2009 Exeter Trial

The weather was good and the going was dry for the 2009 Exeter Trial over Friday night and Saturday. Here's Barry and Fiona Smith in their 939cc MG PB "getting it on up" as Kool and The Gang might have said had they discovered the wonderful world of classic trials and not made a successful career out of disco, in which it is frequently necessary to -- and I quote -- "get it on down, get it on down, get it on down."

Or maybe they're taking Curtis Mayfield's advice to "Move on Up."

(My personal favourite trialling track is In a Rut by (appropriately enough) The Ruts. Listen to the words if you can. The middle bit always reminds me of looking for Warleggan in the mists of Bodmin Moor.

I spectated at Simm's this year, which is generally reckoned to be one of most spectacular trails hills anywhere. Blue Hills on the Land's End Trial must come close but since they put the wriggle in at the top, I think it has to play second fiddle to Simm's in terms of foot-to-the-floor all out blasts. This year, the crowds were the biggest I've ever seen on this section. Lots of bikes and cars got up this year so there wasn't quite so much applause as usual, since a "clean" run without stopping, or putting the foot down for the motorcyclists, was nothing out of the ordinary.

It was also the opportunity to meet up with some old friends. Start line official for the Class O section was none other than Jim Travers, with whom I had marshalled many years before. It must have been back in the late 80s and, if my memory serves me correctly, that year the Land's End Trial was filmed for a pre-Jeremy Clarkson Top Gear programme. Jim remembered this - we thought it was Tony Mason who featured - and said that the section that we were on had been Hobb's Choice. Bearing in mind my subsequent scribblings about Mick, Hob, The Horsepower Whisperer, perhaps this early experience of motorsport created a significant subconscious impression on my already fevered imagination. Hobb's Choice took a bit of finding. It was an earlky hill on the Land's End Trial and we had to set the section up in the dark. But Jim had got there first with a generator-driven lighting set to create a little illuminated oasis in the middle of countryside that was as my trialling mate Col wouldsay, "As black as a cow's guts."

Here Jim is marking the card of Simon and Adam Browner from Tavistock. I bumped into these two last year at Fingle Bridge and had a brief chat with them. Their Sunbeam Imp Sport now sports a 998cc engine. They were competing again in Class O, which features slightly gentler sections than the full on classic trial. My chat with them this year was even briefer than last time but they'd had a good event and cleaned all the hills so far. I had just time to wish them luck and then Jim waved them on. I expect I'll hear more detail of their exploits later.

Sorry I didn't get a better picture of you, Jim, but you just moved too fast for me.

Back on the main section of Simm's, there was plenty of grip and lots of successful climbs. The most favoured technique was a crowd-pleasing balls out, brain off blast up the hill. Only one or two really had to work to get up and their success was rewarded by a round of applause from the still appreciative crowd, who particularly liked it if the car concerned was really old. The motorcycle sidecar outfits also got great cheers as they roared their way to the summit.

I was really pleased to see the Imps do well. Bill Rosten and Ian Moss both took their cars up the hill in fine style and I was particularly intrigued by entry number 149, crewed by Tris White and Michael Richards. According to the programme, this car had an engine of 2000cc. I would very much like to know more about this device, which shouldn't be difficult, seeing as it is based in Bodmin, which is where we have our monthly Cornish Imp Club meetings.

The highest speeds that were possible in such conditions caused some mechanical damage. A few storming climbs were brought to an abrupt fall and a horrible clattering and then there was the added spectacle of clearing the section so someone else could have a go.

One Marlin broke its prop, apparently at the axle end, about two thirds of the way up the hill. This meant that they could not go backwards down the hill so the tractor that was already in action on the Class O section was summoned. It slithered down gently and, after being attached to the Marlin with a cable, took up the slack only to discover that it could get up the hill again. We were incredulous. We'd just seen ordinary cars romp up the hill and now here was a four-wheel-drive tractor spinning its wheels in perplexity.

Everyone started making helpful suggestions then, some more practical than others and some not particularly helpful, either, to be perfectly honest. At times like this it's best to remember that every marshall is a volunteer doing it for love. Without them, there would be no sport like this, so we gathered round as helpfully as we could to move the car and spread the love.

Then the bank we were standing on gave way.

There was a chorus of "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" in an appeal to gravity's better nature but it wasn't having any of it and the next thing I knew there was a pair of inverted Wellington boots in front of me as the man underneath them did a kind of headstand in the ruts made by the tractor's front wheels. It was just as well the tractor was stuck. He was fine, though, just a little muddy in some unexpected places and with another story to tell when he got home. As he said to his grandson who was found underneath him, "It's not everyday you get steamrollered by grandpa, is it?" Although the youngster's bottom lip was going a bit, at this he burst into laughter.

So did the rest of us. It was that sort of day.

In the end, the resourceful marshalls and crew hooked up the dangling prop shaft by running a strap underneath the car and over the cockpit. This then allowed a graceful descent without any pole vaulting for the Marlin and a pensive slither for the tractor at a safe distance behind.

A horsey lady next to me said that the tractor driver should've tried the hill again immediately to restore the tractor's confidence but, judging by the successful ascents by the cars, he wouldn't have been able to go fast enough to get up. It seemed to be a question of momentum and bouncing.

The Primrose Special of Neil Bray and Julie Fleet made a spectacular leap just after I took this photograph but came crashing down afterwards. There was a horrendous bang and their rapid progress up the hill came to a sudden halt. A great sigh of sympathy went up from the crowd for Neil has been competing in this car for years and I well remember his familiar style from another spectacular climb that he made on the 1984 Land's End Trial. Somewhere, I've got a photograph of that, too, with him waving his hook out of the window in typical fashion. I think this picture gives an idea of the speed at which he was travelling. Bearing in mind that the light was good and that he has just come around a sharp right-hand blind corner and you can understand what a gutsy driver he is. I think it's a good looking car, too.

Eric and Di Wall in this 1600 Mk1 Dellow had a good blast, too. I remember seeing this car at Crackington many years ago, obviously freshly restored and looking immaculate. It still looks good and has been actively campaigned regularly. I think its overall condition and competition record are a real credit to its crew.

One of my favourite shots from today is this picture of Simon Rogers holding onto his hat in his Austin 7. Or maybe he's just remembered that he's left the gas on and is thumping his forehead. He certainly had the gas on at Simm's....