The weather was ideal for the fifth running of
Windwhistle's single venue Bovey Downs Trial. A little overnight rain
ensured there was no dust but it was more or less dry on the day. There
were 36 entries, perhaps a little surprising when the event offers several
attempts at both Normans Hump and Clinton, in the daylight!
In the end there were 30 starters, in a wide range
of cars, including a couple driven by Practical Classics Editor Matt
Wright (Hillman Minx) and Features Writer Sam Glover (Triumph Dolomite).
Neither car was exactly trials prepared and they both retired. However the
guys appeared to enjoy themselves and stayed to the end to watch and take
pictures. We are promised an article soon so look out for it.
There are no real clearings in the woods so
competitors were stretched out in a line along the top track waiting for
the off. The basic format was three "laps", with some hills attempted
twice on the first two, including Normans Hump and the bottom two parts of
Clinton, the top part being used for access.
Things didn't start very well for 2006 winner Peter
Mountain when he was the first retirement, loosing first gear on section
one. This hill, just up the bottom track from the start of Normans Hump,
was one of those attempted twice on each lap and had deviations for the
different classes. This was also unlucky hill for James Shallcross who
dropped 11 in his Peugeot 205 whilst class rival Aaron Haizelden went
clean.
After the first round of nine sections it was time
for lunch, most choosing to indulge in the truly excellent cuisine on
offer from the Sid Vale Carnival Club. At this stage there were still
quite a few clean sheets but also a few retirements as well, mainly with
broken transmissions, including both the Jago Jeeps and the Peugeot of
Jason Byrom who had another diff let go.
The hills were more or less the same for the second
round, apart from an additional section just inside the wood which
replaced the special test. Although the sections hadn't changed much they
were more difficult as there was a little light rain for half an hour and
some of the hills became loser with the passage of the cars.
The hill marshalled by
Adrian Dommett and Judy Phillips was to define the event. Running parallel to the top
part of
Clinton it was steep with a very loose surface with a restart for classes
seven and eight.
Clean up till now Nick Farmer (Cannon Alfa) dropped
two, Pete Hart (Marlin) five and Reg Salway (BMW) eight during their first
attempt, leaving only Bryn Corfield in his special on a clean sheet. The
trial was decided on the second attempt on this hill during this round
when Bryn dropped 4 while Pete and Nick went clear. None of them lost any
more marks for the rest of the trial which left the overall result Nick
Farmer (2), Bryn Corfield (4), Pete Hart (5). Pete was also the class
seven win over Murray Motgomery-Smith in his Marlin, in class rather
decimated by retirements.
Aaron Haizelden won Class 1 in the familiar Golf
from James Shallcross. Classes four and five were merged which perhaps
rather unfairly pitched Michael Leete's Beetle against Brian Alexander's
Suzuki and Stephen Kingstone's Midget. Stephen had repaired the wing
damaged on Blue Hills 2 but added to his woes by breaking a diff after
lunch.
Reg Salway took class three in his BMW, ahead of Rob
Wells who was debuting a rather smart 1700 Escort Mk 2.
