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Dean Vowden was second in his special and Richard Hayward third in his Class 3 Escort proving there’s still life in old Fords.
Overall winner Ian Moss lifts the front wheels of his Imp engined Lypiatt Special as her restarts on the historic Nailsworth Ladder. Photo by Calvin Samuel. Click here for more of Calvins work.
This years event was organised by a new young team who provided a mix of traditional hills and muddy wooded sections, some new to the event. It wasn’t considered a particularly rough trial but there were more than a dozen retirements amongst the 77 starters.
Nick Badger captured the action on the traditional Ham Mill section
Ian Moss was master of the conditions in his lightweight Lypiatt Special, only picking up three in the woods on Bryans, three on Ricks Revenge and eight on the impossible Ryans Revolution which concluded the trial.
Dean Vowden put up a formidable challenge but dropped three on there deeply rutted Sandras Sink at the beginning of the trial where Ian was the only car to clean the section.
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Ian Moss was first overall in his familair immaculate Imp. Ian dropped nine marks, one better than Matt Facey (BMW) who in turn was was one in front of early leader Sam Holmes in his Class Four Beetle. Continue reading “Tough Cotswold Clouds”
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Ian Moss had a conclusive home win on the Stroud & DMC Mechanics Trial
Ian and Josh had a near flawless run in their 1200 Imp, putting up the best performance on all the hills except Greenway Lane 3 where they failed the restart. Tony Underhill was second overall, with Jade Bray in the passenger seat, in their Triumph special. Competing in Class Eight they did have a couple of extra restarts, including a real horror on Greenway Lane 3. Special well done to Steve Potter for winning Class 2 in his Trojan.
Ian and Josh Moss clearing the final bank on Mini Hoskins (Picture by Dave Cook)
Organisers Carl Talbot and Tim Smith had an entry of 43 assembled in the spacious surroundings of the SKF car park for the start of Stroud’s Mechanics Trial. There was one non-starter. John White had a call from his passenger at 5 am saying his injured foot had swollen during the night and couldn’t come on the event.
The First Special Test
The route headed west from the start to the first section, a special test in a very muddy field. It was an a stop astride line B, back all four wheels over, round a bollard and back to stop astride C affair. C was the same line as B so this area got a fair amount of use and it became stickier and stickier as the morning went on. There was a six mark penalty for a failure and three or four competitors found them on their score sheets.
Tyre pressures had been free on the Special Test but there were high limits for the rest of the trial. Clerk of the Course Carl Talbot was worried about getting a result and had imposed the high tyre pressures and quite a few restarts. The early sections were old roads, mostly with restarts and there were some fantastic views on offer. The first observed section, Tin Pan Alley, an old Falcon Guy Fawkes section, was a nice gentle start, with a restart for everyone apart from Class 2. Everyone went clear here but that was to change at the next section, Alf’s delight, where the majority of the entry failed to get away from the restart.
It’s All About the Restarts
Crossing a golf course, and passing the exit tracks from Crooked Mustard and Axe, Boxwell was approached via a remote track, winding down through a wood, where the section started beside a lake. It almost made you want to start painting! Once again the hill was all about the restart, situated on a 90 left at Tee. More clean sheets disappeared on this slippery rocky surface, including Beetle drivers Giles Greenslade in class four and eventual Class six winner Gary Browning.
Wood Lane was approached via Nailsworth town centre. Everyone went clear here, despite the restart but like a few sections things would have been different had it not been so dry.
Delays at Mackhouse
Later numbers were waited more than three quarters of an hour at Mackhouse. There have been many variations over the years here and competitors were relieved the section more or less straight up the exit track, rather than use the versions where you risked understeering into the trees or drove along a ditch filled with dinosaur eggs. Even so there was a twist, the route deviating off the rocky track where there was one of those restarts that were very much a feature of this years Mechanics Trial. The main track is pretty rough and very long. When there were problems they took a long time to sort. Reg Salway had the misfortune to retire his BMW here. A reversal of fortunes after his class win on the March Hare the previous week. Dave Haizelden was a notable failure here, putting James Shallcross into the lead in Class
If You Go Down to the Woods One Day….
Up until now all the sections had been on public tracks, but the character of the event changed with the five sections in Catswood. The first three were situated at the bottom of the wood and were all very similar, starting on the track and deviating up amongst the trees onto the mud. They were all sub-divided and it was here the results of the trial were pretty much decided.
The first, called Infinity and Beyond, was a real stopper and only Ian and Josh Moss (Imp) and Tony Underhill/Jade Bray (Triumph Special) got as far as the one marker.
