Chairman at Full Chat

It seems Spring has fully sprung, so I hope everyone enjoys the welcome longer evenings. As the national classic trials scene heads towards its Summer break, we have a good programme of our own and other local events to look forward to.

No club events of our own in April but several members were either competing or marshalling at various locations on the MCC’s 101st Lands End Trial over the Easter weekend. Results have not been finalised yet, so can’t give a shout out for club members’ performances.

Marshalling on Crackington with a sprinkling of fellow club and committee members, meant an early start, with the first competitors due around 4.50am. Nigel and I had taken a look on the Thursday to see if we could do something a bit different, it was limited what we could do but we formed a bit of a deviation and put a restart on some steps. The prolonged rain on the Friday and a cracked pipe near the top of the section meant we had a constant stream of water washing the section out all day. It was tricky for the bikes though, we saw several caught out on the section. A long morning as it was gone midday by the time the section closed.

Next up is the Northgate Sporting Trial on Saturday 17th May at Ashleigh, Lifton, which for the first time is a BTRDA round so hopefully this will be well supported. Unfortunately we have had no end of issues with our bank recently, so whilst Mike and Jan continue to work hard on the solution – which I’m sure you can imagine is no easy task when it’s becoming more and more difficult to speak with someone to sort these kind of things out, we are running this event as ‘cash on the day’. Hopefully by the time the summer events are here we will be back online. 

All for now
Simon R

Important: Please note our Chairman’s comment above regarding cash payment for trials entries. The Executive Committee emphasise that this situation is entirely of the bank’s making, and the finances of the club remain as healthy as ever: – Editor


Never say never again!

Simon Oates finds he is doing the Land’s End Trial, after all

The Liege was going to driven by someone else in the Land’s End Trial this year, but they decided to do other things over Easter. This resulted in me entering the trial (I’d said no more MCC trials after the 2025 Exeter and my dismal performance on that day) and wondering why I did it!

Paul Price from Gloucester who is an owner of two Lieges and is also a well-known Sporting Trials competitor, offered to be my wing-man. He drove down to Egloskerry on Friday, had a gourmet lunch (stew) lovingly prepared by my wife Alison and got ready for the start of our 24 hour trial. Waterproofs were called for, even with the roof up and we departed north to Rob Haworth’s farm near Bude for 8.30pm  with Rob and Elizabeth’s Liege leading the way, and John and Natasha Early sandwiched in the middle with their car, while Rob and I were back-marker.

The rain was persistent as we trundled towards the start at Bridgwater. Probably the most dangerous part of the trial was when we followed the M5 from Tiverton to Bridgwater, where the three of us had dropped to 42 mph on the motorway and I was tail end Charlie. John Early’s car had developed an intermittent engine fault and wouldn’t go any faster and every time a lorry went past it provided a lovely cold shower in the cars.

This wasn’t a good time for my rear fog light to fail and luckily it didn’t. Bridgwater reached, topped up with fuel and through scrutineering at the Rugby Club, we mingled as we waited for the official start 4 hours and 40 minutes behind the first bike.

Whilst surveying the cars in the car park I spotted the closing car of Rex Ward, a nice little white Suzuki Jimny with black door handles. Out with the microfiber cloth to dry the doors and black gaffer tape to cover the door handles both sides to slow them down and give the last cars a bit more time if they broke down. Knowing Rex, he’d recycle the tape on something else!

Competitors had been issued with a lanyard and a too big control card that had to be cut down to fit comfortably (I folded mine in half – Ed) which had to be pierced / stamped at control points, including the start. The rain had eased a little as we approached the handbrake test and control card point at Walfords Gibbet, which caused no issues but a few miles further along and much higher up we ran into a bank of thick fog which slowed progress for a few miles to eventually clear and on to Felons Oak (1) with hardly any queue!

The section had been smoothed, which took the shock out of last year’s section and reduced the challenge. Left through Luxborough (why?) and passed a car on fire with attendant fire engine before Wheddon Cross. Onward on the coast road to Lynton and into Barbrook for a splash and dash in the garage, control card stamp and cup of tea before moving on to Beggars Roost (2).

By now the rain was intermittent and John Early’s car had a spark plug change as it was still struggling and barely got to the restart. Once exited, we followed the route of lovely driving roads (even better in daylight) through Simonsbath and towards Barnstable and peeled off the A39 to Riverton (3) for a rough initial part of the section and a restart which was completed.

Unfortunately John and Natasha Early decided their car was too erratic to continue and retired to make their way back to Rotherham . We made the executive decision to remove the hood as daylight broke which inevitably caused a few short sharp showers which we ignored. Just in time for the first Observed Test (OT1) at Yollocombe where I nearly missed the turning off the main road.

More great driving roads interspersed with L, R and SO markers to aid the vehicles on to Sutcombe (4). I was half expecting the river to be badly flooded, but it was only a foot deep. We cleared the section and restart before parking up for a wonderful bacon butty and cup of tea. The next stop was at Wicketts Garage in Bradworthy for another splash and dash and a packet of mini eggs for John on the pumps (his favourites).

Off to the A39 again and Wooley Holding Control before moving on to Darracott. A very long wait which was beginning to take its toll on Paul, so I explained that this was probably the least I had queued on an MCC trial for many years (and there weren’t many later either!) With no restarts on the hill, the delays were unexpected. It was at this point that Paul pulled his favourite folder from the floor and found the heat from the exhaust had burnt through one side – sorry Paul! It seems his woolly, thick socks that were worn to keep his feet warm were doing the opposite ie insulating his feet from the exhaust and keeping them cool. As I write this I have just ordered more heat insulation in an attempt to get the heat away from the passenger foot well.

Once the section was completed, all bikes and car classes 6, 7 & 8 were diverted to Cutcliffe Lane (6A) with a restart only for class 8 cars. A bit rough but easier without a restart. Once out of the top we made our way through Bude where we saw the nationally famous kilt wearing litter picker doing his thing with a supermarket trolley nearly full of litter (what’s this country becoming with so much litter?).

Route check and stamp at Widemouth Bay and along the coast through Millook and Dizzard to Crackington (7) and a sneaky little restart. The unusual local climatic conditions had appeared again at Easter with a clay slide onto the track that entertained the crowds and another bag of Mini Eggs was sent flying through the air for Nigel Cowling at the restart.

Breakfast stop at the Wilsey Down Hotel was welcome and two large Cornish Breakfasts were consumed and another stamp obtained to prove we were there. A bit of a queue at Ruses Mill (OT2) due to all classes using a single-track lane and zig zag hill for two completely separate tests (why can’t they be the same to save on marshals?). From here in gorgeous weather, we toured Bodmin Moor through Minions and on to Warleggan (8) for a restart for 6, 7 & 8. We seemed to hit it correctly and fly up through the section.

Great country roads on through Bodmin and towards Wadebridge for Eddy’s Branch Line (9 & 10). Last year there had been an over two-hour queue, but this year there was none and it had been made into two sections with our restart cancelled on section 10.

Both were cleared with ease, so we continued following the excellent route book instructions with a glorious spirited drive through the lanes to Perranporth Holding Control for another stamp in the control card. We were allowed to leave when we wanted and continued towards Blue Hills for the final, possibly hardest, two hills.

There were about 40 cars in front and both hills were in action and taking scalps along the way. Classes O and R were again mixed in with the main trial which slows down the later cars but no matter we had to do what we could to clear the two restarts. The route book showed all the positions of the restarts on the two hills which I can’t say I agree with. Part of the fun of trialling is expecting the unexpected on a section!

Paul and I had agreed to count down from three and for him to bounce on zero as I let the clutch out on the first restart. It seemed that the timing was good but Paul later said that my steering was pointing to the left and the car bogged down in the mud in the bottom left and we barely moved. I turned the steering right and left, and gunned it which didn’t work so dropped the revs to nearly stalling and gave as much bounce down on my spinning rear wheel as I could. A miracle happened and the car suddenly found traction and powered out of the section and then stopped on the line at the end with marshals attending both sides. Relief swept over us with just Blue Hills 2 (13) left to do.

With virtually no waiting we were attacking the section and turned left into the restart to see two deep holes that previous restarts had dug. I tried to get to the right of them, but the car slid sideways into them – bugger. Into 1st gear and out with the clutch where the car just drove up without any hiccups.

Shocked that it was so easy, I forgot to stop astride the finish line and quickly reversed back over it. There were no marshals on the line which would have reminded me to stop if they were there. Not the best way to muck up a trial but such is life!

We waited to watch a few more finish the section with Rob & Elizabeth Haworth flying the hill in their Liege before we carried on to the finish at the Inn for all Seasons where we signed off and handed our control card and numbers in.

The planets all lined up for a thoroughly enjoyable trial which followed the previous two excellent trials. Well done MCC for the improvements which provide more great memories for us all to cherish of the trials. There were a lot of marshals out in variable weather for long stints at their stations – what heroes, thank you for all your time and effort, you are much appreciated. Thanks also go to all the land-owners and everyone involved in organising and running the trial including the tea and cake ladies and gents.

