2023 Tamar Trial

As Nigel Cowling put it, "When was the last time you saw two Imps on a trial?" Left is the Singer Chamois of Nick Symons (once owned by Nigel) and right is the very historic trials Imp, nowadays campaigned by Paul Watson.  (Photo : Nigel Cowling)

The 76^th Tamar Trial was the first event after our retirement on the Land’s End, completing half of the Launceston Trial and a Did Not Start on the Exeter.  With a new ECU and some new, higher quality rear axle bearings by SKF, a gentle afternoon Sunday drive with Graham Beddoe seemed in order.

Under starters orders from Lisa Gregory. "And away they go! On the way out Wacky Races!"

The first section was Petherwin Old Hill where Graham had marshalled once before on the Land’s End. We got away from the restart here alright but I still have yet to achieve a successful restart on Warleggan.

The special test in between at Lewannick Down caught a few out with it’s A, B, C and D lines.

Pete Adams at the start - he can still show his boys how tiz done (but only just...)

On Wild Boar Lane, Paul Watson had to stop his Imp on the bend near the restart for some remedial work. The sun was right in my eyes as we turned the corner into the restart box, just as it was when we last attempted this hill in 2019. We failed the restart and had to make several attempts to get away because I didn’t want to run over any of the marshals. Phil Brooking and Dave Withers are buddies of mine. Maybe it was their personalities that dazzled me. Eventually, I believed their assurances they would jump out of the way if I came too close but I reckon I drove out of Wild Boar Lane by feel.

I had once inspected Watermain Lane at the request of Dave Middleditch as a potential section for the Land’s End Trial but thought it probably too rough. For the Tamar Trial the Launceston and North Cornwall Motor Club had included a restart. We had a fight to reach it and a very long run up after failing to proceed. Graham was especially impressed by the crazy camber near the Section Ends boards.

Great effort from Thomas Jones and Richard Gibson in their Ford Snipe Special on Tanks Terror

He was also impressed by the approach to Lestithawell until I reminded him how dug out it had been in 2019. This section had no restart so we anticipated cleaning it. Not so. The course featured a deviation onto the lefthand verge. I kept momentum going until the tight turn back onto the main track but we ground to a halt when I throttled back to stop the front wheels washing out. It was a devil of a job to get out as we kept slithering back against a tree stump whenever we lost traction. Adrain Booth and John Turner had to work hard to get us out. Age said a slab of rock emerged after the bikes went through and it caught many out.

Great shot by Graham of Jon and Calvin Moores on Tanks Terror (Photo : Graham Beddoe)

Waylands was a timed test just south of Pensilva and Barrett’s Mill was another old friend where, at last, we managed to get away from the restart. Suitably buoyed up, we went on to Tank’s Terror where we got as far as the 6 marker which wasn’t too shabby. The escape route was almost as challenging so we hung around for a bit to watch and chatted to Gareth White who was marshalling. Gareth campaigns the V8 Martin (Vintage Thing No.166). He asked about Binky’s Allard (Vintage Thing No.45) having seen it snap a keyway on the John Aley Trial I was interested to hear what an interesting drive the Marlin is on the road. The Arkley-MG is not an easy car to drive on the highway but – like the Marlin – really comes into its own offroad.

This J2 is in lovely condition and gets used well.

We saw Simon Oates get a 2 and he made the escape route look easy, as well. There were also great efforts from John Moores in his Zetec-powered MG J2 and Nick Symons in his gold Singer Chamois.

We had a half hour stop at the Tamar Valley Donkey Park where we met up with Adrian again. He’d been spattered in mud by his sister and Pat Shaw in their MX5 on Lestithawell and was on his way to marshal on Lew Woods 2. James Shallcross said he thought he ought to re-shell his Peugeot 205 after the event. He also said the only bits of it that hadn’t needed re-work during his ownership were the modifications undertaken by the previous owner, one Adrian Booth, Esquire.

Lunch stop at the Tamar Valley Donkey Park

There were also dark mutterings that after lunch the real trial began.

