It’s all happening , just had the David Ayers trial, in a couple of weeks we have the Tamar trial but before the Tamar many people will be getting ready to go “up north” for the MCC Edinburgh trial, yes the one which basically concentrates on Derbyshire, but Edinburgh is only a few miles up the road to a racing pigeon.
Hopefully by next weekend the latest barmy blot of the “fuel crisis” that isn’t will have eased and everyone will be able to concentrate on the event and not where they can fill up next. I am marshalling on Haydale, I theoretically have a chance to get a few hours sleep as I don’t have to be on section until 3.45am, luxury.
It was a feeling of “we’ve finally got there” when the clubs exhibition opened in the pop up museum, well worth a visit, it’s closed Sundays and Mondays but open the rest of the week, last entry is 4.00pm. There is everything from live rolling film to fully dressed manikins of what the best dressed trailers wore/wear and lots of interesting memorabilia, one of our committee members has already been twice to have a look , he’s impressed.
“””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””” Forthcoming Events
Sunday the 17th of October is the Tamar Classic road trial, this is probably our biggest event, it takes a lot of organising by the team and will require a considerable number of marshals, if you are able to help in any way please contact Nigel 07902 542798, go on give him a call.
Sunday the 21st of November is pencilled in for the Ron Beer sporting trial, I haven’t heard too much about it yet but as far as I know it will be at Ashleigh Farm, Lifton.
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Now over to our Club President Robin Moore
The Ramblings of RHTM. Part 6 of the Graham Paige Story
As I mentioned at the beginning of this story, as purchased, the Graham was remarkably sound in all departments , and I had no reason to think that any item might be non original , and I never met anyone who may have questioned this. When I was able to see my old car a few years later I found otherwise. I knew that Derek Adams had placed it in a museum, and when I next clapped eyes on XV4512 and was delighted with what I found.
It was after attending the VSCC Welsh Trial a few years later that Marjorie and I stayed on for a few days after the event, as we often did, and we headed for the Garrison Theatre at Pembroke Dock. The auditorium had been turned into a small private car museum,- a far cry from the days of it’s use as a theatre providing relaxation from the rigours of WW2for those on coastal command who were based at Pembroke Dock. We discovered the museum was closed, but on making judicious enquiries at a small shop nearby we discovered a young lad who had the key whilst the owners were away. The owners, whose name eludes me at the moment, were away on a pilgrimage to France to pay homage and be with the people who had witnessed and been so kind and helpful when their son had tragically lost his life in a motoring accident the previous year. Having established our credentials we walked the short distance to the museum and to be let in and allowed to view our old motor car. I was truly amazed to find that it had been given a face lift in Derek Adam’s hands and was once again as Dr Flower would have been when attracted to the car on the 1928 motor show.
The car was now as originally presented and I was able to appreciate it that much more. There had been a number of items that had been missing or changed during my ownership, but I had been none the wiser. I suspect that Derek Adams had realized that a number of items were missing and assume he sourced these parts from the States,- probably not too difficult at the time. I noticed a number of small items such as the plug for the starting handle hole at the bottom of the radiator for example,- I hadn’t ever given this a thought. But the most striking thing which immediately struck me was that the wheels had been re-painted. During my time with the car the wheels had always been a pale green colour, where as now they were correctly painted in an Ivory shade to match the colour of the metal instrument panel set in the centre of the full width wooden dash. Also most striking was the addition of the correct bumpers,- the Yanks call them fenders,- and I must say this really set the car off in my eyes. All was now as it should be, I came away a happy man. The museum closed many years ago, and where the Graham resides I know not. I do know that Derek Adams died a number of years ago.
RHTM to be continued,
Ed I just did a quick DVLA search and the last tax due date was 1st January 1998. Last logbook issued (V5) 4th Feb 2019
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Chairman’s Chat
The newsletter continues to be a vital part of keeping you all in touch with the club so thanks to JT for reminding me that it is due out shortly.
Hopefully you are now all aware that the new Lawrence House Pop-Up museum is open at the Merchant House, 11a High Street (opposite the Co-Op in Launceston town centre. The exhibition celebrates the Dunheved Motor Club, North Cornwall Motor Club and subsequently Launceston and North Cornwall Motor Club’s Centenary. It tells the story of our club and includes the many characters who have enjoyed their motorsport and contributed to our success and longevity. You can also discover the stories behind many of our trophies. It is currently open most days except Sunday.