Land’s End Trial marshalling with John and Vivien Turner, and Thorn the collie

Having elected not to compete the Land’s End this year, I contacted Tim Flooks and offered to marshal for Classes O,and R at Treworld, Tim came back to me PDQ and said yes please but could I possibly see if anyone else might be available to help: sweet talking to Vivien did the trick and we were a team. A couple of days later the marshals’ pack arrives (goodies as well as marshals’ kit) for three marshals, so I think there must be someone else that’s volunteered.

On arrival at our hill at a very civilised 9.30 am it soon becomes apparent that although there is a need for three marshals, there wasn’t actually a third person!  What are we to do?

Fortunately we own a Collie dog and everyone knows Collies can organise anything so Thorn was immediately signed on, with one small caveat, he would only do it if he had a comfy chair and a blanket, these were soon provided and he became the start marshal’s assistant to Vivien, which meant I had to walk up a very steep hill to run the restart point.

Not long before the first competitor arrives on a motorbike. He’s way ahead of his scheduled time, and saying I don’t want to do the restart, I’ll just ride through, so before things had got going properly we had our first failure, I think the cold night air or sausage and egg overload had got to him.

Shortly after the early class R cars started to arrive, looking rather pristine, a large clutch of Morgans and a beautiful Fiat 125 Spider along with several MGs, it’s all going rather well until Vivien announces over the radio that the course-closing car has arrived!
At this point we’ve only seen one or two class O competitors and it seemed a bit harsh to close the hill so early, fortunately Vivien talked the occupants of the course-closing vehicle into giving it a while, so they came up past me and disappeared and waited around the corner somewhere so as to allow the rest of the competitors through.

From down around the corner I could hear a familiar high revving sound and Mark Gregg’s little Austin 7 appeared (looking well loaded) did a perfect restart and disappeared over the hill, soon to be followed by Werner Boeykens and his son in a Citroen 2CV van!

They stopped as required, pulled away a few yards and then the engine cut out, requiring the reverse of shame all the way to the bottom of the hill in order to take a run up, sorted.

We were now running short of competitors so when the closing car made its second appearance we felt obliged to close the section, allowing us to have a very enjoyable picnic at the foot of the hill which raised a few eyebrows with passing dog walkers. 

I think Werner was possibly one of the longest distance competitors, coming all the way from Belgium. On Monday he posted on the MCC Facebook page that he had arrived home at 11.00pm on Sunday night having covered 2100 Kilometres in the 2CV, which hadn’t missed a beat and at one point had reached 55mph (from experience it must have been a bit loud in the cabin), The things people do in order to compete.
J.T.

Turner goes to Taunton: the County Classics Motor Museum

John Turner channels his inner Enid Blyton as four go mad in Somerset

Andy Prosser had been to the County Classics Motor Museum a couple of months ago and his enthusiastic reports had triggered a few of us expressed into also going, so Andy , Joe Caudle , Mike Wevill and myself did a little bimble up the M5 to Taunton.

The museum is in the town centre with all the usual shops either side of it: the frontage is not particularly big but once you go through the doors it a bit of a Tardis. A very nice lady on reception wasted no time in relieving us of our entry fee and then gave us a brief explanation of the layout, not that it was necessary after all we had Andy, our personal tour guide.

As we had arrived mid-morning he wasted no time in taking us straight to the  café (priorities)  whilst waiting to be served our very nice coffee we observed a man clearing the tables, in no time he came and introduced himself, it was Patrick the owner and founder of the museum, there was obviously no hierarchy here just muck in and do whatever needed doing.

Patrick gave us a run down about the museum and his life-long passion for motors which had started when he was in primary school, by the age of eleven he had his own car and was capable of rebuilding an engine.

Once we had topped up on our caffeine we started to explore, in total there are I think four floors of exhibits, not just cars but a very diverse range of motorbikes: scramblers, racers, grass track outfit and of course some of Italy’s finest scooters (bonus point). 

One car that caught us out was a factory-produced, Alfa Romeo-powered, Nissan Cherry:  Andy and I were certainly scratching our heads over that one.

Obviously we were drawn back to the café for lunch and again for afternoon coffee and home-made trifle: sometimes you just have to do it. This was a brilliant day out without having to travel too far, the exhibits were first class, the museum didn’t have the sterile atmosphere of some of its bigger competitors, and I can’t remember ever seeing so many wall plaques related to just about all things motoring. Well worth a visit.

https://www.countyclassicsmotormuseum.co.uk/book-tickets/#

Editor’s adventures

Richard Simpson does a round trip to the Land’s End Trial

Rode off to the start on my Beta X-Trainer into the face of a ‘severe weather warning’ for rain. It turned out to be correct.

I took last year’s ‘assembly’ backroads route from Launceston across to the Bridgwater start, passing the aftermath of an horrific car accident. It looked like a small hatchback had gone into full earth/sky mode, and it was on its roof with the doors cut off, and an ambulance parked by the side of the road. Grim!

On to the trial. All the bikes, except two, start in front of me. Got rained on all night, crossing the high ground of Exmoor at a cautious pace. Never ride faster than you can navigate, and you can only navigate slowly when your route-book holder has misted up.

Some sections went better than others. Had vowed to ride more aggressively, and as a result overshot the restart at the very short first section. Did better through the night, but overshot the ‘stop’ line at the first special test.

The the sky got less dark, and I could hear birds singing over the sound of the Beta’s exhaust. The rain stopped. Things were looking up!

Then I got to the ‘bikes and top class cars only’ Cutcliffe Lane, marshalled by Lisa and family, which I failed, along with most of the rest of the motorcycle entry. I’d left the ‘failure’ instructions on my edited roadbook: a premonition?

Just as well, as I was able to lead the two guys who failed before me back to the route and into Bude.

Home territory now. I ended up in the bank a bike’s length from the section ends at my local hill at Crackington, which was sad. A groan of disappointment from the spectators. I had enjoyed the chicane/restart, but where did that clay at the top of the hill come from?

On to Warleggan. I have only ridden this hill twice, and I’ve fallen on it three times! I vowed to be more aggressive this year, and it worked, right up to the restart. The obvious route was to the right, but this was occupied by the (elderly) flag marshal, who was sitting on a camping chair right on the desired line! So I went left, spun up on the restart and fell over. The bloke who picked me up helpfully told me “The better line is to the right,” got the flag marshal to move, and then I rode out the way he had suggested.

Don’t forget to thank the marshals!

Then the sun came out. Eddie’s Branch Line had (thankfully) been revised from last year to give a straighter start, and split into two sections. But it was like riding through 100 tonnes of melting coffee ice cream. I footed at the first, and the bike sank to the point where my feet were on the ground for the second. So, that’s a double fail!

The bikes do one more section before Blue Hills, while the cars got straight there after the last route control. So, the cars had made the predictable mess of Blue Hills 1 by the time I arrived, and I footed.

On to Blue Hills 2. It was hot now, and I queued for ages on the slope, stewing in my waterproofs and thermals, while the Ford Escort Owners Club took turns to get towed up the hill. I was holding the bike on the back brake (engine compression wouldn’t hold it), and my right foot and leg were slowly going numb while I enjoyed the aroma of Ford Pinto exhaust fumes and tyre smoke. At last, the final Dagenham Rust-Bucket was dragged out of the way, and I had my shot at the hill.

All went well until the restart, when I couldn’t find the back brake with my numb foot, and the front brake couldn’t hold it. So I slid out of the box.

Fought to the top and parked…and a little girl plucked at my hand and said: “I thought you did really well!”

Bless her.

Rode to the finish at Redruth, where an MCC man said that they had been seriously concerned in the weeks before the event that it was so dry that it would be too easy, so had made the sections as hard as possible. Then the weather broke, but the course had been approved so they couldn’t change it. Eddies Branch Line 1 & 2 had been closed to most of the car entries as deemed undriveable.

After that, all there was to do was ride home…I arrived almost exactly 24 hours after setting out, having spent about 20 of those hours perched on the X-Trainer’s saddle. Strangely, although I was one of the last bikes to leave the start and I don’t recall overtaking anyone on the road, it seemed that at least 20 bikes arrived at the finish behind me.

A fantastic event…great support from fellow entrants and spectators, and a big thank you to the marshals and officials. I’ve even forgiven the bloke on the restart at Warleggan. And I met Chris ‘skids and wheelies’ Northover from the Bike World YouTube channel. He was doing the event with his wife, brother, and stepfather. What a lovely man, and his family are lovely as well.


Footnote

Congratulations if you’ve got this far, and sorry it’s taken so long to get this larger than usual newsletter out. Next month: We’ve got another trial report from Simon O, this time from the passenger seat, with Nigel Cowling driving the Flora Trial in the Leige, plus some kit and equipment reviews from me, plus anything else that anyone decides to contribute. More tales from the Land’s End welcome, plus reports from other events always wanted, along with technical content, especially car-related: richardsimpson94@yahoo.co.uk

John Turner has been hard at work on this month’s newsletter. After six and a half years, he is stepping down as the newsletter editor, so please make sure to give his last edition a read.

https://mailchi.mp/6f4f8f018829/lncmc-newsletter-march-2025

John Turner has prepared this month’s newsletter to kick off the new year. Give it a read by following the link below;

https://mailchi.mp/0e113c3dc6d6/lncmc-newsletter-january-2025?e=6f0e3e5002

Welcome to the May newsletter, don’t we just love our motorsport or to put it another way, “ another Lands End Trial that I failed to start”. You really couldn’t make this stuff up, you think you have done everything correctly, no corners cut, ticked the boxes, dotted the I’s, I even bought the Beret. and somehow the lord of the gremlins put’s his bloody great foot in it and declares “you will not go to the ball (or hills).

