You have stumbled on a delightful box of tricks, Classic Trials & other perverse stuff from Michael Leete. MCC ACTC and other trials. VW Beetles, Dellows, Marlins, or even Suzuki X90's
Matt Johnston on his way to a narrow win on the first Bodmin Heights Trial (Cap from a Video by Duncan Stephens)
Camel Vale had planned to run their single venue Bodmin Trial in November but it had to be called off after principal organiser Simon Groves broke his leg motorcycling. Simon didn’t spend his time convulsing idly, resulting in a new 40 mile road trial incorporating sections in Dunmere, Cardinham and Laneskin Woods, The first Bodmin Heights Road Trial.
Class Eight dominated the event Matt Johnston pipping Dean Vowden to the win by a single point.
The single venue event in Bonyalva Woods was a trial of two halves, dry in the morning and wet in the afternoon. It soon turned into a Class Eight battle between Simon and Paul Merson who were level until midway through the morning when Paul dropped four on Bonyalva Rise where Simon went clear and slowly increased his lead as the day went on, finishing on 19 compared to Pauls 27.
Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. Click on the Header to this post and page down to Leave a Reply and that’s also the place to tell us about your trial.
Please help spread the word and share this on your Social Media:
Organisers David Haizelden and Keith Sanders believe in tough trials and maintained their reputation with another well supported event. Their handicapping worked out well with the top ten cars coming from five different classes. Clive Kalber, out in his Dutton Melos, came close to challenging Simon Groves overall win. However, Clive dropped two extra marks on the muddy Upper Kingswell making a total of three for the event where Simon went clear.
With the first three cars in the Clubmans Category it was Aaron Haizelden who claimed maximum Wheelspin points in fourth place overall on 11 marks.
Tristan Barnicoat was the best Solo with a five point margin over John Luckett. The leading outfits were close all day with Alan Wear coming out on top by one mark.
Simon Groves was the best car in his Troll on a tough event
Videos by Duncan Stephens, Ross Cookman and Liam Hartley
Despite the snow blanketing much of the country the Western Peninsula was clear and Camel Vale were able to run their single venue Camel Heights event in Dunmere Woods between Bodmin and Wadebridge.
The conditions weren’t easy though and the mud made the tough sections very difficult. “Proper Hard Core Trialling” as it was described by one competitor.
Class Eight dominated the podium positions amongst the cars, Simon Groves emerging victorious in his Troll.
Keelan Hancock was best Solo and Alan Keat best Sidecar
Paul Bartleman scored a resounding victory on the Camel Classic. Falcon’s Ian Davis was third overall and winner of class 8. This was enough for Ian to be the ACTC Wheelspin Champion, having overtaken Adrian Dommett in the table after the summer break, despite Adrian having reverted to his Class 8 special in an attempt to come to terms with Ian’s challenge.
Ian Cundy, pictured here on the first section at Bishopswood, won Class 1Colin Perryman and David Heale failing to make the corner on Hustyn Woods 1. They weren’t alone and Colin went on to be fourth in class 3.Ian Moss had problems with the water on Hustyn 2 and retired with no oil pressure after the Shellwood sections.Pete Barr blasting up Hustyn Woods 2, trailing steam from the water at the bottom.Richard Dawe neede all his friends and a tow from a Range Rover to get out of Trerice. Despite this the Camel was not a rough trial.Ross Norman reversing down the last section at Churchwood in the gathering gloom.
Camel Vale attracted 44 entries for their Camel Classic trial on 4 December. There was one non-starter, and it was Roger Ugalde in his Allard, who led the field away from the Victory Hall in Roche. The first two sections, and a special test, were in the Bishopswood complex. The first one used part of the track used in the Lands End, but deviated to finish with an impossible bank, with a difficult restart for class eight. Nobody came out of the top. Eventual winner Paul Bartleman, Dudley Sterry and Dave Prowse (Marlin) coming closest with two’s. The second Bishopswood section was just up the way. It was a muddy track that just got steeper and steeper until most of the lower classes ran out of power, grip or a combination of the two. Classes 6, 7 and 8 had to restart, but with their higher power to weight ratio all the class 8’s went clean as did eventual top four in both classes 3 and 7 and Trevor Johns in class 6.
