You have stumbled on a delightful box of tricks, Classic Trials & other perverse stuff from Michael Leete. MCC ACTC and other trials. VW Beetles, Dellows, Marlins, or even Suzuki X90's
Dean Partington only dropped one mark to win the car class. However Dean could only claim victory on the last section as until then Matt Facey had been clean. John Reeves was best bike with a clean sheet on his KTM
Colin Gwyer captures Matt Facey giving his BMW some air at the top of Longville. Matt was clean and in the lead when he arrived at the last section but spun to a stop on the slippery mud and it was Dean Partington who was best car with one mark lost on Oak Dingle.
It had been very wet in the week leading up to the trial, but it was dry when competitors set off from The Squirrel in Ludlow after completing the Clees very efficient administration. After many years in the hands of the Midland Automobile Club the reigns had been transferred to the Midland Manor Motor Club. However the old team were still at the helm in the form of Simon Woodall, Pat Toulmin and crew. Pat was using the Spotify App to keep competitors up to speed before, during and after the event and this was very successful.
Matt Johnston on his way to a narrow win on the first Bodmin Heights Trial (Cap from a Video by Duncan Stephens)
Camel Vale had planned to run their single venue Bodmin Trial in November but it had to be called off after principal organiser Simon Groves broke his leg motorcycling. Simon didn’t spend his time convulsing idly, resulting in a new 40 mile road trial incorporating sections in Dunmere, Cardinham and Laneskin Woods, The first Bodmin Heights Road Trial.
Class Eight dominated the event Matt Johnston pipping Dean Vowden to the win by a single point.
Stuart Roach left his familiar HRG behind and went family trialling in his recently acquired Ford Model A. Photo on Simms by Stuart Palmer
There was a significant change to last years Class 0 event which pretty much followed the main trial, just missing out some of the rougher hills, although including Slippery Sam!
This year there was little in common with the main trial apart from the special tests, Fingle and Donkey Trot.
There were a couple of new sections. Bovey Warren was in forestry just opposite the Normans Hump/Clinton Complex and was a nice addition. Then after breakfast Butterdon was an easy section near Wooston Steep.
Donkey Trot was the challenge for the cars, only four going clear, but then there were a lot of failures in the main trial who also did the section.
Neil Bray was one of the Donkey Trot clears but failed to position his Escort correctly in the Millen Lane restart box reducing the tin count to three.
Only one of the Class 0 motorcycles finished the trial.
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
Please help spread the word and share this on your Social Media:
Luke Evans captures the atmosphere as Mike Tucker tackles Simms in his rather special Morris Minor. The Exeters Signature Hill was on form as usual
After organisational issues last year the 2024 Exeter was in the safe hands of the genial Pete Batty with Pete Hart as Deputy Clerk of the Course. The team were concerned when a severe storm hit the South West a couple of days before the event, but with a bit of work all was well on the day resulting in a very successful event.
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
Please help spread the word and share this on your Social Media:
Rob Holden was an excellent second in his BMW estate with the only other clean sheet apart from Dave’s. Dean Partington was third, keeping his Wheelspin Trophy hopes alive.
Rob Holden finally found some engine reliability, cleaning all the hills in his BMW but having to give best to Dave Haizelden on special test times
The ever popular Allen Trial took just four days to max out the entry in the main trial. There was also provision for Heritage cars to take part in a parallel event but as this didn’t attract any entries it looks as if Heritage is defunct. It was a damp start to the day which didn’t brighten up and ended with persistent rain.
The start at The Bull at Hinton. Lined up are three of Dean Partingtons DP cars competing on the trial. From left to right. The DP Falcon, trialled by Dean many years ago and recently re-acquired and updated. In the middle is the very familiar rear engined DP Wasp recently purchased and driven on The Allen by Paul Merson. On the right is Jack Selwood’s DP Ford, originally constructed by Reg Taylor. This is the car that took Mike Furse to a triple and Graham Marshall to ACTC championships. It still has the original 1500 pre-crossflow engine (Photo by Kieran Bartlett)
Tog Hill was just up the road from the start and there were some delays after about half the field went through as one of the Austin 7’s experienced problems and blocked the section. It wasn’t a happy start for Class 2 as Michael Wall’s Trojan had to retire on the following road section.
The restart on the polished stones on Bitton Lane challenged some of the Austin 7’s in a bumper Class 2 entry.
Not so Mick Holmes who got away smoothy in what I believe was his cars first trial. Mick’s passenger was son Sam, normally seen driving his very competitive Class 4 Beetle with Mick as his passenger.
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
Please help spread the word and share this on your Social Media:
Dave Middleditch reports on his first experience as a Sidecar Passenger
Photo by Peter Browne
Last year we spent the week of October half term visiting sections for the Land’s End. As my services were no longer required, it was a full week of surfing at Croyde, but I noticed that the Tarka Trial takes place on the last Sunday. As a car driver, that’s not an option…. or is it? I passengered for Andy Abraham in a very last minute pairing for the Edinburgh ’22, so gave him a call to see if he’d like to come all the way down for the Tarka and I’d passenger for him on the KTM 660 Outfit. He agreed, so after a Saturday spent mostly in the pub avoiding the rain, so arrived at the start in Bideford as first bike away, and with me having had precisely zero experience of riding a Chair! £20 ACU licence obtained and a borrowed set of boots and helmet from Andy, and we were on our way.
Jack Selwood strengthened his position in the Wheelspin Trophy over Dean Partington who moves up to second place eight points behind the car he bought back into the sport.
Paul Jones captures Henry Hoggart on Tanks Terror. Henry was passengered by Norton Selwood the force behind the ACTC FB Group and Instagram.
This was a challenging Tamar Trial, especially for the cars, where even the most hardened competitors struggled on the new woodland sections towards the end of the trial.
Kevin Miller was third bike overall and would have won if he had not failed the first observed test. Kevin is the Admin of the FB Group “Long Distance Trials, LDT’s, South UK Lightweight Bikes” Photo by Paul Jones
Motorcycle competitors had some bike only routes and sections that were difficult enough to ensure there were no clean sheets. The classic lanes that started the morning didn’t prove too challenging but then came the Solo only section at Ladye Park where three was the lowest score. John Luckett dropped four here and was the only bike to clean the grassy Tanks Terror but had the misfortune to retire later.
Dean was one of five clean sheets, winning the trial by being fastest on the tests. Fellow Wheelspin contender Jack Selwood retired so the championship is still wide open
Bryan Hunt captures Matt Facey using BMW power at the foot of Blaize. Matt dropped his only point on Tee Pee’s to finish 6th overall. Only Matt and Dave Haizelden were able to break inside the Class Eight stranglehold on the top ten.
Ross and DMC managed to overcome the difficulties associated with running a forestry based trial and the Kyrle was held on a dry day making it a little easier than usual.
The results were dominated by some very competitive Class Eights, many in the hands of drivers in the lower end of the age spectrum which is good for the future of the sport.
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
Please help spread the word and share this on your Social Media:
Classical Gas 