At the beginning of the Easter week I went out in the 2cv and did some 50 or so miles handing out programs and doing the PR work, got home put the car in the garage and declared it “fit to go”. Friday morning of the ill fated day I go out to the garage to find the car won’t start, this turns into one of the longest days of my life, lunchtime with still no joy, Andy Prosser and Joe Caudle arrive to assist with the reluctant tin snail. We between us spend the rest of the day trying all manner of things to get it started, NO, at 8.00pm I’m shattered and have to phone navigator Phil to give him the bad news, he took it well but deep down he was cursing all things French and probably muttering a few  French words and I don’t mean Chardonnay. Many thanks to Andy and Joe in doing their utmost to get things going, next year !!.
To make up for our disappointment on Saturday morning Vivien and I took Phil and wife Margaret down to Bluehills for a bit of spectating, at least we were able savour some of the event. For those who were wondering the fault lay in two dodgy pistons with the rings stuck firmly in them causing a drastic loss of compression, hey ho.

A few photos from The Lands End.

Lorraine doing her official observing, making sure anyone who needs a bit of help gets it.

MARSHALLING ON BLUE HILLS 2024

Well Easter Saturday can only mean one thing !! Easter eggs ,spring lamb ?? No don’t be silly it has to be Bluehills on the Lands End.

No matter the weather come rain or shine (we’ll come to the rain later) that’s where we’ve been over the years spectating, competing or latterly marshalling.

My Grandfather in the 1950/60 s use to sell pasties from his baker’s van on this hill every Easter Saturday, always ready to grab an opportunity to earn a shilling.

Lorraine’s dad competed in 1955 on a motorbike & sidecar only to vow “never again”.

We arrived on the hill at 8am to find chief marshals Norman & Yvonne Tonkin  had already arrived, with jobs allocated, by which time a steady stream of marshals were arriving & with them the first of the many showers of the day.

By 10.30 the first bike was on the hill thereafter a steady flow followed, tired & weary some took the section in their stride others unfortunately the tiredness got the better of them, with our trusty strong marshals at hand the bikers were soon uprighted back on their way again.

Within 3 hours the first car was on the hill & made it look easy but it wasn’t long before the failures came thick & fast, with Bluehills living up to its reputation as “ the stopper”. The sight of so many competitors wearing  LNCMC hats  was lovely to see.

Around 5.30pm the queue for BH 1 was getting longer & longer, with issues on this section the decision was made to close here at 6pm.This was the time the rain came in & boy oh boy did it rain accompanied with high winds .

The queue was slowly progressing to BH2, by 7pm the light was fading fast & the weather had turned even nastier, Norman said that we should endeavour to keep the section open for as long as possible to give everyone in the queue a chance of attempting the hill, as long as being safe to do so.

Now 7.30pm and in the dark , brollies being blown inside out, in all the years this had to be one of the worst weather conditions we’ve known .The only benefit of the rain it made the hill  easier for competitors but not for marshals who were struggling to see competitors numbers & keeping the score cards dry.

At 7.45pm the decision was made to close the hill but as we drove down to close the gate to the hill the course closer was in front of us, so everyone in the queue had an attempt at the hill.

Now in the dark we dismantled the signs, fencing etc but it got so bad the Tonkin Team went back out on Sunday morning to collect the rest.

At 8.45pm (13 hours door to door) we arrived home cold very wet to a hot bath followed by a hot cuppa “ansum”.

WE know you can’t spend Thank You’s but it is always appreciated by the marshals, without these people the sport will not continue.

Would we do it again!! ABSOLUTELY YES
Thank you
Andrew& Lorraine Rippon

No Andrew isn’t being sponsored by Green Flag he’s signalling that the hill is clear for the next competitor, note the LNCMC Hi viz.

——————-What’s on

Committee meeting Thursday 16^th May, Fox & Grapes , Lifton. 7.30 pm.

Sunday 18^th May Northgate Sporting Trial at Ashleigh , Lifton. This is a great venue and a chance to watch unique sporting trials cars in action, if you are able to marshal Mike Wevill would love to hear from you 01566 784451. If you are coming to watch for the first time it will be arrowed from Lifton so just follow the arrows.

Lanson Steam Rally May 25^th, 26^th 27^th  at Altarnun, this is a big event with attractions for all the family, our club will be having a stand there, if you are able to help on the stand for a few hours it would be very much appreciated.

Testing Trial Sunday 9^th June, regs out soon.

Spry Sporting trial Sunday 15^th June, regs out in a few weeks.

Simon Oates reports on this year’s Lands End Trial
100^th Lands End Trial Friday29^th & Saturday 30^th April 2024

At last after several administrative hiccups, it was the 100^th Lands End Trial and down West it was starting from Launceston Rugby Club which is just over the River Tamar in Cornwall. A great new start point with plenty of parking and as many facilities as anyone may need – good choice. With the trial starting also at Cirencester and Popham, there were some logistical concerns about over 400 vehicles entered and taking part in the trial. Once all three starts were off (we started at 19.58 car 328), we made our way to Bridgwater Rugby Club on the pre-arranged route for the real start. We made use of the facilities here for 1 ½ hours before our start at 00.28 (or is it 12.28?) and left with the rest of our team (Oggy, Oggy, Oggy) with Simon Riddle (327, Dutton Melos) leading the way and Darren Ruby (329, BMW 318i) holding the position of rear gunner, just in case.

The weather was holding with a mostly clear sky and partial moon, so we followed the route to Fellons Oak where we joined the first of many queues and the longest I’d seen there in the last 14 years. A bit of a surprise as this year there were no restarts or Vegetable Oil for any classes. Once we completed the section, we decided that the recent horrendous weather had certainly impacted the hills condition for the worse. During the night my front passenger mudguard let go causing surprisingly strong braking to the side of the road. Lashings of Gaffer Tape was applied to hold it together for the rest of the trial.

None of the other sections overnight were worthy of mention and we topped up with fuel at Barbrook. Whilst there, we helped John & Natasha Early replace a front wheel bearing on another Liege which wouldn’t have been possible without Rob & Elizabeth Haworth carrying a spare one and a builders bolster provided by the wonderful garage (one of your neighbours has it if it hasn’t returned). We left Barbrook in daylight with most of the Class O cars in front but critically, the closing car behind. It was very slow, (you get used to long queues on certain trials) but once we were past the terracotta cat on the roof and the crocodile we knew that Beggars Roost was just ahead. Cleared by most I expect and through Barton Steep with yet another easy restart, we ploughed on towards Riverton from a different angle (normally come under the main road to access it).

We waited behind Toby Parkins & Tobi Crowthers’ Citroen Ami (class O and not the modern electric one!) for the most entertaining moments of the trial. He took off from the start and dropped off a ledge which caused most of his exhaust to come out of the side and then be driven over and dragged by a security chain all the way to the top of the hill. Why oh why didn’t anyone have their camera rolling, I’m still aching thinking about it. He retrieved the system at the top of the hill, chucked it in the back and carried on. Truly a man with the right attitude! Turns out he has a BMW 1100 bike engine in the car as well and it sounded better without the exhaust.  Easy restart duly completed by us and off to Sutcombe and long queues where again there was an easy restart. We didn’t stop for refreshments at the top as we were so far behind, so we carried on to Bradworthy and a top up of fuel at Wicketts Garage who have supported the trial as far back as anyone can remember! Next on to Gooseham Holding Control where there was no queue due to no restarts for anyone on Darracott. From Darracott we looped north on lanes that normally are used to link local sections and Wargery Wood and its restart had been put in one of these lanes. From here we joined the Atlantic Highway to Bude and then Widemouth Bay Route Check where sometimes we are held if the next section is busy.

No holdups and off to Crackington where there was only a restart for class 8. By now we were running tandem with Jonny Smith and his film crew for the Late Brake Show and they were running a Kia Picanto press car (the Pi & o had been removed) which he took great pleasure telling us that in welsh, cant meant 100 which we thought very appropriate for the trial. He said they only put a sump guard and van tyres on the car and thought they’d give it a go – what could possibly go wrong? He went on to clear Crackington, is this the next car for everyone? We managed to do the same as Jonny and crew, then on to the special test and finally Brunch stop at Wilsey Down Hotel where we decided it was time for the roof to make a brief appearance. A well-deserved break and Cornish Breakfast was had by most and we were told Warleggan in the afternoon had been cancelled due a medical emergency so we drove on to Ruses Mill for a tarmac restart on the section (normally class O & R section only) followed by another Special Test just above the section.

