Looking through the Lands End results I wasn't suprised to see that all cars were "clean" through Trungle Mill. I expected the restart to be on the sharp right-hander.
What did suprise me was that around 30% of the bike entries failed this section. I can only assume that the conditions were much worse early on.
I'd be interested in their comments - any bikers out there on the community ??
Not a biker comment but... Knowing what it had been like in previous years I left the tyres at 'road' pressures (25+psi in a fully-loaded Marlin) and my 'pace notes' suggest that this was a bit ambitious. I think if it had been much muddier we would have had a 'moment' or two getting off the restart even if it was straight and almost flat.On a similar note, whilst on a recce for the Stroud Anniversary Trial I attempted a track in the Cotswolds with a hard-packed, but polished, stony surface - a bit like Bull Banks for those who know the Cotswold Clouds. I'd been up several weeks before in a 4x4 with road tyres without any trouble but on the day in question it was raining slightly and there was a thin skim of mud above the stones. The Marlin wasn't in trials trim, I had no ballast, air bottles or foot pump, so didn't want to let the tyres down. My attempts at getting underway on the virtually flat start were comical, and I almost taught my right foot the meaning of the word 'trickle', but it just goes to show that gradient is not everything when considering the difficulty of a trials hill. Suffice to say that we're now trying to work out how to incorporate that particular section into our route - with tyre pressure restrictions of course!Andrew
ReplyDeleteWhat you have to remember is that although Trungle Mill is fairly flat, it is quite sticky towards the top. In a well balanced car, when it gets sticky, you just turn up the juice and blast on. If you do this with a bike, it gets all crossed up, and you fall off - even where the ground is flat.And when you fall off, that is considered to be a fail - most unfair of the MCC!
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