The three Hustyn Woods sections were about a mile away. These are definitely not to be confused with the old Lands End section, which is now a tarmac road. The first one was the only section on the event that could be described as rough and that was only if you climbed high enough! It was a bit complicated as cars had to reverse down a track to the start. They then went back up the track and tried to turn 90 left into an artificial, very muddy (well clay) route newly cut through the trees. There was a tree root on the turn that stopped all the lower classes so they never actually got to the rough bit. A lot of power was necessary to get anywhere but even the best class eights could only get to the one. Mike Workman stopped at the two but only after hitting the tree root at enormous speed, throwing Mike so far into the air that Mark Linforth didn’t think he would land back in the car.
There was big delay just up the track at Hustyn Wood 2 and some confusion as to if the deviation at the top would be used for all classes. There was in-decision amongst the marshals before it was decided to include it for all, but not before Colin Perryman had gone up, by-passing the deviation in accordance with an official notice at the bottom. Colin was given a second go but punctured two tyres in the process. A good power to weight ratio was necessary to get up the first and some of the lower powered cars really struggled. So did Ian Moss for a different reason. He went through the puddle at the bottom so fast that water got onto the electrics and the very smart 1200cc Imp fluffed to a stop at 11. Mike Workman got to the one marker but with a terrible noise coming from the gearbox of the GVS and he retired. After this, the third Hustyn Woods section was a bit on anti-climax. It wasn’t easy though and Simon Woodall was the only car to go clean in his 2.5 litre Buggy. This put Simon into the lead of the trial with four marks lost, ahead of Paul Bartleman (5) and Dudley Sterry (7). Next came Adrian Dommett on eight. Adrian was driving his Ford Special in class 8 again, rather than the Wolesley Hornet he had used earlier in the year.
Section 6 at Trerice still didn’t involve going out onto the road. It was approached via the top of the section so everyone could see how deep the ruts at the top were. They were soft mud though, in keeping with the Camels “not a rough trial” reputation. Getting through them required ground clearance that Richard Dawe doesn’t have on his Midget and he got well and truly stuck, blocking the section for more than half an hour before recovery arrived. Chris Symons was the only other competitor in class 5, driving his Porsche 924, which goes very well. Chris came all the way down from Leicester and it’s a toss up whether he or Simon Groves had the longest trip to the trial.
Finally, it was back on the road, in heavy rain before turning into a Vineyard for Polmorla. The section started amongst the farm buildings, levelled, and then went right up a very steep bank, thronged with spectators and marshals. Most of the lower classes stopped here but many of the class eights went on to get round the right hand bend before stopping. This was another hill that nobody cleaned. Simon Woodall was best with two, increasing his lead. Falcon’s Ian Davis, chasing a win in the ACTC Wheelspin championship, was next best with three.
It was really raining now and the two sections at Lanow were very, very slippery. They were both steep climbs through the trees. Simon Woodall dropped five on the second one and lost his overall lead to Paul Bartleman who went clean, putting him into a lead he was to retain for the rest of the day.
The four sections at Helligan and Shellwood saw the last of the rain and the retirement of Ian Moss when his Imp lost all its oil pressure. In class one we had also lost David Symons and David Haizelden. Colin Perryman was still going but definitely came into the walking wounded category, as there were horrible noises coming from his BMW’s diff and he was limited to 25 mph on the road.
Clinnick is a Camel Hill with a fearsome reputation and was thronged with spectators on the upper reaches. Although the section wasn’t rough, the approach track was, and Nigel Green got his Escort well and truly stuck on the diff on the way down to it. The hill started under a railway viaduct. There was a 90 right where the track disappeared into the sky before another 90 right where it became even steeper. It was all too much for the saloons in the lower classes who didn’t have the power to get more than half way up. Things were different in class 8 where they all nearly made it and so did Andrew Martin and Dave Prowse in class 7.
