Engine Punk

Candidi Provocatores Allard J1X Is this the ultimate trials car? It may not be the most up-to-date but it's brutally effective. My scrap buddy, Rob Robinson-Collins, and I borrowed it from owner Roger Ugalde for the 2009 Land's End Trial with the result that we both want one. Rob's a little ahead of me in that game. He has, as the French knights in Monty Python and The Holy Grail would say, "already got one." It is indeed, "vair nass-eh." In fact, Rob's got two Allards, a complete L-type in pieces and another one that had been chopped around to make a kind of overgrown HRF-Opus hotrod thingy. HRF stood for Hot Rod Ford and with a heavy metal Allard chassis and a stonking great Ford V8 it was more of an HRF-Magnum Opus. Rob was initially looking for a spare gearbox for his other Allard but when he told Tina about what he'd found attached the gearbox of his dreams, she said, "Well, at that price you can't really say no." What ...

Cheer up! While I was in the queue for a cup of tea at the Bridgewater control on the Land's End Trial, I fell into conversation with the crew of one of the 1488cc Trojan Utilities and took the opportunity to ask them how much preparation they had done to their cars for trialling. There were two Trojan Utilities entered in the trial together one crewed by John Wilson and Richard Potter from Portchester and the other one by Steve and Phil Potter from Fareham (where, as the song goes, "all the whores wear Calico draws and I knows how to tear 'em.") I haven't tried this myself you understand. I have simply been assured of this quaint custom by friends of mine who live in those parts. Despite their benign weirdness, Trojans are very well proportioned cars. I particularly like the way the skinny wheels look widened. I'd seen them working on their Trojans at the start at Popham airfield and feared the worst but they were simply trying different carbure...

At the Wilsey Down Control on the Land’s End Trial, Rob and I spotted our old outfit. It was running a bit late in company with Dave West on his XT350 and was crewed by its new owners Peter and Shani Adams. Although behind schedule, Peter and Shani were obviously enjoying themselves and had already got to know their chariot a lot better on this their second outing on the bike. Their first was the Exeter back in January. Shani had become something of a workshop widow over Christmas as Pete took the Cox-Triumph apart and put it back together again. As he said to Rob, “It’s got all the right bits on it.” During re-assembly, he added a very nice crankcase breather (like a little air filter it was) and he reduced the size of the seat box and panelled in the rear brackets on the very back of the chair to allow more floor area and bouncing opportunities when traction is needed. Rob approved of these modifications and the bike sounded just as good as ever when Peter kicked it over. ...

I'll post more about this when I've calmed done a bit/managed to get some sleep but... I had a great time with great weather, great people and great machinery. Rob soon got to grips with the vintage nature of Roger Ugalde's Allard and considering it was our first time out in a strange vehicle I say we did remarkably well even though we finished out of the awards. And it was brilliant fun! Thanks to Pete Cross (author of Shadows in the sky a great story for children about Cornish choughs)here is a video of our ascent of Blue Hills 2 - after failing to negotiate the corner just after the re-start box. Doesn't the Allard sound great?

Goff Imhof's competition Allard J1 This picture of a splendid old war horse basking in the sunshine at Wiscombe Park hillclimb back in 2008 defines the concept of Vintage Thing. The ghosts of many competition successes hang heavy on this Allard J1. Not many cars have been haunted by so many benign (petroleum) spirits. It started life as Geoffrey Imhof's works team car and he campaigned it vigorously in trails, rallies, hillclimbs and races until the powers that be decided Allards were a bit too successful. Never knowingly over-restored but extremely sympathetically maintained, it bears its history proudly and although some people may turn their noses up at its allegedly scruffy appearance, to me it is a thing of great and brutal appeal. To learn more about this car's illustrious history visit the Candidi Provacatore site here . For some years it's belonged to Roger Ugalde who still campaigns it in classic trials whenever he gets the chance. With a 3917cc (8...