Good news it actually thawed enough to wash the TR today in Exmouth, but its just started to freeze now. Hopefully warmer again tomorrow. Good luck and take it easy - now where is that list of jobs?
Posted on behalf of Ben :- Seeing as my message board membership requires your approval, I think it will be quickest if you post the following to Classical Gas - if you could it would be much appreciated!
Nicola now has a spare ticket for the Exeter dinner at the Trecarn hotel (짙12.50). If anybody is interested, please call her on her mobile, zero seven eight nine zero eight five six five zero one.
Sorry this is in the wrong sub-forum but I can't seem to start a new topic in Events Reports. Anyways up, here are a couple of URLs for a Class O thread on the Devon TRF Group's (DTRFG) open forum: http://devongtrf.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=124986&p=3&topicID=23916679&page=1#lastPostAnchor There will be more but I have been waiting over an hour for my short Simms Hill videos to upload to Webshots so won't have links available for some while - only half way done Well done to all the competitors, marshalls and organisers. A small group of DTRFG members went to spectate and Simms was indeed spectacular this year although clearly something had gone amiss further back as everything slowed up around 3pm at about which time we departed. Brian
Another report here: http://devongtrf.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=124986&p=3&topicID=23918845&page=1#lastPostAnchor Brian PS Any of the BMW F650 riders on here? I am interested in what tyres you were running and to ask how suitable the bikes are for MCC events.
I enjoyed my Exeter, but then I was in a closed car with a heater! In the worst of the freezing fog from Cirencester to Haynes neil Bray bwas having to stop every 5 minutes to scrape the ice from the windscreen. Seemed to be a trial of two halves, running pretty smoothly before Exeter and problamatic afterwards with big delays at Fingle (an hour for me, said be the marshals because a few of the Class 0's got into trouble and took a long time to clear). Then about an hour and a bit waiting for Tipley. I think some of the late numbers were so late they went to the finish rather than do the last couple of sections. My car went well on the hills and I cleaned Simms for only the 3rd time. perhaps this made me to confident because I then failed Tipley by going far to slowly and stalled on one off the steps in the restart area. Enjoyed reading the reports from the links Brian posted. How was your Exeter Trial?
I spent my Exeter at Fingle Bridge, not the world's most exciting section, but it gave an opportunity to take photos of almost all the Competitors, apart from the first few Motorcyclists which I missed. I have spent most of today uploading and tidying the Photos, which can be fornd at:- http://hoits.smugmug.com/Classic%20Trials/691060 I hope you enjoy them. As usual these photos are seriously reduced quality, If you want reasonable quality for printing drop me an e'mail. Dave Cook
Great photos Dave! We heard that there were problems at Fingle so, as the flow of vehicles slowed to a trickle, we decided to cut and run for home and a warm up! Some videos I took on my camera here. People were really trying! http://good-times.webshots.com/album/569590002JmTntC?vhost=good-times Julia Browne is looking for pics or video of her Wasp outfit - no 27 if anyone has any? Brian
Hi Dave , Thanks for posting the photos. Happy New Year! It was a cold Exeter! Trial wasVery good to us. We did spot you on Fingle and gave you a wave. See you soon, Next trial for us is the Cotswold Clouds Cheers Steve K
From Carl Talbot:- hi Michael , can't seem to get my ms account working to post on Gas [ maybe 'cos I is mac ] That was a cold run to Haynes , glad I wasn't in a special ! Could you post a bit for me on Gas , re exeter Best Regards Carl Big thank you to all the marshals , especially through the cold night ! Thanks to the organising team for a great trial Two points , which I hope are seen as constructive rather than a winge : Having never done a trial where timing has been applied , I find it hard to understand the benefit of having a penalty for early arrival at check points , all I experienced through the night was dozens of cars parked up on the side of the road , sometimes in less than ideal places . Surely this is not good p.r. for the MCC . It also seems to bunch up competitors , compounding any problems/delays at later sections . Is it not possible to schedule class O to arrive at Fingle after the main trial ? I hate to think what the length of delay would be if the weather was bad and Fingle became more than a pleasant scenic drive .
