FROM THE MUD

Sunday October 5th saw the curtain close on another season of trialing with the final mud being flung from the well used dam at Panton Hill.

Grant Campbell has had another excellent year, winning the John Pryce Trial, Dale Shaw Trial and for the 23rd time the Geoff Taylor Trophy or season aggregate. Congratulations Grant on your well deserved trifecta.

The Excelsior Cup, awarded to the driver who improved their average score per section from the previous year was taken out by Graham Moyle who improved by an average of 1.23 points, closely followed by Geoff Taylor and then Grant. This was a turn around from last season where every eligible contestant went backwards!

If I can make a personal reflection on the past season for a moment, I would summarise it as one where the weather was kind - there was usually enough moisture around for the course setters to make the trial challenging but not too hard on the cars. We were also fortunate to have enough generous property owners to vary the trials around a number of superb locations. The competition and fellowship was just as enjoyable as previous years, however the average number of competitors at each trial was disappointing.

With the effects of the increased CAMs permit costs along with most other running expenses, we really do need more numbers to keep the sport viable. This viability has to be measured both financially and also in the justification of the tremendous amount of effort that goes on behind the scenes to secure and set up properties, obtain permits, organise events etc. Having said that, the OST committee is committed to increasing competitor numbers at each trial and has a long term plan in place to do so. However they are very much aware that there are a number of trials cars in sheds around the state that are gathering dust for one reason or another. They would like to know why this is so and also how we can see these cars competing again on a regular basis. Please contact the OST Chairman (Steve Mason) or any of the OST committee listed in this Lightshaft if you want to provide feedback.

There are people looking for cars to purchase for next season, so if you have a good, competitive car for sale - now is the time to stick up your hand. Its never been easier to advertise as all you have to do is give Grant Campbell a call and he'll immediately place it on the club website and also pass it onto the Lightshaft editor. The website has a large number of people viewing it daily from all sides of motor sport and its also free - give it a look by typing in http://austin7club.org . If you haven't got a computer, the local library will have and they will give you all the help you require to enter this fascinating medium and become a Silver Surfer!

Next season is the well-publicised 50th anniversary of the formation of CAMs. We believe that Observed Section Trials and in particular the John Pryce, nee Park Orchard Trial is the longest running continuous motoring sport event that has run under the CAMs banner. With this in mind, the OST Committee is planning a significant John Pryce Trial for next season; hopefully this will become an official part of CAMs special celebration events for 2003. We do need good numbers and support to make this happen.

Panton Hill 1 - OST12 Sunday 6/10/02

Its hard finding something different to say about Panton Hill, its still my favourite trials site and in the words of John Cox on the Saturday, a dream to peg when wet.

And wet it was with good rains the previous week causing the creek to flow down the bottom of the hillside which in turn opens up the possibility of running sections we haven't done for a while or modifying favourites to give a variation of challenge.

With a few more cars in attendance and mechanical woes behind those who experienced them at Gilderoy, this end of season trial was enjoyed by all.

Once again John elected for us to run all the morning sections twice as it saved time transporting and walking sections and fitted more trialing into the day - in fact we did 18 sections, which is 6 more than usual!

The gully by the gate, a well trialed piece of real estate, had to be modified from normal due to the demise of half a great gum tree that had split and shed limbs in the previous week's high winds. It would have taken a very big chainsaw to move this blighter so we elected to use the limb as a new twist to an old course. The new twist causing everyone concerns until Greg Cox drove through to show how easy it was to get a perfect score. He did the same thing second time around but this time Grant, Geoff and Graham had all cottoned onto his line and produced similar results.

Working our way down the hillside and playing at the top of the creek all morning saw Craig really stand out with a number of tens that had him leading the trial as we broke for lunch. Graham, Grant and Greg also scored consistently and kept in contention despite the slippy conditions that the second round of attempts caused. The quickfire running of sections was causing concern for Peter Hill and his overheating Volkswagen engine as the combination of no engine cowling and hot day combined with extended running didn't allow much time for a cool down period. Peters answer was to remove the rear bonnet, which kept the car going despite a few new knocks and periods of blue smoking from the exhaust pipe.

At lunchtime we were joined by the Ford 8 and 10 Club who had been meandering through the antique and junk shows around Hurstbridge area prior to venturing off the sealed road to the property. The club was most appreciating to have another area of interest to visit and a sunny place to share their sandwiches and stories. Many thanks Grant for organising this; I'm sure we will be extending the offer again next year to other motoring clubs.

The afternoon was spent back down the hill and in the creek and surrounding areas where Greg just couldn't keep up the mornings high scoring and Grant really hit his straps. Perhaps the drive of the day (or in fact the season), was his attempt at Callum's Dam which had caught everyone out down between the one and four pegs. Grant passed these with ease and then continued to the eight peg where he looked to have totally lost it, only to get the car back in alignment with the nine peg and squeeze through for a well deserved and loudly applauded ten. Great stuff from the undisputed champion of the season.

With the creek sections completed we worked our way up the hill again to the final two sections of the day - the dam. Phil Fitton and Keith Mitchell had scored consistently during the afternoon but could not make much impression on our runaway leaders Craig, Grant and Graham.

Once the crowd had taken up their favourite vantage points we attempted the first of the two dam sections. To earn the honour of a dunking we first had to loop around the top of the dam wall, down the outside and back up a steep and eroded section of the wall again. Craig was first through and he bottomed out trying to get over the dam wall again, Keith saw this and despite a more rapid approach, ended with the vehicle rocking in the middle with a large quantity of air under all four wheels. After a closer inspection of the offending ridge, the other contenders managed to clear the wall, get their water splash and a higher score.

Last section of the day and season was the wettest with a double loop through the dam itself. Heat and starter problems respectively saw Peter and Greg sit this one out. The rest of the competition complied with the wishes of the crowd and set off for the inevitable dunking, finishing their season off between the seven and eight pegs on a very slippy embankment trying to exit the dam.

Our Honorary Scorer, Dot Moyle totted up the points and John declared Grant the winner on 160 points, Craig second on 143 and Graham third on 139.

The day was finished off with a BBQ and tall stories under the big gum tree accompanied by a few cold beers whilst the many kids played in the background. What better way to spend a sunny Sunday?

As stated earlier, events and seasons cannot happen without a great deal of effort behind the scenes. I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank on behalf of all competitors and spectators, John Cox our Event Director, Mark Taylor our Chief Official, Dot Moyle our scorer, Frank Walter our points tabulator and the OST Committee for making things happen.

The Club has cancelled the Motorkhana where most of us usually get together out of season, so our next two social events will be the club's Presentation Night on 7th December and then the OST Christmas BBQ planned for Monday December 9th. Please see your next edition of Lightshaft for further details.

Keith Mitchell