Angela’s was cleanable and several did. However, there was a horrible tree at the bottom, just in the right place to hit if you understeered at the bottom. Several did, or backed off before they did, including James Shallcross putting Dave Haizelden back in the lead in Class One. Sapsed’s Surprise was another stopper, the leading contenders all spinning to a stop at the 4 marker.
James Gets a 12
Mini Hoskins was a long section up a forestry track, with a deviation and a restart at the top where Dave Cook was taking photographs. There were quite a few cleans here, but also some 12’s where drivers couldn’t get grip off the start. Unfortunately these included James Shallcross and Dave Haizelden went on to another win in the Astra borrowed from passenger Nick Farmer.
Don’t Blink, familiar from the Cotswold Clouds, was the final section in Catswood. This is a real horror, tight, muddy and deeply rutted, with a restart for class eight which stopped them all. Pete Hart got to the three, Ian Moss to the five and amazingly James Shallcross a zero. However, most everyone else floundered at the nine.
The track out of Catswood (the one you use to get to Merves Swerve on the Clouds) was rough and wet, it was a shame we didn’t go up it as a section! King Charles Lane was just across the way, with John Blakeley on the restart flag and being a nice man didn’t fail anyone!
Greenway Lane
Greenway Lane is a rough track which had been made into three sections. The first one was on the track, deviating off onto a grassy area which would have been a problem had it been wet. The second was a pure PCT affair in an adjacent field. It was back on the track for the final one with a wicked deviation, especially for the class eights who had a special one through a very deep hole.
The first section had a restart for classes 6 to 8. It was achievable but tricky and when Tony Underhill failed it more or less meant Ian and Josh Moss had won overall unless they made a silly mistake, which they didn’t.
Ian Fails a Restart
The third section had difficult restarts with Colin Perryman on the flag. It was difficult for classes 1 to 7. Most of the class leaders negotiated it successfully, except Ian Moss and Pete Hart. Both failed but their lead was such it didn’t affect the final result. Class eights had to negotiate a horrific hole but amazingly Dave Wall (Dellow) was the only one to pick up a penalty.
John Bell’s nice MG TD was suffering by now, earlier he had carburation problems, had a collapsed wheel in Catswood and now the exhaust was broken. Fortunately it was after the silencer so he removed the broken bit and carried on.
Bulls Bank – Inspired by Longville?
The Second Special test was at the familiar Bulls Bank. This was very much like Longville on the Clee. It was important to concentrate on getting a clean first and a time second. The trial finished with Viaduct, a blast across a rutty, muddy field and it was a shame it was so dry and competitors who stayed on to watch saw only a couple of failures.
Well done to Ian and Josh Moss for a great drive, especially in Catswood, and a deserved victory. This years Mechanics was very much a trial of three parts. Public Tracks followed by Catswood and a finale at Greenway Lane. It was a shame it was so dry, perhaps next year Stroud will arrange for a few more localised rain showers!
Best Overall
Ian Moss (Imp)
16
Class Winners
1
David Haizelden (Vauxhall Astra)
31
2
Steve Potter (Trojan
32
3
Stuart Deacon (Ford Escort)
33
4
Giles Greenslade (VW Beetle)
36
5
Stuart Roach (HRG)
34
6
Gary Browning (VW Beetle)
35
7
Pete Hart (Marlin)
27
8
Tony Underhill (Triumph Special)
24
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Ian and Josh Moss forsook their usual Imp and took their Model Y trialling on The Cotswold Clouds, the third generation of Moss Model Y Triallers! -By Josh Moss
The Moss family Model Y at the Start of the TrialThe Model Y tackles Crooked Mustard
Just about climbing out of bed and slinging the overalls on, we made it to Terry Coventrys house where we met to go to the start. On route we were passing dad’s business ‘Moss Motors’ and doing the usual check we spotted a white van with blacked out windows which as you can imagine is not the best thing to see. But on further inspection it turned out to be car 78 a red midget immerging from a trailer.
Finally to the start which was at what’s becoming the usual start venue SKF. After passing scrutineering we went to sign on and receive the route card and competition numbers (28). After a quick bacon roll and a chit chat it was time for the off.
Crawley: The first challenge of the day with its large drainage channels and slightly slippery surface. We new in the old Y Type we had a challenge on our hands. Letting the tyres down to 10psi I thought we would fly it. With not a lot of traction of the line we were unable to back off much for the first drainage channel, Hitting the first corner with as much speed as possible we scrabbled are way to the top of the section.
Crooked Mustard: With no pressure to climb the hill (as there is with the Imp) we eased the Y of the line and settled for a respectable 8 ‘That will do’ we said. Very well done Dave Haizelden for doing yet another miracle with that front wheel drive Golf.
