We won’t be making use of the online entry system for this event as it normally has low entry numbers.
The event will take place on Sunday 19 June 2022 at Higher Frankaborough Farm, Broadwoodwidger, Lifton ,Devon (mr 190/393916)( What 3 words-boards,footsteps.pylons) by kind permission of the Harvey family.
Welcome everyone to yet another fun thrilled action packed newsletter, or to look at it another way J.T. is waffling on again. We have two reports from the recent Lands End trial which was held in beautiful weather, the event was somewhat long, Richard and I spent the best part of 23 hours in the Dellow so it took a few days for our rear end’s to regain normal shape, when we got out of the car at Loggans Moor it was like a competition as to who could do the best John Wayne “walk”. We were both very grateful to Vivien bringing the trailer down to collect us, neither of us would have been too excited about a hour and a half drive home, but at least we got around and collected a Silver award to boot, despite that there were times when finishing was doubtful and a clutch which said “that’s enough”.
Committee member Simon Oates managed to win class 7 in the Liege so he must be getting to like the car now.
Other local competitors included Dave Craddock with a Class Win; Steve Urell and Julie Williams Field Award for MC Outfits; Ian Cundy Field Award Cars; Photos below also include David Symons, Darren Ruby and Phil Hingley.
ACTC Awards Evening
Jan Cooper and Nigel Cowling attended this event on behalf of the club, it was held at the Fingle Glen and Jan commented it was a very nice evening in good company and to top it off our club were awarded the Trial of The Year award for the 2021 Tamar Trial, this is now the fourth time our club has won the award, well done to all.
Forthcoming Events
Northgate Sporting Trial at Ashleigh Farm Lifton, Saturday 7th of May. This is a lovely venue and ideal for those who just want to spectate although we could as always do with some marshals. Anyone wanting to marshal please contact Mike Wevill 01566 784451. We will be back to Ashleigh again on the 19th of June for the Spry SportingTrial.
We recently had a very nice social get together at Launceston Golf Club. The next one is to be held at the Launceston Steam Rally on the 28th/29th/30th ofMay where the club will be having a stand, whilst we have some vehicles to display, if anyone has a suitable vehicle which they would like to show please get in touch.
Lands End Trial 2022 by Phil Hingley
I rode in the Lands End Trial in Class O on my old Triumph 500 with my friend Richard on a Suzuki DR350. Despite the perfect weather and entering the class for old codgers, beginners and unsuitable vehicles, I didn’t do as well as I had hoped but I still enjoyed it.
The MCC were celebrating the 100th anniversary of their first use of Beggars Roost. My Triumph joined the celebration by failing the restart. I let the clutch out and the back wheel just spun and failed to move me forwards. I must have stopped in a hole or against a stone or something. A marshal helped get me going again.
Kipscombe was the first of several easy tarmac lanes with restarts. My brother was marshalling here, so I had a little chat with him on the start line before riding up the hill. I nearly failed the restart by stopping before the box instead of inside it. Fortunately I realised just in time and stopped correctly. It would have been very embarrassing to have failed here.
A few miles after that, my throttle cable snapped. I was carrying a spare but I had no idea whether it would fit, but had no alternative but to find out. Fortunately it did, with a bit too much free-play but it meant that I didn’t have to retire from the trial. That fiddly little job took nearly an hour to do, and I was very grateful to Richard for providing illumination and for looking after tools and things for me.
After all these years, the refreshments at Sutcombe have moved from someone’s kitchen to a kitchen/garage a bit further up the hill on the other side of the road. A piece of cake and a cup of tea were just as welcome as ever here.
There was a long queue at Darracott, and then the car in front of me failed, which meant there was another 20 minute wait while he was recovered. The results show that I stopped in the restart box when Class O didn’t have to, so that was another fail. To be honest, I can’t remember anything about it but I’m not a fan of restarts so I am a bit annoyed with myself for stopping unnecessarily. Richard also failed here – his only fault in the whole trial.
I said ‘Hello’ and had a little chat with Vivien T. who was manning the restart box at Treworld. (You didn’t mention the hug Phil J)
At Bluehills, Class O have the choice of the old tarmac hill or Bluehills 2. Being Real Men, naturally we chose BH2. The hill seemed even steeper and rougher than usual and I fell off in a big way. It happened so fast that I didn’t know what I had done wrong. I thought the bike was heading for the cliff edge and into the sea! The marshals picked me and the bike up and got us going again. Rich said I received a nice round of applause from the crowd all the way up the section but I was too preoccupied to notice it. This was my worst ever fail on BH2, and I’ve had a few!
At the finish, we signed off and got ourselves a beer and met up with our friends Matt and Peter who had done the main trial on BSAs. They had both claimed Gold Awards and I wouldn’t have expected anything less from them as they are both really good riders. Afterwards I had an enjoyable ride back to Launceston in the late afternoon susnshine via my Demon Back Route which avoids most of the A30.
There was a time when I got Gold Awards in the main trial but those days are long gone. These days I just am happy just to finish. Having said that I enjoyed the trial for the most part and the weather was almost perfect. As we often say at the end of these events “There’s always next year”
Land’s End by Richard Simpson
If you can meet with triumph and disaster both, and treat the two imposters just the same.
