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Tristan was best Solo while Chris passengered Richard Maddern to a Sidecar Win. In the Cars Matt Facey came home in front of Duncan Stephens and Tom Jones
Torbay organisers Dave Haizelden and Keith Sanders like a tough trial and everyone knows this is what the event is all about. This year more than lived up to expectations with the wet conditions ensuring that grip and ground clearance were at a premium.
Continue reading “Barnicoats Triumph on Tough Torbay”Mark Wills best Solo and Steve Urell/Julie Williams took the Outfit award on a tough day made even more difficult for later numbers when the rain came down in the afternoon
Returning to its traditional start at the Kennford Court Hotel the Torbay attracted its usual good entry. The start list was dominated by no less than 17 Class Eights, drawn no doubt by the Torbays reputation as a tough trial.
Principle organisers Dave Haizelden and Keith Sanders had to contend with a very wet period leading up to the trial which made some of the sections a little more challenging than planned. Then rain on the day itself made some very slippy for the later numbers.
Continue reading “Simon Oates wins Torbay in his Liege”Wins for Gary Browning, Steve Urell and Andrew Kearns
Organisers Dave Haizelden and Keith Sanders believe in tough trials, who will forget 2018 in the snow! This year they were thwarted by the dry conditions but still put on a challenging event.
Last year Covid constraints necessitated started and finishing in Ashcombe Woods, with a simple route, as car drivers were not allowed passengers and had to navigate themselves.
This year the start and finish in the woods was retained, together with the opening and closing sections.
After Ashcombe Woods the Kingswell sections for cars were bone dry, quite a contrast to usual, and there were only a handful of penalties.
Continue reading “Dry Torbay”Jack Selwood Wins the Torbay without a Passenger!
The Torbay team, led as usual by David Haizelden and Keith Sanders, missed the easing of Covid restrictions by one day. This meant car competitors were not allowed passengers and would have to navigate their own way around the route, just like the motorcyclists!
David and Keith sensibly made other changes, forgoing many of the usual classic hills so not to attract unwanted spectators.They also started and finished the event on private land to avoid an indoor gathering.
The event started in woodland, just off the A30 west of Exeter.
The first group of sections were here, three for Cars, five for Solos and four for the excellent entry of six Outfits. This was to be be dominated by a battle between Leon Torres and Alan Wear who won the class by 1 point.
Continue reading “A Different Torbay”Peter Browne is a familiar face behind the camera lens, photographing many of our trials. But on the Torbay he took to the hills as a competitor and kindly agreed to tell us about his trial.
I have always been fond of the Torbay Trial as it is local and I have had many enjoyable days photographing the event but always with a feeling that I should be out there with them rather than just recording it. I had a Triumph Metisse that I had used for Pre 65 Scrambling and which I had been slowly preparing for Green Laneing and despite the machine being far from finished I submitted an entry for the 2019 Trial. I finally had to concede that I still had not made the bike reliable so the day before the event changed to my normally utterly reliable 500 Triumph only for that to develop an electrical fault on the third section which forced a retirement so the Torbay Trial was very much unfinished business.
Continue reading “Torbay on a Metisse”Craig Allen narrowly pipped Ian Facey to the best car award
Videos by Norton Selwood, Keith Sanders and Phil Parker
Snow hit the country over the weekend and many competitors were unable to get to the start.
Those that made it successfully were greeted by deteriorating conditions as the snow settled and the organisers decided to cut the event short after Tipley. Continue reading “Snow Hits the Torbay”
Wins for Nick Farmer, Simon Eddy and Neil O’Connor
Published 17 April 2024
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
by Neil Bray
This was to be my first Torbay Trial. The main reason for participating was two goes at the famous Simms Hill, which we use on the MCC Exeter Trial. To my horror the event was held on 28th February, which happens to coincide with a family birthday, my youngest daughter would reach the ripe old age of three.
Permission to go was obtained from Allison, the entry form was filled in and Marc and I started to prepare the car. This included fitting an in-line device that would allow the Skoda to run on un-leaded petrol. I will revert to this
later. Not having “Supermacs” stamina we chickened out and travelled down the afternoon before, stopping off down the A303 to visit Marc’s brother in Aldershot and in Exeter to see Jade, my eldest daughter and have a nice cup of tea. Then it was on to the B&B at Bovey Tracey for a nice meal and a good nights sleep.
