by Neil Bray
This was to be my first Torbay Trial. The main reason for participating was two goes at the famous Simms Hill, which we use on the MCC Exeter Trial. To my horror the event was held on 28th February, which happens to coincide with a family birthday, my youngest daughter would reach the ripe old age of three.
Permission to go was obtained from Allison, the entry form was filled in and Marc and I started to prepare the car. This included fitting an in-line device that would allow the Skoda to run on un-leaded petrol. I will revert to this
later. Not having “Supermacs” stamina we chickened out and travelled down the afternoon before, stopping off down the A303 to visit Marc’s brother in Aldershot and in Exeter to see Jade, my eldest daughter and have a nice cup of tea. Then it was on to the B&B at Bovey Tracey for a nice meal and a good nights sleep.
The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast and then it was a gentle drive two miles down the road for scruitineering and signing on. Hill One was the first run at Simms. We had a different approach to the old hill to the one we use on the Exeter. We didn’t go through the village, but came at the summit from the exit road and then descended to the bottom via the escape road. We let the tyres down and off we went. We had decided to go to the left and got to the tree on the sub-divided hill. So it was the well-practised reverse down and ascent of the escape road.
Lower Dean was next on the agenda. It looked pretty rough and it certainly was. Rocks, ruts, it had the lot. We punctured the left rear just after the start and although I tried to keep going we failed to traverse the smooth grassy bit at the top and stopped within touching distance of the section ends board. We tried to change the tyre only to find our jack wouldn’t work and caused a bit of a delay while we borrowed another one.
Baddaford Lane was hill three. Remember this one? It was the hill Falcon marshalled for the MCC three years ago, when it was only used for class seven and eight. This is a super section, it goes up a rough, muddy gully and is nice and long. We cleaned it and gave ourselves three cheers at the top before moving up the track to the special test which we thankfully performed OK, ST’s being a bit of a bogey of mine recently. The next section was called Richards Rise. It was a very steep short slope in a field, marked out PCT style. I fired up the motor, put the maximum revs on the clock. The Skoda jumped up the hill but spun to a stop just before the summit for a one. I started to reverse down when the front wheels slipped sideways and the Skoda slid down sideways, hopping from bump to bump. There was nothing Marc and I could do, we just sat there waiting for it to dig in and roll over. Unbelievably it didn’t but we had to sit there for a few minutes to compose ourselves, as did Mark Hobbs who was marshalling at the bottom.
Fortunately Grants Lane wasn’t so hairy. It was another long lane, smooth at the start but getting rougher at the top where there was a re-start. We blasted off this OK, but at the expense of another puncture. I kept my foot down and manage to clear the summit even on the flat. Fortunately the jack worked OK this time and we were away within five minutes. There was quite a long delay at the start of the next section as a Land Rover was stuck and it was eventually cancelled. Marc and I used the time to put a new tube on one of the flats. We had a couple of good long hills which we cleaned OK before arriving at the foot of Slippery Sam, another familiar Exeter Hill, complete with tricky re-start which, unlike the Exeter, we performed OK.
By now we were heading back towards Simms but we had a couple of challenges first. Tipley was hill 10. Remember how rocky it was the last time it was used on the Exeter? It hasn’t got any smoother. We had another puncture on the approach road and the jack played up again. In consequence we were very conservative with the time pressures, which was fortunate as if we had gone low we would have destroyed the rims on the rocks. We failed and it took us a long time to get out of the section, as there was no tow wagon. After Tipley there was another special test and relatively easy observed section before a return to Simms.
We went to the right this time, the “Simon Robson route”. We hugged the bank hard, so hard we were up against the trees and the spectators had to jump for their lives. Sadly it was to no avail and it was another trip up the escape road for YEG. I was disappointed but the results showed the other Skoda’s didn’t get up either so I don’t feel to bad! Murray and Giles Greenslade got a clean in their Beetles and so did the Imps of Jim Scott and David Heale. Then it was back to the finish for signing off and the long drive home.
Marc and I reflected on our day on the long drive home. Yes it’s a long way to go west of Exeter for a one-day trial but it was worth it. There were some super hills with around seventy road miles and Marc and I plan to do the Torbay again next year. Earlier I mentioned I had fitted one of those in-line devises to allow older cars to run on un-leaded. I ran the Skoda on the garages rolling road before the event. Then I fitted the unit and tested again after doing the event and about 600 road miles on leaded petrol. There was no power loss and I have now started running the Skoda on un-leaded without altering the timing or carb settings. I will check it on the rolling road again after giving it a good try and let you know how it performs.
Overall Nigel Moss Cannon 0
Class 1 David Hazleden Golf 10
2 Peter Trelving Austin 7 19
3 Paul Bartleman Ford Escort 0
4 David Heale Imp 4
5 A. Wordsman MRG Midget 31
6 A. Andrew VW Beetle 9
7 Arthur Vowden Marlin 0
8 Dudley Sterry MG J2 0
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