Ivinghoe Spring Trial

Event Report

The opening round of our 2021 season took place on a remarkably dry site close to Ivinghoe Beacon and as the day warmed up from a very cold start it made for a very convivial atmosphere, albeit “socially distanced”.

As sections became increasingly tighter in the grippy conditions it was always going to be a challenge not to clip a marker post, or to have to drive so slowly that a stall or loss of grip would ensue. But not so for 2 of our seasoned Class 3 drivers, who both achieved the perfect score. In the absence of any other tie-decider, Dick Glossop (Liege) and Mark Hoppe (Dutton) were declared well-deserved joint winners.

The 49 starters comprised 5 in Class1, 8 in Class 2, 5 in Class 3 and 31 in the club categories. We’ll focus on the championship classes and where better a place to start than car number 1 in Class 1 where we find Rupert North debuting a Suzuki Alto. Straight in at the deep end, the new combination showed remarkable promise and looking at the scores Rupert probably achieved pretty much the best score from that car on that day with a lowly 10 at lunch time and an event total of 27 – to win the class! Reigning champion Trevor Moffatt in his trusty Corsa had a mixed day, the extremes of which were a 12 on hill 4 (wrong side of the post) balanced with 21 zeros elsewhere.

In the well supported Class 2 there were more inconsistencies to be seen, with some markers being clipped and some unexpected missed gates. Neil Mackay (Suzuki Ignis) enjoyed a great first round to match Simon Harris’s 2 points, but had to work the car fairly hard to maintain momentum. This ultimately took its toll at the start of round 4 when half of the driveline gave up. At the lunch break Garry Preston (Fiat 127) took advantage of a clean 2^nd round to amass a lowly 4, whilst Simon Harris (VW Golf) was keeping the pressure on with a modest 7. Points did mount up in the increasingly tight afternoon sections, invariably on different hills, but the two of them finished the day in the same order with Allrounder Bob Milligan taking his very tidy Mini to a well driven 3^rd in Class, aided by the only fwd car to achieve a clean 4^th round.

In Class 3, the default hill score was clearly a “zero” but the dry conditions and tighter sections throughout the day probably made the 2 Duttons feel a bit larger than they really are. All credit then to Mark Hoppe for a day-long clean sheet in his Melos, but equal credit to Dick Glossop for skilfully guiding his Liege to the same result for them both to share the event winner’s garland. Meanwhile, John Charles’ only blemish was a 4 on one section on the last round, the consolation being the Class award.