Left - Gill Morrell Memorial Trial winner Mike being presented with his trophy by Falcon President Ron Warren and Clerk of the Course Cliff Morrell. Right - Mike and passenger Veronica Caspari tiptoeing across the wet bracken.
Mike Pearson romped away with the major award at Falcon’s second Gill Morrell Memorial Trial at Brickhill on Sunday 15th October. Mike dropped only two marks all day in his Dellow Replica, under the eyes of creators Geoff Jackson and Reg Taylor who were marshalling. Mike was competing in the Clubsport event, which had un-restricted tyre pressures. Robin Howard emerged victorious in National B, which has a myriad of different tyre pressures, according to class, engine capacity and the position of the moon in relation to the planet Uranus.
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Keith Pettit and Dave Sheffield seeing if a Sprite or a Midget can jump the highest. |
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Robin Howard trickling through the bracken and Julian Robinson blasting through the sand. |
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Brickhill was at its very best on the day, with fine weather, but very damp conditions under-foot. Cliff Morrell and John Parsons had laid out eight fine sections, with some nice variations on the established theme, including a new route up through the sand pit. There were some interesting "new" cars competing. The experienced Jack Williams had his wife’s nice yellow Fiat Cinquecento instead of his usual Reliant based Tempest, while Simon and Matt Robson gave their Reliant based Liege it’s PCT début. There was also a marvellous collection of kit cars, including no less than four Marlins.
Peter Manning (MG Midget) took an early lead in National B when Robin Howard dropped three on hill six. The pair continued their battle all day with Peter going to lunch just one mark ahead. Jack Williams and Ian Lawson had retired by then. Ian had electrical and overheating problems. Jack was finding the smart Cinquecento far to low for Brickhill’s tree roots and wisely called it a day before the car was damaged. Robin got the bit between his teeth in the afternoon and took the lead, holding on to it to win the National B event with 16 marks lost, compared to Peter’s 21, when the Midget driver made a couple of errors.
Dave Smith had a good run in his Kitten, bouncing over the roots and bumps to lose only 34. Colin Weeks was the FWD winner in his Mini, heading home son Michael, who only just stayed in front of Martin Cheshire in his un-ballested Polo.
Over in the Clubsport event David Alderson and Mike Pearson were treating Cliff Morrell’s hills with scant regard. Mike had only dropped two marks at the end of round three. David was clean, although he was worried about some strange noises from the back end and finally retired when the axle seized up. The Troll has one of those "un-breakable" Fack diffs so David reckoned that one of the bolts securing the crownwheel had come loose.
This started diff mayhem in Clubsports. Simon and Matt Robson’s Liege started making graunching noises from their A series rear end and they went home at lunchtime. They stripped it during the afternoon and found the planet wheels had seized onto the shaft, effectively locking the diff! Now Simon also has a Fack diff for the Liege, the only thing is that it wasn’t in the car at the time! Mark Rosten_Edwards was another who broke his transmission when the Escort cried enough.
Murray MacDonald won the Clubsports FWD class in a Golf Gti Mk2, which started in pristine condition, but didn’t finish that way when Hazel hit a tree and pushed the passengers side wing back onto the door, preventing it from opening. However, she did enjoy her day, winning the novice award and vowing to return. Mike Pearson didn’t drop any more marks and was best overall with David Thompson winning class 4 with Roger Dudley second in his Dutton Melos
National B Index Robin Howard (Marlin) 16 Class A/B Colin Weeks (Mini) 124 Class C/D Peter Manning (MG Midget) 21 Clubsports Index Mike Pearson (Dellow Rep) 2 Class 1 Murray MacDonald (Golf GTi) 104 Class 2/3 Richard Tompkins (Imp) 43 Class 4 David Thompson (VW Buggy) 15 Novice Hazel MacDonald (Golf GTi) 142
