A TALE OF TWO TRIALS

A TALE OF TWO TRIALS

Cyril Bold Wins the “Gloucester” and Ken Wharton the R.A.C. Championship

TuE sport iii scending trials tails is governed by the weather. After Inim Spl•IIS of torrential rain the well-run N. V. London M.C. Glotwester Trial, lite 32nd of the series, run in the Cot SWOlds (ill Del!C mho. ;lob should have been a ” stopper.” Overnight. frost was probablyto blame for the easy state of some of the fallouts ” seetions •’ that graved the 57-mile route. Of 94 entrants. so presented themselves at the start at Rodborough Common, some on tow I ehind nice warnt saloon ears, some even In vast lorries, although these latter

had admittedly come some distancewe suppose we shall get into trimble if we say we don’t like this practice of bringing a special to a trial as if it were a racing car ! We notde a lucky choice in spending the ch{y at Cold Skid. beentusV Nailsworth, if still a chassis-twister, was in lenient mood when we lookeit in on it later. and Fort, Bownham and I lam Mill were not

proving difficult. Juniper, too, was comparatively easy and, although Breaklwart and lair gridge were not. so simple, Cold Slad was clearly THE spot. While waiting for competitors to arrive we were able to reflect on the very interesting ears that are seen on present day trials. On this occasion Thompson had Wharton’s former special, and leardshaw a replica—or is it vice versa ?–Imhof his mid-engined special. Smith the former Onslow-Itartlett car—you

know, the water-cooled one !-Pentony his re-bodied, well mudguariled VauxItalt.’ Morris Minor ” Cyclops,” Michael Lawson the Lotus. Rawlings his Vanguardengined special, Phillips his Fairley, C. C. Evans the Dacy. Len Parker his rear-etigined spevial. These were joined by newer specials and lots of blown Dellows. The stout. Ford Tull power unit propelled at least 50 of the cars entered. Allards and big-engined

trials ears seem to have had their day-after all, petrol does cost 3s. I Id. a gallon ! The N. W. London 31.C. functioned with its customary efficiency. attnotow Mg provisional results by 3 p.m., its la-direetional dividing of tile entry working well. To return to Cold Slant, where Dennis Dent operated a loud hailer inter-coin., it climbs up a muddy field, snakes through a narrow gate set at a very awkward angle just where

there is a deep water splash and meanders up a lane where fearfill ruts test chassis and axles to destruction. As we observed.

even the total Fordsim tractor has its vast rear tyres at zero pressure ! At first the hill was greasy. then it dried sonnewhat, then water came caseading dowt I to embarrass later nuntilerti. LOLS of drivers failed to get out of llw first sub-section, but Weston’s blown Domino proved the hill possible with the first clean ascent, both occupants bouncing in unison. Morris!e had wretched

luck before this, his blown M.G. cutting out momentarily and pausing in the splash; it restarted at once, but had to be deemed a failure.

Mosby’s blown Ford Ten followed Western’s good example, if lunyi tang even inore sure, Wilde’s blown Ford Ten likewise but less sure, and Harrison’s Ilarford lost way early, but recovered well. Terry sailed nip in his Dellow after horrid moments low down, (rump’s Marden made it look easy, and Spence’s Spence went up beautifully ; alas, Mead’s blown Allard, making dreadful noises, wouldn’t look at it. Perks, doing a ” Raymond Mays ” to Iris Dellow’s steering wheel and Cos special bah defeated Cold Slant, and Rawlings actually accelerated up it. to such effect Bort his yellow cap fell into a puddle ! After this quite a number climbed clean, Sleeman’s Slecinan coming at it fast, but Parker’s fantastic affair and Lindon’s Morris Eight retired to easier paths, boiling. Biggs’ Ford just did it., Vero’s Dellow used the ” no air in

my Dunlops teelntique wit It success he is Dellow agent at Didwielt) and Evans’ Dellow was clean. Not so Jackman’s Dellow which spun to a standstill with the speedometer showing over 30 m.p.h., while Imhof blotted his copybook, saying he had selected too /ow a cog. Valve Nor Ilee and steaming tyres carried Binder’s 5.1I.5. just. out of the lard of the eight sub-sections, but didn’t get Pilkinlon’s Ford quite so high. Towards the end ti i illgti seemed easier, seven being ” clean ” in succession and Best’s blown I’ll 31.t;. really fast. Brayshaw missed his gear in the torsion-bar i.t.s. Brayshaw and Atkinson’s boredout Austin Seven retired with a broken steering; wheel. Twenty other ears retired–arc trials reverting to their ft inner role of rdiabllity trial !

