2019 Testing Trial

The post scrutineering line up with my Arkleyt-MG next to the Peugeot 205 of brothers Shaun and Scott Adams

For this year's Testing Trial, Binky and I proved that it was not practicable to enter a sidecar and a car in the Keinton Mandeville TT and compete in both at the same time. Or sequentially.

Binky on the new outfit. We were too pushed for time to take many photos

Binky had bought a new sidecar outfit and, after various shenanigans with the Arkley-MG, I needed some road miles and an event as a shake down run. This MCC event in Somerset (within earshot of the Glastonbury festival, no less) on the last Sunday in June would be perfick as Pop Larkin might say. The plan was for me to drive up to the event site while Binks trailered his outfit down from sunny Andover and then your brave boys could indulge in multi-sensory overload on three wheels as well as four.

It was not to be.

We started off among the outfits and made our stately way round the course intending to pick up as few penalties as possible. This was a learning point from my earlier experience behind the wheel of the Allard in 2017.

As soon as we completed our first circuit of the special tests, we ran over to the Arkley and began again, this time with me driving. However, we were somehow right at the back of the cars and soon found ourselves surrounded by motorbikes well into their second circuit. It was clear that we would not be able to get around on both vehicles as planned. We had to choose one or the other.

We chose the outfit because neither of us had much experience with it. Rob had ridden it around solo and taken his nephew out on it but I'd never seen it before.

I should also add that the Arkley-MG had spat out a load of water as I refuelled it at the filling station on the Podimore roundabout. This was a disappointment as I'd thought I'd eliminated a number of other problems to get that far. The car was driving happily, though, and the electric fan never came on but standing around with the engine idling on a hot MCC event was going to test it more than I desired.

Entry number 2 was this Honda VFR750 of Ian Fitzgerald, which had a steampunk look about it.

I hadn't been on any sidecar since Rob sold the Cox-Triumph to the Adams family so any result in the lowest quartile was our target. The Honda XLR has a real snap to it and is longer and wider than the Cox-Triumph. This combination (see what I did there?) of size and throttle response meant that a couple of times I was in sufficiently the wrong place to allow the sidecar to tip over. There is less reaction time for the passenger and I found there was further to go when change direction. I am also not so quick as I was. It's 13 years ago since we last did this kinda thing and that's a lifetime for  a teenager, with their quicker reactions and lower awareness of their own mortality.

I think the Robster would have liked an electric foot once or twice. It took ages to start the flipping thing after flipping it. It had flooded it and it was a very hot day. he looked like he was sweltering at one point.

Apart from that, though, it's an extremely effective piece of kit. An old fan belt tied to the frame on the old Trumpet enabled me to more around more quickly and I think something similar could have minimised the risk of me being a misplaced person, even if it might not eliminate the chance entirely.

We had a our croust (good Cornish word) in the company of Mr Ian Rennie who had brought along his Riley 1.5. Ian is a competitor of long standing-on-the-footrests and can spin many a good yarn, as well as imparting some nuggets of motorcycling wisdom. Rob has known him for even longer than I have and they rode together on two-wheels back in the last century, Rob on his Greeves and Ian on his highly and subtly-modified Ariel.

The Hillman Imp of David Robinson and Liz Hobbs next to the supercharged Reliant Kitten of Brian Shore and Chris Davey

During the afternoon, we saw some splendid performances from the pairing of Stephen Urell and Julie Williams and also Neil Browne who had his nephew in the chair. Pete and Shani Adams were also there in the dear old Cox-Triumph and they are far better than we ever were on it. Their boys were also competing in a diesel Peugeot 205 now they are old enough.

I complimented Julie Williams on the virtually telepathic rapport she had with Stephen Urell and their Yamaha-Wasp outfit. She said they often taken turns in the chair so maybe that is part of the secret to their success.

Faced with a long drive home and the possibility of further water loss, I didn't stick around after wards but I had a trouble free drive home during which the fan only came on twice whilst climbing hills in heavy, slow-moving traffic.

That can be the trouble with tests and shakedown uns. You find other issues...