Tag: 1 October 2005

Chris Clarkes Edinburgh

After competing in Class 0 on The Lands end Chris Clarke took on the main event for the Edinburgh

After gaining a coveted tin medal in the Lands End at Easter, it was time to move on to the “grown-up” stuff in Class 1 and given that we had already attempted some of the main route hills on the Edinburgh, it seemed a good event to make the step. Unfortunately work commitments had rather curtailed the summer maintenance season, but we had been able to raise the front suspension some more (courtesy of Fourtune engineering) and repaired the reverse gear selector (no more excuses for special test foul-ups), so we felt well equipped to tackle the usual challenges.

At the start we carefully took notice of the published breakfast arrangements and some other technical stuff about tyre pressures, but fortunately, in view of the problems the organisers had faced prior to the event no route changes. From the start we made good time to Haven Hill, which was a nice warm up for the hills ahead. There was a queue at Clough Wood, so we took advantage of this for a quick nap. Both this and the following Deeprake were enjoyable climbs, unlike the descent to the start at Litton Slack, where I foolishly went too fast and scared both of us silly – lesson learned! You get a good view of the hill from the approach and we had some good ideas about how to play it after passing the telegraph pole. As it was, just reaching the start was tricky (more like the 5 minute rule?), but we got going well and then ground to a stop after about 15 feet – so much for the plan. It had started raining heavily while we were waiting, whether that actually had any effect I don’t know, but that’s my excuse (I had previously commented favourably on the sunny weather –some people never learn). 

After Carlton it was time for an excellent breakfast at the Bull I’th Thorn. For reasons I can’t really understand we had been dropping back steadily all day, and were now running with cars that started 30-40 mins behind us, more of this later. 

At Haggside we had our first serious problem, the Golf’s clutch (of unknown vintage) has been suffering from the hammering it gets since the big wheels raised the gear ratio and at the restart I finished with the engine going flat out, clutch fully engaged and wheels not turning, lots of very expensive smoke and a fail. Because of this we approached Bamford Clough with some trepidation, not helped by the steady stream of failures returning through the village. In fact, although we didn’t get much past the parking space half way up, it was a real laugh, full throttle, lots of wheelspin, and that feeling that you’re hanging onto the hill by your fingertips. We even had the bonus of watching Colin Perryman power his way past us as we waited to return. At Great Hucklow, the cheer we got showed that the spirit was there, but unfortunately we stopped perfectly in the restart box. On the exit via the class ‘O’ route I was extremely annoyed to hit the same rock that I hit last year and write off another wheel. Judging by the number of people changing wheels at the end of the section and the state of the rock, we were not alone, does anyone know of a source of suitable explosives? 

On to the village hall at Hollingsclough, where the tea and scones were very welcome, although when we left it was starting to get dark and we were even further behind schedule. We couldn’t get up the steep bit at the start of Rakes Head and failed the restart at Excelsior, although it was good to see how much better the car went on this section than last year.

The combination of night and brain fade cost us some time as we got lost on the way to Wigber Low and Moneystones and we arrived very late at the finish, hence were declared as retired in the results. What did we learn? It’s a big but not impossible step up from class ‘O’ (We both feel that the class has real value as an introduction) and the schedule with more sections and distance to cover means you have to really work at it all the time. I’m not sure I stopped at the right place in the restart boxes and the question of tyre pressure was as imponderable as ever. We’re not sure why we seem to loose so much time, the tyre pumps we use are probably a bit slow, but that’s the only thing we can think of. 

Did we enjoy ourselves – most definitely. It’s really exciting just to be a part of such of a large event, even as an also ran, it’s a genuinely challenging competition, the people are friendly, the foods good,…. Once again a big thank-you to the organisers; and marshals for standing waiting for us in the very wet conditions and we look forward to next year.

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

Edinburgh 2005

It was a very competitive Edinburgh. Litton, Great Hucklow and the restart on Excelsior really shaking up the results. It certainly thinned out the triples. Only five cars and five bikes gaining the MCC’s premier award. The trial was well supported by Falcons, with 18 entries in the main trial and 2 in class 0. Colin Sumner put in the best performance, gaining Silver.

Team Falcon the morning after!
Dave Nash and Julie Fleet storming Great Hucklow (picture by Mike Hayward)
Simon Groves cleaned Bamford but not without problems!
Richard Hoskin cleaned Bamford in his Morgan 3 wheeler. (Picture by Ed Nikel)
MCC Secretary Peter Lawley cleaning Bamford Clough in his ex – Ron Butcher Beetle.
David Wall on his way to cleaning Bamford Clough in the family Dellow. David won Silver after failing the “new” section at Rakes Head. (Pic Ed Nikel)
The view descending Winnatts Pass.
PCT Champion Barrie Parker watching Paul Allaways technique as he pulls away at Clough Wood.
Colin Sumner at the foot of Clough Wood. Colin won a silver.
Bill Rosten catching up on his sleep during a two hour wait at Clough Wood. Bill retired after Bamford Clough
2005_edinburgh_resultsDownload

Ian Bates and his team organised a very different route with some interesting “new” hills. After a nice easy introduction at the tree lined Haven Hill the entry soon found itself at the foot of a rather rough Clough Wood, and an hours delay, even for the early cars, as some of the bikers were falling off. With a long section and a tricky restart for the higher classes the delay built up, so later numbers were waiting for the best part of two and a half hours, although having arrived an hour early they were not so far behind scheduled time.

