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Hawpike Farm Car Trial - Wednesday, June 30 July
I have always enjoyed Stan Peel’s car trials because you know you are going to be driving over ‘challenging’ terrain and he always finds something a bit different to have a go at!
The IDMC club night car trials seem to be enjoying a bit of a revival at the moment with thirty plus entries on both events run so far this year and no doubt a similar figure at the next one at the wonderful Bolton Abbey venue. This shows the club is in good health and the events are being organised well. However, the dry spell we are experiencing has caused a problem for the clerks of course because they are struggling to stop cars from getting up the hills! Normally we are all wallowing around in damp grass and mud but not this year. As more cars drive the sections so they become easier and a 0 score is not uncommon on most hills.
So Stan had his work cut out for him to try and keep the cleans down yet the enjoyment levels up. The way he did this became apparent when meeting secretary, John Harris, indicated there was a mountain section in this year’s event and he wasn’t kidding! I didn’t actually get past the five marker on section 5 but did see an asthmatic mountain goat clinging for dear life at the four marker and a Sherpa getting some altitude training in at the two marker! The snow on the summit obscured the one marker but I was assured it was there. To say it was steep was an understatement and reversing back down the hill, should you clean it, would have been worthy of a medal on its own. So I decided to drive out of the section at the five marker just to make sure I didn’t get that far, much to the disappointment of my son Elliot who was still yelling at full volume even though the oxygen levels had dropped dramatically!
To help reduce the chance of getting up the hills Stan had started most hills on an uphill bit giving very little chance of a run up and requiring a lot of clutch slipping and dipping. Unfortunately this did for the Spencer’s Clan and saw an early bath, or trailer in this case, for the trials machine. The hill starts also filled the air with a burning clutch aroma which when mixed with fresh grass and cow pooh became hallucinogenic and gave you the sense you were in a 4x4 with loads of clearance. This inevitably resulted in a few cars, mine included, with bits missing off the front which Mr Ford or Vauxhall had intended to be more cosmetic than structural and couldn’t withstand the 1.5 tons of Corsa bearing down on them in some of the ‘deeper’ bomb holes located in various positions with the hills.
The sight of cars with at least one wheel in the air was not uncommon and the ten sections all included a challenge at some point in the climb. I was having a great time and enjoying being out in a Corsa again and driving up, down, along and through things they weren’t really designed for. It is quite surprising just what you can get up in a standard car. In the past I have had a decent set of tyres and a very good suspension set up on my cars but with this one being a new acquisition (read ebay Special) and not having time to do anything to it other than take out my bad boy parcel shelf with its two 6x4 speakers installed (which weighs nearly as much as one of the doors) I was not really confident of a good result. Add to this that three of the tyres on the car were the subject matter of an MOT advisory and the shock absorbers were dehydrated and in need of some absorbing properties I was out for a bit of fun rather than a win. I also had one of the terrors with me who insisted on entering the car in a Dukes of Hazard style, which is ok as he is only 8 and fairly small. However, when a certain Mr C Tindall saw the entrance he decided to try the same but with less successful results!
With all these distractions the spoiler crushing gulley’s and ruts were a doddle in comparison with getting the correct line which was even more critical to ensure the biggest lumps were missed and the climb out of the hole you were in was successful. One particular hole at the top of a steep hill had me foxed all night with my second attempt resulted in us going from 10 to 0 mph in nano seconds and destroying my go faster trim on the front of the car. It was really frustrating because it could be done but I just couldn’t get the right line. It was the same on some of the other hills, they were there to be cleaned but going just a few centimetres (a little bit in imperial) off the correct line meant you were cocking a back wheel and spinning the opposite one on at the front, most frustrating!!
Still, on we all battled bumping, banging smoking and clonking our way up through and over the terrain to see who could get to the top with the most body work still attached! By the end of the night I was cream crackered and ready for a refreshing drink at the pub in Addingham. I had started off walking most of the sections but in the heat (yes it was actually warm) and dust I had worn myself out but did finish off the night on Brian Marks’ and Ernie Wilson’s section getting one of only nine cleans on this hill out of over sixty attempts by all the competitors so I was very pleased with myself.
The after event venue was the Sailor in Addingham which was buzzing with the IDMC natter that had overflowed in to the beer garden with everyone making the most of this wonderful weather. John Harris followed shortly after with the results and to my surprise I had won my class just ahead of an improving Leon Humphries in the Ravensport prepared Corsa!! The cars owner (Mr President, sir) rolled in a very respectable 3rd place so these two need to be watched in the future as they are getting a bit too good!
I had a superb evening and a good laugh. Although the terrain was slightly more aggressive than a club night usually offers the hills were great fun to attempt and just tempted you to go that bit faster to get up the seemingly impossible climb ahead of you.
Neil ‘Basket Weaver’ Raven
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