Engine Punk

My god the Exeter Trial was wet this year I could take issue over the name of this special because it doesn't look like a Ford Pop and has a Fiat 1995cc twin cam engine in it. This machine is far removed from the sit and beg Ford Pops that may once have donated the odd chassis component. Personally, I reckon it needs something more distinguished - unless the plan is to lull fellow competitors into a false sense of security. There comes a time in the life of many Fiat Twin Cam engines when they have to flee the rusting privations of their first home and migrated to pastures new, like a friendly Morris Minor. This one has done something even more "special". I spotted it at Popham  Airfield last weekend and remembered that I'd had a closer look at it at the top of Bulverton Steep back on the 2012 Exeter Trial. They were out of the awards on the 2012 event... It's crewed by David Jackson and Peter Horne from Buckingham and they don't do the Land...

Binky and Mrs Binky invoke ancient gods to bring us luck in the 2014 Exeter Trial This year the weather was so bad I almost didn't make it to Binky's place "somewhere in England". I was all set to travel by train to Andover but lightning strikes knocked out signalling in Cornwall and Devon and there was flooding at Cowley Bridge between Exeter and Tiverton. I set out at 0945 but was back home by noon thanks to rail replacement buses. Nobody was going to be going anywhere by rail that day so I drove up to Honiton where I caught a train going to Andover. I arrived at 1800, much later than intended but still early enough for Mrs Binky to inflict food torture on me. I even had time for an LLD (Little Lie Down) before we set off for the start of the 2014 Exeter trial at Popham Airfield. This is the first time out for the revised and much improved lighting arrangements on the Allard J1. It's, er, a bit dark here so you'll maybe have to my word for it. Bink...

Credit where credit is due - the staff at Liskeard and Plymouth railway stations did a great job of dealing with weather related problems last Friday. This is not a scene of uproar and crowds at Plymouth railway station - it is one of quiet efficiency with passengers already on the replacement coaches laid on in lieu of the cancelled trains due to weather. I had tickets from Liskeard to Andover with return tickets from Exeter to Liskeard as part of my travel plan to start in and return home from the 2014 Exeter Trial. But it wasn't to be. Lightning strikes knocked out the signalling in Cornwall during the morning so nothing was moving in Cornwall at all. At Liskeard, Jo and Sonya organised buses for us and as I was travelling beyond Plymouth I was on the first minibus. But at Plymouth it became apparent that further lightning strikes in Devon and flooding beyond Exeter meant that plans to stop services at Plymouth and redirect them eastwards wouldn't work. A...

The future of classic trials? The Suzuki X-90 is a car that has only just begun to have its day and even then it's having it in the obscure world of classic trialling. Not only that but it's the unloved two wheel drive variety that's found favour. The X-90 was one of those niche cars that may have made sense when the concept was pitched to senior executives but, once let loose in the market place with everybody else looking at it, it didn't actually make a lot of sense. I can sort of understand where Suzuki were coming from. So many people aspire to the lifestyle that a four wheel drive vehicle apparently indicates that you are enjoying that it could be sensible to offer them the look of it without all the tiresome heavy duty stuff that any self-respecting hairdresser doesn't need. And no disrespect to hairdressers - for many years the MGB was known for being a hairdresser's car. The MGB had the look of a sports car without all that tiresome performa...

The Candid Provocateurs ride again in the Allard J1 Binky and I will be in the 2014 Exeter Trial again this weekend. We are in Binky's Candid Provocatere Allard J1 again. Nothing else compares to it really. We dipped out last year because he had flu but as a spectator I actually had a great time and met a lot of others who for, various reasons, were also not competing. This year it's all systems go so - last minute disasters notwithstanding - we should see you on the hills if we're not popping too many wheelies (he said hopefully) - not that a 1947 Allard J1 would ever do anything so vulgar. Was that a kiss of death? Should I have left it until after the event to say that we are actually in it? Time (and grip) will tell.