Newsletter of The National Hill Climb Association Ltd
Tel.
01275 854789 (7pm-10pm weekdays, any
time at weekends)
Email. tonypquinn@netscapeonline.co.uk
Club
Web Site: www.nhca.co.uk
October
2000
My notes for this issue’s editorial are – ‘say something about Loton Park, first time there, lovely hill, coming off at the sharp left hander after Triangle, pleased at not having to write the report – thanks go to Reg Davies.’ Then ‘thanks to John Woods for no less than three reports and a small ad.’ I’m not taking the blame for the ad, or the photo.
Well, as I write this we’re almost all the way through the season now, but with some of our very own events coming up. I expect that our premier event at Wiscombe will have taken place by the time that you read this. I hope the weather will be better than the drizzle that has continued to fall from the sky as I was typing this.
Many thanks to those of you who made helpful suggestions as to the cause of the misfiring on the supercharged Matchless. Unfortunately, I had a nasty at Mallory Park in July and blew a big hole in the top of a piston.
Altho’ I was a bit suspect of the mixture strength, it doesn’t look as if the piston melted. The holed piston looks as if someone has knocked the centre out of it with a hammer. The retailer said that he thought it looked like the result of detonation, but my engineer friend (who did all the work on the bottom end) felt that the piston just wasn’t strong enough.
Anyway, with only six days between Mallory Park and the Vintage Loton Hillclimb on 22 July, there was little option but to swap engines back to my 1100cc twin carb engine. With holidays intervening I didn’t have time to get replacement pistons (which have now arrived), so there’s no chance of getting the blown engine back on the front for Wiscombe. Never mind, let’s hope that the weather’s good.
Right, that’s about it for now
Tony
Please note that the date for the AGM is 20 January 2001 …. Gosh, doesn’t that see a long time away! The venue will be the same, The Prince of Wales on the A38 near Dursley, Glos. More details to follow in the next Hillclimber.
I regret not being able to attend many meetings this year, but there’s been plenty to keep me occupied ‘behind the scenes’ through the season.
The committee is currently discussing the format for 2001. There’s no doubt it is going to be necessary to make some changes to our administration and look for some willing members to come forward and fill some important slots. We have always relied heavily on a small nucleus of people to keep us running smoothly and going forward hopefully in the right direction.
As I pointed out at the last AGM, this has been taken for granted by the great majority of members. This doesn’t continue indefinitely. Key people like Herman, Jo and Jess want a rest and have other interests to pursue. We owe them an enormous amount – they owe us nothing.
There is likely to be a more event organising/membership position created, probably the responsibility of an existing experienced committee/event secretary. This will inevitably mean vacancies for a couple of events, Wiscombe and Loton particularly, together with a management committee post.
So, come on, it’s your club, let’s have some volunteers and proposals (in writing at least 28 days before the AGM which will be on 20 January 2001). If we fail to encourage more members to be actively involved, then the NHCA and hillclimbs could deteriorate.
Following a rather lengthy lapse on my part, compounded by previous ACU lethargy, it has been necessary to update all our course licences. Due to pressure from the ACU insurers (Bradstock Insurance Brokers) this required some hasty action on my part to ensure we didn’t lose the end-of-season meetings. Some desperate map making and a meet was arranged with Eddie Nelson (ACU Speed Events committee member). This involved a very enjoyable day off work, and chauffeur to Eddie around the West Country, stopping off at Withycombe, Fairoak Farm and Manor Farm to inspect the courses. Everything went well, Eddie gave his seal of approval and proved to be a very interesting and sensible official. Wonderful comment on driving down the hill at Withycombe, “Is this really the course?”
All this course licence upgrading regrettably means additional costs. This is quite expensive, approximately £60 to £70 per course – upgraded each year at a similar amount. I will be discussing this with the ACU, as it adds a substantial amount to meeting costs, particularly the one meeting a year venues.
As pat of encouraging you, the members to become involved, there are seminars being organised by the ACU which we ought to participate in. The most appropriate is Sprint, Drag and Hill Climb Clerks of the course Seminar on Sunday 26 November. Anyone who is interested, please get in touch with any committee member.
By the time you read this we will have had our annual Wiscombe meeting on 17 September. What did you all feel about this … the first spectator charged at Wiscombe? Did this cause any problems to you o people who were charged admittance on the day? Did it cause any problems in attracting marshals?
We will see what profit was made for the club. This will be something for discussion at the AGM.
Peter Isaac
Would you believe it?? The only event I would be able to take part in this year and it was cancelled! Worse still, I was the secretary. What happened? A sorry tale of confusion and disinformation, I'm afraid.
