Mike Chatwin wins Classic Clouds

Top - David Thompson storming Crooked Mustard in his Troll while Jim Scott got up a long way but couldn't get his Stilleto round the corner (pictures by John Salter). Bottom - Paul Bartleman eases his Escort up Nailsworth Ladder on the famous cars last event. Hazel MacDonald being beckoned to avoid the post at the top of Ham Mill.

Stroud had their usual full entry for their event, which stands alone, no championship, triples or anything at stake, you do this one for it’s own sake. There were a couple of non-starters, including Clive Booth, so second reserve Ian Davis got a run as second reserve.

With Sandfords know longer available Nigel Moss had found a new hill called Crawley for the first section. This was pretty muddy, but there was plenty of grip, so it didn’t pose many problems. Hazel MacDonald wouldn’t agree as she under-steered off into the scenery on the hairpin!

There was a queue for Crooked Mustard and Andrew Brown had to hold later numbers out on the main road for some time. The old section was quite slippery and there was a big step between the second and third corners. Most of the class eight’s got up OK, and a few of the sixes and sevens, but the rest floundered on, or in between, the corners. There were exceptions of course and local man Mark Linforth came out of the top in his Escort. So did Mick Workman in his class seven Imp. Colin Perryman broke a drive shaft on the first corner and dropped nine. However, he managed to repair the Skoda and went on to win class four. Mike Pearson found he had damaged a wheel quite badly and had to stop to hammer it straight.

Rushmire was badly washed out so part of it was used as a down hill special test. The challenge here was to stop on the finish line and this caught out a few including David Heale, Paul Bartleman and Adrian Marfell. Neil Bray broke his gearbox, loosing first and reverse and retired to limp home after a bit of spectating on Nailsworth. Michael Leete was also given a fail, even though he and Mike Hayward were certain they performed the test correctly, perhaps it was for setting such a slow time!

There was a holding control in the lane before the road to prevent a build-up at the foot of Axe, which was causing a few problems this year. It didn’t seem to be causing any PR problems as the lady in the pub at the start was keeping Clerk of the Course Nigel Moss supplied with tea served on a proper cup and saucer! All the rain had made Axe pretty claggy in a couple of places, one just after the start and the other quite near to the top. This caused problems for the lower classes with their lees powerful engines and lower ground clearance. However, the results make interesting reading. Adrian Tucker-Peake went clean in his Front Drive Peugeot but local men Mark Linforth and Mike Hobbs both failed even though they had just cleaned Crooked Mustard! The class 4 Imp’s all failed but Stuart Cairney and Jim Scott were level pegging with local Ian Moss.

There was lots of grip on Nailsworth Ladder and there were very few failures, even amongst the restarting class eight’s. The Ham Mill restart was just after the corner this year, which made it much easier and there were not very many failures. Although it still caught out a few, including Dick Glossop and Ade Welsh in class four, Mark Smiths powerful Beetle and all the class ones apart from Adrian T-P.

Top Left - Nathan Camm was disapointed not to win The Ian Moss Trophy for best presented car Top Right - The Welsh family Beetle knocking it's kness at the thought of Ade behind the wheel Bottom Left - Arthur Vowden couldn't get his Marlin off the Merves Swerve re-start (picture by John Salter). Bottom Right - The marshalls were flexible when it came to Ralph Talbot's interpretation of being normally seated on Climperswell.

Lunch was taken in the civilised surroundings of the Tesco cafeteria, civilised for us maybe, but I don’t know what the shoppers thought of the muddy triallers and their strange collection of cars! Fred’s Folly was the usual glorious long blast up through the trees, there were special tyre pressure restrictions but no nonsense like restarts to impede progress. It is pretty boggy and rutty up near the top and like Axe you needed a combination of power, ground clearance and a heavy right foot to get through. This caught out both Stuart Cairney and Jim Scott, letting Ian Moss into the lead of the Imp battle.

The trial was to be decided on the next section, a new Catswood, reached after a lovely long drive through the forest below Merve’s Swerve. The Forshew family was in charge here, some of the many regular competitors who were out marshalling, for what must be the strongest trials club in the country. The lower reaches of the hill aren’t a problem, these started after a cross track where there was a restart and a ninety left ninety right, followed by a very steep, muddy gradient which nobody cleaned. Most of the competitive class eights got to the two, but Dudley Sterry failed lower down for a four and I can vouch how hard it is for Dudley to get the narrow tracked J2 up such a section as it won’t go in the ruts! This was also where all the Falcon class eight’s failed, including David Thompson, out for his first trial in his Troll.

Merves Swerve was next on the agenda, a "Clouds favourite! Not for John Bell though as he broke the gearbox on his Escort. Only classes seven and eight had to restart. The challenge for the rest was to crest the slippery big bump on the sharp right hand bend, which defeated all but Nigel Allen in his big engined Beetle. The class sevens all struggled and hot shot Arthur Vowden couldn’t even get away from the restart. Neither could David Thompson who was still adapting his driving style to the Troll. David had been told it wouldn’t trickle and was still to learning how to slip the clutch on the line and blast it! Dudley Sterry, Mike Chatwin and Peter Fear were amongst a select group of class eight’s to come out the top of the section. So was Adrian Marfell who was also one of the few to get away from the muddy restart on Highwood 1. David Thompson got away here as well with only Dudley Sterry and Mike Chatwin joining them to succeed in class eight.

Although there was, a lot of mud there seemed to be a fair amount of grip on both the Highwood sections. However, there was a horrible hump at the top of Highwood 2 and most of the entry bottomed out and faced the horrible task of reversing down carefully or risk a plunge to oblivion. Mike Chatwin cleaned the section, putting him into an unassailable lead. Ian Davis was the only successful Falcon. There was no doubt a short wheelbase helped, as the section turned left after the bump this year and the turn was very tricky.

Cimperswell was a glorious mud bath with a tricky restart with tree roots just waiting too catch out the un-wary. A lot of the class eight’s managed it OK, including David Thompson, but Mike Pearson failed. Apart from the leading class 3’s and Colin Perryman in class four competitors in the lower classes failed on or around the restart. Adrian Tucker-Peake didn’t have to restart in his class one Peugeot but never less must be congratulated for emerging from the Climperswell bog in a forward direction.

There were just the two Bulls Bank sections to complete the day. Hazel MacDonald got away from both of them and would have challenged for second in class if it wasn’t for her mistake on the first section.

RESULTS

Overall Winner	Mike Chatwin (Troll)	2
Class 1	Adrian Tucker-Peake (Peugeot)	33
Class 2	Steve White	16
Class 3	Mark Linfiorth (Escort)	17
Class 4	Colin Perryman (Skoda)	17
Class 5	Andrew Biffen (MGB GT)	74
Class 6	Nigel Allen (VW Beetle)	7
Class 7	Arthur Vowden (Marlin)	14
Class 8	Dudley Sterry (MG J2)	5