HAGGATE Part 2

It was now time for some grub before the RTV / CCV
night trial began. I got my motor ready and fitted my spot
lamp to the front hoop before being scrutineered by Dave
Pinner - cheers Dave.

We got signed on and headed for the first section. The
sections were split half way through with the CCV getting
tricky - approaching the No 1 gate I thought that I was going
to roll so I gave it some boot and took out the number one
cane - better being safe than sorry!!

Next section was us getting to gate six before we stopped.
Then we were going round a boggy bit on our way to the next
section when a little mishap occurred and we ended up on
our side, we jumped out and Penny ran for help. She asked
the driver on the start line of the next section for a tow but he
said that we'd have to wait until he'd driven the section, so
Dave Pinner jumped into his Rangie and came to our rescue.
By this point gear oil was running out of the steering column
and all over the dash and Penny's seat. We put a long rope
on and Dave pulled us back upright and onto level ground.
We pulled the seat covers off and got some cloth's from Dale
to clean up a bit. Then it was on to the next section.

lan had a good go in his 101" with the rear drivers wheel going
airborne through gate 1, bending his bumper and headlight
on the way !!! This was soon straightened with the help of a
rack jack.

It was getting dark now and I realised that I had left my torch
back at the campsite so Penny and I had to walk the sections
in the dark. We watched a Ninety go round one section and
saw a gate that I hadnt seen. When it got to driving it, the
section was harder than it looked and Penny had to keep
adjusting the spot lamp - it's hard work trialling in the dark,
but great fun too!!!

Many thanks to the landowner, setters out, marshals and
everyone else involved.

Keith Normanton

TONG '97 Pt.1

When Robert and I arrived at Tong our friends had already
sorted out our camping area. I kept flattening the area pegs
when shunting my motor round to the back of my tent.!! We
all had a laugh at Matthew who seemed to have forgotten half
of his camping gear and his booze for the night but we soon
realised that we had all forgotten something!!. Nigel had
made a new fire tray from stainless steel but it warped badly
after the first night. Penny had bought a new rocking deck
chair - it must have been comfortable because everyone that
sat in it at night fell asleep in front of our camp fire. Robert
brought his old deck chair with him but when he sat in it the
canvas ripped and he ended up sat on the floor of his tent!!

Saturday morning Robert and I met up with Colin, Nigel and
Matthew who were setting out an RTV section. We gave them
a hand and then headed back to the campsite for an early
lunch ready for the start of the RTV trial.

I was navigating for Penny so we got signed on and lined up
ready for the off. We had Dave Rodgers, lan with his 101 and
Simon in his Ninety (complete with roof rack) in our group.
The roof rack saved Simon's hardtop as it slid past the trees
stopping them from scuffing the sides !!!
The first section was quite tricky but we managed to get a
clear, lan did rather well in the 10, weaving in and out of the
trees on the rather slippy grass bank.

One section had a log across the track and some coilers had
difficulty bouncing over it and hit a tree, most leafer's cleared
it only to get stuck on some deep muddy ruts further down
the section. Later in the day the same section had been
reversed and the log caused problems once more creating
a traffic jam. By the time it was our turn the log had got
'chopped up' by the constant ramming of tyres so it moved
around quite a bit and made life even trickier.

It was 7pm by the time we had finished the RTV and we were
all starving!!!

Saturday night I took things easy and didn't have too much
to drink as I didn’t want a bad head for the trial on Sunday.

Sunday morning soon came and we lined up for
scrutineering. While we were queuing I let my tyre pressures
down a bit ready to be checked. Antony Holt scrutineered my
motor and he passed it saying that everything was OK. We
went to finish propping the motor by taking offthewindscreen
and door tops but I left the tilt on because the rain had begun
to fall. It was quite warm so I left my shorts on and just put
on my new rubber boots and my waterproof jacket. My tilt
wasn’t very tight and the rain soon formed a puddle above
our heads. As our group set off my motor leaned to my side
and I got the lot - wet legs and backside to start the day
nicely!!!