Axe: A very long surprisingly steep muddy lane, ‘our challenge’ hill as we named it. It was hard and showed just what a challenge pre war car are, so yes we had failed, but it was a fair attempt. Phillip Tucker in his Escort Estate made a very good climb here as he was a early number (21).
Nailsworth Ladder: A very old section that we feared failing because of the pure embarrassment of all the people witnessing your failure, But luckily we flew up there all 1172cc’s singing-‘Result’.
Over the valley to-
Ham Mill: Another very old hill that would be a doddle in the Imp. Was a full throttle challenge and was great fun. After quickly putting some air in the tyres we were back on the road again. Nick Farmer lost the trial hear with a tyre spinning in the wheel
Wicked Juniper: A fairly steep, very slick and generally not to suit the Y section but we gave it our full effort, We waited and had a chat to Jim Scott and his gang from reading who were doing a very fine job managing the section.
Pheasants Run: A new section which was steep and muddy with a nasty corner and a tree staring you in the face. Hear we had a much better climb than we anticipated, bouncing and revving as hard a possible. In fact, bouncing so much that the engine note was being stalled I had the instruction of dad to stop bouncing and let the engine recover a bit, a slight dip of the clutch and we were soon attacking the deadly corner. Turning in and hoping for the best we grabbed a 5 stopping just inside the restart box. Nigel Scotford was my climb of the day hear in his Skoda.
Merve Swerve: We knew that we had no hope of cleaning this little devil of a section which also saw many over cars fail including eventual winner Mike Workman. Creditable climbs hear went to Dick Bolt, Tris White (Tubby) and NickFarmer, all having disadvantages with either having to stop or being an early number or in nicks case an early number and having to stop.
Highwood Special Test 1: Starting on (A) left of a cone and astride (B), only taking it steady we had a mid range time. Highwood Special Test 2: Again starting on (A) going in between two cones which were very cleverly placed and stooping astride (B).
With the special tests done we moved onto-
Highwood 1: With the ever cheerful Bristol team, we had are tyres checked and were ready for the off. Starting down hill we fired of the line and hit the ruts, gaining a 3 ‘we were happy’, a quick yank from a Bristol Land Rover and we had access to-.
Highwood 2: Very steep, very slippery and this year proving un-climbable, we managed a (8), maybe we could have gone a little further but are main concern was coming back down the gradient.
Climperwell: The first restart of the day. A muddy track that winds through the trees, we pulled away looking for the restart and more importantly where to stop. It was located on a very rooted patch, we thought we had stopped perfectly but as we were soon to find out we did not move an inch. After revering behind the restart box and having a run at it we realised some nasty chicanes had been added, which snatched a few class positions of people one being Bryan Phipps, His Marlin decided it wasn’t going to steer into the chicane.
Bull Banks 1: With a restart for classes 3-8 we new we should be alright. On approaching the restart box we decided that it was particularly evil this year and would claim a few class positions and so it did, Nigel Moss in his Blue Troll lost second class position hear.
Bull Banks 2: we had our second and last restart of the day here, a surprisingly steep section that has a marble like surface claimed yet a another failure out of the old ‘Y’, we moved but not quit far enough to get over the dinosaur eggs.
The last section of the day-.
Station Lane: As described by somebody as the marmite section ‘You either love it or you hate it’. Personally I think it’s a good section that suits some cars and not others e.g. Beetles storm up there Imps ground out, BMW’s fly up there Escorts ground out. Bill Bennett, failing just before the section ends board (about a yard) but what a climb none the less. We stopped just before the 5 marker here, which we were very pleased with. On are way back down I hoped out for a watch of the rest of the entry and soon got back to the pub to sign off, get a drink and listen out for the results.
A Fantastic day that made me realise what a challenge class 2 cars are. Very big thanks to the marshals I think they did I great job and I think you will agree.
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Local man Ian Moss won a closely fought Cotswold Clouds on special test times, tying on three with Andrew Martin and Bill Bennet Behind came Dave Haizelden, Simon Groves and Bryan Phipps all on four. The class 8’s were well out of things with their tough start line on Highwood 2. To many the moral victor was Kelly Thomas who cleaned all the hills but failed to complete the second special test properly.
Stroud’s long running Cotswold Clouds rejoined the ACTC championship this year and was well and truly over-subscribed. Some of the reserves came to the start but were turned away, notably Harvey Waters who spent the day spectating after his long journey up from Cornwall.
