on to the highway, the route made its way round the back of Whipsnade Zoo to Kensworth, just south of Dunstable, for the third pair of sections on the steep grassy bank used so often for PCTs. A traditional climb up, drop down, then U-turn back up section was laid out with a restart on the last uphill leg. Only Dud Sterry’s MG and Clive Kalber’s ‘Runner Bean’ Pop managed cleans here although Ken Martin managed a three with his PCT prepared Reliant Kitten, as did Anthony Young in his new ‘Aly 2’ VW Special. The Macdonald/Greenslade duo joined them. Section 6 featured a hairpin back right obscured from the driver’s view behind a barn, followed by a restart. Both Clive Kalber and Neil Bray in the Skoda were caught out here along with George Francis in his very pretty Lancia Volumex powered Marlin running in class 8. 

A short drive through Dunstable and Hockliffe, back towards Leighton Buzzard brought the entry to the old worked out pits of Mile Tree Farm for Section 7 and the second special test. As the locomotives built up steam on the local narrow gauge railway adjacent to the site, trials cars were bounced and corkscrewed over and through the mounds and gullies of Mile Tree Farm. There were ten cleans on section 7 including the very smart Dutton Phaeton of Keith Oakes and Simon Robson’s Skoda. The traditional battle between the Falcon Skoda crews now leaning very much in Simon’s favour. James Lindsey also managed to persuade his long chassis Fugitive round for a clean but Giles Greenslade bottomed out the Sunbeam dropping three. The special test was a corker, more a timed section in the style of the MCC testing trial. Andy Curtis made the best time at 27 seconds in his Buggy but Simon Robson was on the same second. The next fastest were two seconds off the pace.

With the morning’s overcast clouds clearing and a drying wind lifting the gliders high above Dunstable Downs, the trial returned to Edlesborough for another crack at the previously slippery pair of sections. Joint Clerks of course, John Parsons and Mike Pearson decided to drop the mornings tyre pressure limits, 15psi for class 8 and 12 psi for class 7, allowing free pressures. Sadly this proved totally unnecessary as the site had dried out in double quick time, the result was a string of cleans on Section 8, only Simon Robson going wrong, with just Fred Gregory and Colin Stevens Duttons failing to get away from the restart on Section 9. The day’s second visit to Kensworth produced seven cleans from the up and down section with Mike Furse applying his intimate knowledge of the site to make the first clean climb. Mike has been PCT C of C here many times in the past and knew exactly where the grip would be on the restart. The Alderson Troll dropped another goolie here when the pilot lost his way amongst the marker posts! Everyone knew about the hairpin right on section eleven this time around so the organisers only managed to extract marks from Brian Sarney in his attractive class 2 Ford Y type tourer. Back to Mile Tree Farm for another roller coaster ride around the pits and the third special test, test two in the reverse direction. Making up for a lacklustre day on the hills, the Troll snapped round in 23 seconds for fastest time with Andy Curtis again following close on the same second.

And finally the trial returned to Great Brickhill for Sections 13 and 14 amongst the trees and sandy gullies. Despite double restarts for classes 7 and 8 on the last section almost everyone made it in to the finish with no further losses. As the Falcon catering caravan dispensed burgers, tea and coffee the results team beavered away in the club’s second caravan. Within an hour of finishing results were declared and awards presented. Class winners were Giles Greenslade, Simon Robson, Clive Kalber, Dud Sterry and Rob Cull. Best Falcon MC member was Clive Booth. The overall winner? None other than event sponsor Murray MacDonald! Well done Falcon MC, a pleasant day out which all competitors seemed to enjoy, already there are murmurings within the club for an even more ambitious route next year, perhaps some of the old, more traditional, Conquest trial sections can be resurrected?

1999_march_hare_resultsDownload

We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media

78th Lands End Trial

Easter saw another excellent Lands End Trial, the MCC’s 78th. Conditions were pretty near ideal. A little sun, a little rain, some dry sections, some wet ones and a sting in the tail at Bluehills.

Mike Pearson and Arnold Lane waving to the crowd on Crackington
David Thompson blasting through the gateway on Cutliffe Lane before Dave Turner and Lee Dove uprooted it!
Tim Short and Ian Blackburn at the Popham start. Being filmed for the “before” segment of a new car polish commercial.

As usual there was plenty of Falcon support, with some interesting crew variations. Hazel was driving the MacDonald Beetle again, but with Veronica otherwise engaged; she had to be on her best behaviour as Murray was alongside in the passenger seat.  Mike Hayward was driving his hybrid Escort in its second classic, and first MCC event, with Michael Leete entwining himself around the roll bar in the back. In class one our RAC PCT champion, Matt Clarke, was enjoying his first MCC outing, passengering Ken Payne in his Golf. Ken is the owner of the Golf Nick Pollitt campaigns although I am not sure if this is the same car.

There should have been another debutante, but Verdun Webley non-started when he couldn’t get his Marlin ready in time, discovering the motor had two head gaskets. Closer examination revealed the head was warped quite badly and Verdun wisely decided to delay things until the car was right. Stuart and Andrew Cairney had a nice restful Good Friday, fitting new pistons and rings to their Imp. Firing it up just in time to drive to the start!

Is it imagination or does the Lands End start earlier every year? Anyway, it was still light when most of the Popham starters got away, ideal for the film crew from Merdian Television who were interviewing Geoff and Reg! The revellers were out at Sugg Lane, cheering and waving at the competitors, who were just praying that they wouldn’t throw the beer bottles they were holding. The route instructions for the exit route were very specific. There was to be no stopping until the main road. No fear of that as the track was lined with a new age traveller encampment. You got the feeling they would have the dogs on you for disturbing their beauty sleep.

The holes on Felons Oak are getting deeper and caused quite a bit of trouble on the re-start for a few people, including Neil Bray who had his first puncture and Tony Branson who had come all the way down from Hexham in his 1300 Marlin. Stuart failed as well, after a struggle to stay awake on the long preceding road section. Minehead Rugby Club gave a twenty-minute rest for some but it was all go for Neil Bray as he adjusted Mikes timing. The Escort had lost all its low down power after its pre-event tune-up and Mike was having a real struggle to get it away on the re-starts. 