Amazingly, given that I am half of the Launceston and North Cornwall Motor Club’s self-styled Team Incompetence, John Turner asked me if I would navigate him and his Dellow on the 2022 Land’s End Trial.
Perhaps he was impressed by my status as a one-time (and it was just the one time) works navigator for the Triking factory team on the same event many decades ago, or perhaps there’s no one else willing to do it given just how crippling uncomfortable his car is, especially for a lanky person like me.
Back in the pre-covid days, he asked me to do the same on the Exeter Trial. That didn’t come to pass as his car destroyed its back-axle on a pre-trial shakedown. With the benefit of hindsight, that was a lucky escape for both of us as I was harbouring an intermittent heart condition that could have dropped me dead at any time.
Anyway, fast-forward three years: the Dellow’s axle has been rebuilt, it’s done an Exeter Trial, and the NHS was kind enough to give me a pacemaker for my 60th birthday, so all is well.
And I’m waiting at the end of our track listening to a supercharged Ford Pop engine (no, I’m not making this up, that’s what’s under the Dellow’s bonnet) roaring its way past the farm and up the valley. I can see the yellow glow cast by the old-school Lucas headlamps before the little car that will (hopefully) carry us through the next 23 hours appears.
In I get, and off we go for a thankfully short run to Plusha Services where we are greeted by some familiar faces from the club (Hello, Nigel) and a few questions from fellow-competitors. John is taken to task for not knowing the chassis number of his car. “I’m lucky if I can remember the registration,” he quips.
His interrogator doesn’t see the funny side and minces off in a huff. Oh well, never mind.
Scrutineering consists of checking that the lights work, and then we are off in number order, taking the officially mandated minor roads route to Bridgewater Rugby Club and the start proper.
John pretty much knows the way, so my main concern for now is whether the little Dellow can keep the pace on the road: we have a relatively late start number and if we fall back down the field there is a real danger that the course-closing car might catch us and put us out of the event.
Fortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. We are if anything catching the competitor in front (one of the truly nasty ‘sports’ cars from the last days of British Leyland), and it’s a lovely clear night with just the odd bit of mist.
I have however picked up that there is a ‘passage control’ on the route: a couple of MCC bods in a lay-by just outside Bow. This is to ensure everyone sticks to the route, but could be easily forgotten and missed. We stop, make sure our number is taken and off we go.
All is well until we hit Bridgewater. We must follow the roadbook, and we do until we get to the bit where the road has been closed because someone is building a housing estate on it.
No, I’m not making it up. We find ourselves in a dead-end of security fencing and pallets of bricks. Our mistake?
If it is, we are not alone, an assortment of competitor cars is piling up behind us. A quick conference, lots of swearing, and we form a convoy that heads out of town on the motorway, and then back into town past the service area towards where the rugby club is.
We take the opportunity to fill up with fuel before reporting for scrutineering, and then into the club to Time Control and a compulsory hour’s rest. We decide to buy a cup of tea. There is a queue to pay for the tea, then a queue to get the ticket that says you paid for the tea, then a queue to get the tea itself. Well, it helps pass the time.
Halfway though our hour’s rest, they decide to close the Rugby Club and everyone gets turfed out. The external alarms are on, so floodlights are flashing on and off and sirens sounding. Latecomers are still turning up thanks to the closed road, and women competitors, in particular, are not pleased to find they can’t access the toilets. This really isn’t good.
Nor is the attitude of the person running the time control. The roadbook says to get signed out a few minutes prior to departure. He insists that we hang around until departure time, so we are effectively behind schedule when we leave.
Eventually, we escape the Kafkaesque nightmare that is the Rugby Club. We manage to get lost between the car park and the exit, but resist the temptation to open a section across the pitch.
The route takes us up towards the north coast, and we encounter the first section on the way: Fellons Oak.
Queuing for the section, there is little to do but look at the sky: a bright full moon and 50/50 cloud filtering the stars. It’s magic.
The section itself will be easy, John says, but there is a restart. At the start, there’s a big Honda Africa Twin adventure bike…does it belong to a marshal, or a competitor who has ‘fallen at the first’?
The section is a moderate climb on a dryish track, but the section after the restart is rough and rutted. In the headlamps it looks like a load of branches laid across the track…I’m glad not to be on a motorbike, and I don’t think that often. We bump and crash our way to the top: one down and 12 to go!
It’s a long drive on the A39 down the North Somerset coast, with the darkness meaning we see nothing of the spectacular scenery: the Dellow is waking the dead as it climbs Porlock Hill (itself a LET section before it was tarmacked) on full-boost in second gear as there are huge gaps between the ratios of its three-speed gearbox.
There’s another compulsory hour’s stop at Barbrook Village Hall, where we arrive in dawn’s early light. The main street of the village is jammed with trials cars, and there’s a forlorn Royal Enfield trials sidecar outfit parked in the garage forecourt opposite.
The time control here is operating in the same way as it was in Bridgewater: the roadbook instructions are disregarded and you have to wait for your minute to tick around at the control. But we are wise to it by now: John sits in the car in the queue and I wait for the man to tick our number off the list.