Recently the David Ayers Trophy Trial was a very successful BTRDA Championship Trials Formula competition. It was good to see Andy Wilks winning the main award as he and his family have supported this event for many years. Congratulations also go to to Nigel Shute the winner of the Frank Ayers Trophy and to Colin Flashman for his class win. Thanks must go to Warin, Mike Wevill and all the volunteers who enabled this event that began in 1963 to continue to be one of the best on the calendar.
Last week I went to the Goodwood Revival historic motor racing with Andy Prosser. It was a privilege to be part of the tribute to Sir Stirling Moss It included 3 laps round the circuit behind Jenson Button in a Jaguar XK120 chauffeured Andy Smith in his FIA MGB that Stirling drove in the Pirelli Marathon in 1992, his last competitive rally, winning his third ALPINE CUP.
Our club’s next event is the Tamar trial and the organising committee are working hard under the leadership of Pete Cooper to ensure that it is a success. They really do need marshals to enable all sections to be included as planned so if you, your family, or friends are available please let us know as soon as possible.
On a purely personal note I would like to wish Simon Oates and John Werren good luck for the Edinburgh Trial. Simon has certainly developed and drives Torum well After they won best car on the MCC John Aley Summer Trial I wished there was a constructor’s award! Andy Prosser and I finished building the car in 1997 and it has seen a lot of competition since then but never had such outright success before.
Yours in motorsport
Joe Caudle
Visit to Prescott Speed Hill Climb. by Andy Prosser
Sunday 4th September found me at Prescott, near Cheltenham, watching my first ever hill climb. Well, I say first, but I suppose technically that was many years ago as I did once sneak in to the hill climb at Werrington Park briefly, just over the road from where I live. So, what finally got me to go to Prescott? Two things really, one it has the reputation of being one of the best hills in the country and also my friend Mike Turpin was competing there in his Vauxhall VX220. This is a car that was originally built for rallycross and which I did a lot of work on, from fabricating and setting up all the suspension, to sorting racing brakes, installing the engine and transmission, fitting variable rate electric power steering and numerous other modifications. The car is fitted with a 2.2 litre supercharged engine built by Martin Bowyer, producing around 400 horse power and a 6 speed Sadev sequential, flat shift gearbox. Having done some work on this gearbox I can honestly say it’s a work of art, everything is beautifully machined and the gears and associated parts would look good on any mantelpiece (although my wife probably wouldn’t agree).
I have lost count of how many rallycross meetings I have been to throughout the UK and Ireland looking after Mikes cars, going back to the end of his Metro 6R4 days in which he won the British Rallycross championship in 1993, through many years where he was highly successful in his space framed Vauxhall Nova and then the VX. Mike had only campaigned the VX in rallycross for a couple years when he felt that all the travelling and damage from other cars was taking the fun out of it, so around 10 years ago decided to move to hill climbing. He has been very successful with it, winning the Midland Hill Climb championship several times. His move to hill climbing meant, barring major driver error (which is virtually unheard of with Mike) that little mechanical support at meetings would be needed. This, together with a change of job for me, entailing a huge amount of travelling, meant I really didn’t have the need or the time to go along anymore so this was the first time I saw the VX in action at a hill climb.
Mike’s VX220 – pretty don’t you think?
Two cooling systems, one for the engine and one for the hard-working supercharger.
So, what was is it like at Prescott? I have to say it is a superb venue in a fantastic setting and the weather was perfect too. The hill itself is 1127 yards long and rises over 200 feet (it’s great after Brexit that we can use imperial measures again!). For those who maybe don’t know, it is owned by the Bugatti owners club, having been bought in 1937 to enable a few wealthy friends to have somewhere to race, having apparently been barred from racing at some of the other venues they’d been using due to making too much noise. These days a huge variety of cars compete from virtually standard road cars, rally cars, historic cars, through home-built specials to out and out hill climb single seaters and not forgetting Bugatti type 51’s! The acceleration of the top cars is amazing, achieving over 100 mph in the first 100 yards or so. The course record had been set by Sean Gould in his, yes Gould, in 2019 with a time of 35.41 seconds. However, Wallace Menzies achieved a new hill record of 35.12 seconds in the qualifiers in his 3.3 litre Gould. In the run off, you could see it was going to be an amazing run, Menzies was totally on it everywhere, the braking points were perfect and he seemed to be able to get on the power sooner than anyone else, plus the car goes like hell. He smashed the record with a time of 34.65 seconds, ½ a second quicker than his previous run, a truly astonishing performance and a privilege to be there to see. Before the run his crew were even using a hot air gun and paint scraper to get a new clean surface on the tyres – that’s what you call car preparation! Huge congratulations to him and his team.