Once completed we followed directions to Warleggan and then on to Eddy’s Branch Line for a further queue of 1 ½ hours after it had been shortened when they decided that class O couldn’t do the section. Class O then moved en mass to Blue Hills to form another orderly queue. I spoke to some of the MG Day Trial starters from Wilsey Down who were in the queue and it turned out they had originally been told they would start at 9.00 which then changed to 1.45 pm and 6 hills to do. They were queuing for their 2^nd hill which was then cancelled and told to go to Blue Hills. That would be 2 hills for the day trial!! The section was truly muddy and slippery, but we navigated the first slope and two corners and drove towards the last slope that had caught many cars out. I kept the speed up, maybe a little too fast and took off without clearance from ground control and landed near the finish and over the line to see a lady shaking her head and saying “you’re all bloody mad”. Who are we to disagree? Car still intact (unlike quite a few), we passed 6 cars blowing up their tyres (we kept ours at 12 psi throughout the Trial) and continued with the instructions to Perranporth Holding Control.

As the rain started to build, we were told to carry on in our own time to Blue Hills. A queue much much longer than I had ever seen greeted us as did the opening of the heavens. Occupants of some of the houses were trying to get out but were well and truly blocked in by all the cars (I thought Holding Control was there to stop that?). It didn’t take long to decide it was roof time again for us but most of the other open top vehicles seemed to have their large Parasols up! (I’d forgotten to pack mine for the Cornish sun). I’d never seen so many cars in front or behind on the hills and progress was slow enough for the water snails to overtake us while we waited.

I gave Simon Riddle (from our team) a call to see how he was doing only to find he had broken his prop shaft at Eddy’s Branch Line and was at home in Gunnislake sunning himself. Eventually Blue Hills 1 was cancelled but the heroes from the gym of rope pullers couldn’t have done more to try and keep the hill open. Also, commiserations to all that cleared the hill only for it to be struck from the results. Some of the videos certainly showed near impossible ground conditions and true commitment from within the cars and externally by the marshals. The queue now started to move and as we got nearer the start we started to wake up to the extent that Steve Moir (the 24 hour bouncer) leapt out of the car and started pulling the roof off. “Whoa, Whoa” I shouted, “it’s bloody soaking and I’m knackered”, I know it would make a better picture without the hood, but who in their right mind would stay out in all of that to take a picture – more of those heroes I talked about is the answer!

Steve stopped, a little disappointed and pushed some of the poppers from the roof back in place. His enthusiasm for bouncing remained high and helped propel us off the restart and astride the finish line. Special mention to the Blue Hills team that kept the hill going and open after 7pm as mentioned in the amendments at the start. Had none of the sections been cancelled, another 2 + hours would have been added to the trial and it would have been totally unreasonable for them to have stayed open. Our other team mate and rear gunner Darren Ruby finished the trial with his suspension ratchet strapped together for all of the daylight hours of the trial and may have had a bumpy landing at Guy’s. We left for the finish at Mithian and played wing man in the dark behind one of the MG boat tails who seemed to have candles at the front and nothing to the rear. A few excursions slaloming the white lines and even up to 15 mph at one point, we managed to protect their rear end until we signed off at the Miners Arms. A horrendous trip back to Launceston with the A30 closed and then reopened after we had done a re-route. Fantastic lightening, strong winds and biblical rain are quite an experience in a Liege!

We must be thankful that personnel were prepared to step in and take the reins after last years witch hunt. An ominous task for anyone to do and especially for a new team that included some last minute key changes. Thanks to all involved for organisation, marshalling (unbelievable dedication for 10 hrs+), Land owners, venues, local clubs and anyone else involved that made the event happen.

In my opinion the Trial had to be dumbed down to ensure that everyone had a chance of finishing. This meant less or easier restarts, fewer challenging sections, a poor selection of available hills with little to challenge experienced drivers probably until Eddy’s Branch Line near the end. Expect record numbers of medals won as a result, ouch, that will hurt the piggy bank! Cancellation of sections for whatever reason will always have an impact on value for money especially if they are the harder sections. Overall the feedback in the media has been fantastic with no mention of where I felt the trial was underperforming and I respect those opinions. There is now clearly a massive difference between an MCC event and any ACTC trials in so many ways and maybe the only way to experience a true trial is to support and enter your local ACTC motor club events and compare. I do question how the MCC plan to go forward with their three Classic Trials as they seem to have lost some of their direction especially over the last 8 years which is doing no favours to the club’s heritage and its past pioneers. Maybe this is due to changing legislation, HSE and the woke brigade but I thought that last year’s LE event had improved in several areas and certainly a better selection of hills but then it had the carpet pulled from under it.
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Our chairman Simon Riddle brings us up to date.

Last month, we got the newsletter out just before the Lands End Trial, so a short rundown as it seems a while ago already! Mixed fortunes for the committee competing on the 100th edition, Simon O with (another) gold and (another) class win, Andy B was happy with his bronze on his outfit, Darren and Ashley also gained a bronze even if complete with bit of a headache and a well strapped up car to get it! Richard was a little disappointed to only be able to do a very small number of sections on the day event. Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the iconic Blue Hills as the large step at Eddy’s Branch Line put us out of the trial but luckily the section is less than an hour from home and we did get back in the dry (huge thanks to passenger Chris’ wife Jackie for coming to the rescue). John T with the worst luck though as I am sure he’ll brief us on the 2CV gremlins. Thanks to all the volunteers and marshals to put an event of that scale on. Since then we had a well attended committee meeting at the Fox who were once again very welcoming.

The trialing season begins to quieten now ahead of the summer break. Brighter evenings, a chance for other hobbies, holidays etc, that said – our spring and summer programme of events is shortly underway.

Saturday 18th May is the Northgate Sporting Trial at Ashleigh, Lifton. We had originally ear marked a new site we have been granted access to for this but a month ago the weather still wasn’t on side so it was decided to play safe with a familiar venue and run a separate small event on the new site at a slightly later date, all to be revealed in due course. Following this we will again be having a club stand and exhibiting at the Launceston Steam Rally over the late May bank holiday weekend (25th-27th). If you are free and could bring a vehicle along then we would be delighted to hear from you, no need to be a committee or club member the more we can share the weekend around the better. Then into early June will be the Carr Cup, a testing trial style event when where we can accommodate all ages and machinery. Also, we are hoping we can run another summer run, Joe has a route in mind so will look forward to that and putting a date out in due course.

All for now,
Simon R
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More L E from Richard Simpson
A Comedy of Errors

After one of the best motorcycling experiences of my life riding the Daylight version of the Motor Cycling Club’s 2023 Lands End Trial, I determined to spread the joy and get my two brothers involved for this year and the 100^th edition of the event.

If last year’s had been great, I could hardly imagine just how good it would be in my brothers’ company.

Ben is a former ACU Enduro instructor and British Championship competitor. These days, he is a keen mountain-biker. Mike is a former AMCA motocrosser, and currently competes in ultra-marathon cross-country running races (each event is like two London marathons back-to-back, but run up and down hills in places like the Cotswolds or South Downs). They are both considerably younger and fitter than their wreck of an older brother.

Ben already had a suitable bike: a beautifully-restored Beta Enduro. This is one of the first Beta four-strokes and has a KTM EXC 450 engine.

Mike didn’t have a bike. Then he got a phone call. An old acquaintance had decided that the time had come to sell the Honda XR600 that had belonged to his son. His son had put the bike into storage and gone off to work in Italy, then been killed when a car he was passenger in was involved in an accident.

Anyway, it turned out the deceased son had ridden the XR in the Lands End Trial many years previously, and his Dad was delighted by the prospect of the bike doing the event again.

We decided that as none of us had good lights and that Mike and Ben had never done the event before, we would just do the daylight route…now grandly named the Cornwall Trial. 

Entries confirmed, we waited for the routebook to be posted.
What a disappointment. The daylight part of the route was but a shadow of its former self: Watermain Lane, Great Grogley, Withielgoose, Trevithick,  Zelah all left out! This was starting to look like not such good value after all. I felt bad…my brothers had both invested £100s in tyres, preparation, club membership, ACU licence and entry fees, and all for what?

Six sections/tests…two of which were on tarmac!

Is this really the best that could be done for the 100^th edition of the MCC’s flagship trial? 

I put it down to the club perhaps erring on the side of caution given the horribly wet Winter. It certainly can’t have been a shortage of marshals, because a basically pointless tarmac section had been included at Ruses Mill just before the acceleration/braking test.

Determined to make the best of it we popped down to the start of the event proper at Launceston Ruby Club the night before, said hello to Lisa, went back to my house, ate, tried not to drink too much, slept, and headed off for a very civilised 8 am appointment with the scrutineers the next morning.

Over breakfast we were told that Warleggan section had been closed “due to a medical incident.” 

OK, so we are now down to three off-tarmac sections: one of which is a green lane that anyone can ride at any time. My own feelings on this are a bit mixed: I’ve been up Warleggan twice and fallen on it three times!

To my amazement, we have some supporters come to the start to wish us well. Two lots of neighbours heard the bikes start up this morning and are here to see us off. They then head off to Crackington to see some of the entrants in the main trial tackle this infamous hill.

Off we go to Ruses Mill, where there is no queue, so we are sent up the hill one-by-one. I’ve explained the process for the special test to my brothers the night before, but all is forgotten and my shouted reminders fall on deaf ears. The section is followed by the go-stop test, which I take very cautiously (recording one of the slowest times of the entire event). I stop at the top and hear the sound of first one, and then another, powerful four-stroke singles being given full gas straight up the hill.
Both brothers have forgotten to stop and have taken the whole hill as one, like it was Shelsley Walsh!

