Extract from John Opie report on the trial, full report in the newsletter
I reckon that I have reasonably good feel for traction and throttle control, so it was time to put this to the test. The first section had a funny little turn on a slope near the start, and this caught me out, so my trials debut resulted in a “10”, and I felt a little deflated. Several others, however, were caught out at the same spot, which was more encouraging (for me). The other sections went rather better, and I (from my vast experience of trials driving) thought they were interestingly laid out. When I managed to reach what I thought might be the top I was a little surprised to discover that I often had to go downhill again, ready to climb to the finish.
The second tranche of attempts saw everyone, including myself, improve. Annoyingly, I was caught out again by the tricky bit of the first section, whilst everyone else appeared to fly past this spot. There had been a little overnight rain, and, although it hadn’t really affected things much, everything was soon bone dry, and rather dusty. You may recall that I had directional problems on the autotest, but, of course, the trial was much simpler, even though I didn’t have Shelly to distract, sorry, guide me. There were a couple of times when I was unsure where to go, but eventually realised the obvious, which was to follow the numbers! I did go in the wrong direction twice – once when I reached the top, only for my smugness to dissolve when I realised that I’d missed a bit out, and once when I again reached the top, but on the wrong side of a marker – I did realise that time, but just kept going in case no one noticed! They did.
After lunch the running order was reversed. This gave me more of a chance to observe Duncan’s efforts in the Saxo. He is, of course, a bit of a dab hand at this trialling stuff, making it look easy. The main thing that I noticed was that his lines were often rather different (within the parameters of the sections, obviously) to mine, and indeed those of other competitors. Generally my approach was to take the shortest route, when I should have thought more about the advantages of a shallower approach, and where the most grip was. I did at least get past the fatal spot on the first section but didn’t get much further. In fact, the first few of my afternoon runs were rather rubbishy, until I actually managed to clean a section.
Some reckoned that grip had come and gone a little during the afternoon, although it was now definitely bone dry, In the final runs I scored some more zeros, although my final run of the day ended with me failing to realise how tight the turn at the bottom was, so that was that. By now there were plenty of cleaned sections, especially by the more specialist machinery, and when the dust had both literally and metaphorically settled, we were given the results. Duncan took our class, to the surprise of no one, and Millie Carter was the overall winner, so big congratulations to her. I was fifth out of eight in class, which I felt reasonably satisfied with. I immediately started wondering how I could have done better, and wanted to do it all again immediately, which was somewhat worrying!
How did it compare to hillclimbing and sprinting? Well, it’s a bit like comparing a table and an armchair: they’re both furniture, but… Throttle control matters in both, and getting off the line is crucial in speed events, and yes, there is the thrill of speed. There’s all the stuff about braking, feeling the limit, gears, etc, but trialling has some fascinating if arcane sides to it – trickle, blast or blip? And it actually is exciting to climb somewhere that seems impossible. Thanks again to Duncan for letting me drive the magnificent Saxo, and to all the marshals and organisers. It was a blast, if not a trickle!
John Opie and the Sexy Saxo
