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HSCC Historic Sport Trial – 28th July 2018

Report on the HSCC Historic Sport Trial -28 th July 2018 – Hertfordshire

Words by Martyn Halliday photos by Charlie Wooding  www.charliewooding.co.uk

HSCC held their annual historic sporting trial on the 28th July using land owned by Frank Lyons in Hertfordshire. The ground was very hard following a prolonged heatwave but even though there was some rain the night before it made little difference to the conditions other than keeping the dust down.

The club received an excellent entry of 52 drivers but there were a few non- starters and as the day progressed a number of retirements due to mechanical breakdowns.

Ian Wright set out 6 long sections most of which were very challenging particularly to the historic cars. The bone dry ground soon broke up leaving a loose top surface on many of the steep climbs and tight turns requiring accurate positioning and careful throttle control to achieve success. The only real moisture in the entire event was over bracken on the final climb in Section 3.

Lap 1 proved to be decisive in determining the results. In the Historic class Paul Faulkner, who had his grandson Finley Geaell passengering him for the first time, had an inspired drive and by the end of the lap was leading Frank Lyons by 10 marks. Most of his advantage was gained by being the only competitor other than James Duke, to have managed to negotiate the tight 8 gate on Section 4. In the Post Historic class Mark Howse scored 3 against the 6 dropped by Steve Courts in the bracken on Hill 3, a deficit from which Steve could not recover.

Sections were altered for the second lap but Paul Faulkner consolidated his lead whilst Mark and Steve both finished the round losing 2 marks apiece, one ahead of Mike Storrar.

Further changes were made to the sections for the final lap but it did not affect the final result in the Post Historic class. Paul Faulkner continued his great drive extending his lead from Frank Lyons and Nigel Bennett in the Historic class. Nigel posted the lowest score in his class on hill 3 whilst Chris Atkinson was the only historic driver to conquer the twist and turns of Hill 1.

In the past there have been a number of occasions where a tie in the results could not be resolved by following the MSA guidance so for the first time a Special Test was introduced to be the final decider. The test consisted of three lines marked A, B and C, a short distance apart. Competitors had to start with the front wheels on line A, at a signal from the marshal they proceeded from line A to stop astride line B and then continued to stop astride line C. They were timed from the signal given by the marshal to stopping astride line C. Failure to stop astride lines B and/ or C incurred a 20secs penalty which was added to the recorded time. The fastest was ex-hill climber Tim Barrington followed by ex- stage rally driver Paul Faulkner. On the day the tie decider was not required but everyone enjoyed the challenge and there are plans to include a Special Test in future events.

It was a tough trial where the competitors could not relax for a moment. The following day it rained heavily!

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