Results :

I.OUCKSTER ( ‘II 1.1.1.:N61.: di p (his! of Itic da)’): I% L. Rohl LINII-c.e.

Cur T. C. Ilarri,+on I I 72.-c.c.

ILtrford).

( ‘031 M I Tres cuts 1.1.ENG I.: I ‘I : K. Burgem COI 7.e.e. than! S.).

TRAM AWARD: K. C. II. Rawlings (2,1)5S-c.v. Vanguard S.), 0, If. Waldron (1.172-c.v. Delloys s.e.).

L. J. Tracey I I ,172-e.e. $.e.). Ii ligT-el..1SS .5 sri it W. Vert, (I,

Moshy Ford, se.). M. II. Lawson (1.172.e.r. Lotus), C. corhi,Illey 1,112,y, C. K. (rmiip (1.172-e.e. Marden), E. I’. (1.1%-c.e. Spence). L. .1. Oliver (1.172.c.e. ()liver). .1. NV. Utley (1;172-c.c. .1.W. special. s.r.), .1. Clegg (1,172..e.e. Clegg, sc.),

1.. Traeey K. W. I,.1s6-e.e. Fairley). SEvorm-( iAsS A wAnnti : V. S. .5. Biggs t1,17:2-,..e. Fora). I. 0. 1.:Nalis (1.172-c.c. 1)ellow, sr.),

N. V. Terr.% (1.172-e.r. I lellow, se,), It. hemp 1:enin). 1. list (9:19.e.e. It. U. Lowe t 1,172 L. S. I iay

I V.

Tiii1;11..1,,,,!: I vAnos • A. riot 11.172.e.e. IIr. .1. ‘I’. spar, II.17″2..-e.c. Whileforrl c. 1. Ihnlinali 79-e.e. I 101(rw, K. I zerfor,1). ii. l’entony

‘? Roberts (934.c.e.

Itobr”s), It. F. ff. I ‘oltini (1,172.e,r. Cotton Special) I, M !tenni…haw (1,1(10-e.e. Wharton).

Last year the R.A.C. Championship Trial in the Cotswolds was too easy : this year it was nearly too difficult ! NVit It England in the grip of winter, snow on December 10th made the approaches to the first series of hills on Draper’s farmland very tricky. and competitors. allowed six minutes to clear them. needed three hours ! The start was in Montpellier Gardens of the pleasant spatown of Cheltenham and. strolling round. we noted the wonderful hat worn by Toth!, tin Irish competitor, the heraldic shield on the side of the Spence. a sprig of holly adjacent to Price’s competition number, the liberally-drilled front. wheels of the Steelton) Sports with its Miller-like radiator cowl, the reversing lamp and twin spare accommodated side by side on Todd’s Ilumber, Rold s insignia of a hand raiscil in a compelling •• stop ” gesture on I he Bold, and again pondered on the preponderance of Ford Ten engines. The R.A.C. had reeeived 08 entries. 25 front the South, 35 front the North, livt, front Scotland and three from Ulster. Of these, 22 had unblown Ford Ten engines, 24 blown Ford Tens, seven Vs Ford power units, the remainder preferringStandard. N•auxhall, Jowett, Austin. Humber, Singer, 31.G. or .1.A. P. engines.

There was a happy feeling that Cheltenham is tolerant of trials cars, and the It, A.(‘. had neatly marked each hill with blue •• road-signs,” had its patrols on duty, and the use of Rodney Road Car Park for the first special test. The two most interest Mg cars were Ken Wharton’s new trials stweial annul Onslow-Bartlett’s rear-engitted .1.3.1’. job, which arrived sounding like It self-contained speed trial. The former looks rather like an elongated sports Cu uoper. very neat, with Austin Seven chassis parts and back wheels, setback Austin .V1.0 engine, Ford gearbox, Cooper front wheels, Fort! front suspen• sion and Morris Minor rack-and-pinion steering. Itartlett spoke awe-inspiringly of not needing his twin BAAL magnetos when tlw engine is hot, and of being; able to change the ratio of his (Amin primarydrive between ” sections ” ! It used an elaborate rollerbrake device to check for locked dif ferentials before the start. Cars then proveedeil to the special test.. -endered difficult by frozen snow. WItar«tn, his car igniting a ” fire-bell ” ring from its Cmdinued Oil page :19