We got to the first section. Michael Chaloner was our marshal
and he'd already made a running order. We fell into line and
watched some of the competitors struggling to get to the start
line !!!! Peter Heaton was first up and he took the edges off
some rather deep ruts which made it possible for most of us
to get a clear. Phil Bailey's engine died but it turned out to be
just a loose wire which was soon nipped up with the use of
my pliers.

The next section was almost the same as an RTV section the
day before but the end had been made very hard. Colin got
stumped by trying to drive over a rather large one - ouch!!!
When it was our turn we got two thirds of the way round the
course when we hit upon a large tree bang in the middle of
my bonnet.

Section three was strait off the start and into the water. We
were on the line when Brent came over for a look and a
laugh!!. Colin's motor had got through the water and round
to the tree's before dying due to getting too wet. There we were
off, we dropped into the water and it came about a foot up
our bonnet, the water was deeper than we expected but we
plodded through and out the other side - my short snorkel
and waterproofing worked well. We got to a bad side slope
so took it high and made it round getting a clear. I left my
engine running to dry things out a bit.

PART TWO TO FOLLOW IN THE NEXT B.B.

WHITWORTH TYRO TRIAL

It was Sunday morning and we were all meeting at Colin's at
8.30am. By the time me and Nigel got there Matthew and Sue
had already arrived and Colin was just getting his lightweight
out onto the trailer. While he was struggling with that, I had
a fiddle with my carb. because it was playing up a bit. Once
that was sorted out we set off. Colin's 109" pulled his new
trailer well, especially with it's own weight and the weight of
the trialler. Climbing over Blackstone edge it became very
foggy but soon cleared as we got to the white horse pub. We
were traveling in a "loose convoy" down a dual carriageway
when Matthew signaled at Colin to stop because the trailer
brakes were smoking - we let them cool then continued to
Whitworth. I expected Colin to stop at the entrance to the site
and unload the trials motor off the trailer but the 109" just kept
on pulling right to the top!"

The TYRO trial started at 10.30 with all but a ninety being on
leaf springs. The event seemed well turned out for this side
of the Pennines but the weather helped by staying fine all
day. Steve Almond showed us all how to get well and truly
stuck in his new motor!!! Thanks to Antony Holt for setting
out some good sections. Before the play began the trophies
were handed out - 3rd, 2nd and a joint 1st - hopefully we'll
have seen some of these new comers playing at other events
by now.

The play (or fault finding session before Tong) kicked off at
around 1pm. We all piled all our loose bits into the back of
Colins 109 after a good fry-up for lunch then began to PLAY!!!
I drove up to the top end of the site and found a nice big pond
to test my waterproofing in. I lined up my motor and gave it
some clog; no problem, the engine kept running so the
waterproofing must have worked !!!
We all seemed to be driving up and down the same bit of
track so I decided to have a go at a little boggy bit, I gave it
some clog but I had the wrong tyres on my motor and it
ground to a halt. I reversed it slightly and it sank even more!!
I couldn't open my door so I climbed out over the top to get
my rope and promptly sank above my ankles into the bog.
I managed to recover my best 'summer clogs' and
hitched the motor up for a recovery by Matthew. I was just
drying my socks out when I noticed Matthew & Johnny
standing in front of Matthew's motor with the bonnet up - in
the middle of the pond!!!

I jumped into my motor and raced through the pond at speed
- Johnny thought that I was going to do 'a Brent' and soak
them through but I slowed down and stopped alongside
them. They decided that they needed a tow so I hitched up
my rope once more and dragged them out. It turned out to
be just a simple electrical problem and was soon sorted out.
We had another play then saw Nigel towing Colin's
lightweight back to base, by the time we caught them up he
had already got the fuel pump in bits but it appeared to be
working OK. Next was the fuel tank - a lump of silicone sealant
had got sucked half way up the fuel pipe and was blocking
it. We pulled the lump out and resealed the tank. By now time
was getting on a bit so we packed up and headed home.
Many thanks to all who organised the event

K. Normanton,

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