Good trial generally. The freezing fog from Cirencester to Haynes was particularly bad however in my open Troll I can get a gloved hand over the windscreen to clean the ice away on the move. Cannot say I was actually cold at any time but that is the wonder of modern materials and clothing. Getting clogged up with Class O at Fingle certainly slowed things down but if we had not had the hold up there there would have been a big one at Wooston Steep. I think Tillerton and Tipley are now well past their sell by dates unless some serious repair work is done. They are too rough for Class 8 let alone all the other classes. Simms was in very kind form and there was minimum red slurry on the run out of Slippery Sam. In fact the car was quite easy to wash on Sunday afternoon. Despite being nearly 2 hourss late after Fingle and wooston we actually signed off 8 minutes early. We must have been lucky as running at number 203 we only waited a few minutes to do Tipley. Good supper at the finish, shame almost no one could hear the awards presentation again. Well done the organisors. Stuart Harrold
In response to Carl Talbot's whinge about timing, and people parking up, could I just say that the organisers did their bit, but as usual, the competitors can't or could not be bothered to read their instructions. The last bit of the route to Haynes said "Please see page 9 for Control Instructions." in nice big easy to read letters.The first thing on page 9 said "On entering Museum site bear left in front of Museum Shop turn Right at end of building, follow perimeter of building to rear of Museum and join queue for scrutineering. After scrutineering continue clockwise around Museum building and park. Enter Museum Shop hand in card for time to be recorded." Got that now? Come to Haynes, then get scrutineered, then park up, relax, and then, only when your time is right, drift gently into the shop to get your time. RTFI mate!
Simon are you sure Carl was only talking about Haynes ? The instructions for the other time controls were not as explicit and I for one didnt want to arrive early at Musbury or Exeter Services to find the time check to be on the way in.
We had a great day in our 205, although we failed Normans Hump at the hump, failed Simms 1 metre before the Section Ends board, and failed Tipley. Conclusion was more speed required at the start of each section and try to fly round the corner on Simms as fast as possible! I've seen people talking about the best line to take for Simms, most seem to say staying left is best and a few favouring the right, it being dark by the time we got there I couldnt really see the track in enough detail to follow any particular line so through no choice of my own we ended up following the middle ground.
The delays we experienced actually kept us fairly close to our times throughout the day, i think we signed off about 10-15 minutes late at almost 7pm, after helping out another 205 competitor who had run out of spares! We stuck one of ours on their car to get them back to the Trecarn Hotel, and then headed home. Thanks to all the marshals and organisers, I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
I watched at Clifford Sheds Special Test for a while - surprising how many people either had no idea what to do at all or were frantically looking at the back of the route card there and then.
I agree with Simon about Haynes and did excatly as he indicated. Same at Exeter as we knew the control would be inside the building. The problem for us was Musbury, where along with twenty or thirty others, we parked up at the side of the road about a mile from the garage. Good job we did as there would not have been room on the forecourt. I think Carl is right and we should learn the lesson. Could have had a no penalty for early arrival here or found a way to buffer 30 or 50 cars somewhere. Michael
Nah - you need a navigator like mine. No real idea where we are going. Certainly no idea where we've just been. And definitely no clue as to what the time is, what time is required, or what time it should be . . . and going on the last week, actually not really got any idea on what day it is . . . he was ready to come spectate/marshal LAST weekend . .. and then caught some severe winter bug so didn't . . . So we'd have had no problems at all with parking up anywhere . . . ;-) Feeling rather left out, reading the tales of derring do - yeller Dutton is currently parked up in the dark contemplating what's it's done wrong in letting all it's rear axle lubricant out via the offisde rear brake . . . we'll be back - although John has a real cunning plan to thrash the lot of you on the Ilkley . . . Bri
Had a really good time this year despite the cold. Thanks to the Cornwall start point being move we only had 81 miles to do in the scheduled 4 hrs! still we drove very slowly with no other cars about and listened to some cool relaxing music. Everything ran well in the night with no hold-ups at Meerhay which is why I guess every one arrived early at first time control. I recon you have to have an ETA otherwise you can just keep making up time and if you do get a problem then you have an excess of time to fix it - after all its supposed to be a reliability Trial with penalties if you run late ( assuming its you fault and not overall lateness of the Trial) - well that's my take on it.
Ran well all day with only a dent in a rim from Wooston restart area and claiming a Gold - not that it was that easy !
