Engine Punk

The Imps at Powderham 2019 belonging to from left to right, Ann and Tony Dowler, Karen and Simon Benoy, Drew Thomas and Louise Ransome Headon Having learnt nothing from the 2019 Testing Trial, in which I tried to compete on a sidecar as well as a car, I ended up involved on two car club stands at the Powderham Show. Next to us was this lovely early Scimitar - except that they never made a convertible.... Some of my trialling friends had enjoyed themselves so much last year on the Motor Cycling Club stand, I fancied joining in. There was also the issue of an official Hillman Imp presence. Many years ago, we'd enjoyed a strong showing of cars from far and wide but times change and people move on. A group of local members fancied trying to revive the Impishness of lore and - to cut a long story short - I ended up trying to organise a stand and get some cars together. Next to the Imp stand in the other direction was this lovely Alfa Romeo Montreal. I don't think I...

The post scrutineering line up with my Arkleyt-MG next to the Peugeot 205 of brothers Shaun and Scott Adams For this year's Testing Trial, Binky and I proved that it was not practicable to enter a sidecar and a car in the Keinton Mandeville TT and compete in both at the same time. Or sequentially. Binky on the new outfit. We were too pushed for time to take many photos Binky had bought a new sidecar outfit and, after various shenanigans with the Arkley-MG, I needed some road miles and an event as a shake down run. This MCC event in Somerset (within earshot of the Glastonbury festival, no less) on the last Sunday in June would be perfick as Pop Larkin might say. The plan was for me to drive up to the event site while Binks trailered his outfit down from sunny Andover and then your brave boys could indulge in multi-sensory overload on three wheels as well as four. It was not to be. We started off among the outfits and made our stately way round the course intending to...

As it is today, lovely and clean in a climate controlled garage Ian Headon died in 2018 but I had the good fortune to meet him a couple of times. He was a true enthusiast and created a series of cars that he designed and built himself. On his way to another clean of Blue Hills (Photo : Louise Ransome Headon) The IRH2 is one the of the known survivors in the series and it's returning to competition thanks to the active involvement of Ian's daughter, Louise. Ian gets some air in the IRH2  (Photo : Louise Ransome Headon) I know Louise through the Hillman Imp Club and was interested to hear she shared my interest in trialling. Literally, a few days after our exchange of trialling tales, I stumbled across this photograph in my jumbled up collection.  Louise Ransome Headon piles up some zeds on the 1987 LET I very rarely write on the back of my photos but this occasion I had written Miss L Headon, Ford 1172cc Special .  Talk about serendip...

Good weather suggested a pleasant run out into the country. Binky, Louise and Lee enjoy some quiet reflection at Plusha. Well, we made the start but not much else. Mr Adrian Booth was there solving last minute problems for fellow triallers. Dave Symons had an indicator that wouldn't work on his MX5 and to get through scrutineering Age found some spare wire in the boot of the Arkley-MG that I didn't know about. Know thy beast, as the Vincent owners used to say. I should also mention poor Dave Middleditch (great name for a trialler) who was also part of our Steampunk team. He went for petrol in his Dutton before the trial and ran his bottom end on the forecourt of the filling station! At least we managed to get to the start... Louise only got there thanks to Adrian's good auspices. Her local garage removed the additional throttle return springs required to pass scrutineering. Then they lost them! Adrian went down into his vaults and re-emerged with just what sh...

A good turn out of bikes including a lone quad This was another one day, single venue trial virtually on my doorstep. It would almost be rude not to have joined in after the organisers had gone to such trouble. And trouble aplenty there was! I was nearly a non starter. The car electrics were completely dead but after a quick call to Adrian Booth, my car's creator/developer, the issue was chased to the isolator switch in the boot. I had jogged it whilst trying to rationalise the tides of flotsam and jetsam including really useful stuff needed on a trial somewhere. Mr Graham Beddoe feeds the inner man Today's somewhere was Dunmere Woods. I had driven passed it many times but never ventured in. I had the privileged sense of exploring a hidden corner of God's own country. Organised by the Camel Vale Motor Club, most of the sections were dead ends and involved reversing back down again. I prefer the straight through ones, probably as a result of my backgrou...

Greater than the sum of its parts I would say While looking for a photograph of something else the other day, I came across an old smudge of this. Continuing the search for whatever it was - whatever that was escapes me now as it escaped me then - I found another photograph of this motorcycle, which intrigued me sufficiently in the good old/bad old days of 135mm films and SLR cameras to expend four whole frames on it. Horizontally inclined (as opposed to horizontally opposed) cylinders make a lot of sense to me. I am surprised there aren't more of them. I can't remember where or when I came across this machine but think it might have been at the Blackwater traction engine rally in the early 90s. The engine consists of two 125 Moto Rumi two-stroke twin engines. The result is a two stroke in line four with horizontal cylinders. As UJMs (Universal Japanese Motorcycles) go, across the frame fours are almost unremarkable but no Japanese manufacturer ever made a two-st...

Pop Asylum may be responsible for the Beetle's muddy face (Photo : Graham Beddoe) Regular listeners will remember that in last month’s episode I almost circumnavigated the course of the Exeter Trial but broke a half shaft on Tipley with my recently acquired Arkley-MG.  Look at my shafts After an involved rescue mission back to the secret lair of its developer, a cunning plan evolved requiring £600 worth of uprated Quaife shafts with detachable output flanges. The inner remains of the tortured shaft came out in several increasingly smaller instalments and the good shaft – considered to be good only by comparison to the broken one – revealed not just an ominous twist in its splines but also a wobble on its output shaft so it was bent as well. It's a twister! Adrian – Professor Booth of Doublebois – had broken a shaft on the other side of the axle on Crackington in last years’ LET. This was the same occasion and hill that Binky and I snapped a perch bolt on the A...