This year we have a new contact with the Hagley Car Club. After many years of peaceful co-operation and understanding with their Competition Secretary, we were put onto a new system. I received a letter in May stating that our entry list for the August event would be required by 17th July. I rang the man concerned and pointed out that our event list had gone out with a closing date of July 23rd, and understood that it would be OK to let him have the list sometime in the following week. I have had a busy year, working away from home and without a mobile phone, and arrived home after a lengthy foray on 23rd of July intending to sort and send our entries. I was met by a letter from Hagley Car Club stating that as they had not heard from me and having been unable to reach me by phone that they had filled up the remainder of the August programme with cars and would be unable to accept any motor cycle entries.
Annoying? Well, gutted, really. My fault, I suppose, for not confirming our telephone conversation in writing. Disappointing, though, to be so cruelly cut off on the assumption that we were not bothered, or interested in the event. My sincere apologies to all who were hoping to ride. It was, of course, a glorious weekend as the fates would have it. Because of this chaotic situation, which was partly due to me not being on hand to sort out problems as they arose, I think we should find a new secretary for the event next year, - I cannot be sure how much I will be at home in the foreseeable future, having just finished my busiest August ever... Robin? Are you there?
Jim Rolt
(Positive Points at Loton)
With less than
twenty-four hours to go to the Vintage/Classic Loton meeting, the excitement of
the last few days was turning to apprehension.
Would the Arrow perform well this time?
After some very much appreciated help and advice from Dave Wills I had
patiently set up the points and ignition timing to perfection but, with nowhere
to test it, would it be OK?
After a cloudy
start to the day the sun began to shine through and hopes of a dry, warm day
were high. Warming up for the start the
engine sounded crisp. Off the start line
I knew immediately that things were no better, still misfiring at high
revs. Back in the paddock - points are
OK, so check battery and wiring. Next
run still the same. I decided to forego
lunch and check the ignition coils and wiring.
This isn’t as easy as it sounds as the coils are inside the Arrow’s box
section frame. At first I didn’t
believe what I found. The coils were
wired negative terminal to CB points and the battery is positive earth. I changed the wiring on the coils still
doubting my basic error. The next two
runs were a mixture of joy and embarrassment as the engine revved cleanly to
levels unknown before.
With my day
ending on a high, others were not so lucky.
John Lee had a gearbox bearing fail on his Tiger Cub, and Ken Edwards’
Tiger 80 suffered severe engine vibration from a suspected main bearing
problem.
The 250 class
was won easily by Dave Dunk on his Honda RS.
In the 350 class
Doug Parnell beat Chris Chapman’s old record on his first timed run, only for
Andrew Bennett to better this on his second run on the 7R and take the class
win.
Herman won the
500 class even though he too was suffering crankshaft problems with the JAP.
The 750 and 1300
classes are combined at this meeting with John Woods taking the overall win in
outstanding style. All his runs were
below his own record of last year (60.12 secs) with a best of 58.46. Guy Ursell was second in the class and best
of the 750s on his BSA A10.
In the 3-wheeler
class it was Dick and Vera who took top spot from Grant and Pam in the battle
of the B3s.
At the end of a
good day’s sport it was time to take a leisurely drive home. Maybe I should rebuild the BSA for next
year. It would be good to run in the
350 class again. Maybe I could give
Doug and the Ducati some extra competition.
Oh, almost forgot, I must thank Doug for all his words of encouragement
over the years with the Ariel (most unprintable). Just shows how he appreciates good machinery.
Reg Davis
Curborough – 30 July 2000
Surprisingly, with the amount of cock-ups made in 14 years of hillclimbing, I find myself writing my first write-up – so here goes. I’ll start with Curborough where my trusted passenger, the famous Jason Reeves (who should be writing this, by the way) decided in all his wisdom he would get a better hold by jamming his testicles between wheel and wheel arch rather than the traditional hand held method (ooh missies). This proved to be rather unsuccessful much to the amusement of the crowd, but thankfully nobody hurt and Glyn Poole putting that record a bit further out of reach with a 32.98.
On to the top 10 run-off. Glyn won on 33.08 with me on 33.17 and Jon Staden miles behind on 33.18 (sorry, Jon!). Paul Jeffery next with Jason Reeves in fifth, obviously steady away over the kerbs so not to disturb his swollen bits (hee-hee-hee-chuckle, chuckle).
Jon
Woods
While the pen’s out I might as well do a report on Baitings, as no-one else ever seems to (Fred, Simon, Jason, Dad take note).
Firstly, thanks to the Vintage lads for putting up such a display of sliding, wheelying, tank slapping and who knows what else – which made just about everyone else look tame!
