The weather was pretty rough in the week preceding the event, with heavy rain and floods in the Midlands. The West country escaped lightly but the weather forecast threatened snow, and they were right! The bad weather meant that David Alderson couldn’t join the Falcon marshalling team on Crackington, as the river Ouse was threatening to break its banks at Olney. However, we had a strong presence on the hill, adding to Falcons reputation in the trials world.
Mike and Sheila Furse were first car on the road, starting from Exeter as did Reg Taylor and Bill Rule who planned to make a week of it. Brian Alexander was our other Exeter Starter, but had to retire on the run-in to Sparkford. Brian had fitted a new gearbox since the Exe Valley and had changed the rear oil seal on the engine as a precaution. By the time he got to Taunton on the run-in the oil light was on, the Fiat had busily pumped its life-blood through the new seal, which was either faulty or the wrong size. Brian topped up with oil but, after using two gallons in five miles, had to retire for the fifth event in a row!
Stuart and Andrew Cairney were non-starters as they couldn’t get their new carburettor set-up finished in time. Ian Davis didn’t start. Neither did Alan Bellamy in the Brasilia after a carburettor fire on the way to the start. Chris Bonnett had fitted new front wheel bearings during the week. However, by the time he got to Popham they were making quite. After soliciting a second opinion from Geoff Jackson he decided to give the event a go.
The merging control was at the Haynes Motor Museum at Sparkford, where there was time for a coffee and browse around the bookshop. Later Falcons were greeted by Mike Pearson and Verdun Webley, who called in on their way down to Crackington to wish them luck . Simon Robson was unlucky in his quest to find a book on Tempest gearboxes, but was seen leaving with a Haynes manual for a Reliant Kitten under his arm.
The Jolly Diner caf‚ was the venue for a late supper or early breakfast, depending on your view. Michael/Mike and Simon/Matt arrived in convoy with Neil/Marc. After scruitineering the first two crews went into the caf‚ waited twenty minutes for their meal, ate it, and still no sign of Neil. He was still in the scruitineering bay discussing Skoda’s with Alan Foster!
Finally he arrived, the contest still undecided after ten rounds!
Finally it was off into the night to tackle Sugg Lane and Felons Oak. Sugg Lane didn’t present any difficulty despite the usual re-start. But Felons Oak was to prove to much for Tom Goggins diff and it wilted under the strain. Tom just happened to find one amongst his spares in the boot and fixed it, but was to late to carry-on. However, he did go on down to Newquay for the week-end. Stoney Street was not to difficult, but Beggars was to catch a few, including Chris Bonnett and Michael Leete who couldn’t get his Beetle off the re-start, despite his super-low diff.
Then it was up onto Exmoor to battle through the snow. Mike Furse was trailblazing for the cars and was quite horrified to see some of the tracks from the preceding motorcycles leading into the ditches and hedges that lined the road. Fortunately the riders all seemed to have survived to fight another day. The difficult conditions were a blessing in one way. It’s a fifty mile road section from Beggars to Sutcombe, the longest run on the trial, and normally it’s a battle to stay awake at this time of the morning. No opportunity to loose concentration and nod off this time! Sutcombe was easy enough but the weather was foul and most competitors pressed on rather than stop and socialise over a cup of tea served from one of the back doors up in the village.
The route then followed the traditional path to Darracott, down the track to what is normally the Hobbs Choice Special Test, but not this year, it was just a geeen lane. There had been warnings of the track being very rough but it was like a motorway compared to the ACTC trials in Devon! There were no delays at Darracott this time. The last two years have seen massive delays while competitors with broken transmissions have been dragged out. Last year it was Brian Alexander, the year before Simon Robson! The hill itself was pretty straightforward this year, with no particular problems on the restart. It seemed the rain had washed all the mud away.
If Daracott was easy Cutliffe Lane certainly wasn’t. It was smooth enough but it was pretty slippery and grip was at a premium. Mike Furse and Jonathan Baggott were the first cars, having swapped the “lead” job back an forth so far. Mike gave it everything, but ran out of grip around three quarters of the way up. This was the storey for most of the entry. There were exceptions. Several of the West Country Escorts climbed out the top, including Bricknell Junior in his 1300cc Escort and David Heale with 5psi in the rears of his Estate, with no tubes or bolts. According to David tubes are horrible things, they just get all pinched up! I must confess I’m a bit sketchy about how Reg, Geoff and Clive got on but I believe Geoff got out the top OK. Our Skoda trio all lost their clean sheets here. Peter Mountain in particular had given his Czech wonder no mercy and his passenger, Morgan exponent John Timms, was quite amazed how it stood up to the punishment.
The Bude Special Test was another one of these car park affairs that you reached after dodging the kamikaze Saturday shoppers. The weather was still awful, so the marshals didn’t exactly have to fight off hordes of spectators, fighting to get the autographs of their Lands End hero’s. This one rated a definite thumbs down. Come back Hobbs Choice, all is forgiven. If Bude was a bore that couldn’t be said for Crackington. Falcon’s approached the famous hill with trepidation, after all they were going to have to strut their stuff in front of their clubmates. It looked easy enough at the bottom, but then it always does. As we know the challenge comes further up when you hit the “doctored” section. Mike Furse came first. The bikes all had problems and he was now running about an hour and a quarter behind schedule. Mike nudged the Racecorp into the re-start box, stopped and let the clutch out. To no avail, the mean green machine took exception to being asked to drive into the morass, and coughed to a stop. By the time Reg came along things were easier, as there were some wheel-tracks through the clagg and he got through OK, and so did Geoff Jackson.
