The forecast predicted a wet Exeter and the weather god did not disappoint. The rain started just before dawn and continued through the morning, making many of the sections pretty slippy. Simms wasn’t as challenging as it can be and there were more than sixty clean sheets between the bikes and cars.
There were a few notable non-starters. Both Peter Manning and Keith Pettit had medical problems and in class 0 Kevin Barnes found his Singers fuel tank leaking just before the start. There were some problems on the way to the start too. Ed Nikel had cooling problems with his Dellow and decided to remove the thermostat. Meanwhile Keith Oakes was hearing horrible noises from his rear end and was worried about the diff.
Meerhay was first on the agenda. It only stopped three cars, including Trevor Hardcastle and Nick Wollett in Marlin and Dellow respectively, both of whom were to retire later in the event. This is a long hill and its hard to recover any time lost through delays. Later numbers experienced up to an hours wait, just as the rain was starting!
After the very straightforward Gatcombe Lane, where even class 0 had a go, came the infamous woods at Bovey Downs. Unfortunately, Clerk of the Course Tim Whellock had to cancel Normans Hump on the eve of the trial as logging operations had made the section too much of a quagmire for the section to be used.
Clinton waited just up the track. This is normally regarded as easier than Normans Hump, but a tricky restart for class eight caught out Ross Nuten and both the Reg Taylor and Geoff Jacksons Dellow re-creations of Ed Nikel and Mike Pearson. From the same stable Geoff Hodge got away cleanly in the RDT, after earlier dramas when the horn failed at scruitineering and the bouncer knocked off the cut-out switch on the approach to Gatcombe Lane. Clinton didn’t prove to much of a problem to the non-restarters but it stop some of the Lieges. Bill Rosten was given a fail but this was corrected later so he’s still on for a triple.
Coming out of Bovey Woods Waterloo waited just across the road, but not before Simon Groves had to fix his first puncture of the day. This is one of those hills that is easy to fail unless you get everything just right. Barrie Parker had problems getting the big Audi 80 around the tight right hander which was shame as it was his only fail of the day. John Sawle retired here with gearbox failure, the Achilles heel on a Liege. Perhaps it didn’t take to kindly to the extra power from the supercharger.
Neither Plyford or Higher Rill claimed many scalps, but those damn Indians are cunning and laid in wait in Otterton Woods for Colin Sumner (VW) and Ross Nuten who were ambushed on the Bulverton restart.
The breakfast stop at Exeter Services came next on the agenda. But not for Owen Ingram and Tim Williams who were still trying to extract their Class 0 V8 Marlin from the trees after the Stretes special test where it had slipped way off the road down a bank.
Tillerton was to provide Ian Davis’s toughest moment on the trial when he had to work hard to get off the class 7 and 8 restart and the marshals gave Ross a fail here for allegedly over running the line.
The speed Hill Climb at Fingle was enjoyed by all, but not so the battle ground that awaited for many at Wooston Steep. New charges for the traditional access track had forced Tim W to use a new approach, involving a steep and slippery descent. All competitors, including the class 0’s, even though they had a separate section, used this. It proved pretty hairy and finally Wendy Wood’s Class 0 Subaru Justy slipped over, fortunately without serious injury to the occupants. After this officials re-routed competitors down the normal exit road for blues and whites. There was two-way traffic until the approach went straight past the bank where the blues and whites emerged from their section, down the Class 0 section the wrong way to the normal starting area.
Classes one to six had their normal deviation to the left before the steep bank. Their section wasn’t too challenging, provided you took the correct route! A number of competitors didn’t, including the experienced Michael Collins in his Golf, who tried to go straight on up the steep bit before realising his error, exactly the same mistake as two years before! Falcon’s Ross Nuten also went wrong here, turning left instead of going straight on up the bank. These two were some of several, and although the instructions in the route card were clear it wasn’t so obvious where to go when you got there, so perhaps there should be arrows in the future.
The restart itself wasn’t difficult to get away from, the challenge was the steep bank after the deviation. The ruts were full of leaves and mud and the early numbers couldn’t find any grip. Each car went a bit further cleaning things out for those following, until finally Mike Pearson, a master at finding grip where there isn’t any, got through the difficult bit and reached the summit. It became easier and towards the end of the field, many in 7 and 8 cruised up like it was a motorway, although the Lieges with their comparatively low powered engines all failed. Had they not already retired it would have been interesting to see how John Sawle or Mark Worsfeld would have faired in their more powerful versions or Simon Robson if he had been running at the back of the field instead of towards the front.
Simms has definitely become easier after the repair work by Roger Ugalde and his team and it didn’t claim its usual crop of failures. The biggest cheer of the day went to Steve Potter who coaxed his Trojan to the summit. It is absolutely amazing what Steve and John Wilton do in their fantastic cars.
Only the rather rough sections at Tipley and Slippery Sam were left now. Both were easily on provided you had a suitable vehicle and took care but could still catch the unwary as Geoff Hodge discovered on Tipley when he misjudged the restart and wheel spin set in.
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