February 2002 - Part 1

Splendid Exeter

With Foot and Mouth out of the way the MCC started the New Year with a splendid Exeter Trial. The conditions were near perfect, the hills were in good condition and Simms was in fine form to shatter the hopes of many Triple aspirants!

It had been very cold during the week leading up to the trial, but come the Friday the temperature rose above freezing and fog rather than frost was the main enemy on the run town to Tintinhull. Gatcombe Lane was first the first section on the agenda, despite fears that it may fall victim to F&M. A gentle cruise for the old timers but important for some of the class 0 competitors as it was their first ever trials hill.

Then it was into Bovey Woods for Normans Hump and Clinton. Norman’s Hump is my sort of trials hill, round the corner, trotter down and point at the sky! The re-start was quite high up for the yellows this year, but there was plenty of grip, so it wasn’t too much trouble. The problem was lower down where it was pretty rough and the ruts got deeper with each car, even trapping David Thompson in his Troll. John Parsons was running near the front of the field in his ex Graham Marshall, ex David Thompson Buggy but disaster struck on Clinton when something broke in the front end and one of the wheels folded back, leaving John and Dot with the problem of getting a three wheeler out of the woods to seek a recovery truck. Richard Tompkins, who had engine problems before the event and was running a new motor, was having his troubles and failed both of the Bovey sections.

Keith Pettit and Peter Manning were running towards the back of the field in Sprite and Midget respectively, reporting both sections were pretty rough by the time they arrived. Keith had a puncture on Normans Hump and Peter followed suite on Clinton. Both had more problems later. Keith with both the electric’s and more punctures and Peter had a rear shocker-mounting break but apart from Simms cleared everything.

Waterloo can always catch the unwary and Neil Bray didn’t get the first corner right and spun to a stop. Fred Gregory was going well in his Rickman Ranger, finding the soft suspension really allowed the back end to dig in and find plenty of grip. They were clean so far but the worry was they didn’t think they had signed in at the start!

Everyone tackled Stretes. No problem for full trials prepared machinery but a challenge for some of the class 0’s. This was the end of the road for Tony and Stephanie Boyle’s 1200 Beetle when the clutch gave out. They left the VW in a car park at Otterley St Mary and went to the finish for an early bath. Stretes also saw the end of Kevin Barnes when his Singer Le Mans stopped running properly and they decided to retire. As so often happens it then cleared up all on it’s own but they were too far on the way home to continue. Falcon’s Dave Nash was going well in his Skeetle, which now has a Type Four engine. This had been for an expensive re-build and Dave was still running it, so had transferred to Class 0, finding it easier than battling with all those Marlin’s!

It was into the woods again for Bulverton Steep and Passaford lane. Ed Nikel was having problems with his fuel pump and stopped to fix it, arriving quite late at Exeter. The corner at the top of Passaford Lane caused problems for many but it was the bend at the bottom that was the downfall of Richard Tompkins. Last year he didn’t go fast enough and stalled out on the slope. This year he had too much speed and understeered into the trees.

(left) The re-start on Tillerton presented quite a challenge this year. Like most of the Trolls David Thompson didn't get away.  Neither did Tim Wellock (right) but he made quite a funeral pyre as his Triple hopes went up in smoke.
(left) Nice to get a pictute of a happy John Salter who has helped so much with pictures for Classical Gas over the years, even if he didn't get of the re-start!. (right) It could be done though, as Keith Oakes demonstrates as slips and slides on the upper reaches.

The early numbers arrived at Exeter Services well ahead of time as there had been no delays and they were soon off to Windout, which is tarmac and didn’t present any problems. They came soon enough when the field arrived at Tillerton. It was smoother than usual. The restart moved had been moved lower down the hill. This should have allowed a good run at the big step but it was very slippery and caught out quite a few of the aces These included Tim "Triple" Wellock and Dudley Sterry, neither of who stopped in the right place. It could be done though. Ian Davis got it exactly right, driving off the re-start in his Buggy without spinning the wheels at all. Most of the cleans weren’t so elegant. Mal Allen made it with a lot of smoke and so did Keith Oakes, after a really determined attempt. Tony Rothin’s face looked pretty grim when his Cannon didn’t move, but he kept his trotter to the floor, sawing at the steering wheel. The little car slid sideways back and forth, wheels spinning until the wheels dug down to something solid and it inched up the hill.

