We now have the final results for the testing trial 2021. You can download them below;
Testing Trial 2021 Results (1438 downloads)<br style=”clear:both;”>
Thank you to all the Competitors who took part & hope you enjoyed the day. Good to see all the little smiling faces.
Congratuations to Gareth,Greg & Kayleigh as major award winners & a really good effort from Callum Williams. Well done Tristan in the Taster event.
Special thanks to the Marshalls.
Hope to see you all next year. MJW
The regulations and entry form for The David Ayers Trial 2021 are now available to download below.
David Ayers 2021 Regs (1473 downloads) David Ayers 2021 Entry Form (1331 downloads)The Trial will take place on Sunday the 12th of September.
Completed Entry Forms should be posted (together with payment) to the Secretary of the meeting.
Signing on (Driver and Passenger) and Scrutineering declaration will need to be completed online before the day of the meeting.
Signing on for Officials/Marshalls will also be online.
This event for Trials Formula Cars is a qualifying round in 3 national championships and will be held by kind permission of the Langley Family at Trevilla Farm, Marshgate, Camelford PL32 9YN. Map Ref. 190 145911..
There will be 8 sections on steep ground that will be attempted by the competitors over 3 rounds. The layout of each section may be altered between rounds. Each section is marked 12 to 1. The winner of the event will be the person with the lowest score. The cars are divided into classes based on their construction with awards for the winner in each class.
We are always in need of Marshalls to observe each section so if you are interested and available please contact Warin Kelly on 01822 870393.
Due to Covid there will be no catering this year so please bring your own lunch
Entries for the event close on Tuesday the 7th of September.
The regulations and entry form for the Testing Trial 2021 are now available to download below. We’re not using the online entry system for this event.
Testing Trial 2021 Car Regs (1386 downloads) Testing Trial 2021 Motorcycle Regs (1658 downloads) Testing Trial 2021 Car Entry Form (1276 downloads) Testing Trial 2021 Motorcycle Entry Form (1288 downloads) Testing Trial 2021 Taster Entry Form - Cars Only (1219 downloads)<br style=”clear:both;”>
The event will take place on Sunday 22nd August 2021 at Smithson Farm, Kelly, Lifton, Devon (MR201/414816) and will consist of a number of observed tests. Marks will be awarded for completion of each test or section correctly as well as times taken where appropriate. There will be a number of tests and rounds dependent on time and size of entry.
Taster Entry Details
Bring your own road going car, receive instruction & guidance & then attempt 6 tests twice in a mini competition.
Also open to 14 to 17 year olds – subject to parental consent & being accompanied at the event by a passenger with full RTA Licence who is experienced as a Car Trial Driver.
The Taster does not require club membership nor a MotorSport UK RS Competition licence.
Numbers will be LIMITED so please phone in advance to be sure of an entry [there may be places available on the day].
It’s August, yes August !! Another year is flying by and I for one haven’t done half the things I had hoped to do, yes there has been this big thing going on in the world, not just the Olympics, which has cramped our style a little but somehow time flies by. Talking of the Olympics I was very pleased to see that Plymouth boy Tom Daley and diving partner Matty Lee had a superb gold medal win, Tom can now concentrate on his knitting, the WI halls will be jostling to get him there to do talks and share his patterns.
Anyway back to club matters, a bit of good news after last month and hearing of the situation with the Lawrence House Museum, they have apparently secured a property/shop to use as a “pop up” museum so all the hard work of creating the club’s history in a series of posters will not be wasted. I am not privy as to the exact location yet but once I know I will broadcast it in all the usual ways.
Past Events
Motor Traders Trial. 21 entries for this event so well worth putting on, Nigel “can do “ Cowling laid out six hills for all to attempt several of the competitors were “double drives” which as always puts a bit of a strain on the vehicle with clutches and radiators usually being the first to overheat. Ashley Ruby being the youngest driver was getting to grips with things before the car had other ideas but I’m sure he will soon be showing his dad Darren how it’s done. It was first time out for Kayleigh Seward who after a nervous start was getting the hang of it but the car had other ideas so it was retirement for her as well, but I have a feeling she will be back. By 1.30 pm the rain was really letting us know it was time to go home so it was a case of “up sticks and away”.