Stoney Street came and went without drama and Beggars Roost wasn’t too much of a problem as the re-start was on a straight bit. Mike Hayward cleaned the section OK, at the cost of a puncture, but will probably be penalised for rolling back as the handbrake was slipping very badly. As always there are some amusing MCC organisational sub-issues. The road book stated that you had to deflate your tyres on the main road and threatened exclusion if you stopped on the entry track to let them down. The problem was that the main road was lined with parked cars and you had to pull off a long way before to find a space to stop. This meant a long drive on flat tyres and we all know this is a road traffic offence!

The mist came down for the fifty-mile drive over Exmoor to Simonsbath and on to the Hartland peninsula. Sutcombe and Darracott were both up to form. Classic hills in beautiful surroundings but not ones to cost anyone a triple.  That was to change on the third Hartland hill, Cutliffe Lane. This is not too difficult in the dry but it’s a different story in the wet, and for this 78th Lands End wet it was. The section starts on a gentle slope, and then it’s a sharp right hander through a gate. The gradient gets steeper and the hill rises sharply up a gully cut into the side of a wooded slope A combination of things make it difficult. Rocks, mud, gradient, they all contribute. This was a hill for the brave and the super-hero’s. Dudley climbed it of course but things were not so easy for mere mortals. You needed plenty of momentum when you got to the straight bit, which meant maximum speed through the gate. This caused problems for some. Dave Turner got his BMW off the line in fine style only to loose traction. He snicked it into second, the tyres bit and the Beemer under-steered straight into one of the gate posts, uprooting it and leaving the BMW in need of a helping hand from the recovery tractor to pull the body-work of the front wheels. The same gatepost was the downfall of Lee and Dani Dove who gave it a mighty blow with their Troll, leaving them with the task of getting the wreckage all the way back to Perth.

The trial returned to Bude for the first special test. A wiggle woggle around the cones of a deserted car park after a fight to get through the centre of town crowded with Saturday shoppers. David Heale was voted one of the most spectacular, lifting the front wheel of his Escort a foot of the ground before slowing when the passengers clip-board got stuck under the pedals. The lady concerned was Mark Hobb’s wife who complained hadn’t let her finish making a phone call! Near neighbours Stuart and Andrew were in trouble again, wrong slotting and going the wrong way around the final bollard.

The MCC had threatened to cancel Crackington if the locals doctored it too much. They responded by dumping one tractor load of slurry on the upper surface instead of the usual two. It seemed to do the trick and the hill was competitive without being impossible. It was reckoned to be rougher though and took its toll on the Falcon contingent. Geoff Jackson had a half shaft go and although Mike Pearson had a spare it was the wrong sort. He managed to find one out the back of a local garage and get down to Newquay nice and early for dinner. He was joined by Tom Goggin who retired when his clutch wouldn’t disengage.  Punctures were pretty prevalent. Matt Clarke experienced the joys of being winched up a section when Ken Payne’s Golf lost a tyre and Neil Bray had a similar fate. Mike Hayward got out of the top OK, a great achievement, as he had to do a re-start in what is far from the most suitable car. Pumping the tyres up, whilst the other Michael ran back to do some videoing, Mike found a puncture on one of the rears. Unfortunately the remaining spare was flat, leaving Michael to demonstrate his skills as a tyre mechanic before they could continue.

After Treworld competitors were promised an improvement in facilities at the rest halt. Only to find the cold, barren, windy St Kitts had been replaced by a cold, barren, windy, dirty and smelly cattle market, where you would be excluded if you were caught answering a call of nature behind the shed! The usual frenetic activity was taking place in the car park to repair some of the damage wrought by the event so far. Many competitors were repairing tyres and a local entrepreneur was trying to sell instant repair gel. Mike Hayward had found the problem with his flat spare. Mr Colway had moulded a nail in his “new” remould.

Soon the call of the West beckoned and it was onto the A30 down to Hoskin, deep in Cardinham Woods. This is another doctored section, with a mud bath halfway up, complete with yellow and red re-start. Simon Robson made a successful ascent in his Skoda but Neil Bray wasn’t so lucky. A CV joint had been growling away since Minehead and now it let go in a big way. Coasting down to the bottom Neil got Fred Gregory to tow him out of the woods so he could fit the spare. Unfortunately the special tool needed to loosen the screws was at home so Fred kindly nipped into Bude to buy him a new one. By the time he came back David Thompson had stopped and lent Neil his, so he and Marc had one each!   Suitably equipped they managed to fix the Skoda and they were soon on their way back on the A30 towards Bluehills.

The mist had gone by now and the sun was shinning on the spectators that thronged the cliffs at Bluehills. “One” seems to be getting trickier and was catching out quite a few people, including Stuart Cairney and Peter Manning who had to be saved from toppling over as he tried to wall of death his way around the corner at the top. The failures were pulled out by a bunch of marshals tugging on a rope, they included none other than MSA head honcho John Quenby, marshalling at grass roots level. The second Bluehills section had been “improved” by creating an artificial corner just after the start. This certainly spiced things up, especially for the yellow and red re-starters, as the new bit was both rough and steep. It’s sure to attract plenty of comment in Triple! Things looked a bit grim at the beginning as none of the first dozen cars got up. Then along came Mrs MacDonald to show how it should be done. The first person to climb the new hill. Mike Hayward punctured a front tyre on the track linking the two sections and then the long-suffering clutch cried enough. It was just about drivable on the road and Verdun Webley shepherded the two Michael’s to their hotel in Newquay, giving them a friendly tow up the last hill.

The survivors only had a few sections remaining. Trungle Mill was pretty easy but Flambards was quite competitive and provided a sting in the tail for many. There just remained the final special test and signing off at Penzance where there was a major disaster at the finishing hotel. They ran out of beer!

Nick Iken from Milton Keynes waiting for his turn at Crackington
Neil Bray and Marc Lawrence replacing a broken Beetle CV joint on their Skoda.
Mike Hayward and Michael Leete doing their stuff on the Bude spectator test.
1999_lands_end_resultsDownload

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My Torbay Trial

by Neil Bray

Neil Bray and Marc Lawrence of to a flying start on Lower Dean (picture by Derek Hibbert)

This was to be my first Torbay Trial. The main reason for participating was two goes at the famous Simms Hill, which we use on the MCC Exeter Trial. To my horror the event was held on 28th February, which happens to coincide with a family birthday, my youngest daughter would reach the ripe old age of three.

