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
Andrew had the best performance on Index
Camel Vale use the Index system to determine the winner of their Presidents Trial, a single venue event held in Bonyalva Woods near Hessenford in Cornwall. Historically the club has run the Bodmin Trial at this time but couldn’t overcome the problems in running that event in Cardinham Woods.
Continue reading “Andrew Rippon wins Presidents Cup”Giles Greenslade wins Northern Trial in his Class Four Beetle
t was Beetles all the way as Nicola Wainwright was second. It was neck and neck when they came to the last section at Sandale, both Giles and Nicola on clean sheets. They both stopped in the ruts at the two marker, victory going to Giles on special test times. It was a tough trial for the higher classes who had to contend with both tough tyre pressure restrictions and some fearsome restarts.
Competitors enjoyed a wonderful day in The Lake District with wonderful weather and fantastic views. Up until the last section at Sandale all the sections were in forestry. However, there were a variety of surfaces to challenge competitors.
Competitors left the well-appointed start in Wigton on a cold, but bright and clear day, for the 16-mile run out to the first forestry section. It was to prove one of the most difficult of the event, needing plenty of ground clearance, and only six cars were to go clear, including both Giles Greenslade and Nicola Wainwright who were to finish first and second overall. Class 8 didn’t feature here, as they had a difficult restart, as they did on most of the remaining sections, along with class seven on some of them. The lower classes were to enjoy a no-restart day!
Come the third section at Falcon’s Crest there were only three clean sheets left, Bill Bennett losing his here and only Adrian Dommett was left to challenge the two Beetles. Adrian’s hopes disappeared at Ladyside, a horrible muddy affair, without much real gradient but a huge lump to surmount. Class eight had an impossible restart just before the hump. However, nobody told Dean Partington and he went clean. So did Sticker Martin (Escort) and Dave Haizelden (Golf GTi) as well as the two battling Beetles.
Some of the morning sections were a little rough, especially Little Cockup which had a fearsome left hand bend with deep ruts. It was possible to approach this at speed. Tony Young went clear but without a skid the front panel of his Beetle acted as a mud plough, pushing it back so he couldn’t open the hood.
The afternoon forestry was higher up the hillside. This meant fantastic views, less mud and more rocks, of the small loose variety. The leading cars went clear on all of them. With a more solid base, the sections weren’t so rutted and ground clearance became less of an issue. There were some issues on the final forestry section at Widow Hause where it was necessary for clears to reverse down. With no real ruts, it was very easy to get sideways and a couple of cars came close to rolling over.
Last on the agenda was Sandale, everyone’s favourite. There was another impossible restart for class eight, with seven having to join in as well. Once again, nobody informed Dean Partington he wasn’t supposed to get away and he went clean, being joined by Mike Chatwin (Troll) and Tristan White (Class 7 Imp).
Although the lower classes didn’t have to restart it was certainly a tough section with the ruts getting deeper and deeper with every passing car. Both Giles and Nicola stopped at the two, to lose their only marks of the day, victory going to Giles on Special test times. Adrian Dommett and Bill Bennett both came out of the top but I am sure they won’t mind me saying that hero status on Sandale 2008 is awarded to Harvey Waters and Dave Millar who dragged their diffs though the clag and Colin Perryman in his BMW, all showing how it could be done in a low slung car.
The day ended for many with a super meal back at the finish where competitors relaxed and told of their enjoyable day. The only cloud was an issue with tyre pressures on Sandale. They weren’t checked and the feeling was this was abused by at least one competitor in class eight. I hope that this didn’t disappoint organisers Martin Willis and Chris Veevers too much and we can all return for another excellent Northern trial next year.
| Best Overall | Giles Greenslade (VW Beetle) | 2 |
| Class Winners | ||
| 1 | David Haizelden (VW Golf GTi) | 14 |
| 2 | Adrian Dommett (Wolseley Hornet) | 7 |
| 3 | Sticker Martin (Ford Escort) | 9 |
| 4 | Nicola Wainwright (VW Beetle) | 2 |
| 5 | Thomas Aldrian (Austin 7) | 30 |
| 7 | Tristan White (Imp) | 17 |
| 8 | Dean Partington (DP Wasp) | 11 |
| 0 | Stuart Lambert (Cannon) | 2 |
| A | Roger Tushingham (Royal Enfield) | 3 |
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
Driving a Volkswagen Beetle does induce a certain amount of complacency, they may be rather strange contraptions but they are just about as reliable as a trials car can be, especially if you leave as much as possible as Herr Volkswagen, well Dr Porsche actually, intended. When you do see a Beetle retiring it’s normally the mucked about bit that’s bust. Well, at least that’s what I thought until this year’s Cotswold Clouds!
