Michael and Mike in LOC 827 tackle Wigber Low in this picture by Don Stringer.

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Notes from the organisers
Results

Pictures by Barry Walker

It was a really wet one. It started raining just before we left Chaos manor, just after 8am and the heavens remained open until lunchtime.

I was looking forward to the last event of LOC 827's little season (Aviva Classic - Class 0 Edinburgh - Guy Fawkes). After this attention will shift to the Beetle from the Exeter to the Lands End.

Since the Lands End the radiator had been refurbished and this proved successful. The car seemed fine and off we went in the rain.

Keith Pettit and Peter Manning had laid out seven sections on the long Kensworth grassy bank. They were not too bad in the morning, while the grass remained, but became harder in the afternoon when the grass had gone, even though the rain had stopped.

LOC 827 went fine for the first round but developed a fit of the sulks with three sections to go before lunch. First it ran out of battery and had to be bump started, then it wouldn't run properly. At lunch we took it out on the road for a quick run to recharge the battery (No alternator remember, we are running a Dynamo). It wouldn't pull properly. We thought about having a run for home but decided to return to the paddock and having a look at it.

The points were OK, they hadn't closed up. So we changed the condenser, and for good measure the plugs, both of which involved removing the distributor. This seemed to do the trick and all went well during the afternoon.

We stayed on for the results and were tickled pink to win "best Falcon", which was presumably awarded on Index. We will see when the results come out. Howard Blackwell won our class in his Suzuki XC90 and Mike Pearson won overall.

Now to clean off the mud, get the carbs sorted (it runs far too rich) and get it an MOT before putting it away till next spring.

Attention will shift to preparing the Beetle for its trials season and hopefully getting the A7 running. However there are some jobs to do on LOC 827.

• Dynamo Mounting
• Condenser issue. Look at Electronic Ignition?
  
• Sort the parking brake so the handle doesn't stick in my knee.
• Change from +ve to -ve earth?

Dry Conditions meant plenty of medals

A comparatively easy route, and dry weather, meant the competitors won this years battle against the club, with a lot of happy MCC members winning a medal on the trial and 14 the coveted triple. The organisers had a lot of problems gaining permission to use sections and favourites like Litton Slack and Great Hucklow were omitted. Of the sections that remained Putwell and Bamford were considered much rougher than usual.

It was nice and dry without much wind when competitors gathered for the start at Tamworth Services, those arriving to early getting a nice surprise a few weeks after the event when they got a parking ticket for staying too long! These didn’t include Peter Mountain or Don Stringer as neither were able to take the start.

The run in to the first section at Wigber Low was over good roads. The MCC had made the holding control a time control as well. With the prospect of penalties for early arrival lay-bys and driveways were full of competitors whiling away time, which in the event may have been more disruptive to the local community than an orderly queue on the deserted country road where the holding control was situated! Ross Nuten was one of those parked up with his Dellow Mk2, not waiting but broken down with electrical problems. At the time Ross thought it was a  capacitor issue, but after a re occurrence on a Falcons Brickhill Trial the following week, it appears the inside of the Aldon distributor had come apart.

Wigber Low didn’t present any problems to the main trial and failed only a couple of bikes in Class 0, including John Turner on his Lambretta Li 150. With such an unsuitable machine John deserved a special medal for finishing the route, despite being rather intimidated by the omni-present course closing car for most of the trial.

Having passed Haven Hill on the way to the first section the route went in a circle before retuning to this rather rutted track across a field before venturing into a small wood. Here competitors on the main trial did a restart and diverted off to the left, round a taped off chicane. This was controversial as it wasn’t mentioned in the routecard and in the end those who wrong routed were credited with a clean, including Bill Moffatt in his Reliant Scimitar who would have lost his Triple had the section stood.