The final two sections were at Churchpark and it was dark when the later numbers came along. The first one was actually cleanable for many, which made a change. Things were different on the last one where only the class eights of Paul Bartleman, Simon Woodall, Ian Davis and Nigel Moss got to the summit. Simon Groves had his only problem of the day when a rear tyre punctured but this was soon changed.
Paul Bartleman hung onto the lead he gained at Lanow 2 to win the trial from Simon Woodall and Ian Davis who had a consistent run to come third overall on the Camel and win the ACTC Wheelspin championship. David Haizelden is Crackington champion despite having his only retirement of the year on the Camel. Hard charging Andrew Martin actually had more points than David but his fourth place in the Wheelspin took him out of the Crackington league.
Overall – Paul Bartleman (Troll) 13
Class 1 Ian Cundy (Golf) 77, Michael Collins (Golf) 80
Class 3 Tristan White (Escort) 69, Colin Jeffery (Escort) 73, Dick Bolt (Escort) 73
Class 4 David Dyer (Beetle) 68
Class 5 + 6 Gary Browning (Beetle) 56
Class 7 Andrew Martin (Dutton Melos) 32, David Prowse (Marlin) 44, Clive Kalber (Ford Pop) 45
Class 8 Paul Bartleman (Troll) 13, Simon Woodall (VW Buggy) 16, Ian Davis (VW Buggy) 21
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
Please help spread the word and share this on your Social Media:
The Stroud Club found a window in the wet weather and although some of the sections were very boggy put on yet another excellent event. Nigel Moss set out to bring the event closer to a “classic format” and the sections had a more natural feel with very little “tree weaving”.
David Thompson storming Crooked Mustard in his Troll Jim Scott got up a long way but couldn’t get his Stilleto round the corner (pictures by John Salter).Paul Bartleman eases his Escort up Nailsworth Ladder on the famous cars last event. Hazel MacDonald being beckoned to avoid the post at the top of Ham Mill.
Stroud had their usual full entry for their event, which stands alone, no championship, triples or anything at stake, you do this one for it’s own sake. There were a couple of non-starters, including Clive Booth, so second reserve Ian Davis got a run as second reserve.
With Sandfords know longer available Nigel Moss had found a new hill called Crawley for the first section. This was pretty muddy, but there was plenty of grip, so it didn’t pose many problems. Hazel MacDonald wouldn’t agree as she under-steered off into the scenery on the hairpin!
There was a queue for Crooked Mustard and Andrew Brown had to hold later numbers out on the main road for some time. The old section was quite slippery and there was a big step between the second and third corners. Most of the class eight’s got up OK, and a few of the sixes and sevens, but the rest floundered on, or in between, the corners. There were exceptions of course and local man Mark Linforth came out of the top in his Escort. So did Mick Workman in his class seven Imp. Colin Perryman broke a drive shaft on the first corner and dropped nine. However, he managed to repair the Skoda and went on to win class four. Mike Pearson found he had damaged a wheel quite badly and had to stop to hammer it straight.
Rushmire was badly washed out so part of it was used as a down hill special test. The challenge here was to stop on the finish line and this caught out a few including David Heale, Paul Bartleman and Adrian Marfell. Neil Bray broke his gearbox, loosing first and reverse and retired to limp home after a bit of spectating on Nailsworth. Michael Leete was also given a fail, even though he and Mike Hayward were certain they performed the test correctly, perhaps it was for setting such a slow time!
There was a holding control in the lane before the road to prevent a build-up at the foot of Axe, which was causing a few problems this year. It didn’t seem to be causing any PR problems as the lady in the pub at the start was keeping Clerk of the Course Nigel Moss supplied with tea served on a proper cup and saucer! All the rain had made Axe pretty claggy in a couple of places, one just after the start and the other quite near to the top. This caused problems for the lower classes with their lees powerful engines and lower ground clearance. However, the results make interesting reading. Adrian Tucker-Peake went clean in his Front Drive Peugeot but local men Mark Linforth and Mike Hobbs both failed even though they had just cleaned Crooked Mustard! The class 4 Imp’s all failed but Stuart Cairney and Jim Scott were level pegging with local Ian Moss.
