You have stumbled on a delightful box of tricks, Classic Trials & other perverse stuff from Michael Leete. MCC ACTC and other trials. VW Beetles, Dellows, Marlins, or even Suzuki X90's
Tristan missed his clean sheet by a mere one mark
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Sam Holmes and Ray were the only cars that had a clean sheet so the result came down to Test Times
The Yorkshire Dales was again held in glorious weather but this years dry route wasn’t considered as rough as last year.
Both Ray Ferguson (Class 7 Liege) and Sam Holmes (Class 4 Beetle) ended the day with clean sheets with Ray taking the Premier Award on test times.
Fellow Liege driver Barry Redmayne was third but driving his Suzuki X90 in Class Five this time.
Dean Partington was on a clean sheet until the penultimate section, the Class Eight only Bluebell Wood, when he dropped six marks.
Mike Hiley was best motorcycle.
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Rally Driver, Trials Competitor and Organiser, John passed away on 20 May after a short illness. He was 79 years old.
A Motoring Tribute by Michael Leete.
I first met JP around 1970 at a Sporting Owner Drivers Club Trial at Brickhill, although I only really got to know him in the mid 80’s when I returned from my time living in the North East. He was a keen member of the Dunstable based Sporting Owner Drivers Club, joining neighbouring Falcon when the SOD’s disbanded and I spent many happy hours listening to tales of his motoring exploits at club nights. My favourite was when he visited the TT and Florian Camathias needed a passenger for a couple of laps in practice. Ever the adventurer it was JP that stepped forward.
John started his working life working in various factories in the Luton and Dunstable area, including a long spell at the Commer Plant in Dunstable. He soon became interested in motorsport and started rallying a Mini, first in local events, working his way to the international ranks when he competed on the International Welsh Rally in 1972.
By 1976 JP had become associated with Chrysler, driving a SKF sponsored, semi-works Avenger in which he competed in most of the home internationals and the Tour of Britain. The SKF sponsorship stopped after 1981 and John transferred his attention to servicing with Andy Dawsons Datsun team. When this closed JP managed to acquire a vast quantity of special wheels which subsequently graced many of his trials cars.
By now John had started a garage and stepped up his involvement with trials, both local SODC events and MCC trials. He was very proud of introducing the first UVA Fugitive to the sport, selling it to Dave Parry when he was stopped from wearing the crash helmet that he wore to stop hitting his head on the roll bar.
After the Fugitive JP moved on to his V8 period, first with a Jago Samuri and then a Westfield. Next came a VW Buggy, the ex Graham Marshall car, bought from David Thompson when he acquired his Troll. John put a lot of work into this car, fitting a type 4 engine and his trademark Datsun wheels before changing its colour from tractor yellow to blue.
After campaigning this for many years John decided that wife Dot deserved a little more comfort on MCC events, selling the Buggy to Phil Potter and joining the ranks of X90 owners to compete in Class 0. He soon discovered the X90 didn’t have as much power as he wanted and fitted a Vitara engine, a massive job as the exhaust and all the ancillaries were reversed and he had to redesign the wiring loom.
John and Dot enjoyed the tranquility of the X90 but it wasn’t suitable for the local events so last year he re-acquired the buggy from Phil Potter. Never a lover of the Lands End, which he thought was too long JP’s last event was the 2019 Exeter.
John wasn’t just a competitor, he was also a hard working organiser. Locally he was the force behind SODC and Falcon Brickhill trials for many, many years. Along with the late Laurie Knight and Tom Goggin he ran the SODC Conquest Classic Trial in Derbyshire and together they opened up the notorious deviation left on Great Hucklow.
More recently he started Falcon’s March Hare Classic Trial with Mike Pearson. A Falcon Vice President he was also involved with the Milton Keynes and District Motor Club, marshalling on their 12 car rallies.
Outside of Motor Sport John liked travelling, especially to the USA where he loved Las Vegas and other exotic places taking in activities like diving when the opportunity occurred.
John died on 20 May after a short illness. He was 79 years old.
Rest in Peace JP, the sport and the world is a poorer place without you.
It was a narrow victory for the Scimitar
Organised by the Pendennis Motorcycle Club The Flora Trial, starting in Redruth, must be the most westerly event on the calendar.
Keith Sanders was best car, dropping six marks, one better than Clive Kalber in his Dutton Melos. The result came down to the wire though. Clive was leading when he dropped two at the last section at Lanner Green which Keith cleaned.
A. Kearns was best Solo motorcycle.
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A Trial of Two Halves
The single venue event in Bonyalva Woods was a trial of two halves, dry in the morning and wet in the afternoon. It soon turned into a Class Eight battle between Simon and Paul Merson who were level until midway through the morning when Paul dropped four on Bonyalva Rise where Simon went clear and slowly increased his lead as the day went on, finishing on 19 compared to Pauls 27.
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Adam Walter Reports
As a biker, one of the most talked about aspects of the any LDT is the weather and so I have to start there.
What absolutely perfect weather we had for the Lands End trial this year. Not a drop of rain and temperatures barely even down to 10 degrees C during the night, over Exmoor! For the first time ever I didn’t get cold! Chilly, but not cold. And staying dry the whole time was a revelation.
So, for the sections (the second most talked about aspect)
The dryness (back to the weather, sorry!) meant that there was plenty of grip almost everywhere this year, aside from the suspiciously wet and claggy Crackington… This was to be the only section that tripped me up this year, although that was more from sliding side to side than lack of grip. Duncan Stephens caught a great photo of where it all went wrong for me.
The organisers gave us class B participants a very nice surprise at Bishops Wood this year
Our restart wasn’t on the dreaded slab. If they could repeat this next year, when it’s bound to be wet and slippery, that would be appreciated.
As for timings
We kept finding ourselves ahead of time this year, but that was a bonus at the end given we started almost 2 hours behind bike number 1 and were wanting to get home (it’s a long event to endure no matter how you look at it). Not being able to hand your control card in early at Wisley Down is a slight irritation – is that designed to stop you having a nice long nap if you get there ahead of schedule?!
As always, huge thanks to everyone involved in putting on this event.
Your time and effort is very much appreciated.
Adam Walter – 113
A Collection of Links to Videos, Photos and as much other stuff as I can find
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