In Car on The Ilkley Trial with James Shallcross

After a couple of years of good fortune The Ilkley Club were un-lucky with the weather this year. It started raining during the late morning and it stayed all through the afternoon, turning some of the sections into mud baths that had to be cancelled for the later numbers.

Running at the front of the field Classes Seven and Eight had the most favourable conditions but more restarts and some tricky alternative routes to even things out. Overall victory went to Simon Woodall in his VW Buggy when he was the only car to clean the muddy Sword Point 2 at the end of the event.

Earlier Simon was challenged not only by his Class 8 rivals but also James Shallcross and Dave Haizelden from Class 1. James was leading the class at the lunch break before dropping 11 on Brimham Lodge.

Riding a Ural Combination was none other than Fifth Gears Tiff Needell so its eyes glued to the telly in June.

With the benefit of hindsight the club were a bit ambitious trying to stick to their original plan and would have been better to simplify some of the sections to fit in with the conditions on the day.

The start was back at the excellent Ilkley Rugby club, with plenty of space and an official OK to camp overnight. Lots of attention on Tiff Needell who was competing on a Ural combination, followed everywhere by a Channel Five film crew.

It was dry at the start but there had been rain leading up to the event and more was forecast later in the day.

These two grassy sections are down in a valley. They were cancelled before the start as there would have been problems getting back to the surfaced road.

Only a couple of cars managed to clean the grassy first section and they were early numbers. The rain started after class seven and eight passed through, by this time the grass had gone and most endured the fate of understeering into the 12 marker.

The second section was the usual blast up the gully. This developed a horrendous hole which stopped almost everyone that managed to get that far. However, it was possible to come out the top without a tow and Paul Bartleman (Troll) and Stuart Lambert (Cannon Austin) both went clear.

The first Hawpike section was pure grass PCT, cleanable for the early numbers but impossible for later runners as the mud bath developed.

The second section is in very picturesque surroundings, starting with a small ford before going through a gate, up a bank and following a grassy gully. Unfortunately the conditions made the bank impassable for most outside class eight and the best class one cars. In class four Skoda drivers Thomas Aldrian and Alistair Queen proved it was on. Unfortunately Alistair stopped at the four but Thomas went on to clear the hill.

After the picturesque Hawpike 2 there were some wonderful views from the green lanes that led to the special test at Highfield Farm.

Only Seven and Eight had a go at this as the access from the road became impassable once the heavens opened.

The higher classes had a very difficult deviation that proved impassable causing a long queue to develop, later numbers having to wait the best part of a couple of hours. By the time the later numbers had their turn the rain had become persistent making the grass impossibly slippery. Robin Barlow (Dellow Mk2) was amongst the non restarting class 0's to be defeated only by the final bank, which Tony Leedal actually surmounted in his GN.

James Shallcross was the only driver to get to the final bank, doing well to get away from the slippery restart.

Up on top of the moor this short little section saw the demise of Tris White's Imp with a broken diff.

Running towards the front of the cars Dudley Sterry and Nick Farmer both cleaned this one but by now a familiar pattern was developing as the grass became increasingly slippy as the rain came down. Classes 3, 4 and 5 had another wait of an hour and the section was finally cancelled for them when Edward Broom got his Escort stuck on a tree stump. Rather than scrub the section in the results the course closing car scored remaining cars a seven.

It was nearly four in the afternoon when the stragglers arrived at the lunch halt where the caters had kindly waited which was much appreciated. Paul Bartleman was leading the trial overall at this point on 24 with Philip Bovill (Cannon DP) on 27, followed by Simon Woodall and  Stuart Lambert on 28

Dean Partington went into the lead of the trial here when he was the only car to go clean. For the rest it was the familiar mud bath and when Thomas Aldrian got well and truly stuck it was abandoned for the remaining cars who accepted an eleven from the course closing car.

Classes Seven and Eight attempted these classic Ilkley sections which were both cleaned by the leading cars. Later they were cancelled for the remaining cars but there was confusion for classes 3, 4 and 5, by now running with more than an hours gap behind the field, as all they found was a closed gate with no notice or marshal to explain what was going on. This even confused the course closing cars who the stragglers were getting to know very well.

Always an Ilkley highlight. Brian Colman did well to be the only class 7 to get off the restart. In class 1 Dave Haizelden, James Shallcross and Adrian Tucker-Peake all went clear, although without a restart of course, as did Alan Smith with his Marlin in Class 0. With ground clearance at a premium the section wasn't particularly Skoda friendly so Alistair Queen was delighted to come so close to a clean, demonstrating he hasn't lost his touch after a long lay-off.

None of the cars could clean this section which had a greasy impossible restart. However, the highlight was the exit track. A wonderful, long, rutted track, worthy of Calton in its prime. Shame that wasn't the section!

Only classes seven and eight had a go at this, later numbers arrived to find the gate closed and the marshals gone. Like the Incline sections it was shame a marshal hadn't stayed on to explain what was going on or at least left a notice.

There were some issues finding these sections as the arrow from the main road was missing. Most competitors managed to find these sections but one or two didn't, including Thomas Aldrian, costing him a win in class four.

The overall winner was decided here, when Simon Woodall cleaned the second, grassy section while his rivals dropped eleven or twelve.

This super little section had a restart on a sharp left hand corner. You had to get going of the start line first though, catching out a few but not affecting the results.

Back at the finish their was an excellent pie and peas supper, even for the later numbers who didn't arrive till gone 7pm. Very few competitors waited for the results, understandably  preferring to go home and dry out.

Despite all the issues it was a very enjoyable trial, despite the weather.

RESULTS FOR 2009 ILKLEY TRIAL

Full Results (PDF)