Tag: Class 1

Dave Top Mechanic

It was a Class 1 victory on The Mechanics Trial. Dave Haizelden was the overall winner, dropping 11 marks, compared to Mike Workman on 14, although in fairness Mike had a lot more restarts in Class Eight.

It was quite dry in the Cotswolds so the results were determined by some fearsome restarts, especially for the higher classes, and the tricky Catswood sections with deviations off the tracks into the trees. All but 1 & 2 also had to run with very high tyre pressures, which must have contributed to the result. Stroud & DMC also ran a Clubmans event, mostly using the same sections but without the restarts. This was won by Ian Moss in his 1937 Ford Model Y who only dropped six marks, all on the impossible Don’t Blink section in Catswood.

Paul Allaway holds on tight as Dave Haizelden blasts his familiar Golf up Viaduct to clinch overall victory on The Mechanics Trial.Picture by Dave Cook.
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Stroud had just over 40 starters for their non-championship trial, run in the same area as their Cotswold Clouds but with different sections. The second section “Alf’s Delight” was not so delightful, with many of the fancied runners failing its fearsome restart. In Class eight Mike Workman was the only one to get away in his Golden Valley Special. This was bettered by Class Seven where both Mal Allen and Julian Archbold were successful, delighting Julian in his newly acquired Marlin. 

The Catswood Sections were Difficult

After some sections on delightful old roads came three sections in Catswood. OS 7, called Sapseds Big Surprise, saw Dave Haizelden loose his first marks of the day, dropping five after the section deviated off into the trees. Without having to restart Dave also cleaned the next section, Mini Hoskin, the only competitor in the main trail to do so. This showed just how good this driver/car combination is as none of the other non-restarters in 1-6 got less than a six. 

Dave dropped six marks on Don’t Blink, the final Catswood section, the last he was to loose for the rest of the day. Tony Underhill retired here, his Triumph Special making horrible noises, later diagnosed as a loose flywheel on his newly rebuilt engine. 

Bulls Cross Claimed Some Experienced Scalps

Coming out of the woods came a a section at King Charles Lane before a restart at Bulls Cross, situated right on a nasty rock step. This claimed a few victims, including the experienced Pete Hart (Marlin) and Eric Wall (Dellow mk1). Eric was having a bad day on the restarts having failed the Grassy Wood Lane earlier in the day.

Broken Cars on the Greenway Sections

This year there wasn’t a section on Greenway Lane itself, as the track was approached from the top. Anyone wondering why soon found out as it was very, very rough after considerable water erosion and it must have been very difficult for the lower slung cars to get to the sections. They were both grassy and didn’t impact on the results although Stuart Deacon broke the diff on his Escort, changing it to finish the trial. Luke Baber wasn’t so lucky with his Peugeot, coming down Greenway Lane on a rope behind mark Hobbs Land Rover, although shown as a finisher. 

Viaduct was Dry this Year

The trial finished on Viaduct as usual, the ruts not proving a challenge in the dry conditions. The event seemed to go down well with competitors. The clubmans section was well received and it was nice to see Ian and Josh Moss take that category in their Model Y.

ClassDriver/CarMarks
OverallDavid Haizelden (Golf GTi)11
ClubmansIan Moss (Ford Model Y)6
1Nick Cleal (Peugeot 205)18
2David Wall (Austin Seven)21
3Phil Tucker (Ford Escort Estate)24
4John White (VW Beetle)23
5Colin Biles (MG Midget)42
6Gary Browning (VW beetle)25
7Mal Allen (Marlin)20
8Mike Workman (Golden Valley Special)14

We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media

Northern Win for James Shallcross

James Shallcross was best overall, dropping 11 marks in his Class 1 Peugeot 205 on an excellent, but poorly supported, Northern Trial

Despite the wet conditions there was plenty of grip on most of the sections. Fell Side had got their class Handicaps pretty much right, with only two marks separating the first three overall, representing three different classes. Michael Leete made a rare visit to the award winners circle and was second overall, dropping 12 in his familiar Beetle, followed by Nick farmer on 13 in his Cannon Alfa.

