Newsletter
of The National Hill Climb Association Ltd
Tel.
01275 854789 (7pm-10pm weekdays, any
time at weekends)
Where do I
start? Well, by ringing Herman, I
suppose. “We want at least three issues a year. One at the start of the season, another half way through and the
third comes out just before the AGM.”
What tips have you got?” I ventured. “Don’t write it all yourself. If someone comes up to you and says ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to have an article about so-and-so’, you say ‘Great idea, just write it and send it to me’. Oh, and ring Terry to find out what articles he’s got for the next issue.”
“Sorry, Tony, nothing left. I used them all for the last issue.” Oh, dear.
OK, let’s introduce myself. My ‘proper’ motorcycling experience is limited to owning a succession of British bikes while at school: an Ariel Leader followed by a Royal Enfield 250 Clipper (a kind of early Crusader) and finally an early unit Triumph Tiger 100 - which was a really fast bit of kit for those days. I flirted with a ‘62 Dominator 99 a few years later, but by that time I was infatuated with Morgans.
I have owned the maroon Mog for about 30 years now, having used it both on the road and for various forms of competition, mainly road racing and latterly hillclimbs. A foolish decision to diversify by purchasing Keith Lyndsell’s replica Greenwood 3-wheel Mini resulted in a spectacular (for the spectators at least!) accident at Gurston Down in 1987 and two broken legs. As you can imagine my wife showed me the red card. I have only returned to the sport last year with the encouragement of my younger daughter and passenger, Cathy, who is keen to try her hand behind the steering wheel in due course.
Thank you all for the friendly welcome.
We started late last year, but thoroughly enjoyed outings at Manor Farm, Bryn Bach Park, Cornbury Park and the all-bike Wiscombe. We had to scratch from the October Hartland because the Matchless engine dropped the head off No.2 exhaust valve at the NSA ¼ mile sprint at Weston Zoyland a week beforehand. Over the winter some replacement second-hand G80CS pistons were fitted together with new Velocette Venom valves – Velo people will know that the exhausts are made from Nimonic 80. Hartland Quay last weekend was a superb season opener and this issue should contain a report from Paul Jeffery who not only acted as Secretary of the Meeting but also qualified as scribe by falling off, twice I believe (!), during his first run.
I am afraid that this issue may be a bit thin as no one has been aware of my address, but at Hartland I received some promises of material. No e-mail address as yet, but you can send me articles, short or long, hand written, typed or on computer disk. My PC uses Microsoft Word, but I expect that I can unscramble any modern format. Please don’t be concerned about style, grammar or whatever. All contributions will be thankfully received. I should be grateful, however, if you would enclose details of your telephone number in case I want to give you a call to decipher handwriting or discuss any potentially libellous content!
This issue will be rather like the Sunday newspapers with lots of different sections. At the time of writing I hope these will include a summary report of the AGM and also the updated version of the 1999 programme of events.
Tony
(Taken in haste at Hartland Quay)
Standards generally very good for the start of the year, not the usual Lego of part-built bikes. My moan at the AGM must have paid off. Lots of freshly rebuild wheels and new rubber in evidence with people trying out new tyres.
Don’t forget
¨ Engine and frame numbers must be readable
¨ The stroke must be clearly marked on the bike – not necessarily on the crankcase, but if not the marking must make it clear what the number relates to
¨ No loose drive shafts!
Dave Wills
(still limping, but mobile on a CBR600)
Passenger Required
Cornelius Kloska is looking for someone to sit in the hot seat of his Buckland B3 at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough on 1st and 2nd May. Cornelius has done a lot of work on the engine over the winter and it now sprouts large carbs and fluffy air filters on one side of the engine, and impressive exhaust pipes on the other. Eighty-odd bhp at the back wheel, apparently.
Please contact Cornelius on 01684 897202 (work) or 01886 832565 (home).