Permission to go was obtained from Allison, the entry form was filled in and Marc and I started to prepare the car. This included fitting an in-line device that would allow the Skoda to run on un-leaded petrol. I will revert to this 
later. Not having “Supermacs” stamina we chickened out and travelled down the afternoon before, stopping off down the A303 to visit Marc’s brother in Aldershot and in Exeter to see Jade, my eldest daughter and have a nice cup of tea. Then it was on to the B&B at Bovey Tracey for a nice meal and a good nights sleep.

The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast and then it was a gentle drive two miles down the road for scruitineering and signing on. Hill One was the first run at Simms. We had a different approach to the old hill to the one we use on the Exeter. We didn’t go through the village, but came at the summit from the exit road and then descended to the bottom via the escape road. We let the tyres down and off we went. We had decided to go to the left and got to the tree on the sub-divided hill. So it was the well-practised reverse down and ascent of the escape road.

Lower Dean was next on the agenda. It looked pretty rough and it certainly was. Rocks, ruts, it had the lot. We punctured the left rear just after the start and although I tried to keep going we failed to traverse the smooth grassy bit at the top and stopped within touching distance of the section ends board. We tried to change the tyre only to find our jack wouldn’t work and caused a bit of a delay while we borrowed another one.

Baddaford Lane was hill three. Remember this one? It was the hill Falcon marshalled for the MCC three years ago, when it was only used for class seven and eight. This is a super section, it goes up a rough, muddy gully and is nice and long. We cleaned it and gave ourselves three cheers at the top before moving up the track to the special test which we thankfully performed OK, ST’s being a bit of a bogey of mine recently. The next section was called Richards Rise. It was a very steep short slope in a field, marked out PCT style. I fired up the motor, put the maximum revs on the clock. The Skoda jumped up the hill but spun to a stop just before the summit for a one. I started to reverse down when the front wheels slipped sideways and the Skoda slid down sideways, hopping from bump to bump. There was nothing Marc and I could do, we just sat there waiting for it to dig in and roll over. Unbelievably it didn’t but we had to sit there for a few minutes to compose ourselves, as did Mark Hobbs who was marshalling at the bottom.

Fortunately Grants Lane wasn’t so hairy. It was another long lane, smooth at the start but getting rougher at the top where there was a re-start. We blasted off this OK, but at the expense of another puncture. I kept my foot down and manage to clear the summit even on the flat. Fortunately the jack worked OK this time and we were away within five minutes. There was quite a long delay at the start of the next section as a Land Rover was stuck and it was eventually cancelled. Marc and I used the time to put a new tube on one of the flats. We had a couple of good long hills which we cleaned OK before arriving at the foot of Slippery Sam, another familiar Exeter Hill, complete with tricky re-start which, unlike the Exeter, we performed OK.

By now we were heading back towards Simms but we had a couple of challenges first. Tipley was hill 10. Remember how rocky it was the last time it was used on the Exeter? It hasn’t got any smoother. We had another puncture on the approach road and the jack played up again. In consequence we were very conservative with the time pressures, which was fortunate as if we had gone low we would have destroyed the rims on the rocks. We failed and it took us a long time to get out of the section, as there was no tow wagon. After Tipley there was another special test and relatively easy observed section before a return to Simms.

We went to the right this time, the “Simon Robson route”. We hugged the bank hard, so hard we were up against the trees and the spectators had to jump for their lives. Sadly it was to no avail and it was another trip up the escape road for YEG. I was disappointed but the results showed the other Skoda’s didn’t get up either so I don’t feel to bad! Murray and Giles Greenslade got a clean in their Beetles and so did the Imps of Jim Scott and David Heale. Then it was back to the finish for signing off and the long drive home.

Marc and I reflected on our day on the long drive home. Yes it’s a long way to go west of Exeter for a one-day trial but it was worth it. There were some super hills with around seventy road miles and Marc and I plan to do the Torbay again next year. Earlier I mentioned I had fitted one of those in-line devises to allow older cars to run on un-leaded. I ran the Skoda on the garages rolling road before the event. Then I fitted the unit and tested again after doing the event and about 600 road miles on leaded petrol. There was no power loss and I have now started running the Skoda on un-leaded without altering the timing or carb settings. I will check it on the rolling road again after giving it a good try and let you know how it performs.

Overall Nigel Moss Cannon 0
Class 1 David Hazleden Golf 10
2 Peter Trelving Austin 7 19
3 Paul Bartleman Ford Escort 0
4 David Heale Imp 4
5 A. Wordsman MRG Midget 31
6 A. Andrew VW Beetle 9
7 Arthur Vowden Marlin 0
8 Dudley Sterry MG J2 0

1999_torbay_results_routeDownload

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Arthur Vowden won The Cotswold Clouds

This was a tough ‘Clouds, the mud from the Clee Hills seemed to have travelled down to the Cotswolds to make this a very competitive trial. Organised with the usual laid back efficiency by the Stroud Club. Arthur Vowden was best overall in his class seven Marlin. The class eights being defeated by their tough re-starts on Merves Swerve and Highwood 1. Bad luck to Adrian Marfell who would have won if he had not failed both Bulls Bank re-starts.

Clive Booth and John Allsop coming of the re-start on Nailsworth Ladder. You can read all about this famous old hill elsewhere on the site. (picture by Mike Furse)
Ian Davis on “The Ladder”. Ian and Nigel Moss were the only drivers to clean Station Lane. A new hill for the Clouds (or at least not used for some time). This section set a record for the muddiest hill ever used on a Classic Trial. It even put Boynes Bouncer to shame! (Picture by Mike Furse).
Michael Leete looks back in vain as he struggles to coax his Beetle out of the hole on the Climperswell re-start line. Dudley Sterry and Bill Forshew were the only two competitors to emerge from this fearsome hazard with a clean sheet. (picture by Mike Furse)
Simon Robson coming to a stop on a very greasy Crooked Mustard. John Bell (Escort), Mark Smith and Terry Ball (big engined Beetles) were the only competitors to get their saloon cars to the summit. John Bell and Simon were among the 17 retirements on this tough event. (Picture by Ken Green).

