Protests mar Express and Star
THE 1960 "Express and Star" Rally was one of the best Nationals of the year but this year's event, run last weekend by the Wolverhampton and South Staffs Car Club was rather easier and in addition was marred by protests over the results. The main bone of contention was a "Road Blocked" sign placed on the officially intended route to the 33rd and last of a series of controls on the marked edition of sheet 129 which was banded out to competitors. Some crews took a chance on managed to get through to the control on time, others took it as a police notice to the effect that the road was impassable and went a longer way round to the control, losing time in the Process. The results as first announced included the marks lost at this control but a protest by Brian Harper was upheld and the section was scrubbed, whereupon notice of appeal to the R.A.C. against the decision was the sign being misleading and given by Bill Bengry.
No one regretted these protests more than the people involved and we must stress that there is no animosity among the interested parties it was just one of those unfortunate things that divided the entry into two camps and it was felt that a decision by the R.A.C. will clear up the business of blocked roads once and for all. The Rally Stewards' decision to uphold the protest to have the section annulled was perhaps influenced to, some extent by the local Chief Constable's statement that it is an offence to drive past such road signs as the one put on the road to the control.
All very unfortunate it could have been avoided if the organisers had sent an efficient pilot car over the section before the first car. A less important protest which smacked of pot hunting was to have Roy Kirkham's hard top Sprite transferred from the open class, which he had entered feeling that it was the proper place for such a car, to the closed class. This protest was upheld largely because the regulations had loosely grouped cars into open and close of certain capacities without any definition of what was an open car.
As a result Sprites, for example, appeared both in the closed and in the open class. Roy Kirkham was sporting enough to accept the decision to, shove him in the closed class but, in common with many competitors he was rather shaken at the spirit in which the protest was made.
But enough of the sad story of the breakfast bickerings. Now for some facts on the rally. From starting points at Wolverhampton, Liverpool, Hereford, Oxford and Nottingham cars converged, after easy main road runs, on Control X on the A49 just south of Leebotwood at the top of sheet 129. After a break of one hour the rally proper started as navigators were handed marked maps showing 33 controls.
For some crews the rally was over very soon after the start. As cars headed westwards towards the top of the Long Mynd Pauline Mayman had electrical trouble in her Herald and Julian Fasten had a half shaft go on his Rapier shedding a wheel after he had gone eight tenths of a mile. This happened in a narrow piece of road with the result that following cars had to take an alternative route losing time in the process. Also in trouble early on was Cyril Corbishley, he too, lost a wheel.
The second section from 445975 to 391928 (approach from the east) caught out a lot of navigators who were not familiar with which of the white roads on the Long Mynd are goers. The white road across the top of the Mynd went but only after a struggle due to the heavy rain which fell shortly before the rally. Bill Bengry got his VW across but only after pushing and most competitors took the 1onger, gated road through Ratllinghope.
Among the many late at control 2 were Winston Rice, Geoff Mabbs, John Poulton, Stephen Clinston, Bobbie Parker, Peter Proctor and Philip Simister. One trouble with the Long Mynd for those who are not familiar with it is that tracks tend to drift into one another rather than form positive junctions and it is easy to a long way down a wrong slot before realising the mistake. Denny Mclntee driving a Rapier knew the area and was able to locate the first three controls while his navigator worked out the route for later sections. Very few navigators had it so easy particularly as the marked maps had been handed out awkwardly folded. Unfolding them in a small car must have been as involved as getting dressed in a telephone box. Mike Sutcliffe, who won the first MN Rally Championship event--the Yorkshire--abandoned with piston trouble in the ex-works Austin 7.
While the marked maps meant that navigators had no plotting, to do it also meant that they had to refer to two maps if they were carrying one with them marked with the goers and non-goers. Some found it easier to transfer the controls from the organisers' map to their own copies but this could lead to mistakes as Alec Griffiths, found-David Stone marked a control one junction out and they dropped a minute correcting the mistake.
The early hectic pace eased only very slightly as the route went north-west to The Bog then due south to control 3 at 347954. Don Grimshaw dropped six minutes there through having to stop to adjust a failed clutch on his TR3 and David Blankstone put his Saab (one of five in the rally) on its roof without personal injury. Surprisingly, in view of the relatively good roads used, there were several cars in ditches and on their sides.
Unfortunately the organisers had anticipated bad weather for the rally and, rather like the Yorkshire organisers, they had made the route easier to allow for this. The weather on the night, however, was fairly good, although the roads were wet front rain on the Saturday evening, and from control 3 onwards things were just a little too easy for a National rally. After the confusion caused by the maze of tracks on the Long Mynd there was little further doubt over which white roads went. The route skirted Bishops Castle down the western edge of the map. Fred Snaylam dropped marks by missing out control 6 due to a slip by his navigator and Geoff Mabbs maintained that be had seen the ghost of Dick Turpin riding towards control 7 but this was probably just over excitement. Either that or Turpin was off route through using Sixth Edition maps.