Class 0 bypassed Clough Wood, where car competitors had their usual long wait for the bikes to clear, this section always causing them problems. It didn’t pose to much difficulty for the  four wheeled brigade, Nick Farmer in his Cannon Alfa being a notable exception. The engine kept dying despite Nick changing most of the ignition and cleaning out the fuel system. After the event Nick discovered the problem was the ignition switch.

Then it was North up the A6 to the quarry complex where Class 0 had their own nice little section at Deep Rake with a restart before joining the main trial for the Deep Rake Special Test and the Black Harry section where they were didn’t have to do the restart. These sections were quite exposed. A cold wind had whipped up which wasn’t so great for the marshals. These sections didn’t trouble the scorer to much apart for poor Reg Taylor who was penalised for hitting a marker on Deep Rake.

While Class 0 went off for their breakfast at Bull I’th Thorn competitors in the main trial went to Putwell, considered by many to be the roughest hill on the trial. Robin Barlow would certainly agree after breaking the diff on his Dellow Mk2, running in Class 8 because of its OHIV cylinder head. Despite being so rough there were were few failures but it did claim the scalps of Kevin Barnes in his Liege and Beetle mounted John Looker. Michael Weeks punctured in his Midget but still cleaned the section, going on to win a Triple in his first MCC season.

Class 0 went directly to Calton after the break, missing out the main trials 25 mile loop as they visited the sections at Bamford Clough and Elmore. David Alderson was Chief Official at Bamford and reckoned it was a lot rougher than when he last drove it a few years ago. Competitors in low powered cars who eased off over the bumps payed the price when they  didn’y have the power to re-build their momentum. Classes Seven and Eight had a restart. It proved to much for Nick Farmers Cannon Alfa which was still not running properly and Paul Bartleman was another Class 8 driver who lost his gold here. In Class Seven the restart wasn’t Liege friendly Julian Lack, Mark Endley, Kevin Barnes and Steve Kenny al being penalised. Arthur Jones was clean in his larger engined car running in Class Eight and Colin Marshal proved it could be done with a Reliant engine in Class Seven. Myke Pocock had a drive shaft pop out but fortunately had a spare and was able to change it back down in the village. The good news was that the engine is finally running well.

After Bamford the main trial headed south to join class 0 at Calton. There was a section called Elmore on the way, located on the rough track between Brough and Abney, heading over the top of Bradwell Edge, bypassing the usual run through Bradwell itself. Everyone had a restart on the section, which competitors reckoned was another rough one. It certainly wasn’t very friendly too Stuart Harrold and Chris Phillips. The rocks proved to much for one of the balljoints on the front section which popped out, disabling their Troll as they exited the section. Not to be thwarted they, like Fred Gregory on Putwell a few years ago, found the missing nut and were able to continue to gain a gold.

Down at Calton Classes 0 and 1 didn’t have to restart but the others did. This wasn’t very Falcon friendly and both John Parsons (VW Buggy) and Peter Thompson (Opel Kadett) were given fails. John’s Buggy sports a type 4 engine, a smart paint job and a different number. However, it is the well trialled machine, campaigned by Graham Marshall before he switched to the RDT and David Thompson before he purchased his Troll from David Alderson.

Stephen Kingstone had been clean up till now in his Midget. He was also to fail on Calton and was given a run back on the restart at the Excelsior section where everyone except Class 0 had to stop and get going on the polished stones between the ninety right and nighty left, their efforts captured by John Salters lens. The dry conditions made the section easier than some years but it still claimed Myke Pocock in his Skoda and the Suzuki X90’s of Howard Blackwell, Marvin Hurst and Peter Grenyer. Brian Alexander proved it was possible to get away in a heavy XC90 but unfortunately he had failed the previous section at Rakes Head.

There was nice bit of green laning between Excelsior and Moneystones, so the route could bypass the village of Hartington. Unfortunately there was some confusion between the route marking and the route card. Some of the early numbers followed the routecard before getting lost, going back and following the marking which was correct.

