TRIAL REPORT
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MAC - Clee Hills Trial
22nd January 2006
The great trialler-in-the-sky had obviously put a curse on my attempts to compete in the Clee Hills Trial. I'd non-started twice out of the last three times I'd entered and then, just a week before this year's event, I was passenger-less after Adrian Tucker-Peake decided that work had to come first, and both Reserve 'A' and Reserve 'B' were unavailable. Peter Barr had managed to get a last-minute passenger through the Classical Gas website so I tacked my name onto the end of Peter's "Power of the internet?" posting and, within three hours, I was teamed-up with Martin Allen (with a big thank-you to Keith and Claire Oakes and, of course, to Martin himself).
The car was packed and loaded onto the trailer on the Saturday afternoon and I was very grateful for the comfort of the Jeep on the exceedingly grim, foggy, and 'below-zero', pre-dawn drive up from Cheltenham to the start at Craven Arms. The scene at the scrutineering alongside Stokesay Castle was quite surreal as cars were off-loaded from trailers, and fired-up in the swirling mist and fog. It was to remain foggy for most of the day although we did catch the odd glimpse of blue sky when on the very top of the Long Mynd. So much for the spectacular views that we're always promised on the Clee! (I know they're there really, it's just that we didn't get to see them this year.)
Clerk of the Course Jonathan Toulmin was once again using the Clee's 'double-loop' route which might involve the organisers in a lot more work (like producing two different route books for example) but certainly minimises the delays for the competitors - we had no significant hold-ups whatsoever, just a couple of sections where one had a chance to see how the competition was doing before one's own attempt. So, for Classes 6, 7 and 8, it was off over the Long Mynd to the Special Test at Ratlinghope followed quickly by a re-worked Phil's Folly. Last year the section was cancelled when the tight-right hairpin defeated too many cars so this year we had a straight climb, on mud over stones, after an excursion through the adjoining field to a new start line. For 6, 7, and 8 it was a 'non-observed' climb of Gatten's Gamble, after which a rare Route Book error took about a dozen cars, including us, up onto the very top of the Long Mynd - and the best sunshine we saw all day - until we all decided that the red (R) marker at the phone box had been correct and the L in the Route Book incorrect.
Allez 'Oop was a nice simple stony climb followed by more 'green-laning' and into the Priors Holt forestry for three new sections. Priors Holt 1 started on a gentle right-hander through bracken followed by a steepening climb on stones and rocks. We shot off the start line with loads of grip and were making good speed up the steepest part of the section when the engine just died on us at the '4'. It restarted immediately and we cleaned Priors Holt 2, another straight steep climb on mud and stones, without a problem. Jonathan had hastily introduced Priors Holt 3 when Round Oak was cancelled. This was a short, sharp, very steep, climb on slippery rocks which was easily, if somewhat bumpily, cleaned by the couple of Class 7 cars in front of us. We, unfortunately, had a recurrence of the engine problem to score another unecessary '4'. So it was back down to the escape road where, bonnet-up, all was revealed. There was a thin film of petrol lying on the top of the float chamber on the rear SU, which normally means a stuck needle, so it was off with the top of the chamber, fiddle around with the needle, pump some neat fuel through it, put everything back, and cross fingers (which worked 'cos we didn't have a repeat, thank goodness).
As we arrived at the end of the short queue for the Harton Wood Special Test we could hear engines revving frantically in the adjoining woodland then Andrew Martin drove by, slowed-down, and whispered "drop em" - I knew he meant the tyre pressures, thank goodness - then Pete Hart came by, slowed-down, and said more-or-less the same. And boy, was that section slippery! The front runners in Class 7 were all 'clean' - scores that is, not cars - as we entered the Easthope Woods for the start of the serious stuff. Easthope 1 is a straight climb on mud and ruts with a steepening sharp-left at the end. One second we were flying up the section, the next second we'd bounced out of the ruts and were heading for a tree. Damn! Winched-out we carried on to Easthope 2 with its fiendish left-hander and very steep slope. Somehow we found a decent amount of grip on the corner and, after a bit of thought and a very careful look at the front wheels, the marshal awarded us a '5' - the best score in Class 7 (by about the thickness of the marker post I should think). Major's Leap was more a Tragic Failure as, like a few others, we just couldn't negotiate the off-camber turn onto the main part of the section. Harley Bank 2 was, in my humble opinion, a bit of a silly section - with a reverse to the start line placed so that the rear wheels were in the ditch on the opposite side of the road to the mudslide that we were supposed to climb.
The Jenny Wind is a classic woodland section although the traditional straight-up approach has been replaced by a right-turn off the approach track, in the interests of neighbourly PR apparently. And then to the truly wonderful Meadowley which vies for a placing in my Top Ten Sections list - a full-blast blood-and-guts climb winding up through trees, and over tree roots, with a constantly changing surface. The entire section is a balance between maintaining speed and lifting-off to regain grip - a magic end to any trial.
With Easthope 2 and Harley Bank 2 collecting points off everyone, it was Easthope 1 and Major's Leap that were the real deciders. Pete Hart is obviously 'on-a-roll' at present, with an excellent third place in Class 7 to add to his Exeter Gold. Mal Allen's '4' on Easthope 1 dropped him to fifth in class and, for the rest of us, have a look at the full results below.
Results:
- See the Full Results
.
Photographs:
- Photo Gallery - Photographs at the Start and various sections.