Engine Punk

In their gleaming red barchetta (apologies to Rush fans) George Osborn and Celia Walton wait in the queue for Tillerton Steep. In floods that were at times of biblical properotions, I renewed ,my acquaintance with the Reliant Riatopless of George Osborn (Monster Raving Looney Party) and Celia Walton (madam editor of Triple, the magazine of the Motor Cycling Club). After a brief and highly successful flirtation with a Proton Satria Sport, George went back to his highly modified Reliant for the 2015 Edinburgh. However, he managed to buckle the front suspension arm on that event and came home thinking on how to improve his chances. He fitted a 13 inch front wheel and made a new front suspension arm. A new much stronger suspension arm was called for after 2015 Edinburgh Trial When we saw him at the foot of Tillerton Steep, he was quite pleased with his modifications and it looks like the Rialtopless has gained a new lease of life. It still has the standard 848cc Reliant powe...

So as I headed west, warm and snug in a Hyundai 4x4, Binky (Mr Robert Robinson-Collins to you) settled down to wait in the rain with our wounded steed, the Candidi Provocatores Allard. Five minutes after we'd split up, the AA recovery truck arrived and the old J1 was quickly loaded up and strapped down for the journey home to Andover. The driver folded up his mirrors for the narrow lanes down to the main road to Bovey Tracy and chatted to Binky about our recent derring do. Then when he got onto the wider road he folded his mirrors back out and lo! One of the straps on the car was loose. When they stopped to re-tighten them, the Allard did not look its normal self. There was a distinct lack of offside rear wheel. Fortunately, a very nice man in a Mercedes pulled up as they were staring at the exposed brake back plate and asked, "Is this yours?" In the back of the car was the missing wheel and tyre, complete with brake drum and recently sheared driveshaft. ...

We had poor visibility most of the way After the wettest December on record, the going was going to be muddy for the 2016 Exeter Trial and as I headed east from Kernowfornia I could see great swathes of earth had been carved out by the water from the newly ploughed fields and dumped in ditches and roads and other vestiges of human infrastructure. This year starters from Popham were the first off and, running as No.109, your brave boys found themselves only 6 cars away from the front of the pack. Having been at the tail end of classic trials for a few years we were interested to see what the conditions would be like, especially on Simms, which seemed to get polished and sweaty as the day draws on. Although not cold with our cast iron cabin heater ahead of us, we got very wet even on the drive from Popham. I had given some thought to having a zip sewn into my trousers and jackets but I hadn't actually done anything about it. I was quickly reminded how my Hein Gericke jacket w...