I have posted some video on You Tube - have a search on WingsW or TR7
Thanks to all organisers and Marshals - looking forward to the next outing
In defence of Class 0 & Fingle - delays to the main event, upon sections which are shared by Class 0 are usually blamed upon this less competitive group of vehicles/competitors. Looking at this rationally you are introducing 68 more vehicles into the main event and then withdrawing them again. The overall timing would have allowed for this. Upon the day, Class 0 arrived late at Fingle. This creates a squeeze effect with cars from the main event and Class 0 arriving at two per minute. Two ten minute delays would see a queue of 40 vehicles plus the initial queue. None of us like delays and orchestrating a smooth running event is utopia. The conditions on the day had an effect upon timing and I note nobody blamed Class O for the delay at Tipley. Some of the people in Class 0 are our sports future, who for the time being are learning without being in the main event. Delays aside we had a GREAT time. Nobody mentioned what a vintage year it was for the Pasties at Ilsington !
Thank you for the defence of Class 0, I was one of those that "held up Fingle" etc etc. This was my 1st MCC event and only my 2nd trial, so next year I will be entering and having other go up Fingle. Hopefully cleaning it! What a event, thanks to everyone that helped out. Cheers
Tim Whellock, Clerk of the Course, says thanks very much for all your comments. Its all very useful information. A lot of hard work is put in by the organising team and the marshals and its nice to know that, in the main, the competitors enjoyed their 'day'. We did too. In the discussion about Class '0' and the Fingle delay may I add that Windout, the Class '0' section just before Fingle, was particularly tricky with a sheet of ice formed on the corner just beyond the restart - new for this year. All classes would have struggled with this. So the Class '0' competitors became spaced out (!) and arrived at Fingle having missed their half an hour time gap that falls between motorcycles and cars. We do try and accommodate Class '0' as best we can to minimise any disruption but it wasnt only Class '0' that were stopping on Fingle. Just wait till you see the results! Keep your comments coming please.
In case nobody noticed, the first Friday and Saturday of 2009 were 2nd and 3rd of January. Perhaps a bit close to New Year's celebrations for volunteers to turn out especially in the icy weather? Should be back to normal in 2010.
Good news it actually thawed enough to wash the TR today in Exmouth, but its just started to freeze now. Hopefully warmer again tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteGood luck and take it easy - now where is that list of jobs?
MikeW
Posted on behalf of Ben :- Seeing as my message board membership requires your approval, I think it will be quickest if you post the following to Classical Gas - if you could it would be much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteNicola now has a spare ticket for the Exeter dinner at the Trecarn hotel (짙12.50). If anybody is interested, please call her on her mobile, zero seven eight nine zero eight five six five zero one.
Cheers,
Ben
Sorry this is in the wrong sub-forum but I can't seem to start a new topic in Events Reports. Anyways up, here are a couple of URLs for a Class O thread on the Devon TRF Group's (DTRFG) open forum: http://devongtrf.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=124986&p=3&topicID=23916679&page=1#lastPostAnchor There will be more but I have been waiting over an hour for my short Simms Hill videos to upload to Webshots so won't have links available for some while - only half way done Well done to all the competitors, marshalls and organisers. A small group of DTRFG members went to spectate and Simms was indeed spectacular this year although clearly something had gone amiss further back as everything slowed up around 3pm at about which time we departed. Brian
ReplyDeleteAnother report here: http://devongtrf.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=124986&p=3&topicID=23918845&page=1#lastPostAnchor Brian PS Any of the BMW F650 riders on here? I am interested in what tyres you were running and to ask how suitable the bikes are for MCC events.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed my Exeter, but then I was in a closed car with a heater! In the worst of the freezing fog from Cirencester to Haynes neil Bray bwas having to stop every 5 minutes to scrape the ice from the windscreen. Seemed to be a trial of two halves, running pretty smoothly before Exeter and problamatic afterwards with big delays at Fingle (an hour for me, said be the marshals because a few of the Class 0's got into trouble and took a long time to clear). Then about an hour and a bit waiting for Tipley. I think some of the late numbers were so late they went to the finish rather than do the last couple of sections. My car went well on the hills and I cleaned Simms for only the 3rd time. perhaps this made me to confident because I then failed Tipley by going far to slowly and stalled on one off the steps in the restart area. Enjoyed reading the reports from the links Brian posted. How was your Exeter Trial?