It’s literally just up the road to the next section: the famous Beggars Roost, and one of just two LET sections I remember from my Triking escapade. Then, it was covered with pea-gravel that provided a traction-free zone on a compulsory restart. Today it’s all lit up to celebrate a century of use as a trials section and surfaced with shale. There’s a ‘preferential start’ for Class 2 cars like ours and no restart. The Dellow makes easy work of it, but there’s a near-disaster waiting at the top where there’s a kind of kerb separating the tarmac road from the shale. The front wheels just float over it, but I feel the nearside rear hit with a smack that shakes the car to its core. Later we find a sharp dent in the wheelrim, and conclude that we were lucky to have not lost both the tyre and the wheel.
From there, it’s a misty drive over Exmoor to the first timed-test at Barton Steep. The gap between the first two lines is enough to force a change up from first, but the incline is so steep it bogs the engine as second gear is engaged. No chance of a good time, but we are here to have a good time and not just record a good time so we are not disheartened.
And on we go…observed section Sutcombe includes a restart, but the Dellow takes it all in its stride. We pass a village garage in Bradworthy Wicketts where others less fortunate than us are undertaking running repairs, but we mustn’t feel smug yet, as the trials gods have more challenges in store.
And on we go. Cutliff Lane is an eventful section for some ahead of us. There’s a long wait while an Austin 7 is put back on its wheels and the delay is enlivened by the car in front of us backfiring and setting its airfilter alight. Luckily, there’s no harm done, but it shows the fire extinguishers we all must carry are more than box-ticking and ballast.
Ahead of us, as many cars seem to be failing as succeeding. Parts of the section are very muddy, but the Dellow climbs to the top with a stunning lack of wheelspin. John confesses that he’s activated the traction control: meaning he set off forgetting to release the handbrake and it stopped the wheels spinning! I agree not to tell anyone, so you can read it here first.
And on we go, through North Devon where some of the minor roads are as rough as trials sections, to a point where the route loops back on itself to take in two sections in one wood. We manage both without drama but driving out through a farmyard at the second there is a sudden eruption of steam from the front of the Dellow.
This is a catastrophe! The fan on the Dellow is electrically driven, but looks like a metal version of a 1970s model aircraft propeller. It has somehow managed to slice a slit in the top hose, and put a convex dent in the spigot. We execute a temporary repair, using a product that John says is very good for repairing roof-flashing. We have three litres of water, but it’s not enough to refil the system. Luckily, the family who run the farm are watching the event, and are only too happy to replenish our stocks of water. If the repair holds, we can finish.
But it doesn’t. As we head towards Bude and home territory, the water temperature gauge shoots up, and then down. This is a very bad thing, as it means the water is below the level of the temperature sensor.
We stop, and pour in more water. And carry on. And repeat. And now we have no more water. Our aim now is to survive until the time control at Wilsey Down, which will at least be a convenient place to recover the car from if we can’t repair it.
It’s disheartening. The car has done all the sections, I’ve managed to keep us on the route, and John’s careful driving has seen us get back on schedule on the road after every delay. We were going to stop in Bude for fuel anyway, and elect to still do so, and I buy the car a very expensive bottle of Evian Water in the hope of flattering it to the finish. But the unsaid reality is that our chances are now less than 50 per cent.
It’s a flying visit to the Widemouth Bay check, and then some very hilly roads to Crackington: our home section. We queue for Crackington in the tiny hamlet of Mineshop. There’s an explosion of expensive Evian Water steam from under the bonnet. It’s carnage. The roof-flashing has melted!
I tell John I’ll get some more water, and I’m sure we can sort it out. But I’m not really. I’m gutted.
Clutching my bottle, I hobble down the hill towards the ford at the bottom, and narrowly avoid collision with a vision of female loveliness.
I must be hallucinating. She’s wearing Daisy Duke shorts and a Kelvin Klein bikini-top, has blonde hair caressing her bare shoulders, and is sipping a can of cider.
It’s been a long day. I’m short of sleep. I’m seeing things. If I blink, she’ll go away. I blink. She’s still there.
“Are you OK?” she asks, her pretty face clouded with concern. “We need some water for the car, please,” I gasp. “Hold my cider.” She presses the can into my hand. It feels slightly chill. “You can have some if you want, but not if you are driving.”
She takes the bottle and departs to the houses that line one side of the road. And then she’s back, clutching the now filled bottle.
Wonderful. And even more wonderful is that her partner and his friend are in her wake, clutching tools, radiator hoses, and heavy-duty tractor hose clamps. She’s dragged them away from barbeque duties to help fix the car.
Remember, this is Cornwall, home to the best ‘rustic’ engineers in the world. They invented deep mining. They invented the steam engine. They can fix anything. They laugh, they joke, they help us fix the car. There’s more clamp than hose, but it’s not going to leak again.
They get a garden hose and fill the cooling system.
Can you imagine this happening in Surrey? Nah, they’d call the police.
Our friends return to their garden barbeque with our inadequate thanks ringing in their ears, and we clean Crackington in fine style.
And on to the next speed test…it’s dead flat and the lines are far enough apart for the Dellow’s gearbox to not be too much of a handicap.
We arrive at Wilsey Down. The officials there have realised there’s no point in keeping everyone hanging around for an hour: with over 400 entrants starting at 60 second intervals everyone has had more than enough rest queuing for sections. The planned hour stop is now 30 minutes. We had discussed finding ways to protect the hose from the fan, but it’s not going to happen in half-an-hour.
