2020 Exeter Trial

In the dark on Simms. Did we get up? Read on (Photo : Peter Browne)

For once preparations were well in hand for the Exeter Trial. I had proved the car was running well in a couple of day trials and fitted a new hood. It was even clean and polished before Christmas.


Then I got a phone call from Binky. The prangs we’d had with the Honda outfit on the Testing Trial back in the summer had damaged his shoulder and a combination of poor posture and stress at work had put him in a lot of pain. He said he would come down to Cornwall for the start but then went on to ask me about comfortable seats and what was the heater like because the cold upset his neck.


I pondered my options. I couldn't put my pedigree chum through a trial in that state. Everyone I knew down this way was either competing or marshalling or on holiday. Nigel Cowling was keen but full of cold and had volunteered to send off the entrants from Betty Cottles at Okehampton. He was prepared to re-arrange but his wife pointed out that he was doing his normal shift working that Friday and didn’t ought to be staying up all night in a drafty car.

A good maxim for car crews as well

As a last resort instead of not starting and spectating somewhere, I posted a request for a bouncer/navigator on the MCC Facebook page and within two minutes had two suggestions. Denise Champion was in Exeter and often crewed for Jon Cox in the purple Porsche but she was just pipped in responding by Simon Knight from London who had a Dellow and wanted to try long distance events. Denise was also part of the Simms marshalling team, checking tyre pressures, so, although her offer was gratefully received, I didn’t want to compromise the slick running of that hill. People who’ve spectated there will know what I mean.

Built for comfort. I suspect someone has done this sort of event before

This year we could download the route card and print it out at home instead of having it posted to us. Control cards were also not sent out but available for us to pick up at the start. 

Simon motored down to Okehampton on the Friday night and I met up with him at the bar. We soon discovered a common interest in various types of motorcycles as well as trials cars. In fact, he was a most entertaining felloe during the night run, although we did take a couple of wrong turns here and there as he got used to the route card. He soon got the hang of it, though, and by the time we got to Sparkford we were a proper job crew.

Lovely Model A Ford was a late entrant in the Exeter but I gather it's regularly used in VSCC trials. Compression ratio has been bumped up from 5:1 to 7:1, Goes well!

In the scrutineering bay round the back of the museum, we bumped into Stephen Bailey, former fellow team member of Team Steampunk. Despite back and knee injuries, he was doing what he could to support the trial and asked whether I thought Team Steampunk would ever ride again. I think not. I am not superstitious but it seemed like a kiss of death for those involved – well for me anyway. Dave Middleditch and Louise Ransome Headon are fellow Team Steampunk survivors. I don’t think either of them are that keen to revive it and I just wanted to finish this event after our previous MCC outings.


Windwhistle was a new hill to me and, not knowing to expect, dutifully let my tyres down to 14 psi for in Class 7 we had a restart. However, it turned out to be on tarmac and a Class O section that the main trial also used.


Dennis Greenslade later told me he was terrified of getting this wrong. A failure in his Beetle here would be so embarrassing with all his trials experience but he was fine.


Redscrip was the first proper hill but had no restart so was fairly straight forward for us. It’s fairly straight and takes you through a gate and an avenue of trees but in the dark the bumps look scary.


Underdown was just on the other side of the A30 and impressed us with the rough approach track and the tight curves on the section. Good job the Arkley-MG is so small and has such a good lock.


After the Musbury Garage Control point, we had Normans Hump, Clinton and Waterloo in quick succession. This is a pleasant feature of the Exeter Trial. There are little complexes of sections close together. On Normans Hump we had a restart and although a little ragged off the restart, which was right where the track leading to Clinton crosses the section, we were off to the top. Last year a few marshals had to get out of our way but this year we stayed en piste.


There was more of a queue for Clinton and we chatted to Jason Daniel in his ex-Roger Bricknell Vincent MPH.


On the first corner of Clinton, our engine just died and we stopped. Thumbing the starter, it burst into life and we flew up, floating over the ruts of the Class 8 restart. Annoying but we’re in it for the crack and the pressure was off for a Gold.


On the way into Clinton and on the way out, we had spotted the distinctive chariot of George Osborn and Celia Walton. I pulled up the second time and hailed George who was smiling and awaiting recovery. I have seen anyone so cheerful about lunching a gearbox. If it happens to me, I will try to be like that.