This was a tough ‘Clouds. The mud from the Clee Hills had made the journey from Shropshire to the Cotswolds to make this a very competitive trial. Organised with the usual laid back efficiency by the Stroud club. Arthur Vowden was best overall in his class seven Marlin. The class eight’s being defeated by their tough re-starts on Merves Swerve and Highwood 1. Bad luck to Adrian Marfell who would have won if he had not failed both Bulls Bank re-starts. 

Murray MacDonald achieved the best Falcon result, winning class four by a large margin. However, all the Falcons enjoyed the event immensely, save perhaps for Simon and Matt Robson who broke their diff on one of the Bulls Bank re-starts. The results show them competing for second in class at this point having cleaned Axe and Ham Mill, both of which they actually failed! Like-wise Jim Scott is shown as cleaning Sandfords, but I’m sure he told me he failed it. However, he would still have come second in class. 

Interesting that there were seventeen retirements, including six of the ten starters in class three and the entire class five entry either non-started or retired! 

James Lindsay made his classic début in his ex Owen Briggs type four engined Fugative, getting the long chassis out of the gully on Mackhouse 2 and achieving one of the best scores on the very muddy Station Lane.

Overall – Arthur Vowden (Marlin) 29 marks lost
Class 1 – Terry Coventry (Citeron AX) 46
Class 2 – S. G. White (Riley) 53
Class 3 – Edwin Hayward (Escort) 71
Class 4 – Murray MacDonald (VW 1302) 37
Class 5 – No finishers
Class 6 – Mark Smith (VW Beetle) 42
Class 7 – Adrian Marfell (VW-Alfa) 33
Class 8 – Mick Workman (GVS) 31
1999_cotswold_clouds_results_routeDownload

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24 January 1999 – Adrian Dommett wins Muddy Clee

Adrian Dommett won a very muddy Clee Hills Trial on 21st February, his climb of Bradburys Bank putting him into a commanding lead that he was not to loose all day. David Alderson and Adrian Marfell headed the chasing group although Adrian was aided by the class eight’s having to do more hills! The organisation was very professional. Superb documentation, plenty of marshals and recovery. In fact everything we have come to expect from Jonathan and Pat Toulmin. It was needed because the conditions were pretty dire. The heavy mud caused some appreciable delays and the field was well spread out at the end.

Dudley Sterry supervising the team trying to extract him from the muddy hole at the bottom of Boynes Bouncer. Dudley retired with a broken gearbox after Longville
Mike Pearson and Arnold Lane coming off the tarmac and onto the mud at Hugerford, They punctured just a few moments later.
ACTC chairman David Alderson is a study of concentration on the line at Harley Bank. This was David’s first trial since last years Kyrle.
drian Marfell chased the leaders hard but was denied overall victory when he ran out of ground clearannce on his Alfa Romeo powered VW Baja
Mike Hayward at the start of his first Classic Trial

There was another strong Falcon contingent on the Midland Automobile Clubs Clee Hills Trial. Neil Bray had Allison reading the route card as Marc Lawrence was hosting an Escort owners club meeting back on the ranch. Murray MacDonald was our other class four competitor, delighted that Hazel let him have a drive in her Beetle. PCT specialists, but not (yet) Falcon members, Mike and Duncan Stephens in a 1300 Beetle followed them.

David Thompson was driving in his first one day ACTC classic in his VW Buggy, running with Mike Pearson and Arnold Lane in Mikes Dellow Replica. Falcon’s trio of class eight’s was completed by ACTC Chairman David Alderson with Emma in the passengers seat. This was David’s first run in his Troll since last years Kyrle.

Mike Hayward was our only class seven competitor, driving in his first Classic trial in his highly modified Mk3 Escort. Finally there was another rather distinguished local driver, although he is not yet a Falcon member. John Quenby, the chief executive of the MSA, was giving his MG TC a run in the green sticker MAC closed to club event. I may be wrong but I believe, that as MSA head honcho, John is not allowed to hold a competition licence himself, so can only compete in closed to club events, like the MCC classics and this rare Clee MAC only class.

Competitors assembled for the start at The Boyne Arms, on the fringe of the Boyne Estate. With their usual professionalism Jonathan and Pat Toulmin had arranged for Lady Rosemary Boyne, mother of the present Lord Boyne, to present the awards at the finish. They did have some last minute problems. BT had dug large hole at bottom of Boynes Bouncer. It had been filled in but was to cause problems later as very heavy rain over last week had made this, and many of the other sections, very claggy.

FARLOW was the first section. Classes 2 to 8 went up the muddy track that cuts across a hairpin bend. The other classes had a re-start on the tarmac. The track became softer and more rutted the higher you went. The hill was covered in mud when the early numbers arrived and this played a significant role in the results in class four, which was running at the front of the field. Neil Bray was first to arrive and stopped at the ten. Each competitor got a little further as his predecessor ploughed a little more mud from the surface. Murray MacDonald was running half way through the class and dropped seven but the wily Giles Greenslade had his go last and got as far as the four.

In class eight both David’s Alderson and Thomson came out of the top for a clean but Mike Pearson stopped at the four. Farlow was Mike Haywards first ever classic trials hill and like most debutantes he didn’t give it enough welly off the line. The Kent motor coughed and spluttered in protest and by the time it had recovered the Escort had lost that all-important momentum and stopped at the seven.

The route returned to the Boyne estate for a group of sections. BRADBURYS BANK was more or less going to decide the trial. It’s a soft muddy track through the woods. After a gentle start there’s a sharp right hand bend up a very steep bank. All but one of the entry either under-steered straight on at the corner or floundered on the bank. Adrian Dommett was the hero who made it to the summit. The next best score was a seven, giving Adrian a substantial lead that he hung onto all day.

A note in the route card said BOYNES BOUNCER has never been climbed and it wasn’t going to be today either. It’s a steep muddy path and BT work had turned the bottom into a quagmire. Too far to the right down into a ditch. Too far left into a bottomless pit of goo. After the first couple of class two’s got well and truly stuck in the mud it was called of for everyone except class eight. Adrian Dommmett, David Alderson and Adrian Linecor were the three super-men who at least saw the top of the hill, even if they didn’t actually get there. Getting through the goo at the bottom was enough achievement for most people.

HILLSIDE was another section that got easier as the day went on. It’s a long, straight muddy affair, traversing across the slope of a wooded hill. There were some big bumps half way up just before Red & Yellow restart and David Alderson was the only Falcon to get through this difficult part of the section although Neil gave it a real good go.