Moneystones was similar to last year. Everyone had a restart in one the Edinburgh's tiny boxes. Class 0 had a straight run up the track but like Haven Hill the main trial had a diversion that wan’t mentioned in the route card. Unlike Haven Hill this stood in the results, costing Stuart Roach his triple, as Stuart was shown as stopping in his Austin Seven.

The same sort of layout was used just across the A515 at Middleton Steep. This was the last section for Classes 1 to 6 who didn’t have a section at Dudwood, only driving the special test there.

There was a lot going on at Dudwood, centered on a farm. Class 0 had their own section. The lower part, on a surfaced track, wasn’t too problematical but as it went into the trees there was a restart, followed by some ruts which provided ground clearance issues for some of the lower slung cars. Jonathan Laver was just able to ease his wheels past the sections end board to gain a coveted Trio award in his MGB GT.

The other Dudwood section was for 7 and 8 and proved a sting in the tail. There was a restart and all the Lieges remaining in the trial failed. It did require a bit of power and there were trees to catch the unwary, as Nick Woolett found when he hit one, damaging a front wing and loosing his gold.

The Dudwood Special Test was the last competitive section. It was fortunate the weather was dry as there was a soft bank to surmount towards the end. As it was there were a few failures including Paul Allaway who lost a gold in his Astra and Barry Clarke who according to the results didn’t!

It was still blowing a gale back at the Bull I’th Thorn finish, not encouraging competitors to stay and chat unless they could find some room in one of the crowded bars. The day finished with club supper in Buxton. This wasn’t very well supported, and with no “words from the management”, provided an anti-climax to what had otherwise been an enjoyable event. It was disappointing not to drive some of the usual sections. However, it was still an interesting route although the very dry conditions didn’t give the sections the bite the organisers would have wished for.

Dry Conditions meant plenty of medals

A comparatively easy route and dry weather meant the competitors won this years battle against the club, with a lot of happy competitors winning a medal on the trial and 14 the coveted triple. The organisers had a lot of problems gaining permission to use sections and favourites like Litton Slack and Great Hucklow were omitted. Of the sections that remained Putwell and Bamford were considered much rougher than usual.

It was nice and dry without much wind when competitors gathered for the start at Tamworth Services, those arriving to early getting a nice surprise a few weeks after the event when they got a parking ticket for staying to long! These didn’t include Peter Mountain or Don Stringer as neither were able to take the start.

The run in to the first section at Wigber Low was over good roads. The MCC had made the holding control a time control as well. With the prospect of penalties for early arrival lay-bys and driveways were full of competitors whiling away time, which in the event may have been more disruptive to the local community than an orderly queue on the deserted country road where the holding control was situated! Ross Nuten was one of those parked up with his Dellow Mk2, not waiting but broken down with electrical problems. At the time Ross thought it was a  capacitor issue, but after a reoccurrence on a Falcons Brickhill Trial the following week, it appears the inside of the Aldon distributor had come apart.

Wigber Low didn’t present any problems to the main trial and failed only a couple of bikes in Class 0, including John Turner on his Lambretta Li 150. With such an unsuitable machine John deserved a special medal for finishing the route, despite being rather intimidated by the omni-present course closing car for most of the trial.

Having passed Haven Hill on the way to the first section the route went in a circle before retuning to this rather rutted track across a field before venturing into a small wood. Here competitors on the main trial did a restart and diverted off to the left round a taped off chicane. This was controversial as it wasn’t mentioned in the routecard and in the end those who wrong routed were credited with a clean, including Bill Moffatt in his Reliant Scimitar who would have lost his Triple had the section stood.

Class 0 bypassed Clough Wood, where car competitors had their usual long wait for the bikes to clear, this section always causing them problems. It didn’t pose to much difficulty for the  four wheeled brigade, Nick Farmer in his Cannon Alfa being a notable exception. The engine kept dying despite Nick changing most of the ignition and cleaning out the fuel system. After the event Nick discovered the problem was the ignition switch.

