Second Event of Program

Added: 16th June 2008

On Sunday 8th June both Julian Archard and John Fox experienced Car Trials for the first time in the Drive Micra at Kidderminster Motor Club's Wyre Forrest trial.

Motorsports Future had negotiated Nick Pollit, MSA Trials Committee Chairman, into passengering in his Micra for them both offering his years of experience.

Having never seen trialling before both John and Julian were very apprehensive not knowing what to expect. However following some highly intensive training they were a little happier knowing what to expect. The driving skills were not natural and would take some learning John thought.

Thrown in at the deep end was not the phrase as John would be the second car to attempt hills all morning with Julian following immediately behind. Early conditions proved extremely challenging for seasoned competitors let alone our total novices with a heavy early morning dew on the long grass meaning grip was hard to find and maintain.

The layout for the day would be eight hills in the first round, seven hills on the second with the eighth been a timed section with penalty marks for failing, hitting and every second over a target time. After a lunch break the running order would be reversed with sections been altered throughout the day offering fresh challenges all day. Hill seven had a stop and restart line in the middle of the section all day and hill eight would be attempted without walking beforehand to decide on lines etc adding an extra challenge.

Unsurprisingly the day proved very challenging for both John and Julian, but Nick was busy all day offering advice.

Julian quickly settled into the driving style required, impressing Nick immensely with how fast he learnt when to gather the pace that was needed and when he could do this. Julian commented at the end of the day it had been surprisingly similar to what he expected and that it had been thoroughly enjoyable.

Meanwhile, John found trialling a lot more challenging than the autotest last month with the skills required been "counter intuitive". He thought just as you got to a straight uphill part of a section then you think you want to increase momentum and accelerate but this is the last thing you want to do, generally. It was so frustrating but at the same time very rewarding when you did it correctly or climbed passed a critical part in the section.

Julian finished fourth in class, not far behind third which could have been achieved with a little more practice. Welcome to trialling and motorsport Julian - the IF ONLY cup! Meanwhile John finished next in class behind Julian after a much improved afternoon having developed the skills needed.  Both finished an excellent fifteenth and sixteenth overall in an entry of twenty four.

 

Julian v John

Round 1 = 55 v 59

Round 2 = 34 v 36

Timed hill = 44 v 49

Round 3 = 30 v 36

Round 4 = 33 v 41

Timed hill = 62 v 48

Total (inc Times) = 168 v 187