Peter Mountain gave his Skoda everything but it ran out of grunt and came to a stop. By the time the “New Falconers” came along it had started to rain and believe it or not the hill became easier (according to our marshals). The other two Skoda’s got through OK. Neil with plenty to spare and Simon with a struggle. Michael Leete and Dave Nash both had re-starts. They got away OK but neither built-up enough speed and needed the help of Pete Stafford’s winch to gain the summit. Classes’ one and two had been spared the exertions of Crackington. It didn’t make much difference to Chris Bonnett as his Peugeots wheel bearings finally cried enough at the top of Trewold and he had to retire.
After Treworld came the obligatory hours wait at the St Kitts concentration camp. I know it’s been said before but does anyone know a colder, more miserable and god forsaken place? Then it was down the A30 to Cardingham Woods for Hoskins, a steep muddy forest track with a doctored section higher up. The Yellows and Reds also had a re-start to spice things up. Mike and Sheila Furse were still path-finding at the head of the field. Their Racecorp was running really well and the only time they opened the bonnet was to give the electric’s a squirt of WD40 before the Treworld ford. They still fell foul of Hoskins and were the first Falcon to register a fail. So did all the rest, bar two notable exceptions. Peter Mountain and Neil Bray. Well-done Skoda boys, no, you didn’t have a re-start but it was still an achievement.
Then it was another A30 run to reach Bluehills. “One” looked a bit different. The stones on the step back to the road were clear of mud and very polished and it looked as if the track had been narrowed, or was this an illusion. Falcon competitors had to perform in front of their clubmates again. Mike, Arnold and Verdun had driven down from Crackington and were joined by Martin Shepherd, Stuart and Andrew Cairney and Mike Clarke who were out spectating. Mike Furse and Michael Leete both had problems with “One”. Mike nearly hit the bank and only just got round. Michael went too far to the left and hit a rock, to the detriment of the bodywork. Then he didn’t turn until far too late and couldn’t get round the corner.
“Two” wasn’t to difficult this year and to the best of my knowledge all the surviving Falcon’s cleaned it OK. The real Bluehills hero’s were definitely the spectators. It was very cold at the top. A viscous wind was blowing a mixture of gravel and hail off the sea and it was extremely unpleasant. So after a few words to spectating Falcons it was off again, to Flambards or Trungle Mill, depending on your class. Trungle Mill didn’t present any problems to the blues and yellows, but Flambards was a different story for the yellows and reds and we had several failures. It rises straight from the road and there wasn’t much space to sort out the tyres at the bottom. Unfortunately the start was on a steep gradient and it was very difficult to build up the necessary speed on the polished stones.
The final observed section was Robsons Folly. This used to be known as Trescowe Lane but after Simon drowned out in the ford for the second year the marshals have renamed the hill! The others made it OK. However, most people agree that this wind through the trees, without any appreciable gradient, has no place on the Lands End. The trial finished on the promenade at Penzance with a special test. Then it was just a case of a meal and a welcome bed before the drive home the next day. Yes a tough Lands End but a very enjoyable one. Commiseration’s to our non-starters and retirements. Well done to Geoff Jackson, Peter Mountain and Neil Bray who look like getting Silvers.
CRACKINGTON CAPERS
We had another strong team of marshals on the Lands End, providing most of the man (and woman) power on Crackington. Andrea Lane was taking care of radio communications at the holding control. Fred and Arnold were observing on the hill while Pete, Mike and Verdun were on the winch. Pete had the dirtiest and most tiring job, dragging the cable down through nine inches of clay and kneeling down to connect it up to the towing hook. Verdun was higher up doing the un-hooking while Mike was directing the winch man who was un-sighted.
CONTINUED CRACKINGTON CAPERS
Our team arrived on the hill before six, greeted by evidence of fresh doctoring. Several loads of wet clay had been dumped on the upper reaches. It had been smoothed over, but was still up to a foot deep in places. The course opening Frontera got stuck and Chief Official Ian Bates even thought of calling the section off, but compromised by moving the re-start down the hill and cancelling it for car classes one and two.
Our Falconers enjoyed themselves, despite Mike Pearson having a stiff shoulder and Arnold Lane suffering a nasty nose bleed. Many of the Bikers were real maniacs, charging the clag but nearly all coming to a sticky end. Amongst the cars Pete Stafford thought the Escorts were tremendous, their hot motors screaming as they powered through. The super star was naturally Super Dud, seemingly gliding over the top of the crud on his 20 inch wheels with the blower howling. Dennis (our hero) Greenslade made it to the top in fine style, but retired soon after with around 20 degrees of negative camber on one of his wheels.
Out team definitely had the best hill with lots of action. Nearly all the bikes failed and so did sixty of the cars. They parted tired but happy after nearly ten hours toil. Fred and Pete went home and were in the pub by eight! Mike, Verdun, Andrea and Arnold went to watch the fun at Bluehills and stayed overnight at Newquay.
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