Fearsome Cotswold Clouds

Left - Pictured on Bulls Bank 2 Richard Hayward came 2nd overall in his Escort but couldn't equal Peter's Fearsome performance seen here on Merves Swerve in John Salters picture.
Left - Stuart Cairney coming out the top of Ham Mill on his way to 3rd in class 4. Right - Simon Woodhall back behind the wheel cleaned Crooked Mustard with an unusual line. (picture by John Salter)

Stroud and District Motor Club had their usual full entry for their Cotswold Clouds, one of the most popular one day trials, despite it’s traditional non-championship status. Nigel Allen led the entry away on the Cloud’s established route, which has changed little in recent years apart from the addition or deletion of the occasional section. Crawley was first on the agenda, a nice easy start to the trial, especially when you knew the left-hand hairpin was coming! Soon competitors were in Dursley at the foot of Crooked Mustard, known most appropriately as Break Heart in its earlier life. This is one of the feature hills on The Clouds, retaining its teeth despite its age. There had been rumours at the start of some sort of construction work on the hill and while this wasn’t evident, the lower reaches were certainly cut up with a lot of loose stones.

Most of the class eight’s cleaned the section, although sadly not Classical Gas supporters, and former Dingo owners, Martin and Tom Jones. In class seven three of the Marlins made a clean ascent, including the determined Mal Allen. From the bottom it sounded as if Pete Hart had got up but despite a resolute attempt, he stopped at the final corner for a four. Nigel Allen in class six was the only rear engined car to come out the top but Colin Perryman did well to get to the five in his Skoda as did the Imp of Mike Trim. The best of the other Beetles in class four were Giles Greenslade and Dick Glossop one mark behind. The only other clean was in Class Three where John Bell stormed up to take the lead in the conventional saloon class. There were some magnificent climbs in Class One where Paul Allaway (Astra) got to the four, closely followed by Golf Gti drivers David Haizelden and Michael Collins in their usual closely fought battle.

There was no Rushmire this year but there was still a holding control just along the road, manned by Mr Moss senior and an enthusiastic local policeman who was very interested in all the cars. Axe has got more difficult in recent years and took a few victims once again if they had low ground clearance or didn’t build enough momentum to power through the mud and ruts just sort of the summit. There are a few pretty big steps as well, which can easily blow out a tyre or dent a rim. John Bell was caught out here as were the low slug MGB’s of Gill Hayward and Andy Biffen. The leading Front Wheel Drives all made clean ascents, albeit at the expense of a dented rim for David Haizlden. Neil Bray arrived at the top with both a front and a rear puncture and a shattered wheel rim and was grateful for the help from "Team Sargeant" in getting him on the road again.

Nailsworth Ladder was relatively easy this year. Classes one to seven didn’t have a restart and everyone made clean ascents. Even the class eight restart was kind to competitors, positioned a long way before the step so cars could get going before the obstruction. A handful were caught out though, including eventual winner Peter Fear who overran the restart line by mistake as he thought that some cones blocking off a gully defined the restart box. Chris Phillips was spectating here and reckoned that Bill Bennett won the prize for showing the most air under his car as he flew over the bump.

There was the usual holding control before Ham Mill and only six, seven and eight had to restart this year. Almost all the lower classes stormed through the tricky right hander although Paul Allaway stopped in the grassy ruts near the summit. Peter Davis in his Panther Lima was the only class five to get round the right hander, which also caught out Michael Leete and Rick Neale in class four. The restart for the higher classes was right on the corner and caught out Mike Hobbs and Mark Tooth in their big engined Beetles but didn’t present a problem to the seven’s and eight’s. Neil Bray cleaned the hill but at the expense of another puncture and such a horrible noise from the transmission that he decided to retire and head for home.

There was the usual civilised stop for lunch at the Tesco Cafeteria, although there wasn’t as much time as some of us would have liked because of delays at Crooked Mustard, Axe and Ham Mill. Bulls Cross followed this, promoted from a special test to an observed section, before going into the woods across the road for Freds Folly. This is a nice long section with a muddy right hander at the top that again took a small crop of victims.

