Classical Gas

Holbecks Trial 5th February 2012

2012-02-10T11:18:00.000-08:00

5am and we are ready to set off

Well it was the trial that wasn't. Snow was due on Saturday night. I checked during the afternoon and the trial was still going ahead. The event was scheduled to start at 09.15 so we left Chaos manor at just after 5am. Bit of snow on the roads but nothing to worry the Freelander. We were disappointed to find Red Lodge wasn't open so pressed on down the A14.

Turning off onto the A1071 there was quite a bit of snow on the road but again nothing to bother the Freelander. We stopped just outside the town to phone the organisers to find out if there were any special instructions to get into the field only to find the trial was cancelled. Yes they had phoned to tell me but on my home phone at 7.30 am when we were nearly there!

My Clee Hills 2012

2012-02-09T04:47:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite events and have made my annual pilgrimage to Shropshire in some capacity every year since the MAC took over in 1994. The event has changed a lot since that time, mostly for the better. Its not a part of the country I know very well but its worth going on the trial just for the views!

We were planning to take the Beetle up on the trailer but hearing the organisers were concerned about where they would all be parked we drove up as usual. It was an early start M1, M6, M 54, A5, and turn left down the A49 when you get to Shrewsbury. At that time on a Sunday morning its almost a pleasure to drive on the motorways, with just a few HGV's for company. Coming backs a different proposition of course and we prefer the TomTom guided cross country route, although that does involve a bit of M5, A42, A42 between Droitwich and Banbury.

I still enjoy driving the Beetle to events, although I am in an increasing minority as I see even Dudley has joined the trailer brigade. Having said that the Beetle will be on the trailer for the trip up to Carlisle next week!

Getting to at least see the top of The Jenny Wind after all these years

We enjoyed the trial. Hungerford was back on the agenda which was great. There wasn't a lot of mud about and The Jenny Wind and Easthope had lost their sting. However, it did mean that we saw the top of them for the first time. We cleaned both but were penalised a one on The Jenny Wind even though we got our front wheels over the line. That was the only point we dropped all day, such were the conditions. Very interesting that my in car video shows the marshal that penalised us had a camera to his eye when we got over the line and only took it down when we slipped back! having had my moan it wouldn't have made any difference to the results as although John White and Sam Holmes were clean on the trial we were much slower on the Special Tests.

Had a tyre go down on the road after Hungerford but other than that the Beetle went OK all day. Got to think about looking at it over the summer. The gearbox is whiny and it would be interesting to try a 4.375 diff. I don't know if the engine is tired or not. Perhaps I should check the compression and see what its like on a rolling road?

Looking happy after a Good Day

Clee Hills Report

Michael's Video Blog

Clee Hills Trial Video Blog

2012-02-04T01:21:00.000-08:00

Clee Hills Trial 2012 Draft Report

2012-01-27T01:06:00.000-08:00

Comments & Criticism welcome - by Blogger, Facebook, email etc

Head Dean Cleans Clee

Sub Head With unusually dry conditions there were nine clean sheets, across five classes, so special test times came into play to determine the results.

Summary With some new and reintroduced sections it was an excellent trial, although the dry conditions made stoppers like The Jenny Wind and Easthope cleanable by mere mortals. The event was notable for the bumper Class Two entry with the VSCC coming out in force to enliven the proceedings.

Body Text

Clerk of the Course Graham Austin and his Midland Automobile Club Team were rewarded by a bumper entry for this years Clee. A few weeks before numbers were a bit thin and consequently Graham decided to do away with the events familiar double loop system. Come the day there was a full entry of 80, with some prospective competitors turned away. The system worked well though and there were very few delays.

Although there were 22 sections they were not attempted by everyone, as the comprehensive plan sent out with the final instructions revealed. The idea was to more or less eliminate the necessity for restarts by deviations, differential start lines and alternative sections for the different classes.

Muddy Strefford
A muddy Strefford Wood 3 was first on the agenda for 1,2,7 and 8. This defeated all in classes 1 and 7 with Pete Hart doing best to get to the three. Unfortunately some of the VSCC contingent in class 2 had trouble with the entrance track and it was abandoned for them, but not until Bill Bennett stormed to the 5. It was on for the Class 8's though and half a dozen of them went clean.

Class Eight Flounder
Those who didn't start at Strefford Wood commenced battle at a reintroduced Flounders Folly, now without the gate on the twist at the start. This proved relatively straightforward for the lower classes, who turned off before the mud started. Classes 7 & 8 had to go straight up where the mud and increasing gradient saw only eventual winner Dean Partington and fellow DP Wasp driver Mike Chatwin go clear. Despite having picked up two punctures already Duncan Stephens came close in his Class 7 Melos, getting to the two, one further than Tim Smith (Marlin). As it turned out these first two hills decided 7 & 8 as the leading contenders were to clean the rest of the sections.

Cleared Callow
The next section was just across the car park and the clearing refers to the organisers efforts with saw and brush cutter to make the section usable. It was a straight blast for everyone but class eight, who had a wicked deviation that was too much for 50% of them, including Adrian Marfell (in his special rather than the Beetle he had entered) and Dudley Sterry. The other classes had to contend with differential start lines which resolved Class 6 as Gary Browning went clear and remained so, while Vic Lockley dropped his only mark of the day. A couple of the Class 0's went clear, Andrew Isherwood wasn't in this group, dropping six in his Dellow Mk1. However, these were the only marks he was to lose all day and he went on to win the Class.

Hungerford Returns
2011 saw the return of the marvellous Hungerford, at least if you weren't in 7 or 8 who gave it a miss. The lower reaches were dry with the exposed rock steps to contend with, not too bad if you took it easy. Once out of the gully the gradient eased and the rocks stopped, replaced by mud and deep ruts that went on and on, a truly marvellous section, if you have the ground clearance. The VSCC contingent did well here but only Rob Wells could coax a Suzuki X90 over the muddy hump at the end, even Jonathan Toulmin, who has done so much for the event, needing a tow. After a Class 0 only section at Harton Wood they were given a taste of the action here, which was perhaps a little unfair for the lower slung cars as some of the ruts were really deep.

Lots of Grip on The Jenny Wind
Everyone attempted The Jenny Wind, but how different can a hill be. It was very dry and there was plenty of grip everywhere, apart from the very top where the gradient increases as the section meets the cross track. The majority of the entry cleaned the section, many for the first time. Most of those that didn't at least saw the summit, defeated by the mud at that last little rise. This group included Clee stalwarts and Northern Trial organisers Fred Mills (Marlin) and Derek Reynolds (DAF). Having lost Lee Huck at the first section all the class 1's stormed up, at the expense of a CV joint for Dave Haizelden's Golf which he soon repaired. Nigel Jones was delighted to go clean in his MGF but decided to retire afterwards with gear selection problems, caused earlier in the day when the sump guard was pushed up onto the linkage,

Into the Woods
Going back through Much Wenlock and onto the B4371 there was a new route into Easthope Wood and its one way system. 7&8 had Major's Leap and Hill Top on the agenda. Everyone in Class 8 cleaned both and most of the Class 7's as well.

Classes 1 to 6 were treated to a relatively dry Easthope, cleaned by all but a few who struggled with the bump at the top. Ippikins Rock followed. Its hairpin bend was on form but those that got round were disappointed as it had to be taken out of the results following some confusion regarding the instructions.

Heywood Common
Classes 7 & 8 missed out on this nice little BOAT, that proved surprising difficult. It was rocky, rutty and being shaded the mud hadn't dried. It certainly sorted out the Class 0's, only a couple of Dellows a Melos and a Marlin getting to the summit. It defeated quite a few of the VSCC contingent as well. Surprising with the large entry, there were only two Class 3's in this years Clee and neither climbed Heywood Common. James Smith was to win the Class in his BMW while Derek Reynolds had to retire after Castle.

Castle
The organisers are to be congratulated for finding this fine old track. Everyone had a go and there were no failures despite being restricted to road pressures. It is truly a magnificent setting, providing a stunning backdrop to Dave Cook's photos.

Rattlinghope & Gattens Gamble
After a nice run over The Long Mynd there was a the usual special test at Rattlinghope followed by Gattens Gamble, run the normal way round this year. It was nice to see the land owner talking to some of the competitors at the start of the section. The club are very lucky to have him support the event with such enthusiasm. He is well known in the area for taking his daughter to school in his tank! The views at the top of Gattens Gamble are truely magnificent, as they were through the Gliding Club on the way to the Priors Holt Complex. One of the many reasons why competitors are attracted to this event.

Priors Holt 4
This was a new hill, despite looking very much like Priors Holt 3. Everyone but Class 0 attempted the section which had differential start lines. The first part was steep muddy rock, although there was plenty of grip, before a sting in the tail when the route dived off into deep muddy ruts before finishing back on the main track. As it happened it didn't prove a problem to the regulars, although Nick Cleal bogged down in his Peugeot 205

Enterprise Observed Test
There was a long run round the perimeter of the wood to this new special test. The finish line was on a steep bank where, perhaps surprisingly, most people managed to stop astride. Former Clee Clerks of the Course Simon Woodall and Jonathan Toulmin managed the finish line OK but fell foul of line C-C.

With several clean sheets the two observed tests were important. Dean Partington was inch perfect to make it a DP Wasp one, two with Mike Chatwin in Class Eight and take the Fray Cup for the overall winner.

James Shallcross kept to his winning ways in Class 1 while in Class 2 I'm sure even Bill Bennett wouldn't have minded being pipped to the class by John Bell in his slightly more modern MG TD. Class four was the other category to be decided on test times and John White made it decisive, by nine seconds, over Sam Holmes.

The Slab
This was the first year the lower classes had been let lose on this twisty, bumpy little section. Although tricky there was plenty of grip in the dry and the main contenders had no problems. It was easy to lose control though and David Jackson dived into the bracken in his FPS but was able to continue. Not so Dean Yarranton who retired his Reliant Goose Special in the Priors Holt Complex with a broken diff. Julian Fack was spectaing and promptly sold him a new one!

Priors Holt 1
Adjacent to The Slab, and attempted by only 7 & 8, PH1 is long with loose stones, mud and a steadily increasing gradient. It turned out to be tricky, stopping more than 50% including Ian Davis who had dropped only one mark till then.

Priors Holt 2
The lower Classes were spared the fearsome reverse down PH1 this year but still had PH2 to contend with. This is a very long hill, stony at the bottom, mud and ruts at the top with a restart for 3 to 6, their only one of the day. There was plenty of grip and the section claimed only a few victims. A couple on the sharp corner at the bottom and a few more in the ruts after the sharp right hander at the top.

Strefford Wood 1
The lower classes were off to the finish to sign off after the Piors Holt Sections but 7 & 8 went back across the A49 for Strefford Wood 1 to tackle the full section this time. Things had dried out considerably since the morning but the gully was there to trap the unwary. The section proved a sting in the tail for Andy Curtis who went up the class 7 route in his Buggy, losing the award for second in class in the process.

The Finish
Back at the finish there were a happy crowd of competitors who had enjoyed a near perfect event. OK it was a shame that some of the awards had to be decided on the Observed Tests but the organisers couldn't have expected things would be so dry. At least it gave some of the stalwarts of the entry list the chance to see the top of a few hills they had never seen before. There were a few criticisms but in true Clee spirit Graham Austin and Adrian Tucker-Peake didn't defend the situation but vowed to sort them out for next time. Its that attitude which brings competitors and marshals back to this excellent event.

My Exeter Trial

2012-01-12T10:56:00.003-08:00

Michael and Mile Enjoying the Hairpins on Fingle

Being a bit poorly over Christmas I only had a couple of days to check the Beetle over before the Exeter. I hadn't trialled it since the Ilkley last May, or driven it since the Herts VW do in the summer. In the end preperation was limited to changing the oil and filter, replacing a perished fuel line and replacing the under-guarding. I also had problems with the regular jack and couldn't get the air out after topping up the oil so it was off to Halfords for a new one before the off.

We were running with Neil and Dave in Neils Escort and met up with them at the Cirecester start. As the night run was a touring assembley we went the direct way to Sparkford, at least direct according to Mr TomTom! Fueling up before scruitineering we met up with Verdun Webley and Arnold Lane who weren't happy with the way their Rickman Ranger was running and they retired during the night.

The Haynes Motor Museum looked differnt too usual as its undergoing renovation. However, the formalities, including inspection of the new spill kit, were soon completed and for once I stayed with the guys for a chat rather than retire to the car for a sleep. In fact I didn't try to get my head down throughout the event, very unusual for me.

It was a long way to the first section in Bovey Down Woods. 55 miles, passing both the entrance and exit tracks to Meerhay on the way. Apparently it couldn't be used because of newbies moving in adjacent to normal route from the road to the section.

Unfortunately passenger Mike had car sickness problems again soon after leaving Haynes. We had to stop several times in the night but fortunately he was OK after Exeter when it was light. When we got to Bovey Down Wood things were very different to usual, there weren't many trees. The logging meant Normans Hump wasn't available so the first section was the adjacent Marilyn. I probably should have remembered this from the Bovey Down Trial but I didn't!

The entrance track was very muddy. Unfortunately I decided that there wouldn't be much grip and went down to 11psi, big mistake. There was plenty of grip on the section with deep ruts making it a ground clearance issue. Round the bottom corner we started up the hill and pretty much immediately started to feel the rocks on the floorpan. More throttle required, but as soon as we put the boot hard down there was so much grip the wheels didn't spin, the engine bogged down and we stopped. Oh dear! It was possible though as at least three Beetle in my class went clear. No problems getting up Clinton but the view on the way out of the wood, wow, without the trees it looked like a WW1 battlefield.

We didn't get to do Waterloo as it was cancelled when lots of cars had problems towards the top and the section had to be cancelled. The next group of sections were near Ottery St Mary and we had no problems on Rill Path, Stretes or Bulverton Steep.

We arrived at Exeter Services more or less on scheduled time despite Mike's problems during the night. Plenty of time to fuel Crew and Car but the service for breakfast! Pretty shitty to say the least and no sandwiches available in the shop.

Tillerton was rough but at least we didn't have to restart!

The Beetle was going fine and we set off for the daytime sections in nice weather in convoy with Neil and Dave. Tillerton seemed very rough to me but we took it easy and slithered over the rocks with 15psi in the tyres to shouts of encourage from a spectating Simon Robson. We enjoyed Fingle of course and managed to get Wooston Steep right this year, plenty of speed through the mire before the left hander.

Simms was next on the agenda, after a stop for tea and cakes at Islington Village Hall. Joining the queue for the section we could hear things were going to be tough and they were. We threw the car round the right hander but as soon as we hit the step we lost all momentum and came to a stop with wheels spinning. We reversed down with care and exited via the escape road. Quite a few cars had problems reversing down though. At least one car slid backwards into the crowd, an Austin Seven tipped on its side and the Parsons Special turned right over and became a hospital job after which the section was cancelled.

We had successful runs up Tipley and Slippery Sam, helping out Ian Cundy by lending out the new jack. We were fortunate as later runners had Simms, Tipley and Slippery Sam cancelled, loosing four hills in all.

An enjoyable Exeter for us, unusual as its normally the MCC event I enjoy the least for some reason.

Simon Robson captures the atmosphere as we fail Simms!