Herman has been engaged in Kissinger-like shuttle diplomacy between Somerset and Cornwall. Serious negotiations have taken
place with the owner to secure the two-day meeting on 19th and 20th June. Herman reported progress to a riders meeting at Hartland and the general feeling was that he should close a deal on the best terms possible. More details in the next Hillclimber.
Le Hag- August 7th and 8th
This venue is just south of Cherbourg in northern France. Unfortunately the ferries won’t be cheap at this time of year, but the weather and wine should be good. I have some details of ferry booking companies that offer competitive deals throughout the year, so give me a call or send a SAE. I can recommend the Superstar Express which takes only 2¾ hours from Portsmouth to Cherbourg; last year it cost no
more than the standard ferry which takes nearly twice as long to do the crossing.
Twenty ‘definites’ are required before we can commit ourselves to the admin, licences and insurance arrangements.
Many thanks to Geoff Sims for the photograph of the NHCA stand at The Bristol Classic Bike Show at Shepton Mallet in February. Doug Parnell has promised a report, but it may not make the deadline for this issue.
ACU News
Those of us capable of reading should have seen an environmental leaflet distributed by the ACU enclosed with this year’s handbook. This leaflet is the result of pressures being applied by governmental bodies and local authorities to motorsport in general. Precise requirements have still to be finalised, the aim being to have measures in place which will reduce or prevent noise and chemical pollution.
One stipulation will be that waste material and oil are collected by the event organisers. This is no more than common sense, but a system of waste disposal must be seen to be in place.
The item that individual competitors will be responsible for is the provision of a mat to place under their machine while in the paddock to prevent ground contamination. These environmental mats are in common use at international events on the Continent and are gradually creeping down to our level. A piece of carpet or cardboard the length and width of the bike is likely to be satisfactory.
The SW Centre ACU intends to implement the above measures from 7th April 1999. There will be a seminar on 24th April to inform us of our duties of care. (Yes, those dates are the right way round.) The rumour that environmental mats must be turned towards ACU HQ at Rugby between practice and racing is completely unfounded.
Dave Massam
Vintage / Post Vintage Championship
1998 was the first season that the post-war telefork rigid machines have been included in this championship. This has helped to swell the number of competitors taking part, as has an increase in the number of riders on pre-1944 machines. As a result we have more competitors in this category than for some years.
In spite of the extra competitors, Roy Vennard retained his title, but Terry Martin managed to split the ‘Velocette twins’ (Roy and David Carter) by riding his post-war rigid BSA into second place. David Carter was third and Richard Cobb fourth on the Triumph twin.
The highlights of the season for me were the very quick times put up by Andrew Bennett on his smart and original looking Inter Norton at the first Wiscombe and Prescott meetings, also looking at Dave Massam’s late 20’s Duggie. I saw something different of interest every time I looked!
David Childs
Classic Championship
The 1998 championship was rather dull with David Childs having it virtually ‘sewn up’ by the all-bike Wiscombe. This sorry state of affairs was due to Herman Lumley’s No. 1 JAP motor developing the reprehensible habit of de-tuning itself! This was a great pity as he started the season in style taking maximum points at the first Wiscombe; thereafter engine troubles intervened until the spare motor was fitted. Finally he had to pull out of the second Hartland following Jo and Curley’s accident.
In spite of these disasters, Herman still managed to finish second. Third was David Lowman on the smart Triton and fourth was Guy Ursell, who only managed three meetings due to pressure of work. In fifth place was Will Wells who showed us all how to do it at the wet and very slippery spring Cricket meeting! Apologies department – I wrongly stated that M.R.H. was fifth in the last Hillclimber.
The number of competitors in this championship has slowly declined over the years and this season lost the post-war telefork rigid machines to the Vintage/PV championship. Numbers are still reasonably healthy but to ensure this continues the Classic championship will be expanded, for the 1999 season, to include four stroke machines whose engines are direct developments of those currently eligible. Full details should appear elsewhere in this Hillclimber.