Sections 9-12 were all in Combedown Wood on the side of a wooded valley near Horsebridge. Last time, we just had two sections called Starsky and Hutch and it was here that Graham lost his hat, snatched away in a moment of classic comedy by a malicious bramble as we bounced through the undergrowth.

The first one was called The Twister and there was a bit of a traffic jam at its approach. Phil Parker was changing a wheel at its foot and the marshals had a job of getting us through. When our turn came, we seemed to be making good progress until we just lost traction. Marshal Dick Bolt told us our diff had grounded out.

We then had to double back on ourselves for The Quarry but somehow we attempted The Slates instead. The Quarry saw us wedged in a hole again on a tight right-hand bend.

We did better on The Firs but afterwards must have missed a marker trying to find the way out of the woods. We followed a likely-looking track but the ruts got deeper until we bellied out. Wedged on diff and bashplate, we couldn’t go forwards or backwards. We also suddenly alone. We could see a familiar looking track and even the marshals’ cars parked near the road but nobody came by for ages.

Graham and I got out and had a proper look. Going forward seemed to be out of the question so we set about building a road of logs over which we hoped to reverse. This was when the hydraulic jack came into its own. That thing (another Adrian Booth work of art) enabled us to progressively jack each side up to put logs and branches under the wheels. Unfortunately the edge of the central hump in between the ruts coincided with the jacking point on the offside rear and the hydraulic ram assumed a crazy angle. Waggling it free, I bashed the rear light socket with it but the lights still worked when we tried them later.

If it wasn't for this on board hydraulic jack, we'd have stayed stuck for longer than an hour or so (Photo : Graham Beddoe)

Just as we completed our final road building phase, we heard approaching engines and the Skoda of Henry Hoggart and Norton Selwood cresting the hump behind us. He had to pull up back for me to reverse out and my game little car struggled out of the ruts.

For our next escape act, we needed four strong lads on a rope borrowed from Matt Facey in his Z3. With them pulling, we me trying not to run them over we attempted to cross the ruts we’d just emerged from in a bid to reach the exit track. We almost did it but the Arkley-MG put a wheel into a rut and tipped up. Adjusting the angle of the rope for another pull and giving it beans righted the car and we struggled out.

In the ensuing parking and tyre inflation, I turned over my left ankle, evening up the right one I’d ricked the week before chasing my cat down the stairs when she caught a rat.

At least all the subsequent activity served as valuable physio.

On Lee Quarry, Henry seemed to have a binding rear brake but he still ascended the escape lane. We didn’t get much further either and had to take the same route under the tape having tried the marked out deviation.

On Angel Steps, we had a tyre pressure limit of 15psi and couldn’t even get up to the restart line.

It was a similar story on Lew Wood 1 where Wicked Uncle Adrian was waiting hopefully for us with John Turner again. At least we could say we’d had a puncture by then so must have been trying. On Lew Wood 2, we nearly made the upper turn but the front and washed out and we nearly ran over the marshal. At least we made him laugh.

By now it was getting dimpsy (good Devonish word) and we had the sidelights on to find the next section. Graham hadn’t picked up that Harts was solo motorcycles only. I knew we were somewhere near Park Impossible but it was still a surprise to find a crowd and a restart.

Ironically, this was my best performance on Park Impossible ever. We got a 2! Maybe Mr Beddoe was practising some psychology on me. Not going too fast seemed to have helped.

Just for reference, Phil Thomas cleared Park Impossible entirely and won our class. He obviously did not have a dragging diff.

We couldn’t hang around at the Frog and Bucket after signing so didn’t find out how many of our friends did. Although we found this a very tough event, we still had a good day out and saw some amazing climbs, machinery and locations. That green lane just after Horsebridge was amazing according to Graham. It wasn’t a section just part of the route. This year’s Tamar Trial was certainly a good forcing ground for the forthcoming Exeter Trial. 

At the finish, Watto's Imp and Matt Facey's Z3 (Photo : Graham Beddoe)