Despite their very best efforts the Falcon delegation couldn’t repeat Murray Macdonald’s triumph of last year and didn’t retain the Grasshopper Trophy for the club. Having said that it was a good day and this event is recommenced for anyone starved of competition in the summer!
This years Grasshopper was held on the 15th August at it’s usual venue at Amwell near Hertford Heath. This could well be the last time the event can take place here, as the field is earmarked for developing the adjoining rugby club ground. This is a shame as the venue has a long association with Motorsport. One of my neighbours, who I have just found out is an old Falcon member, remembers Autocrossing there in the late sixties.
It looked as if the holiday period was going to starve the event of entries, but on the day, the CSMA had attracted seventeen entries, three of them from Falcon. Andrea and Arnold Lane had their "autotest" Mini and Michael Leete was driving his usual Nova. Andrea was a little green around the gills as she had eaten something that didn’t agree with her the night before. Arnold was in his usual good spirits and was musing over whether he should have bought the trials Mini, as the grass was quite damp and it looked as if grip could be at a premium. The Falcon’s were in different classes as the CSMA made the fwd split at 11ft. Mike Hayward had planned to enter, but his C39 Escort hadn’t quite recovered from it’s Lands End adventure, but Mike still came along in support and take the pictures.
The CSMA had laid out three tests, all of them very long, with no reversing. Each was used four times, but the marker cones stayed resolutely in the same place, variation in the tests being accomplished by changing the route around them! In true civil service tradition the event started promptly at 11.00. Conditions were ideal. The damp had gone and there was plenty of grip. Arnold had a good first round and after the first three tests was fastest overall ahead of Jim Bowie from the Chelmsford who had come all the way from Burnham-on Crouch in his 1275 Mini GT. Andrea had the misfortune to get a double wrong course on the second test, which dropped her out of contention. Down in a well supported class B Michael was having a good start and was lying 2nd out of eight starters, a fraction of a second behind former Grass Hopper winner, Jim Perkins from Green Belt, in his Golf Gti.
Falcon's at full chat! Arnold Lane (left) and Michael Leete (right)
It all fell apart for the Falcon’s in the second round. Jim Bowie really got the bit between his teeth, pulled back his deficit and went to lunch ahead of Arnold. Speeds were increasing now the early morning damp had gone from the grass and the Lane Mini broke it’s exhaust brackets on a bump. As the grip increased so Michael’s performance declined and he was finding the Nova’s rear was sticking firmly to the ground rather than responding to the handbrake, despite 45 psi in the nearly bald rear tyres! It didn’t seem to bother Mike and Jamie Turner though and they took over the chase of Jim Perkins in their Metro.
Arnold and Andrea used the lunch break to fix their Mini properly but it was to no avail as they both got a double wrong course on test seven, the only competitors to do so. Michael held on to his place in class B all the way to the very last test when he was the only "double WC". So, no Falcon awards but a very enjoyable event with different tests and a very different surface to Upper Caldecote. Lets hope the CSMA are able to find a new venue and continue the twenty-six year Grasshopper tradition.
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