There was lots of grip on Nailsworth Ladder and there were very few failures, even amongst the restarting class eight’s. The Ham Mill restart was just after the corner this year, which made it much easier and there were not very many failures. Although it still caught out a few, including Dick Glossop and Ade Welsh in class four, Mark Smiths powerful Beetle and all the class ones apart from Adrian T-P.
Nathan Camm was disapointed not to win The Ian Moss Trophy for best presented carThe Welsh family Beetle knocking it’s kness at the thought of Ade behind the wheelArthur Vowden couldn’t get his Marlin off the Merves Swerve re-start (picture by John Salter).The marshalls were flexible when it came to Ralph Talbot’s interpretation of being normally seated on Climperswell.
Lunch was taken in the civilised surroundings of the Tesco cafeteria, civilised for us maybe, but I don’t know what the shoppers thought of the muddy triallers and their strange collection of cars! Fred’s Folly was the usual glorious long blast up through the trees, there were special tyre pressure restrictions but no nonsense like restarts to impede progress. It is pretty boggy and rutty up near the top and like Axe you needed a combination of power, ground clearance and a heavy right foot to get through. This caught out both Stuart Cairney and Jim Scott, letting Ian Moss into the lead of the Imp battle.
The trial was to be decided on the next section, a new Catswood, reached after a lovely long drive through the forest below Merve’s Swerve. The Forshew family was in charge here, some of the many regular competitors who were out marshalling, for what must be the strongest trials club in the country. The lower reaches of the hill aren’t a problem, these started after a cross track where there was a restart and a ninety left ninety right, followed by a very steep, muddy gradient which nobody cleaned. Most of the competitive class eights got to the two, but Dudley Sterry failed lower down for a four and I can vouch how hard it is for Dudley to get the narrow tracked J2 up such a section as it won’t go in the ruts! This was also where all the Falcon class eight’s failed, including David Thompson, out for his first trial in his Troll.
Merves Swerve was next on the agenda, a “Clouds favourite! Not for John Bell though as he broke the gearbox on his Escort. Only classes seven and eight had to restart. The challenge for the rest was to crest the slippery big bump on the sharp right hand bend, which defeated all but Nigel Allen in his big engined Beetle. The class sevens all struggled and hot shot Arthur Vowden couldn’t even get away from the restart. Neither could David Thompson who was still adapting his driving style to the Troll. David had been told it wouldn’t trickle and was still to learning how to slip the clutch on the line and blast it! Dudley Sterry, Mike Chatwin and Peter Fear were amongst a select group of class eight’s to come out the top of the section. So was Adrian Marfell who was also one of the few to get away from the muddy restart on Highwood 1. David Thompson got away here as well with only Dudley Sterry and Mike Chatwin joining them to succeed in class eight.
Although there was, a lot of mud there seemed to be a fair amount of grip on both the Highwood sections. However, there was a horrible hump at the top of Highwood 2 and most of the entry bottomed out and faced the horrible task of reversing down carefully or risk a plunge to oblivion. Mike Chatwin cleaned the section, putting him into an unassailable lead. Ian Davis was the only successful Falcon. There was no doubt a short wheelbase helped, as the section turned left after the bump this year and the turn was very tricky.
Cimperswell was a glorious mud bath with a tricky restart with tree roots just waiting too catch out the un-wary. A lot of the class eight’s managed it OK, including David Thompson, but Mike Pearson failed. Apart from the leading class 3’s and Colin Perryman in class four competitors in the lower classes failed on or around the restart. Adrian Tucker-Peake didn’t have to restart in his class one Peugeot but never less must be congratulated for emerging from the Climperswell bog in a forward direction.
There were just the two Bulls Bank sections to complete the day. Hazel MacDonald got away from both of them and would have challenged for second in class if it wasn’t for her mistake on the first section.
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
Please help spread the word and share this on your Social Media:
Classical Gas 