This change means that most (all?) BSA unit singles and Ducati singles, also all drum braked BSA twins, Triumph twins and Norton Commandos, are eligible but not BSA/Triumph triples or CCMs. This should increase the number of competitors without making the older machines uncompetitive.
I am hoping to see if any further changes can be made for the 2000 season, which will increase the number of competitors without altering the character of the championship.
David Childs
Notice - Changes to the Classic Championship
For the 1999 classic season the Classic championship will be changed to include four stroke machines of a type made before 31st December 1970 whose engines are direct developments of those made prior to 31st December 1965. To be eligible machines must meet the current regulations for classic machines and, in addition, must be fitted with the following:
1. Drum brakes
2. Wire wheels
3. Conventional twin unit rear suspension, i.e. the units must be connected near the rear of the swinging arm and must not be angled at more than 45 degrees
NHCA Junior Award 1998
Cathy says thanks very much.
Memories of Jenks
One of the Editor’s prized possessions is a paperback copy of Denis Jenkinson’s book ‘The Racing Driver’, purchased from the author’s stand at an autojumble back in the 70s. When I looked up and saw who was selling it to me (for 20 pence or so), he kindly offered to autograph it, and I accepted with alacrity. For those of you who have not had the opportunity to read this excellent book, it contains some wonderful tales of his days as passenger for Eric Oliver on his Norton outfit.
What brought this to mind was the Spring 1999 issue of The Vintage Sports Car Club’s Bulletin, which contains some of Jenks’ reminiscences. These appeared originally in letter format under the heading ‘Yours In Haste’ and were published in Motor Cycling. The last extract, written on 27th July 1948 ends tantalisingly “we are now on our way to the South of France for a hill-climb up Mont Ventoux, a mountain at the base of the French Alps”.
Does anyone have any details or photographs?
Bristol Classic Bike Show
One week after the AGM. the Bristol Classic Bike Show
was held at Shepton Mallet, once again the NHCA had a stand. So what’s Hill Climbing got to do with
Classic Bikes? Not very much really,
but fortunately the interpretation is liberal and the organisers are happy for
specialist clubs like the NHCA to be there.
Although they are specialist machines Harry Foster’s BMW outfit and Mark
French’s bike evoked reactions from visitors, while Pete Short’s CR250 and
Robin Sims’ Husqvarna represented the more typical machines used in our sport.
Geoff Sims’ videos always attract a good audience and
probably do more to inform people about Hill Climbing than the written word
ever could. It’s amazing how many
people still think we ride on dirt, an impression made worse by the wacky
Austrian hill climb events they see on satellite telly. We handed out a lot of information sheets in
the expectation of keeping a steady trickle of new people joining us each year
which in turn keeps Hill Climbing healthy.
Thanks are due to Geoff & Doreen Sims, Alan Jolly & Jenny, Harry
& Carol Foster, Curly, Robin Sims, Mark French and Pete Short for their assistance, even Dick and Vera for
lurking on the stand on Sunday, perhaps one year we will have a Buckland on
there, but then again perhaps not. If
anyone has any bright ideas for next year let’s talk about it during the
season. At the AGM Tigger thought it
would be a good idea to sell club regalia, unfortunately it was 2am at the time
and his grey matter couldn’t retain the spark of genius until the following
morning when it had sobered up. So
guess who turned up at Shepton and said “wouldn’t it be a good idea to put some
regalia on the stand?”; he still couldn’t recollect our previous conversation.
Doug
Parnell
Motorcycle World Beaulieu
We had a visitor to our stand at Shepton, a Mr Frank
Levy. He is the organiser of Motorcycle
World at Beaulieu on the 26th & 27th June (the same day as Prescott). He is keen to have Hill Climbing represented
at the event; there is a track laid out in the grounds where demonstration runs
can take place. This is a major event
backed by MCN so for all you poseurs out there I have some literature in my
possession, if anybody is prepared to organise a club presence, let me know and
I will give you more details.