Ed Nikel stopped to fix some carb problems but his had luck just got worse and worse when someone side-swiped his car doing tremendous damage to all the panels on one side. Ed continued only to be forced to retire with a slipping clutch caused by problems with the release mechanism.

Fingle was the usual blast, which was a bit too much for Colin Perryman’s Skoda, blowing its engine in protest. Wooston Steep was a challenge for quite a few of the yellows as usual. There were cars going everywhere around here with an extra route for class 0 in addition to the two normal ones. Pepperdon was cancelled for class 0 so they just drove up the tarmac road.

The field regrouped at Islington Village and down the lane to the bottom of Simms. Class 0 branched off to the right here to tackle Penhale’s Plantation. The majority of the other classes were to traverse this track as well, as it is the Simms escape road! It was too much for Richard Hoskins Morgan F4, which lost bottom gear and needed a tow from a friendly Escort.

(Left) Andrew Brown taking is ACTC Rights of Way Officer role very seriously, sacrifcing a clean in the interst of exploring a new route to the left on Simms. While (right) Simon Robson goes to the right to give  the admiring spectators a close up view of his Leige.
(Left) Peter and Carlie Hart didn't have much time so just drove straight up the hill for a clean. (Right) I didn't get the chance to ask Mal Allen why he decided to jump out of his Marlin just when it got to the interesting bit.

Simms was on fine form this year and most car competitors floundered on the slippery step half way up. It was all about momentum. Unless you hit the step at a decent speed you just spun to a stop. There were some impressive ascents though. None more than Dave Turner whose BMW, blower whistling, stormed the summit at great speed. Pete and Carlie Hart were one of the few Marlins’ to succeed, much to the crew’s delight. Mal Allen got his Ford engined Marlin past the A boards but despite some very energetic bouncing couldn’t repeat his success on Tillerton. In class eight some of the famous names failed, including Ian Davis in his Buggy, Duncan Welch and most of the Dellow's. Dudley stormed up in his MG and so did Simon Woodhall in his Buggy. Tim Wellock slowed and struggled in the ex John Parsons Fugative but kept his foot down and inched past the section ends board.

Bill Rosten and Terry Ball both got to the top OK but most cars in classes 4 and 6 didn’t. The Trolls didn’t have much success and the Leige’s didn’t fare any better. Simon Robson was faithful to the old John T-P doctrine of heading for the right hand side, over by where the spectators stand, but the gradient was too much for his fire pump engine. Interestingly Adrian T-P took the same line, one of the few cars to go that way. The Pop Asylum team, running in class seven, re-start and all, had a 100% record on Simms and went onto Gold, although Clive Kalber was driving Tommy’s Melos as his ex Tucker-Peake Pop was languishing at home with engine problems.

There were a lot of people spectating on Simms this year. They saw plenty of action with a chair turning end over end and a Dellow plunging down backwards with brake failure. One spectator got a bit more involved than he planned when Ken Payne lost control of his Golf and ploughed into the spectators on the right, running over someone’s foot, the poor unfortunate was helped away afterwards, presumably for medical attention.

Only Tipley was left now, a hill that had not been used on the Exeter for many years. It was just as rough as ever but competitors were spared the Torbay re-start. It ended Verdun Webley’s trial when his growling prop shaft finally broke and he had to be towed the final few miles to The Trecarn. The general talk at the bar was that the 2002 Exeter was a thoroughly enjoyable trial with a couple of very difficult sections in the form of Tillerton and Simms. In summary it was great to be back!

And finally a picture of one of the men who made it all possible. Clerk of the Course Ken Green as he ponders how to make Simms a bit more difficult next year!