“Oh, I wondered why that bloke was waving a flag at me,” Mike muses.
There then follows a rather pleasant tour of Cornwall’s minor roads. It’s Easter Saturday, but little traffic is to be seen.

Dropping down off the moor past Minions we see a ‘domestic drama’ unfold. A young couple are climbing up onto the moor on trendy gravel bikes. The bloke in front looks happy enough, the girl behind him rather less so. As we pass, she jumps off her bike, throws it into the hedge with surprising force, and mouths some very rude words at him.

Enjoy your holiday, folks!

The recently recommissioned XR is starting to give Mike a bit of trouble with power fading away under hard throttle, so it stalls a couple of times and some other competitors catch us. He reckons he can ride around the problem, so we carry on.

The lanes leading to Warleggan are very pleasant, and we are having an enjoyable day, but this really isn’t a trial. At Warleggan, the holding area is packed with police cars and ambulances, so we replot our route by the side of the road, and head off for the traffic-calmed hell of Bodmin, which we have to negotiate before we can get to the first ‘proper’ section: Eddy’s Branch Line.

Fair play to the organisers: the route has been very well marked with ‘R’, ‘L’, and ‘SO’ boards. Of course, this can’t be done in Bodmin itself, so navigation becomes critical. I always get lost in Bodmin, so Ben takes the lead with his hi-tech GPS navigation system replacing my paper roll.

At last we are out the other side of Bodmin, and heading for Eddy’s Branch Line. This marked a turning point for me in last year’s trial: to channel Winston Churchill’s remark about the Battle of El Alamein “Before Eddy’s Branch Line I never had a clean, after Eddy’s Branch Line I never had a fail.”

It was muddy last year when we had had much less rain, so I know it will be very muddy this time. We stop outside the farmyard, and drop as much air out of our tyres as we dare. I’m down to 4 psi. While we are doing this, a stream of cars arrives and head off down the field to the start of the section at the bottom of the hill.

This is very bad news. I’m confident that the section won’t be as tight as it was last year for the cars, but they are still going to be digging holes in it. Most of the cars have stopped in the field to adjust their tyres. I urge my brothers to push past them; which they are a bit reluctant to do. In my view, it’s perfectly fair…they all came past us when we were adjusting our tyres.

It’s super-slippery. Ben gets a bit enthusiastic on the Beta 450, and spins it 360: and that’s going downhill!

We get to the queue for the start of the section. What I see makes my heart sink. There’s a tight hairpin up onto the railway embankment immediately after the start. Even with our limited view we can see its going to be too tight for all but the smallest of the specialist trials cars. The saloons and sports cars won’t stand a chance.

And so it goes. We watch a car set off, hit the outside bank, slide back with wheels spinning, and rinse and repeat under the eyes of the marshals, digging ever-deeper holes.

Why is this allowed to happen? There’s an exit route marked out, but no, the show must go on with the damage continuing until the section is unpassable.
Now it’s my turn. I charge at the embankment, hoping that the light weight and tractable power of the X-Trainer will float us through the damage the cars have done. Which we just about do…but not without a bit of ‘foot assistance.’
At the top, I wait for my brothers: Ben had to foot and Mike did a 360 on the big XR and stalled it. 

It’s a shame. This potentially great section drew complaints last year for being ‘too tight and too long’ for the car people. The MCC responded with the public sacking and humiliation of the event organiser and appointing a committee who have presided over this cock-up.

We reinflate our tyres and head for the time control at Perranporth, where we refuel. The two Betas take an almost identical amount of petrol, while the XR is a little thirstier.  

There’s one more section to do before the grand finale at Blue Hills: Lambriggan. This year it’s for bikes only as the cars didn’t like the deep little ford at the start. It’s a pleasant section, but I foot after losing a bit of rhythm at the restart.
Blue Hills next.

We arrive to find a long queue of cars ahead of us (they drove straight here from Perranporth). Blue Hills 1 (the Magic Roundabout) has filled with water, and the cars have stirred up a load of muddy slop and tracked it onto the cobbles of the very steep restart.

This has rendered it pretty much impassable, but the cars are still being sent up it, and the poor marshals are having to drag them out manually with a strap. It’s a silly, dangerous situation which gets worse every time a car passes through. Two proper sections so far, and two cocked-up!

Eventually we find ourselves at the front of the queue. Marshals aren’t supposed to discuss the sections, let alone give advice, but we are told: “Aim for the gully on the left on the exit: if you hit the cobbles you’ll fall for sure.”
I keep left, but still need to foot like fury to get up and out.

Blue Hills 2 is less challenging than last year: the chicanes have gone. I start on the left, then cross the track on a relatively smooth and shallow part to be able to take the outside line into the bend at the top. Sadly, I miss the back brake on the restart, and slide back, but make it to the top OK after more frantic footwork.

Here I am greeted by John Turner, who has failed to start the event after his 2CV decided it didn’t want to play but has come to Blue Hills to spectate.
We take a group picture at the top, and head for the finish and the pub. 
On the way home we pass what seems like most of the car entry, still heading for Blue Hills after massive and avoidable delays at the Branch Line. 

I wonder what time the Blue Hills marshals were able to shut-up shop and go home?

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Tailpiece

So I didn’t get my “L E fix” but a week late I did manage to cover some of the route.

A couple of months ago I had signed up to do what was called the “Devon 150” organised by the Lambretta Club Great Britain, basically Minehead to Brixham. The first note of geography failing is that it’s starting in Minehead means unless it’s been moved it’s in Somerset. Never mind, Friday afternoon of the 5^th April I set off on the 90 mile ride to Minehead, a very pleasant ride ahead of the impending storm Kathleen, once in Minehead after a quick tour I manage to Find the Premier Inn which is my stay for the night, book in, padlock the bike and head off into town to join some friends for a few beers and a curry, standard format.

Bright and early Saturday morning after breakfast I head off up to the Rugby Club     ( the one where many a Lands End breakfasted) to do the signing in and collect route sheet, hang around for a while as two of my friends are tail end Charlie marshals whilst the other 50 or so go ahead .

So off we go on a fairly familiar route down to Porlock and up that lovely hill and across the Brendon Hills and down pass the County Gate (one of the few times I’ve seen it in daylight) , Kathleen is really blowing now which makes for an interesting ride but we wind our way down to Barbrook all in one piece, after taking on fuel I ask Richard in the garage if he has a L E signing on sheet, no he says you’re a week late (bit picky) we have a good laugh and off again, passing Kentisbury and through Combe Martin and Ilfracombe with lots of people waving to us, once through Barnstaple we take the old road (B3252) into Torrington and a pasty stop, the official lunch stop is at the Green Dragon , Northlew, so we turn off at a small road at Hatherleigh and blimey we’re almost trialling, the state of the road nearly catches us out, huge great potholes and ditches, apparently one of the riders came to grief here and another five ploughed into him but were all laughing about it by the time they got to the pub.

So onward to Moretonhampstead and across Dartmoor, and Kathleens second chance to blow us off. Despite the wind , passing the Warren House Inn was iconic it is such an amazing setting and the view was superb , as we wind our way down to Postbridge the walkers looked a little puzzled , although they might just have been getting high on the amount of 2 stroke in the air. We travelled on to Two Bridges where I peeled off and left the others to continue to Brixham, they were staying the night there and I had other pressing things to be doing on Sunday so made my way home, and just beating the rain in the process. Once home I had clocked up 240 miles which was enough to give me a severe case of “scooters arse”.

Great fun on small bikes.

Minehead Rugby club start

The Green Dragon at Northlew, strange as it may seem but in the days of Mike Karslake, Northlew was home to the Lambretta museum.

Barbrook and it’s 2 stroke invasion

That’s all for this month folks  please keep sending the contributions
billjan299@gmail.com

March 2024 Newsletter

Hard to believe a month has passed and we’re now in March, I’m still getting over Christmas, who says I live in the past. The month of February is a funny old time for the club, seemingly not a lot happening but in reality a lot is going on if only in the planning.

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Awards Evening

Nigel had been working overtime to make sure the annual awards evening would go to plan, it was a full house at Trethorne,. as you can see in the photos a large table of awards was beautifully laid out awaiting the freshly spruced up recipients (amazing how splendid they all looked) after a very nice two course meal it was down to Nigel and club President Warin Kelly to bring everyone to order and hand out the awards.

A selection of the winner’s photos below but a full batch of all the winners are on the club Facebook page.

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From our Chairman

A generally quiet spell of club activities came back into life last Friday, with the start of a busy couple of weeks, with our awards evening.

A fantastic attendance at Trethorne, with a two course carvery followed by Nigel’s presentation of the 2023 awards and then an hour or two of socialising. It was great to see our youngest members right through to our oldest there. Thank you to Lisa for taking the bookings and sorting the money side on the night along with her assistant Lorraine. The raffle raised over £150 for the air ambulance. 

Extended thanks to Warin and Nigel for sorting the awards and the engraving. Furthermore to Nigel for MC’ing the night as well. Again the arranging of it all is a task not to be underestimated. Our new cameraman Mr Turner too with his snappy lense, I’m waiting for the selfie with Warin to go viral! Thank you to everyone that came and made it a very enjoyable evening. I hope you all enjoyed the evening and the opportunity to chat amongst like minded people.