Exeter Trial Report, with links to more pictures and videos, on Classical Gas

Exeter Trial Draft Report

2012-01-12T10:56:00.001-08:00

It was a dry, mild night as competitors left their respective starts. Unusually it was the West Country contingent that were first away, from Plusha on the A30, followed by Cirencester and Popham. The last car scheduled to leave Cirencester was Simon Woodall in his familiar VW Buggy. Unfortunately his Triple hopes were dashed as he retired soon after when the Hall Effect unit failed in his distributor and he wasn't carrying a set of points.

The routes converged at the Haynes museum at Sparkford, although it was hard to recognise the place as its undergoing redevelopment. Scruitineering was very efficient this year, even with the extra job of checking Spill Kits. In a way the facilities for the trial were better than usual with plenty of room to park on the Kart Track and a nice big room for the control and those that wanted a midnight fry-up.

It was the best part of 55 miles to the first section in Bovey Woods, passing both the entrance and exit tracks to Meerhay, which could not be used because of access problems. Things were different in the woods as the loggers had been at work. This meant that Normans Hump was unavailable but fortunately Tim Whellock and his team know this forest very well through organising the Bovey Down Trial, and opened up an adjacent track which they called Marilyn. With loose stones and a similar gradient to Normans Hump this proved challenging, even without the restart for 6, 7 and 8. The unknown section had a significant effect on the results with many failures, including Greg Warren (Escort) and Dennis Greenslade (Mazda MX5). It was climbable though, and despite the steepness and deep ruts both Peter manning (MG Midget) and Steve Potter (Trojan Utility) went clear. Both went on to win gold medals, a significant achievement in a Trojan.

The familiar Clinton lay waiting deeper into the wood. This was unaffected by logging and there was plenty of grip this year. If Clinton had plenty of grip the upper reaches of Waterloo certainly didn't. It appears that rain during the week had washed mud from the banks onto the track. When people stopped it was a question of a very difficult recovery or a long reverse down to use the escape road, which was also slippery. Unfortunately a very long queue soon built up and Tim Whellock had no alternative but to cancel the section.

Fortunately the next group of sections near Ottery St Mary proved unproblematic and the trial remained pretty much on time at Exeter Services Rest Halt.

It was a fine, bright day as competitors left Exeter for the second half of the trial, soon turning off the A30 to take the windy back roads to Cheriton Bishop and on to Tillerton. The section has become very rough these days, especially in the restart area which proved challenging for classes 7 & 8. When Dudley Sterry fails a re-start it has to be tough! Fingle seemed smoother than last year and attracted the usual spectators, bunched around the first two hairpins. It wasn't a lucky hill for Mike Warnes who failed with a fuel blockage and decided to retire his TR7.

If Fingle didn't claim many scalps that couldn't be said for Wooston Steep which was in fine form for the restarting 7 & 8's, defeating the majority of them. Then came Simms. The hill started out muddy at the bottom and dry at the top. However, the mud was soon carried up the hill and the huge number of spectators were entertained by car after car either failing at the big step or slowing so much the soon spun to a halt. It was climbable though, and both Phil Tucker (Triumph TR3A) and John White (Class 4 Beetle) showed that if you picked the right line it was on with a relatively low power to weight ratio.

Reversing down the slippery slope proved a problem for many and crews of several cars had heart stopping moments when they slipped sideways. Finally two ended up on their side. For Alan and Matt Bee it was mostly injured pride in their Austin Seven but it was a hospital job for Alan Spencer and John Dando in their Class Eight Parsons Special. The incident made the Daily Mail and it is to hoped there aren't to many repercussions. Full marks to Alan and Matt for continuing the trial for a Bronze medal.

Simms had to be cancelled and the delays meant some competitors missed Tipley and Slippery Sam. In the latter case because the marshals had gone when they arrived but one or two climbed the section in any case. Slippery Sam was still live when Nick Farmer came along and tore the rear suspensiuon away from the chassis on a rock. Fortunately he was able to ratchet strap things together enough to get to the finish.

So ended an Exeter that was probably a nightmare for the organisers but somehow proved very enjoyable for the competitors, despite all the problems. Perhaps the weather helped but Tim Whellock and his team have got the trial pretty much right and were unfortunate with the happenings on the day. It must have been very difficult to decide what to do with the results and in the end Simms was cancelled and competitors who missed Tipley and/or Slippery Sam were not penalised.

My Competition Year 2011

2011-12-17T09:46:00.000-08:00


.	Date	Event	Club	Car	Passenger	Award
.	08/01/2011	Exeter Trial	MCC	VW Beetle	Mike Hayward	Bronze Medal
.	16/01/2011	Wattisfield Trial	West Suffolk MC	Austin 7	Chris Bird
.	23/01/2011	Clee Hills Trial	Midland Automobile Club	VW Beetle	Mike Hayward
.	06/02/2011	Holbecks Trial	West Suffolk MC	Austin 7	Chris Bird
.	13/02/2011	Southern Autos Trial	Falcon	Austin 7	Chris Bird
.	19/02/2011	Northern Trial	Fellside AC	VW Beetle	Chris Bird	1st in Class
.	06/03/2011	March Hare Trial	Falcon	VW Beetle	Chris Bird
.	13/03/2011	Mechanics Trial	Stroud & DMC	VW Beetle	Mike Hayward
.	23/04/2011	Land End Trial	MCC	VW Beetle	Mike Hayward	Silver Medal
.	15/05/2011	Ilkley Trial	Ilkley & DMC	VW Beetle	Chris Bird
.	11/09/2011	Autotest	Falcon	Austin 7
.	01/10/2011	Edinburgh Trial	MCC	Dellow Mk1	Mike Hayward	Non Starter
.	09/10/2011	Brickhill Trial	Falcon	Austin 7	Chris Bird
.	06/11/2011	Guy Fawkes Trial	Falcon	Austin 7	Chris Bird	1st in Class
.	13/11/2011	Hungry Hill Trial	Farnborough & DMC	Austin 7	Chris Bird	3rd in Class
.	11/12/2011	Wattisfield Trial	West Suffolk MC	Austin 7	Chris Bird

Muddy Wattisfield Trial to Finish my Competition Year

2011-12-17T09:23:00.001-08:00

Place Holder

Austin Seven Special Repairs after Hungry Hill

2011-12-13T11:16:00.001-08:00

Place Holder - Post to come

Allen Trial Draft Report

2011-12-01T03:02:00.001-08:00

Title - Allen Trial to Dean

Head - Dean Partington wins Allen Trial with the only Clean Sheet. It was a DP Wasp one-two as Dean's sister car was 2nd in the hands of Mike Chatwin. Mike only failed the muddy Ubley Woods Three which claimed most of the experienced drivers and potent cars.

Sub Head - As well as the Field Trial sections at Ubley Woods Big Uplands was also on form, ensuring that the all the classes were decided on the hills and not on Special Test Times.

Body Text

It is testament to the reputation of The Allen Trial, and its organisers that it attracted 63 entries at a time when entries are significantly lower. Not just in Classic Trialling but in all forms of Motorsport. The Allen was known for being run exclusively on classic lanes. In recent years some of these have been lost and this year five of the twelve sections were at private venues.

The weather was ideal, wet overnight, with a bright sunny day for the event itself. The opening section at Tog Hill, only a few hundred yards from the start, didn't cause any problems. Not so at Bitton Lane where the restart claimed the scalps of all four of the Suzuki X90's in class five. There were only a couple of other failures, but these included the Escort of eventual Class Three winner Dick Bolt, who would need all the horsepower of this mega machine to blast through the mud on the later sections to claw back this loss.

Big Uplands on Form

Classes 1 to 6 had their visit to Big Uplands in the morning, while 7 & 8 went straight to Guys Hill. This arrangement is to save time for the the long reverse after the inevitable long list of failures towards the top. This year didn't disappoint and big names like David Haizelden and Dick Bolt weren't in the select half dozen who cleaned Big Uplands. Special mention to Peter Jones who came so near in his Suzuki X90. Also too Steve Potter and John Wilton went clear in their marvellous Trojans. Class six was to be decided here as Dean Vowden got out in his Type 3 Notchback while Claire Rippon stopped at the five.

Incident at Guys

Over at Guys Hill the organisers had to help the police and local farmer to sort out a road traffic accident on the exit road. Fortunately all was well when the cars came along. There were a few who might have preferred the section was cancelled as the tree roots were on form, making life particularly difficult for the re-starters in 6, 7 & 8.

The route headed west of Chew Valley lake for the historic Travers section where 6, 7 and 8 had another battle with a tree rooty restart, which eliminated all but Dean and Claire for Class six honours and failed many in Class Seven.

Muddy Ubley

The Ubley Woods complex lay just up the track, where three sections and a special test were laid out on the top of the hill with magnificent views of the Bristol Channel in the fine weather. The observed sections were very muddy and only Dean Partington retained his clean sheet. Simon Woodall was the only other driver to clean the three Ubley's but had failed at Guys Hill earlier in the day. Simon was to drop further from contention when he failed the restart at Burledge. He wasn't the only one and the section is returning to competitiveness after many years following its resurfacing.

Problems at Lakeside

Pete Hart and his team had put a lot of work into the lakeside sections since last year. Unfortunately everything didn't go too plan, with Mullholland Bank having to be cancelled after PR problems. Then Chimney had to be abandoned for 7 & 8 for safety reasons after a couple of incidents with rear engined cars becoming too light on the front end. Fortunately this didn't affect the overall result as Dean Partington had gone clean before the closure.

Magnificent John Walker

Seven and Eight had their attempt at Big Uplands on the way to the events finale at John Walker which was as magnificent as ever. Well perhaps not so magnificent for Nick Farmer who dropped six after a puncture resulting in a tyre come off the rim.

Another Classic Allen

So ended another classic Allen Trial. Charlie Kifton was delighted to win Class 1, a rare defeat for Dave Haizelden in this class. Sam Holmes won an event long battle with Hans Viertel and Ryan Tonkin emerging class four winner with his performance on the Ubley sections. In Class 7 Mal Allen won the battle of three Marlins followed by Kevin Barnes in his newly rebuilt supercharged Liege.

Ends

Comments welcome - Either on this blog, Facebook or email mleete24@hotmail.com - Michael

Marshalling Chimney on The Allen Trial 27 November 2011

2011-11-29T07:41:00.001-08:00

Chris & Michael waiting for the cars to come

Having decided to concentrate on PCT's with the Austin Seven before Christmas we decided to marshal on The Allen. We left Chaos Manor at 6.15, dropping of nephew Dominic's birthday present at Letchworth and filling up with Diesel before picking up Mike in Stevenage at 7.15.

We were due to be at our section (Chimney in the Lakeside complex) at 11.30. No motoring outing is complete without an English breakfast and I had found a Little Chef on the internet only a few miles away. Suitably fuelled we arrived to be briefed by Colin Biles. Our job was to operate the diversion and restart, deep in the woods which had grown up on the site of what we discovered was an old coal mine. Colin and his wife kindly fed us and it was soon time to be in position.

Classes 7&8 had to surmount the new bank Pete Hart had created. 1 to 6 turned left before taking a circuitous route round a tree on a considerable adverse camber. A lot of the early runners in the lower classes struggled until Carl Talbot came along in his supercharged BMW to show it could be done. After that there were quite a few 1 to 6 cleans. This involved staying high with the front wheels, letting the back slide down and powering out once the car was straight.

The higher classes struggled to get up, made more difficult for the class 8's who had a restart as well. Dean Partington proved it could be done but the next car, Mike Chatwin in a similar DP Wasp, couldn't keep the front down and was rescued by a spectating Paul Bartleman. We had two more cleans but few hairy incidents as well and Clerk of the Course Pete Hart decided to close the section for 7 & 8.

We were on our way around 4pm and home just after 8 after stopping for a couple of tea on the M4. All in all a very enjoyable day.

Motor Cycle Live NEC 23 November

2011-11-29T07:35:00.001-08:00

This Royal Enfield was one of many retro machines on display

Nice day out with Neil, stopping at Willoughby on the way of course. Plan had been for Neil to get a new Bike Jacket & Boots. However, we came away empty handed as the right ones couldn't be found :-)

Farnborough & DMC Trial at Hungry Hill 13 November 2011

2011-11-22T07:52:00.001-08:00

There was only a week since Kensworth so no time to investigate what is wrong in the NS Kingpin area. At Kensworth I had found that I could tighten the cotter two flats every 8 hills! We had a clear run down to Farnborough where we breakfasted at McDonalds before continuing to Hungry Hill on the outskirts of Farnborough.

There was plenty of room in the paddock for competitors and trailers. We parked next to Mike Westbook so plenty of opportunity for Dellow talk! While we unloading we though we were next to a rally special stage but soon realised it was the locals warming up!

There were five hills and we thought they were very good, using the natural tracks of the venue to give a nice classic trial feel. Some of the sections were a bit tight. We managed to get round the tight bits OK in our little car but Mike and some of the others in bigger cars struggled and notched up penalties. It was great to see the Clerk of the Course going round talking to competitors and he gave more room for subsequent rounds.

Matt Johnson had his Austin Seven and that was an interesting comparison. Although in a different class Matt had the lowest overall score, dropping 13. In our class Geoff Hodge and Keith Pettit had 19 and we finished on 25, 4th lowest score from 38 starters so well pleased. The official results were based on index, which I have never understood, but I think we may have won a 3rd in class award!

The king pin held up, with frequent cotter pin tightening but we noticed some water leaking when we loaded up so some work to do before Wattisfield on 11 December.

We stopped off near Guilford on the way home, picking up an EBay find Bowden front end so I hope that will help fix the king pin issue. This looks like the Kingpin is slopping about in the upright rather than the bushes so I hope the Bowden bits are going to help.

Click Here for Full Results
More Pictures
Report on Farnborough & DMC Site

NEC Classic Car Show Friday 11 November 2011

2011-11-17T11:28:00.001-08:00

Nice day out with Chris, Don and Mike. We stopped at Willoughby on the way of course. My regular now is what they call Bacon & Eggs but with extra toast and mushrooms. For that you get two big pieces of bacon, 2 eggs, a piece of toast and a mug of tea. Thats what they call Bacon & Eggs. To that you add the extra toast and some mushrooms. Perfect.

We arrived at the show around 10.15, took about 10 minutes to get in with our "print at home" tickets and we didn't leave till around 4 so I think we got our moneys worth. The layout was different this year, spread over 2 halls in the Atrium and 3 in the main halls. We met quite a few people we knew, starting with David Alderson who was running the motorcycle hall. Then straight away Stuart Harrold and Richard Andrews and quite a few others during the day.

As soon as we got in the door we met up with David Alderson (on right) and Stuart Harrold & Richard Andrews who were visiting like us.

It's a really popular show, positively heaving in places. I'm not so sure it was as interesting as the last couple of years, perhaps because we were used to it and in all honesty there can't be that much new stuff at a Classic car Show! Not much too interest triallers or other motorsport enthusiasts but nice to poke about. Neil's Model C was on the Ford Y and C stand where I had a nice chat with Sam Roberts about his updates to his book.

I got a few bits and pieces in the autojumble, including some dies. I had taken the rather strange trackrod ends up to see if they could be identified and a nice Mr Jones from Lincolnshire told me they were 100E and supplied me with a new set, although they will have to be modified to fit the A7. Only problem is that I have been thinking about the A7 steering and think I will go the rose joint route. At least that way I won't have to worry if the tapers fit!

