Engine Punk

For some of us, disco dancing is a way of life (Photo : Sally Livsey) My Arkley-MG was mechanically compromised by our success on the 2024 Exeter Trial. After sorting out the knackered Transit diff with help from Adrian Booth, Dave Ball and Martin Matthews, I replaced the Sierra front wheel bearings and substituted 1500 Midget front springs for the bespoke ones Ray Goodwright had commissioned some twenty years ago, it felt like my car was match fit. Maybe. Graham Beddoe had graciously agreed to bounce and navigate and we set off nice and early for our start at Launceston Rugby Club on Good Friday evening. After scrutineering, chinwags with our trialling family and a very tasty burger, we set off in the wrong direction but soon got back on track.   "Let's get down to this next number." (Photo : Sally Livsey) On our way to Bridgwater, I recalled a few niggles from my pre-event prep. Just before the start, dipped headlamps were an occasional no show. A few days before that...

Tim Kary in the Imhof Special and Rob Robinson-Collins in the ex-Imhof Allard J1 at the Heritage Trial on 4th July 2021 I was delighted to re-acquaint myself with the Imhof Special at the Heritage Trial in 2021. Tim Kary is the current owner and really knows how to drive this historic car which I first came across in 1993.  I had recently started a new job and moved to sunny Andover in Hampshire. Having checked out the local car club, I arranged to meet the club president at the club workshops during his lunch hour. Picture the scene – an old army Nissen hut on the edge of Salisbury Plain. The interior is dark but orderly. This is the workshop of the local car club. And there he is, Il Presidente!  He wears overalls over his office clothes, complete with shirt and tie. He’s sitting in the bare framework of a very small sports car while he files some tubes in the cockpit. He may have been making engine noises before he heard the door open. Binky (aka Mr Robert Robinson-Collins)...

Let's hope the weather is this good again Team Robert won't be in the 2016 Land's End Trial because we still have to sort out the broken halfshaft. Logistically, this happened at the wrong time for The Odd Couple at Wobbly Cottage (Mr and Mrs Binky) for the Allard's usual home was barred by scaffolding and their garage is only just big enough to get the car in. I was going to go up this weekend and lend a hand now that the scaffle is gone and the carport accessible but, due me having the snots and other real world issues impinging on the sunny world of classic trials, this has been postponed until after Easter. We weren't going to be ready for the LET anyway and hadn't entered but... I will now be bouncing for Brian Partridge in his Class 8 Cannon. Brian took the Class Award on the Exeter and bouncing/shouting directions duties usually fall to our mutual friend Stuart Crouch. However, Stuart's had to drop out due to family illness and Brian and...

Following on from our "outstanding failure" on the Exeter and Silver-that-would've-been-a-Gold-had-we-not-muffed-up-a-special-test in last year's Lands End (but we've put that behind us now), Binky and I have high hopes for the 2015 Land's End Trial. The only thing is, we're right at the back of the pack so may be renewing our acquaintance with the course closing car. The sections on the Exeter were said to have deteriorated significantly by the time we got to them but for this event I'm hoping that pervious entrants will have laid a sticky layer of rubber just where we need to find any grip. Binks hasn't had to much to the Allard since our last outing so I'm looking forward to this year's Easter motorsport extravaganza. We aren't really in it for the pot hunting, just for the crack. However, at Candidi Provacatores our policy is one of continuous improvement. Attitudes may change if we find we're getting up the hills a...

Scrutineering at Tamworth Services was in persistent rain After the Land's End Trial this year, I raised the prospect of the Edinburgh Trial with Binky but he wasn't keen. Then one day in September he e-mailed me to say "We've got a ride! Are you in!" and in I was. I'd never even spectated on the Edinburgh but had heard that it was very rough. The Peak District had also remained unexplored territory for me until this summer when the National Rally of the Hillman Imp Club pulled me northwards and I found a new bit of Britain that I really liked. A Benelli dirt bike! When was the last time you saw a Benelli of any sort? However, the week before the event, the Allard failed its MOT and then there was a roller coaster ride of "we will, we won't" be ready. The problem began as a brake imbalance and, while new cylinders at the front was a partial solution, the nearside brake drum did not want to come off. While getting down and dirty with...