THE TRIALS SCENE

Originally published in Pitstop, the Marlin Owners Club magazine.
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December 2003/January 2004

The autumn trials scene has now become so crowded that there are no fewer than seven events to report on in this issue, excluding Stroud’s ‘single venue’ Ebworth Trial, and there will have been three further events between Sue’s copy deadline and the day this issue arrives through your letterbox. This is also likely to be the last Trials Scene article in the current format. Up until now, I’ve always waited until ‘Pitstop’ has been published before posting an edited version of the article on my website. From January 2004 onwards I hope to e-publish individual trials reports on my website at www.wheelspin.org.uk as soon as possible after each event, which normally means within a few days of the results arriving. I will then gather the best of these together, edit them as necessary, and publish in the appropriate editions of ‘Pitstop’. This should actually make my life a bit easier as I much prefer to write a report fresh from an event rather than having to trawl through the memory at an arbitrary publishing deadline. But here goes anyway …

Holsworthy Motor Club – Taw and Torridge Trial
14th September 2003

We finished the Spring season with a drier-than-normal Kyrle, and a drier-than-anyone-could-remember Lands End, and started the Autumn season with an even drier Taw and Torridge. Ray Easterbrook swopped places with his regular passenger Ron Nicholls, to give Ron a chance to see what it’s all about from the driver’s seat. Eric Smith was the only other Marlin entrant. Points were lost all along the route but there was some criticism that sections had been made artificially difficult in an attempt to combat the desert conditions.

Crashbox and Classic Car Club - Exe Valley Trial
21st September 2003

The following weekend saw an equally-dry Exe Valley but this time the criticism was that the organisers had not tried hard enough to make the event challenging - you just can’t please some people. This time Marlin honours were upheld by Eric Smith (again), and Jonathan Ellwood having his first outing in a ‘classic’ since I baptised him in this year’s Kyrle. Both failed the always-tricky restart on Tipley, and Eric collected a couple of points elsewhere, but it sounds as if it was a pleasant drive around the Devon lanes.

MCC – Edinburgh Trial
4th October 2003

The Edinburgh is always a rough event and this year was to be no exception with only the ‘upper classes’ - Marlins included of course - allowed to tackle Bamford Clough. Litton Slack was rendered totally innocuous by the dry conditions but still managed to catch a couple of the early runners. The Marlineers Team of Ray Easterbrook, Arthur Vowden, and myself were running towards the end of the event and we dispatched bone-dry-section-after-bone-dry-section until, finally, we reached Corkscrew - a Class 7/8-only section high on the moorland above Macclesfield. Here a local stream which, apparently, never dries up was running in full spate down the section and causing no end of problems. Five of the Marlins finished with Golds, and four with Silvers all but one of which succumbed to the perils of the Corkscrew restart.

Minehead Motor Club – Exmoor Clouds Trial
19th October 2003

The Exmoor Clouds used to have a reputation as one of the very toughest events in the ACTC Calendar hence Peter Hart’s comment when I asked if he’d like to passenger for me - “Sure, I’ll come and watch you break your car!”. But the Minehead ‘boys’ have mellowed a bit over the years and made the very best of the available sections to put on an excellent trial considering how dry it was in mid-October. Howard Stephens, in his first outing in the ex-Paul Martin car, was best Marlin followed by myself, Ray Easterbrook, and Eric Smith.

Launceston and North Cornwall Motor Club – Tamar Trial
26th October 2003

Not much to say about this one with David Prowse the only Marlin entrant, although he did manage to beat Roger Bricknell, who was obviously having an off day, into fourth place.

North Devon Motor Club – Tarka Trial
2nd November 2003

Eric Smith and Ray Easterbrook upheld Marlin honours in this non-Championship event which clearly, from studying the results, relied on three ‘impossible’ sections to sort out the placings - three out of four in Class 7 finishing with the same score.

Stroud and District Motor Club – Mechanics Trial
9th November 2003

And so, finally, to Stroud’s Mechanics Trial on which I’ll be brief as I’ve promised to write a rather more lengthy article for a rival publication - sorry, Sue! As usual on a Stroud event, there was a good Marlin entry with Bryan Phipps going ‘clean’ for a 2nd in Class, Roland Panes dropping 5 points for a 3rd in Class, John Ludford dropping 6 points for a 4th in Class, Mal Allen and myself a bit off-the-pace, and John Hammill suffering an unfortunate mechanical catastrophe three sections from the end.

An article about the sections used for the Mechanics Trial, written for the ACTC magazine 'Restart', is available in Trials Scene Extra.

Production Car Trials

Although this column is devoted primarily to classic trials, Marlins have also featured well in the summer sport of Production Car Trials. John Ludford was kind enough to telephone me with details of both his and Tim Lakin’s excellent set of results in various PCT Championships. Unfortunately I seem to have mislaid my notes, and the clock is ticking-away towards Sue’s deadline, so all I can say is that John and Tim did VERY well. Congratulations to them both.

Now back to the garage to wash off the Cotswold mud from last weekend and prepare the car for a re-plastering with Dorset mud next weekend.

Published on this site 18 November 2003 and updated 29 December 2003.
www.wheelspin.org.uk