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 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.
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This was a trial of two halves. A dry night and morning and a wet afternoon when some of the sections became very muddy and there were some cancellations.
Follow this Draft report as it develops
The Edinburgh Trial has steadily evolved under the stewardship of Clerk of the Course Mark Gregg and weather apart this was a successful trial. Fortunately the rain didn’t come down until the afternoon but when it did it was relentless. This caused the abandonment of Booth Farm, at least for main trial cars. Litton was affected as well and the lower class cars confined to the grass section overlooking the old hill.
Like Dave Middleditch on the Lands End Mark Gregg is to be congratulated on his pre event communication and making himself so accessible to help with even the smallest query with such good grace. It remains to see to see if the clubs remote hierarchy learn from this.
The entry included the leading contenders for the ACTC Wheelspin Trophy and this was to be an important event for that competition.
The Start
There were the inevitable issues affecting some on the way to the start. Lee Sample had forsaken his usual Rickman Ranger to try two wheels on a Honda. Unfortunately his Camper and Trailer became immobilised on the way to the Duke of York campsite. Not to be deterred Lee arranged recovery and proceeded on two wheels. Ed Wells had to be on domestic duty at home and Roger Ashby had a trailer tyre blow out on the M5, fortunately he had a good spare.
Litchfield Rugby itself was heaving with people as they had double booked and there was a social event taking place downstairs. Fortunately the weather was OK and after some efficient scruitineering it was warm enough for competitors to socialise outside.
Tissington Ford
The 40 mile run up to the Tissington Ford Holding Control was mainly on small roads and single track lanes. It was remarkably uneventful once past the canal bridges and many turns in the first few miles after the start.
Early cars joined a rapidly developing queue for the 25psi tyre pressure check handled by the ever present Dave Middleditch.
Haven Hill
Arriving at the section there was another lengthy queue. Restart marshal Peter Thomson reporting the reason was the number of motorcycles struggling to navigate the ruts and hitting the ground. Putting machine and rider back on their feet was time consuming, especially the heavy larger bikes which sometimes took three pairs of hands to get upright.
The cars weren’t so much of a problem with few failures. This was aided by the marshals announcing the tyre rule was scrapped and allowing free pressures.
Ballidon
Excelsior was challenging with separate restarts for the different classes (Video by Simon Everett)
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Held in dry conditions Charlie only dropped two and the top ten were only spanned by a further four marks.
Charlie Merson is a picture of concentration on his way to an overall win on The Mechanics Trial. Photo by Calvin Samuel
This years Mechanics Trial was earlier this year and held on a dry, sunny day. It was a low scoring, but very close battle between the leading contenders. However, unlike the Exmoor Clouds last week Class Eight dominated the leader board.
Wood Lane was early in the event and traction was at a premium at the top. (Video by Bultaco Boy)
Mackhouse was back on the agenda this year, there were only a couple of failures but it was considered a bit rough by some competitors.
Dave Sargeant was out in his new VW Buggy but had the misfortue to damage the bodywork early in the trial and retired shortly afterwards when the transmission cried enough.
The trial was decided in the Catswood complex where Charlie Merson dropped his only marks of the trial on Sapseds Surprise in his Ford Special. Charlie got to the two followed by Mark Hobbs in his trial on a three.
A Tough Trial with only four marks separating the top ten cars. Restarts and deviations made it challenging for Class Eight and only Tom Jones broke into the top ten to gain Wheelspin points.
Paul Watson has just pulled away from the Class 7 restart and is about to blast past the Class Eight line. Paul was second overall in his Class 7 Imp, now with 2.0 Golf GTi power. (VidCap from a Josh Moss video)
Xanthia Petherick and Christina McClary KTM 525 (with permission of Xanthia Petherick)
Minehead Motor Club restarted the season after the summer break and Clerk of the Course Paul Merson had worked hard to create some exacting sections in the inevitable dry conditions. He succeeded and there was a closely fought battle amongst the cars with Neal Vile and Paul Watson ending the trial on 17 points in Class 90 X90 and Class 7 Hillman Imp respectively.
It was a decisive victory, Justin was the only competitor to score in single figures. However, it was close behind, the next three covered by only two marks
Justin and James Llewellyn attacking a section in their Class 2 Dellow Mk1. last years winner Jim Mountain had to retire his Dellow Mk1 with electrical problems.
Windwhistle attracted a diverse entry for this years Bovey Down and were rewarded by a dry day.
Julian Lack was back in his familiar Liege and finished one position behind Dean
Northern Trial organiser Myke Pocock struggles for grip crossing the stream at the foot of Watergate.
Although this years Yorkshire Dales was held in good weather there had been a lot of rain during the week and some of the sections were ultra competitive. The first section Watergate proved very challenging with water being dragged up the section. Clerk of the Course John Rhodes made the difficult decision to cancel the hill to reduce delays so early in the event as it was taking a lot of time for failures to clear the section.
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Sadly a well known competitor passed away during the event after a medical emergency.
Organiser Dave Middleditch celebrating with Daniel Sauter and his passenger who came all the way from Switzerland to compete and finish the Lands End Trial in their Chevrolet. Sadly things were to turn sour for Dave when the MCC hierarchy informed him they were not happy with the event. Dave explains what happened and provided an update with the Motorsport UK feedback
Dave Middleditch had promised a different Lands End and delivered with more sections than usual, four special tests, a handbrake test and passage checks to ensure competitors followed the correct route.
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Mark Wills best Solo and Steve Urell/Julie Williams took the Outfit award on a tough day made even more difficult for later numbers when the rain came down in the afternoon
Torbay winner Simon Oates on Tipley (Photo by Jo Goodman)
Returning to its traditional start at the Kennford Court Hotel the Torbay attracted its usual good entry. The start list was dominated by no less than 17 Class Eights, drawn no doubt by the Torbays reputation as a tough trial.
Principle organisers Dave Haizelden and Keith Sanders had to contend with a very wet period leading up to the trial which made some of the sections a little more challenging than planned. Then rain on the day itself made some very slippy for the later numbers.
Classical Gas 