Summer Trial

The Perfect Introductory Event

11 13 May 2018

The HERO Summer Trial was established to encourage entries from people new to classic rallying or to appeal to those with limited free time whilst still maintaining a sufficiently competitive element to appeal to the more competitive crews. The concept clearly worked and each year the event attracts newcomers whilst retaining its core of enthusiastic supporters. 2017 saw the highest number of crews since the inauguration of the Summer Trial, an indication that the reputation of both the event and HERO is spreading far afield.

Congratulations to the 2018 Winners

Daniel Gresly/ Elise Whyte - Porsche 911 2.2S

Tony Sheach/ Rachel Wakefield - Volkswagen Golf GTI

Nigel Perkins/ Pete Johnson - Porsche 911

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Event Report – End of Day Leg 1

The crews are starting to arrive back at the hotel after a prologue that on paper seemed simple but there was enough to catch out the unwary or those that were not watching the clock.

2.) Frederick Blakemore Roger Burt Aston Martin Mark II- Missed a junction and had to turn back and then missed the same junction on the return

3.) Bent / Martin Jokobson Alvis Speed 20 SC- Had no trip half way through the first regularity – Only had one problem, when they followed a car up the wrong road. But, considering we’ve done okay!

4.) Elliot Dale / Charlotte Ryall Derby Special- A little rusty as it’s our first event for a while. But, not too many problems and kept penalties to single figures.

7.) Jeff and Ian Hooley Austin Healey (with the bear) - Very good day really enjoyed it with a spot on trip. Lost around 16 seconds in total and we’re a bit rusty, so forgot to accumulate the time loss.

15.) Peter / Jane Ratcliff Triumph TR4- Still married and visited everywhere but the timers not working – we think they mean the one in the car!

19.) Esbem / Asger Jackobson Triumph TR4- Been brilliant – so much fun! Completely lost track of time but after refuelling with chocolate cake reg 3 went good for us. No further troubles and we didn’t get lost. Onwards and upwards!

20.) Derek / Susan Skinner Ford Cortina Gt Mk 1- Nothing to tell…. but if I do it’ll be a gem – No, no, no nothing to tell!

21.) Paul Bloxidge / Ian Canavan Porsche 911- Okay – we’ve dropped 15 secs for the day 10 of which was traffic, challenging roads!

22.) Darren Everitt / Susan Dixon Triumph 2000 MK1- Really good having great fun – Got baulked on one reg, with a horse and car!

28.) Rowena Purdy / Vicki Harper Porsche 912- Last test we had some cows getting interested in the cars – getting a little close to the edge of the road. The trip decided to pack up on the regularities, had time to breath at coffee halt and things got better then and grateful they got to the end of day 1. Window permanently stuck down after visiting one control.

30.) Paul / Roma Handley MG Roadster- Fantastic day – coming home, coming from Derbyshire – dropped 30 seconds to a minute

32.) Dilwyn Rees / Andrew Duerden Austin Healey 3000- Traffic nightmares with a farm trailer meaning 16 seconds dropped and then a horse later on which only cost 3 seconds after we had to let them by.

35.) Noel / Carol Kelly MG B Roadster - Not giving in – yet! Some good views and route with very friendly people. Then got in the car and had difficulty coping with the timings. Coming back tomorrow!

37.) Tim Lawrence / Adam Tibbs MG B Gt- Not too bad, exactly the same time on the test both ways. Regularity one was up, one was down. Late through some horses on one control.

42.) Derek / Kay Reynolds Porsche 911 - You say something – No, you say something – okay? Derek finally said: ‘Kay has had a brilliant day and is really looking forward to Le Jog!!!!!’

47.) Kelvin Bromley / Alan Pettit MG B Roadster - First cone we saw we hit and the first regularity timing point we stopped in front of the line. Apart from that blinding!

51.) Dan Gresly / Elise White Porsche 911- A bit of confusion between the ace pairing – Speed in miles and distance in kilometres

54.) Frederick / Hubert Lynch Mini -Had 3 tractors a flock of lambs and then some traffic causing time loss at 2 intermediate controls – Other than that a good time learning lots.

56.) Mike / Helen Tanswell Triumph Stag- A great day and Mrs T was on form – losing time on tests to the big boys in our class. Think we lost around – 15 secs on regs and in with a shout!

59.) Nick / Beth Bloxham Ford Escort Mk 1- It’s very exciting – good shouting and a little stressful! Need the bar, it’s Nick’s round and I need a shopping trip in America if I am ever going to do this again!

64.) Laurens Van der Velde / Jenny Van de Boel Ford Escort Mk 1- It was perfect – even better than last year, we done good! We like the number ONE, plus or minus! Tests were very quick with a 1 min 12 – Happy with that, now we need a drink!

73.) Nigel Perkins / Pete Johnson Porsche 911- Hi Jo (from Andy – lot’s of love xxx. Lots of unfortunate clashes with agricultural machinery but we were fortunate to catch back time thanks to the combined skill of driver and navigator.

74.) Ed Abbot / Andrew Fish Jaguar XJS- Considering it was our first time I am really happy. Hope to think optimistically that we will be first in class and possibly in the top ten.

80.) Tony Sheach / Rachel Wakefield VW Golf Gti Mk 2- Really well, picked up 5 seconds on regularities – need to get some furry dice and a Rach and Ton sunstrip.

Event Report – End of Day Two

14.) Klaus Mohr (DEU) / Hildegard Mohr (DEU)- First bit was fine and the end was dreadful -Don’t ask!

76.) Angus McQueen (GBR) / Rory O’Mara (GBR)- Yeah, good enjoying it.

47.) Kelvin Bromley (GBR) / Alan Pettit (GBR)- Glad this morning is over – just the usual medley of errors.

