Part 1 of this story was posted here back in November 2022 - I wasn't really planning on a part 2. Back then the Suzuki X-90 I compete with in car trials had blown a head gasket and needed somewhat more elaborate repair than I was expecting. It took a while and shall we say I learned a lot in the process. Twelve months on things went awry once again. This time it was the transmission rather than the engine (see yet another previous blog) which broke. Shortly afterward so did my index finger… repairs were not rapid as a result . Then came the MOT failure in February . That required me to learn welding… well, look on the bright side, it's a usefull skill !
But it does not take five minutes to get the hang of, as I soon found out.
I'm still learning and the car is still on blocks.in-the-process of being fixed, so it's been out of action for well over a year already. It will get there but I doubt I will be back out, at least in the driving seat, before the autumn.
I did manage to take part in three events in 2024, as navigator/passenger to triple champion Nick Deacon. Our exploits on the Torbay Trial were already covered here last spring. In late October-early Novvember we competed on The Mechanics Trial in the Cotswolds and the Exmoor Clouds in North Somerset. Nick has two cars ,both X-90s, but with very different technical spec's, so they run in different classes. On The Mechnics (named after the pub from which the event originally started, many years ago) it was the highly successfull and very battle scarred ‘Class 90’ version which competes against other similar X-90s .
Nick Deacon's highly successful 'class 90'Suzuki X-90
Nick is the man to beat in that class. I've only done so once myself, exactly 12 months earlier, on this very event in fact. That was a good day!
Nick was odds-on favourite this year but we had a bad start, lost a few too many points early on and got enmeshed in a battle with John Cavendish & Dave Slade.
Halfway up a sections called “Axe”, cut deep into a clay bank
By the latter stages Nick's fearless driving style had produced the goods and in glorious weather we took a fairly comfortable , if draughty, class win. Note to self: never open the electric windows on a Suzuki X-90 even if they work first time (mine almost never have) as once it had gone down, my door window refused to go back up and remained wide open all day. But that was a small price to pay for a class win and a really good day's motor sport.
A week later we were competeing again but everything had changed. This was in Nick's other X-90, with a bigger engine and a lot of trick bits that push it into a different class, one that includes front engined 2-seater sports cars like MX5s, BMW Z3s and Scimitar SS1s (remember those?) . So the car and opposition were different, so was the weather! The fine autumnal Cotswold sunshine had become thick Exmoor fog and drizzle .
Nick's much modified 2 litre X-90 on the Exmoor Clouds
And we didn't win.
What we did do was puncture four tyres, curiously all left rears, so a lot of time was spent kneeling in the mud undoing wheel nuts. Not that I didn't enjoy the whole thing - I did. It was an event I had done before , but during the dark days of covid so it had been run in one large wood rather than taking in the surrounding countryside as it does now - so much of it was new and different. And when the mist cleared, picturesque.
The Facey family BMW Z3 waiting in line for the “Northmoor” section of the Exmoor Clouds
The delays we had on route while other people got stuck or had their own puctures to deal with meant time to chat with other competing crews. One very good thing about car trials is the camaraderie and the general freindliness of everyone involved. People help out, advise, encourage and applaude . If only all motorsport was like that!
The second of our 4 punctures…
The final puncture occurred on the exit of the last observed section, only a matter of 5 minutes from the finish , in the dark, in the rain, on a small back road…but by then we were well practiced. Naturally Nick was none too happy with the whole day. The car hadn't really performed as well as hoped, it grounded out too often for one thing and he came away from the event with a long snag list.
At least the car was still mobile. Mine is resting on axel stands and some large baulks of timber and looks like it will be there for a few months yet.
Monkey awaiting yet more welding.
Meantime if anyone needs a passenger for a trial in the near future, give me a call….
GALLERY
HRG At the start of the MECHANICS TRIAL , Fromeridge Mill, Gloucestershire
Nicola Butcher's Beetle deep in the woods on The Mechanics Trial
Nick Deacon and Dave Slade with the X90s on the Mechanics Trial
Ford Model A that one of the specators artrived in on the Mechanics Trial
Gregory Warren with his Mk2 Escort of the Exmoor Clouds
Skoda Estelle of May & May on the Exmoor Clouds
Steve Hill's amazingly capable Model A Ford at scrutineering, Exmoor Clouds
Gary Browning's Beetle & Nick's X90 re-pressurising tyres after a section. Exmoor Clouds