This Sunday is the Launceston Trial at Lew Woods, once again by kind permission of Peter Newman who has been allowing the club to use his land for well over 40 years. We have an excellent entry of 62 at the time of writing. Of course offers to marshal will never be turned down so if you’re not competing but fancy a day out on Sunday you’ll be more than welcome. The popular Proper Ansome catering are in attendance. We plan 22 sections for the bikes and 18 for the cars (slightly conditions dependent). 

There’s no respite, as on Thursday 7th we have the AGM at the Fox & Grapes. They have been very welcoming to us since we have started to use them as a base for meetings so if you have an interest in our events then please feel free to come along, a 7pm start. 

Finally for this month from me – from a club perspective it’s great to see so many active competitors of all ages in our membership now. I remember a few years ago, you’d look through an entry list on a classic trial and at best one or two of us would have Launceston down as their club. Now when I scan through the list there is  noticeably a significant number more which is brilliant, so hopefully we are doing something right and appealing to all with our events. Long may it continue and remember we are more than open to suggestions for events or activities from any of our members. 

Hope to see many of you on Sunday, where our new gazebo should be making its debut! 

Simon R

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Annual General Meeting

As Simon has just mentioned next Thursday March the 7^th is the all important club meeting, the chance to have your say in what the club does and how it does it, and who does it. The Fox and Grapes Lifton, for those who want to make an evening of it there is food available, if you can’t find us ask at the bar as they may well have put us in their hall next door.

Whilst on the subject all jobs on the committee are up for grabs, including the Editor’s job so if you think you might like to try your hand at the newsletter don’t be shy, obviously it should be someone with good IT skills and with a  reasonable command of the English language (there’s always Spellcheck) and also be prepared to get out and monitor some of our events so that there is something to report on, a chance of stardom, perhaps I’m overselling it slightly.

Forthcoming Events

Sunday the 3^rd of March

Launceston trial, the entry list is pretty much full but you could still have a great day marshalling, Nigel would love to hear from you 07902 542798.

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Simon Oates has been allowed to travel a little further.

Exmoor Trial    Sunday 11^th February 2024

Nigel Cowling agreed to bounce for the day instead of marshalling which sometimes makes the driver feel a little guilty as there was a late shout out for marshals for the trial due to illness. They eventually mustered enough willing bodies from up to 200 miles away (thank you allJ) to keep all the sections running. As we drove up in the morning and crossed Bideford Bridge, we were aware of the Spring tide and only about 2ft before the tide would touch the top of the bridge arches and it was still coming in. The forecast was variable and wet all the way up to the start at Porte Farm. Too wet to park cars, vans or trailers in the field, so we were distributed around the yards and buildings and unloaded, scrutineered and signed on for a day’s fun. With the car off the trailer, I decided to put the roof up to keep the worst of the rain off the occupants and let the tyre down to 8 psi. Running as 45, we started at 8.45 and on to Porte Farm 1 (1) with a sharp left into the section and up a slippery track. On the corner I didn’t judge it well and was pushed wide hitting one of the markers and then struggling to the top slipping the clutch to keep moving all the way. Did the marker count? I didn’t see anything in the regulations so assumed it was OK.

I think the ACTC rules for 2024 says markers don’t count unless the regulations state otherwise. I’ll put my neck out and say that I think it should be the other way around with all markers counting unless stated otherwise. If they don’t count it could be tempting for some competitors to knock them over if you can get an advantage on a section and that could be all the markers without any penalty! One section over and I’m controversial already. Next section Porte Farm 2 (2) was further along the ground with a restart for most classes. Up a slippery bank and off the restart with little problem. Looping around the same tracks, we made our way to Porte Farm 3 (3) with a restart only for class 8. Only 4 of the 12 class 8 cars cleared the hill and some didn’t get to the restart. When our turn came I just gunned right towards the hill and bounced off the left bank back into the hill, struggled through the first bit with clutch being ridden and then managed to keep going through the restart markers to the top.

Quite relieved to get there which no other class 7 car managed on the day. Tyres pumped up to 14psi for the road and off to Loxhore Cott (4) which was a sunken track and bridleway which only stopped one bike at the start. We also took the opportunity of taking the roof down as the weather improved. Once through the section we waited for Alex Gray in his Fugitive to try and keep the class 8 cars in front. He was having trouble with the engine and kept fettling it throughout the day but managed to complete the trial with a creditable 11^th overall for a novice. Further up the road just before Becotts Lane (7), they had to stop again and insisted we all carried on. Tom Walker in the class 8 Liege stayed and helped (Stroud Team mates), both continuing but mixed in with class 6. The section was potentially tricky especially for the bikes but all cars got up.

On through the lanes to the woods and Stoodleigh Stream (8) where I rolled back on the restart last year. No such problems this year and around the tight right bend to the finish. Following the track through the woods (well actually most of the woods has been clear felled) and on to Stoodleigh Steep (10) and a lower restart which we cleared with more riding of the clutch to the top, to then reverse down and out to the next hill Clockhay Climb (11). A quick blatt up the section which all class 7 & 8 cleared. At this point we were unbelievably still clear (along with 4 class 8 cars), the sun was trying to shine and a couple of kites decided to show off in the sky. We made our way across country to South Molton and a refuel at Rogers Garage (pasty, drink and some mini eggs for dessert). The stop here gave time for a good old chitter and an opportunity for some of the morning marshals to move to the afternoon sections for us to continue playing in the mud. To the next section Holdridge Hell (12) which had a tricky lower restart for class 8, up a muddy bank with tree roots thrown in. Four class 8 cars were successful, so well done Paul Merson, Tom Walker, Thomas Jones & Jack Selwood.

The higher restart was failed by us due to a tree root just at the wrong place, but there was one exceptional result by Dave Haizelden (class5) in his Scimitar who completed the restart. We watched and listened to the class 8 cars on the next hill Holdridge Hill (13) which was pure clay. None got higher than a 6, so I thought I’d drop to 4psi and blast the hill. “What happened was”, not a lot. The car just refused to rev and pull, maybe because of too much grip and not enough power but we managed to struggle to the 8. The tyres were then pumped to 14psi for the road and on to High Bray (14). Last year we managed to clear the restart after a late stop (didn’t see the R markers) so it shouldn’t be a problem. WRONG, rough as rats to the restart that was lower down the hill. I should have stopped on the right but kept high to the left and no matter how much Duracell bouncing Nigel did, we were stuck good and proper. Having failed we dropped back a few inches and drove off up the hill, but it wasn’t over yet. After 15 to 20 yds, I managed to hit one of the rocks so hard that the drivers front tyre lost air straight away (I could put my thumb straight through the side wall) but we continued through the section for about half a mile until we found somewhere safe for cars to pass and relatively flat.

That is the first puncture in the Liege in 33 trials and I don’t think an inner tube would have saved us. The front tyre was on 12 psi which is pretty standard for the road in this car. Since I have been adding weight (64kg this week) over the back wheels this year (3 trials), I’ve buckled two wheels badly and now a puncture, I guess it’s got to be expected! Once we had changed the tyre we moved on to the Bentwitchen Test (OT 1) and manages a time of 14.14 seconds. We then followed the lanes to Floyds Bank (15) where 6, 7 & 8 went on the right hand track. The more cars that went through, the more slippery the section got. In retrospect I should probably stayed as high to the right in fresh ground and knocked all the markers over (a bit tongue in cheek) but I didn’t and slid sideways failing to pass the last 4 markers. That was four failures and points dropped in a row, as they said at school all those years ago, “could have done better”.

It was great to see Charlie Merson taking video of the section with his arm in a sling and grin on his face as we failed miserably!  Quarter of a mile further up the hill was Cross Lane (17) which needed commitment to clear the rough terrain. On past Simonsbath to Scoresdown (18) (with two of the What3Words being gobblers.dribble!!) and a restart for 7 & 8 which caused no problems. The last section was Beggars Roost (19) also with a restart for most classes which again was pretty uneventful. With the last section completed we drove to the finish at the Old Station House Inn, signed off and had a swift one (0%). Weather and ground conditions were truly variable which made a massively challenging and enjoyable trial. Route instructions were clear and marshalling excellent. At the end of the day we managed a class 7 win and 7^th overall behind all those class 8 cars.  I’ve just spotted some drops of oil under the back of the car – Oh dear, more fettling is required!!

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Willing Horses by Richard Simpson

Trialling in a 2CV

Before the years of PSA corporate blandness and common platforms, Citroens always seemed as though they had been designed by an engineering genius who had never seen a motorcar, but had heard about them, and was determined to build one that could beat all comers in a particular niche market.

Hence, we had wonderful creations like the DS (Goddess) designed to whisk a French family and their luggage across Europe equipped with ‘magic carpet’ hydraulic suspension and headlamps that could see around corners. And the 2CV (two horses), which was designed to carry four French farmers wearing hats, and a basket of eggs, across a ploughed field without breaking any of the eggs!

The latter’s unique qualities would appear to make it ideal for use as a trials car. It comes as standard with the world’s cleverest car suspension, and really not much else. You don’t have to strip it out to make it into a trials car, there’s nothing in it that isn’t essential anyway. And given it’s built to drive across fields, there’s not a great deal more needed in the way of modification.