Overall winner of the Motor Traders Cup was David Robinson, class awards went to John Sandercock, Allan Taylor, Philip Thomas and Gareth White. Judging by the smiley faces everyone enjoyed themselves so a good day out indeed.
Spry Sporting Trial. Eight cars started the event but two retirements meant only six finished . Roland Uglow was on form with a superb drive and at the end of the day had a completely clear sheet, according to Mike Wevill he thinks it is only the second time this has been done in 40 years! John Cole made the long journey down to West Devon worthwhile by winning the Blue Class. Thanks to Warin Kelly for being Clerk of the Course and Paul Webber for the use of his land.
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Now over to our Club President Robin Moore
The Ramblings of RHTM Part 4 of the Graham Paige Story
I have always tried to use a car regularly for what it was designed for, the everyday transport of its owner, and this 1928 car did itself justice in this respect. Admittedly I had the use of a Morris 1000 van for use with my farming needs, but otherwise it was the Graham Paige that fulfilled family transportation as well as being used for a number of VSCC and other events. Apart from normal servicing it also proved very reliable and gave much pleasure in its use.
I entered two VSCC Welsh Trials at the time, which involved covering a 200 straight line mileage between 9.00am and 6.00pm, obtaining receipts for fuel stops, or, as we did at the time sending a telegram as proof of passage. I can remember stopping outside a small Post Office as we circumnavigated Bath. This road is now part of a one way system , the Post Office has disappeared, and we could not now park in the road whilst the business was done. A far cry from the present day.
This annual event in the calendar of the Vintage Sports Car Club was first run in 1939 and has always had a wonderful atmosphere and has changed little over the years. Centred in Presteigne in Powys, Radnorshire, the Radnorshire Arms in the High Street is the focal point and with this old Welsh town “chock a block” with vintage cars it becomes an image of history for the weekend and a reminder of a time when life was very different. Even the local constabulary turn a blind eye to this annual invasion of vintagents. Also run in conjunction with the main trial is a touring assembly and driving tests, but the Welsh itself with its trials sections is a more serious affair, including the famous “Snatcher” as well as a number of sections on private land.
Quite often Marjorie and I would continue, and extend our time visiting and exploring this beautiful part of the Welsh border country. I remember visiting the Elan Valley reservoirs, the experience all enhanced by driving the route in a vintage motor car.
Another VSCC event entered was an informal concern at Beaulieu followed by driving tests held nearby at the old WW2 airfield. We also attended other events at Beaulieu, – The Lost Causes Rally where there were a number of American cars in attendance.
It was the only time that I met up with another Graham Paige, whose owner lived in Bridgwater. When going to the New Forest we would sometimes stay for a night at the Burley Manor Hotel and didn’t leave until a visit had been made to John Shuttler at his nearby garage where there were always interesting motors to be found, such as a Sleeve Valve Daimler, and of course, John’s Invicta, for which he was a great enthusiast and held the record for one of these cars at Prescott. John was always ready for a chat and to share his enthusiasm. I recall another long distance memorable journey in XV4512 and this was a solo trip to watch a VSCC race meeting at Silverstone. I was “self contained” so to speak , taking all my personal needs with me and sleeping in the car overnight. Remember, I have previously mentioned the reclining front seats of this coach built car. I had arranged to travel down the following day to Sherfield English near Romsey, where I arrived in time for breakfast at the White Horse Hotel. My appointment that day was with a gentleman by the name of Brian Rylus at his garage in Sherfield English. Brian had been a previous owner of the Mc Evoy special RC450 with which he had competed at the Gosport Speed Trials. This car I had purchased in 1958 from the Jack O’Lantern garage near Romsey, and Brian, I discovered had quite a number of parts and associated items which he had retained. I spent quite some time with Brian and his wife and they kindly provided lunch for me. We eventually concluded our business and I drove home with the Graham stuffed full of goodies, but that’s another story.
RHTM to be continued.
