Land's End Trial 2012

It would be rude not to show the Allard's engine to everyone, especially if they've never seen a flathead V8 before

No awards for us this time in the Land's End Trial but it was still hugely enjoyable and this morning I've nearly lost my voice from shouting so much. Partly this was from shouting directions over the noise of the engine to Binky who had ear plugs in to protecting his hearing from said engine - and apparently my shouting. I also get quite excited at times and tend to shout encouragement while bouncing about for traction.

Crackington was one long yell that gave me a sore throat by the top but we cleared it well. Bishop's Wood was brilliant because we got off the restart that defeated us last time in 2009 and I loudly enjoyed Cutliffe, too. As we were running late this year I got to see Rodney's Revenge in the daylight and we were very pleased to clear that one.

But it was the restarts that gave us problems. In Class 7, we had to do 8 restarts on 13 sections. We failed Darracott, Warleggan and both sections at Blue Hills. I still don't see how we could've got away from Darrcott but Binky says his approach next time is to ask himself "How would Dave Turner do this?", which would assure success. Warleggan he reckons would've been better if we'd positioned ourselves low in the restart box and I reckon if we stopped with one wheel in the box at the top of the cobbles on Blue Hills 1 we would have been able to pull away. In the event, we went low and got bogged down and wedged in as we tried to climb and turn at the same time. As for Blue Hills 2, we are both agreed - stay low. We really should have cleared Blue Hills 2 but our excuse is that by then we were tired and dazzled by the setting sun.

Having said that we did get going again on Hoskin and Bishop's Wood although I winder if we rolled back on Hoskin (was my vision blurred from bouncing?) and Binky reckons we might have caught a marker on Bishop's Wood.

Philip Tilyard told me that this gorgeous Frazer Nash has been restored on this side following an accident. He's wondering whether not to paint it again. I say don't. Good materials and the quality of workmanship can speak for themselves

Starting from Popham and running as 297 out of 316 we were always going to be a late finisher but thick fog over Exmoor and delays at Darracott meant that we finished about 3 hours after our scheduled time. We also got a front puncture just after the Crook Horn Hill Special Test. This meant changing not just one tyre but both as the fronts are older covers with a different rolling radius to new, stickier Bridgestones that Binky now favours. Blue Hills was virtually deserted by the time we got there but at least we didn't finish in the dark like we did on the Exeter.

Close to us in running were the two German crews of Marc Schafer / Volker Helisch and Thomas Pordzik / Eike Welk. Thomas and Eike also had some early puncture problems and from Crook Horn Hill we were pursued by the Course Closure crew in their (remarkably well preserved actually) Sisley 4x4 Fiat Panda - when was the last time you saw one of those that wasn't entirely "hanging"?

Creeping through the fog over Exmoor we came across Barry Clarke's so-called (but surprisingly sprightly) Grotty Chummy in a ditch and Thomas and Eike towed it out. I later spotted the guys from Bonn towing a Marlin when it became temporarily incapacitated during the wait for Darracott.


Consequently, we didn't see much of the rest of the field and nothing of the west country contingent who started first, followed by the Cirencester starters. And by the time we straggled into the finish at the Penhale Round at Fraddon many people had gone home.

I was pleased to see this Daf Marathon of Derek Reynolds and Fred Mills still in the trial after they had a few problems

The Allard is now better than ever. Binky had fitted a new heat shield to the carb so we didn't have any fuel vaporisation probs on the V8 any more, although it can still be flooded a little easily. We didn't have any fuel blockage problems, either. Now that we've worked our way through the old bits of rubber in the tyres we shouldn't be plagued by punctures so early on in subsequent trials - this was a problem for us on the initial road section on the Exeter.

The car park at Wilsey Down Control. Conditions were dry overall but some sections had a treacherous slime under wheel. Crackington was well doctored - as usual

One job Binky is keen to do is rebuild the front suspension but this is because he's found some play in the pinch brackets.

Mrs Binky was full of admiration for his restraint in not tackling this job on the Thursday evening before the off....

So a bit of a disappointment after such a good Exeter result. Binky and I learnt a lot, though, and eagerly await the next opportunity to put this all into practice.

On the old bridge at Panters Bridge, waiting in line for Warleggan