The route followed a well-trodden path, via a nice easy Crawley Wood, through Dursley to Crooked Mustard, or Breakhart as it was once appropriately known. The dry conditions meant there was plenty of grip and it wasn’t until Roland Panes came along at number 10 that the usual big crowd of spectators saw their first failure.
As Andrew Brown said last year the hill is more a triumph of engineering over driving for the nimbler class eights with their high power to weight ratios and ability to chop and change direction at will. For the rest it was very important to get the line right as there is a big step on the inside off the final right-hander. For any except the class eights going that way meant certain failure. Even if you did avoid the step Crooked Mustard still demands a good power to weight ratio and Giles Greenslade was the only Beetle to go clean. In class four both Ian Moss and Bill Rosten mastered the conditions. The question was would the fragile Imps hang together? In class one the amazing Dave Haizelden humbled many “more suitable” cars as he flew up in his VW Golf.
There was plenty of entertainment for the spectators. Harry Butcher was definitely the star of the show, getting near to vertical as he “wall of deathed” around the left hander, losing speed and nearly toppling over as he tried to repeat the performance on the following right hander, oh so nearly stopping before getting it all back together and clearing the section.
Some of the Escorts were spectacular, throwing themselves at the section but with very little control, getting a bad line and failing in the process. Well done to Richard Hayward, Kelly Thomas, Tristan White and Simon Groves for using their brains, driving fast but smoothly, taking a good line and going clean.
A rather dry Axe didn’t present any problems but Nailsworth Ladder certainly did. The lower classes were allowed to blast straight through so the step didn’t present any problems, apart from Stuart Deacon who broke a half-shaft, couldn’t get the end out and ended up having to change the diff, missing a couple of sections in the process.
The yellows and reds had a restart right on the step. Giles was the only big Beetle to get away and two thirds of the sevens and eights failed. Amongst the Falcon contingent Ian Davis was the only one to succeed as neither Geoff Hodge, Keith Oakes or Peter Mountain succeeded. Talking of Peter it was nice to see Mike Young, the builder of Martin Allen’s Racecorp, in the passengers seat.
At Ham Mill the deviation was used again, with a cunningly positioned restart, right on a sharp corner where the ruts dragged the inside wheel up against a bank. This caught out even the experienced Simon Woodhall and Adrian Dommett amongst others.
After a dry wicked Juniper came Freds Folly with another restart to catch the unwary yellows and reds.
Merves Swerve attracted the usual hoard of spectators and with differential start lines and restarts presented a real challenge. Just getting to the restarts was a problem. As ever the start lines were such cars couldn’t really get a run at the hill. If they got away from the start OK non restarters could throw their machinery at the steep bank, leaping in the air and hoping to regain some sort of control on landing. It was all very hairy. Passengers had to hang on for dear life and Sara hit her head very hard in the back Simon Groves Escort.
It was here some of the class 8 challengers fell by the wayside. They had a very tough re-start, positioned right on the bank and Paul Bartleman and Ian Davis lost their clean sheet. Eric Wall may have failed Nailsworth Ladder but here he was master of intelligent positioning. Stopping his Mk1 Dellow well over to the left, minimising the rise up the bank and pulling away without any wheel spin.
The Highwood complex lay just up the road. There were two sections and two special tests and this is where the trial would be decided. The fearsome Highwood Two was where it all happened. All but one competitor lost their clean sheet. Only Kelly Thomas came out of the top to go into the overall lead of the trial. Simon Woodall was the only car to come close, dropping one in his buggy now repaired after its Clee Hills engine problems., with his Clee Hills enging problems repaired.
Kellys lead was to be short lived as tragedy befell her on the second special test where she stalled, couldn’t restart and had to be pushed over the line, incurring a penalty of six marks and costing her overall victory. This put Ian Moss, Andrew Martin and Bill Bennet into a joint lead, all on three marks with Dave Haizelden, Simon Groves and Bryan Phipps just behind on four. It ended this way as they all cleaned an easy Climperwell and the tricky Bulls Bank restarts. It all came down to special tests times and victory went to Ian by less than a second. Kelly’s problems pushed her down into 3rd place in class three. Class honours going to Simon Groves, making a hat trick of ACTC wins for the hard charging Ely driver.
Overall Winner
Ian Moss (Imp)
3
Best Stroud
Andrew Martin (Dutton Melos)
3
Class Winners
1
Dave Haizelden (VW Gold GTi)
4
2
Bill Bennett (MG J2)
3
3
Simon Groves (Escort)
4
4
Bill Rosten (Imp)
16
5
Stuart Roach (HRG)
12
6
Giles Greenslade (VW Beetle)
11
7
Bryan Phipps (Marlin)
4
8
Adrian Marfell (Buggy)
7
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Classical Gas 