I thought Pat and Jonathan put on a super trial, with some fascinating new, and not so new, sections. I really liked the little snippets of history in the route card, which send me scurrying for my copy of Wheelspin when I got home.
I was bouncing for Mike Hayward in his class 7 Escort Mk 3. This confuses people because Mike’s car is rear wheel drive, which is why it’s in class 7. He built it for autocross and when he retired from speed events wanted to keep using it so now it’s a trials car. It’s a bit tricky on all those re-starts but we have fun.
We hated Starvecrow, the first section. Not just because it was such a Mickey Mouse affair, weaving through the trees, but also because we needed a tow from the Land Rover. Personally I’m a track man.
For us this was the only blot on what was to be an enjoyable trial, despite quite a few problems with the car which dropped us back through the field and will probably earn us some "hanging back" penalties! We got up Allez Oop OK, but in a cloud of revolting white smoke and a slipping clutch. There was so much smoke we thought we had a fire but once the bonnet was open and the smoke had cleared we could see that these was oil everywhere and it had got on the exhaust. We couldn’t see where it was coming from so we mopped it up, put a bit more slack in the clutch and carried on. We didn’t ger any more smoke but we certainly had plenty of clutch slip but not enough to stop us getting round.
We enjoyed the previously un-trialled "Gatten’s Gamble". That’s the one with the collection of military vehicles. It was certainly a surprise with every sort of surface. We were delighted to get up, albeit at the expense of a puncture.
Like other Falcon members I was kept busy distributing flyers and have heard that one keen competitor dropped his entry form off on the way over to The Clee! I got the chance to meet Duncan Stephens and Kevin Barnes on the way round and to talk to quite a few other community members as well.
I have no idea who won what yet. Any ideas?
How was your Clee?
Michael Leete
First let me introduce myself. I am the guy with grey hair who bounces in the back of Derek Reynolds Volvo (Daf) 66. I agree with you that Jonathan and Pat along with all their hardworking team of marshalls etc put together an excellent trial. Our trial was a bit of curates egg, the low points being in the mud of Starvecrow and Hillside, the Volvo just can't cope with axle deep mud.. There were two highpoints for us in our rubber band car. We cleared Hungerford for the first time, Tony Branson only managed it once, so we are the second in the whole world. Gittens Gamble was amazing, by the nature of our transmission once we start moving we daren't ease up so consequently we spent much of this ascent going sideways. Our joy came to an end, however, when Derek was level with marker 1, it took five strong young men and a Land Rover winch to moves us up the next 10 yards, thanks for all your help chaps.Our next trial is going to in the lake district on April 1, a wonderful treat for us we only have to travel 60 miles from home, it is over 400 miles back home from Penzance. I hope as many people as possible will support this event as we would love it to become an annual event.ps: that's a nice picture of Tony and Sally.Fred Mills
ReplyDeleteI agree, an excellent trial. The results will be interesting. We stopped on starvecrow which was a pity. I got round the first part of the corner at 4 but my jacket collar concealed where the track went and we just went straight on into place from which the only way out was backwards. The new sections were terrific to drive and although both driver and bouncer were suffering from the flu's milder cousin the car had a great day and didn't break anything,Tony
ReplyDeleteCan I add my thanks to Pat, Johnathan and MAC for a really super, well organised trial. Great sections, non damaging, some very chalenging for class 8, sensible use of tyre pressure limits, well placed restarts and what views!!Lets have more events like this, I will be back next year.Stuart Harrold
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