I have had the Beetle since 1990, which I guess is longer than most marriages last these days, and have done between six and eight trials a year since. I can’t say that it’s exactly as I bought it as it’s on its 3rd engine and about the fourth of fifth gearbox. There are a few original bits, like the top half of the body, the steering wheel and the back brakes, which I shall return to later.
During all that time have always driven it home, even on the two occasions that I have retired. The first occasion I had any real trouble on an event was my second Exeter, which I think was in 1993. Brother in law Simon was passengering, it was the first event he had done where we were staying over and he was particularly looking forward to an evening with the lads out of site of “she who must be obeyed”. At that time, the car still had the engine it came with, a well-worn and completely standard 1600 twin port. We were running along with Fred Gregory in the days when he had his Skoda. I can’t recollect how we were doing, but we were certainly enjoying ourselves when we hit problems on Stretes. The car seemed to be going pretty well, but the engine was starting to sound a bit fruity.
On the road down to Honiton we realised something was wrong as it was making a horrible noise. We stopped but couldn’t find anything wrong. We had a good look at all the machinery in the car park at Exeter Services but could find nothing amiss. The exhaust was in one piece, the timing was OK, we even took the valve covers off and checked the tappets. We found one at 22 thou instead of six, closed it up a bit, and pressed on. The long dual carriageway stretch down to Tillerton revealed that something was very wrong. I was all for retiring but the disappointed look on Simon’s face when I mentioned it made me press on. We finished by driving on a very light throttle on the road and only opening it up on the hills, to the accompaniment of the most horrible noise.
We had a great evening and limped home the next day to more and more noise, and less and less power. I had already decided to fit a new engine that was waiting in Murray MacDonald’s lock-up, but was still interested to know what was wrong. It turned out that one of the studs securing the exhaust to the head had sheered and the exhaust gasket had blown completely away!
It wasn’t that much later that I had my first trials retirement since I broke the diff on my Mini at a PCT in the early seventies. It was on the Edinburgh that finished so late, I think it was the first Laurie Knight event. I had spent some time prettying the car up before the event, even painting the wheels, and it looked very nice. Everything was fine on the run up to Derbyshire but on the descent down to Putwell I heard a distinct knocking from the rear on the over run. A ra-a-tat-tat, just like a CV joint on its way out in my Mini days. There was a big queue for Putwell and I slipped underneath to peer intelligently at the drive-shafts, nothing appeared amiss so we pressed on. The noise got worse and worse as the day went on and the trial got later and later. It was gone six in the evening when we came down the exit road from Haggside, the weather wasn’t very good and we had a couple of sections to go, including Litton Slack. The noise was really loud now, we had failed a couple of sections, so there was going to be no medal and we retired rather than risk being stuck with a broken drive shaft at he bottom of Litton late at night.
In those days, the Edinburgh finished at The Haddon Hall. We were staying there and got in for dinner at about eight, quite late but not as bad as the last competitor, David Alderson, who arrived just before midnight!
The following morning we thought about calling the RAC, but decided to try and limp home under out own steam. I was convinced one of the UJ’s had gone and was already planning a quick change as soon as I got home, for we were entered in The Ebworth Chase the following Saturday. We made it back to Bedfordshire to the sound of really loud knocking as soon as the car was off load. The Beetle was promptly up on the axle stands to change the drive shafts. Damn, forgot to undo the wheel nuts, not much hope but lets see if they will come off with the wheels in the air. Oh dear, all the wheel nuts are loose!
What had happened of course is I has painted the wheels with Hammerite, did the nuts up over the paint and they slackened off after a hundred miles or so. A hard lesson.
