As you know the morning conditions defeated class 5. Jeff Buchanan couldn’t get his Reliant round the corner, he was really stuck and we had to go and ask the farmer for help and he came with a Mitsubishi 4WD but even that struggled and it was more than 30 minutes before we got him out of the section.
Then David Bowlas got his Midget stuck in the same place but we managed to turn him round in the field and gave him a run at the section. However, he half slipped of the bank on the escape road and in the end, the only way we could extricate him was to lower him down the bank with a rope and winch (the farmer’s idea).
The farmer bought along his JCB and scrapped the mud of the hairpin, coming down to a stone surface.
When the class eights came along most of them got round OK and those that didn’t 3 point turned and made it without assistance. However, there were some nastys on the escape road and when Andrew Martin slipped off into the barbed wire on the section itself we had a group meeting with the experienced competitors in the queue and decided to call it a day!
How was your Clee (I would really like to know as I need a lot of help for my report!)
Michael
It was nice to do the Clee again. After my hot car experience on the Exeter Jonathan Toulmin very kindly lent me his Marlin. Unfortunately my experience of efi power was a little tempered by a persistent misfire (why do I have this effect on cars?) but it was still great fun. Our ascent of Allez Oop was truly spectacular with the engine only working intermittently but when it worked did it work. The acceleration we got on some bits of the section was breathtaking. It was a pity that 2 sections had to be cancelled but I'm sure it was a wise decision. All in all an excellent trial Tony
ReplyDeletenever made the start....poorly!
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about the Clee was the weather and the magnificent views over snowy landscapes. We thought we had a good day in the Troll dropping 25 marks until I heard that Ade Marfell had dropped just 4 marks in his class 4 VW! As usuall a very good road book with lots of information. We mastered the Longville special test this year by rolling well back behind line BB. The two Easthopes were muddy but interesting and we got a long way up Jenny Wind. Harley Bank 2 was just too slipery for us and we only made a 10. Meadowley Wood has well passed its 'use by' date in my opinion, just a rutted quagmire. Hungerford Steps was fun but the route out just stupid with the mud and deep ruts, most clss 8 cars in front of us had to be towed out! Phil's Folley was, I agree with Michael, very dangerous, we slid sideways on the adverse camber after cleaning the hill and had to have the car manhandled over the bank to stop it rolling sideways down the bank to the start. I am pleased it was cancelled for the later runners as I think there could have been a nasty incident there. Medlicoot was just too rough the way we attempted it, we had to wait nearly an hour at the bottom by the ford while earlier cars were extracted from the hill, we cleaned it but badly damaged the steering when we hit an unavoidable huge tree root in a rut about a foot deep. Lets all use it the other way around next year. But the best for us came last, Allez 'Oop, the scenery was just great and the run out from the top of the hill super, this will be my lasting memory of the 2005 Clee. Well done Johnathan, Pat and the team. Stuart Harrold
ReplyDelete