So we leave, conscious that this is like the ‘last lap’ of the trial and feeling relatively confident that we might actually see the finish. Little do we know, but fate still has a couple of curve balls to chuck at us. Two holding areas filter us onto Warleggan, and we are clean again!
All is good. And then I balls up.
To be fair, up until now my navigating has been confident and accurate…so much so that we often find ourselves as leader of a small pack who opt to drop behind and follow. But there’s some ambiguity in the roadbook on the outskirts of Bodmin and I lead us into town. Bodmin is where Cornwall Council sends its traffic planners to die. You can’t drive from one side of the town to another. It’s like Oxford, only without the University.
We see other trials cars heading in all directions and opt to put the roadbook aside, head out of town and use the What Three Words reference to get to the new section of Great Grogley, which is on private land. We are still being followed. Out of Bodmin and we stop at a crossroads. What Three Words says we should turn right, but we’ve turned left. John goes to restart the car…nothing. We’re toast.
Our ‘friends’ who have been riding on our navigation for much of the event roar off down the right road. Hey, thanks for your help in our hour of need chaps, and we’ll do the same for you anytime!
We push the car across the road more in hope than expectation, and unaccountably, it bump starts easily. The ammeter is showing a normal charge and we try a restart at the top of a hill. Now the car is confident that it’s pointing in the right direction, it fires straight away.
No, we can’t explain it otherwise either!
Great Grogley is easy, if a bit bumpy, but the drive back down to the road is quite exciting. Withielgoose is the next section, and clean again.
On our way to the final route check at Perranporth, John says “We are on for a Bronze if we finish,” meaning there are just two sections to go and we are clean so far.
This is good news, but the bad news is that the final section is the notorious Blue Hills Two: it’s a smasher of bikes, a stopper of cars and a breaker of dreams.
John navigates Blue Hills One easily; our car is excused the restart, but it looks like one we could tackle if we had had to. There is a restart for all classes on Blue Hills Two, but how hard can it be?
Bloody hell. Blue Hills Two is worse than I remember, or it looks on YouTube. Even the access track is tougher than most of the sections we’ve driven. But we get to the restart in fine style. It’s hellish steep, but there’s firm rock under the back wheels. We can do this!
But we can’t. It’s too steep. If we could only get the back wheels to spin a bit, John could get the clutch home and we would claw our way up. No chance; these wheels aren’t for turning. We stick. The cockpit fills with smoke, the clutch is cooked. There goes our Gold.
Frustratingly, when we roll back five metres or so and go again the Dellow leaps the rock step that stopped us in fine style and we get to the top without drama.
All we have to do then is limp the car to the finish, greet John’s dear wife Viv who is there to meet us with a car trailer, eat fish and chips, and let her drive us home.
And a few days later, we get notification that we have won a Silver. It’s the first thing I’ve won at any sport, ever, and I’m 62. It’s all down to John’s efforts of course in preparing and driving a fragile and elderly car about 350 miles through the night on some of Britain’s toughest roads. I just held the route book and shouted at him, but, hey, someone’s got to do it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Chairman’s Chat Since the last newsletter many of our members competed and officiated as part of the MCC Lands End Trial. There have been the usual reports of success and failures form competitors together with the usual ‘might have beens’. Bill Rosten and his team are to be congratulated on another successful event. No mean feat after loss of forestry sections, holiday traffic etc don’t make the job any easier.
Next month we have have agreed to support the MCC 3 Day Trial and would appreciate any offers of help to marshal sections and the lunch halt car park in Launceston. If you are available on Saturday June 25th please let us know.
For our upcoming Trials Formula event I quote from our website:- “On Saturday the 7th of May we have the Northgate Sporting Trial at Ashley Farm Lifton, the regs for this are on the website but you are asked that you send in paper entries (you know that stuff you write on, used to be the thing to do) there will be no online entry for this event. As always marshals are needed so Mike Wevill would love to hear from you 01566 784451.” Thanks to Mike our Sporting Trials continue to be run successfully and attract entries from far and wide.”
Apart from the competitive events and committee meetings we would like to have more social get togethers. A start was made recently with an evening in the bar at Launceston Golf Club when ideas were exchanged. Road runs, car treasure hunts, visits to places of interest, talks, a quiz, film/video and informal ‘noggin and natters’ have been suggested. Hopefully the committee will run some of these but all are welcome to do so. We would really like to know what you would like – please let us know through our social media or even an old fashioned phone call or letter.
I look forward to ideas flooding in, meanwhile enjoy your motorsport.
