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The
John Pryce Memorial 10th August 2008
Hail, Sleet, Rain, and real MUD! This was a proper trial - plenty of entrants, some surprises, appropriately hard sections, and only one ten for the whole day. Freezing cold conditions kept a few spectators in bed, but not the 'Triallists'. Notable absentee was El Presidente Steiny, who I thought was just faking it because of the cold, but it turned out he needed a Stent repair on his heart, so I suppose he can be forgiven for that. 'Dale Shaw Trial' third placer Tim Jackson got married the day before and didn't show either, although I can't see why. Bad start I reckon! Anyway, twenty others did, which is some sort of record for recent years. The resurgence in OST popularity is certainly a credit to the Trials Committee, and I have no doubt it is one hundred percent due to their enthusiasm for the task at hand. Well done guys! We were asked not to tear up the place too much by the very kind MGCC representative, and we kept to an area not easily seen from the track (that's the Rob Roy Hillclimb). As it happened this is a better spot really, especially considering the wet conditions. Unlike the area over the other side, full of washaways which tend to break cars, this place just stopped cars through lack of traction. Mind you, the arduous conditions broke a few anyway. Dean reckoned the rod knocking last fortnight was just a tappet, but the rod had other ideas and squeaked and seized on the third last section, slowing him down somewhat, although he pressed on 'til the end, avoiding a DNF at least. 'Dozer' Shane fanged his machine around to excellent effect until the clutch let go. Likewise Ryan 'Von Ryan's Express' Blanche, steered his way calmly to a high result before the radiator hose let go & curtailed his activities for the afternoon. Even before the start of the event 'Lilydale Budgie' Greg popped an axle out, but that was fixed with a 'car on it's side' style repair, in time for the first section. Considerable thought had been put into the sections and I don't think any section could have been described as a waste of time. That is, everyone gets 10 points, or everyone gets 2 points. Doubtful hitting of pegs was kept to a minimum through being able to set the course so that the terrain stopped us, not the pegs. It's always a lot more fun to be able to get your teeth into a section when you need to actually work out how to drive it, rather than worry about squeezing through something that's too narrow. We ran through the dam just before lunch and at the end of the day, mostly as a crowd pleaser. Always good to see someone else getting wetter than you! Usually the dam section doesn't prove much, but even though there wasn't much water in it, the peggers added a few elements like tree roots, a steep uphill climb out of the dam in the middle of the section and plenty of tight turns. All this coupled with the unknown under the water made for a couple of great sections. I don't usually mention it in this column if I win, but I have to say I was really pleased to finish the day with the win, and only ten of the day, out of the dam. I had the usual questions after the trial about where to buy a car, and at that stage I knew of none. However since then I understand Renie's car is for sale, and just this morning I saw Mark Taylor has his on the market - Click here to see Mark's Ad. Interested parties can call Renie on 0407 330 611 and Mark on 0419 563 521. As it happens I built both those cars. Renie's car was my second car and was always competitive (has had plenty of owners since me though!) and I built Mark's car for Ady Dekker in exchange for some brickwork many years ago - that too, has had a number of owners since Ady. Both are competitive cars. Thanks to the organisers and the officials for a great day. Grant Campbell |
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Flowerdale Trial 23rd September 2007 Hi all, Terrific result at the last trial - new property at Flowerdale. 'Lilydale Budgie' aka Greg Cox drove seriously all day - no car problems - other than a bent tie rod on the second last section, to win maybe his third or fourth only trial. I didn't notice any idle chit-chat, clowning around, and general 'not going to win anyway' behaviour from him, so well done Greg. New property proved a popular place with everyone, good parking area and easy to get into. Very steep hills, but passable, and although dry as a wooden chip, there was enough terrain to make the director's job as easy as it could ever be. No blackberries, holes you could actually get out of and little steep pinches. Too bad about the movable logs! Best news of the day was the debut of Jeff Newman's new car (below) (see some pics of it on the website here). Built in the usual really neat, well thought out way typical of Jeff, the car features a Sidco front end & wheels, 1500cc Honda Civic E-W motor mounted N-S, & independent rear end. We are looking forward to big things from this car, and I must say it is great to see someone as young as Ross having a go in a car with some potential. More than that though, not only is the car a credit to Jeff, it is an asset to the sport. This is a favourite hobby horse of mine and I am often at pains to deter potential competitors from buying some stuffed heap of rubbish - 'just for fun' - because it will break their hearts just keeping it going, then it will all end in tears and we never see them again! Well done Jeff & Ross. Good samaritan story. On the way to the trial not far out of Yarra Glen (beaut drive that - pity about all those arsenic treated sticks poking out of the ground, spoiling the landscape), I saw what looked like a farmer burning off. Rounding the bend I came across Paul Kane waving me down. The smoke wasn't from a farmer, but from Pauls towcar blowing up. Mark Taylor pulled up 10 seconds after I did & without hesitation offered to drop the Hot Dog trailer off at the venue & come back to pick up Paul's trailer. About 90k round trip! Off we went & just down the road a bit spotted Andrew Stritch's ute heading in Paul's direction. All was well, then when we got to the trial, who should turn up with Paul's trailer in tow, but Lori Filsell. Not too sure how many wires got crossed, but Paul's ending to the day was probably better than he expected. See you all at Three Bridges 2 on the 14th October. Craig's pics of Flowerdale Click here Full Results Click here Regards Grant PS Don't forget to get in touch with Andrew Cox 0418 319 509 about the Presentation Dinner -1st December at Olivers on Clyde |