Eric Davis lost time with his Sprite between controls 9 and 10 when the special exhaust manifold fell to pieces. Several competitors lost time through baulking because in many places the roads were too narrow for slower cars to pull over. As the rally continued generally southwards there was little to report before control 15 at 331685 (NW). Control 14 was just north of Mile Brook and the map showed a good white track running due south to Long Wood. This road however, only goes readily from south to north and at times there were queues of cars struggling to get up the hill. The time schedule had allowed for competitors to head towards Knighton before turning left down another and better white road. Among those who lost time at 15 as a result of this were B. Dunster and Ian Gordon Macleod who were in a standard Dauphine which was slightly short of steam. The pace toughened slightly at control 15 with a series of short sections which ended at control 21 just south east of Wigmore but again the roads used were mainly yellow ones and presented little difficulty although the succession of short sections meant that one mistake could mean a minute dropped.
Tie decider
Between controls 21 and 22 an extra five minutes were allowed for a tie deciding test at 470697. This consisted of a sprint through sharp right then left bends. If the control with the roadblock business is left out of the results the general classification will depend on the times of this test, as altogether there were five clean sheets. In any case the appeal to the R.A.C. will in no way alter the times on the test so the best ones are worth recording:
1, G. H. F. Parkes.(A. H. 3000) 17 secs.; 2, B. Harper (Morgan) 17.4; 3, T. A. Gold (Sprite) 17.6; 4, Pat Moss (Saab) and G, D. Grimshaw (TR3) 17.8; 6, P. Easter (Austin) and W. G, Thornton (Herald) 18 ; 8, R. Michalkie-wiez (TR3), G. Bloom (Morris) and J. R. Kirkham (Sprite) 18.2.
It was Pat Moss' first rally in her Saab which is in Group 2 tune.
From the test the convoy wound south-east towards Leominster and then north near Cleobury Mortimer. Shortly after control 29, Anne Hall and Val Domleo, who were clean on the road, had starter trouble on their Anglia. Similar trouble hit their Ford on the R.A.C. and Welsh Rallies they must be getting a bit fed up with this happening time after time. Eric Davis stopped to help and eventually they got under way but had to miss controls as a result. This gave the ladies award (what ever happens to the protest) too Ann Hooper in her Sprite, a nice follow up to her win the previous weekend.
Among those who had lost odd minutes through minor misfortunes were Tom Gold (puncture). Mick Webb (wrong approach), John Sprinzel, Roy Kirkham (wrong slots), and Stephen Clipstop who made a rare and brief excursion into a ditch. George Humble had a half shaft break on his Riley three controls from the finish and Paul Steiner retired his A40 with a cracked distributor cover. John la Trobe had all his lights fail and dropped one minute as a result.
The rally appeared to be easing to a close as the route headed northwards once more back towards control X when the big trouble came with the section from control 32 (520851) to 33 (455879 approach from south). Thirteen minutes were allowed for this and the only, route which came to 6½ miles was through Middlethorpe and the ford at 473880. This was, in fact, the route as marked on the official map at the finish. The other way to the control, via Upper Affcot, totalled over eight miles.
However, competitors who took the 6½ mile route found a notice at 482880 announcing "Road Blocked." This was a large notice set across the road but with room to pass it. Another, permanent, sign, mentioned a weight limit on a bridge along the road. According to the authorities responsible for the notice it referred to the ford which was considered to be impassable at the time the notice was put out. Crews were divided as to what to do at the junction. Some took the notice at its face value and went the low way round to the control, dropping time as a result. Among these were Brian Harper, Pat Moss, Robin Richards, Bobbie Parks, Don Grimshaw and David Hiam.
Others decided to take a chance on the road being open or took it that the road was only blocked for vehicles exceeding the weight limit stated and pushed on. Among these were Bill Bengry (VW) and Peter Astbury (Herald) and as a result they were the only two to finish the rally with a clean sheet, Tony Fisher, who was clean to that point, took the road but hesitated before doing so and lost a couple of minutes.
This was the last control, before control X and the easy run to the finish at the T. A. Centre in Wolverhampton. Vic Elford put the works mini he had borrowed on to its side on this section but without damage. As a result of the protests and appeals competitors were kept hanging about at the finish until noon without anything being resolved. Briefly, if the disputed section is put back in, the first three will be Bill Bengry, Peter Astbury and John LA Trobe. If the appeal to the R.A.C. fails and the section stays out, the general classification will remain Brian Harper first, Pat Moss second with Bill Bengry and Tony Fisher, equal third. Let's hope the R.A.C, move quickly in appointing an Appeals Committee so that the result is not left too long in doubt.