Joe Caudle Chairman
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Tailpiece So with the Lands End Trial out of the way for another year it gives you time to reflect, as a friend once said “these events are always better when you’re down the pub looking back at them.” Within a few days following the event I had removed the engine and entrusted South West Clutches of Lifton to sort out the clutch, two days later I had a completely rebuilt unit and fitted in no time, I then dug deep and splashed out on some new hoses, I even bought spare ones so the car is good to go again, I got so carried away I washed and painted the engine, yes worrying. There’s always other jobs waiting though. All for this month, and a big thanks to our contributors. J.T. Please send contributions to billjan299@gmail.com
So here we go again, another month has shot past and I’m back on the keyboard. The recent Launceston Trial was very much a success and credit must go to Nigel and the team, we are very lucky to have members in the club who really do their utmost to put on events that everyone enjoys. This enjoyment is under serious threat though, there is a consultation document out at the moment which if it goes the wrong way ours and many other similar sports will be lost forever , we urge everyone to log on to the Defra site and make their point. Tony Ferrari of the Nomad Byway Project has done an excellent you tube video which can be seen on the MCC news of the week explaining how to fill in the form, we only have until the 9th of this month to respond so please do it NOW. You’ll need to copy and paste the link below into your browser…….
Q1 answer No, Q2 Your name, Q3 your email address, Q4 your region, Q5 If you live in a National Park say so or you can just say “member of the public” , Q6 to 12 can be ignored, Q13 if unsure leave blank, Q14 is very important NO Q15 leave blank or ignore, Q16 NO, Q17 to 25 Ignore, you are now almost done add your e mail address for a response and that’s it you’ve done your bit.
If you have more time, instead of completing the questionnaire, you may wish to email your own personal response to landscapesconsultation@defra.gov.uk.
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Chairman’s Chat
Since the last newsletter the club AGM has been held. I am pleased to report that Warin Kelly was unanimously appointed as a Vice President. Unfortunately our Club President Robin Moore is still in hospital recovering from his recent stroke so was unable to attend. Warin took the chair as, the officers and committee were re-elected.
If the club is to be sustainable there is still a need to have a number of officers from our younger members in the future. Until then us “old timers” will do our best, supported by a committee with representatives from teenagers upwards. Congratulations to our most senior committee member Warin who recently celebrated his birthday, now he is officially an octogenarian and most definitely our most senior committee member!
Our last event was the Launceston Trial, ably run by Nigel and his team. Following some wild weather the previous day we were fortunate to enjoy a dry day for our sport. There was a good sized entry, particularly in the motorcycle classes, and the day was generally enjoyed by all. Thanks particularly to those who turned out to marshal as without you there would be no sport for the competitors, a special mention of thanks must go to Mr Peter Newman the land owner who over the years has been extremely supportive of our club.
If you haven’t already done so please give your views on the government’s consultation about vehicular rights of way. More details on the website “Another attempt to ban trials and green laning : what@s going on?” – the future of much of our sport will depend on this outcome.
In future we hope to have more news about social events, and as before ideas and offers of help are welcome. Joe Caudle ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Lanson Trial
On the following pages are a few of the photos I took whilst marshalling on the event, It’s a bit tricky marshalling and attempting to photograph a vehicle coming at you particularly when you are unsure of it’s direction ( whether it sticks to the section or heads in your direction). On several occasions I ended up dropping everything hastily in order to move to a safer spot, it’s a wonder my phone survived, then of course I would drop the score sheet in order to give assistance, after which I would be seen walking around the section trying to find the errant paperwork again. All good fun. J.T.
Lanson Trial Award winners Newman Cup (class D) Alan & Patrick Keat Class award Stephen Kingstone Novice award Zak Ruby Class B1 award Sennen Mildren 2nd Class award Ben Benyon 3rd Class award Gavin Hunt Cycle Bowl Richard Maddern 1st Class award Jon Mildren Class award Chris Barnicoat Fulford Cup Ryan Tonkin Class Award Andrew Martin 1st Class award Philip Thomas Class award David Haizelden Class award James Vivian Class award James Shalcross
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Future Events
On Saturday the 7th of May we have the Northgate Sporting Trial at Ashley Farm Lifton, the regs for this are on the website but you are asked that you send in paper entries (you know that stuff you write on, used to be the thing to do) there will be no online entry for this event. As always marshals are needed so Mike Wevill would love to hear from you 01566 784451.
Werrington Speed Hillclimb. Once again Plymouth Motor Club are hosting this event on Saturday the 30th of April and Sunday 1st of May. They are in need of marshals, no specific marshal licence required and they do give you lunch and a small amount towards fuel costs. Speak to chief marshal Richard Brooks on 07877 004462 or you can e mail him richbrooks20@gmail.com
They have a full entry list of just under a 100 cars each day ranging from modified production cars to single seat fliers. Merv’s Lanson Trial Report
After a week of dry weather, we were all set for the 36th Launceston Classic trial. The evening before Richard and I had exchanged the usual texts about where to meet up, as both he and I have to ride to the events as we have no trailer or van. So we agreed at 7:45, plenty of time, and it was a fresh and dry morning, so what could possibly go wrong?
I lead the way and I thought I knew where I was going but unfortunately took a wrong turning and went down to Coryton church before realising we had gone the wrong way, so we turned around. Then I came across an ‘Unsuitable for Motor Vehicles’ Green Lane which I remember from the road trial last year where a couple of local riders were at the bottom of this section and about to go up it but suggested to us that we take the road route as they ‘knew this section. Well, I thought to myself this is a shortcut to the woods and we will go this way …what a mistake that was! I rapidly found myself stuck in a deep gully of broken slate and slurry. With our tyres still at road pressure, and dressed for the early morning commute our only option was to lift the bike out of the rut onto the high ground from where I was able to carry on and get to the top. I waited for Richard, then I waited, and I waited a bit more, and then I thought ‘Ah he must be in trouble!’
