By Kevin Dyras | Pictures by Dave Govier
This was the last trial of the year and it turned out to be eventful for many reasons. To start with the lead up to the weekend saw Storm Claudia arrive which brought a lot of rain on the Thursday and Friday. Newmans Quarry drains very quickly so when Dave Govier finally managed to get on site of the Saturday he found the ground to be wet and slippery, but nowhere near as bad as expected. I say finally managed to get on site because when he arrived to start laying out he found the gates were locked. The landowner turned up an hour later, but meanwhile Dave had climbed over the gates and started laying out.
Sunday morning saw 12 drivers raring to go, including Rob Stephenson. Rob had come along to watch at the last event in his Land Rover recovery vehicle and joined the club and entered for the Newmans event. He was made welcome by everyone with whimsical comments about using him to recover anyone who needed help. More on that later!
Mark Howell provided me with bacon rolls while I sorted the signing on. I did think about declaring the results there and then with Mark in first place…
We split the drivers into two groups, with me taking the three double driven entrants, and Dave Govier leading the remainder. The sections were muddy, but not too slippery, and there were enough challenges to ensure that of the 11 sections only one was cleared by everyone.
Immy Jenkinson hopped in with Blythe Garner in the Vitara and it was great to see two youngsters taking part and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Of course if perhaps they had not been talking so much they might have managed to clear a few more gates instead of driving over them… Still the aim of the club is to have fun and they certainly did that!
The first problem of the day was caused by me tripping on a bramble and falling heavily, landing in some more brambles and hitting my knee on a rock. Fortunately I landed on my right shoulder, not my already injured left one. A big thanks to everyone who helped pull me up again as I could not put my right hand down to push myself up because I was lying in some very sharp brambles. I had a few bumps and bruises and quite a few small cuts from the brambles but at least I hadn’t broken anything. An even bigger thanks must go to my wife Jan, who had the unenviable task of washing all of my very muddy clothes when I got home!
We stopped for an early lunchbreak as we all wanted to finish early so we could get home before it got dark. As it turned out later that was a very good decision. During the break we altered 2 sections from the original 9, to give 11 in total. After lunch we saw Mark and Blythe break a CV on the front axle. Team Jenkinson came to the rescue once more with Mark and Blyth completing the sections in the 110. It seems that the 110 always does for other competitors this at every event.
Rob Stephenson also managed to break something on the 110 recovery truck front axle and retired. The car was still driveable in 2WD, so Rob was not worried about driving home after the event. More on that later!
We also had a very welcome visit from our Chair man/woman/person in the afternoon along with her future competitor son. He seemed to enjoy the afternoon and we hope to see more of him at future events.
We finished the day early and all the competitors joined in collecting the canes so that we were off the site by 3.00pm. Unfortunately that was when the trouble started. Not long after leaving the site Rob had the transmission lock up on his Land Rover going down the hill. The car spun around 180 degrees and was very fortunate not to roll over. Dave Lewis was following him and said it was very spectacular indeed. When I came past I saw the skid marks from a long way away so slowed down. I thought about stopping, but as there were a lot of club members already helping, I kept going instead of getting in the way. Not like me to interfere I know. Several of the Daves provided the necessary tools and Rob removed the front prop shaft allowing him to drive home. So that was the end of the day for everyone and we all could drive home safely.
Or so I thought.
On the way into Moreton-in-Marsh I was driving behind a large motorhome when I hit a very deep pothole, which immediately blew my front tyre. I managed to pull over in the town centre and changed the wheel for the space saver spare that Skoda fortunately included when I bought the car. I have no idea what would have happened if I only had the cannister of tyre gunk that most cars come with these days. The only snag with the space saver is that you are limited to 50mph so with 92 miles to go I had a long and slow journey home. While I was changing the wheel a local approached me and asked if I had hit the pothole. He said the Council are aware of the pothole and several other drivers have suffered the same problem. I intend to try and claim from Gloucestershire Council as the tyre depot this morning have told me I need two tyres (front and rear passenger side) and a full wheel alignment at a cost of nearly £360!
Thanks to everyone who attended and again a big thank you once more to Dave Govier for laying out the sections single handed.