BEAMFORD was approached via a track with a  “we object” sign outside the only house along its length. Apparently the householder maintained the byway himself and thought the competitors would mess up the surface. Some post event work by Jonathan Toulmin managed to turn him into a possible supporter rather than an objector! The section started on the bank of a small river and went along its course for ten yards or so before coming out along a very muddy track. David Thompson dropped three here and both Murray and Neil had problems when they both hit the same boulder on the exit road the impact bending Neil’s suspension a bit.

There was more drama a mile up the road at HUNGERFORD. This is a great section. It starts on the road and turns right up the track. The section begins twenty yards up hill but you are allowed to start on the run. Murray and Hazel remembered this as a rough section and didn’t drop the pressures much. The wheel’s started spinning as soon as they hit the rough and they passed “section begins” at a crawl. They managed to continue until the big hump at the top, but by now they were going so slowly they couldn’t coax JAZ over. Mike Hayward experienced a similar problem. He was going much faster but his Escort is much lower and he grounded out. Mike Pearson and Arnold Lane didn’t get that far. They rocketed up the track but the side-wall blew out of a tyre with a tremendous bang just after section begins and they had to reverse back down.

HARTON WOOD was a nice blast up a tree lined rack and came with protesting local at the top for some. Sections nine and ten were the LONGVILLE Special Test and Section.  Not too difficult unless you were yellow or red when you had one of those horrible restarts on polished stones to get back on the main road.

IPKINS ROCK looked nice and easy from the bottom, but there was a very sharp hairpin right near the top where the reds had to do a restart. In a way this was a blessing in disguise as it forced them to slow. A few of the non restarting lower classes had too much speed on and went over the side, including Greenslade’s senior and junior, costing Giles a class win.

THE JENNY WIND is a long straight blast up an old cable tramway, without very much grip. This was worse for the later numbers as it had started to rain, but at least this compensated for their easy run up Farlow.  HARLEY BANK was a few yards up the track. It started with easy gradient but got a bit rutted near the summit where Mike Hayward ran out of ground clearance and stopped

MEADOWLEY was only for yellows and reds. It was particularly slimy and evil with deep ruts and tree routs to complete the challenge. Nobody came out of the top and it was the on-form Adrian Dommett who got the furthest to re-enforce his overall win, aided considerably by those huge wheels. The LOUGHTON SPECIAL TEST finished off the day. This was a dive down a muddy track, hairpin round a cone and back. All in the dark for the later numbers

Back at the Boyne Arms it was Adrian Dommett who was declared the winner, dropping only ten marks. This was despite having to do two more hills than most of the other classes. David Alderson was the best Falcon, winning class eight. Competitors were pretty spread out at the end. Running towards the front of the field Murray finished by three and was back home in Welwyn Garden City by six, while Mike Hayward had only just got to the finish.

The end of the event wasn’t the end of the excitement for Neil and Allison. They had a good run back to Bedfordshire but just a few miles from home the transmission gave up the ghost when Neil was changing down for a roundabout. Looking at the car afterwards Neil also found more water and dirt in the fuel system, lets hope he can get it fixed in time for the Cotswold Clouds.

  • Best Overall – Adrian Dommett – Ford Special – 10 marks
  • Class 0 for MAC members – Jeremy Nightingale (Dellow) 28
  • Class 1 – Adrian Tucker-Peake (Peugeot 205 GTi) 28
  • Class 2 – Barry Clarke (Grotty Chummy) 38
  • Class 3 and 5 combined Paul Bartleman (Ford Escort) 18
  • Class 4 Dave Sargeant (VW Beetle) 34
  • Class 6 – Mark Smith (VW Beetle) 17
  • Class 7 Adrian Marfell (VW-Alfa) 16
  • Class 8 David Alderson (Troll T6E) 22
1999_clee_hills_resultsDownload

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The 71st Exeter Trial

Conditions couldn’t have been better for the 71st Exeter Trial. It was nice and muddy underfoot on a nice bright sunny day. Things were not so hot results wise. Simon Robson may get a gold provided the marshals on Waterloo turn a blind eye to his stop on Waterloo when his Skoda jumped out of gear. Likewise Ian Davis needs a bit of luck. He failed the class eight only hill in Bovey Woods, just like most of his class. Rumour has it that one class eight got up. If that’s not right and nobody did then Ian could be on for gold.

Hazel MacDonald on Fingle where Murray was marshalling
Driving in her first Classic Trial Hazel had car problems in the night and failed Normans Hump and Waterloo. Ther car went better once the day dawned and Hazel and Veronica Caspari were then only defeated by Simms
Neil Bray and Marc Lawrence stopping to boil a cup of tea in their Skoda after the Greenslinch Barton special test. They failed two hills and had six punctures.
Simon Robson and Ian Davis celebrating their successful climbs of Simms

We had another excellent Falcon entry, seventeen cars coming to the line. The four Popham crews had it easy. They could find the start! It wasn’t so easy for those electing to sign on at Cirencester. The MCC directions were very comprehensive, “Haynes & Strange, Cirencester” and that was that. There were many different strategies to cope with this, varying from ringing the Clerk of the Course the week before to just turning up at Cirencester and hoping to stumble across the venue. As it turns out the new start was only a hundred yards away from the old one and everyone found it OK.

    As usual there were drama’s before the off. It was a nice one for Dave Nash as the club finally accepted the Skeetle in class seven. So it was off with the red sticker and on with the yellow. Life had been pretty tough for Brian Alexander since the Edinburgh. His white Fiat failed the MOT because the under-body damage was so bad after seven years hard trialing, much of it on those rough, tough West Country events. There wasn’t time to fix it so Brian decided to transfer the white cars engine and gearbox to the red PCT car that he and Kevin drove at Brickhill last year. This is bored out and tuned a bit more than the red cars normal lump. These things never go to plan and when it was finally installed it ran hot and blew the heater valve in protest. Brian and Kevin couldn’t repair it in time so they had to blank it off and rely on the winter woollies and thermal underwear. The drama wasn’t over yet because the motor didn’t want to re-start from hot, all was well once the dirt was cleaned out of the idle jet and Brian and Kevin made it to the start. At least all was well with Alan Bellamy’s Brasilia, which was fit and ready to start its first MCC event.

