Following our President's ideal Land's End Trial in 'Triple' I thought that I would go and have a look at the Trengwainton Hill Climb course as it was Easter Monday today. I have put some photos (I hope) on the website to show what it is now like! It was 40 years according to my records , that our President took his 997cc Morris Cooper up in 27.10 seconds and won his class and 29 years since I last competed at the last event ( my first year was the same year as our President!)
I can say that the course was severley overgrown, but nothing seemed to be growing up through the concrete course. There were many pine trees where the spectator areas used to be, but these were now dying off so cutting them down would not be an environmental disaster. The start line marks are still there, I should remember them well as I used to set up the timing gear in the later years -----Just a memory???
John Lees
Those were the days John. The Lands End went to Lands End and a Hill Climb the next day rather than a couple of days in a hotel to recover! As a comparison to your pics click here http://www.leete.free-online.co.uk/gas97091.htm to see Jack Williams on the course in his Morgan on the course in 1961. Jack is till trialling, these days in PCT's in a Tempest. Michael
ReplyDeleteYes, I have quite a few photos taken at where the Morgan is shown, this is roughly the spot from where my first photo was taken but I was looking from the same corner but looking up the hill, in the second photo the morgan would be at the far end of the 'tunnel' of shrubs and trees. Roy Opie held the outright record at 21.71 set in 1965 , my best was 22.55 ,a 650 record maybe but Roy was on a 500cc machine. John Lees, Heamoor and only a mile away from Trengwainton!
ReplyDeleteBlimey John, you've made me come over all misty eyed ! As a Falmouth lad born & breed, Easter was always Bluehills on Saturday and Trengwainton on the Monday. The President, you and I must all have been there at the same time as I remember Roy Opie doing that run. I used to twizzle spanners for two lads both there and at St. Eval, one on a Gold Star, t'other on a Dominator. Did you do St. Eval too ? Wouldn't it be great if we could access Trengwainton again, how about as the final tie-decider, then finish at Penzance ? Much nicer than Newquay which these days counts as the A--hole of Cornwall, full of "lager louts" and "bimbo's" and not a decent restuaraunt in sight. SimonR
ReplyDeleteThere would be a lot of support for Trengwainton, with six inches of pine needles over the track it could be used as a special test without further work. I had to climb over a padlocked gate to get in, this would not have been put there be the hill owners, but by a house owner further along the access lane. Yes I did ride at St Eval road races in 1966 and 1967, my rear brake torque-arm broke at the end of the main straight in 1967 and nearly pitched me off due to the resultant locked rear wheel, must have been doing well over a hundred at the time, still have the drilled (for lightness) broken piece in a drawer in the garage as a reminder of what not to do! Roy Opie had a good draw for the grid in the 1966 Cornish residents race and was gone at the start, I was half way down and with a dragging clutch had to take an extra pace or two before bump starting the bike, managed to finish second to Roy in the end . G Boase from Falmouth was eighth on his Gold Star but did better in some of the other races. As for Newquay, I have to agree, I did go to Grammar School there in 1954 for six months before moving to Penzance. Penzance always seemed to have a magical name when I lived at St Columb, I still regard it and the surrounding area as a very special place!
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