Waterloo lived up to my tight and twisty memory of it and I blessed our turning circle again. There was a bit of a queue stretching back down passed the farmhouse with its protective flint wall. The start line marshal said MX5s had been having problems. We later heard that a Beetle had sustained some damage and had needed to be recovered.


I’d gone down to the minimum permitted tyre pressure of 10psi so far but this felt a bit low to me. It was as if we were running on our rims so from then on, we settled for 14.


Stretes was a few miles further and had a long approach through forests. After the observed section you pop out the woods and join later competitors as you complete the loop around to Core Hill Observed Test, going straight on at the end of the high narrow road and into more forest instead of turning right for Tipton St John and Stretes.


I messed up the test. I overcooked stopping astride Line C because I was getting used to the gearbox. Reverse is forward on the Sierra gearbox of the Arkley-MG not to the rear, like so many of my other cars.


It was a long section, too, which allowed me to get into second gear but I misjudged my stopping distance on the loose stuff. The exit road down the hill with its brutal storm drain was just as vicious as ever. Even with the generous ground clearance, I took it very gently.

Keith Newton and passenger welcome the dawn whilst waiting to do Passaford lane in their 1600 Crossflow Cannon

Passaford Lane is an old favourite and although we didn’t have a restart Classes D, 3, 4 and 5 did. Afterwards we came out on top of the coast with spectacular views as it was fully light. The world looked especially fine after the night sections and we enjoyed the descent into Sidmouth via Peak Hill, which was marked up on the route card as a very early Exeter hill.

By now we were hungry enough for the second breakfast of the day at Crealy park. There was quite a wait for food but we had an hour rest stop. The Adam family were running behind us in their little fleet of A series powered marlin and Peugeot 205 diesel complete with limited slip diff. Getting an MSUK licence for their eldest boy as passenger had almost caused them to be a non starter. He has absence epilepsy and new rules demand a licence for the passenger even if they are not a driver. Fortunately, the initial issues were resolved and Shaun and Scott were quietly pleased with their progress, which they described as better than last year, when they were three up with dad driving.

Shani said she felt at a bit of a loss passengering in the 1293cc Marlin. “There’s nothing to do!” she said. I think she preferred the Cox-Triumph outfit (Vintage Thing No.16) but this way they could run with their boys.


We had a flat tyre just after Crealy while going along the main road towards the M5. That was the last of my new tyres. All the others are now quite old or have damaged sidewalls so not really suitable for much road use.


Kingswell impressed me for a number of reasons. Last year had been too wet to include it and subsequently the dreaded Tillerton Steep had been scratched after too many had problems on it. This year it was still wet and wound its way across fields and through a spinney before ending somewhere in a farmyard. The start marshal said somebody had bogged down quite early one and dug some bomb holes in their futile efforts to get out. The next 5 or 6 cars had also floundered and had taken a long time to recover. The whole section was running with liquid mud.


We couldn’t make out where the section ended. The boards were covered in mud. We just kept going until we reached a tarmac road. There was also a water splash although this may have been a slurry pit, judging by the smell. I went in a little fast and the bow wave almost cane into the car. A few drops reached us and the smell was terrible! Fermented cow piss sprang to mind.


There was barely any queue at Tillerton Steep this year and after lingering in the ford to wash off our wheels and apologising to the start line marshals for the smell, we set off for the restart box. The plan that I’d hatched out with Binky was to go as high as possible, which is the reverse of our normal practice to stay low. Once we had managed to get away here with the Allard but every other time it’s beaten us.


This was my first go at Tillerton Steep and the restart was right on some triangular outcrops of rock. I tried to get high but it was so slippery we just slid back down into the ruts I was hoping to avoid. After that we were going nowhere except back down the hill for a little run up.


We later heard that Dick Bolt had not managed to get way and he’s about as good as you can get in Class 7. Gareth White said his Class 8 V8 Marlin had to give everything it had to burn its way out.


There was a diversion to the route before Fingle because a little old lady had had an accident in her Morris Minor and caused structural damage to a house beside the road. She had sustained severe injuries and the house needed shoring up so the restart marshals at Tillerton were very keen to make sure we knew where to turn off in Cheriton Bishop.