The only other time I have retired the Beetle was at a Brickhill PCT. If memory serves me, right this was the first event after the big changes in Falcon when all the disgruntled “SODS” joined us. Anyway, Mike Furse was Clerk of the Course and he had a special test, which involved driving forward down hill, stopping and reversing back up. I had the family in the car and wanted to put on a show. We went flying down, I dipped the clutch, slammed it in reverse and it immediately jumped out of gear. Nothing would persuade it to stay in reverse and as something had clearly broken inside, I decided to call it a day. We stayed to take some pictures and drove gingerly home. I hadn’t had this box very long, it was a 1300 with a low ratio and I had recently had it rebuilt because it wouldn’t stay in reverse! Anyway, I had apparently bent some selector fork or other. Rather than repair it I got another box part exchange, but I never took the old one back and it’s still in my garage as a spare at the cost of a lost deposit.
Apart from punctures, I then had a long trouble free period while out on events. Not that there was no work on the car. Another new engine came along, again curtsy of Murray MacDonald. This was a 1300, putting the beetle in class four, escaping many of the dreaded re-starts that organisers had introduced to subdue the performance of the type 4 monsters. I had fitted yet another gearbox, not because there was anything the matter with the other one, but I wanted an ultra low final drive and a 4-planet diff. Then of course there was the endless work on the body, doing battle with the tin worm and straightening out the inevitable dents. Things became a bit more serious when the body started to crease at the back over the wheel arches, necessitating a lot of work to pull it out and brace it to keep it in place as best I could. The bracing bars ran under the engine so I could no longer use the Trekker “bootscraper” skid plate that was bolted direct to the crankcase. A large sheet of upturned chequer plate replaced this. All this reduced the ground clearance so I had to raise the suspension even more to compensate. I had to grind a bit off the bottom of the spring plate’s to give some suspension movement which means the CV joints bind upon full droop!
All of this of course took place in the garage rather than on the road. All the more surprising then when we had a very strange problem on the 2000 Allen Trial. It started on a road section quite early in the event. There was a funny pulling feeling at the back, as if one of the brakes had come on. It only lasted a second. I tried all the brakes, everything seemed OK and we pressed on. A little later, after Guys Hill, it happened again, in a more pronounced fashion. This time I thought we had a puncture so we stopped and hopped out but there didn’t appear to be a problem. The truth came after Burledge. We had an honourable attempt at the hill but bellied out when we ran out of ground clearance at the top. We were about to reverse down but we were only a few yards from the summit so a Land Rover backed down to haul us out. I hauled on the handbrake to stop us rolling back and it just kept coming!
We stopped and had a good think. Clearly something had broken but it was out of site inside the drum and at a couple of hundred ft-lbs of torque I couldn’t take it off to have a look inside. We knew there weren’t any horrid reverse back down hills ahead so we pressed on with the handbrake working only on one wheel. The footbrake seemed to work OK and all seemed well apart from the occasional horrible graunching noise from the back when whatever it was got stuck between the linings and the drum!
We finished the event and drove carefully home. When I took the brakes apart, the following weekend I saw that the clip holding the handbrake arm pivot pin had fallen out, as had the pin itself. With the arm detached from the shoe, the handbrake didn’t work although the hydraulic footbrake did. The offending components were still inside the drum, but in a bit of a mess, as were the lining and the drum itself. A quick telephone discussion with Murray MacDonald explained the problem. I had always thought the clip securing the pin was just pushed on and held in place by its springiness, although it never appeared to have very much spring! Not surprising really, as you are supposed to clinch the clip shut and it’s made out of a nice soft material to help you!
I suppose I had been lucky really, as I had been driving around with those clips holding on with a wing and a prayer for the last ten years and although I have religiously stripped and cleaned the brakes every summer I had only ever pushed the clips back on!
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
We had super trialing conditions for the Allen. It had rained quite a bit in the week preceding the trial, so the ground was nice and muddy. However, it was dry on the day and the sun even came out for a while, so Arnold Lane was spared the soaking he received on last years wet event.
