2nd Trial

16th December 2012

This was the Xmas Trial at Southwaite, a couple of miles South of Carlisle. Bit of a bugger for me, but suited my passenger, Ian, who could have walked there from his home.

We arrived,and having a slightly better grasp of the form after the first event, got unloaded and set ready for the driver's briefing and our day's fun. 
We still managed to do the wrong hill first, but soon corrected that and cracked on. Shame that this was also a very wet site. It seems that a very wet site, like an icy & technical site, doesn't suit my car a lot. 

People were very good, commiserating on our bad luck in having tough trials for our first 2 events. 
The Hills were, to us novices, a bit confusing in that whilst some looked fairly dry, didn't respond to trickling and some which were very muddy just didn't respond to blasting. I did manage to get stuck at post 11 on Hill1 on the first attempt, and the next time, by trickling, got right up to post 2. However that never worked again as subsequent cars tore up the grass.
Hill 2 was a toughy for us and as the approach to Hill 3 was directly from the end of (a clear pass) of Hill 2 we had a problem. We weren't anywhere near the top of the hill. We went around the back of the course and reached the Hill easily enough.

But not before getting stuck in a bog that we had been warned about!!
In getting the car out (and thanks to the marshals and competitors who helped) I cut the back of my hand on the plastic mudguard. I didn't realise until a bit later when I noticed the mud on my hand was a ruby colour.
Using the best dog technique of licking my hand I found a flap of flesh with a nice filling of mud inside. I (too late) put my glove on until lunch time when I could wash it and put a plaster on.

Thankfully, someone else kindly got stuck in that same spot to show that we were not total  knobheads.

The rest of the hills were very muddy and mainly beyond my skills at the moment. 
Conversations since have shown that my 1040cc engine is hampered in that it will hardly pull the intermediate gear in the mud, but on the other hand, in first gear, it won't spin the wheels fast enough to clean the treads. We noticed how others were flinging half the field up in the air whilst out efforts looked a lot more serene.

I also learned a valuable lesson. 
On Hill 3, which had a very slippery approach my first two attempts only got me to the 10 post and (I think) the 9 post. After that the course went right behind a tree and past a couple more posts before turning downhill.

I had been concentrating so much on the start and the first slope that when on the 3rd attempt I got to the top of the first slope and turned right, I didn't know where I was aiming for. The brief lift of the throttle was enough to bog me down right there. I should have got past another 3 posts if I had been on the ball.

Another lesson learned : Know the course

Another Hill was so deeply rutted and muddy that this is where I decided the diff was digging in and that a skid may help. Another post on the blog describes the making of the skid. You can see here that the car is down to it's axle tube.

You can see in this video how muddy it is for one car on Hill 3. The slithering is the car approaching the start. There is also a bit of our ascent of Hill 6, but the camera fell off!

So. All in all, another fun day and a lot of lessons learned. Some people said the next event at Edenhall will be more suited to the car. No pressure then.

I also found out my pressure gauge was inacurate and have now bought a 0-15 psi dial gauge.

My wound festered and my hand swelled up, so I went to the Docs. I was given a tetanus jab and two courses of antibiotics which meant strictly no drinking. It's a similar thing they give to alcoholics to stop them drinking. I t will make you violently ill if you have a drink. Even the alcohol in mouthwash can set it off!. This meant the first drink I could manage was Xmas Eve!!

Anyway it's healed now. My sternum is still a bit sore.