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The organisers must have been very disappointed to receive only 19 entries in the main car classes, reduced to 17 starters when the field left The Stocksman in Wigton. 

Wasteland 

The action commenced with Jonathan and Pat Toulmin in charge of the first special test. This was on some wasteland at a venue used for a section called Oblivian on the first Northern Trial. This was immediately followed by a muddy section named A Bolivian. There were no re-starts but the higher classes had a deviation, costing Nick Farmer a valuable mark which would be significant later. 

Into The Forest 

Section 2 saw the first of many forestry sections, the hallmark of The Northern Trial. Despite the apparent mud on Black Hole there was quite a lot of grip and like many of the sections the ruts were not as deep as in previous years. Steve Kenny was having issues with his Liege and dropped nine before retiring a few sections later with a broken A arm and cracked axle case. 

After a seven mile road run the trial entered Whinlater Forest for a concentrated batch of sections, starting with Sheepfold, which saw some high scores. John and June Blakeley were in charge here with John conducting a noise test for good measure. Roger Goldthorpe was best of the Lieges on 11 with both Julian Lack, and the shortly retiring Steve Kenny, loosing a full 12. The hill didn’t seem to suit lower powered cars as although there was plenty of grip there wasn’t a lot of run in to the initial steep slope. 

Snow on the Hills 

Climbing through the extensive forest, some of the overnight snow remained when cars got to Ullister Hill, to get their picture taken by Dave Cook. There was plenty of grip lower down the stoney track but the section continued when this gave out and it was muddy at the top. Only Dean Partington went clear to be the only car remaining with a clean sheet. 

There were some superb views down to Bassenthwaite Lake on the way round the sections in this part of the forest, before the route retraced its steps, going back on the road for a short distance before entering Hobcarton Plantation. Everyone lost marks here but it wasn’t until Ladyside B that Dean Partington lost his clean sheet. 

Dean didn’t loose any more marks until the penultimate forest section at Routens Romp, where fell Side had introduced a deviation into the trees for all, preceded by a restart for the higher classes. This was to decide the trial. Like most of the 7’s and 8’s Dean dropped nine here, while the leading (and non-restarting) lower class competitors went clear. As difficult as this section was for the higher classes Nick Farmer proved it was possible and this put him into the overall lead of the trial. 

Sandale Decides the Winner

It was fitting that the final section at Sandale decided the winner of The Northern Trial. The higher classes had their usual restart in the mud. None of them could get away, costing Nick 3 marks and dropping him into third place behind James Shallcross and Michael Leete, who had made good consistent climbs all day.

All in all an excellent trial with good sections and plenty of marshals. Lets hope it will be better supported in the future.

We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media

Nick Cleal wins Allen

Victory so nearly went to Steve Potter in his Trojan

With insurmountable restarts for Classes Seven and Eight on the Ubley Woods sections it was Classes 1,2 and 3 that battled for the overall win. At one stage it looked like Steve Potter may have taken overall honours in his Trojan but that slipped away just before the lunch halt. In the end it was Nick Cleal who took the win after being faster than Bill Bennett on the Special Tests.

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It was very cold, with a touch of snow on the ground, as competitors joined the queue for scruitineering. It stretched a long way down the narrow street. Not sure the locals will have enjoyed all those idling engines outside their windows when they were expecting a Sunday morning lie in! The first few sections still had a bit of ice and the rather gentle Tog Hill stopped a couple of the Front Wheel Drive cars. Alan Holly was one of these in a rather low Ford Ka, prepared for endurance rallying rather than trials. Despite the front of his car scraping the ground everywhere he carried on to finish the event. Lets hope he enjoyed himself enough to stick with the sport. 

Bitton Lane was not Front Engine Rear Wheel Drive Friendly 

For classes three to eight Bitton Lane is all about a restart on polished stones, sited on a left hand bend. This was definitely not class five friendly as none of the four competitors could get their cars away. It was clearly a front engine, rear wheel drive issue as 40% of Class three failed as well, including Aaron Haizelden in his Mexico liveried escort which is surely too nice to trial?