Seeking inspiration for the A7 front end. This one was independent but I think it was a Speedex rather than a Bowden

Hi Res Pictures on my SmugMug Site

Class win on Falcons Guy Fawkes Trial at Kensworth in the A7

2011-11-15T06:02:00.001-08:00

With the new U bolts clearly visible the Suspension stayed in place for the Guy Fawkes Trial

The Bowden front suspension removed from the car for repair before the Guy Fawkes

The weather was nice and dry for Kensworth on 6th November and the sections were pretty dry apart from under the trees. I had entered class 4 as usual but peter manning phoned a few days before the event to say he had moved us into the RWD class for standard cars. This put us in with three Suzuki X90's and Howard Blackwells Mk2 Escort.

There was a tyre pressure limit of 16psi and as it would turn out this really suited the car. The conditions suited the low power of the car as trickling was very much the order of the day. I am starting to get used to it now and there were only a couple of hills where I didn't do well. Same problem in both cases, too much lock at low speed. This makes the front wheels dig in and the result is wheelspin.

We were delighted to get a class win.

201111 Guy Fawkes Trial

Mike Haywards Pictures of the event
Don Stringers Pictures of the event
Results

Day out at the Stoneleigh Restoration Show

2011-10-22T10:51:00.001-07:00

Buckler stand at the Stoneleigh Restoration Show. The red car belongs to Chris Johns and broke its axle at Burton Dassett

Day at the Stoneleigh Restoration Show with Chris on Sunday. Went with a shopping list and managed to find a lot of it, mainly some BSF taps and dies and a reamer. Saw Don Striger browsing the autojumble. The two Geoffs and Roger Corti were on the Y&C Register stand and I saw Chris Johns and his car on the Buckler stand. He must have fixed it since breaking the axle at Burton Dassett a few weeks ago. Has a good look at spring shackles and discovered MGA/MGB are very similar to the Dellow. Only thing is the length between the pins is a bit more which would lower the car.

Nice Panhard Rod. Shame it isn't fixed to anything solid!

Ends

Falcon Brickhill Trial 9 October 2011

2011-10-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

Looking at the way the headlights are leaning in I think the bolt has already broken.

Oh dear

First trial after the summer break for the Austin Seven on a day that started wet and gradually dried out. We really enjoyed the first round and got up a few hills. I thought we went really well, apart from on Keith Pettits section where I misjudged the bank just after the start and bottomed out. What a stupid mistake! Unfortunately something was clearly wrong with the car after the first hill on the second round. The wheels were pointing at an even stranger angle than normal. Closer investigation revealed the bolt that locates the front bottom spring had broken. As the springs also serve as wishbones on a Bowden set up this meant the front was decidedly floppy! I though about trying to fix it but as at that stage I didn't know how it was all fixed together I put it back on the trailer and we spent the rest of the day spectating and taking photos.

Click Here for the results

Edinburgh Trial - 1st October 2011

2011-10-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

I had entered LOC 827, the sidevalve Dellow, in Class 0. However, I hadn't got it fixed since breaking the axle on the way to the hotel after last years trial (another story).

No Edinburgh Trial for LOC 827 who stayed at home on axle stands without springs or a back axle. That's JRK 117 in the background, note to self, must get that car going!

So Mike Hayward and I went up to Derbyshire with our Cameras, starting with breakfast at the Chesterfield Little Chef. Then it was onto Bamford Clough to take stills of the Bikes and make a Video of the Cars.

Then onto Excelsior to picture the last 2/3 of the cars.

Behind my tree on Bamford Clough. Good protection from flying bikes

And the Dellow only version

Falcon Autotest in the A7 11 September 2011

2011-10-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

Enjoyable day. car went OK. Didn't win, in fact I probably finished last!

Buying Locally & Rewards for Loyalty

2011-08-19T03:56:00.000-07:00

The DVD player went wrong the other day. Its six or seven years old and probably not economic to repair. Its a bit more complicated as its a combined VCR/DVD unit which I bought so I could dub all those old VCR's and home movies onto DVD. Of course I never did that so I decided to get a similar unit. There's not that many available but my choice was a Toshiba RDXV60. I bought my FreeSat Box from an old well established shop in Bedford and planned to give them my custom for the new gizmo.

Went in there yesterday. The knowledgeable guy in the shop confirmed my choice and quoted me £319. OK its a lot of money but included delivery and installation which was handy as I couldn't have taken it with me that day.

Gets home and have a look on Amazon. Same unit £246.90 including delivery. Now I knew it would be cheaper on Amazon but was prepared to pay and extra tenner or even twenty to the local shop but not £71 so somewhat regrettably I've ordered it from Amazon.

I actually parted with less than two hundred quid as I had £50 in Amazon vouchers from O2 when I sorted my iPhone contract. Thats another interesting story. I got my iPhone 3GS on an O2 contract 2 years ago. It was £34 a month for my calling plan. It got to within a week of the contract finishing and hadn't heard from them. Looked on their site and couldn't work out what the procedure was and called them. Oh it just continues unless you want a new contract they says. "What happens with a new contract" says me.

Ends up that I have could keep the existing iPhone 3GS on a SIM only contract with roughly the same call plan for £17/month. However, they had an offer that week with a £2/month discount and £50 of Amazon vouchers for renewing with them.

It was a b****y good job I made that call :-))

Problem synch'ing photos between iphone and PC

2011-08-07T02:11:00.000-07:00

Its always been fine before, then suddenly last week it stops after I had added a new folder to the synch. There was plenty of memory left on the iPhone so whats what?

First thing I tried was to follow Apples support advice.

Delete all the photos from the iPhone by unchecking the synch in iTunes (with iPhone connected) then synching.
Delete the iPhone cache which is named as that and can be found in the folder you are synching.
Restart the computer (alway a good idea)
Switched off Google Desktop (which displays photos from the folder I am synching)
Started again (had to reset the folders I wanted to synch) and it seems OK.

The secret could be switching off Google Desktop. The problem could have been that and iTunes synch trying to access the same photo at the same time. Didn't do that the first time and it didn't work.

Car Shows, mainly with The Ford Model Y

2011-08-06T03:42:00.001-07:00

Been to a few car shows with the Model Y this year

10 April - Ford Model Y&C Register AGM at Willoughby

Parked next to Neil's Model C at the Willoughby Model Y&C AGM

Went in the Model Y along with Neil who was in his Model C. Both cars went OK which was good. It was nice weather, which it always seemed to be for this event. Lunch at Netties in Willoghby, shame the portions are so small!

1 May - Stoneleigh Kit Car Show

Mark Endley with his Liege, now with a 3 cylinder Suzuki motor

Went in the road car. Another enjoyable full day browsing the stalls, autojumble and lots of cars parked in the grounds.

8 May - Sharnbrook Hotel Classic Car Show

Nice day at the local hotel after some problems getting there when the road from Stevington was closed and we had to make a long detour. Chris and I had a sitdown lunch with Neil and Heather while watching the Turkish Grand Prix.

28 May - Enfield Pageant of Motoring

Old Ford's gathering at Neil's ready for their trip to Enfield

After a while we found the problem that, despite what it said on the gauge, the C had run out of petrol.

Reasonable weather for our annual pilgrimage and a nice test run before the Lakes Tour. Went in convoy with Neil in his Model C and Dave (Horn) in Neils Y. Mike Hayward teamed up with the convoy as we passed Stevenage. We had the normal Enfield issues when Neil's Y spluttered to a halt as we left the M25. After exploring the electrics we discovered the tank was empty even though the gauge showed three quarters full! Click Here for More

26 June - Haynes 100

We had Charlie with us for the day and he was in the hot seat for the closed road run

Mike's Sierra needed a lift home!

Nice do again with a demonstration run around the local lanes on closed roads to add to interest. We were in the Model Y which worked fine. Not so Mike's Sierra which stopped working after the convoy and needed a lift back on my trailer!

6 July - Wednesday - Classics in the Walled Garden at Luton Hoo

The Model Y in the Walled Garden

It was nice weather for the run over to Luton Hoo in the Model Y.

10 July - Bromham Show Classic Car Run & Show

Michael talking to John from the village at Bromham Mill before the road run.

Lancaster flying over the show

We were in the Model Y for Steve Casey's road run, followed by a display at the Bromham Fete. This year the road run went out to Woburn via the Forest Centre at Marston Vale. We were soon trailing round at the end as usual. Much better than dicing with the fast boys in the modern "sports cars" who regard the event as a race! Really nice day.

12 July - Tuesday - Herts VW Show and Shine

They made our off-road Beetle park on the grass!!

Beautiful Buses

In the Beetle for the local VW clubs big do. Nice evening but it was a shame there weren't more there

24 July All Ford Rally

Chris in our Model Y

Pete Moffatt & Mike Hayward checking out Neil's E83W

The "Bob Wilkinson Show" was the same weekend as The Dellow Registers Shelsley event. We were there by 7am in the Model Y and helped park the show cars like we did last year. Hard work but great fun. Neil had his E83W there, looking really good.

27 July - Wednesday - Classics on the Common, Harpenden

I remember these when I was a kid in Arlesey

Beautiful Art Deco Chevy

We were in the Model Y again. Neil took the Trabbant with a "For sale" sign! We were there just after 2pm and adjourned for lunch at The Slug and Lettuce in the the town. When we got back to the show the plac e was heaving, the atmosphere was absolutely electric. Took about three hours to walk round the cars. saw lots of people we knew of course. Left just after 8pm and got home just as it was getting dark so not to much of a test for the model Y's 6volt lights.

14 August - Specials day at Burford

Michael & Charlie in the A7

We took the Austin Seven on the trailer. Young Charlie was with us so we spent a nice time looking round the wildlife, although this year we wisely didn't try to do the whole park. As usual there were an awful lot of wasps!

Video Editing, Joy oh Joy

2011-07-23T01:41:00.000-07:00

Well I've tried all sorts and had all sorts of issues.

The Videos are mainly from my Flip and are in MP4 format. Native to the apple but not the PC although it will read them. This is my summary

iMovie (Apple) - Seems to work OK. Haven't tried to overdub commentary yet which is an important thing. Have upgraded to iMovie 11 but haven't used it yet. I'm a bit scared of being to committed to the apple as I don't want to get stuck in their format.

Windows Movie Maker Live - This is the latest version of Windows Movie Maker but have had problems. It started out OK with the MP4 files but as the project got bigger it stalled and some of them. Seemed to run out of memory (computer has 4GB). Kept restarting to clean out the memory and finally got it to save the project. The other big issue is you can't overdub commentary unless you record a separate MP3 which is to complicated and to much trouble. Don't plan to use this again.

Window Movie Maker 6.4 - I have this as well and seem to remember it worked OK. Will try again with it.

WinDVD - Made a DVD OK. Want to see if I can put several projects on one DVD. Probably can

Editor that came with the Flip works fine but not much good for adding commentary, captions etc. Fine for posting something on YouTube quickly.

Lake District Video Blog - At Last !!!

2011-07-20T11:23:00.001-07:00

The Ford Model Y & C Model Register Lake District Tour

2011-06-25T03:17:00.000-07:00

Video Blog

Click here to goto Photo Gallery

Click on the links below

Y & C Lake District Tour - Day 7 - Mallory Park and Home

2011-06-22T03:51:00.000-07:00

Sunday 19 June 2011

The old cars line up to watch the racer unload

Up early we were at Mallory by 8am just before Dave (Horne) and Mike (Hayward) arrived in Neils Nissan with the Fiesta in the trailer behind. They had some issues as the battery in the Nissan was flat when they arrived at Neils but fortunately found some Jump Leads in the trailer.

It was quite a chilled out day really. Neil had an early quali, a race just before lunch and then the last race at nearly 5pm. Plenty of time to look around the cars and bikes, chat and watch the racing. With the Fiesta being in a 1300 and the only one in his class Neil didn't win anything but had the satisfaction of breaking the class lap record.

Working on the racer

South down the A5 after the racing finished we were home just after 8pm, 650 miles in the week.

Back to Menu

Y & C Lake District Tour - Day 6 - Ambleside to Earl Shilton

2011-06-22T03:41:00.000-07:00

Saturday 18 June 2011

First to explain why Earl Shilton. Its because it was only a couple of miles from Mallory Park where Neil was going to race his Fiesta the next day.

Like on the way up the plan was to stay off the Motorways. Marc was to lead, using the "no motorways" option on his Garmin Sat Nav.

I will digress a bit here. I have become a sat nav aficionado but my Model Y is off course 6 volt. Neil has the same issue with his C and had got Computer Chris to make up a couple of 6v to 12v converters. I had used mine with my TomTom off and on during the week with no problems. Unfotunately my new TomTom software doesn't allow "no motorways" or "maximum speed" so I tried to use the TomTom software on my iPhone. Unforyntaley when I plugged it in the iPhone said charging wasn't supported with this device. My onloy conclusion is that the 6v to 12 v converter doesn't put out pure DC as the TomTom device worked fine and so did the iPhone when I plugged it into the Freelander back at Chaos Manor.

The day was to be a real test. Of the cooling system, clutch, my gearchanging and my bladder!!

The Garmin route took us down the A6 to south of Preston then slap bang through the middle of Manchester. Traffic lights, roundabouts, potholes, roadworks, it was a real test. Fortumnately cars and drivers survived the experience and we emerged at Buxton to follow the "after Edinburgh Trial" route down to Hinnckley and up to where we were staying at Earl Shilton.

The hotel was cheap but what a dump Earl Shilton is. We were worried about the cars as the car park was out the back and couldn't be seen from the road and there was a fair next door which attracted the neigbours undesireables. We ate at an Indian across the street where they really looked after us and gave us some free drinks after the meal.

Day 7

Y & C Lake District Tour - Day 5 - Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway

2011-06-22T03:20:00.000-07:00

Friday 17 June

The minature trains were fantastic

We split from the group today as I wanted to fulfill an ambition to visit The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, a 15 inch gauge line with miniature locomotives similar to the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch. Looking at the map it didn't look to far from Ambleside, until I realised the direct route was via the Wyrose and Hardknott passes. Although we had successfully negotiated The Struggle the day before we decided to quit while we were winning, taking the easy route across the A593 and north up the coast. Marc and Neil had decided to go across the passes and we met them there.

It had rained on the way but cleared up for our ride on the train. We had a nice lunch at Ravenglass station while we waited for River Irt at 12.50 as the 12.10 was a diesel and we wanted to hear steam working away. We went up the 7.5 mile line in a closed coach but as the weather cleared back down again in an open sided one as the weather had really cleared by then.

The end of tour dinner

Back at the hotel we had a nice end of tour dinner where Marc was awarded a trophy for breaking down the most. We didn't qualify as our gearbox problem didn't happen on the tour itself.

Day 6

Y & C Lake District Tour - Day 4 - Up The Struggle to Keswick

2011-06-22T02:39:00.000-07:00

Thursday 16 June

The cars having a rest

This is why they needed a break!

We took the optional route up a lane from Ambleside to join the A592 at The Kirkstone Pass.The lane we went up was fittingly called The Struggle, it lived up to his name!! A lot of it was first gear stuff and the main thing was not to stop on the steep bits, no matter what! A couple of dramas when overtaking a cyclist with a car coming down towards us but we didn't stop :-))

We had been following Marc and Neil and were tickled to see the rest of the group waiting in a layby at the top with a lot of people taking our picture. We had a look under the bonnett at the top and were tickled to see that we hadn't lost any water despite the effort the car had put in.