     There were a few interesting crew changes. Hazel MacDonald was driving in her first classic trial with Veronica Caspari reading the route card. Andrew Cairney had exams on the Monday and wisely decided to stay at home revising so his sister Sarah sat alongside Dad to ensure he stayed out of trouble. Christine Manning had to put her job first this weekend so Peters sister stepped in as his passenger, a job she had once done for his father.

    The night was cold for the run to the breakfast halt at The Jolly Diner at Tintinhull. No, it I haven’t got confused with the Lands End. The Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park is no more and is being converted to a posh Hotel, even Mr Blobby couldn’t save it, or was it all his fault! All the Falcons survived scruitineering, the greasy spoon breakfast and the first hill at Gatcombe Lane. Hazel MacDonald’s problems started at the summit after she and Veronica had pumped up JAZ’s tyres as the Beetle went into a sulk and wouldn’t start. They finally got things going but lost half an hour by the time they arrived in Bovey Woods. Normans Hump was first on the agenda, with Reg Taylor and Geoff Jackson on the start and Peter Mountain officiating higher up. It was pretty greasy on top but there was plenty of grip underneath and all the mud from the logging operations had disappeared since last year. A few words of description for those of you that don’t know the hill. It’s very long, absolutely straight and quite steep, apart from where a track crosses half way up. This is where the yellow restart is situated, the reds having a tougher one just where the gradient increases dramatically.

    All our re-starters got away OK for a clean but there were problems down in class four even though they had a straight run at the hill. Brian and Kevin were finding the little Fiat was severely down on power and it didn’t make the top. Neither did Hazel and Veronica. They started off OK and made the cross track but they weren’t going fast enough and ran out of momentum before the summit. This set an amusing series of events into motion, involving Fred Gregory and Pete Stafford, who else! Hazel reversed down to the cross track and off the hill where the engine fluffed and refused to start. Fred and Pete were given the all clear and stormed away up the lower reaches. Meanwhile a front wheel drive car dodged around Hazel’s stranded Beetle and crossed the track in Fred’s path bringing him to a halt for a balk. There were now three cars strewn around the junction and it was some time before the hill was clear. The Falcon drama wasn’t over as Neil and Marc arrived at the top with a puncture. Their first of six! Running at the end of the field Stuart Cairney was finding the deep ruts a problem, but once the Imp jumped out of them things got a lot worse and he stopped with a loss of traction.

    Normally Clinton is next on the agenda, but not for the class eight’s this year. They had to tackle a new hill called Branscombe Bank. This started on the main track, before turning ninety right up a rough, muddy path through the woods. It was pretty tough. The best Falcons got about twenty yards up the hill before coming to a stop with wheels spinning. Ian Davis and David Thompson didn’t get that far in their VW Buggy’s. With very little weight on the front end they both under-steered into the bank on the right hander.

    Clinton was next, the clubs own hill so all the Falcons wanted to do well in front of their friends. It was a new Clinton though, with an extra bit at the bottom. Hazel put her trotter down and stormed up but Brian wasn’t so fortunate as the Fiat just didn’t have enough power. He wasn’t the only one, Tom didn’t make it around the corner and neither did Peter Manning whose Midget had got a bit hot waiting at the bottom and fluffed to a stop immediately after the line and was another client for the super tractor. Dave Nash failed as well and there’s quite a storey behind this. Dave and Julie had punctured earlier and the damaged tyre was on the spare wheel carrier immediately over the type the engine. Unfortunately the flat took up more room and knocked off one of the air filters, this deranged the throttle linkage and the Skeetle didn’t have the grunt to get round the first bend.

    Then it was across the A3025 to Waterloo where Hazel MacDonald was still having trouble starting JAZ. Although she knew what was just around that sharp right hander Hazel didn’t have her trotter planted firmly enough on the gas peddle and the Beetle didn’t make it up the steep gradient that follows the corner. This is a common problem for Waterloo first timers and I can remember doing exactly the same thing myself. All you can see from the start is a sharp, blind, right hand bend, but its essential to put the power down hard as soon as you start to turn, even though you can’t see where you are going to end up! Hazel wasn’t the only one in trouble on what old hands regard as a pretty straightforward section. Simon and Matt Robson had their Skoda jump out of gear. Their gold depends on charitable marshals taking the view they didn’t come to a complete stop before getting going again. Alan Bellamy was having an exciting time with his Brasilia as the throttle kept jamming open. It wasn’t a problem on the sections but it was a bit disconcerting on the road, especially when coming up to roundabouts and traffic lights! Waterloo was to bring just the reverse problem for Alan as the brakes seized solid on the hill and the car came to a halt in mid-section with all four wheels firmly locked. After getting clear Alan released some of the pressure from a bleed nipple after which everything returned to normal. There must have been some muck in the system from the considerable time the car was laid up in Andy Clarke’s back garden.

    Stretes was simple enough and the special test at Greenslinch wasn’t as wet as normal, the hole containing slurry rather than water this year. After this section the navigators had to earn their keep, as the route to Exeter services was an MCC delight. The route card said “SO into Broadclyst and just after 30 mph sign L dp Dog Village”. Coming to Broadclyst there was the 30 sign and a left turning but no “Dog Village” sign, but there was a left turning with a Pet Centre on the corner. However turning left bought you into a little road with lock up garages either side which ended up as a dead end. There were competitors going up and down in every direction. The real turning was about half a mile up the road just after a 30-mph sign. Closer examination revealed that the first sign was a few yards before the “Broadclyst” sign and that didn’t count!

    After the break at Exeter came Tillerton Steep. Rough and rocky as ever, with a restart on the slab for classes six, seven and eight. This defeated Clive Booth, Alan Bellamy and possibly others, the notes are a little sketchy here! Mike Pearson didn’t fail the re-start, he didn’t see it and just drove straight through. That’s why some of us wear specs Mike! Hazel Mac was learning how to gun the motor in JAZ, finding that if you go fast enough you can fly over the bumps! This technique didn’t work for Stuart Cairney, he got his Imp airborne on the slab. When it came down it found mega grip and stalled. Our other class fours all made successful ascents, although it was at the expense of another puncture 
for Neil Bray. Fingle was next with more Falcon involvement as Murray MacDonald was Chief Official on the hill and Mike Furse was sector marshal for the area. Colin Stevens had a puncture and as he was in considerable pain from Sciatica decided to retire. Peter Manning was another to puncture here but kept going at the expense of a destroyed wheel rim.