I’ll start with Glyn (sandbagger) Poole who came all the way up the M1 to grab some points in the absence of Paul Jeffery, thinking he was going to struggle against me (don’t think so, somehow!) on my aged (1985) CR 500 Honda. But, as Glyn puts it, his bike doesn’t suit tight tracks, as it’s a bit peaky and he goes on the grass on the inside of the hairpins he’s going that slow, so what a surprise when he produces a 26.66 seconds (fastest ever 2-wheeler) – hence the sandbagger bit, leaving me on a slow 27.7 for second … mmm.
On to the 1300s and a good scrap between me on the old Wessie and Dave Rowlandson on his brilliant 1500cc nitrous turbo sapphire (seems like it anyway!), with me coming out tops (just) on 27.3 and with a giant start line wheely on the second run with made Mr Rowlandson (next one up) laugh immensely.
To the unlimited where Jon Staden missed out on the outright record by 2 hundredths – hard luck, Jon. Maybe next time!
Anyway, enough Northern bibbling for now.
John
Woods
To start off – this is not hillclimbing, it is mountaineering! But armed with my ideal hillclimbing tool, (350cc Manx Norton frame with excessively powered 920 Weslake engine fitted) who said that, could it be some of the Reeves family? I was quietly confident (NOT) after seeing the hill.
Anyway, to the meeting. First day was great, dry and sunny with me, Glyn and Paul Jeffery all within ½ second of the record, which must go to one of us the next day.
My last run provided the reason for this write-up. Deciding the lads at the top and marshals were looking bored, I did them an 80mph ‘stoppi’ which continued off the end of the road through the gravel trap and down the field (hope you were all impressed, I meant to do it all along, honest!!)
On to the second day – had to be the 13th (pissing down), let’s call the bikes, here we go. Rain totally knackered it. Times were rumoured to be taking that long that it compared to how long it took Glyn to get chicken pie in the Bridge on Saturday night, but I think it was a win for Paul Jeffery 36-odd, Mark French up there (welcome back). Think Jason just pipped me for fifth by a tenth, but who cares mate? Just remember Curborough. I’m sure many will, especially Simon Blenkin and me.
Bye for now,
John
Woods
'Dropping Off' At Shelsley
OK, it's not falling off (thank goodness) but still seemed a good enough reason for writing this.
Arrived at the hallowed hill in an early morning mist, which soon cleared to an absolutely gorgeous day on the Saturday for practice. Walked the hill, which I was told was steep, they weren't joking, surely they could get a lottery grant for a cable car? Last time I encountered anything like that it had snow on the top of it; (don't forget I'm from Suffolk!). Had a chance to watch the cars blasting off from the start before our first practice which all went well. Took Andy's advice and took it easy (read slow). Break for dinner we're told, right back to the van, have a snack; cor this sun is marvellous, get the deck chairs out and relax. Yep you've guessed it, fell sound asleep only to be woken by the sound of raucous 4 strokes. Must be the Cooper JAPs thinks I, no problem got a good half an hour before we're on again. I wanders back to the paddock to find a void of bikes, only a lonesome BSA sitting there. Oops! Andy spots me immediately, rushes over to the start line and OK's it for me to run, and even pushes the old Beezar to the start line for me. What a bloke! Thanks Andy. We even got a third practice, which was great. Whereupon we got the chance to witness a dramatic piece of riding by John Woods, even if it was after the finish line! John thundered over the line at 100mph with what looked like the front brake locked on, off the tarmac, onto the concrete, onto the gravel and out of sight onto the grass followed by a gang of orange overalls. How on earth he managed to keep hold of that - impressive.
Sunday, race day. Weather looking unsettled. Yep you've guessed it, just before we're due on the rain starts. Then does it get slippery! Following Andrew Bennett on his Norton - he's even slipping pushing it! Gunned the Beezar off the line, felt the back end breaking away; right sensible head on and just get it to the top. Doesn't deter some people though. Paul Jeffrey managing a 36.61, nice one Paul, and Alan Jolly wanting it to rain some more because he likes it! He got his wish; it chucked it down for our second run and the man to watch at the finish line yet again - John Woods off the end of the track this time taking out a traffic cone on the way. I think he just wanted the girls to sit on his bike again!
Any way, a cracking weekend, I enjoyed every minute of it and thanks again Andy.
Cheers.
Mark Pace
Withycombe Farm and the Westpoint Whoopsie
(by a rather embarrassed Tigger.)
Well let's start at the beginning, I’ve not raced for a few months ‘cos I’ve been working too hard. So before Withycombe I checked both bikes over well. I changed a few bits and tightened and adjusted so all would be well. A totally pointless exercise it turned out to be.