We followed the group to Ullswater for a photo stop. This was a nice relaxing place, quite different to Windermere.

We were in front of Marc and Neil on the way to Keswick but turning off the A66 we saw they wern't there. Marc had used 6 gallons of petrol in an hour! The problem was the filter that had been a problem on the way to Enfield had leaked again. Fortubnately he had a precautioary gallon in a can and they were soon on the way.

There wasn't much to see in Keswick so we chilled out lunching at the outddor cafe at the Booths supermarket and watching the world go by.

There was a bit of rain on the way back to Ambleside bit lets face it, you don't go to the lakes to get a sun tan :-))

Day 5

Y & C Lake District Tour - Day 3 - Boating on Widermere

2011-06-22T02:13:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 15 June

Jim deep in conversation with Freda and David

The Lakeside Motor Museum had a John McGuiness Tribute section

After all the driving Bruce had organised a car free day for us. We gathered outside just after 9am and walked down to the dock for the 9.50 boat. A couple of boats and a bus later we were at the Lakeside Motor Museum.

The museum was OK but I have become a bit critical of some of these commercial affairs. It was hard to find a theme amongst the cars, the premises were not big enough for exhibits and the spaces between the cars were jam packed with memorabilia. Things were a bit better in the motorcycle area and I especially liked the John McGuiness section with his bikes and a video.

Back on the boat we stopped off at Boness for an ice cream and a walk round the shops.

Day 4

Y & C Lake District Tour - Day 2 - Chesterfield to Ambleside

2011-06-22T02:02:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 14 June

Loo stop at Morrisons somewhere in Yorkshire. The sun is shinning

The hotel in Ableside had provided garage space for all our cars

After Breakfast at the hotel we stopped at a nearby Halfords for some GL4 EP 85/90 Gear Oil. I actually never used it. The night before I had all the floor up again in the hotel car park and it didn't appear to be leaking and crawling underneath a few times in the week all seemed well.

We had a real test of my gear changing as we wound our way through the Yorkshire urban sprawl of Sheffield, Huddersfield and Halifax to Keighley. We had got separated from Mark on the way and met up at Ingrow West station on The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, familiar ground for Chris and I having visited a couple of times on our Ilkley Trial trips. While we were chatting who was to pull in but Graham Miles in his Model Y tourer. Not a complete coincidence as he had also been staying in Chesterfield.

After a look in at the carriage museum we found some more open roads on the A65 and were at The Salutation Hotel in Ambleside just after 4. Bruce, the tour organiser, had reserved a couple of big open garages for us so we were able to check the cars over under cover. While we were fettling the other cars on the tour came in. They had come from Garstang where the tour had started on Saturday, a bit we had missed.

The hotel was very good. I had winced a bit when paying for it back in the spring but it turned out to be worth it for a top class place. Nice rooms, friendly staff and good meals.

Day 3

Y & C Lake District Tour - Day 1 - Bedford to Chesterfield

2011-06-22T01:22:00.000-07:00

Monday 13 June

We waited in a Lay By just outside Bedford for Neil and Marc to join us

Left Chaos Manor just after 9am. Filled up in the village and motored out to a layby on the Northampton Road to wait for Neil (1935 Model C) and Mark (1937 Long Rad Model Y with 10HP engine).

We travelled in convoy through Northampton to join the A5 at Weedon. After a quick loo stop at the Rugby Truck Stop we retraced our usual Edinburgh return route through Hinckley and Burton-on-Trent to The Salt Box at Hatton. Drama, changed into first to manoeuvre in the car park, go to reverse into my spot and it wouldn't come out of first.

Thoughts of calling the RAC for an early ride home were soon quashed when Neil and Marc ripped out the floor and with a real struggle (and some damage***) got the top of the gearbox off. All the selectors seemed to work OK. We put it all back together and a quick test drive round the car park found all the gears. Neil's conclusion is that somehow I had put it into first without going through the neutral part of the gate and locked the selectors solid. We had broken a corner off the top of the box getting it apart so it was held on with only three bolts and with no gasket we hoped it wouldn't loose too much oil.

After lunch at The Salt Box we motored up the A6, stopping at Cromford Mill at Matlock Bath which we had passed so many times on The Edinburgh.

We stayed the night at The Premier Inn North in Chesterfield where we payed for the meal as we wouldn't have been there without Neil and Mark.

*** We broke the top of the box and bent the selector fork because being locked into first the selector shaft had gone through the hole in the bell housing. This prevented the top of the box lifting off.

Day 2

Ilkley Trial Video Blog

2011-06-11T15:14:00.001-07:00

Old Car Week

2011-06-03T02:05:00.000-07:00

Had an old car week last week. I spotted an E83W on Ebay that looked very nice. I had been trying to interest Neil in one for some time but they don't come up very often. Had spotted one in Ireland but that looked as if it had been brush painted with Dulux. We went over to the Norfolk coast to have a look at it the other Sunday and it looked pretty good. After nipping over to Cromer to pick up some crabs it was home to get fingers poised over the keyboard as the bidding finished that night. Guess what Neil got it with no bidding competition.

Breakfast at Red Lodge on the way home

Who parked that crappy Ferrari next to that beautiful E83W

Come Wednesday we were over there with Neil's recovery truck to pick it up and it looked even better than when we saw it a few days before. The owner is quite an old car buff and showed us his collection. Another E83W (a pick-up), two Alvis under restoration, an Austin Seven Nippy and an Austin Seven Special. The special had been in the family for many years and his father had used it in competition. It may appear in the local PCT's in the autumn.

Back to the E83W. Its Green, quite close to Neil's business colours and the plan is to get it sign written and take it to the Old Ford Rally at Gaydon on 24 July.

Team Ford before the off. From Left to Right. 1935 Model C, 1937 Long Rad Model Y, 1933 Short Rad Model Y

Dave was driving Neil's Y. It spluttered to a halt just after we left the M25. In the end we found it had run out of petrol even though the gauge said half full

Bank Holiday Saturday it was our anual trip to The Enfield Pageant. We went in convoy with Neil in his "C " and Dave Horn driving Neils "Y". Dave had the Y cut out just after turning off the M25. After having half the engine apart it turned out to have run out of fuel!

Got there around 9, left at 4.30 and I only bought one book!

Ends

Ilkley Trial Draft Report

2011-05-17T04:56:00.000-07:00

Title - Nick Farmer wins Ilkley

Head - The seemingly invincible Nick Farmer won the Ilkley Trial in his Cannon Alfa, dropping three marks on the new section at Longside Wood. Dean Partington was second, loosing five on the new hill.

Sub Head - Dry weather leading up to the trial caused the organisers to make some of the sections very tight, especially the first Swordpoint section where it was barely possible to squeeze between the ten marker and a substantial tree. Conditions certainly suited the Lieges with Kevin Barnes winning class seven on his way to third overall.

Body text

After some disappointing entries for recent events the Ilkley organisers were delighted to have 55 cars, plus 30 bikes for their unique event. 14 of the cars were in Class 0 but this was mainly for competition licence reason as they did the same sections as the other cars.

It was cold and windy at the Otley Rugby Club start and this was to continue for the rest of the day with the added bonus of a little drizzle later in the day. However, with the possible exception of Brimham Lodge this didn't have much impact on the dry sections. Tyre pressure limits were specified as 12 psi foir the lower and 15 psi for the higher classes. Unfortunately these were not checked during the event which is wrong for a championship event.

The first section at Langbar set the scene for many of the sections, a very narrow, tight route through the markers, with penalties for touching them throughout the event. The majority of competitors went clean apart from Class 4 where Class Winner Sam Holmes was the only car to see the exit track, the others loosing grip on the first tight turn.

The mornings route followed the usual pattern but this year only Class 8 had to tackle the alternative route at Peels Wood where Mike Chatwin dropped out of contention when he stopped at the seven. Three cars didn't make it this far. Stuart Bartlett and multiple MSA Car Trial Champion, Dave Oliver retired at the rough special test at Highfield Farm. Dave broke the diff on his Peugeot 205 and Stuart put the fan through the radiator trying to get over the hillock on the first turn. Last year Dave Haizelden retired his Escort on the first hill. He managed five this time before the push rod popped out of the slave cylinder.

There was a new section after lunch, north of Pateley Bridge and the Gouthwaite Reservoir. Called Longside Wood it was a long, bluebell edged, track, starting and ending with acute hairpin bends. The bottom one caused a few problems and Charlie Knifton was one of those who didn't succeed, letting James Shallcross into the lead of their tight class one battle. Nobody cleaned the section. Robert Hodgkinson, passengered by local man John Rhodes were shown as dropping two in their Marlin, the reality is that they gave the section a miss when they saw the queue! The hill was to decide the winner of the trial. Of the clean sheets so far Nick Farmer came dropped three in his Cannon Alfa, Simon Woodall (VW Buggy) and Kevin Barnes (Leige) four, Dean Patington (DP Wasp) and Duncan Stephens (Melos) five.

Unfortunately Kevin fell foul of some of the Ilkleys tightly spaced markers on Watergate 2 in his supercharged Leige, but so did Duncan Stephens cementing Kevins Class 7 win.

Nick Farmer kept his clean sheet to the end of the trial to win by two marks from Dean Partington. Simon Woodall dropped from contention when he had a spring plate break on his VW Buggy but still managed to limp to the finish.

The drizzle set in during the afternoon making things unpleasant for James Shallcross as he struggled with no less than four punctures. He should have been rewarded by a class win but was caught out by the impossible gap between the ten marker and a substantial tree on Swordpoint one so Charlie Knifton won Class 1.

Ends

Neil 3rd in the Capri at Brands

2011-05-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

Neil made a great start and was second on the first lap (Picture by Marc Lawrence)

14 May 2011 - Qualifying was spent bedding in the new AP brake setup, Neil ending up 5th on a grid of 9. Come the race he made his trademark good start and was up to 2nd behind David Howard in his XJ12 as they crossed the line for the first time.

Mark Lucock soon had his rapid RS2000 up behind Neil and passed him on the second lap. While David Howard steadily increased his lead at the front of the field Neil kept a three second gap over his class rival William Jenkins (BMW 3.0 CSL) until he went off half way through the race, letting both William and Mark Osborne (Dolomite) past. Neil resumed in 5th poition.

Later in the race Mark Lucock retired and Mark Osborne lost a lap, elevating Neil to 3rd overall. However, Neil had the satisfaction of closing to within a second of William at the end, going home knowing the revamped Capri is well and truely on the pace.

However, with only nine starters in PHTC and BOSS not doing much better Peter Edwards has a hard fight to bring the CTCRC back to the levels before the decline experienced under the previous regime.

Click Here for Full Results
Pictures by Marc Lawrence on PhotoBucket

Enjoyable Lands End

2011-05-09T11:48:00.000-07:00

With Easter being so late, and all the dry weather, it was a very different Lands End. Perhaps the hills lost their competitive edge, but the nice weather made it a super event. From my point of view we had a good run, no car problems, but we didn't get away from the Bishops Wood restart so no gold . I did shoot some material for a Video Blog but I have been very lazy and I haven't edited it yet.

We left Chaos Manor just after 3pm on Good Friday, heading for the Frankie and Bennies in Bassingstoke where we met up with Neil and Dave for a pre trial meal. Following the sat nav to the Popham start was interesting as we didn't go on either the M3 or A303 but this meant we didn't pass a filling station!

Popham was very relaxed, chatting in the sun, after Neil fixed a problem with his reversing light. Mind you there weren't many people there, only 30 cars. The days of the Lands End being over-subscribed are long gone. After fueling up in Devizes we had the Steps Lane regularity test to provide some competitive interest before the accumulation control at Bridgewater. Mind you I am not complaining about the night run. Its a question of enjoying it while you can as there seems to be a strong movement amongst the MCC hierarchy to get rid of it.

Off into the night with a bit of TomTom help with the route finding to help passenger Mike's car sickness when navigating at night. We were very pleased that the restart box at Felons Oak was a reasonable size this year, as were all the other restart boxes on the trial. The Crook Horn Special Test was on the tarmac road, with a flying finish so stayed out of the nearby woodland to help avoid transmitting the tree disease which is a big problem in the West Country.

We had no problems at the County Gate Holding Control, which we preferred to the Culborne Inn IMHO a grotty place. However, later numbers reported parking problems. We didn't have any issues and found both the marshals directing parking, and the people serving refreshments really helpful. Beggars Roost didn't have a restart again this year but there was quite a tight taped off diversion over to the left of the track. Dave Cook was here taking pictures and we saw Mike Furse on the hill in his capacity as a steward for the event. We were to see Mike quite a few more times during the event.

Pictured by Dave Cook on the taped deviation on Beggars Roost

We had another hill to do in the dark and were pleased that Mike wasn't suffering from the car sickness that has bedevilled him through the night on the last few Lands Ends. However, the tablet he had taken to counter his tummy problems made him very drowsy and I was navigating as well as driving. I wasn't the only one as Dave had nodded off in Neil's Escort following behind.

We actually got to go along the exit track from Rodneys Revenge this year, probably more due to the dry weather than my driving. We had similar success, for a similar reason at Cutliffe Lane, both having defeated me in recent years. It was just getting light as we waited for our turn at the hill and we saw Barrie Parker spectating here as he was not driving this year.

Sutcombe was next, surely one of the most atmospheric hills on any Classic Trial. In case you have never been here the section starts by going through a ford, before going up a tree lined track to a rocky restart, finishing in the village where you can partake of refreshments at a nearby house. There has been a new place built on the corner since last year. Lets hope they are trial friendly! We had to work a little, well a lot really, to get away from the restart but there was still time when it came to our turn for tea and cakes at around 6.30 am. This was the first time I had eaten since leaving the Frankie and Bennies in Bassingstoke and this certainly helped me stay awake during the night.

I always find the route from Sutcombe to Darracott quite delightful. The garage in Bradworthy Wicketts is so wonderfully old fashioned and is open to help struggling triallers. Then there is that long straight sunken lane with the highest banks and tallest trees I have ever seen. We had a 15 minute wait at the holding control before Darracott, time to catch up with news from other competitors, including Nigel Jones who had caught us up despite starting more than 30 minutes behind as he was not changing his tyre pressures for the hills. We didn't have to restart at Darracott this year so were able to concentrate on enjoying the hairpins.


Kevin Alexander took this picture of us on Crackington. Just look at the mud round the front suspension

We saw Mike Furse again at the Widemouth Bay holding control before Crackington. As usual the section looked innocuous from the bottom, but we knew it was only a matter of what to expect higher up. The answer was huge quantities of the stickiest clay I have ever seen. As an early number you could still see the heaps and we reckoned there were at least three. Fortunately we were going at a considerable speed when we hit the clay and by keeping the power on were able to plough through. I said plough and I mean plough, A fair amount of the clag was still all over the suspension and under the front skid when we got home. What a fantastic hill though.

Mike and I enjoyed our breakfast at Wilsey Down. We got there at about 9.30 which was just right. Both Neil and Dave were really tired and having feasted on sandwiches en route decided to stay with their car and get some shut eye.

Warleggan was nice and straightforward but we struggled with the navigation afterwards and came to the sections at Cardinham Woods from the wrong direction. I dislike the Lady Vale section because of its artificial corner at the restart. It isn't clear what happens if you touch or break any of the miles of tape which I don't think has place on an MCC classic.