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Hi all, (15th November 2006) Well, what a fantastic way to finish the season. Those of you who attended will have seen a real pearler of a trial & those who didn't missed out, badly. Seventeen sections were run over the two days, nearly all wet, and every one of them had something to get your teeth into (not really, there was a lot of cow manure about!). Considering the place is pretty well flat, we had an old dam to use for three sections on Saturday, and with minor mods, three on Sunday. Then we had a tiny creek with steep sides & plenty of mud. The creek took some proper technique to get just right and a couple of tenths out with throttle & clutch meant you didn't make it, usually having to suffer about four points. Even if you did make it, seven to nine was about it. That said, no-one complained about the pegging which says volumes for the way it was done, and it was all fittingly hard for the final trial, coming down to the wire for the Championship Geoff Taylor Trophy with both Andrew Stritch & I on equal points at the start of the event. One feature we had was the beaut 'Indiana Jones' bridge that we had to cross every five minutes when we discovered we'd gone all the way down to the next section on the wrong side of the creek, and then had to go back again to get to the right side (the 'bridge' consisted of four basically rotten planks about the size of railway sleepers & about twice as long, just wide enough to fit the car on, but with an added attraction of a very loose outside plank that tipped over as you drove on it. Some people crept along it hoping not to disturb it too much, but I figured the best way was to attack, then speed would carry me across if it fell away all together. Not a section, but fun anyway. The camaraderie in trials is second to none & I must say, even though Andrew & I were on equal points almost entirely throughout the trial, Andrew had no hesitation in putting himself out to drive back to the pits, at least a kilometre away, to get my spare when I had a flat on the third last section. To do that, meant he had less time to study the next section, and risked mucking it up because of it. Great stuff. Thanks Andrew. I reckon driver of the day was Paul Kane. Paul hasn't been round for all that long, but acquitted himself extremely well on many sections, achieving better points than most through shear tenacity. Too bad about the one pointer on the second last section, but that's life! Good to see Mark Filsell back in form too. Unbelievably the whole Saturday lunch, Dinner & Sunday breakfast only cost $10.00. Coming from a land where $7.50 for a poxy sandwich is the norm, one can only marvel how hard the committee tries. Well done Kim. Thanks too, in particular, to Terry & Cheryl Stritch for the loan of their property & the magnificent bonfire Saturday night, and to Officials Andrew Cox - Director, Mark Taylor - Marshall, Leigh Whitfield & Allan Reeves - JsOF, Dot Moyle - Scorer, and I think there is someone I've missed as a Judge of Fact, but not sure who that might have been. Also thanks to Andrew Cox, Andrew Stritch, Gary Hawkins & Allan Reeves for pegging the Trial out on Friday. See you all next year. Regards PS I've got some www.mudtrials.org stickers now, give me a call if you want some - $2.00 each - all helps
Next trial we all want to win is 'The Dale Shaw' at Wandin. Sunday August 27 - Starts 10.30am as usual, goes 'til about 4.30pm. NO admission charge, some catering, well worth the easy trip to Wandin. To get there - The property is in 31 McKillop Road, Wandin. Melways Map reference 120 K4. Watch for OST (Observed Section Trial) signs when proceeding down McKillop Rd. GPS co-ordinates - 37º 47' 39" S 145º 24' 39" E (indicates the entrance to the property) This trial is usually pegged out by Dale's daughter, Joanne, and we expect it to be hard, in accordance with Dales enthusiasm for trials that saw the need for a challenge at every turn. Mostly out in the open, Wandin has tons of mud, steep banks, a dam, minor creeks, blackberries (we just love them!?), bits of barbed wire and the odd star picket (we're allowed to take those out!)(makes the property sound a bit dud, which it isn't - just a few of those things). Joanne's husband, Andrew, cracked it for his 3rd John Pryce Memorial win last weekend at Rob Roy, followed by Dean Hunt & our mate from New Zealand Sid Hirst. Sid had to board a plane to the UK immediately following the trial, didn't even stay for the Presentation, so his appearance after the dam sections would have certainly put the wind up the Airport people. We saw a HUGE crowd at Rob Roy, I'm sure they all very much enjoyed themselves and thanks especially to the Herald-Sun Cars Guide for listing us in not only Friday's Herald-Sun, but Sunday's as well. Next to tyres, a half decent car and just a little driving ability, CONCENTRATION is the key element in doing well at trials. I've always known the importance of keeping up my fluid & blood sugar levels, eating Jelly Beans & making sure I have at least plenty of water or cordial at lunchtime, or maybe a sports drink. Late in the afternoon, I KNEW I needed a drink, but couldn't be bothered walking back to the car to get one. The resultant giant hole, and the one point I got for it, stuffing any chance of a decent result, served well to remind me of the above. John Doutch has been kind enough to send a few pics of The John Pryce (and to write up the story on Motormarques), which I've added to the website. Keen observers will note I always add these to the E-Cards section. These cards are designed to take to work out of sending Mud Trial pics to your mates, they are very small - less than 40k and are an ideal way to promote the sport. Send one today! See you at the Dale Shaw. Regards Grant 64-66 Claremont St Mt Eliza 3930 03 9787 3640 0419 874 299 Fax 03 9787 9108
Contacts - Trials Committee Andrew Stritch 0417 367 121 Andrew Cox 0425 765 806 Mark Taylor 0419 563 521 Leigh Whitfield 03 9735 4606 Rinie Weirsema 0407 330 611
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