Then it was North up the A6 to the quarry complex where Class 0 had their own nice little section at Deep Rake with a restart before joining the main trial for the Deep Rake Special Test and the Black Harry section where they were didn’t have to do the restart. These sections were quite exposed. A cold wind had whipped up which wasn’t so great for the marshals. These sections didn’t trouble the scorer to much apart for poor Reg Taylor who was penalised for hitting a marker on Deep Rake.

While Class 0 went off for their breakfast at Bull I’th Thorn competitors in the main trial went to Putwell, considered by many to be the roughest hill on the trial. Robin Barlow would certainly agree after breaking the diff on his Dellow Mk2, running in Class 8 because of its OHIV cylinder head.

More coming............

This was a big event for me. My first MCC long distance event in an open car, my pretty much original 1951 Mk1 Dellow LOC827.

I bought the car from Richard Shirley about a year ago and had a nice autumn driving it around locally and competing on Falcons local Guy Fawkes Trial. This started my acclimatisation to the world of side valve engines, three speed gearboxes, vague steering and mechanical brakes. It went reasonably well apart from having to regularly pour vast quantities of oil into the engine. Getting my new building finished, trialling the Beetle and acquiring a Ford Model Y meant I didn’t get this sorted until the following September. Taking the car on the Aviva Classic (nice event, shame about the insurance) I discovered the little drip from the radiator when I bought the car had turned into a torrent. On with the epoxy radiator sealer. That held it for a while but a test run bought the leak back when everything got hot and expanded. No matter, lots of water and some Radweld in the spares bag in case it got worse and we were off.

I had also fitted a refurbished water pump from Small Ford Spares since the MSA Classic as that had been leaking as well.

It was clear and bright when we set off from Chaos Manor just before 2 am. It was a straightforward run up the A5, with a pause at Hinckley to top up the radiator with about a pint of water. Arriving at the start we enjoyed confusing scruitineer John Blakeley with a different car and soon it was 5.25 and we were off into the night.

Our rate of progress to the first section was rather slower than some of the racers behind us and we were overtaken by at least half a dozen cars before we approached Wigber low where we waited for 15 minutes just before the holding control to avoid booking in early. We let the rear tyres down to 12 psi for the section and left them at that for most of the trial. How nice not to pump up at the top of each hill.

A few words with Chief Official John Wilton at the bottom and we were off. I needn't have worried, the Dellow coped magnificently and we were soon past Don Stringer, who was taking pictures as he hadn’t been able to get his Austin Seven ready in time, but didn’t recognise Graham Austin who was marshalling at the top.

The next section, Haven Hill, was only a few miles away, in fact we had passed it on the way to Wigber Low! Unlike Wigber Low we weren't sure what to expect. It turned out to be a deeply rutted track which caused problems for some of the low slung racers who had zoomed past us on the run-in. No problems for us as we had a straightforward climb. It was more of a problem for the main trial who had to divert off the track with a restart. This was clearly marked when you got there, but caused some confusion amongst competitors and the MCC scrubbed it from the results.

We saw Richard Andrews stopped at the top of the section, pouring Radweld into his Dellows radiator, which was leaking from the same seam as our! We were still resisting the temptation as I had read what was in the stuff and I was concerned that the leaking rad might become even more blocked than it was already, as I judged at least half the waterways were blocked from what I could see with a torch.

There was a bit of a road run to the quarry sections where Deep Rake, a Special test and Black Harry were situated. Deep Rake was a nice little section, with a restart, for Class0 only. No problems but we paused afterwards to let the car cool down and add more water. The poor old Dellow was pretty hot by now, with the temperature gauge just under 100 degrees. That radiator was going too the man on Monday morning!

It was mid morning by now and as came the daylight so came the wind, which was very strong and very cold. The drive to the breakfast halt at the Bull I’th Thorn will be remembered by the difficulty in stopping the car getting blown off the road and the wind blowing my hat away. The latter problem was solved with a change to a flying helmet with a chin strap!