I headed off on foot down to the bottom and sure enough he was in the same spot I was. So rinse and repeat, and he went on his way. At this point, I was sweating so much I’ve got my jacket undone, and helmet off, and by the time I walked back to the top I realised I’ve lost a glove, so back down to the bottom once more. By the time I got to the top of the lane for the third time, we both felt we’d already done a day’s trial!
Sweating, flustered even more disorientated, I decided to ask for a drop pin in from my mate Chris, only to find we are about 500 yards from the woods, so we made it down to the yard, signed in, and I got myself a bacon bap. Good to see loads of riders and lots of familiar faces and I join the queue to start the day chatting away, then Ben suggested my front tire was very low. Oops! I’ve let way too much air out of that one so off back to the van for my pump, back in the queue, and then I realised I’d forgot to protect my headlight so back to the van again for the foam I usually stick across it as with an older bike these things are hard to find should you break them. So not the start to the morning I had planned, but finally we’re off !!
After a few sections I settled in nicely and hooked up with Chris, just Zach, the youngest entrant, to find now as his Dad, Darren had asked me to look after him Conditions were just absolutely perfect, And all the volunteers and marshals extremely helpful at the beginning of each section. As I wasn’t organised at all and I had forgotten to bring something to attach the map to the front of my bike. Unlike my friend George who was really organised.
Trying to find section 7, we were lost and turned up at 8: the special test; so we had to backtrack quite a way to get to the bottom. The funny thing is Darren had messaged me a week before asking if I wouldn’t mind looking after Zack, as he didn’t want to get lost, but in reality I should’ve been phoning Lisa and Darren to ask if we could ride with him as, once we had found him, he knew where every section was and how to get there without even looking at the map! Although between 7-8 we seem to have lost him probably because he knew where he was going and we didn’t!
The new section 7 Eastcott 1 going up the gully was interesting I like that one. After completing 8 the special test Mike informed us that Zach hadn’t been through so we decided to wait and at this point it was a good opportunity to strip down and cool off.
Enter the enduro lads. Not seen these lads before, oh my God they are fast! One amusing thing was the second lad that went through decided to take off at the STOP point and by the time he passed Mike at the START point he was probably doing 40 miles an hour! We were all laughing a lot. That’s a fail then!
Luckily enough Zak appeared next and we had our guide and mentor back. Then Richard turned up, just like us earlier coming up the wrong way looking for section 7
Back to the yard for lunch: coffee and double bacon baps, home-cooked by Chris this time. And a little bit of sunbathing. The section after lunch had the usual queue where many riders were straining their necks to see what the hold-up was? That will be a deviation then! At this point I then realised I’ve got hardly any fuel left. I’m sure I filled up after the Holsworthy trial, obviously not then.
George kindly offered his services “Go to my van and help yourself Merv. Fill it right up if you want.” Well in today’s money that’s probably about £15! A very generous chap. At the next section Chris said he had some so Zach and I headed off to fill up. I really should be more organised.
If you don’t know me then you might know my bike: it’s an XR400, kickstart only and I could be seen many a time trying to get her started as it’s a bit hit and miss. At section 16 I was trying to fire her up and Chris Barnicoat said that if that was his bike he would be kicking it over the side of the hill. LoL! I think after that comment she actually fired! Although several times that day when at the front of the queue I had to suggest the next in line pass me and take my spot while I kicked away.
Eastcott 2 was interesting I managed to do a bit of filming there and realised hardly anybody got past number two, and looking at the results it even had Richard Maddern. The only person to clear this section was John Mildren. Well done.
On the final section: Up, Over and Beyond; the last-minute decision to change to a deviation caused lots of excitement and was a good move. However this was probably one of the worst episodes of my bike not starting and I was actually getting out of breath, there were various comments coming from behind me from the Enduro lads.
The one stuck in my mind was “You should have a grease nipple fitted to your hip ‘cause you’re gonna wear that out!” That one got me laughing !! she eventually fired up, I raised my arms to the sky and the lads cheered from behind. This was the last section and I filmed a few of us coming up, but that deviation got a lot of victims.
Well that’s it what a fantastic day we had, the weather was absolutely stunning and I would like to thank land owner, club and all the volunteers for making this a truly awesome day. Time now to head home and make a list of what to bring and do for next time to be more organised. Although you probably guessed it I’ll have forgotten by then.
See you on the next one. all the best, Mervyn Brown
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Tailpiece Not too much to report from the garage this month other than that I treated the Dellow to a shiny new Crown Wheel & Pinion as the old one was getting a bit noisy after the Exeter trial so it’s fingers crossed for the Land’s End, and yes I did it by crawling around on the floor instead of using my shiny new scissor lift, Hey ho. All for this month J.T.
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And the good news is…… I have just been speaking to Robin’s daughter Maria who tells me that he is now home from hospital and making steady progress, he’s still doing a couple of trips to the hospital for therapy etc each week but as with these type of illnesses it’s one step at a time. Give him a few weeks and he’ll be back to his Zumba classes, the man’s a fighter! Everyone in the club wishes him well. J.T.
For Sale This is my biggest mistake for some time and a somewhat expensive one at that, but it will make a few people smile.