ReplyDeleteI spent my Exeter at Fingle Bridge, not the world's most exciting section, but it gave an opportunity to take photos of almost all the Competitors, apart from the first few Motorcyclists which I missed. I have spent most of today uploading and tidying the Photos, which can be fornd at:- http://hoits.smugmug.com/Classic%20Trials/691060 I hope you enjoy them. As usual these photos are seriously reduced quality, If you want reasonable quality for printing drop me an e'mail. Dave Cook
ReplyDeleteGreat photos Dave! We heard that there were problems at Fingle so, as the flow of vehicles slowed to a trickle, we decided to cut and run for home and a warm up! Some videos I took on my camera here. People were really trying! http://good-times.webshots.com/album/569590002JmTntC?vhost=good-times Julia Browne is looking for pics or video of her Wasp outfit - no 27 if anyone has any? Brian
ReplyDeleteAnother report here: http://devongtrf.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=124986&p=3&topicID=23918845
ReplyDeleteHi Dave , Thanks for posting the photos. Happy New Year! It was a cold Exeter! Trial wasVery good to us. We did spot you on Fingle and gave you a wave. See you soon, Next trial for us is the Cotswold Clouds Cheers Steve K
ReplyDeleteFrom Carl Talbot:- hi Michael ,
ReplyDeletecan't seem to get my ms account working to post on Gas [ maybe 'cos I is mac ]
That was a cold run to Haynes , glad I wasn't in a special ! Could you post a bit for me on Gas , re exeter
Best Regards
Carl Big thank you to all the marshals , especially through the cold night !
Thanks to the organising team for a great trial
Two points , which I hope are seen as constructive rather than a winge : Having never done a trial where timing has been applied , I find it hard to understand the benefit of having a penalty for early arrival at check points , all I experienced through the night was dozens of cars parked up on the side of the road , sometimes in less than ideal places . Surely this is not good p.r. for the MCC . It also seems to bunch up competitors , compounding any problems/delays at later sections . Is it not possible to schedule class O to arrive at Fingle after the main trial ? I hate to think what the length of delay would be if the weather was bad and Fingle became more than a pleasant scenic drive .
Good trial generally. The freezing fog from Cirencester to Haynes was particularly bad however in my open Troll I can get a gloved hand over the windscreen to clean the ice away on the move. Cannot say I was actually cold at any time but that is the wonder of modern materials and clothing. Getting clogged up with Class O at Fingle certainly slowed things down but if we had not had the hold up there there would have been a big one at Wooston Steep. I think Tillerton and Tipley are now well past their sell by dates unless some serious repair work is done. They are too rough for Class 8 let alone all the other classes. Simms was in very kind form and there was minimum red slurry on the run out of Slippery Sam. In fact the car was quite easy to wash on Sunday afternoon. Despite being nearly 2 hourss late after Fingle and wooston we actually signed off 8 minutes early. We must have been lucky as running at number 203 we only waited a few minutes to do Tipley. Good supper at the finish, shame almost no one could hear the awards presentation again. Well done the organisors. Stuart Harrold
ReplyDeleteIn response to Carl Talbot's whinge about timing, and people parking up, could I just say that the organisers did their bit, but as usual, the competitors can't or could not be bothered to read their instructions. The last bit of the route to Haynes said "Please see page 9 for Control Instructions." in nice big easy to read letters. The first thing on page 9 said "On entering Museum site bear left in front of Museum Shop turn Right at end of building, follow perimeter of building to rear of Museum and join queue for scrutineering. After scrutineering continue clockwise around Museum building and park. Enter Museum Shop hand in card for time to be recorded." Got that now? Come to Haynes, then get scrutineered, then park up, relax, and then, only when your time is right, drift gently into the shop to get your time.
ReplyDeleteRTFI mate!
Simon are you sure Carl was only talking about Haynes ? The instructions for the other time controls were not as explicit and I for one didnt want to arrive early at Musbury or Exeter Services to find the time check to be on the way in.
ReplyDeleteWe had a great day in our 205, although we failed Normans Hump at the hump, failed Simms 1 metre before the Section Ends board, and failed Tipley. Conclusion was more speed required at the start of each section and try to fly round the corner on Simms as fast as possible! I've seen people talking about the best line to take for Simms, most seem to say staying left is best and a few favouring the right, it being dark by the time we got there I couldnt really see the track in enough detail to follow any particular line so through no choice of my own we ended up following the middle ground.