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Centenary Celebrations This coming Saturday the 7th is the date set for our display of vehicles in Launceston Town Square, there is a mix of cars and motorcycles which will hopefully be of interest to the passing public. The display will be from 10.00am until 2.00pm, the organising committee will be there from 9.30am to get everyone in place.
One word of caution to those displaying vehicles, if yours has an incontinence problem please bring a suitable drip tray or sheet of cardboard to catch any drips, we don’t want any backlash from the council saying that we have ruined their lovely cobble stones. Any committee members with a few hours to spare on the day your help will be appreciated.
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Ladies and gentlemen,
This is to confirm that we will be holding our AGM at 8.00pm on Thursday 12th August in Yeolmbridge Village Hall. This will be followed by a committee meeting. For those who may not be familiar with the village please see directions and map below and suggested area to park:-
On the B3254 Launceston to Bude road, heading towards Bude, turn left immediately after the bridge at Yeolmbridge. The Hall is approximately 100m down this road on the right hand side. If there are no parking spaces available on the side of the road continue approximately another 150m past the hall and there will be additional parking available on the left hand side of the road.
After such a long time it will be great to finally hold our AGM and a committee meeting face to face. We look forward to seeing you there.
Many thanks and best regards, Andy
Future Events
The Testing Trial due to run on the 15th of August has been moved to a week later, 22nd, also the venue has changed, it is now at Smithson Farm, Kelly, near Lifton the website details are due to be changed in plenty of time for everyone to find the new venue. We are hoping to run a “Taster Event” along side the testing trial for people new to motorsport, this will depend on interest shown at the centenary day.
David Ayers Sporting trial is on the 12th of September, more details to follow on the website.
Tamar Classic Road Trial The date for this is 17th of October, planning is well under way, again watch the website for more details.
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The astute ones among you will notice that various things have changed, the AGM was moved to Yeolmbridge because the good folks of Tresmeer are splashing out on some refurbishment of the Village Hall, next time you see it there will be a nice new ceiling with lots of insulation between the hall interior and the outside world in the hope of retaining the heat and generally looking much nicer, there will even be a lick of paint!! No stopping us country folks once we get going!
Hope to see one or two of you on Saturday the 7th ……… all for now.
J.T.
Contributions gratefully received billjan299@gmail.com
The Spry Trial 2021 Results are now available to download below.
Spry Trial 2021 Results (1416 downloads)<br style=”clear:both;”>
Well done Roland, I think this is only the second time I have seen a completely clear sheet in a Sporting Trial in 40 years.
Thanks to John for travelling so far.
Thanks to Warin for acting as C o C& Paul Webber for use of land.
Hope you all enjoyed the day & see you at Trevlla for the David Ayers on 12th September( watch the website)
Mike Wevill Comp Sec
On Saturday 7th August as part of our club’s delayed Centenary Celebrations we are holding a display of Trials bikes and Cars, and other locally owned Competition cars,
in Launceston Town Square
from 10 am to 2,00pm.
Come and have a look and chat to us about what we do and how you could join in our Club’s grassroots low cost Sport
Please see attached the provisional results from Sunday.
Motor Traders 2021 Results (1647 downloads)
We hope you enjoyed the day – our next Production Car event is the Testing Trial on 22nd August, more details to follow soon.
Our next sporting trial is the Spry Trial on the 25th of July. The regs and entry form are on the website.
There are times when no matter how much planning you do somehow it will still go pearshaped, in this case I’m referring to the centenary celebrations. We had the bad news a couple of weeks ago regarding the Lawrence House Museum in that during heavy rainfall a large quantity of it came in through the roof of the museum and as is usual brought down a ceiling or two, whilst this is bad news for the club it is extremely disheartening for the museum in that it will not be opening this year. The repair bill will be into six figures and being closed during the Summer is a big loss in terms of revenue for the museum and as a tourist attraction for the many visitors to the town.
