Taw & Torridge 2025

Wins for Adrian Wade and Andrew Rippon

Andrew Rippon was best car on this years Taw & Torridge. Photo by Norton Selwood

The 2025 trial began at the Closely Visitor Centre after the summer break.  While the morning was initially damp and deceptive for some, the weather quickly deteriorated into torrential rain presenting a challenging environment for both competitors and marshals.  Competitors took refuge at the Blackberry Farm Shop and café for a lunch break during the downpour.

Some notes from the sections.

Lynches 1-4: These sections involved muddy grass tracks and steep climbs. Many competitors reportedly went the wrong way on Lynches 3, following an older line from previous years.

Rat Wood: Featured a special test and observed sections that involved navigating ditches and steep banks. Some drivers car drivers found the special test here quite demanding.

Hembury Castle was cancelled for safety reasons after cars experienced rather to much sliding on the descent due to the conditions. Adrians Aisle was also cancelled after recovery issues.

Linton Field was particularly difficult due to the rain running down it “like a river”; only a few drivers, including Andrew Rippon and Paul Merson, managed to clear it.

Cutliffe Lane: The final section of the day, provided a nice finish on a traditional hill.

Competition and Results

The event saw several mechanical failures, including Arron Haizelden, who retired early with a broken CV joint and window. Andrew Rippon, driving a Beetle, was the overall car winner of the trial. Adrian Wade was best Motorcycle.

Other notable winners included:

Class Winners: James Shallcross (Class 1), Matt Facey (Class 3), Ryan Tonkin (Class 4), Dave Haizelden (Class 5), John Early (Class 7), and Keelan Hancock (Class 8).

Best Bike Team: Team Woodbine (Mark Wills, Dave Hewlett, and Simon Fillan).

Sidecar Winners: The Sewards.

Penhale Cup winner for Best Car. Andrew Rippon on Lynches 4 in this Norton Selwood Video


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Taw and Torridge wins for Andrew Rippon, George Godkin and Steve Urell

Tough event for Class Eight with a lot of restarts

The Taw and Torridge had a strong outfit entry. Here Vince Feeney pictures Richard Maddern storming Hembury Castle on his way to a First Class Award. Steve Urell and Julie Williams were the best Outfit. Click Here for more of Vinces work on Facebook

After taking a year off Holsworthy’s Taw and Torridge was back to resume the season after the summer break. There were some new faces in the organising team and some new sections but the start was still at its familiar Clovelly location.

It was nice to see a strong entry in Class D with six outfits taking the start. Andy Beveridge had the only “conventional” chair, the others having an Enduro style chassis.

Class eight dominated the car entry with fourteen of the 35 starters. A glance at the route card showed the specials were going to have a challenging day with a lot of restarts in store.

Although it was a dry day there was an awful lot of mud on Sewards Shimmy and after the bikes went through Rob Holdens BMW got well and truly stuck and couldn’t be extracted with manpower and the section had to be cancelled from the car results.

Continue reading “Taw and Torridge wins for Andrew Rippon, George Godkin and Steve Urell”

Andrew Rippon wins Presidents Cup

Andrew had the best performance on Index

Camel Vale use the Index system to determine the winner of their Presidents Trial, a single venue event held in Bonyalva Woods near Hessenford in Cornwall. Historically the club has run the Bodmin Trial at this time but couldn’t overcome the problems in running that event in Cardinham Woods.

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Andrew Rippon Best Car on the Flora Trial

Last Years ACTC Pouncey Champion Richard Maddern was Best Solo in Class A

Andrew and Lorraine Rippon in their big engined Beetle were best car on the Flora Trial. Photo by Arthur James.
Previous Flora car winner Keith Sanders crossed the Tamar to compete but had to give best to Andrew Rippon. Video by Mark James

Organised by The Pendennis Motorcycle and Light Car Club the Flora Trial is held in deepest Cornwall. Starting and finishing at The Star Inn, Vogue. near Redruth there were 26 sections for bikes over the 7o mile route.

Continue reading “Andrew Rippon Best Car on the Flora Trial”

Launceston Trial 2019

Andrew Rippon, Graham Airey and Alan Keat take the top honours

Videos by Duncan Stephens, Norton Selwood and Emma Groves Click for full video playlist

Andrew Rippon was the only car in single figures with his Class 6 Beetle in this single venue event in Lew Woods. It was another Beetle, this time from Class 4 in second, in the hands of Ryan Tonkin. Clive Kalber was third in his glorious Ford Pop despite one of the doors flying open on one section.

Graham Airey was best Solo with the events only clean sheet. Alan Keat was best outfit.


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