Well Hedgehog and I set off for the wilds of Exmoor on Friday night, and managed to take so long to get there that I only managed three pints in the pub! We were then treated to a wonderful lightning display, which went on for several hours almost continuously! I’ve never seen it like this before – it was almost tropical, but with no rain and no noise. Well the Saturday dawned bright and sunny (did it hell, but it wasn’t too bad) and Hedgehog went off to the Westpoint Centre near Exeter where she was doing the journalist bit for BSH. So I got on with some racing. Well firstly the gear linkage on the Tricati came loose, then the seat unit came loose. The YZ was great until the exhaust fell off, and then the steering damper broke off. These are not excuses for being slow - that's just me! … unlike Pete Short who was really going for it! Alan Jolly decided to part from his bike, as did Pip Mosely (twice on the same run!) and one of the guys on the 125s decided to break a throttle cable – and then was very glad that he had a 125 when he had to push it up the hill. Jon and Sandra finished the day off in great style with a wonderful 360 degree spin on the Trike, and then managed to get the Trike stuck between the Buckland and Guy’s van! A good day in all as no-one was hurting when we’d finished! (I’ll elucidate on that soon)
Well, on the Sunday there was a sprint at the Westpoint, and Mark French had been asked to bring along a few people to liven it up. Well I’d got a press pass and now I’d got a competitors pass – and in the eventuality I drove straight through the gate without being stopped!
Now everyone knows that my YZ is out to get me, but this was a beauty. After several runs on the Tricati, I decided to let it cool down and give the YZ a go. A few test runs up and down the slip road, all’s OK line up for the start – wind it on, and pull a wheelie of course, but as I drop the throttle to keep the wheel down, it keeps coming up, and up, and up until I decide it’s time to get off and run away! This leaves the YZ screaming its guts out upside down on the track! It could only be done with a big crowd couldn’t it?
It turned out in the end that the top of the carb had come unscrewed and as I whacked the throttle open the top of the carb came off leaving no slide in the carb and full throttle! To cap it off of course the nice man from http://www.bikersweb.co.uk managed to get it on film.
Cheers,
To those of you who don’t know – or for that matter don’t care! – the NHCA has a web page, you know, one of those computery things with pretty pictures.
The page is written by me, Tigger, and if you have any comments, or if you want to be answered civilly wonderful suggestions for additions to the page I’ll gladly listen! I’d like some descriptions of the hills I haven’t done yet as well, like Barbon, Curborough etc.
At the present the page has an introduction to the sport with basic guidelines, a set of scrutineering rules, and other odds and ends of information and contacts. Of more interest to you dear reader is the online list of racing numbers, bikes, championship results, and results! These are kept up to date courtesy of our splendid records officer, Robin, unlike when I was doing them and they were many years behind!
We have a number of addresses but if you click on http://www.nhca.co.uk you’ll get there. For those of you “In the know” the server behind it changes when I get bored – but that’s all transparent to the user.
So for loads of interesting stuff and interesting and compromising pictures – go visit your web page!
Pages available:
· Home page (Introduction)
· The Hills
· This Years Calendar
· Results
· People and Bikes (Pictures)
· A Members Story (Who’s ? You’ll have to find out !)
· Championship Placings
· Records
· Preparation Guidelines
· Guest Book
· Links (To other interesting stuff and to the sites for some of the hills we ride)
Tigger
(alias Nigel Glover)
Regalia
Tigger is the much maligned Regalia officer – well not really maligned, I just like the smell of burning martyrs !
We have T shirts, Sweatshirts, Mugs, Plates, Stickers and Umbrellas. All emblazoned with a superb NHCA logo – So be proud of your affiliations ! Show the world you really are mad enough to throw a bike up a hill.
Prices are :
T-shirts £6.50
Sweats £10
Brollys £10
Mugs/Plates £1.50
Postal orders can be accommodated if you ring me on 01305 821521 and I’ll think up a number for the postage! Otherwise just catch me at a hill.
Tigger
Setting a date for contributions has really helped the production of this issue. For the next Hillclimber, can you please send contributions to me by 15 November 2000. This will enable you to receive a copy before Christmas and will include full championship results, I hope.
Tony
KTM 350, lowered suspension, good Avon race tyres. Some spares, competitive in the right hands. Ugly, but fully functional and ready to race - bargain at only £625. Tel. Mike on 01626 774384
For sale
Moto Guzzi Mille GT, 14,000 miles from new. 1 owner, F reg. Nice big shaft drive v-twin, perfect for touring. Did 560 miles in one day on it , with no problems when I did use it. Stainless steel exhausts, K&N's, electronic ignition. Krauser panniers and
rack. VGC. £2000 ono, possibly px for big single.
Jerry Siddle DERA Boscombe Down ext 3909. jsiddle@dera.gov.uk or contact Tigger
Sidecar passengering manual (preferably step-by-step instructions). Please contact Jason Reeves – Up North somewhere.