The museum had been whole heartedly in support for our centenary celebrations particularly in that we were planning a take over of one of its rooms to display a lot of club memorabilia including a vintage motorcycle, we have had special display boards designed to hang up showing different decades of the 101 years of the club’s heritage . Joe Caudle and Sandra Pollard have put in a huge amount of work to produce these boards, for which we are extremely grateful, the museum is hoping to possibly get use of one of the empty shops in the town so that they can create a “pop up” temporary museum so fingers crossed that we might get to see the finished results of the boards, in the meantime we are holding a display of trials vehicles (bikes and cars) in the town square on Saturday the 7th of August starting from around 11.00am to approximately 3.00pm so come along and show your support.
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Now over to our Club President Robin Moore
The Ramblings of RHTM.
Part 3 Of the Graham Paige Story.
I can’t help thinking that the editor and myself are rather like the cartoon characters, Tom and Gerry, me being Gerry of course. Occasionally Tom gets caught out and Gerry has a good laugh, but more often than not it’s me, (Gerry). When todays call came (3rd of July), “It’s that time again Robin”, I had to admit to John that I’d been caught out again, I hadn’t even given it a thought, let alone put pen to paper. So bang goes my weekend of rest and solitude, while he’s away enjoying himself with a bunch of Elevenseventytwoites,- It just ain’t fair.
Anyway back to the story of my Graham Paige. As mentioned previously XV4512 with its coachbuilt body was unique and something quite different of the standard offering of the Graham Brothers. But in all other respects it remained their basic 615 model, a 3 ¼ litre straight six sidevalve with their pressed steel Sedan bodies that would have been found swelling the ranks of the yellow cabs plying for hire on the streets of New York at the time.
For all that, there were a number of distinguishing and advanced features. I mentioned the steering lock in part 2. I was told the engine was originally fitted with cast iron pistons, although at some time in its life these had been replaced with “Ali” pistons, without any loss of balance in the reciprocating parts. I mention this, for when Colin Vincent replaced cast iron for ali in the engine of his veteran Belsize, a vibration occurred as the crankshaft counter balance weights were then cast out of sync.
Another novel feature for its time was that the oil level in the sump could be checked at a glance when raising the bonnet, (the yanks call them hoods) as the engine was fitted an oil level indicator,- no dipstick. Cast into the offside crankcase/cylinder block was a narrow open channel enclosing a rod which contained a ball bearing, held captive at its top end, whilst a float was attached to the bottom of the rod floating on the oil in the sump, therefore rising and falling, with the ball bearing doing likewise in its captive housing. One could see at a glance the level in the sump,- no mess, no wiping a dipstick for an accurate reading,- a novel feature sure enough.
The engine was fed by a single updraught Schebler carburettor, and the electrics , if memory serves me right , by the North East Lighting Co, and were a 6 volt system. Brakes were hydraulic by Lockheed with external contracting shoes working on 14 inch drums, and the wheels had detachable rims carrying 500 x 19 tyres . The 4 speed gearbox was a little unusual , in that it was really a 3 speed with a reserve bottom gear, which to engage, one had to lift a catch just below the gear lever knob should this gear be required for any steep gradient restart. I never had to use this cog, (useful on Sims Robin, Ed) the box was a 3 speed for all intents and purposes, as this old Graham like most of the larger engine cars of the vintage period, had tremendous torque, and there wasn’t really much need for gearchanging. In the old favourites class at Camel Vale’s standing start ¼ mile it was basically 3rd and top gear only.
The other unusual feature were the shock absorbers, whilst the suspension consisted of the normal leaf springs all round but these were dampened mechanically . This shock absorber consisted of a strong flat coil spring contained in a circular housing and linked to brackets on the leaf spring by a heavy duty strap of webbing. I had never come across this type of damper before, but I must say , it seemed to work pretty well.
To be continued RHTM.
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For Sale Ford 109E (Anglia 1200 ? ) engine and gearbox . Both items are in need of a strip down and check over. Would otherwise be useful for parts. The engine is missing its rocker cover and a few other bits, but includes clutch and flywheel. Gearbox looks complete except for gearstick. £75.00 buys the lot, collect from J.T. 07971 249783. These items are no longer found in scrapyards and considerably cheaper than on that well known auction site.