The delays we experienced actually kept us fairly close to our times throughout the day, i think we signed off about 10-15 minutes late at almost 7pm, after helping out another 205 competitor who had run out of spares! We stuck one of ours on their car to get them back to the Trecarn Hotel, and then headed home. Thanks to all the marshals and organisers, I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
I watched at Clifford Sheds Special Test for a while - surprising how many people either had no idea what to do at all or were frantically looking at the back of the route card there and then.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Simon about Haynes and did excatly as he indicated. Same at Exeter as we knew the control would be inside the building. The problem for us was Musbury, where along with twenty or thirty others, we parked up at the side of the road about a mile from the garage. Good job we did as there would not have been room on the forecourt. I think Carl is right and we should learn the lesson. Could have had a no penalty for early arrival here or found a way to buffer 30 or 50 cars somewhere. Michael
ReplyDeleteNah - you need a navigator like mine. No real idea where we are going. Certainly no idea where we've just been. And definitely no clue as to what the time is, what time is required, or what time it should be . . . and going on the last week, actually not really got any idea on what day it is . . . he was ready to come spectate/marshal LAST weekend . .. and then caught some severe winter bug so didn't . . . So we'd have had no problems at all with parking up anywhere . . . ;-) Feeling rather left out, reading the tales of derring do - yeller Dutton is currently parked up in the dark contemplating what's it's done wrong in letting all it's rear axle lubricant out via the offisde rear brake . . . we'll be back - although John has a real cunning plan to thrash the lot of you on the Ilkley . . . Bri
ReplyDeleteHad a really good time this year despite the cold.
ReplyDeleteThanks to the Cornwall start point being move we only had 81 miles to do in the scheduled 4 hrs! still we drove very slowly with no other cars about and listened to some cool relaxing music. Everything ran well in the night with no hold-ups at Meerhay which is why I guess every one arrived early at first time control.
I recon you have to have an ETA otherwise you can just keep making up time and if you do get a problem then you have an excess of time to fix it - after all its supposed to be a reliability Trial with penalties if you run late ( assuming its you fault and not overall lateness of the Trial) - well that's my take on it.
Ran well all day with only a dent in a rim from Wooston restart area and claiming a Gold - not that it was that easy !
I have posted some video on You Tube - have a search on WingsW or TR7
Thanks to all organisers and Marshals - looking forward to the next outing
MikeW
A few video clips from Tillerton and Fingle. You can watch them in higher definition if you watch them individually.
ReplyDeletePlaylist: CLICK HERE
Tillerton 1: CLICK HERE
Tillerton 2: CLICK HERE
Tillerton 3: CLICK HERE
Tillerton 4: CLICK HERE
Fingle: CLICK HERE
In defence of Class 0 & Fingle - delays to the main event, upon sections which are shared by Class 0 are usually blamed upon this less competitive group of vehicles/competitors. Looking at this rationally you are introducing 68 more vehicles into the main event and then withdrawing them again. The overall timing would have allowed for this. Upon the day, Class 0 arrived late at Fingle. This creates a squeeze effect with cars from the main event and Class 0 arriving at two per minute. Two ten minute delays would see a queue of 40 vehicles plus the initial queue. None of us like delays and orchestrating a smooth running event is utopia. The conditions on the day had an effect upon timing and I note nobody blamed Class O for the delay at Tipley. Some of the people in Class 0 are our sports future, who for the time being are learning without being in the main event. Delays aside we had a GREAT time. Nobody mentioned what a vintage year it was for the Pasties at Ilsington !
ReplyDeleteAttachment: In defence of Class 0.docx
Thank you for the defence of Class 0, I was one of those that "held up Fingle" etc etc. This was my 1st MCC event and only my 2nd trial, so next year I will be entering and having other go up Fingle. Hopefully cleaning it! What a event, thanks to everyone that helped out. Cheers
ReplyDeleteTim Whellock, Clerk of the Course, says thanks very much for all your comments. Its all very useful information. A lot of hard work is put in by the organising team and the marshals and its nice to know that, in the main, the competitors enjoyed their 'day'. We did too. In the discussion about Class '0' and the Fingle delay may I add that Windout, the Class '0' section just before Fingle, was particularly tricky with a sheet of ice formed on the corner just beyond the restart - new for this year. All classes would have struggled with this. So the Class '0' competitors became spaced out (!) and arrived at Fingle having missed their half an hour time gap that falls between motorcycles and cars. We do try and accommodate Class '0' as best we can to minimise any disruption but it wasnt only Class '0' that were stopping on Fingle. Just wait till you see the results! Keep your comments coming please.
ReplyDeleteIn case nobody noticed, the first Friday and Saturday of 2009 were 2nd and 3rd of January. Perhaps a bit close to New Year's celebrations for volunteers to turn out especially in the icy weather? Should be back to normal in 2010.
ReplyDelete