Arnold was alongside Mike Pearson in the Dellow Rep that was trailered down the M4 to the start, just off Junction 17. Mindful of the fearsome ruts on Burledge Mike was trying some different tyres with a higher profile in an attempt to generate precious ground clearance. John Parsons was our other class eight competitor in the familiar Westfield, with Keith Harris in charge of the bouncing department.
There were a whole gaggle of Falcons running line astern earlier in the field, headed by Triple winner, and Crackington cup contender, Murray MacDonald. The now familiar Red Beetle is not short of ground clearance, even though Murray has lowered and ballasted the front a little after some scary moments when the car threatened to turn base over apex when reversing down some of the horror hills on the Kyrle and Exmoor Clouds.
Both Falcon Skodas were running well after their successful Edinburgh. I don’t believe they had any mechanical changes but Simon seemed a bit reticent to talk about his carburettor so you never know. Matt had returned from his American trip and was alongside Simon while Martin Sheppard was bouncing for Neil. Team Falcon was completed by Fred Gregory/Pete Stafford (Dutton Melos) and Michael Leete/Mike Hayward (VW 1302 S).
The sections started with Tog Hill, presenting no problems since the fearsome bump was levelled a few years ago. That was more than can be said for Bitton Lane. The hill would be easy enough if it wasn’t for the re-start. A tricky affair, positioned on a corner with a noticeable increase in gradient. The surface is really tricky, consisting of compacted pebbles that become more and more polished with the passage of cars. It’s quite muddy just before the re-start line and it’s quite difficult to position your car. You tend to lose all traction when slowing as you approach the line. Then you are so busy trying to get to the line itself that you don’t have a chance to position the car. That’s what happened to most of us. J.P. got away OK and Fred took time to find some traction and thought he may have slipped back in the process, but the marshals couldn’t see through the smoke enough to notice! Neil came up to the line pretty fast, looked at the polished stones and decided the mud on the right was a better bet. The only problem was that’s where the marshals were standing. Fortunately they moved in time, Neil’s wheel’s bit into the rock underneath the mud and the Skoda pulled away easily.
Big Uplands was next on the agenda. This has been used on the Allen for many years. Most hills get rougher over the years but Big Uplands is an exception. The deep rut on the right of the lower slopes is nothing like as fearsome as it was a few years ago. It’s quite a straightforward hill for the girls in classes’ one to five, but us men have to re-start just before the 90 left. After this there’s a rough bit before the hill exits on the main road.. JP got away OK and so did Michael Leete, the first time in the five times he has competed in this event. Poor Mike Pearson was not so lucky when the Dellow Rep slipped back as he let the clutch out.
Guys Hill came next. This is the one that Mike Pearson was telling us about in his article about the legal status of trials hills in the November magazine. The girls didn’t have to re-start so they all cleaned it OK. Things were different in the mens classes. They had an extremely difficult re-start on the polished stones between the tree roots and all the Falcons in six, seven and eight failed to get away. This was the norm, most six, sevens and eight’s couldn’t restart and only a select few achieved a clean. In class six Graham Brasier went clear in his 130 hp VW based Bitza and so did Nigel Allen in his Beetle. (By the way I think Graham Brasier is a nice, friendly guy. I just don’t think his car should be in class six. I have heard through the grapevine he is now selling this machine and migrating to class four). All but one class seven failed. The exception being Julian Dommett in his 1172 cc, sidevalve engined Dellow Mk1. Is that man a good driver or what. In class eight it was only Antony Young who went clear in his buggy. All the Cannons, Trolls and GVS’s either failing to re-start or grinding to an immediate halt. The Mill Lane special test was nothing special but the approach lane was decidedly interesting with some very deep ruts cut out by either tractors or four wheel drives. They were OK in a properly prepared trials car but pity the poor beginner driving a standard car in his first event.