34.) Jim Jackson (GBR) / Carole Jackson (Eng)- Well okay I think. No I don’t think so. No.

17.) Trevor Rogers (GBR) / Michael Sullivan (GBR)- Mess in the first regularity by other road users blocking a slot into the first control and lost a minute. Since then pretty good for us, and still good fun.

7.) Jeff Hooley (GBR) / Ian Hooley (GBR)- It’s gone alright had a bit of a barn when driver wouldn’t turn where I said. Bear is clinging on and is still dry.

12.) Patrick Liedtke (DEU) / Astrid Liedtke (DEU)-Little bit tired, had a pants morning with a trip metre that didn’t work and so dropped ten minutes getting it repaired, as we were on our way to the first test but the mechanics were at the Hotel.

10.) Robert Crofton (GBR)- Loving my first event – Just getting my head around it now! Bit of a baptism of fire. Swapping drivers and navigators for the tests.

5.) Christian Brash (GBR) / Graham Briggs (GBR)- Badly on the first one missed the turn right and couldn’t reverse as there were to many cars behind us.

20.) Derek Skinner (Eng) / Susan Skinner (GBR)- He’s gonna be severely shocked when he finds out he has a line fault – please do not tell anyone. Break the news gently.

72.) Andy Simpson (Eng) / Roger Bricknell (GBR)- Alright good day today (almost got a smile out of Roger, followed by a punch), beautiful scenery but not as good as Cornwall!!!

32.) Dilwyn Rees (Wal) / Andrew Duerden (Eng)- ‘The morning we should of had the afternoon of yesterday’, but do remember that in two days time tomorrow will be yesterday.

52.) Andrew Rimmington (Eng) / John Evans (Eng)- Great morning and looking forward to the tests this afternoon.

56.) Mike Tanswell (Eng) / Helen Tanswell (Eng)- Fine, brilliant great day – lovely route losing a few seconds here and there and it’s a bit hectic.

61.) Doug Carmichael (Eng) / John Gearing (Eng)- Still in shock after seeing the Devon Pixie expose his belly – Put us off and we are struggling to regain our composure.

9.) Piers Barclay (GBR) / Nicholas Harries (GBR)- Not so good up to coffee after picking up a line fault. But better after coffee, when I learnt how to read the maps.

22.) Darren Everitt (GBR) / Susan Dixon (GBR)- Good, car is going great and making all the right noises. Just see how we go now.

4.) Elliot Dale (GBR) / Charlotte Ryall (GBR)- After a good first day – Please can make Saturday disappear and skip to Sunday. Combination of getting stuck and missing simple slots.

16.) Chris Howell (Eng) / Jon Briggs (Eng)- Good thank you, the rally gods are smiling on us as we have not been baulked yet, famous last words.

73.) Nigel Perkins (Eng) / Pete Johnson (Eng)- Very well (Love you Joxx Big hugs andy), dropped 7 seconds on the regularities.

74.) Ed Abbott (Eng) / Andrew Fish (GBR)- Not as good after coffee and is was before coffee – especially a caravan that thought he could go down a 1:2 hill.

80.) Tony Sheach (Sco) / Rachel Wakefield (GBR)- Dropped seven seconds on the final timing point of the last reg before lunch just through a rookie error.

64.) Laurens Van der Velde (NLD) / Jenny Van de Boel (NLD)- Shakes head in a metaphorical way – Can’t read body language but I think they have messed up going by the look of Jenny.

37.) Tim Lawrence (GBR) / Adam Tibbs (GBR)- Messed up….missed a junction on the map navigation – so we’ll drop down a few – darn it.

51.) Daniel Gresly (CHE) / Elise Whyte (GBR)- Don’t leave a dog or a navigator in a the car on a hot day. Can’t think of anything, we haven’t hit any cones today, so far.

Event Report – End Of Day Three

44.) Bronwyn Burrell / Suzanne Barker – Yes, we had a really good day, thoroughly enjoyed, and we got a 0!!!

18.) Paul Day / Alun Jones – I’ve enjoyed the day, but I now have a bloody bad back!

40.) James / Archie Holt – Its been great, his navigating is really improving, though the long way around triangle on reg 5 caught us out big time

27.) Alan Graham / Lola Field-Leather – It’s been great, so many peaks, troughs, and fields and the tunnel on reg 5 was incredible! Fabulous roads, it’s really been a revelation

53.) Kevin Haselden / Gary Evans – We feel we’ve done very well today, far better than we did yesterday

2.) Frederick Blakemore / Roger Burt – Been an incredible day, got covered in mud, but that only adds to the fun of it all!

1.) Nick Fry / Nick Madge – We’ve had such a nice day, it was absolutely fantastic

42.) Derek / Kay Reynolds – Really good day, super super fun!

65.) Helen Park-Weir / Samantha Thomson – We don’t know how well we did, but we had fun, though we did take a cone with us on one of the tests

30.) Paul / Roma Handley – We really enjoyed, I know the area very well, we made one or two mistakes, but it’s been great to see the area used again in such a good way

79.) Paul Maley /Alistair Kieran – It hasn’t been too bad, this afternoon was a little better than this morning, but all in all we can’t fault it.

39.) Richard Bowser / Stephen J Verrall – Good day, pretty tiring though, but we’ve thoroughly enjoyed it

43.) John / Matthew Vincent – Good day with an excellent route, though we didn’t do as well as we’d have liked on the last regularity, but there was considerably less traffic today

3.) Bent / Martin Jokobsen – We’re not doing too badly considering our lack of trip meter, we did hit a cone on the last test though

59.) Nick / Beth Bloxham – Am I enjoying? Well, he’s enjoying!

76.) Angus McQueen / Rory O’Mara – It really hasn’t been that bad, as long as we stay on the top page then I’m happy