15 June, 2003 08:24
2003 Musings
Michael's (April 2003) Musings
I absolutely loved the March Hare. What a super event. It’s very special to take part in a Classic Trial in your own back yard and I loved every minute of it from the breakfast at the start to some great sections.
There were a few delays, but that’s all apart of Classic Trialling and it gives the chance to chat to other competitors. I’ve met some really interesting people stuck in a queue on a muddy lane!
I’m sure it took a mammoth amount of work to organise the event and I would like to thank everyone involved for a wonderful day.
With Mike being part of the organising team Lesley was in the passengers seat and she isn’t so hot with a foot pump. This was an incentive to get the long awaited built-in 12 volt compressor system working. More about this on another occasion.
Michael's (March 2003) Musings
Michael Leete and Mike Hayward cresting the bump on Nailsworth Ladder during the recent Cotswold Clouds
It’s been a pretty frantic start to the year. I competed on three Classic Trials and marshalled at the Edlesbrough event over a six week period. This was also a pretty busy time at the day job so my feet have hardly touched the ground!
I thought Falcon's Edlesbrough Test Day was a good idea and we were blessed with good weather which is very important at this venue. There were some interesting cars and Cliff Morrell even bought one especially for the day!
Falcon is certainly looking healthy. A full calendar of well supported events and a healthy financial position. We have an enthusiastic committee, lets give them out full support at the AGM where we have the chance to say what we want from the club.
On the computer front up-dates to the site here were a bit delayed earlier in the month. First the ISP's site went a bit cranky and it wasn't possible to upload any files, although it was still possible to access the site for viewing. Of course I thought it was me at first but then I looked on their forum and found it was a problem to everyone. Then when everything was working again the ISP decided to enforce their 5mB limit and I was way over, forcing me to move loads of stuff over to the archive site (although I have not up--loaded it!).
I am still using free sites on an ordinary modem so perhaps it's time to go broadband with fast up-loads and 250Mb of web space!
Michael - 29 March 2003
Michael's (February 2003) Musings
I thought the Exeter was a good trial, a bit rough but a nice event. It was controversial for those who take these things more seriously than I though, and there has been a lot of chat about two particular issues.
For some it showed the increasing gap between class eight and the lower classes and has re-started the debate on "what do we do with class eight?"
It was also the first MCC event with the "two up for the hill to count" rule. This has really upset some well-known MCC stalwarts whose opinion is that it devalues the Triple. The new rule certainly affected the results. For example Adrian Tucker-Peake was the only class one competitor to climb Tillerton and Dave Haizelden Simms. However, neither hill counted and Terry Coventry (who climbed neither) won the class on special test times.
There are other rumblings of un-happiness too, which are a little more personal. I hope these things can be bought to the surface and openly debated. Lets hope for a bumper attendance at the MCC AGM which provides the ideal forum for open debate, although you have to look the other fellow in the eye!
Michael's (January2003) Musings
I thought 2002 was another good year for Falcon with some excellent events, ranging from Two championship trials, clubmans trials and autotests and another successful March Hare Classic.
I competed or marshalled in all but one and enjoyed them all. On behalf of myself and all the other members a big thank you to all the organisers.Mike Pearson and John Parsons who were actively involved in all the five trials, finding the time despite running their own businesses. Cliff Morrell organised the autumn Brikhill Trial with the welcome help from his family.
We had a really nice Autotest season in the summer with Andrea Lane and Peter Manning sharing the Clerk of The Course job with Alan Davies. There were others of course, Mike Hayward, Arnold Lane, Verdun Webley to name a few. Thanks guys and girls for all the time and effort you put into running events.
Finally on a sad note I see that SOD’s aren’t listed in the 2003 Blue Book. As a member I haven’t heard anything for 18 months so I guess they have gone now which is a shame.