Catswood was a stopper in the woods before Merve’s Swerve, reached after a nice long trek along some muddy tracks through the trees. There was a restart for classes six to eight but this really didn’t make much difference, as the lower classes couldn’t build much speed through the "chicane" anyway. The challenge here is the bank across the track. The ruts looked deep and muddy although there was quite a bit of grip for the later runners as the early numbers cut down to the solid stuff. About half the class eight’s went clean but the best anyone else could do was Bill Bennett in the J2 who got to the one.

There was the usual crowd of spectators at Merves Swerve, which had Stuart Harrold and Chris Phillips marshalling instead of driving their usual Troll. Chris reported that "Merve's was looking absolutely horrible when we got there. The restart area was very claggy. The steps even more so, and if you got over that there was a significant rut around the three marker. The first two or three customers merely confirmed my opinion that it was going to be a day of backing down. Then Pete Fear appeared (about car four), got out of the ruts left on the restart and just went away making it look easy. Car No1, Nigel Allen, also cleaned, but without the restart, but then there were no more successes for about 40-50 cars until the restart area had worn down to the rock underneath.

Gallant efforts from David Haizelden (how does he get a front wheel drive car that far up hills) and lots of local Stroud boys in Escorts who gave it absolute death and made it to the four marker. My prize for the best attempt went to the big old Riley (in class 2) which got a 2, I believe, and the driver was mighty disgusted that he hadn't cleaned it. In total, I think five class 8 cleaned it and the big VW from class 6."

There were usual two hills in the Highwood complex. The first section features a very muddy patch where the track deviates to the right. Classes 1 to 6 had a straight run though, without a re-start, but it was still very difficult and only a handful of cars got through for a clear, including David Haizelden and Paul Allaway in class one. Peter Fear was the only restarter to go clear, making up for his error on Nailsworth Ladder and putting him in the lead of the trial. Highwood Two was as fearsome as ever. It’s not going up that’s the trouble, it’s coming back down again when you fail! Even Giles Greenslade had to reverse back down! But a string of good climbs had put him in back in front of Colin Perryman after slipping behind on Crooked Mustard.

Clerk of the Course Nigel Moss cancelled Climperswell after some of the early numbers damaged their cars when they came out of the ruts and hit trees. This left only the usual two Bulls Bank sections which didn’t affect the results much apart from in class 4 where Stuart Cairney lost second place to Colin Perryman when he failed the first one. The restart wasn’t on a particularly steep place but there was a nasty rock to put the front wheel against if you didn’t stop in exactly the right place. The second Bulls Bank didn’t have any obstructions but it was on a steeper gradient and the stones were as slippery and polished as usual, necessitating a gentle take-off, something rather lacking in some attempts, to the amusement of some of the competitors spectating now the last hill was finished.

Then there was just the run to the finish to round off another excellent Cotswold Clouds. It was a well-judged trial, which Peter Fear would have cleaned, had it not been for stopping in the wrong place on Nailsworth Ladder. The adjustments to the restarts for the lower classes seemed just right and were fortuitous as they stopped too many delays. The organisation was as professional as ever in the usual Stroud relaxed way, with a lot of top competitors marshalling the hills.

Results

1st Overall	Peter Fear (Dingo)	6
Best Stroud	Richard Hayward (Escort)	9
Class 1	David Haizelden (VW Golf Gti)	17
Class 2	Bill Bennett (MG J2)	22
Class 3	Paul Eamer (Escort)	27
	Mark Linforth (Escort)	28
	Stuart Deacon (Escort)	28
Class 4	Giles Greenslade (Beetle)	16
	Colin Perryman (Skoda)	21
	Stuart Cairney (Imp)	27
Class 5	Peter Davies (Panther Lima)	28
Class 6	Nigel Allen (Beetle)	18
	Gary Browning (Beetle)	23
Class 7	Arthur Vowden (Marlin)	20
	Tim Lakin (Marlin)	25
	Mal Allen (Marlin)	25
Class 8	Paul Bartleman (Troll)	10
	Mike Chatwin (Troll)	10
	Dudley Sterry (MG J2)	10