The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast and then it was a gentle drive two miles down the road for scruitineering and signing on. Hill One was the first run at Simms. We had a different approach to the old hill to the one we use on the Exeter. We didn’t go through the village, but came at the summit from the exit road and then descended to the bottom via the escape road. We let the tyres down and off we went. We had decided to go to the left and got to the tree on the sub-divided hill. So it was the well-practised reverse down and ascent of the escape road.
Lower Dean was next on the agenda. It looked pretty rough and it certainly was. Rocks, ruts, it had the lot. We punctured the left rear just after the start and although I tried to keep going we failed to traverse the smooth grassy bit at the top and stopped within touching distance of the section ends board. We tried to change the tyre only to find our jack wouldn’t work and caused a bit of a delay while we borrowed another one.
Baddaford Lane was hill three. Remember this one? It was the hill Falcon marshalled for the MCC three years ago, when it was only used for class seven and eight. This is a super section, it goes up a rough, muddy gully and is nice and long. We cleaned it and gave ourselves three cheers at the top before moving up the track to the special test which we thankfully performed OK, ST’s being a bit of a bogey of mine recently. The next section was called Richards Rise. It was a very steep short slope in a field, marked out PCT style. I fired up the motor, put the maximum revs on the clock. The Skoda jumped up the hill but spun to a stop just before the summit for a one. I started to reverse down when the front wheels slipped sideways and the Skoda slid down sideways, hopping from bump to bump. There was nothing Marc and I could do, we just sat there waiting for it to dig in and roll over. Unbelievably it didn’t but we had to sit there for a few minutes to compose ourselves, as did Mark Hobbs who was marshalling at the bottom.
Fortunately Grants Lane wasn’t so hairy. It was another long lane, smooth at the start but getting rougher at the top where there was a re-start. We blasted off this OK, but at the expense of another puncture. I kept my foot down and manage to clear the summit even on the flat. Fortunately the jack worked OK this time and we were away within five minutes. There was quite a long delay at the start of the next section as a Land Rover was stuck and it was eventually cancelled. Marc and I used the time to put a new tube on one of the flats. We had a couple of good long hills which we cleaned OK before arriving at the foot of Slippery Sam, another familiar Exeter Hill, complete with tricky re-start which, unlike the Exeter, we performed OK.
By now we were heading back towards Simms but we had a couple of challenges first. Tipley was hill 10. Remember how rocky it was the last time it was used on the Exeter? It hasn’t got any smoother. We had another puncture on the approach road and the jack played up again. In consequence we were very conservative with the time pressures, which was fortunate as if we had gone low we would have destroyed the rims on the rocks. We failed and it took us a long time to get out of the section, as there was no tow wagon. After Tipley there was another special test and relatively easy observed section before a return to Simms.
We went to the right this time, the “Simon Robson route”. We hugged the bank hard, so hard we were up against the trees and the spectators had to jump for their lives. Sadly it was to no avail and it was another trip up the escape road for YEG. I was disappointed but the results showed the other Skoda’s didn’t get up either so I don’t feel to bad! Murray and Giles Greenslade got a clean in their Beetles and so did the Imps of Jim Scott and David Heale. Then it was back to the finish for signing off and the long drive home.
Marc and I reflected on our day on the long drive home. Yes it’s a long way to go west of Exeter for a one-day trial but it was worth it. There were some super hills with around seventy road miles and Marc and I plan to do the Torbay again next year. Earlier I mentioned I had fitted one of those in-line devises to allow older cars to run on un-leaded. I ran the Skoda on the garages rolling road before the event. Then I fitted the unit and tested again after doing the event and about 600 road miles on leaded petrol. There was no power loss and I have now started running the Skoda on un-leaded without altering the timing or carb settings. I will check it on the rolling road again after giving it a good try and let you know how it performs.
Overall Nigel Moss Cannon 0
Class 1 David Hazleden Golf 10
2 Peter Trelving Austin 7 19
3 Paul Bartleman Ford Escort 0
4 David Heale Imp 4
5 A. Wordsman MRG Midget 31
6 A. Andrew VW Beetle 9
7 Arthur Vowden Marlin 0
8 Dudley Sterry MG J2 0
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
by Hazel MacDonald and Stuart Cairney
We had three Falcon crews at the Finlake Holiday complex near Chudleigh on 1st March for the start of this years Torbay. With two runs up Simms on the agenda it had lot’s of promise, and what an event it tuned out to be! Starting with a special test a few yards from the start. This consisted of a short blast along a straight bumpy track, followed by about 200 yards on tarmac, which included a couple of sharp turns. It was here that Murray MacDonald put down his marker, recording fastest overall time. Beating some Escort drivers who were indulging in some exuberant sideways motoring (and were risking exclusion if they went on the grass)! It was an amazing special test, more of a special stage really.
