by Murray MacDonald
I gave the Exmoor Clouds a miss this year in favour of Falcons Brickhill Trial. However, Falcon were represented by Murray MacDonald – This is how he got on……………..
We managed to win our class despite errors on Luccott and Druids. But for these we believe our score could have been two, or even less. Owen (Briggs) was a non-starter as he had the flu. David Alderson didn’t have such a good day this year and was particularly unlucky to be docked two on Port Lane.
Incidentally, now we’ve reached the top, having failed on the lower reaches last year, we can see Port Lane is a Mega Hill. It has the lot! It’s steep, rough, loose in places, has gullies cambers, and rock steps. Not many saloons reached the top. Even Paul Bartleman dropped his only score on this one (2). We of course were the only class four to the top!
Glenthorne , the hill by the sea, was cancelled again this year. After a very long wait, during which the entire field had arrived, it was called-off for all except seven and eight. This meant an about turn, so we ended up one of the first cars on the road, just the same as last year. But we still didn’t finish ‘till 6.45 pm. My guess is that the late runners probably finished around 9pm.. The last pair of hills was cancelled due to the event running late. The Minehead club and it’s officials certainly have a laid-back approach! With all the stories regarding the drop from the section I’m glad we didn’t have to attempt it.
When we arrived at Vinegar hill, where we had our incident last year, we were greeted like old friends. Yes, it was the same crew of official’s who immediately recognised us. The start line marshal (who was not present last year) said he had been told all about our problem. It’s strange how things change year to year. The hill was nothing like we remembered it, and we powered our way up.
Luccott caught us unawares. The hill started on the level, went up a gradual incline to a tight ninety left, halfway round which appeared to be an almost vertical rock slab. I failed to go wide enough to get round the corner. Most class four’s made it. Oh! I forgot the punctures. We had one on the motorway on the way, which left us with one spare. So we had to proceed with considerable caution. We had another puncture on Steep Lane, so now I had no spares. Then we had another one on Ewarts Pickle. Luckily Adrian Marfell was kind enough to lend us his last spare, having had two punctures himself, to get home on. Paul Bartleman had three punctures on the first four hills and a total of four by the end. Dennis Greenslade (our hero) told me he has only retired from two classics when driving Beetles. Once when he bent a strut on his 1302 and once when he had three punctures on the Exmoor Clouds! Since then he ha generally carried three spares.
We also won a special award on Ewarts Pickle (Slade Lane). A hill difficult to describe. It has ruts, cambers, is steep and has PCT content. Quite an achievement to clean it. Because of my second puncture I darn’t go too low on pressures from Steep Lane on. Druids was a very greasy grass track (I know now but didn’t at the time). In my opinion the Beetle needed 8 psi. Perhaps next year! There was the normal enormous green lane mileage, a feature of this event. It really was a great adventure again, can’t wait till next year. But Hazel and I think we would stay down for the Saturday and Sunday night (we didn’t get home ‘till midnight).
- Best Overall – Mick Workman (Golden Valley Special) 0
- Class 1 – David Hazelden (Golf) 34
- Class 2 – The WW’s 31
- Class 3 – Paul Bartleman (Escort) 2 (This man is amazing)
- Class 4 – Murray MacDonald (VW 1302 S) 14
- Class 5 – Dennis Greenslade (Reliant) 26
- Class 6 – Nigel Allen (Beetle) 8
- Class 7 – Roger Bricknell (Vincent) 2
- Class 8 – Bryn Corfield (VW Buggy) 3
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