The section was quite rough and the restart caught out both Keith Oakes and Maureen Chattle/Ross Neuton. Ted Holloway had problems with the ruts at the bottom and got his very special rear engined Mini wedged sideways across the track on the lower reaches. Barrie Parker was another Falcon to fail in the big Audi 80. 

Deep Rake was another very easy section, followed by a special test before the run to Litton. The descent was as hairy as ever, especially when the skies opened every now and again and the rain came down. The old hill was in fine form and only 15 cars made it to the summit. None of the cars in 1, 4, 5 or 6 got to the A boards, so the section didn’t count in the results. Brian Partridge was the first car to be shown it could be done in his Cannon and Pete Hart made a fine ascent to go clear. Waiting in the queue I saw Ray Goodright make a flawless climb in his Arkley MG and then Adrian Dommett and Julie Phillips fight and bounce their way to the summit after so nearly stopping just past the tree. I also saw Tim Whellock grind to a halt and loose his triple in the ex-John Parsons Fugitive. This was a real shame because Tim is taking over as Clerk of the Course for the Exeter and won’t get another chance for a while. 

Calton is starting to get ruttier again at the summit but there was plenty of grip and it only stopped one car, unfortunately Maureen and Ross in their Mk2 Dellow. There was an excellent breakfast waiting at The Bull I’th Thorn before going off to Haydale, with a very muddy and rutted approach to where the gradient and hard surface starts. The section defeated Barrie Parker and Ted Holloway who had to retire afterwards. 

The trial started to toughen up now, as the route wound its way down Winnats Pass and across the Ladybower reservoir to Haggside. This section was under threat a few years ago; full marks to the MCC for managing to keep it in the trial. As usual the main test was the restart just after the hairpin, right after the start. It can be very tricky if you don’t know its there, or position the car in the wrong place and it wasn’t that long ago it cost Falconry Editor David a triple. Most made it OK, although a few newcomers drove through before they realised it was there! It did stop a few though, including Colin Perryman in his lovely BMW and Falcons Peter Manning and Barrie Parker. 

After a holding control came Bamford, a true prince amongst trials sections. OK, Litton can be more challenging but Bamford brings out the brave! It was much smoother than in previous years, thanks to the MCC road gang. Class eight had to restart as well, just to stop them getting complacent. Running at the front of the field Dave Nash and Julie Fleet stormed up in the MGeetle. Neil Bray and Mike Hayward had problems getting away from the restart but a kindly marshal took pity on them and gave them a clear. Simon Robson cleaned the section in his Liege but to the sounds of tinkling from his transmission. Driving away from the hill it was clear all was not well with the ‘box and Simon and Matt retired. Peter Thompson was delighted to go clear but Bamford wasn’t kind to rear engined cars and Colin Sumner and Brian Alexander had their first counting stops of the trial. Earlier Clive Booth had struggled to get away from the restart, floored the throttle, spinning the wheels which fortunately dropped into a hole with plenty of grip and went on to clear.

Great Hucklow was its evil self with the rocky deviation up to the left for all but class 0. The yellows and reds had to restart amongst the rocks. John Parsons was amongst many who couldn’t get away from the restart which some would say was just s he was one of the team who created the deviation back in the days of the SODC Conquest Trial!

Kings Stearndale was not to create to many problems but after the tea stop at Hollingsclough came a couple of horrors. Rakes Head was only just up the road. It was short but quite tricky. It started on the road before a sharp 90 left and a severe rise in gradient, with a restart for yellows and reds. Clive Booth was defeated by the combination of restart and harsh camber and didn’t get away, although he backed down and got up with a run. Colin Sumner was delighted to get the Beetle away from the restart but Geoff Hodge had his first failure since Litton. At the front of the field Neil Bray got away but Dave Nash in the MGeetle couldn’t make it. 

Excelsior was the penultimate hill and was to prove a real sting in the tail. The problem was the restart, sited on polished stones just before a 90 left. Only 30 cars succeeded in getting away and none of these were Falcons! Class 0 tackled this one, although without a restart, and this was Verdun Webleys only failure. Verdun using the shopping Seat as the GTM wasn’t ready in time. Reg Taylor was more successful in his Anglia and went on to claim a class 0 award. Running at the back of the field the results show Simon Groves/Michael Leete as clear but they failed just like the rest. The “RB” was shown against Rakes Head (which they cleaned) and not Excelsior. 

The route then went away from Buxton towards Ashbourne and quite a few of the late runners at the tail of the field decided to skip the section and call it a day as the trial was running quite late at this time. Chief Official Mike Pearson greeted those that did the hill. It was none other than Wigber Low, normally tackled at the start of the trial but at the end this time and still in the dark for some! The restart was to trap the unwary, including Brian Alexander whose diminutive Fiat wasn’t running too well by now. 

After a final special test it was back to sign off at the Bull I’th thorn before most went back to Buxton for a nice club supper. It was a shame later runners were so late but this is what happens when the Edinburgh is run as a competitive trial and most competitors were willing to accept that. Well-done Ian Bates and his team. 

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