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Forthcoming Events
11th of July. Motor Traders Trial at Waterloo Farm by kind permission of the Werring family, reg’s are on the website, get in quick or you will miss it. If it isn’t immediately obvious on the website click on the “more news” button.
25th of July. Spry Sporting Trial to be held at Ashley Farm by kind permission of Paul Webber, reg’s on the website.
Marshals are needed for both events so do please volunteer.
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The rechargeable torch found on section at the Lanson Trial has still not been claimed, email the Ed to claim.
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There will be the much awaited AGM followed by a committee meeting on Thursday the 12th August at Tresmeer Village Hall, everyone welcome, come and have a chat even if you don’t want to be on the committee.
Midlands Motor Club Heritage Trial held near Crewkerne 4th July 2021
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The Heritage Trial at Crewkerne last weekend was a very enjoyable event, the weather was mostly kind to us although it did decide early afternoon that it was time for us to go home, so gave us a gentle soaking just to encourage us to abandon camp. For sidevalve fans it was great to see 18 Dellows assembled , although I didn’t take part in the actual trial I took the car along as a chance to pose. There was also 4 big Allards there along with a few specials making it an entry of 40. Full credit to the organisers who had everything under control, all competitors and marshals were required to wear face masks as per MSUK recommendations, even the free cakes that Hilary of the Dellow register made were all individually wrapped (full covid compliance).
The site itself was perfect for this type of event, it was easy to view what was going on without needing to walk miles, the sections were non damaging meaning people who were not normally likely to trial their much loved vehicle were able to have a go. An extra bonus for Vivien and I was that our dog Thorn was on best behaviour and didn’t destroy anyone’s tent or awning, I’m sure he’ll make up for it though. Hopefully the event will run again next year and I will have the Dellow suitably “run in” and be able to compete.
The following picture is one which I had in my small collection of Dellow memorabilia, taken from a newspaper, possibly the Plymouth Western Evening Herald around 1972, certainly no later than 1973 showing Roger Brewer of Camel Vale M.C. in action. Having shown this picture to a couple of people in the register it turns out that it’s something of a missing car, the earliest history the register had was around 1975 when it belonged to David Wigley, it then went through a succession of owners in the Yeovil area with Stephen Hiscox owning it from 1993-95, it then completely dropped off the radar.
If anyone knows anything of this car or its whereabouts I would really like to hear from them, the DVLA have no record of it since 1993/4 but it was registered as being blue in colour, the register even knows its chassis number, but not its whereabouts.
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Tailpiece
Don’t trust the vehicles in your garage, they communicate to each other, it’s well documented the trials and tribulations that my Dellow has given me during the time of ownership with it. Recently it appears to be behaving itself, little did I know it would pass on its mischievous ways to one of my scooters I have been rebuilding. Just like the Dellow this bike has had its engine, removed, stripped, rebuilt and refitted back into its frame more times than I dare to admit, and still it goes on. I have come to the conclusion all vehicles should be kept on their own in isolation to stop this happening, you have been warned !!
All for this month. J.T.
Contributions to billjan299@gmail.com
The regulations and entry form for The Spry Trophy Trial 2021 are now available to download below.
Spry Trial 2021 Regs (1643 downloads) Spry Trial 2021 Entry Form (1575 downloads)<br style=”clear:both;”>
We won’t be making use of the online entry system for this event as it normally has low entry numbers.
The trial will take place on Sunday 25th of July at Ashley Farm, Lifton (MR201/395842) by kind permission of Paul Webber.
Entries Close on 18th July 2021.
The regulations for the Motor Traders Car Trial 2021 are now available to download below. Please use the online entry section of the website to submit your entry. We aren’t accepting paper entries for this event.
We will need marshalls for this event. If you would like to marshall then please submit a signing on form by following this link.
Motor Traders 2021 Regs (1526 downloads)<br style=”clear:both;”>
The trial will take place on Sunday 11th July 2021 by kind permission of John Werren and family at Waterloo Farm, North Petherwin, Nr. Launceston, PL15 8LL (MR 190/285880).
Entries Close on Wednesday the 7th of July 2021.