The first observed section was Simms. At this point it was Simms 2 Murray 2 for the Mac’s, but afterwards it was Simms 2 Murray 3. The others weren’t so fortunate. Brain Alexander got a two, while Stuart Cairney took a bad line and ground to a halt below the three marker.
From here it was on to Lower Dean. The lower part of this hill looks a bit like a moonscape with lots of bumps, all out of phase. Then there are some horrendous gullies near the top, after the class 6-8 restart. Brian retired after this hill, which caught a few people out. Baddaford Lane followed, but was not too bad this year, only class 8 had a restart, but nearly half the 16 motorcycles scored a 6 here.
The next hill was scheduled to be Middle Rocombe, which is the hill that the ‘men’ tackle on the Exeter, whilst the girls in their tin tops fail the restart on Slippery Sam!! However, a last minute re-route denied competitors a look at what Fred Gregory calls ‘The hill from hell’ and they went straight to Higher Rocombe (Slippery Sam). In the daylight he restart, which was in the usual place, was starting to look well cut up. No Falcon fails today and Stuart even found the tight right hand slot afterwards! Higher Shells followed, just a mile down the road and was cleaned by most. From here it was back to Finlake for another special test and the lunch halt. Murray was clean and leading the class at this point with Stuart on three.
After lunch came Finlake sections 7, 8 and 9. You drove up the hill a few yards and pulled into a lay by affair. On the marshals’ instructions competitors tackled the first hill, quickly followed by the second and then a third, through heavily rutted clay. It was 6,000 all the way for the Mac’s and JAZ powered it’s way through. Not so for Stuart who was swallowed up by an enormous crater on “three” and had to be towed out, but with aces like Paul Bartlemann stuck as well he didn’t feel to bad! Hero of the Day award must go to the guy who had the job of getting down in the mud to attach the tow rope – he was absolutely covered in it!
There were some ambiguities in the route card now and the next road section saw groups of cars parked at road junctions, having a conference to decide the correct route, with a lengthy detour up the dual carriageway and back for those who got it wrong. Eventually everyone found Northwood, which was no problem with all the Falcons clear. However, section 10, Pitt Farm (Waterless Lane) was a problem for a lot of people. Stuart’s Imp didn’t have enough ground clearance and needed a push to clear the deep muddy ruts. Murray provided excellent entertainment as he went sideways, scuffed the wing and filled the bumper with mud.
Tipley was next and stopped all of class 4. Stopping astride a restart line, rather than in a box, does not allow much room for manoeuvre. When, by what ever means, competitors did finally get clear of the restart there was no time to gain momentum before arriving at the class 6,7 & 8 restart. Murray kept saying “I hate that Tipley” and after a great deal of effort, especially from Hazel, they got away from the line, only to get stuck on the re-start designed for the other classes. A lot of cars wrecked tyres here, Stuart amongst them.
Lenda Lane was the next section. It was supposed to be sub divided 12 – 0, but instead they had put a restart in a deep crater half way up, which defeated all class 3 and all but Nathan Mitchell and Giles Greenslade in class 4. Murray’s class lead going out the window at this point. If you were in an Imp the problems started before the section. Two drainage pipes had been laid across the entrance track with just enough gap in between for an Imp wheel to drop in. Stuart and Jim Scott had to throw their passenger’s out in order to increase the ground clearance!
Then it was back to Simms, now pretty slippery, with two restart lines on the steep bit, one for classes 6&7 and one for class 8. Only Nathan and Murray went clean in class 4, Stuart managing another three. All that remained now was an 8 mile run back to Finlake and the final section, a PCT like climb of a mound. It had a slippery camber on the right. You had to keep as straight as possible, maintain speed and try not to slide across to the right. Murray floored it (I think this is the correct expression) and it worked.
Murray came third in class behind Giles Greenslade and Nathan Mitchell who won the class. Giles got a two on each attempt at Simms and failed the Tipley re-start but managed to clean Lenda Lane. Leaving Murray with12 and those two with 10 each. First position in the class was decided on special test times and it went to Nathan Mitchell in his Skoda.
A challenging trial, tough on the cars but well organised. The overall win went to “Super Dud” who went round clean.
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
Classical Gas 