Hence, one has appeared in John Turner’s garage as a replacement for his much-loved Dellow. And having suffered for a night and a day in the passenger seat of the Dellow doing the Lands End Trial, the idea of doing the one-day Chairman’s Trial in a car with proper seats and a roof seemed quite appealing. I might even still be able to walk at journey’s end!

The roof was very welcome, because after rain all the previous night, the downpour continued all the following day. Even with the roof, we still finished with a pool of water in the front footwell. Over-vigorous ‘fording’ of floods caused water to rise up through the heater vents and hit us in the face. Hilarious!

The day got off to a flying start when we arrived at the venue to be told that the scrutineer had drunk too much cider the night before and was still in bed. We retired to the cattle market café to await our start time, only to be told that the motorbikes had all left, and we were the first car away so there was already a queue behind us.

The 2CV clattered heroically out of the car park, and I used a high-tech navigation aid John had fitted: a GPS trip meter accurate to 0.1 of a mile.

It was brilliant, I don’t think we missed a turning all day. Just reset read the distance to the next junction in the roadbook and start looking when you are within 0.1 of a mile of it.

The trial itself was relatively straightforward: some of the sections had been quite rightly cancelled because it was so wet, and most of what was left was at least partially driveable.

Although the 2CV’s air-cooled flat-twin engine would run out of puff on the steeper climbs, the suspension did an excellent job of maintaining traction and a relatively smooth ride. Just for the record, the 2CV’s engine output is 29 hp, less than that of most of the motorcycles taking part in the event!

We did end up with a wheel in a ditch on one of the lanes between sections, but the crew of a following BMW kindly helped us to lift it out. To celebrate, John drove over my foot!

Only once did we actually get stuck on a section, and that was one that defeated most of the other cars.

We were told that we would be towed up by a tractor, and then that the tractor wouldn’t start. So we sat and watched as the rest of the field tackled the section with limited success, churning it up all the more.

Finally, they got the tractor started; A Renault tractor. No doubt it had gone on strike, faced with the prospect of having to recover a Citroen. It pulled us to the top the hill to the amusement of on-lookers.

Having gone from first car on the road to almost last, the remaining sections were badly rutted and a bit too much for the little 2CV. But it got us to the finish, having used a tiny amount of fuel, pulled up some horribly steep inclines, and never missed a beat.

I can confidently say that we won Class One. I confess we were the only car in class.

We didn’t have a basket of eggs with us, but John and I both wore hats because of the rain. Oh, and I could still walk at the end of the day. Citroen’s design brief fulfilled, I think!

John thought he’d ditch the car but I finished up washing my socks after he’d run over my foot!

For Sale.

Alternator I bought this a couple of years after converting the Dellow from dynamo, the idea was to carry it on long distance events in case the one on the car failed, as it happens it did several events but never got used so in as new condition.
First £30 buys it
J.T. 07971 249783

The Bikers on the Holsworthy Chairman’s Trial found it muddy as well !

Tailpiece or was it a wise move

Having got the 2CV in a reasonable stage of fettle it seemed a good idea to maybe enter a one day event, AHA the Holsworthy Chairmans Trial is on the horizon let’s give it a go. I summoned Richard and he was up for navigating so the entry was pinged.

I should have known better really, it has rained virtually solidly since the beginning of the year but so what let’s give it a go. I don’t want to steal anything from Richard so I will just add a  photo although I was stunned to having won the event “outright”, well I think so as I did have the highest score and as trialling is comparable to cricket when it comes to scoring I must have, anyway we survived and are still able to laugh about it.

That’s all for this month,  please send contributions to   billjan299@gmail.com

The Club would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. To kick things off John Turner has got the first newsletter of the year ready for you to read.

Give the newsletter a read by following the link below;

https://mailchi.mp/[xxxxxx]/lncmc-newsletter-january-2025

December 2023 Newsletter

Blooming heck, December has started with a chill, all of a sudden we have to accept it’s Winter, mind you I was “up North” in Derbyshire last weekend and they had a proper frost now that was chilly, I’ll put up with being a woosie southerner if we don’t have weather like that. Last night we had a committee meeting down at the Fox & Grapes, Lifton, a good turn out of members including Nick Symons who has dipped his toes in to being a committee member, well done Nick.

All the usual matters of committee business were chewed over, such as dates of events for next year and the purchase of a new Gazebo complete with club branding for use at shows etc, somewhere to hide from the rain or sun depending on time of year.

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Simon Oates as always keeps us posted on recent events he has completed so here is his account of the Tamar Trial.

The 76^th Tamar Trial  Sunday 22^nd October 2023

Liam Hartley arrived just after 8am and was raring to do his Duracell bunny bouncing for the day (he just bounces forever!). He had ridden his motorbike down and his ‘waterproofs’ were soaked through after he hit one of those tropical showers! Off to scrutineering at Proper Ansome Cafe and a start at 9.17. A great turnout of 46 bikes and chairs along with 36 cars. A dry start and off to Petherwin Old Hill (1) and a restart for 6, 7 & 8, catching a couple of class 8’s. Next on to the first timed Special Test 1 at Lewannick Down. ‘Front wheel on Line A.

Forward with all wheels through Line B. Reverse with all wheels back behind Line B. Forward, straight through Line C and stop astride Line D. I half watched Bob Blackman in his Arkley do it in front of me. It shouldn’t be hard to do unless you’re me where I failed to register the Line B and only used Line C – Failure of test 1 and a bollocking from Liam (well it was worse than that really!) Bowing my head in shame, we made our way over the moors which were looking at their best in the Autumn sun to Warleggan (2) and 14psi and a restart which we managed to clear to our relief. On through St Neot and Wild Boar Lane (3) for another high restart on the slab of slate which dropped 3 points (all class 7 were caught out here and half of class 8). Once at the top we toured on to Watermain Lane (4) where we were greeted by Anna Robinson at the start with David Robinson on the restart, hanging like tinsel on a Christmas tree in the hedge!!

We saw his flag drop (or was it rise?) and cleared the section. A short lane dash on to Lestitha Well (5) which had a few interesting crevices in the lane down to the start. A tricky deviation in the middle of the section made sure everyone was awake and a restart for class 8 that caught a few out. The bikes went on to Ladye Park (6) with a best score for bikes of 3 and not one managed a clear (sneaky little organisers). The cars moved on to the second Special Test 2 at Waylands which we managed to complete without incident! (only one B line in the middle).

Out of the test and through Pensilva, Callington and right towards Harrowbarrow. Right just before the village to Barrett’s Mill (7) with a restart for all classes which everyone cleared apart from a few unfortunate bikes. We then drove on to Tank’s Terror (8) which was cleared by 5 bikes and only 1 car, driven by the legend known as Dean Partington. We managed a 2 and were well chuffed with that (steep grass, muddy and tiered bank with a twist). Time Control and refreshments were just up the road at the Tamar Valley Donkey Park where we were held for 30 minutes. Once we’d chatted to the donkeys, we were off to Horse Bridge and the woods we had first used last year for four brand new sections. The Twister (9) and The Quarry (10) were twisty and slippery and a true challenge. Next was The Slates (11) with a restart for class 7 & 8, followed by The Firs (12). 

All tight and testing amongst the trees and overgrowth. 17 points dropped here which shows how tough it was although Dean Partington with Duncan Stephens as wing man only dropped 1 point on the four sections. Both Keith Sanders and Matt Facey’s class 5 cars also did the impossible and only dropped 6 points each within the wood sections – fantastic driving. Conditions dictated that the early cars had a distinct advantage on the day but that’s trialling! A few later cars had trouble finding their way out of the woods where maybe some of the many arrows had been knocked down with all the slipping and sliding! Out of the woods and across Horse Bridge and right towards Lee Quarry (13) with restarts for classes 7 & 8.

A truly tough section with only two class 8 cars clearing the section, all the rest of the cars spinning like a top and failing any further upward motion. A mile further up the road was Angel Steps (14) which was levelled out a bit with a digger last year and we feared could have ruined the hill. Fear not, it’s still a formidable challenge especially on 14 psi for us. We were stuck in a cloud of tyre smoke for over a minute making miniscule progress off the top restart (couldn’t see the markers or marshal) and made it to the 3. Liam was well on form with some up and personal bouncing to infinity and beyond. Disappointed, we drove on to Lew Wood 1 (15) to drop a further 3 points on tree roots off the lower restart. Liam was not happy!!

Further on through the woods to Lew Woods 2 (16) where we managed to clear the section. The bikes had a bike only section at Harts (17) which only 3 bikes cleared. On to Lifton and Park Impossible (18) where we were meant to be on 12 psi, but when I asked the starting marshal he said there were no tyre pressure limits. It’s a tough section to finish on at the best of times and we got away off the restart but were stopped by the hill just before the 2. Not a normal place to stop the cars! I have to mention here that Phil Thomas ably assisted by Keelan Hancock in ‘Fathers Dutton Melos’ were the only car to clear the section. They also had cleared everything from Angel Steps which truly took some magical skills.

Off back to the finish at the Frog and Bucket in South Petherwin and signing off.  Unbelievably we managed to come second in Class 7 and dropped 35 points, 6 behind class 7 winner Phil Thomas (29 points). Overall winner was the red hot Jack Selwood ably assisted by Abbie Jeffery in their Class 8 DP Ford special. Class 8 dominated the top 4 positions with a stunning 5^th for Keith Sanders in his Class 5 Reliant Scimitar (it really does have 4 wheels Dell Boy!).