We were a bit concerned when we saw Hoskin had a restart for Class 4, shared with all except 7 & 8 which we saw had theirs higher up, on loose stones. Ours wasn't too bad and although we scrabbled a bit we found some grip and manged to build speed and storm to the top.

Snapped by Dave Cook after failing the Bishops Wood restart. I should have tried the restart just about where the car is now.

The route took us on the A30 for a short while. I hate the turn onto the main road. It isn't possible to see whats coming and there is no slip road to build speed before tuning onto the main carriageway. Definitely not old car friendly. After winding our way round Bude we came to the nice straightforward Special test at Bishops Path, straight to the back on an hour long queue for the Bishops Wood section. The bikes were still having their go and there were a lot of Class 0's as well on this common section for the whole trial.

The reason for the queue became obvious when it finally came to our turn. There was a restart for all the lower classes on the loose surfaced bank up to the cross track. Unfortunately I employed my usual restart technique and just nosed into the box. I couldn't find any grip and we failed. What we should have done was stop higher up with our rear wheels just in the box and most of the car on the level. That way we wouldn't have all the weight of the car on the slope. Oh well, lets try that next time!

I had been flagging a bit waiting in the queue but a Red Bull perked me up and we set off for Bluehiils. There is always a sense of anticipation heading for these last two sections. They signal the end of the competitive part of the trial and the view of all those spectators on the hillside as you head down the steep hill is thrilling. Its just a shame the sections don't live up to all that!

We found some grip, cleaned Bluehiils 1, and set off up the old miners track where we had to stop behind Dudley Sterry on a real steep bit. I didn't want to switch the engine off and put the Beetle in gear and the bit we stopped on was so steep the handbrake was struggling. So we signalled Neil behind to stay back and I held the car on the footbrake for the ten minutes we waited. When it was finally our turn to attempt Bluehills 2 we got of the line in fine style and stormed the step we stalled out on last year, thanks to running higher pressures this time. We stopped just inside the box and were gob smacked at the ridiculous tight turn to get up the deviation. We just about managed it by going up the bank a bit and got out without bother. However, this is a JCB job too far and IMHO the the section has been ruined.

The sea, the spectators, the majesty of Bluehills, shame about the section

What a nice action shot. Not sure where it came from so I can't credit the photographer

We chatted to Simon Robson at the top and made our way to the finish to sign off. It was a nice relaxed atmosphere there and we chatted and refreshed for a couple of hours before going to out hotel for an excellent meal and a nice sleep.

To sum up what a fantastic weekend. The nice weather let us really chill out and the fact that some of the sections weren't that competitive didn't spoil things one little bit. The car went well on the trial and the long drive home next day. 774 miles from home to home. Don't ask about the fuel bill.

Got the axle out of the Green Dellow today

2011-04-16T10:48:00.001-07:00

It was a bit of a struggle but I finally managed to get the axle out. Got the brakes and springs disconnected and undid the bolts holding the axle to the torque tube. Managed to pull it back a bit but no further. I decided it was stuck on the splints and it would be better to remove the torque tube as well.

This involved taking up the floor! When I finally got it all out I found that the prop shaft inside the torque tube was riveted to the stub shaft coming out of the diff. But to pull the torque tune away you had to remove the speedo drive.

Anyway it's out now. Will give Tim B a call Monday and see if he can fix it for me. While the car has no axle and no floor I will give the chassis a clean and paint.

Also need to do something about the spring shackle which is worn.

Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC

2011-04-16T00:39:00.000-07:00

Neil and I had breakfast in Willoughby on the way, well you would wouldn't you! With the recession the show hadn't been held for a few years and this years was a shadow of its former self. A lot of companies weren't there and most of the ones that were had much smaller stands. So instead of being in four or five halls the whole thing was in two this time. We had a good nose round and no Neil didn't buy a new lorry!

Ford Y & C Model AGM

2011-04-16T00:33:00.000-07:00

Oulton Park - 26 March 2011

2011-04-03T03:56:00.000-07:00

Mechanical Issues Slow Neil Down

There was a poor entry for the CTCRC opener at Oulton Park. Group 1 was hardest hit and had to be amalgamated with Pre 93. Neil didn't have a good day and had problems with both cars. The Capri had severe brake judder causing Neil to just tour round for a finish. Neil was going well in Group 1 before the race was red flagged. When it was restarted the Fiesta developed a misfire and stopped when the centre contact in the distributor cap came adrift.

Post Historic

Neil was only 9th out of 12 on a poorly supported Post Historic Grid. Unfortunately no sooner had the car warmed up than severe brake judder set in and discretion became the better part of valour. There was nothing that could be done for the race but Neil had a nice dice with Roger Bowman in his Jaguar Mk1, coming home 9th of 11 finishers.

Up front David Howard had a flag to flag victory in his familiar XJ12, followed by Mark Lucock (RS2000), Mark Osborne (Dolomite Sprint) and Simon Kinsey (RS2000)

Group 1

With only a handful of cars the once popular Grp 1 had to be amalgamated with Pre 93. Neil's Fiesta went well in Qualifying and he was as fast as the 1600 cars. The race was red flagged when Ken Lark (VW Corado) went off in a big way at Cascades on the first lap, collecting David Howard in the process. Damage to the XJ12 was superficial but the Corado was well and truly bent.

When the race was restarted Neil's Fiesta spluttered and stopped when the centre contact on the distributor cap came adrift. The Grp1 element was headed home by reigning champion Steve Cripps followed by William Jenkins in his BMW 3.0 CSL

Mile Tree Farm Trial - Falcon Motor Club - 27 March 2011

2011-04-01T02:26:00.000-07:00

I was Clerk of the Course for this one with Dave Maitland taking care of all the administration.

It had been dry for quite a while which presented problems when I went to the venue on the Wednesday before to plan out the sections. I found five reasonably long ones by twisting and turning with the route crossing over on some of them. Being dry it was going to be necessary to have some tight turns on steep gradient to get a result.

Dave and I had good support to help get everything ready on the Saturday. Mike Pearson, Arnold Lane and Don Stringer coming along to give Dave and I a hand. They also found a sixth section with a bit of water to go through and this would be the killer on the day.

We had 23 starters on the Sunday with only three cars being double driven. I thought marshals were going to be a problem as a lot of last years had entered but we were OK on the day. A special shout out to Graham Whiting who came over from Banbury which allowed us to run the sixth section.

At the end of the first round we were down to two clean sheets, Ed Nikel and Ross Nuten. Come the second round these disappeared. Ed on section 1 and Ross on section two. Both of these had restarts for Class D, modified cars and specials.

I had hoped that imposing a couple of restarts each round for Class D would give the other classes a chance but it wasn't to be. Mike Pearson recovered form a slow start to win overall with 23 marks lost. Ross Nuten and David Jackson were second on 26 with Ed on 27. Dave Oliver was best FWD in his Peugeot on 34. Dave was another who got better through the day.

We had a few retirements. Arnold Lane/Martin Cheshire had a broken drive shaft in their Peugeot. Mark and James Ibbotson had doughnut issues with their Imp but carried on to do a few sections for enjoyment. Finally Stephen Page had loose splines on his Buggies steering.

As usual we tightened up the sections as the day went on. In reflection I wish we hadn't done this as we would have got a result anyway and the mid-runners would have the pleasure of getting up some more hills.

Test from Blogpress

2011-03-17T14:29:00.001-07:00

Text

Test from Blogpress

2011-03-17T14:22:00.001-07:00

Text test

I got 3 buckets of mud off the Beetle after the mechanics trial

Edited

Mechanics Trial Draft Report

2011-03-16T12:28:00.000-07:00

Dave Top Mechanic

It was a Class 1 victory on The Mechanics Trial. Dave Haizelden was the overall winner, dropping 11 marks, compared to Mike Workman on 14, although in fairness he had a lot more restarts in Class Eight.

It was quite dry in the Cotswolds so the results were determined by some fearsome restarts, especially for the higher classes, and the tricky Catswood sections with deviations off the tracks into the trees. All but 1 & 2 also had to run with very high tyre pressures, which must have contributed to the result. Stroud & DMC also ran a Clubmans event, mostly using the same sections but without the restarts. This was won by Ian Moss in his 1937 Ford Model Y who only dropped six marks, all on the impossible Don't Blink section in Catswood.

Stroud had just over 40 starters for their non-championship trial, run in the same area as their Cotswold Clouds but with different sections. The second section "Alf's Delight" was not so delightful, with many of the fancied runners failing its fearsome restart. In Class eight Mike Workman was the only one to get away in his Golden Valley Special. This was bettered by Class Seven where both Mal Allen and Julian Archbold were successful, delighting Julian in his newly acquired Marlin.

After some sections on delightful old roads came three sections in Catswood. OS 7, called Sapseds Big Surprise, saw Dave Haizelden loose his first marks of the day, dropping five after the section deviated off into the trees. Without having to restart Dave also cleaned the next section, Mini Hoskin, the only competitor in the main trail to do so. This showed just how good this driver/car combination is as none of the other non-restarters in 1-6 got less than a six.

Dave dropped six marks on Don't Blink, the final Catswood section, the last he was to loose for the rest of the day. Tony Underhill retired here, his Triumph Special making horrible noises, later diagnosed as a loose flywheel on his newly rebuilt engine.

Coming out of the woods came a a section at King Charles Lane before a restart at Bulls Cross, situated right on a nasty rock step. This claimed a few victims, including the experienced Pete Hart (Marlin) and Eric Wall (Dellow mk1). Eric was having a bad day on the restarts having failed the Grassy Wood Lane earlier in the day.

This year there wasn't a section on Greenway Lane itself, as the track was approached from the top. Anyone wondering why soon found out as it was very, very rough after considerable water erosion and it must have been very difficult for the lower slung cars to get to the sections. They were both grassy and didn't impact on the results although Stuart Deacon broke the diff on his Escort, changing it to finish the trial. Luke Baber wasn't so lucky with his Peugeot, coming down Greenway Lane on a rope behind mark Hobbs Land Rover, although shown as a finisher.

The trial finished on Viaduct as usual, the ruts not proving a challenge in the dry conditions. The event seemed to go down well with competitors. The clubmans section was well received and it was nice to see Ian and Josh Moss take that category in their Model Y.

Michaels Mechanics Trial - 13 March 2011

2011-03-16T04:28:00.000-07:00

Passenger Mike and I left Chaos Manor at 5 am and had a good run down to Stonehouse. We were at the Shell garage by 7.20. Its was raining a bit so we decided to breakfast at the adjacent Little Chef rather than have a bacon roll at the chick wagon at the start.

After the formalities we had a nice muddy special test and an opening section (Tin Pan Alley) that was used in the days when Falcons Guy Fawkes Trial was held in the Cotswolds.

Things got a bit tougher come the next section, Alfs Delight, which had a fearsome restart that neither I nor anyone in our class could clear.

The rest if the trial was a mixture of traditional sections and woodland. The traditional sections I like but not so the ones in Catswood which involved very muddy, slippery, very steep routes though the trees.

The car went OK and we were back at Chaos Manor by 18.45

Didn't do any Video this time, note to self, why not you had the camera?

Michael's March Hare

2011-03-14T05:12:00.000-07:00

We had a really enjoyable March Hare in the Beetle. With the dry conditions we didn't have any problems on the Whitwell sections. That could have been different had it been wet. It was amazing how Chalk Hill and Long Lane had dried our since I was out clearing with Murray on the Wednesday.

Delighted to clear Verduns Bank on Beetle Drive for the first time. Real feeling of satisfaction as we scrabbled over the top.

The new sections at Copt Hall went well but I found them very tight. We cleared them but with a bit of a struggle and unfortunately a few cars got locked out. I really enjoyed Brickhill this year, especially tghe blast up the gully that was back on the agenda this year.

We were clean when we returned to Binghams Wood for the last two sections. We managed Falcon Folly OK but once again couldn't get round the hairpin on Binghams Warren. That was down to us as three of the other Beetles made it OK.

Our Beetle ran well all day. Cable tying the handbrake cables has stopped them jumping out.

Report on Classical Gas at
http://www.classictrials.co.uk/Gas1103MarchHare2011.htm

March Hare Draft Report

2011-03-08T06:39:00.001-08:00

Dean's March Hare

Dean Partington was one of six clean sheets.

With dry conditions all the sections were cleanable and mistakes cost dearly. The six clean sheets were distributed between three classes, but Dean Partington really flew on the Special Tests, to win the March Hare Trophy.

With entries on most trials down, the March Hare organisers were delighted to have an over-subscribed entry for their route through Herts, Beds and Bucks. Looking through the entry it was roughly split into three. A third were regular Classic Triallers, a third occasional or class 0 triallers who don't do the rough events and a third locals who mainly do PCT's. With some withdrawals and a couple of non-starters 48 cars left the new start at the Chequers in Redbourn after an excellent breakfast.

Norton Street Lane

With no restart or diversion this year this stony lane was a nice ease in to the day and there were no failures.

Chalk Hill

After a couple of miles of green laning to get to the section the lower classes enjoyed a run straight up the lane, and even the restart didn't claim any victims. Originally classes 6, 7 and 8 were to deviate off into the wilds but Chief official Murray MacDonald took mercy on six and seven, leaving only class eight to enjoy the excitement!

The steep bank reduced the hopes of many and Mike Pearson and Ed Nikel in their Dellow Mk2 Replicas and Tony Christy driving Ross Nutens Dellow Mk2, were the only local drivers to go clean.

Long Lane

This was a new hill this year, and to the best of our knowledge has never been trialled. Its a wide muddy lane with lots of ruts. A few days before it would have been a stopper for many but the dry wind changed the conditions completely and Jonathan Baggot, who is more often seen driving a Van Diemen in the Monoposto series, was the only failure in his Marlin. Chief Official Simon Robson has a master plan for next year, involving blocking off the easy route!

Watercress Lane

The final public byway section in the Hitchin area featured the familiar restart by the Watercrees beds. The week before the trial the step onto the road looked so fearsome that Clerk of the Course Arnold Lane made a visit with a van load of concrete to make it easier. In consequence it was pretty easy to pull away and nobody troubled the scorer.

Copt Hall

The first visit to private land had two new sections and a special test at a new Falcon location right alongside the Luton Airport runway. The special test was a nice simple affair on broken tarmac where Dean Partington set the standard, a second and a half faster than Tim Foster in his Eskimo special.

The first observed section was a tight PCT affair on grass. The dew had gone by now so there was plenty of grip. However, the turns caught out a few, including three of the seven Suzuki X90's in the trial.

The second Copt Hall section was very different, utilising the embankment of the disused Hatfield to Dunstable railway, closed in 1965 when it got the axe from Dr Beeching. Marshaled by West Suffolk Motor Club, the section had a variety of surfaces and some tight turns. Around a third of the field picked up penalties here. Both Kevin Alexander (Fiat Panda) and dad Brian (Suzuki X90) dropped nines and Chris Maries and Clive Cooke were the only X90's remaining with clean sheets. The section wasn't friendly to Class two either. Peter Thompson dropped two but all the others in this class failed at the nine as did Kevin Barnes in the blown Liege.