Elwell was the final offering before lunch. Everyone remembers last year when it was very wet and muddy and it was so difficult to get across the field at the end. The surprise was at the bottom this year. The farmer had built a concrete hump just before the water splash. It’s hard to know why, maybe it’s a culvert or something. Anyway it was a challenge for anyone without plenty of ground clearance. The Falcons had become split up by now. Murray and Neil were together, Simon was a few cars back, followed some way behind by Michael and Fred who had stopped for petrol. There was quite a queue when they arrived, waiting for Philip Roberts and his dead Escort to be towed out. The halfshaft had moved on the bearing and they had lost drive. Later on Mike Hayward saw Philip and told him about the autocross trick of putting a blob of weld just behind the bearing. Murray and Neil got away OK but there was another delay when Simon got his Skoda stuck firmly on the hump and had to be towed off. The marshal at the foot of the hill had warned Simon about the severity of the hump. He tried to ease the Czech wonder climber over slowly, fearful of damaging the petrol tank. Unfortunately it bottomed out with all four wheels in the air Next time Simon go faster and fly over it like the rest of us!
Then it was off to Chew Valley lake for a rest halt beside the reservoir. Unfortunately the cafe was closed this year so it was sandwiches from home rather than Cumberland sausages. Strode was next, approached up a watery lane. The hill is all about a re-start that I thought was easy, but caught Fred Gregory unawares, the other Falcons going clear. Travers was pretty straightforward for the girls and they all went clear. Some of the men had problems on the usual tree rooty re-start, supervised by Jim Travers himself, and both Mike Pearson and Michael Leete failed. They got off the line OK but couldn’t build enough speed and spun to a halt on the roots a few yards further on.
Up until now Mike had not been having a good day but that was to change on Burledge. This is one of the Allens guaranteed “stoppers”. It starts on a rocky track, with a huge bump a few yards from the line where a water pipe has been culveted. After a 45 degree right hand bend the horror of Burledge comes into view, a dead straight rutted track about a hundred yards long. And when I say ruts I mean r-u-t-s. They really are deep and it takes a combination of ground clearance and momentum to get you through.
Mike had searched around at home to find some really high profile KUMO rubberware which he pumped up really hard. He eased the Dellow over the culvert and around the corner to the class eight re-start. Pulling away Mike applied the power just right and with Arnold’s assistance found the grip to cruise out the top. JP had a re-start as well but frankly stood no chance in the low slung Westfield and failed at the two.
Fred and Michael joined the girls on this section and were allowed a straight climb. Michael was pleased with his two but Fred had started to experience problems a few hills earlier and had to drop back from the start line to tinker with the electric’s. (This took a bit of time because although he is a really nice guy Fred is to automobile electric’s what the late Cyril Smith is to hang-gliding). Once Pete Stafford and Fred got going they did quite well, but with the Dutton on comparatively small wheels they ran out of ground clearance at the three. Our two giraffes in class four did well. Neil got a one and Murray stormed out of the top wondering what all the fuss was about, but the low slung Robson Skoda stopped at four.
Murray’s triumph was short lived as he failed to get out of the sump on the infamous Nanny Hurns special test. It was pretty greasy this year and if you applied the power too soon you understeered into the tress. Neil Bray and Michael Leete experienced the same fate but Fred, Mike and JP all popped out without any problems. Simon did very well to come out with the Skoda. Competitors are allowed to inspect Nanny Hurns before making their runs and Simon had seen a few abortive attempts. So it was right down on pressures at the back and the front wheel that would be on the outside round the tricky corner. Then gently, but not to slow, into the sump. Get the front wheels onto the slope and half straightened, then apply the power. It worked!
Mill Lane, Little Uplands and John Walker concluded the trial. None of them were very difficult but boy were they good fun. Long, wet and rough enough without being car breakers. The Allen certainly boasts some enjoyable hills, there isn’t a make-weight amongst them. So it was back to the finish to conclude an enjoyable day and compare notes.
Murray and Michael had trouble free runs in their Beetles and so did Neil. Simon had the misfortune to damage a front wing when he had a collision with a car in a passing place on a single track road. Fred had to keep fiddling with his electric’s to keep the Dutton going. Mike Pearson had a puncture on the road section before John Walker. Finally JP’s Westfield started to make clunking noises from the diff after the Elwell Hump. John carried on but thinks he may have chipped a tooth on the crown wheel. Results wise John was our only award winner, coming third in a well-supported class eight. But I think I can speak for everybody in saying what a great day we all had. Roll on the next Allen Trial.
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 