    Fred Gregory’s Melos was making some rather horrible noises and riding mechanic Pete Stafford diagnosed the fault as a propshaft UJ bearing breaking up. They decided to carry on and nurse the car to the finish, incurring a fail on Wooston Steep by taking the blue and white route. Wooston contained various handicaps for the higher classes. Six could go up the easy route, but had to perform a restart. This was identified by a red board which according to the route card meant class eight only, a common re-start being specified as a Black R on a Yellow board. This caused confusion for Dave Nash and Alan Bellamy, Dave stopped and Alan didn’t. We await the results to see who was right! Ian Davis was our only class eight to make a successful ascent, the others being defeated by either the re-start or the steep hill they had to climb.

    The Pepperdon section was a re-start on tarmac, an Exeter speciality that had to be treated with respect as the road was covered in mud and the gradient was quite sharp. There was a time control before Simms and the early numbers had to waste away around three quarters of an hour to avoid being early. The old hill was on form again this year and only Simon Robson and Ian Davis made successful ascents. Arnold Lane was watching and said that Simon’s climb was really something, scattering the spectators as he swerved to the right hand bank to avoid the slippery slab. This appeared to be the trick, Arnold reporting that ninety percent of the successful climbers went the same way. The slab was the problem, it was very slippery and provided almost zero grip and few competitors had the momentum to carry them over this formidable obstacle.

    Competitors now only had Slippery Sam standing between them, a cold beer and warm bath. This was to be a sting in the tail. The re-start was right at the top on the last corner. Neil Bray thought he had missed it lower down and was so busy worrying where it was he did a Mike Pearson and drove straight through. Alan Bellamy was another to have brain fade here after struggling with more carburettor problems. The idle jets kept blocking up and Alan had to keep stopping to clear them. So ended another Exeter, a competitive trial run in pleasant conditions. There seemed to be a few organisational problems, but this didn’t detract from a wonderful trial, wrapped up for many with a dinner where we had twenty Falcons seated together, a fitting end to a great event.

1999_exeter_resultsDownload

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Nipper News

Maralyn and Susan Tucker-Peake in Nipper on Bluehills

I recently had a nice letter from Maralyn Knight with news about “The Tucker Nipper Special”. For the full storey about this famous old car you need to go back to the July ‘97 Classical Gas, but there’s space here for a quick resume.

Maralyn’s father was of course the late H. W. Tucker-Peake. Tucker and Betty campaigned their “Tucker-MG” for many years. The car evolving to create space for  Maralyn and Susan to ride in the back. In due course they wanted a trials car of their own so Tucker built “The Nipper”, based on the running gear and chassis from a Ford 5 cwt van. With sister Susan in the passenger seat Maralyn was very successful with her car and won two triples.      Maralyn explains that until recently she hadn’t heard anything about the Nipper since selling it to a lady called Rosemary Cond from Gloucestershire back in the late 60’s. She knew that Rosemary had done a few competitions with it but that was that. Before Tucker passed away he had heard that the famous old car was in a barn somewhere. Sadly his detective work was never completed as tragically he couldn’t speak properly after suffering a stroke.

However, quite by chance, a friend of Maralyn’s spotted an ad for a “Nipper” in a magazine and low and behold it was her old car. She got in touch with the person selling it and found it was Rosemary Cond’s old passenger. But by then the Nipper had already been sold. Maralyn traced the new owner to Barton le Clay, close to where it was born! The car was in remarkably good condition, considering it’s age, and the new owner was prepared to sell. But it would have taken a fair bit of time and money to restore it and Maralyn decided to let it go. She regrets that now, but that’s life! The latest news is that Nipper is under restoration by a gentleman in Lechlade in Gloucestershire. Maralyn is in touch with him and has provided him with some pictures of the car as it was originally built. She hopes it will soon be returned to its former and original glory, in particular that the new owner will do away with the Lotus 7 style nose and front wings that it acquired in later years.

What we need now is a “Classic Specials” class so cars like the Nipper and Primrose can be seen on the MCC hills again.

20 June 1999 – I received an interesting E-Mail from Simon Woodall the other week, this corrects some of the facts in my original piece.

  • I am not Margaret’s son, she is my Aunt. I am Victors son. This is an error Tucker made when compiling the details for the MCC book and seems to have passed into history.
  • Although Margaret was the first woman to win a Triple, it is only fair to reveal the whole truth behind this. Margaret and Maralyn both achieved their goals on the same trial but as Margaret had an earlier number she finished first and therefore it was she that took the honours of being the first woman to win a Triple.
  • Woolford Special Mk2 with which Margaret won her Triple. A typical special – A7 frame plus Ford 10 engine, but with the engine so far back in the frame that the prop shaft was only six inches long. It was the overwhelming success of this vehicle that caused the RAC to introduce the spark plug to front axle measurement and thus was the National Trials Formula born!.

Further news is that the gentleman in Letchlade has put the “Nipper” up for sale at £3,000. There is an ad in the July Practical Classics magazine.

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1998 Allen Trial

Another enjoyable Allen won by Tony Young in his Class 8 Ardley. More difficult this year as there had been enough rain in the week to make thing slippy, but not enough to wash the mud of the rocks! Murray MacDonald put in the best Falcon performance. Going round clean in his 1302, but Giles Greenslade pipped him for the class win with better special test times.

Drama on Big Uplands. Pete Stafford waiting to attach the tow rope to Fred Gregories Dutton Melos
Murray and Hazel MacDonald coming out of the sump on Nanny Hurns. They lost the class to Giles Greenslade on special test times. Watch out for Hazel driving JAZ on the Exeter while Murray is Chief Official on Fingle.
Michael Leete blasting off the line on Guys Hill

It was another excellent Falcon entry on the Allen. Nine crews leaving the start just off Junction 18 of the M4. It would have been more, but the entry was over-subscribed and Simon Robson had his turned away. Neil Bray was down as a reserve and it was only on the Thursday that he got a phone call from Carlie Hart to say he would get a run.