Beetle Drive

The first visit to the Woodland near Hemel Hempstead further reduced the clean sheets. Beetle Drive ends on a rutted bank with a restart for 7 & 8 and the Mobil 1 The Grid film crew in attendance. In the lower classes only Keith Pettit in his Frogeye Sprite, and the three Beetles of Sam Holmes, John White and Michael Leete went clean. Kevin Barnes was the best in Class 7 but even he dropped two. It was left to six of the Class Eight's to show how it was to be done and even they had to work hard. Even so a number of them lost their clean sheets here, including Mike Pearson who was carrying the TV crews camera.

Webleys Wobble

The second woodland section was mild in comparison. There was a class 8 only restart and although half of them failed it didn't affect any of the clean sheets. Unfortunately Roger Dudleys Marlin developed engine problems and he had to retire here.

Kensworth

There were three sections at this familiar Falcon venue. The first two were typical PCT affairs. the third utilised the rutted track around the barn and had a retsrat that would had been tricky had it not been for the dry conditions.

Brickhill

After a longish road run there was a special test and two observed sections in the familiar setting of Brickhill that has been trialled for the best part of 50 years. Dean Partington was fastest again in the sandy ST with Tim Foster second again, this time by only a tenth of a section.

Brickhill 1 utilised the track up the gully, a marvelous blast through rutted sand before restarting and turning up the bank. Most went clean but there were a few failures in the gully for those who didn't have enough momentum to get through the power sapping sand.

Brickhill 2 started in the woods at the far end coming back up to the paddock through the ruts formed at the Falcon PCT a few weeks before. There was a restart here where the Suzuki's struggled although Howard Blackwell used his experience to go clear. In the higher classes the only failure was John Parsons who has organised many events at this venue but was struggling with a very fluffy type 4 engine in his VW Buggy.

Hawridge Lane

With no restart and dry conditions everyone cleared this overgrown lane.

Hill Farm

Despite the dry conditions Hill Farm always catches the unwary. Apart from 1 & 2 all the classes had to restart. This was definitely not Suzuki friendly and again Howard Blackwell was the only Japanese machine to go clear.

Falcons Folly

The event finale was back in woodland for the final two sectiomns. The Falcons Folly restart wasn't as difficult as usual this year with only a couple of failures

Binghams Warren

The last section has decided the outcome of The March Hare for many years. Its all about a rutted hairpin bend, with a restart for class eight only. It was no problem for class 1 & 2 who all went clear. Not so for Class 4 as both John White and Michael Leete failed. Sam Holmes got though to retain his clean sheet and win the class, one year after his Classic trial debut.

Keith Pettit in his Frogeye went clear to retain his clean sheet and win Class Five. Peter Manning was second in his Midget on 11, narrowly pipping Clive Cooke in his X90 who had been second until failing Binghams Warren. Brian Alexander proved the Japanese machine could get around the hairpin but earlier fails kept him out of the awards.

In Class 7 Harry Bounden arrived with three but that went up to nine after failing here, just pipping Kevin Barnes to the Class win.

Although half of the class eights couldn't get away the four with clean sheets all did, so their class was decided on ST times. These made Dean Partington (DP Wasp) the overall winner, Tim Foster (Eskimo Special) the Class 8 award, followed by Liam Rafferty (Cannon) and Mike Chatwin (DP Wasp)

Finish

Despite the dry conditions the organsiers were pleased to get only six clean sheets and the fact they were spread amongst the classes proved the restarts used to handicap some of the classes worked. The event seemed to go down well with the competitors. Some commented that a couple of the new sections were to tight but we can reply on the organisers to sort this for next year. The event was characterised by a great variety of cars from Simon Diffys Humber Nine Twety and John Wiltons Trojan in Class 2 to the highly developed DP Wasps driven by some of the sports most successful drivers in Class 8, all enjoyed by those participating, marshaling or viewing the event.

My Northern Trial

2011-02-26T08:09:00.000-08:00

We made it a long weekend. Travelled up in the Freelander Thursday with the Beetle behind on the trailer. Found a cheap deal for accommodation and meals at the Swallow Hotel in Carlisle. Found out they were in administration!

On the Friday we explored the Scottish side of the Solway Firth and explored Caerlaverock Castle

The trial was on Saturday and it was very disappointing that their were only 17 starters in the main car trial classes. Shame because we had a good trial and finished second overall. It would have been great to have done that with more starters!

The Beetle went OK and we didn't have a problem with the handbrake sticking on. Seems holding the cables up with cable ties did the trick. We had free pressures on most of the trial and got them pretty much right all day.

Report on Classical Gas

Pictured by Dave Cook on Ullister Hill

Northern Trial Draft Report

2011-02-23T00:43:00.001-08:00

Northern Win for James

James Shallcross was best overall, dropping 11 marks in his Class 1 Peugeot 205 on an excellent, but poorly supported Northern Trial

Despite the wet conditions there was plenty of grip on most of the sections. Fell Side had got their class Handicaps pretty much right, with only two marks separating the first three overall, representing three different classes. Michael Leete made a rare visit to the award winners circle and was second overall, dropping 12 in his familiar Beetle, followed by Nick farmer on 13 in his Cannon Alfa.

The organisers must have been very disappointed to receive only 19 entries in the main car classes, reduced to 17 starters when the field left The Stocksman in Wigton.

Wasteland

The action commenced with Jonathan and Pat Toulmin in charge of the first special test. This was on some wasteland at a venue used for a section called Oblivian on the first Northern Trial. This was immediately followed by a muddy section named A Bolivian. There were no re-starts but the higher classes had a deviation, costing Nick Farmer a valuable mark which would be significant later.

Into The Forest

Section 2 saw the first of many forestry sections, the hallmark of The Northern Trial. Despite the apparent mud on Black Hole there was quite a lot of grip and like many of the sections the ruts were not as deep as in previous years. Steve Kenny was having issues with his Liege and dropped nine before retiring a few sections later with a broken A arm and cracked axle case.

After a seven mile road run the trial entered Whinlater Forest for a concentrated batch of sections, starting with Sheepfold, which saw some high scores. John and June Blakeley were in charge here with John conducting a noise test for good measure. Roger Goldthorpe was best of the Lieges on 11 with both Julian Lack, and the shortly retiring Steve Kenny, loosing a full 12. The hill didn’t seem to suit lower powered cars as although there was plenty of grip there wasn’t a lot of run in to the initial steep slope.

Snow on the Hills

Climbing through the extensive forest, some of the overnight snow remained when cars got to Ullister Hill, to get their picture taken by Dave Cook. There was plenty of grip lower down the stoney track but the section continued when this gave out and it was muddy at the top. Only Dean Partington went clear to be the only car remaining with a clean sheet.

There were some superb views down to Bassenthwaite Lake on the way round the sections in this part of the forest, before the route retraced its steps, going back on the road for a short distance before entering Hobcarton Plantation. Everyone lost marks here but it wasn’t until Ladyside B that Dean Partington lost his clean sheet.

Dean didn’t loose any more marks until the penultimate forest section at Routens Romp, where fell Side had introduced a deviation into the trees for all, preceded by a restart for the higher classes. This was to decide the trial. Like most of the 7’s and 8’s Dean dropped nine here, while the leading (and non-restarting) lower class competitors went clear. As difficult as this section was for the higher classes Nick Farmer proved it was possible and this put him into the overall lead of the trial.

Sandale Decides the Winner

It was fitting that the final section at Sandale decided the winner of The Northern Trial. The higher classes had their usual restart in the mud. None of them could get away, costing Nick 3 marks and dropping him into third place behind James Shallcross and Michael Leete, who had made good consistent climbs all day.

All in all an excellent trial with good sections and plenty of marshals. Lets hope it will be better supported in the future.

Northern Trial Video Blog

2011-02-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

A Tale of Two Trials

2011-02-20T13:59:00.001-08:00

Did two trials in the A7 during February with very differnt results. The West Suffolk Holbecks Trial on 6 February went really well. We got up some hills and didn't finish last! It was a bit differnt at Falcons Brickhill event a week later. It was wet, muddy, we didn't do well and were well and truely last. Car went OK though!

Holbecks

Brickhill

Exeter Trial Report

2011-02-09T20:35:00.001-08:00

The sections didn't trouble to many people during the wet night, although Simon Woodall might not agree after being penalised for running back on Clinton. Come the next morning things got tougher and Woosten Steep and Simms combined to reduce the medal count.

As usual classes 7 & 8 had to tackle the full hill at Wooston after a very muddy restart. This made for a difficult challenge, especially for the early numbers and very few made the summit.

Simms was next and the old hill was on form this year and less than 20 cars crested the summit although there were some spectacular attempts and broken machinery. Simon Groves gave a spirited performance before the bottom pulley cried enough and disintegrated, much to the relief of bouncer Tony Underhill who was suffering from all the tyre smoke! Brian Alexander was another who came to grief when the diff failed on his Suzuki X90.

Things were running a bit late when the later numbers got to Slippery Sam and found the marshals had gone. However, the MCC credited them with a clean so it didn't adversely affect their results.

Clee Hills Video Blog

2011-01-29T04:11:00.001-08:00

Clee Hills Report - Draft

2011-01-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

Adrian Marfell wins Clee

It was a very close fight for overall honours, the top six all finishing a few points from one another. Pete Hart joined the top class eight contenders for overall honours, finishing fifth overall as well as winning Class 7, gaining the Boyne Trophy for doing so three years in secession. Pete wasn't the only Boyne winner, Keith Sanders joining him for his performance in Class 5.

The Clee used its familiar split route, albeit with some different sections. Clerk of the Course Adrian Tucker-Peake had hoped to reintroduce Hungerford but the exit track became impassable a few days before the event after an errant piece of farm machinery clipped a bank, bringing down more material than could be cleared in time.

The Long Mynd Loop wasn't a problem for the Higher Classes

Seven and Eight started with the "Long Mynd" loop which didn't present any problems to the main contenders until Priors Holt 1 where Dudley Sterry was defeated by the loose stones. Venturing out on the "Muddy Loop" the sump on Strefford Wood 1 didn't claim as many victims as usual and around half the 7's and 8's got to enjoy the long blast.

The traditional Meadowley section was next on the agenda. The ruts and tree roots only defated three cars but one of them was Simon Woodall who dropped four. If Simon had gone clean like his rivals he would have won overal, such is trialling!

Seven and Eight Start to Loose Marks

As the muddy loop continued the 7's and 8's started to loose marks. Pete Hart (Marlin), Adrian Marfel (Lancia Special) and Mike Chatwin (DP Wasp) were all clean when they arrived at The Jenny Wind. All three lost a single mark here to remain in a three way tie for the lead. This was was followed by the new, and unpopular Jenny Windout where Adrian lost 8, Pete and Mike only 7.

Mike Chatwin and Pete Hart drop marks to Adrian Marfell on the muddy Easthope 1

The results of the trial were finally decided on the very, very muddy Easthope 1 which Adrian cleaned, Mike dropped 2 and Pete 4. All the leading contenders cleaned the remaining sections so it was Adrian Marfell in his Lancia powered rail that won the Fray trophy, dropping nine marks, no doubt helped by having the experienced Giles Greenslade in the passenger seat. Mike Chatwin was second overall, dropping 10, Simon Woodall third on 11 and Pete Hart, Dudley Sterry and Dean Partington on 12.

A Muddy Start for the Lower Classes

The lower classes embarked on the muddy loop first and didn't fare very well in the clag. In particular Hilltop was a problem and nobody got more than a few yards, wallowing in the mud for an 11 or 12.

James Shallcross was in a class of his own amongst the saloons and older cars, winning Class 1 by a big margin, in particular showing everyone the way on Strefford Wood 3 and Easthope 1.

Terry Ball Looses his Boyne on the new Pinstones Section

Keith Sanders won Class 5 and a Boyne Trophy but Terry Ball lost his opportunity to do like wise when he failed Pinstones. This new section featured two hairpins on grass. The second one was very tight and competitors were allowed one reverse to get round. It was still pretty difficult, especially for cars that are a bit light on the front end. Sam and Mick Holmes won and all Beetle Class 4 and Vic lockley Class 6

Back at the Finish for an Early Bath

The efficient route and no lunch break meant an early finish and cars were back at The Craven Arms around 3 in the afternoon. So concluded another successful Clee Hills Trial. Some great new sections and some not so good. However, based on their past performance we can depend on the organisers learning from competitors comments and continuing to improve their trial year by year

Clee Hills Classic Trial - 23 January 2011

2011-01-24T00:07:00.000-08:00

The Start
The alarm clock rang at 03.00 and passenger Mike arrived at 4.15 for the 140 mile drive to Shropshire. Having made the journey a few times we have perfected the journey. Going up in the early morning we go M1, M6, M54, A5 to Shrewsbury, fill up at the garage on the bypass then down the A49 to start at Craven Arms.

Going down the A49 we noticed a lack of illumination, discovering that the NS dip had disappeared. We fixed that at the scruitineering queue and thereafter noticed the NS beam is much brighter. Time to change the OS as well?

Formalities over we had team and a bacon sandwich, meeting up with Neil, Dave and Mike (Pearson) who were out for a days marshaling, once I lent them our maps! They were to have been at Hungerford but this had been cancelled so they were diverted to Majors Leap.

Strefford Wood
Like last year we had two sections here, only this time they were the entree instead of the desert. The first one (Strefford Wood 3) is supposed to be a preview for the main section. It didn't stop us failing in the mud and clay and needing a Land Rover pull. This was a bad start as the others in our class got up so we were 6 marks down already! Strefford Wood 2 is the main affair, last year we floundered at the start. This time we got a fair way up but such is the length of this hill we still got a nine, about par for the class.

Pinstones
Marshalled by the VSCC this was a new section to me. A grassy slope with two hairpins, the second so tight we were allowed one reverse! We saw Terry Ball come down after failing the section so down with the tyres to 5psi. We were delighted to get a clean. It was tough though. Our attempt to get round without a reverse failed with a severe case of under steer. We backed up as far as we dare before a steep drop, gently on with the power and to our delight the Beetle just about kept moving. Once underway the rest of the section was pretty slippy, as was the exit track but we made it!

The Jenny Wind
Passing Hungerford there was a run of 14 miles to The Jenny Wind. We flew round the corner at the bottom and spun to a halt around the nine. About as far as I ever get!

Harley Special Test
I used to enjoy the old Harley Bank Special section but the track was resurfaced a few years ago and is judged to easy for a section these days. Various muddy diversions have been employed. This year it involved a special test where you had to reverse up one of these muddy side tracks. Unfortunately it was really slippy and I failed sliding into the marker, as did others!

Easthope 1
This section is usually about ground clearance, failing when the pan settled onto the mud between the ruts. Much to my surprise things were very different this year as the section had been regraded, the ruts replaced by a sea of very sticky mud. Tyres down to 6psi we gave it a good try but ran out of grip around the same place we usually ground out!

Hilltop
We saw Neil, Dave and Mike Hayward, who were marshaling on the Class 7&8 Majors Leap later in the day. Unfortunately we didn't impress them as we we couldn't get through the morass at the bottom and slid into the 12 marker. I don't think anyone in the lower classes did much better and I think the best was a 10 before classes 7&8 came along. The failure route was in fact the usual Ippikins Rock section.

