Engine Punk

I had a Matchbox model of a VW Fastback. This is the real thing of Tom Coles and Edd Wagner.  Remedial work on the Arkley-MG has taken much longer than I expected but it is now back together and running again. I hope to make the start of the Land’s End Trial at Easter. Experience tells me to keep my expectations low but I remain like that guy in Shakespeare in Love . “Don’t worry. Everything will turn out all right.” In the tranquil mists of the Camel Vale - but wait, what are those cones and markers for? In the meantime, I turned out to marshal on the Bodmin Heights and the Lewdown Trial. My section for the Camel Vale MC’s 2026 Bodmin Heights was Eddy’s Incline on the Eddy’s farm at Pendavey. Eddy’s Branch Line has featured on the classic Land’s End Trial for the last few years but Eddy’s Incline was a straight up blast and turn off the MCC section. Despite the wet winter the conditions were friable and, after a spectacularly misty start across the Camel Vale, the sun came out. ...

Great shot - despite rain and gloomy light - of Peter Stobbs on Jab and Left hook. (Photo : Paul Jones) I marshalled on this year’s Camel Classic, since I’ve had the engine and gearbox out and in with the Arkley-MG to replace some oil seals. First spell of duty was on Jab and Left Hook, which I remembered as having a difficult restart but finding it took some time. Like all cats looking grey at twilight, all trials sections in the forest look the same when its dimpsy. It only really became apparent when one walked up a turn off from the main track in Hustyn Woods that the course markers became visible.   Fellow marshals were Matt Tyrell and Laurence Payne and we had walkie talkies because there was no clear line of sight. All solo bikes and car classes 5-8 had to do the restart. I was interested in everyone’s technique. The choices were, stay low on the flatter approach and get out of the greasy mud or get as high as possible and risk not getting away where the hill got steeper...

  At the start of this year's Camel Classic, l to r, Simon Oates' Liege, Aaron Haizelden's John Deere Special, Emma Wall's Troll and the VW Special of Adrian and George Marfell For this year’s Camel Classic, the lovely Sally was to have been my passenger. We have entered the forthcoming Exeter Trial and had thought of a gentle drive out in the country with the Arkley-MG to get used to things. Instead, we entered the Camel Classic, which is nothing like a gentle drive out. At least, she would be able to experience tree roots motorsport at first hand and see the sort of sections we could expect. The first hills on the Exeter would be hidden by darkness. Perhaps that might be helpful. The sections on the Camel Classic are spectacular to the point of intimidating and I knew there would be a lot of reversing back down again.  Anyway, poor Sally developed a shocking cold a few days beforehand and had been in bed for three days before the Camel Classic. Even if she recovered...

At the start, everything is clean. Watto's VW Imp is in the foreground while to the left is the Class 7 winning Beetle of Joe and Gary Browning The Camel Classic was postponed from February this year but the wait was worth it for many forestry sections were now available, having been out of bounds to all for some time. Representing the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain, Mr Graham Beddoe and I weighed up our chumrade’s machinery on the morning of the trial and marvelled at the high standards of preparation. After a slap-up binge at The Borough Arms, we set off in the Arkley-MG for Hustyn, an old MCC hill on the edge of St Breock Downs. The original section was metalled long ago. Legend has it a doctor insisted upon it to make his life easier visiting patients. Today’s Hustyn lies in the woods to the south and was part of a network of sections for this year’s Camel Classic, beginning with a holding control at the top of the first section where successful climbers pop out of t...

Rickman Metisee of Neil Browne This year's Tamar Trial took me to some obscure parts of countryside that were probably familiar to regular competitors. The 2019 event impressed me with the varied sections, some of which were very close to home but previously unknown to me. Simon Riddell and Nigel Cowling said on that occasion that they were trying to show us more of the county.  Groover Groves and Luke Butler at the start of the Tamar Trial in their Troll. Graham Beddoe was on a marathon post-Covid road trip so my navigator and bouncer for the 2021 Tamar Trial was Adrian Booth. Many of the hills were familiar to him and I knew the sections in Lew Woods and, of course, Crackington and Angel Steps. The hydraulic jack had been a bit lazy on the  Launceston Trial  earlier in the year. The pump for this had enjoyed a quieter life raising the roof on a Fiat Punto and after some experiments with electric power steering pumps, Adrian decided something beefier was required. He fo...

Another great photo by Pete Brown. There's an awful lot going on here. Stuart and I are bouncing hard. (Photo : Peter Brown) Regular perusers of my ramblings will already know about my taste for Austin 7 specials. We've had the Oliver Way designed Salamanda Special , the Reliant powered Cattley 7 , a splendid MG and Austin 7 device  that wowed the crowd at Wiscombe Park, Mrs Jo-jo , Mr Jo-jo , the baby Bugatti RA special and even Simplicity itself.  There are many others I would like to have a good look at and most recently it was the Austin 7 Ulsteroid of Stuart Palmer, Professor Emeritus of Side Valve Sorcery at the University of Torbay. This little car is an MCC long distance trials machine in Class O and last year I had the chance to passenger Stuart on the Camel Vale Motor Club's  Presidents Trial  near Hessenford just off the A38. The Ulsteroid is based on a 1935 Austin Ruby long wheelbase chassis so there's enough legroom for Stuart's dad, who's taller ...

At the start from left to right, 1900cc BMW 316 of Rob and Michael Holden, 2 litre Escort of Ken Bassett and Liam Hartley, Class winning X90 of Simon and Charlotte Lewis and Darren Ruby with Lisa, Ashley and Zak in their BMW E36 Compact. The 2021 Presidents Trial took place on 18th April, organised by the redoubtable Camel Vale Motor Club and back to its usual slot after Covid caused it to be postponed to October in 2020. After a freshen up of my steed during the winter lockdown and survival in the MCC Pop Up Trial, I entered the Arkley-MG as a singleton although I could have had a bouncer. What we can, and cannot, do changes frequently and I tend to lose track of where we're to. I wasn't the only driver without a bouncer but if you had an MSUK licence holder in your bubble you were laughing and if you didn't you could still laugh but behind a mask. This 454 CID Range Rover  was on recovery duty Conditions were very dry, much drier than when Stuart Palmer and I competed in ...