The route followed a similar pattern to recent years, starting at Tog Hill which didn’t create any problems. These began at Bitton Lane and centred around the infamous re-start. This is situated on a left hand bend, it looks easy but it’s very deceptive. The gradient increases markedly just where the line is and the surface consists of small polished stones that offer very little grip. To make things more difficult this year they were covered in mud!

Neither Fred nor Michael got away cleanly, although Fred managed to get about ten feet before coming to a stop, wheels spinning, in a cloud of smoke. Murray found a good position, feathered the throttle, and drove away cleanly. Ian Davis was the only other Falcon to get a clear. In overall terms class four was the most successful, with over 50% clean, while in class six car only one car succeeded out of five, even Graham Brazier failing to burn his way up.

The later numbers arrived at Big Uplands to find a long queue. Conditions were quite slippery and there were quite few failures. This causes a problem as they had to reverse down the section, which is tricky because it’s quite rough. Then comes the big problem, passing the queue of cars waiting to attempt the section. All of this caused an increasing delay, up to ninety minutes for the tail-end-Charlie’s.

The first part of the section is straight and rough, with a surface of solid rock. This changes to loose rock just before a sharp left hander, where there is a re-start for the yellow and red classes. This area was very tricky. The rain the week before had washed a lot mud onto the rocks and they were very slippery. It would actually had been easier if it had been raining as the water would have washed the mud away!

Neither Neil Bray nor Stuart Cairney could get round the corner. Michael and Mike got a bit further but not much leaving Murray as out only clean class four. Fred didn’t make it off the re-start and had the misfortune to get his diff stuck on a rock reversing down. Now, the marshals on Big Uplands are notorious for not giving competitors a helping shove. Today was no exception, but eventually they summoned a recovery truck, a four wheel drive Toyota pick-up. This attempted to pull Fred up but it failed to move, all four wheels spinning fruitlessly. Meanwhile Fred had pumped his tyres up and this gave him the necessary increase in ground clearance to untangle his diff. Fred reversed down the hill but the drama was not over. First the Toyota had difficulty in getting back up the hill. Then after Michael failed he got stuck on a muddy verge trying to get past the queue for the section. Ron Bradshaw kindly towed him out, but the back bumper was wedged around a tree and got rather bent in the process! Mike Pearson and John Parsons both got away from the restart OK and went on to clear the hill, but neither Clive Booth nor Ian Davis were successful. 

Guys Hill was next. Name sound familiar? This is the one that all the legal business is about concerning the road out of the top. I can remember on my first Allen we went out the end of the section. These days the gate at the top is firmly closed. It’s another one of these “polished stones” sections, made devilishly difficult for the yellows and reds as they have to re-start. It’s also one of the Allen’s two subdivided hills, the other being Burledge.

Stuart started off the line pretty well, but a plug lead jumped off about half way up. The engine fluffed and the Imp ground to a halt at the two. It was the same story for Neil and Marc in the Skoda, which really wasn’t running at all well. Our other class fours made it OK but none of the yellows and reds could get off that slippery re-start. 

Fred and Murray were unaware of all Michael’s dramas on Big Uplands and were waiting for him at Guys Hill. They were able to watch a superb restart from Dudley Sterry. They reckon it took him the best part of a minute, but he got his rather special class 8 MG J2 off the line and up the hill for a clean. Julian Dommett and Tony Young were the only other re-starters to get away and clean the section. How does Julian do so well with that 1172 Dellow?

After Sandy Lane and Strode came Travers, which didn’t present any difficulty to the lower classes, but was more tricky for the yellows and reds who had to re-start. Earlier in the ear the Bristol club had made a gully near the top of the hill to reduce the damage caused by water. Fred and Pete got away well in their Dutton and so did Mike Pearson. The others weren’t so lucky and succumbed to the step and slippery rocks after the re-start.

The organisers had been carrying out more construction work on Burledge to reduce the depth of the ruts and make it less of a test of ground clearance. This certainly made a difference to Falcons class fours and only Stuart failed to drive out of the top, grounding out at the one. Fred and Pete made it OK in class seven, but class eight had things a bit more difficult as they had to re-start. This prevented a full blooded run at the rutted part and Clive wasn’t able to build up sufficient momentum, grinding to a halt at the one.

Mill Lane didn’t present any problems for most competitors but it was rough enough to break the suspension on Dennis Greenslades Reliant. Dennis seems to be breaking this car pretty regularly. I wonder how long he will persevere with it as it doesn’t appear to be very strong. Clive Booth was in trouble as well, with a broken exhaust manifold on his Dellow. It’s a casting and there was little hope of doing a satisfactory repair, so Clive and John retired. In all probability it was Burledge’s ruts that did the damage and they didn’t fancy knocking it off completely on John Walker!

Very soon competitors were going back down the rather wet lane approaching Big Uplands. Only this time it was sharp left after the bridge to tackle “Little Uplands” instead. By now Neil’s Skoda was running quite roughly and he was taking things easy to preserve the car. A little too easy as it turns out, as he didn’t have enough momentum to get over the big hump covering the drainage pipe, grinding to a halt. He needed the services of the Toyota, which was a little better than when it tried to help Fred but not much. About as much use as a chocolate teapot as they say!

Things weren’t much better for Neil on John Walker. The Skoda cut out about fifty yards after the water splash and had to be retrieved out of the section. Not an easy task in the dark as those of you that know the hill will testify. The remaining Falcon’s cleared the hill OK, so it was back to the finish for a well earned rest. Then it was off home, but not before the final challenge, turning right out of the start venue onto the busy main road. Think I’m joking? I’m not, and several competitors got so fed up waiting for a break in the traffic that they turned left and went several miles up the road to “U-turn” at the next roundabout!

So ended another Allen. Normally reckoned to be the easiest of the ACTC events, this one certainly had a few surprises in store for the complacent. It was a great event, run 100% on “real” tracks by a nice bunch of people. Long may it continue.

  • 1 David Haizelden VW Golf 11
  • 2 Peter Treliving Austin 7 0
  • 3 John Bell Ford Escort 12
  • 4 Giles Greenslade VW Beetle 0
  • 5 Gillian Hayward MGB GT 19
  • 6 Nigel Allen VW Beetle 6
  • 7 Julian Dommett Dellow 0
  • 8 Dudley Sterry MG J2 0
  • Overall Tony Young Ardley 0
1998_allen_resultsDownload

We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media