Heywood Common
A nice new section, for me at least as C of the C Adrian T-P tells me he can remember driving it in his Pop. No problems getting up this really super traditional section but problems on the exit track when I found the handbrake couldn't be pulled up. We waited until we were on the tarmac before stopping where I found the cable had come out of the "extensions" I had fitted as the replacement cables were to long. A bit of fiddling got it back in although it was to pop out once more on the exit track from Priors Holt 2. I think adjusting it up will solve the problem but I will sleeve it as well just in case.

Castle Hill
Another lovely traditional section first used on last years event. No problems but really nice to drive.

Ratlinghope Special Test
After our trip over the Long Mynd came the Ratlinghope Special Test, involving a blast through a ford, with the heater vent shut off of course!

Far Gatten
This was Gattens Gamble in reverse. We had always wondered what the exit track would be like as a section! It looked very rough with some deep holes. In fact it wasn't as bad as it looked as there was plenty of grip and you could find your own speed.

Priors Holt 3
This is the section Mike and I ran a few years ago with this years Asst Clerk of the Course Graham Austin. Then it had a restart but not this time. We knew it had plenty of grip so we left plenty of air in the tyres and sailed up.

Priors Holt 2

Another section Mike and I had marshaled. The ruts have got deeper since then and a restart has been added. Never less we managed a clean although we struggled for ground clearance at times and bellied out on the exit track after section ends. Mike got out, I backed down a bit and we got out OK.

Priors Holt 3
Not so lucky here. We were defeated by the gradient and loose stones and spun out around the 4. Some of the other Beetles got to the 2 at least so we need to do better next time. I think the pressures were about right at 14psi but I need to concentrate on building more momentum on the lower reaches.

Finish
We signed off about 15.30, were on our way home around 16.15 and were home just before 19.00

Work to do on the car
Sort out the handbrake issue where the new cable is jumping out of the sleeve. Probably finding a hose about the right diameter and using that as a cover will do the trick.

Ride Height - I think the back has settled quite a bit and it could do with coming up about an inch. Job for the summer.

Pictures on Julian Robinsons Site

In Car Video by James Shallcross

West Suffolk MC Wattisfield Trial on 16 January

2011-01-21T12:24:00.000-08:00

We trailered the Austin Seven, stopping for a Red Lodge Breakfast on the way. The venue was pretty waterlogged and the dips where sections were on the 3-way last year were filled with water. I think it was touch and go if they held the event but It went ahead, with 5 sections on the grass around the paddock. Used the new Flip Video camera. Seems great. Reg Taylor took the shots of us.

We didn't win! In fact we were last but it was an enjoyable day. I was pleased that the new header tank arrangement seemed to work OK. When I blasted on some of the steep stuff the temperature went right up but the electric fan soon bought it down again. Also pleased the petrol tank held up as on Friday I found the plate at the bottom was leaking. It actually looked as there was a crack in the copper outlet pipe. I had obtained a new Triumph sender unit, which fits in the hole as its a Morris Ital Estate tank, so I cut the inside paraphernalia off, fitted that and it seems OK.


Since the last trial petrol had started to leak from a crack in this pipe.

My Exeter Trial

2011-01-12T11:32:00.000-08:00

With the bad weather and a Christmas cold the Beetle had only had a wash until the day before the Exeter. However, there was time to take the rear drums off and give the rear brakes a clean out and adjust. Other than that it was just a question of packing everything carefully ready for the off.

We were 2nd car on the road, leaving Cirencester at 9.29 after Nigel Jones in a Suzuki after his familiar Skoda was a write off after the Edinburgh. Neil followed for his second triual in the Escort mk2 he acquired last year with Dave Horn as passenger. As the night run was a Touring Assembly and it was not mandatory to follow the route we choose to go to the haynes Museum consolidation control following the TomTom. This cut the mileage from 88 miles to 62 and gave us more sleeping time! It didn't take us long to get scruitineered but behind us a queue built up all the way back to the road and must have been getting on for a 1/4 mile!

We didn't have to wait long at Meerhay and enjoyed this long opening section with the marshals huge bonfore half way up. It was a bit chaotic at the sumit. As we were pumping up a group of three or four bikes and a couple of cars came along from the wrong diresction and tried to drive down the section! Presumbaly they had route card problems, to be honest we did as well but I had pre programmed the night sections in the TomTom

On through the wet night Normans Hump, Clinton, Waterloo, Rill Path, Stretes (where the Dellow Register were marshalling) and Bulverton Steep didn't present any trouble.

The weather had improved by the time we got to breakfast at Exeter Services ehere we took on fuel for car and crew. The daylight sections started OK but we blotted our copybook by floundering in the mud ahere us lower classes turn off the main track on Wooston Steep. We failed Simms as well but that was a more honourable fail as we gave it our all and not many got up.

We look to be going well on Wooston Steep, we didn't have to restart, but still didn't get round the corner where us lower classes turn off the main track

Exeter Trial Video Blog

2011-01-12T01:31:00.001-08:00

My Allen Trial

2010-12-18T11:23:00.000-08:00

Its still dark as we fill up on the M5 before the start

Left Bedford just after 4.30 and had an easy run to Doynton via Buckingham and Oxford, joining the M4 at Swindon. Arrived at start not long after 7.30 to join a long queue for scruitineering that streched a long way down the narrow street. Not sure the locals will have enjoyed all those idling engines outside their windows when thet were expecting a Sunday morning lie in! The first few sections still had a bit of ice and we were doing well until we got to Big Uplands where we got round the corner but stopped at the three when we ran out of momentum, or was it ground clearance. It was a long reverse down! Most of the lower classes seemed to flounder here but I understand the Trojans went clear, well done.

We left the line at Guys Hill with the wheels spinning so didn't get very far. We had a bit of a delay on Travers when the Sierra had issues but a clear run through after that. We managed to clear the first two Ubley Woods sections but couldn't get the Beetle over the hump on the third.

Snow on the ground as we tackle the sections at Ubley Woods (picture by Pat Toulmin)

Enjoyed the Lakeside sections, I thought Pete Hart had made a good job of making the best of this venue. John Walker was as magnificent as ever, although the ruts have got a lot deeper since I last went up it 4 years ago. Lets hope it stays usable. Pleased that the Beetle ran well all day.

We made for home as soon as we finished and I was back in Bedford at 19.30.

Click Here for Allen Trial Report

Test from iPhone

2010-12-16T01:13:00.001-08:00

Test from iPhone

My Competition Year

2010-12-13T11:06:00.000-08:00

Trials

24 Jan - Beetle with Mike Hayward - Clee Hills Trial - Finisher

7 Feb - Beetle with Chris Bird - Holbecks Trial (West Suffolk MC) - Award for 2nd in Class
13 Feb - Beetle with Chris Bird - Northern Trial - Finisher
14 Feb - Beetle with Chris Bird - Falcon Southern Autos - Finisher
7 March - Beetle with Chris Bird - March Hare Trial - Finisher
13 March - Beetle with Mike Hayward - Stroud & DMC Mechanics Trial - Finisher
21 March - Dellow with Chris Bird - West Suffolk MC Trial at Wattisfield - Finisher
2 April - Beetle with Mike Hayward - Lands End Trial - Finisher
16 May - Beetle with Chris Bird - Ilkley Classic Trial - 2nd in Class award
2 Oct - Dellow with Mike Hayward - Edinburgh Trial - Finisher
10 Oct - Austin 7 with Chris Bird - Brickhill Trial - Finisher
7 Nov - Austin 7 with Chris Bird - Falcon Guy Fawkes Trial - Finisher
28 Nov - Beetle with Mike Hayward - Bristol MC Allen Trial - Finisher

Other Events

11 Apr - Drive Murrays Golf in CSMA Auto Solo

25 Apr - Passenger Murray Chelmsford MC "Gymkhana"

20 June - Drive Dellow in Falcon Tewin Water Speed Trial

12 Sept - Drive Austin Seven at Falcon Autotest

Boiler Blues

2010-12-07T07:03:00.000-08:00

Chaos Manor is a relatively modern place. Its a bungalow and was built about ten years ago. Lots of good things about that, a few bad, and one of those is the boiler. It's one of those new condenser thingies that you have to have now. Very efficient but not designed to last very long. No cast iron heat exchanger, lots of thin steel to rust through!

Not long after moving in, back in 2006, we decided to sign up to one of those British Gas maintenance contracts. Expensive, but worth every penny as it turns out. Shortly after signing up the boiler goes dead. The man comes, replaces the control board and all is well, for a couple of years.

Then one very cold morning there is no hot water, no heating, nothing. Its a sealed system and I noticed the pressure had dropped a bit. When the gas man comes he announces that the heat exchanger was leaking, they do that apparently, these modern ones are c**p!

He left a fan heater and comes back the next day with a replacement heat exchanger which it takes all day to fit. Apparently if I didn't have this contract it would have been cheaper to have a new boiler!

All is well for about a year, then a month ago we woke up and guess what, no hot water and no heating. The burner lights momentarily then shuts down. We call British Gas and the man comes the next day. Takes it all apart and can find nothing wrong. However, the electrodes look a bit worn so he replaced them, put it all back together and leaves the system working OK.

All is well for two weeks and guess what? We wake up to no hot water, no heating and the burner won't stay on. The gas man, a different one, comes the next day, takes it all apart, finds nothing wrong, puts it back together and it works. He did say however that there was a bit of dampness in the works but it wasn't coming from the heat exchanger and the system wasn't loosing any pressure.

All is well for a week, till this Sunday, when we would have been going trialling at Wattisfield if it hadn't been cancelled. Guess what, we wake up to know hot water, no heating and the burner won't stay alight. I call British Gas at 8.30 and just after 13.00 the Gas Man arrives, and yes this is Sunday!

Its the same bloke who came and changed the electrodes. I disappear and leave it to him for a couple of hours while he curses, swears and mutters to himself, fortunately at the boiler and not at us. Finally he announces that some plastic reservoir where flue gas goes through condensate water, is blocked up and overflowing all over the control board. He reckoned the muck came from when the heat exchanger was changed. He cleans it out, puts it all back together and leaves with the system working.

That was two days ago. We shall see......

Draft Allen Trial Report

2010-12-05T06:17:00.000-08:00

It was very cold, with a touch of snow on the ground, as competitors joined the queue for scruitineering. It stretched a long way down the narrow street. Not sure the locals will have enjoyed all those idling engines outside their windows when they were expecting a Sunday morning lie in! The first few sections still had a bit of ice and the rather gentle Tog Hill stopped a couple of the Front Wheel Drive cars. Alan Holly was one of these in a rather low Ford Ka, prepared for endurance rallying rather than trials. Despite the front of his car scraping the ground everywhere he carried on to finish the event. Lets hope he enjoyed himself enough to stick with the sport.

Bitton Lane was not Front Engine Rear Wheel Drive Friendly

For classes three to eight Bitton Lane is all about a restart on polished stones, sited on a left hand bend. This was definitely not class five friendly as none of the four competitors could get their cars away. It was clearly a front engine, rear wheel drive issue as 40% of Class three failed as well, including Aaron Haizelden in his Mexico liveried escort which is surely too nice to trial?

Only Trojans Clean Big Uplands

Big Uplands had an experienced team of marshals from Stroud and DMC. Classes 7 and 8 bypassed the section in the morning and would return for their attempt late in the afternoon. There were some big holes mid way up the section and these were a problem for some of the lower slung cars, including many of the Escorts. The big problem came after the ninety left corner, the momentum lost rounding this was sufficient for most to come to a halt, apart from two cars that is, Steve Potter and John Wilton in their Trojans. The ground clearance certainly helped but hats off to the skill of both drivers to coax their wonderful machines to the summit of this difficult section. A mention to the best of the rest who got to the two. Bill Bennett (MG J2), Dick Bolt (Ford Escort), Reg Salway (BMW), Brian Alexander (Suzuki X90) and Matt Facey (1976 Beetle). Also reaching the two were four competitors in Class One, Nick Cleal, Dave Haizelden, James Shallcross and Charles Knifton.

Retirements at Guys Hill

The historic Guys Hill was next. There are no corners but its polished stones and tree roots are more than enough to trap the unwary, especially with a restart for class six and higher. This was another hill that proved problematic for classes three and five although Keith Sanders (Reliant Scimitar SS1) made amends for an eight on Big Uplands to go clean. In Class 4 Michael Leete left the start with wheels spinning and paid the price, stopping at the five. The other Class 4 competitors all went clear although Colin Perryman was to go no further, retiring with unknown problems, as did Matt Facey in Class 6. The restart for the higher classes saw many of their clean sheets disappear as the old hill did its work.

Past Chew Valley Lake and bypassing Burledge the route went onto the A368 and up Cleeve Hill to Travers. The section wasn't too much of a problem if you didn't have to restart, but it was a different matter for those that did. Ian Davis, in his nicely rebuilt VW Buggy, lost his clean sheet here.

Steve Potter leads the Trial in his Trojan before loosing it on Ubley Woods 3

The three Ubley Woods sections were just up the track and these were to determine the result of the trial. The Yellows and Reds had to restart on Ubley Woods 1 and only Tris White (Troll) and Nick Farmer (Cannon Alfa) managed to go clear. Then, like everyone else, Tris failed the Class Eight only restart on Ubley Woods 2. This left Steve Potter in his Trojan the lead of the trial with the only clean sheet. Sadly he was to loose this on Ubley Woods 3 where he dropped three marks. It was possible to get up in a Trojan though, as John Wilton proved when it was his turn.

So, as competitors made their way back to Chew Valley Lake for the rest halt, the leaders were all on two. They were Nick Cleal and James Shallcross in their Peugeot 205's, the omni-present Dave Haizelden in his familiar Golf, Bill Bennett (MG J2) and Dick Bolt (Escort).

Nick Cleal and Bill Bennett tie for the lead. Nick wins on Special Test Times

These five were reduced to three when neither James nor Dick could get away from the slippery restart on Burledge. Then at the first of the two sections in the Lakeside Complex Dave Haizelden didn't get all the way out of the bomb hole and lost one mark. That left Nick Cleal and Bill Bennett in the lead on two marks and the situation remained that way till the end, victory going to Nick on Special Test Times.

Whilst this was going on the Yellows and Reds went to Big Uplands for their attempt, with Class Eight having a restart. Most of the leading contenders went clear but after Ubley Woods this didn't impact on the final results.

Another successful Allen Trial

The trial had its traditional finish at John Walker, a wonderful blast through the mud in the gathering dusk to conclude another excellent Allen Trial. Pete and Carlie Hart, Mark Tooth and the team are to be congratulated on preserving the traditions of the Allen Trial even though they have lost many "real lanes" over the years. In particular moving the Lakeside sections to their present location has been a great improvement and are a welcome addition.

You don't have to take the Carburettors and Manifolds Off to Change the Plugs

2010-11-26T03:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks to John White for the Info:-

Hi Michael,
Just seen your pic on twitter about having to remove the carbs to change the plugs. Have you seen these panels which you can fit to make life so much easier? http://www.hookyspanelshop.com/

Click on the panels button, then go to Miscellaneous, then look at the Hi Pacs...................there is even a how to fit them section. I realise its an engine out and a bit of welding and grinding but believe me they make life so much easier when working on plugs/carbs. Mine were fitted when I rebuilt the shell and I am very pleased with them.

Hope this is of interest to you, see you on Sunday

Best wishes
John White

Michael muses on his 2011 Competition Licence

2010-11-23T02:43:00.000-08:00

Received MSA Competition Licence in the post today. I renewed it online last year. There was no mention on being able to renew online in the bumf that arrived today, nor had I received an email from them.