We didn’t check the water at Bull I’th Thorn as the wind was so strong we were concerned the wind would blow the bonnet away! A check at a sheltered spot down the road revealed the rate of loss hadn’t increased and we started to think that we might get the car round the route and drive it home again!

There was no Litton Slack on the agenda but we did get to drive down the approach track and wonder how many trilas cars had gone missing down the ravine on the left!

Calton stopped quite a few Class 0’s who presumably had ground clearance issues. We were fine here, and also at Excelsior where we sailed up as we didn’t have a restart on the dreaded polished stones. By now Class 0 was running towards the front of the field, having missed out several loops, including the long one up to Bamford Clough. However, many of us lost time as we there was a perceived conflict between the route card and the route marking on the way to Moneystones. Like many others we followed the route card and got lost before retracing our steps to follow the route marking which put as right again.

Although we didn’t have to do the deviation at Moneystones we did have a restart, one of those ridiculous short boxes on polished stones. Being clean so far we decided to take no chances and let the tyres down to 9 psi. This was probably a mistake as the car stuck like a limpet and we had to slip the clutch like mad to get away.

We failed the next section at Middleton Steep. Class 0 had an easy route but still a restart. For some unknown reason I put the car in neutral while waiting for the flag and snicked it into 3rd rather than 1st to pull away. I realised what I had done immediately I tried to let the the clutch out, put it into first and pulled away easily. The car hadn’t rolled back and Mike was certain we hadn’t failed. I wasn’t so sure that marshals viewed it that way. When the results came we had ORL against our name. I am assuming that was why we given a fail although possibly they considered we hadn’t stopped inside their very short box.

We cleaned the Class 0 section at Dudwood, which with our ground clearance wasn’t to bad although it was an issue for some of the lower slung cars. Then it was back to Bull I’th Thorn to sign off and a rest at the hotel in Buxton before the MCC supper which was disappointing as it lacked the atmosphere always generated at the Trecarn. It wasn’t that well attended and if the MCC hierarchy were present they were, with a notable exception, adopting a low profile with no speeches etc.

We drove home the next day. I was chuffed to bits to get the car round and home. My first big adventure with such an old car.

 

TO BE CLEANED UP & PICTUES ADDED

Geoff Hodge and Geoff Spencer in their Reg Taylor built, Dellow inspired, RDT

• Pictures by Barry Walker
• More Pictures
• Video by Michael Leete
• Videos by Julian Lack
• Results

Clerk of the Course Verdun Webley was challenged by dry conditions, responding by devising some new variations to the usual mix of Brickhill sections. Peter Morley wasn’t to enjoy them though as the dynamo on his Beetle failed on the way and headed for home while he still had some battery left. Robin Howard got to the venue OK but didn’t get to enjoy many sections as his creaking diff let go on the second hill. Still on the mechanical front Ross Nuten didn’t get much further. His Dellow Mk2 had retired on the Edinburgh with electrical issues. Ross thought a capacitor change had done the trick but it was not to be as the car got a fit of the sulks as soon as it saw a trials hill. It looks like the problem is the bearings on the Aldon distributor as the whole mechanism is slopping around in the body.

The first round of eight hills saw the pattern of the day with Mike Pearson (Dellow Mk2 rep) going clear as did Geoff Hodge and Geoff Spencer in the RDT. Ed Nikel would have joined them but for clipping the nine marker when the door of his Dellow Mk2 rep flew open on the first section. Philip Hyde so nearly joined the elite group in his Liege but clipped the one marker on section seven. Geoff Spencer lost his clean sheet on the second round but Mike and the other Geoff carried their zeros into lunch.

Verdun spiced things up for the afternoon and everyone lost marks. Geoff Hodge dropping 14. He was nearly caught by Philip Hyde who had excellent afternoon. Mike was third and Julian Lack fourth after a good afternoon.

