There were 42 crews entered but the flu bug struck and 36 crewsgathered at The Watling Street Café, just of Junction nine of the M1, on 13th March.
With dry conditions, no restart, and an absence of loose stones, Norton Street Lane was cleaned by everyone except John Wilton who retired his venerable Trojan with a seized engine. John had rebuilt the two stroke motor after it was down on power on The Exeter and reckoned he hadn’t honed the bores sufficiently. The only other cars to hit trouble were some of the lower slung FWD cars who strayed into the deep rut on the left hand side and scrapped their bottoms in the process.
It wasn’t so long ago that this section was totally impassable. Then along came the council’s road gang and now it’s probably smoother than the nearby M1! It’s so smooth that it’s not competitive as an observed section so it was run as a regularity again under the eager eye of sponsor Murray MacDonald. It involved driving an un-known distance in a known time. This defeated most people but it was a condition of using the track that outright speed would not be a factor.
Last years PR problems had been overcome and Cress Beds and water Tower were on the agenda again. Arnold Lane and Mike Pearson’s road mending was still in place at the top and only Pete Crawford had problems when he stalled his Marlin changing from 1st to 2nd.
The challenge at Water Tower was the muddy ruts at the bottom which were avoided by most people apart from David Symons in his Citroen AX and Alun Lewis in his Yellow Marlin. Alun created the biggest bow wave of the day, drowning out the Marlin and giving the recovery crew some exercise!
Next up should have been Half Moon Lane but it had to be cancelled when the County Council decided to close it for resurfacing. Unfortunately this is likely to emasculate it for the next few years just like Whitehall Lane.
Dry conditions meant the sections at Edlesborough were not as difficult as usual but a tricky restart on the first ones for the sevens and eights stopped much of the entry, including classic trials debutant Roger Dudley in his newly rebuilt Marlin.
There was an extra section at Brickhill to compensate for the loss of Half Moon Lane. The local Land Rover Club had been using the venue and the ruts up the sandy gully were very deep, causing problems for some of the lower slung cars including Cliff Morrell in the ex- Barrie Parker Citroen AX. Cliff had given the sump guard a good clout in the Pepperstock ford, loosening some bolts.
The steep bank at the start proved to much for more than half the entry. Having survived that the restart was to prove to much for some and Harry Butcher, Clive Booth, Paul Weston and Colin Sumner all lost their clean sheets here.
Fellow Liege driver Stephen Kenny also failed and was struggling without reverse gear in the replacement box fitted after breaking the transmission on The Northern Trial. Stephen had come all the way down from Rochdale to take part having made his trials debut in last years March Hare.
Arnold Lane and Andy Clarke had spiced things up a little by bringing some water up from the wet patch at the bottom to add some action to the restart. The slippery conditions necessitated a delicate right foot to stop wheelspin settling in.
Fred Gregory got away very smoothly, Reg Taylor failed and Simon Groves smoked his way off the line, just inching forward until he suddenly found some grip. Ted Holloway stopped, then stalled to the accompaniment of some choice four letter words! Chris Wall lost his clean sheet here when he was judged to have run back six inches or more.
Then both Kevin Alexander and Stephen Kenny sat on the line with wheels spinning and failed to get away.
The route traversed Hill Farm as usual but not as an observed section this year. The final two sections took place on private land in a wood near Potten End. The first was an artificial journey through the trees, marked out with tape. The second started amongst the trees before picking up a long, straight track with a restart for the sevens and eights.
Falcon had thought this last hill would be a real stopper but in the try conditions that was not the case. Stewart Ikin was the only non-restarter to fail in his very standard Fiat Panda. Everyone else attacked the steep bit at some speed for successful climbs.
Life was a bit tougher for the re-starters with the line on the steepest part of the gradient where there was a handy tree root, although with care this could be avoided by going well to the left. The root took its toll of notable class eights Harry Butcher and Rob Wells. In class seven it was a magnet for Marlin, catching out Alun Lewis, Peter Crawford, Roger Dudley, the Westfield of David Kirby and Ted Holloway in his very special Mini.
Back at the A5 truck stop Dot Parsons and Francis Webley soon produced the results and the trophies were presented. There were seven clean sheets so the regularity and special tests came into play. This was shame but was an almost inevitable consequence of the dry conditions.
There had been no more retirements after the unfortunate John Wilton. With the simultaneous National B and Clubsport events there were plenty of wards to go round and Roger and Christina Dudley were particularly delighted to be awarded best Falcon.
Looking Back
It was shame to loose Half Moon Lane and the dry conditions made the sections on public roads much easier than anyone would have liked. However, the restart on Hawridge Lane was certainly a challenge for many and things seemed to be Ok with the landowner in the woods at Potten End which bodes well for the future.
Particular mention must go to Verdun Webley who assembled more than 50 marshals on the day. The local Herts VW Club took care of Brickhill which meant they had to go to the trouble of re-arranging one of their own events scheduled for the same day. Thanks guys.
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