Peter Jones
It
is a pity that not more of you came to the Mendip Trial in early August.
The valley we have used for the past few years is an idyllic scene in the summer sun with a
babbling stream, birds singing and the merest breath of wind ruffling the dense green foliage in this
semi-wooded corner of Somersetshire nestled, as it is, in the crook of the majestic Mendip Hills -- a
serene scene of true tranquillity.
Then
the cars arrive.
Or
rather then the cars arrived, alas after many years we are no longer able to use this field.
It has been decided to preserve it in its present state for posterity.
The same thing happened to another gem of a trial site we enjoyed once a year on Downs near Mere.
This was found to have rare wild flowers on its chalky surface so motor vehicles were banned forthwith.
The fact that said rare wild flowers had survived cheek by jowl with motor sport since the 1920’s
seemed to count for naught in the eyes of officialdom.
The
one attraction of a low entry is that we all had lots of goes at each hill ! On
this occasion I was rather glad that not too many turned up as; having decided to dust off the TC to
enter –it let me down. Half way round I couldn’t get it
to start ! I tried everything and even had to resort to a
tow from the obliging Peter Tinknell in his Midget to fire it up so that I could get to
the pub for lunch. This little episode caused a great deal
of mirth amongst the more heartless of those assembled. It
turned out to be an ignition problem. I must get round to
some maintenance on a schedule of less that five yearly some time.
So,
at the last Summer Trial on this site, Gerald Burridge won overall in his PB with Dave Mothersdill
winning (no, really) the class for old stuff in his new T
special despite losing all the water from a loose radiator hose. Neil
Lock achieved a most impressive score in his go-faster BGT but no one had a bigger smile on his or her
face than the over harnessed Neil.
The
ever-recourse full Bruce Weston will, by then time you read this, have found another site in the near
vicinity of West Harptree for the forthcoming Kimber PCT in October so all is not lost.
.
Late
August brought the Chew Valley Gymkhana and, whereas most of the organisers of events
rely for publicity on the annual calendar enclosed with Safety Fast (and selectively sent to all S.W.
members) in March, the regularly updated web. site not to mention the monthly centre notes extolling the
wonderfulness of what we do, the organiser of the Chew
Valley Gymkhana, Dave Coppock, does things the old fashioned way—he sends out entry forms by post to
all past entrants and others who may show an inkling of interest. For
his efforts he was rewarded with a really good entry split into separate classes for MGF/Z, MGB, Midget
and old stuff.
Here,
in the 4 strong MGB class was won by long time member Robin Fox, Tony Blake put Neil Lock to shame with
a truly stupendous score, a whole 160 points more than the winner overall, Bruce Morgan (TF).
Of
the 8 “pre ‘55” class Bruce was followed, by a mere 1.6 points, by Peter Jones (TC) and, some way
behind, that Dave Mothersdill managed 2nd in class.
Phil
Archer was first of the 4 Midgets and Richard Lucking led the 4 MGFs.
I
have often wondered why it is that this old fashioned postal prompt is so effective but then realised
that the only reason I remembered was because I got an entry form by post myself !
Perhaps this will tell me something when I think about the organisation of the famed Bath
Gymkhana next May.
Your
earnest committee is presently devising a way of capturing the e-mail addresses of any/all those who
have ever expressed an interest in entering anything and electronically communicating forthcoming
attractions to try and jog the collective memory this way, a sort of long distance ECT.
It has often puzzled me why, when I chat to people at meeting and they tell me what fun they are
having why they only seem to enter the same one or two events each year and don’t try the others.
There is probably some deep psychological reason for this.
Be
that as it may there are three more events in September to enjoy with the Kimber PCT in October (venue
permitting) rounding off the season. By the time you read
this the final Championship scores will be posted on the SW web site at www.mgcars.org.uk/mgccsw/2004/driverschamp2004.pdf
And you will doubtless be surprised to see that six out of the top seven places in the Old Stuff Class are from the Vintage Register. If a lorry can win prizes just think what YOU could do in YOUR M.G. next season.
Many more captioned pictures of these and other M.G. CC SW events can be found on http://www.mgccevents.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.htm by kind permission of Jim Lot, ardent photographer.