Automotech Car Scissor lift, allows you to raise the vehicle up to 1300mm high yet lays very flat when not in use lifts 2800kg. I bought this for working on the Dellow but because of the shape of the Dellow chassis (being “A” shaped) it is a struggle, so as yet it hasn’t even had a car on it. I paid just under £1,800 for it a couple of weeks ago will take £1,500 J.T. 07971 249783 More photos are available.
Entries are now open for the Northgate Trial 2022.
The Regs and Entry form for the event are available to download below. We’re not making use of the online entry system for this event, so please send us your paper entries in the post.
A seemingly innocent Government consultation on the countryside has been hi-jacked by various groups who will use it as an opportunity to stop recreational motoring and motorcycle in in the countryside.
A small but well-funded anti-access organisation supported by large landowners called ‘GLEAM’ says on its website: “The Government is consulting on its response to the review of protected landscapes and has included questions which give the public and organisations the opportunity to call for the prohibition of recreational motor vehicles on green lanes.”
In other words, they are looking to end long-distance trials and green-laning as we know them, and are attempting to get organisations such as the Ramblers to get their members to join in and get us banned from the countryside for good.
Will they succeed?
They could well succeed unless opposed, which is where we come in. The consultation is being managed by a former MP and large landowner (now a Lord) who has a track record of opposing public access to the countryside. We can expect no favours from that direction.
What should we do?
Click on to the consultation using the link below, and fill in the details requested. Remember this is a private response from you as an individual. The Club, along with other motoring organisations, is making its own response, so there is no need to mention that you are a member of the Club or any other motoring organisation:
You don’t have to answer all the questions: Questions 14 to 16 are the important ones and the critical one is Question 16, which reads
Should we legislate to restrict the use of motor vehicles on unsealed unclassified roads for recreational use, subject to appropriate exemptions?
The answer is obviously no!
You can use the space set out to explain that you enjoy motoring/motorcycling in the countryside, that it is good for your mental and physical health, that it constitutes ‘active recreation’ that it brings benefits to struggling rural businesses trying to recover from the economic damage of lockdown, that lanes are kept open for all by the occasional passage of motor vehicles, and any other reasons you can think of. Local authorities already have regulatory powers to restrict motor use where there is a legitimate reason to do so (while a route is being maintained, for example) so there is no need for more legislation from a Government that is supposed to be ‘deregulating’ where possible.
You can also question why this is being asked of recreational motor use only, when there is has been obvious damage caused on ‘honeypot’ routes through overuse by walkers and others? Is it discrimination against you, or is there some other reason that is not clear?
Making your arguments in a polite and rational way. You could mention the long heritage of long-distance trials in the British landscape: The Motor Cycling Club has run the Edinburgh Trial since 1904 and other clubs including our own have been active for over a century; as well as the points that we have outlined above. Include your real name and postal address.
Can I encourage others to take part?
Yes. Your riding/driving friends are the best people to start with. Then, are there businesses like garages, pubs or hotels that you use when trialling or trail riding? Contact them and explain how a ban could cost them your business.
As with last year, the online entry system is available for this event and can be accessed here www.lncmc.co.uk/online-entry/.
This single venue classic trial for both motorcycles and cars is held in Lew & Eastcott Woods, Near Lewdown (approx. 10 miles from Launceston), and will take place on Sunday the 20th of March.
The club has won the award for the best ACTC trial for the Tamar Trial in both 2019 and 2021, so two years consecutively, as of course due to covid it was not run in 2020! Such a great achievement would never of course been possible without all the hard work done by in particular Nigel Cowling, Pete Cooper, Bob Slatter and Simon Riddle together with all the other officials, marshals, land owners etc. I think the club can justly feel very proud, congratulations to all involved.
Best regards Andy Prosser – General Secretary.
Lawrence House Museum Award
Lawrence House Museum recently received a Highly Commended Award for their Museum Pop-up in the 2022 Cornwall Heritage Awards. The award recognises the efforts by Lawrence House Museum to maintain a presence in Launceston during the time their building is closed for repairs. As the first pop-up exhibition was to mark the Club Centenary we contributed to this recognition.
Our Club Chairman Joe Caudle who also works with Lawrence House Museum was at the ceremony to receive the award.
2022 AGM and Updated Club Rules
We would just like to remind our members that there is the club AGM on Thursday 10th March, 7.30 pm at the White Hart Hotel, Launceston.
We will be updating the club rules during that meeting. The updated rule list can be found below.
I’m writing this the day after our very enjoyable awards evening at Trethorne Leisure Centre, organised by Nigel Cowling, it ran like clockwork. So nice for people to be getting back to doing the things we used to take for granted, along with the fact that quite a number of the award winners were there to receive them, not that any of the recipients gave any long agonising speeches just a big smiley face for the camera was enough.
For the first time since I’ve been a member it was noted that our club President Robin Moore was absent due to him suffering a stroke a few weeks ago. Robin was in Derriford Hospital for a couple of weeks and has this week been transferred to Bodmin Hospital where they have a specialist Stroke unit and will be able to assess his condition and treat accordingly. He’s a tough one and despite having difficulty in walking is otherwise making reasonable progress, as his daughter Maria said to me his mental capacity is unaffected and he is certainly keeping up with day to day events and checking all his correspondence, we all wish him a speedy recovery.
