Spring Trial

Event Report

Windwhistle Motor Club’s Spring Trial, held on Saturday 29 May, was day 1 of our southern weekend of trials postponed from the early May bank holiday w/e. This achieved a number of things – a good entry because distant travellers were able to enjoy local hospitality, we were usefully distanced from the sodden April weather and we enjoyed a fine, sunny weekend. We won’t dwell on the dreadful traffic congestion on the Friday…

An expectant 14 BTRDA championship contenders mingled with the 18 remaining competitors to overlook a very lush hillside with lovely views over the East Devon countryside. We were all dispatched to hill 1, resulting in a quite a wait for the Class 3 competitors, but providing ample viewing opportunities of fellow-competitors’ performances. The 8 sections offered great variety and used the site variations to good effect, but with usage and with well thought out driving techniques and lines they initially presented a lot of zero-score opportunities until they were changed after round 1 to slow us down and use some steeper banks.

First on the hills was Henry Kitching (Corsa), making a welcome return to Car Trials after a sabbatical last year, but the unused sections didn’t offer the levels of grip that arose from the passage of a few cars and he finished the first round 16 points behind fellow Yorkshireman Rupert North, who was running last in the class and achieved a meritorious 2 for the round. Rupert, in his “new” Suzuki Alto, was kept honest by Trevor Moffatt (Corsa) who was 3 points behind. Of our 2 local drivers, Gary Morris in the automatic Corsa held off Andy Webb, now in a Saxo.

In Class 2, Simon Harris (Golf) was in tune with the conditions and also scored a 2 for round 1, with Neil Mackay (Ignis) pressing hard just one point adrift. Completing our championship contenders in the class, Peter Hilliard (106D) and Paul Myatt (127) enjoyed a good tussle with scores not too dissimilar to Henry’s.

Class 3 looked as though it was going to be a contest to the final section of the day between the Duttons of Mark Hoppe and Ian Nute and the Lieges of John Charles, Dick Glossop and Barrie Parker, the latter driving the lower-powered, Reliant-engined model. Dick managed to edge ahead in round 1 by dint of squeezing a 1 out of hill 2, which had a damp area from the 3 area and cost the others 2 points.

From round 2, with more twisty bits introduced and then a couple of soft muddy areas, points generally started to mount up but made for a more interesting competition it has to be said. Rupert continued with the excellent result he’d had at the Ivinghoe Spring Trial back in April with another Class win. In Class 2 a local couple in a Renault Clio attracted a lot of perplexed interest and took the first 2 class places ahead of our Simon Harris leaving the eventual winner overall to emerge from Class 3 with a delighted Barrie Parker finishing 6 ahead of Mark Hoppe, with Dick Glossop a couple of points further back.

A super event, setting us up nicely for a convivial natter, noggin and nosh ahead of the other “W’s” trial the following day.