Vintage Thing No 144 - Ridge Cannon

Brian Partridge's Ridge-Cannon

This is a long overdue series of notes about the car in which I passengered Brian Partridge in the 2016 Land's End Trial.

This blog is as much for my benefit as anyone else's. Over time, some details can get lost. I really mean forgotten. I have been wanting to record something about Brian's car ever since the 2016 LET, which we now regard as Lee Peck's stag do.

I don't drink but things are already getting a little hazy with the passage of time so I gave Brian  a ring and quizzed him about his car, in between enthusing about Vintage Things, trailling and swapping tales of derring-do with our motorsport chumrades.

It's a well-proportioned little rascal even if I can't fit in it

Brian has developed his Ridge-Cannon over many years. It started off life as a Cannon sporting trials car with a beam front axle and a Ford 1172cc engine but when Brian got it in 1986 it had a crossflow Ford engine.

The chassis probably dates back to 1955 although there is no visible chassis number. Brian says there is a clue to its early origins in the rear of the body. This is curved as opposed to going straight up on later cars. A useful Cannon website is The Cannon and Cotton Trials Car Register.

The Ridge part of its identity reflects the amount of alterations undertaken by Brian and his mate and part time bouncer Joe Partridge.

Brian's Ridge-Cannon is small enough to be stored on its trailer.

Joe and Brian had both trialled MG J2s in the past. Brian had also campaigned a Dellow and a Cannon seemed the next logical step. As well as the crossflow engine, Brian's Cannon had been fitted with Ballamy swing axle independent front suspension and an Escort rear axle. Brian found the swing axle was a great improvement over the front beam axle but it came with something of a weight penalty although the Cannon was still lighter than the Dellow.

The front wishbones are fabricated and attach to Fiesta hubs

The Cannon had never been road registered so, after some work, Brian set about getting a Q plate for it. This was much easier in those days. A policeman came round to inspect it and, once he was content, it was declared a vehicle of unknown construction date. It officially became a Q car.

Cannons typically run in Class 8 on MCC and ACTC trials and so does the Ridge-Cannon. This means lots of restarts whereas lesser machinery is allowed a straight run up many hills. As well as the long distance classic trials, Brian uses his car for one day trials like the Clee Hills and the Cotswold Clouds.

In 1988, Brian won the Badleigh Trophy for best overall performance in trialling and he continued to enjoy competing with it until 2006 when he fitted a two litre Zetec engine with an MT75 gearbox. By the early 90s, the Ballamy swing axle had already been substituted for fabricated wishbones using Fiesta front hubs. This work was undertaken for Brian by Tony Rothin, who was responsible for the Alfa-Cannon, another high profile Class 8 special.

Brian all togged up for typical trialling weather although I don't recall it raining much on the 2016 LET. This shot also shows off the wider rear track and the rather special rear Weller wheels

The powertrain change also involved fitting  a complete independent rear suspension system from a Sierra. This brought increased wheel travel as well as having bigger drum brakes but fitting it entailed a lot of replacement tube work and triangulation.

I asked Brian about the wheels his car uses and he said that the front ones are 15 inchers from a 1950s Hillman. "The back wheels, I believe, are Weller. I got them from the Fack's when the other Hillman wheels started to crack due to trials use." It seems low tyre pressures and bolted on to rims didn't agree with them. I like the style of the rear wheels in particular but am a little sad that Hillman wheels - with a name like that - didn't cut the mustard. On the front, though they are nice and skinny and cut through the mud to help steering.

The wheelbase remains the same - similar to that of a Dellow - but although the cockpit remains narrow the rear track is now much wider. 

I could just about wedge myself into the passenger side of the cockpit. Width is fine but it's a question of length.

(Pauses for a silent "On matron!")

There was no possibility of me fitting behind the wheel. It was just as well that I didn't need to take the wheel during the 2016 LET.

I asked Brian how his Ridge-Cannon compared to a Dellow and he said it was appreciably lighter and a more committed competition car with a smaller fuel tank. The Cannon was a later design and in some ways the Dellow was civilised and a more practical road car. Indeed, I know of one Dellow supplied to a rep for an agricultural engineering firm.

The Ridge-Cannon suffered some damage on the 2017 Exeter Trial. We Candid Provocateurs spotted it on the back of a beaver tail truck as we set off for home. One of the rear suspension mounts had given up and Brian and passenger Richard Nikel had to use their towing strop to fix it before limping in to the finish.

Brian and Lee welded in some new lower tubes to repair the damage and it was soon back in action.

I asked Brian if there was anything else he felt he might do to his car. The only thing he could think of was a removable steering wheel to make access and egress easier.

It sounds like he's got the Ridge-Cannon just the way he likes it.

Brian and Richard's next event will be the 2019 Exeter Trial in which they will be starting out from Popham as Brian likes to be at the head of the cars.  

Binky and I hope to catch up with him then, although we will be in separate vehicles - more about that another time. And possibly together again on three wheels for the 2019 LET! More about that another other time.