Oh, and how did Mike do? Second in class to a 3.8 litre Porsche driven by a guy who I believe owns around ten Porsches and who had been racing at LeMans in one the week before. Apparently when someone asked him what his favourite track was, he thought about it for a while and then said “Daytona” – playing in a different league perhaps?
So why don’t I do hill climbing? Unfortunately, I suffer with motion sickness, a problem with my ears I think, so after experiencing the “g” forces of cornering and braking on one run up the hill I am sure I would be parking my breakfast as well as my car in the paddock! I’ll just have to stick to trialling, a much more sedate form of motorsport.
What a lovely pair of Bugatti Type 51s.
Single seater anyone?
Now that’s what I call a front wing!
Wallace Menzies front wheel, functional, art or pornography – you decide!
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DAVID AYERS TRIAL 2021
On Sunday 12th September the Launceston & North Cornwall Motor Club organised the David Ayers Sporting Trial at Marshgate, by kind permission of the Langley family.
The event attracted 16 competitors from as far as Yorkshire , Shropshire & the Midlands because it was a round in both the MotorSport UK & BTRDA National Championships.
The conditions were ideal after heavy rain in the week but rain holding off on the day.
The event was closely contested but lunchtime leader Andy Wilks just held off local clubmember Colin Flashman (Blue class winner) to win by just 6 points taking the David Ayers Trophy. Local drivers John Fack & Alan Murton finished 3rd & 4th respectively.
Nigel Shute was into the silverware by winning the Frank Ayers Trophy in the clubman class.
Many thanks as usual to the marshals & organisers.
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Tailpiece……………
Back in the late 40’s , early 50’s when the Dellow was originally designed/constructed it was basically a simple car, starting with an Austin 7 chassis and soon followed by a chassis of their own design. Running gear was also simple , using a Ford 1172cc sidevalve engine, 3 speed gearbox and back axle that could be found in any junk yard under a Ford “Pop” body. In fact it was so simple that many special builders latched on to copy this design. Simple. NO IT’S NOT, if it’s simple why won’t my blooming Dellow start ?
To explain, on the day of the David Ayers trial I drove in it out to Marshgate, spent a happy day marshalling and drove home again , put it in the garage. The following Wednesday I have to go to Plymouth in the afternoon, so I say to Vivien I’ll take the Dellow after all it’s a nice day. Just before lunch I open the garage, start the car and park it outside, switch off , go in and have a sandwich. Return to car, switch on and it refuses to start, I then spend 10 minutes tinkering with it all to no avail, push car back in garage and trundle off to Plymouth in the campervan.
On my return I grudgingly remove the bonnet to further my knowledge of non starting cars, to date my knowledge of non starting cars has been greatly expanded because a week and a half later the bloody thing still refuses anything more than a heavy smokers cough. When fault finding it is all too easy to jump in at the deep end and overlook the obvious so I have tried to be methodical in my process.
Having removed the distributor cap I noticed a spark coming from a low tension wire, got it thinks I, replace wire (even with additional sleeving) attempt to start, will it start? NO!
Next fit my in line spark checker to check good spark, yes, lovely spark, go off to scratch head and various other bits of anatomy whilst battery is recharging – will it start? NO!
Next check fuel supply , fine , mop up fuel from garage floor. Will it start? NO!
Next remove number 1 plug that way I can see if valves are closed properly on compression whilst rotor arm is approaching correct firing position, all good. But will it start NO!
I am now beginning to run short of ideas, Next – replace rotor arm, throw money at it by fitting 4 brand new plugs, still no joy.
Maybe there’s a fault with the supercharger, disconnect inlet from charger, remove inlet manifold, replace with original twin carbs, recharge battery, nope engine is fully paid up member of “Dodo” fan club.
The car carries two HT coils, both giving the same result, get another one from cupboard, fit, same result. No Start!
Is it an earth problem? Fit additional earth wire from engine to chassis, you’ve guessed it, NO!
The only simple item not be replaced is the dizzy cap because as it turns out the spare one I have been carrying for the last 4 years isn’t compatible. Order new one and in the meantime recharge battery again . The saga continues……
Bumper edition this month so thanks to all contributors, certainly makes the job easier, will have to hold the scooter ride article off to next month. J.T.
billjan299@gmail.com for contributions