With Simon on the case, we made our way successfully into the woods in the Teign valley, entering via the Woosten end. Mike Overfield-Collins was officiating here and after a brief chat he directed us along the riverside, through the trees, to Fingle, another old favourite. Fingle is long a twisty and you can get caught out on the corners if you don’t get your line right. This year, the right-hand rut on the second straight had been filled in a little. Last year, it felt like we approached next bend at about 45 degrees.


Another loop around and the on to Woosten Steep with its twisty approach track and, for us, another restart. I let the clutch and hydraulic hand brake do their stuff and we managed to get away. I was particularly chuffed with this and we were in high spirits for the noise test. Consequently, we may have been a little noisy and were advised that the popping and banging on the overrun caused significant spikes of over 100 decibels.


At Ilsington Parish Hall, I was hoping to meet up with Ray Goodright and Adrian Booth. They were in charge of the car park and were responsible for the development of my brave little car but there was no sign of them. Thanks to the puncture and our earlier impromptu diversions, we were running an hour and a half later than our official time.  We only just missed them, though, and the cake was as good as ever.


We chatted with Keith Newton and his passenger who were competing in 2 UKR, a 1600 Cannon I recognised from many earlier events.


On the approach to Simms, I finally met Denise Champion who was, indeed, checking the tyre pressures of all the competitors. She said she’d been looking out for us and because the day was getting dark, she wondered if we were okay. We were able to reassure her on this point and she confirmed that we actually at 12 psi not the 14 indicated by the gauge on our pump.


Shani Adam was still bored so she inaugurated a windscreen cleaning service and I think this made all the difference to our subsequent climb, although we did have some good advice from Dave Turner who was walking back to the village at this time.


He advised not to light things up on the restart so I did what I’d done at Woosten Steep, using the clutch and brake to get away as smoothly as possible. It worked and I concentrated on gaining momentum with the minimum of wheel spin. I am pleased to say we cleaned Simms and I was ecstatic at the top and a little shouty about it, although trying to be nonchalant. We saw Nigel Cowling again! He was just as pleased as I was it seemed.


Coming down Lenda Lane, I used the engine braking in first gear but at one point the engine just died, rather like it had on Clinton. This time it didn’t start immediately and we coasted down to the marshals in serene majesty. After that brief pause, the car started again and we had no further problems but this will still need looking into.


And so on to Tipley, which, like Simms, had been the subject of a re-grade by Dave Haizelden and his helpers since last year. It was still rough and the exit route was different, and much smoother, but we didn’t break anything, something I was pleased to share with the marshals. Some of them might have remembered the efforts to which they’d gone to get me out of the section when the halfshaft snapped.


For various reasons, I had only ever been Slippery Sam once before. Again, we had a restart. It seems that so long as it’s not on polished rock like Warleggan or Tillerton Steep, we have a chance of getting away. The gods smiled on us and we cleaned Slippery Sam although it must have been one of the most ragged cleans. I nearly went up the bank and had to throttle back or overturn but the Arkley-MG dug in and carried us to the top.


We eventually arrived at the finish in Torquay at a quarter to six, an hour and a half behind schedule. Brain Partridge had retried after pulling a rear wishbone away from its mounting tube on the Sierra-based suspension on his Ridge-Cannon (Vintage Thing No.143). Lee Peck had also had to retire. He was competing in a recently acquired Beetle but the torsion bars were tired and the ground clearance gradually got less and less. When we saw them on the approach to Simms they’d been spectating. Kathy Martin on Humphrey, her Honda CRF230, was up for a Gold and Dick Bolt had wowed the crowd on Simms with a spectacular climb where his Ford Pop reared up on its hindlegs like a bear in attack mode. Dennis Greenslade had experienced obscure electric problems but had finished. Dave Middleditch couldn’t get away on Tillerton but was delighted to have cleared Simms so was in for a Silver. Ian and Alan Cundy in his Golf were also in for a Gold. Kevin and Sam Lindsay enjoyed their first outing in their Seaspray VW Buggy and Lee Sample was a finisher without any punctures.


Having signed off, we were making our way to the Premier Inn when who should pull alongside at the traffic lights but Keith Newton in his Cannon.


“Did you get up Simms?” we asked but only to brag about our own prowess when they replied with the obvious return question.