So I had a look on the MSA website to find no mention of being able to get a 2011 licence online. 2010 yes, but not 2011. Is this because there won't be online renewal for 2011? Probably not, the probability is they just haven't updated the website yet. Anyway I have sent in my form snail mail with a good old fashioned cheque, written out with my fountain pen.

I look forward with great anticipation to the raft of benefits my £24 will bring me. I may have to wait a while as I did not avail myself of the £48 three day express handling charge.

Not sure if I actually need the b****y licence as I understand there are plans afoot to change the system to expand the scope of clubsport permits, we shall see.

Restoration Show at Stoneleigh

2010-11-03T06:11:00.000-07:00

Went to the Restoration Show at Stoneleigh the other Sunday. Its a one day do, with clubs and a big autojumble. The Y&C Club, Sidevalve Club and Buckler Register were all there with stands. Had a nice chat with Dave Malin about Ford Pop axles!

The autojumble seemed smaller than when we went last year but still worthwhile. Most of it was under cover in the cow sheds but some was outside. I got a few bits and pieces including some modern spark plug cable that looks as its the old braided stuff. Very swish. http://www.gsparkplug.com/shop/

Also saw dynamo refurbishment company which could be useful for the Y

Classic and Vintage Dynamos Ltd
Unit 7 Shirebrook Business Centre
Vernon Court
Vernon Street
Shirebrook
Notts NG20 8SP
01623 747666

Edinburgh Trial in Class 0

2010-10-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

Picture by John Salter

The Edinburgh has always been my favourite trial. Derbyshires fantastic trialling country and I would do the event just to have a go at Bamford Clough. However, there was no Bamford for me again this year as I decided to drive my sidevalve Dellow Mk1 again in Class 0 which omits this famous hill. Actually I am sure the car would get up. The issue is the risk to the back axle over those horrendous steps as the Edinburgh has become a very rough trial in recent years. I shall return to the back axle later!

Since last year I have had both the Petrol Tank and Radiator repaired and I am happy to report that neither leak any more. However, we had a lot of water on board just in case. Not much else had changed apart from moving the parking brake lever around the steering column so it didn't dig into my knee any more.

Leaving Bedford at half past midnight we had a nice run through Northampton and up the A5 to arrive at Tamworth Services just before 3am for our 4.38 start. Once away there was a fifty mile run to the holding control before the first section with quite a few of the more modern Class 0 cars zooming past us on the main roads. We had our only weather issues here on what was otherwise a glorious autumn trialling day. The problem was the clear still air allowed the mist to come down just before dawn and it was a job to keep the windscreen clear, especially as the wiper switch is the passengers side and he was asleep.

We had to wait on the road before Haven Hill while they extracted a Midget that had grounded out and got stuck. At the time we though it was Michael Weeks but it appears it was Colin Burridge. When it came to move down the track to the section there wasn't enough juice in the battery to start the engine and Mike had to give me a push start. Fortunately it was getting light by now so we didn't have to use the head lights any more and the battery was soon charged. The joys of a dynamo! As we approached the restart, where Don Stringer was taking pictures, we had to stop as there were three cars waiting for John Turner whose Lambretta was stuck and who retired soon afterwards. We weren't offered a baulk so when the section was clear we backed down a bit drove up to the restart and pulled away quite nicely. Looking through the results it seems some of our fellow Class 0 competitors weren't so lucky.

It was twenty miles to Deep Rake on sidelights. Looking at the amp-meter it looks like the voltage regulator needs a tweak as there was hardly any charge going into the battery. Without the lights it proved enough though and the engine started OK for the rest of the event. Deep Rake was only for Class 0 and some of the lesser sections. It starts on the track and deviates up a grassy bank with a restart on a left hander. It looked a bit slippery and I was a bit worried the tyres weren't low enough (we had reduced from our road pressure of 14psi to 12psi at the holding control before Haven Hill and planned to leave them at that for the event). I kept the wheels straight as I pulled away and although there was a bit of wheelspin I was pleased to get a clean.

The following Special Test was the same as last year, although the hole towards the end was filled with water after a few days of rain. As we weren't in the Beetle we slowed and eased though this so we didn't flood the engine.

After a quick break to check the oil and water we enjoyed a fair few miles of green lanning over quarry roads to get to Black Harry, attempted by all classes, including the restart and a 10mph speed limit, the first time I had seen that. Trojan driver John Wilton was in charge here and warned us of a big rock just around the corner. Apparently a Midget had grounded out on it and it had taken the marshal 20 minutes to push it off. Going to the left of the rock as directed we were delighted to get away cleanly from the restart for a clear. Some more green laning over quarry roads soon saw us at The Bull I'th Thorn for our breakfast. By this time we had caught up with a lot of competitors in the main trial as they had delays at the new section at Rileys Rise that had proved especially difficult for the motorcycles.

After a nice breakfast we had another look over the Dellow and gave it a little drink Mr Morris's best straight 30 as a reward for doing well. As always the car attracts attention if you remove the engine cover and we got into a chat with a nice chat from a Classical Gas reader from Lancashire. Well it was nice until I found he was a mate of the AH who reversed into me on thois years Northern in his Canon and didn't even say sorry. I asked him to pass on my fraternal greetings!

After the stop we set off for Litton, stopping in at the Tideswell Holding Control where we were soon told the section had been cancelled. We were disappointed, even though this would have been the former approach road, not the real section. We were disappointed , especially after we found that David Bache had a successful climb in his DellowCalton in our case, Bamford CloughDerbyshire and we had no problems.

Calton's restart on polished stones was to cause problems for quite a few competitors on the main trial. Even without a restart there were quite a few problems for Class 0, including Mike Westbrook in his Dellow. We know this hill very well and made sure we had plenty of momentum in the restart area and sailed up. We saw John Beaumont replacing a drive shaft on his Mini engined Reliant at the summit and were pleased to hear he went on to finish.

Picture by Jonathan Toulmin

Despite only just having breakfast it was soon time for tea and scones at Hollinsclough Village Hall. The main trial went off to tackle Rakes Head but we had a nice run through the countryside to Excelsior, where we were pleased we weren't going to have to restart on those polished stones, where I have failed to get away oh so many times in the Beetle.There were quite a few people we knew here. Alan Oakes and Pru Jarvis were marshaling the start and Don Stringer, John Salter and Jonathan and Pat Toulmin were taking pictures higher up. Again we had no problems, with plenty of momentum round the bends and going wide on the corner by the restart to stay out of the rough bit.

Last year we got lost on the way to Moneystones, missing a turning on to a nice bit of green laning. No problems this year and we were soon at the start of this Class 0 only section, with the genial MCC Secretary Peter Lawley in charge. We were pleased to restart successfully, enjoying this windswept but very pleasent section.

We had our first navigational problem on the way to Clough Mine 1, turning right at a crossroads instead of left. With this resolved we were on roads new to us, approaching the turning at Darley Bridge from a different direction than usual. Fortunately I knew this turning as it wasn't possible to see the "Enthoven" sign from this direction and a lot of people had problems finding the sections. There were two sections at Clough Mine, which is left instead of right at Tee as you approach Clough Wood. We only tackled the first one where Dave Cook was positioned to catch our first fail of the day. I think we could have got up the short, slippery bank had I been prepared to give it more welly. However, I wasn't and we didn't and that was that. The main trial did another section at Clough Mine and then Clough Wood itself, while we diverted into Darley Dale to get a sandwich at the familiar Texaco Filling station opposite DFS.

Back on the road we were soon at the Dudwood complex where there was a bit of a queue as most of the main trial were failing the first of two sections. As we were in Class 0 we only tackled Dudwood 2, or rather didn't tackle it as I tried to start in third and not fourth and couldn't pull away. At the time I rather resented the Chief Official for not giving me another go but after hearing how rough this section was and seeing the damage Ric hard Andrews did to his Dellow Wheel I rather think he did me a favour! looking at the results I see that neither Mike Westbrook or David Bache got up in their Dellows so I doubt we would have either.

There was only the Dudwood Special test left and we struggled up to get up the hill to the start. It was the same as last year. A right hander round a bollard, only this time it was very sticky after all the rain in the week. We went wide, so that we weren't pushing against the resistance of the turning front wheels, and were delighted to go clean. It wasn't easy though and Richard Andrews lost his Class 0 clean sheet here.

That was the competitive bit done. All we had to do now was drive to the finish and sign off. Then nip down to the hotel in Buxton for a quick nap before the club supper. It didn't quite work out that day as something broke in the back axle within sight of the hotel and we came home on a recovery truck the next day.

We still enjoyed our Edinburgh Trial and in retrospect I think there were groaning noices from the rear end even as we left home. We will return!

John Salters Edinburgh Trial Pictures

Brickhill - My first trial in the Austin Seven

2010-10-15T07:35:00.001-07:00

Michael and Chris pictured by Clair Oakes

The original plan had been to make the Sevens trials debut at the CSMA's Kensworth event in September. Kensworths smooth surface and relatively gentle slopes would have been ideal. Unfortunately it was cancelled through lack of entries so Brickhill would see it's first attempt at the slopes.

Apart from being very smokey I had been surprised at how well the little car had gone at the early September Autotest. However, there was some work to do. I had been running with an un-pressurised cooling system and there had been some overheating when some of the water slopped out on the corners. So I changed the hoses round so the radiator vented into the big reservoir on the scuttle, fitting that with a 4psi cap rather than the 14psi cap that had prompted me to run unpressurised in the first place.

I am not so sure this tank is necessary so reduced the flow using a brake pipe clamp. That would be a good test. Other than that I gave it a good check over and changed the oil in the diff. Even though I had replaced most of the brake components, including the handbrake cables, I was a bit dubious about the handbrake so I purchased a hydraulic version. Unfortunately I ran out of time so ran as it was.

The first hill was a revelation, we got up! I had been worried if such a little engine would pull up Brickhills steep slopes and was pleasantly surprised. The gearing seemed OK as well. If it has got a Ruby gearbox it may have preferred 17 inch wheels and I am running 19's.

The brakes were a struggle. The handbrake really didn't want to hold the car on the steep bits so I was having to use the foot brake. Simon Robson reckons I should consider extending the levers at the wheel end like he has on his Liege. I am going to stick to the Hydraulic Handbrake option.

I left the clamp on the water hose all day. Looks like I may be able to do away with that tank which would save around 25 lbs of weight in the middle of the car.

The turning circle was OK but I might let the front tyres down a bit next time as I was getting a bit of understeer.

We couldn't belive it had the power to get over that bank - Picture by Barry Walker

Click Here for Results

Lost my Custom "Tour de France" Ringtone on my iPhone

2010-10-13T06:48:00.001-07:00

I think i've found the answer

In "music" my ringtones had also been added but with a "!" next to the ringtone. When you click on this the message reads something like "cant find location"

If you delete all the ringtones in "music" (the ringtones in "ringtones" don't get deleted") then sycn the phone then all my ringtones transfered to my Iphone

Silverstone last Wednesday

2010-10-08T23:56:00.000-07:00

Spent the day at Silverstone last Wednesday with Neil while he took his new toy out for the first time. Its a 3 litre BMW E36 M3, an ex Khumo Racer that Neil acquired in the summer with a view to racing in CTCRC Pre 93 or the Toyo series. The occasion was a BMW Car Club Track Day on the old GP circuit, which I think they call Bridge.

The team unloading the car. Left to right - Mike, Neil and Dave. Alistair was there as well.

I had never been to a Track Day so was interested in the process. No scruitineering, overalls etc, although drivers and passengers, yes passengers, had to wear a crash helmet. There was a thorough briefing by a couple of instructors, including former F1 driver Mike Wilds. This laid down the rules. No overtaking in the corners, only overtake on the left, pull over and indicate to let faster cars past etc. The organisers had observers watcching what was going on and were quick to have a word with anyone who transgressed.

There isn't much recognisable in there

The car went well in the wet morning sessions and Alistair, Mike and Dave went out for passenger rides. I gave it a miss as its really not my thing. We weren't so lucky in the afternoon. The track dried out but no sooner than Neil got going than the car started to miss on acceleration. We had a look but with ECC's, a coil pack for each plug and fuel injection we didn't get very far.

It was a good day though. Neil likes the car so has to make a decision on what to race next year, and where. There's a bit of work though as being an ex-Khumo car it has plastic windows which will have to be changed to glass. There is a plan

Anti Freeze

2010-09-23T05:14:00.000-07:00

Don't have this problem with the Beetle but apparantly you mustn't put modern longlife, red, anti-freexe in old cars. Seems the blue is the stuff to have so have just ordered 5l of Bluecol. Seems old motors don't like OAT = Organic Acid Technology. They have to have IAT = Inorganic Additive Technology.

Spark Plugs

2010-09-23T04:29:00.000-07:00

Been collecting together a few bits and pieces to comprise the "take to the event" spares kit for the Austin Seven. Quickly found the plugs recomended are NGK B6HS. Decided to look at what I use in the Model Y and the Side Valve Dellow. The Y still has its Champion L10's in situ which I found are now replaced by Champion L86C's this is what is in LOC 827. In the Beetle I use BP5HS which is what Murray recomended many years ago when I got the 1300 engine from him.

Decided to order on line from http://www.sparkplugs.co.uk/ where I quckly found that the NGK equivalent for a L86C is a B6HS. So all the sidevalves use the same plugs! Decided to do a bit more investigation and found that the official plug for the Beetle is a B5HS. The difference being its a little bit colder and the one I use has a projected insulator. So in reality I can put the sidevalve plugs in the Beetle.

Here is the source of my knowledge. The first chart is NGK and the second Champion.

The worn chainring on Mountain Bike

2010-09-19T06:20:00.001-07:00

Biking has been on hold for a couple of weeks

2010-09-19T06:18:00.001-07:00

Started to have problems with the bike a couple of weeks ago when the chain started slipping. At first I thought this was the gear cable adjustment. In the process I found the cable was all frayed. Got that replaced with one from Halfords but soon found the chain was still slipping and no amount of adjustment would make any difference.

Closer examination revealed that the chain and middle chain ring were worn, really, really worn. The chainring problem seemed confined to the middle ring but that's logical considering that gets 90% of the use on my route.

Got a new chain and ring set over the Internet from Cycle Store, and fitted them with a few problems. All seemed well on a test ride but decided that with the chain and front ring being so bad all could not be well with the sprockets on the back and it would be sensible to replace the "set".

Rear sprocket set arrived last week, along with the necessary tool. All fitted now and should be back on the bike tomorrow.

Progress with The Austin Seven

2010-08-31T14:37:00.000-07:00

Got the brakes working. It has hydraulics with Morris Minor bits. In the end I replaced all the slave cylinders and the handbrake cables and all seems OK with them. I have oiled and greased everything and replaced the distributer. The last couple of days I have been working on a couple of wheels I got from Ebay. This is necessary because the car came with some great big wide 16 inch widened van wheels on the back with knobbly tyres. I have got some new tyres obhtained from Ross Nuten. The tank was totallt cra**ed up inside so I have sent that away to be sorted. They have had it a couple of weeks so I hope I get that back soon.

I am fed up with the Blog facilities at MSN and have moved here

2010-08-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

Lots and Lots of reasons. I don't think they want to continue the facility. Not only do they not develop it they take things away.