The bikes had a 3-way tie on 17 points with John Reeves pipping Kevin Miller and Tristan Barnicoat. Steve Urell and Julie Williams (did she have a stuffed donkey in her pocket after lunch??) had a fantastic trial for 6^th overall and a win on 3 wheels.  A truly fantastic trial with a great mix of new and old sections, giving a rest to sections used in previous years. The weather made the route between sections fantastic and showed Cornwall at its best. Route instructions were clear and concise, marshals were legends and land owners so much appreciated.

The biggest THANK YOU must go to SimonR, NigelC, AndrewR and JanC  plus all their behind the scenes team for organising my Favourite Trial of 2023 so far despite my poor showing. This is what club trials are all about with sections that are capable of stopping all classes with tyre pressures, deviations, roots, restarts, other sneaky means etc. It’s rare to see a clear round on this trial, maybe that’s why it’s called a trial and long may it continue.
                                                                      
John Hadwick. I received a sad telephone call on the 3^rd of November from Polly Hadwick to give Vivien and I the news that John Hadwick had sadly passed away. John had spent the last ten years battling with cancer, despite being constantly in pain he never complained, whenever I asked him how he was the reply would be “I’m alright John”.

We first met John and Polly on a Lands end trial in the early to mid 2000’s, ending up sharing dig’s with them and several  other competitors  in a couple of over crowded hotel rooms (I use the term Hotel loosely) near Zennor. From then on we always kept in touch, John was a very clever engineer working on everything from trials and race cars to reboring the engines for the local Council dustcarts, John and I would occasionally go off to an event together spectating, we would be walking around the pits and he would stop me and say “fancy that they’re using Vauxhall steering gear on that” such was his knowledge, meanwhile all I could do was admire the carburettor set up and nod.

The photo below was at the top of Bluehills on the 2007 Lands end Trial. Left to Right  Rosemarie and Ray Goodright,  John, Mike & Pat Gomm, far right J.T. the two ladies in the foreground are  Polly and Viv T.   Happy Days 😊

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Calendar of Events   

10th of December   The Ron Beer Sporting Trial which is a round of the ASWMC to be held at Ashleigh , Lifton , Devon.  Once again we are needing marshals so if you are able to help Mike Wevill would love to hear from you, tel 01566 784451.Have a day out watching those strange (to some) little sporting trials cars in action with their passengers acrobatics putting their weight where needed.
 
January 5^th/6^th is the date for the annual long distance  MCC Exeter Trial , last year it was floods, will it be the same again or icy roads, who knows but there will be a lot of our own club members out there doing their best to defy all that is thrown at them.
 
A little way off but a date for the diary, February 23^rd for our annual awards evening, more info to follow.
 
Thursday 7^th of March is the club AGM , have your say in what goes on in the organising of events.
 
Sunday 3^rd of March is the Launceston Trial.
                                               

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Get well soon. Bouncer and general club supporter Liam Hartley is somewhat under the weather at the moment, hopefully he will be out on the hills in the not too distant future.
 

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From our chairman
 
The last newsletter of 2023 so I would like to take the early opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and to thank you all for your support in any capacity of our events during the year. No events of our own during November but we do have one final event this year with the Ron Beer Sporting Trial at Ashleigh near Lifton on Sunday 10th December as ever any offer of marshals for the day would be most welcome.

We had our last committee meeting of the year last week and I’m pleased that we have added another active competitor to our committee with Nick Symons being co-opted on. We’ll be looking to run a full programme of events next year similar to this and I feel that the club ends the year in a strong position. Just a little reminder that subs from the 1st January will have a slight increase to £12 and to £2.50 for all ancillary memberships.

Thanks again to all for 2023, here’s hoping 2024 is a good year to look forward to.

Simon R

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Mr Oates is back again with his account of the Allen Trial, take it away Simon.
 
                   The Allen Trial  Sunday 26^th November 2023

A late start number of 68 saw us leaving the Bull Inn in Hinton at 9.40, so a reasonable start time from Cornwall in the morning. The first section was Tog Hill (1) and was a straight forward climb to break us in and maybe a false bit of confidence. On to Bitton Lane (2) for a yellow restart on 12psi for ourselves. All cleared and no problems yet. 7 miles on to Fairy Hill Observed Test 1 for a downhill right slippery bend to all wheels through the B boards, Reverse all through again and a short blast to astride the C boards in 19.5 seconds, not too tardy! A couple of hundred yards on was Fairy Hill (3) where classes 6 & 7 (10psi) had a restart on the bottom muddy corner. Class 8 could drive through our restart and have their own higher up the hill (I thought it looked easier than ours).

The previous cars and drizzle had not improved the traction at the restart. We fought as best we could and struggled to move forward for a 5. Impressive to see Paul Watson in his Imp cleared the section and he wasn’t that far in front of us. As we left the section I could see more room wider on the restart that might have helped me. A mile along the roads we came to Big Uplands (4) (Byeway Open to All Traffic) a long rough, slippery and stoney track with a restart for classes 6, 7 & 8 around a sharp left bend. No problem and cleared fairly easily. 7.5 miles on to Guys Hill (5) (BOAT) with a notoriously hard restart on 10psi. Restart for classes 6, 7 & 8. There were 6 clears in 1 – 5, only Dean Vowden cleared in class 6, 4 out of 18 class 7 cleared and 6 class 8 failed. Luckily we snuck off the line to infinity and beyond!

On for a further 10 miles to Travers Hill (6) (BOAT) which was a track on the side of a steep wooded hill overlooking Blagdon Lake  Slippery and rough to the top with a restart for classes 7 & 8. We stopped at the top of the line and nearly slipped back over a root, but got away with it. Most cleared the section. Lunch was at the Chew Valley Lake picnic area. The sausage and chips were tasty and consumed in no time at all. We turned right out of the picnic area and on to the next section Burledge 1 (7) (BOAT) where the section was split in two with a restart on Burledge 2. 5 miles on we went into Fry’s Bottom Wood and past Fry’s Bottom 1 (8) on the left that was only for Class 8 and only cleared by 5 cars.

The rain was now starting to change the ground conditions for the worse. Observed Test 2 which was a quick blat from the ‘A’ boards into a box over the ‘B’ board with all wheels, reverse all wheels over again and astride line ‘C’, 15 seconds flat was good enough for me. It’s always fun if you get it right even with 40 bhp! Up the track to Fry’s Bottom 2 (9) which was a zig zag through the muddy undergrowth to a restart on a sharp muddy corner and around a tree. Fairly technical and good fun. 100 m further on, we came to Fry’s Bottom 3 (10). While we were waiting Andrew & Lisa Dams arrived in their Peugeot 106, beaming from ear to ear.

It appeared the restart marshal had jumped out and stopped him for the restart even though he didn’t have one. He then pulled away, went around the tree and cleared the section. Wow some achievementJ. The section was a wiggly weaving woodland track to a restart for Classes 6 & 7 on a bank with little grip and a sharp right up a clay bank. So little grip after the restart and no chance of turning up the hill for a clear. Further into the woods we went on to, you’ve guessed it, Fry’s Bottom 4 (11) which was a nasty little climb through tree roots after a sharp right turn in wet clay.

Class 8 had not done the previous section and had a restart around the roots on this one. None of the class 8 cleared the section but Thomas Jones in his Ford Snipe Special managed a 1. The last wet section John Walker (12) was a further 13 miles away and we put the hood up on the car enroute to reduce the precipitation in the car. The rain nearly stopped before attacking the long narrow, stony, rough and slippery section which was preceded with a dip in a swollen stream (to clean the car off?) before covering it in mud again on the way up the section.

Throughout the trial, all marshals were so helpful, the route was clearly marked at junctions and the venues welcoming. THANK YOU ALL for making the trial so enjoyable and friendly. May be a few changes for next year to rest some sections, add some new to keep the event fresh?

Provisional results show two amazing clear rounds by Rob Holden in his re engine BMW in class 3 and David Haizelden re finding the grip after the Tamar Trial in his Reliant Scimitar in class 5. David pipped Rob by some 8 seconds on the combined test times and wins the Allen Trophy. We eventually managed 2^nd in class 7 after Travers Hill was corrected to a clear.
 

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For sale
 
Acewell 258 mini dashboard computer. This compact unit does speed (mph), trip,clock, fuel level and more. Primarily aimed at the motorcycle/ATV market but can also be used for a car.I bought this for the 2CV but it’s not quite what I’m looking for , comes complete with wiring and set up instructions. Buy it new for around £100 inc postage, this one’s only a few weeks old, yours for £30.  07971 249783

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Tailpiece

So here we are at the tail end of another year, our committee has worked hard throughout the year to put on events which we hope appeal to our members, we know we don’t always get it completely right  but in general I think we do ok, doing our best to cater for all aspects of motorsport be it on 2,3 or 4 wheels and also putting on events to include our youngest members, always good to see them enjoying themselves, the smiles tell it all.

The next newsletter will be at the start of 2024 and an opportunity where  we will be able to do it all again, so on behalf of the committee it’s Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
 
Keep the contributions coming,        billjan299&gmail.com