AUTUMN TRIAL 22^nd Sept 2009

Well it might not have been perfect trialing weather, but it was perfect for a nice day out in the Country Park of Burton Dassett in rural Warwickshireshire. We had a good entry of 38 competitors and in spite of it being the driest for some years, we still managed to get points off most of the competitors.

All in all, it seems you enjoyed yourselves which is what it’s all about, so whether you were a competitor or a marshal, thanks for your support, can’t have one without the other.

The major awards in our two annual trials are for MGCC members in M.G’s. However, because so few MG’s are let out to play these days, we now welcome and rely on entries from our invited clubs that we now include an award for Best Overall Performance (on raw scores), should it not be an MG.

The Allen Cup for best M.G. was won partially by default and with some surprise by novice Richard Dorney with a score of 49 in his Midget. He’s a novice no more!

The Overall Winner was Nigel Weeks in his Imp, who had a score of 22, several points ahead of the next best.

First in class awards went to:-

Class 1 - Neil Mackay (AX); Class 2/3 - Don Skelton (A7); Class 5a – Malcolm Brown (Westfield); Class 5b/6 – Carl Talbot (Buckler); Class 7a/Best Liege – Kevin Barnes; Class 7b – Keith Oakes (Dutton). This is a bit different to that announced on the day, as on further analysis it was apparent that we had enough entrants in classes 5a and 5b/6 to have separate awards.

Second in class:- Class 4 – Steve Courts (Imp); Class 7a - Paul Wheatley (Liege).

The Novice award (on index) went to Julian Lack (Liege); the best Non-Expert was Frank Buckle (AX), there were unfortunately insufficient entries for the Ladies award.

Well done to you all, we will keep you informed of the future of Midland Centre trials scene as since the loss of John Arrowsmith a couple of years ago and the recent surprise death of our Chief Marshal – Malcolm Garratt in June, the Centre is struggling to find interested folk to help organise such events.

A sign of the times perhaps, but it would be a pity to lose our trials after so many years. The Midland Centre’s first trial was in 1937 and they have continued more or less since then, apart from the 1940’s. It may be of interest that CAN May was on the organising committee in 1937 and that the “Grasshopper” Austins triumphed. The Austin 7’s in this years Autumn Trial were part of the Pre-War Austin 7 Club’s Grasshopper challenge. The Allen Cup was first used for the Autumn Trial in 1938.

Brian R. Osborn

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The organisers warned that tyres would take a hammering on the flints and stones in Bovey Woods, so I used some re-moulds that were about a quarter worn. For a long time I have noticed that t he tyres wore more on the the inside and this outing proved it. Checking the rear tracking back at Chaos Manor I found about 2 deg toe out. After the adjustments I think its somewhere between 15’ toe out and neutral. Looking at the tyres I used to drive up to Ilkley and back the inside doesn’t look as if its worn more than the outside so it looks like job done.

Regarding the Bovey, good day, we will be back next year to destroy another set of re-moulds.

These Motorway remoulds were about a quarter worn . This is what they were like after driving down to Devon, doing the trial and driving back. The inside tread has gone, thanks to all that toe out.

Below you can see the chunks of rubber torn from the treads on the flints and stones. Wonder if this would have happened to new tyres?

 

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When I left at about 8pm there were still a lot of queries to be resolved. However, this is how the results stood at that time.\

8 Simon Woodall (VW Buggy) - 47
7 Brian Colman (Dutton Phaeton) - 91
6 No Starters
5 Stephen Kingstone (MG Midget) - 125
4 Michael Leete (VW Beetle) - 104
3 Edward Broom (Ford Escort) - 120
2 Bill Bennett (MG J2) - 94
1 David Haizelden (VW Golf & a lot of pain killers!) 53
0 Alan Smile (Marlin) 80

Tiff Needell didn't disgrace himself on the Ural and completed most of the course.

The marshals were the real heroes in all that rain.

http://www.classictrials.co.uk/Gas0904LandsEnd.htm

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