Inaugural Heritage Trial

 

The Gregory Special and Cannon of Ian and Nigel Moss

The first ever Heritage Trial took place on the 4^th of July this year at Blackmoor Farm, near Woolminstone, south west of Crewkerne in Somerset. This event is intended to tempt out the older types of trials cars that could still give a good showing in ACTC and MCC trials but with a much lower risk of damage.

The Alf Foster Special is just the ideal sort of car for this event. Sorry about chopping off the top of your head, Richard but you suddenly stood up straight

Recent changes in the trials class structure put the Candidi Provocatores Allard J1 in Class 5 instead of Class 7. This would mean less restarts which are punishing on elderly drivetrains. It would even be in Class 2 if the Allard ran on cross plies but the available treads don’t offer much grip and are expensive. Also, we damaged the Allard’s axle on Warleggan on the John Aley Trial, completely without a restart. Still managed to finish, though - stance!

Tony Martin applies the entry numbers to his beautifully prepared Dellow

Rob and I entered the Heritage Trial not knowing entirely what to expect. We suspected it would be a Vintage-Thing-fest and so it was. The format consisted of 6 sections marked out with numbered poles, red to the right, yellow to the left, in a natural basin in beautiful rolling grassland. There were 41 entrants, some doing double drives, and we had three circuits of the course, two before lunch and one in the afternoon. We had showers during the day which made the grass very slippery but it was a good day’s sport. I am not aware of anyone breaking anything.

It's not often you get to see four Allards together

Despite our rear axle problems, Binky (Robert Robinson-Collins) drove down from Andover on the day without mishap. We soon fell into conversation with the owners of three other Allards, Dave Loveys, Jeremy Bennett and James Smith. The three J1s represented a quarter of the production run! There was also a very good showing of Dellows and several other trials specials. I tried to photograph them all but with a double drive there was a lot changing of drivers and we didn’t get to see everybody.

This immaculate Lotus 6 was almost too good to get muddy. Almost

Having a double drive was especially good because you did every section twice, either as a bouncer or driver. We went the wrong way on a couple of sections so that made the next pilot more aware of what not to do.

A big learning experience for me was to let the Allard do its stuff at low revs. It’s got a lot of grip, is very torquey and Rob’s got the gearing just right. Most of my trialling has been on dirt tracks, over rock slabs and tree roots. Unbroken grassy surfaces are relatively new to me. I gave it too much gas on a few occasions but, when Rob came to do them, it was apparent that trickling along at idle was a much better approach. Once the wheels were spinning, they would keep spinning. It was difficult to burn through the grass to the earth.

Some lovely in-period demon tweaks grace the engine bay of this Dellow

There is also the fact that you're driving somebody else's car, a car that you both had in pieces the previous weekend. On one hill, as we slithered to a stop, the car made a loud clicking reminiscent of our ascent of Warleggan and subsequent failure to proceed on Blue Hills 2. However, a quick check revealed that the hub nuts were still secure and we still had drive. Ian Moss suggested we use larger hub nuts in the future, possibly from a car like a Hillman Imp. I shall investigate this. 

That shows the social nature of this event. We had time to meet other competitors, share tales of mechanical derring-do and admire each other's superchargers.

It is big and it is clever - under the bonnet of the Appleton Allard J1

The course was well laid out and changed subtly during the day. By moving a few poles together, the clerk of course made corners tighter and brought cars onto much more difficult terrain.

The 1172cc CWB Trident of Mark Busfield

Most were through sections but a couple involved reversing back down again. These could be awkward. We found it better to come down in reverse on engine braking, provided the engine kept going! It tended to cut out after a spirited climb and a sudden stop. The handbrake, although much improved recently, wouldn’t hold the car on very slippery areas and applying the foot brake only made things worse, because all wheels would lock up in the resulting slide and you lost your steering.

I was especially pleased to renew my acquaintance with the Imhof special

From the point of view of playing in your old trials car, the course was just right. Mark Busfield got up everything everywhere and didn’t drop any points with his 1950 1172cc CWB Trident. He gallantly said it was Julie Hartley’s bouncing that made all the difference. A couple of other drivers were in single figures for penalties, including Tim Kary in the Imhof Special, which Rob used to own.

The Imhof cars together, the more modern Imhof 1172cc special in the foreground with the 

Mercury-powered Candidi Provocatores Allard J1 alongside 

However, the Heritage Trial was billed as more of a light-hearted, socially orientated trial. We saw many familiar faces and put some names to others. Usually, competitors don’t get to speak to each other. It was a shame the rain set in at the end. Most people set off promptly for home.

A quartet of Allards - L to R, James Smith with his 4600cc J1, Dave Loveys with his hillclimb-spec K1 Sports, Robert Robinson-Collins (The Adventures of Binky) with the Candidi Provocatores J1 and Cal Bennett (he won an award, y'know) and Jeremy Bennet with the blown Appleton Special J1.

Only Rob and Dave Loveys drove their cars to the event. Everything else was trailered. 

Rob and I won the team prize for cars driven to the event and trialled with Covid masks that steamed up one’s glasses (to say nothing of the rain). 

Dave, I should point out, didn’t wear glasses and, being without a passenger, didn’t need a mask.

There was a great phot opportunity for all the Dellows, too, although a cheeky little Cambridge Austin 7 special did a great photo bomb