Our usual car trial took place on Sunday 13th October 2024, at the field at the top of Dundry hill. We are most grateful to George Atwell for the use of the field once again.
The day was dry after a week of on and off showers and the field was reasonably wet when we arrived on the Sunday Morning, to finish off the setting up which was started on Friday afternoon (my thanks to Chris Pelmear and Mike Angwin for their assistance on Friday).
There were six entries, Frank Vautier from Llanybydder, Wales. (around 120 miles one way) drove his MG TA. The late Dave Coppock’s Daughter, Emma and Grandson, Matthew Gofton, arrived in Dave’s TC, which was lovely to see, both the car and Dave’s family again (Dave would have been so proud as Emma had never driven the TC in a trial before). Pete Hiles drove his MG TD in a trial for the first time, unlike Chris and Nicola Pelmear in Chris’s MG Midget who attend all of our events, for which I am truly grateful. Last but not least was Mike Angwin driving his MG F with Emma’s Daughter, Megan as the passenger (bouncer). Frank and Pete acted as passengers for each other as it is a requirement in car trials that the car must carry a passenger.
There were four test hills and four attempts were made on each test before a lunchbreak was called. The points are scored in reverse order starting at 12 at the bottom of the hill to 0 at the top, the driver with the least points wins.
Everyone cleared test 1 in the morning, so Chris and Mike modified the test to start further up the hill, so reducing the run up for the afternoon attempts. It did make a slight difference, but as the tests got more use, they started to become even more slippery! Normally it is the other way round with slippery, wet grass in the morning and drying tracks in the afternoon. Everyone seemed to enjoy the day and at the end the results were declared,
Overall winner was Frank Vautier with a score of 0 for both sessions
Second was Chris Pelmear with a total of 8 points (5 & 3)
Third was Pete Hiles with 23 points
Fourth was Mike Angwin with 25 points
Fifth was Matthew Goton with 66 points
Sixth was Emma Gofton with 75 points.
The full results are available in the results section by clicking here.
My thanks also go to Simon Lott and Cameron Cleaton (Megan’s Boyfriend) who did a sterling job in helping me with the marshalling of the event.
A short video of some of the cars is available on my YouTube channel and can be viewed here https://youtu.be/jfovPWKWeCs