Only Trojans Clean Big Uplands 

Big Uplands had an experienced team of marshals from Stroud and DMC. Classes 7 and 8 bypassed the section in the morning and would return for their attempt late in the afternoon. There were some big holes mid way up the section and these were a problem for some of the lower slung cars, including many of the Escorts. The big problem came after the ninety left corner, the momentum lost rounding this was sufficient for most to come to a halt, apart from two cars that is, Steve Potter and John Wilton in their Trojans. The ground clearance certainly helped but hats off to the skill of both drivers to coax their wonderful machines to the summit of this difficult section. A mention to the best of the rest who got to the two. Bill Bennett (MG J2), Dick Bolt (Ford Escort), Reg Salway (BMW), Brian Alexander (Suzuki X90) and Matt Facey (1976 Beetle). Also reaching the two were four competitors in Class One, Nick Cleal, Dave Haizelden, James Shallcross and Charles Knifton. 

Retirements at Guys Hill 

The historic Guys Hill was next. There are no corners but its polished stones and tree roots are more than enough to trap the unwary, especially with a restart for class six and higher. This was another hill that proved problematic for classes three and five although Keith Sanders (Reliant Scimitar SS1) made amends for an eight on Big Uplands to go clean. In Class 4 Michael Leete left the start with wheels spinning and paid the price, stopping at the five. The other Class 4 competitors all went clear although Colin Perryman was to go no further, retiring with unknown problems, as did Matt Facey in Class 6. The restart for the higher classes saw many of their clean sheets disappear as the old hill did its work. 

Past Chew Valley Lake and bypassing Burledge the route went onto the A368 and up Cleeve Hill to Travers. The section wasn’t too much of a problem if you didn’t have to restart, but it was a different matter for those that did. Ian Davis, in his nicely rebuilt VW Buggy, lost his clean sheet here. 

Steve Potter leads the Trial in his Trojan before loosing it on Ubley Woods 3 

The three Ubley Woods sections were just up the track and these were to determine the result of the trial. The Yellows and Reds had to restart on Ubley Woods 1 and only Tris White (Troll) and Nick Farmer (Cannon Alfa) managed to go clear. Then, like everyone else, Tris failed the Class Eight only restart on Ubley Woods 2. This left Steve Potter in his Trojan the lead of the trial with the only clean sheet. Sadly he was to loose this on Ubley Woods 3 where he dropped three marks. It was possible to get up in a Trojan though, as John Wilton proved when it was his turn. 

So, as competitors made their way back to Chew Valley Lake for the rest halt, the leaders were all on two. They were Nick Cleal and James Shallcross in their Peugeot 205’s, the omni-present Dave Haizelden in his familiar Golf, Bill Bennett (MG J2) and Dick Bolt (Escort). 

Nick Cleal and Bill Bennett tie for the lead. Nick wins on Special Test Times 

These five were reduced to three when neither James nor Dick could get away from the slippery restart on Burledge. Then at the first of the two sections in the Lakeside Complex Dave Haizelden didn’t get all the way out of the bomb hole and lost one mark. That left Nick Cleal and Bill Bennett in the lead on two marks and the situation remained that way till the end, victory going to Nick on Special Test Times. 

Whilst this was going on the Yellows and Reds went to Big Uplands for their attempt, with Class Eight having a restart. Most of the leading contenders went clear but after Ubley Woods this didn’t impact on the final results. 

Another successful Allen Trial 

The trial had its traditional finish at John Walker, a wonderful blast through the mud in the gathering dusk to conclude another excellent Allen Trial. Pete and Carlie Hart, Mark Tooth and the team are to be congratulated on preserving the traditions of the Allen Trial even though they have lost many “real lanes” over the years. In particular moving the Lakeside sections to their present location has been a great improvement and are a welcome addition.

We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media