Engine Punk

Despite an interest in light cars (and medium-sized ones I suppose) I also like lumbering great beasts. This is a particularly fine example that belongs to some friends of mine. Gravitas in metal For many years, this Bentley Mk VI James Young saloon languished in one half of a two-car garage, a mournful shape without front wings or radiator. It had been left to my mate's grandmother by the old man for whom she had once kept house. Jerry’s grannie was not a large lady but could still see over the steering wheel and reach the pedals. However, one day the handbrake cable snapped and the Bentley went into a supermarket plate glass window. It then sought retirement at the back of his parents’ garage for remedial work. Time passed – as it always does – and more remedial work began to mount up. I couldn’t really make out the Bentley’s shape properly where it stood. There was just enough room in the garage to squeeze behind the wheel, make engine noises and pretend you were a “Bentley Boy”...

Martin Matthews and Colin Satchell approach the restart on Eastcott 1 in their UVA Fugitive As the Arkley-MG’s recuperation from the Exeter Trial continues, this year I marshalled on the 39 th Launceston Trial held in Lew and Eastcott Woods. I already knew access to the start at the wood yard was challenging for road cars and, with a bumper entry this year, parking would be difficult so I parked just off the road in and set off to walk. Fortunately, Becky Macey gave me a lift and, among the front-wheel drive vans struggling with loaded trailers and a Land Rover helping where it could, she polished up the steep and muddy concrete slabs in her Skoda that made up the entrance to the woods. Schmokin on the start line - not M ötley  Cr üe  but Richard and Katie Kinver in their Class 8 Ford Special  It was a good thing I blagged a lift off her for my felloe marshals for the day, Joe Caudle and Andy Prosser, were just setting off. Together with Chris Jory on his Honda XR, we ha...