There’s lots more photos on the club facebook page and most probably Jonathan Kelly will be putting them on the website, I do have more photos including some of the children receiving their awards but as I forgot to ask the parents for permission I haven’t published them. **************
And now it’s time for our Chairman Joe Caudle to write a few words
I write this after an enjoyable evening at the club awards presentation event. It was good to see another gathering after 2 years of challenges and restrictions. Most of the silverware went home for temporary custodianship and to be enjoyed by successful competitors. Thanks to Nigel Cowling’s hard work everything went smoothly in a relaxed friendly gathering. It was particularly pleasing to see so many families and young people there this time.
Nigel was the recipient of the inaugural Pete Cooper award to recognise the huge role he has played for our club in keeping our profile high across the local motorsport community and for his leadership and enthusiasm in getting many of our events back up and running in difficult circumstances. In future this award will be presented to the best performance in a car by a club member on the Tamar Trial. A fitting way to remember our friend and a great clubman.
Our club secretary, Andy Prosser, arranged for the proceeds from the raffle and a donations box to raise funds for the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukrainian Humanitarian Appeal. Thanks to the generosity of all present a large sum was raised. I quote from Andy’s email to the committee:-
“I have applied for Gift Aid, so this brings it up to £323.75. The £259 which we raised will be matched by the government so in effect we raised £582.75 for Ukraine – a real bonus to what was already a great evening. Thank you to everyone.”
Another high point for me this week was receiving the news that the Tamar Trial has been awarded the ACTC Trial of the Year for 2019 and 2021. A great tribute to Clerk of Course Pete Cooper, Secretary Bob Slatter and Deputy Clerks of Course Simon Riddle and Nigel Cowling. Also, all the committee, club members, marshals and landowners who have made the events so successful.
Our club’s success is due to the commitment and hard work of the committee. There is a lot of work behind the scenes that ensures the bureaucratic requirements and practical challenges are all tackled to ensure we can enjoy our sport. This fine group of individuals will meet next Thursday evening for the AGM to elect the officers and committee for the next year. If you would be interested in joining us or just want to come along and meet us, you would be most welcome.
One notable absentee from the awards evening and unable to attend the AGM this year will be our Club President Robin Moore who is unfortunately in hospital having suffered a stroke. I am sure we all wish him a good recovery.
I hope to see as many as possible of you out on the Launceston Trial on March 20th.
Yours in motorsport
Joe Caudle
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Forthcoming events
Club AGM on Thursday the 10th of March 7.30pm at the White Hart Hotel Launceston all welcome.
Launceston Trial on the 20th of March at Eastcott & Lew Woods , the online entry system is open so if you are thinking of entering don’t delay. Marshals needed.
Easter Friday/Saturday MCC Lands End Trial, considered by some as the biggest classic of the year (other trials are available) always good fun to watch.
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Tailpiece When you are an old codger like myself the government like to remind you of it by making you re apply for your driving licence at the age of 70. I started this process last August as my birthday at the end of September would put me in the above mentioned category. I was also aware that as you are deemed by many at this age to be incompetent in as much as the DVLA also see fit to remove certain categories from your licence, mainly the right to drive anything over 3500kg classes C & D unless you make a specific additional application.
I considered this ruling to be somewhat unfair so I started the process of attempting to retain said categories by getting all the appropriate forms, this then leads to you also needing a medical from your GP which is basically a form filling exercise for which I was relieved of £96. Next came a visit to the opticians, another fee, given the all clear and told I met fighter pilot standards despite having a long term Glaucoma condition. With all the forms filled out I sent my application off, about 7 weeks later they send the doctors medical back as an extra section needed filling out, got this done bearing in mind my licence now technically expires in a few days.
Time drifts by October no news November , December likewise. As the new year approaches I get my proof of identity paperwork back and a letter saying my licence will follow in about two weeks, I’m almost excited, unfortunately they come up with another hurdle, they won’t accept my Optician’s eye test I have to attend a test at their approved one. So I make the appointment, do the test and it is sent straight off to DVLA. Roughly two weeks later and due to yet more silence I decide to phone, coffee in one hand phone in the other I am ready for the long drawn out process. I make several attempts to phone them and after about 40 minutes someone actually answers the phone, this person can’t deal with my enquiry so get put on hold for 10 minutes, next person, sorry you’re through to the wrong department, back on hold with the same boring music which I can’t decide if it’s meant to relax you or just irritate me for having interrupted their day, for me it was the latter. New person speaks to me I then have to verify who I am for about the third time and says “Oh yes your case is being looked into but we aren’t able to divulge anything more but you will hear soon.” so that wasted about an hour and a half of my life which there is no retrieval system for.
A couple more weeks go by and I receive a letter to say they have refused my application for classes C & D as my visual field of scope doesn’t match their requirements, so any thoughts of being a fighter pilot are dashed. Today I received a one year driving licence which I am told is standard practice so some consolation I suppose . But after 8 months and much time and considerable cash wasted, codgers be warned life at 70 can be more than a little challenging, particularly where bureaucracy is involved.
All for this month J.T. contributions to billjan299@gmail.com
