Engine Punk

In this picture of the Allard in the queue at Warleggan, you can just make out the end of the axle before  the end of our John Aley Trial That last cliffhanger left your brave boys with an immobile Allard at the top of Blue Hills. We couldn't go forward. We could roll backwards but had no drive in any gear. Gareth White was spectating after losing his Marlin’s rear electrics soon after the start and he noticed the end of the axle going round without driving the offside wheel. The horrible clicking noise was the snap of the key and then it moving against the hub as the axle turned. Willing hands bounced us around so that we could get towed out by a JCB.  In these circumstances, I remember the end of Spike Milligan’s TV show, where the cast would shuffle forward, repeatedly saying, “What do we do next? What do we do next?” Binky lives near Andover. I live near Liskeard, which isn’t quite on the way. If we could get the car recovered to Binky’s place, the driver probably wou...

I think the new white wheels really suit the Candidi Provovatores Allard My John Aley trial experience began with a rail journey to Andover near where Binky lives. Ever since we broke a perch bolt on the 2018 Lands End, he’d been chasing down parts for his Allard J1 to sort out the damage and engineer a better solution in keeping with the character of the car. At last! The only thing he needed to do on the day of our departure was drill holes for split pins for the hub retaining nuts on the freshy rebuilt rear axle and we’d be off! Imagine his disappointment to discover that the headlamps and front sidelamps didn’t work. Imagine, then, my disappointment to discover not only that but the prospect of missing the trial and having to make an alternative journey back home to Cornwall. However, maximise the positive. If Binky waggled the headlamp relay, the headlamps worked. This was regardless of the headlamp switch position. I tried a similar waggling technique and succeeded in sto...

If you ride a white bike, people will mistake you for a highway cop - unless it's an X7 I have often wondered why I should like the Suzuki X7 as much as I do. It defies logic. There are better bikes. There are more sophisticated bikes that are also more reliable. At 1.87m tall, I sit rather tall in the saddle for an X7. In fact, I look ridiculous on one. It doesn't take me much thought to justify my enthusiasm. In 1979, when I was 16,  the Suzuki GT250X7, to give it its proper title, was the fastest of the learner legal 250s. It was the first ton-up Suzy 250 when it was introduced in 1978. It wailed beautifully and spawned a host of desirable after market goodies such as clip-ons, rear sets and spanshions. Part of the X7s reputation was established in the motorcycling press. There were all manner of tuning articles and the most famous were the 250 shoot out series in Motorcycle Mechanics and the development of Brian Crichton's bike in The Biker. The X7 didn't reign for...

A sense of occasion at the start after 100 years of motorsport organised by the Launceston and North Cornwall Motor Club The Launceston and North Cornwall Motor Club put on another challenging trial again with the 35 th Launceston Classic trial on the 30 th May. Last year it was postponed due to bad weather and the club did a great job in squeezing the 34 th trial in just before the national lockdown occurred. After the Pop Trial and the President’s Trial , the LNCMC took us back to Lew Wood and Eastcott Down where they had cunningly fashioned some really nadgery sections to make up for the dry conditions. They managed to find some mud but pressure washing the car off later that sunny evening took much less time than usual. We’ve almost got used to the paperless signing on but this was my first trial with a bouncer. Bouncers, you’ve been missed! Take a bow for that daring young man on the trapeze, roll bar and windscreen frame, Mr Graham Beddoe. During the winter lockdown, I’...