Doug
Parnell
Hartland Quay – 7th March ’99
The combination of a late AGM and an early Hartland event resulted in my pre-season preparations being little more than removing the cobwebs from my handlebars and pumping up the tyres. As the weeks passed and March 7th approached, persistent bad weather gave reason to doubt the wisdom of having the event so early, and I was convinced that some serious thermals would be required. It was reassuring to receive a healthy list of entries, and even more so, to see such a number of helpers arrive and set up the course on Saturday afternoon.
Sunday came, and although cold, at least it started and remained dry. Herman’s battle cry signalled the arrival of first practice, and me, being first on the list, would therefore be the first to go. I should now point out that during the close season, I along with a number of others, had purchased some “superior” tyres from Gerald Spiers, who had very generously passed on his bulk buying discount. Pete Short’s advice that they take a couple of meetings before providing optimum traction fell on deaf ears. I lined myself up, the green light came on and the “99” season had begun. Having gone less than 15 yards, I found myself inspecting the tarmac from a very different angle. My grass track days taught me to keep the motor going and without too much delay I was soon approaching the 2nd corner - Oops, down again. I now thought that it may be sensible to slow down a bit, but still managed a couple of slides before reaching the top. As others arrived it became clear that I wasn’t the only one having problems; so, it seemed, was everyone else that was using the new “rubber”, although in my case, 40psi in the rear was an additional factor.
The meeting progressed without further problems, and although Pete Short, Mark French and Geoff Hodges came close no new records were set. In the 250cc class, Pete Short won with a 24.26 sec. run which also gained him FTD, I managed to stay on to take 2nd and Damian Witney put in a 26 second run to get 3rd (beating stylish debutante, Bill Chaplin into 4th).
My new bike (Derek Cann’s old one) went well enough to win the 350 class (24.45), with Robin Sims in second (25.89) and Martin Palmer making an impressive comeback, grabbing 3rd (26.36). Jamie took the 500 class in 24.37 sec. from Glyn Poole (25.02) and Jon Staden (25.71).
In the 750 class, Geoff Hodges took first place with 24.79 sec. from Robin Sims (25.52) who was only one hundredth ahead of Jon Staden again in 3rd. Mark French wrestled his Yamaha twin to the top in 24.84 sec. to take the 1300 class from Terry Alderslade (26.42) and Iain Cornwell (27.11).
The three wheelers were in short supply and Pete and Vicki took the six available points for the 2wd section with a time of 25.33 secs. In the one-wheel drive section Dick and Vera managed to just get ahead of Cornelius and Regina, clocking 29.24 and 29.52 seconds respectively. Tony and Cathy Quinn recorded a very respectful 32.32 second time in their Morgan to take the third and final place.
Following two open runs (thanks to Herman, Sarah, Doreen and the other officials), the top ten runs contained notable performances from both Geoff Hodges and Mark French, who both grabbed top three positions, 1st Jamie Mitchell (24.27), 2nd Geoff Hodges (24.32), 3rd Mark French (24.39), 4th Paul Jeffery (24.52), 5th Pete Short (24.66), 6th Glyn Poole (24.80).
And so the meeting came to a close. A good number of helpers resulted in the clearing up operation being swift and it was nice to be having a beer in one of Hartland’s pubs by six-thirty.
Paul
Jeffery
Wanted
Full set of ladies leathers, size 10 to 12, height 5’ 4”. Please ring Sandra Standen - 01702 205356.
This issue
Many thanks for the fantastic response to the requests for material.
Next issue
Please start writing NOW. Technical articles are especially welcome. If we get enough material and some reports of the April/ May events, then finances permitting, it may be possible to produce an early June edition.
One final point, if you want to send articles on disk and you use a software package other than Microsoft Word, please send me a printed copy to be re-typed just in case. I received something using a Lotus package and found that my PC could not read it. Thankfully the author was able to re-submit using MS Word. Hope to sort this out soon, though.