Got the entry list yesterday and I see nearly half the field is Austin 7 or Austin 7 based, with an an entry of 44 out of about 90 cars. Thats not bad going and must speak volumes about the off road capability of the 7.
I'll be out with my GE Cup, playing about in the mud.

As will I in my Chummy!

STEVE

I will be marshalling at Hill 9 - Broford in the afternoon. Look forward to seeing you!

David

OFF ROAD IN A 7? NO PROBLEM I DID 100MLS IN 12" OF MUD IN SIBERIA LAST YEAR NEVER GOT STUCK ... BEING A SUPERB DRIVER MAY HAVE HELPED THOUGH?

What the way of keeping tyres on nowadays then?
Last VSCC trial I did we could still run with security clamps.

Stuart, its all in the high-friction coefficient in the rusty rims. Blow the tyres up to anything over 20lbs or whatever you consider road pressure to be. They seem to stay on for ever at that.
If you mean the sellotape method: most of us don't often let the tyres down below 10lbs in VSCC stuff. You get away with it at that pressure if you stay below 6500rpm.
IYBTYBA of course.
You're not using that Volvo-engined device then?

Or if you just want to be sure, Evostick the tyre bead to the rim both sides. Make sure, if the tyres are new, that you clean the residue of the mould oil of them first.

STEVE

Jim, Steve,
Don't think the VSCC would be to happy with the Volvo engined device with all the discussions they are having about PVT cars. So I thought I'd go back to where I started from and besides the Cup could do with some exercise.
Thanks for the advise, I've got some nice rusty rims to aid friction to stop the tyres spinning.

Your local off-road motor cycle shop should sell 'security bolts' - two per driven wheel and one for the fronts should do the trick - they're normally used for 4.00 wide tyres. It's the best way to stop tyre creep, and the subsequent ripping off of the valve stem.

Ratty, dear chap, we cannot have security bolts on VSCC eligible cars! Creep on covers is rarely a problem these days, unless you do what I managed recently. I got to the end of a section to find fresh green grass sticking out between the tyre and the rim. There was no creep and we hadn't gone below our chosen pressure, but we must have been a bit close.
Seriously, we don't seem to need a virtually flat tyre to climb hills. You get about a 30% gain with a good choice of pressure in extreme conditions, but it is more about getting the right line, usually. Occasionally it is about being brave, too. I mean trying something different rather than foolhardy.

Took my security clamps out last night, I'll leave the tyres pumped up to 60psi for the rest of the week to get them to bite into the rusty rims.
With my Hurg I quite often run that down to 5psi it makes all the difference especially on Crooked Mustard a couple of weekends ago. That has also got some security clamps in it of the rather large variety that we made.
One nice advantage with the 7 is that I can put a complete set of tyres on the Cup for the cost of 1 Michelin DR for the Hurg.

The MCC have a lower limit of 10 psi on their trials.

On last years Lands End I was marshalling at Blue Hills and was given the job of checking tyre pressures! A job to be avoided!! Some diplomacy is required because as most of you would expect not all gauges read the same, along with the obvious question as to what temperature is the 10 psi measured at?
I behaved tactfully and with discretion and managed to avoid upsetting anyone but it was quite clear that gauges differ and perhaps in a less friendly form of motorsport this could cause problems?

Steve

p.s If you ever do this job you need to work out pretty quickly if a car is rear or front wheel drive to avoid looking daft!

Yep they had limits on some hills on the Cotswold Clouds. Most of the time my gauge was over reading compared with the marshals gauge so they kindly dropped my tyres for me.

Excellent weather, tyres stayed on with no punctures, car didn't break down, although we had to clean out a blocked oil jet. What more could we ask.

And lots of lovely pics already to be seen on Vintage Knowledge gallery. (Looks like you had a great day.)

Where can I find pictures? We had a great time. It was b***** cold on the open road, but walking all the sections warmed us up.
After it was all done we broke an exhaust valve on the run back to the Anchor. It warned us several times by misfiring. Another valve showed signs of a weary shoulder after the head was lifted. It must be all that bouncing we do on trials!
I nearly tipped over as I slid backwards from the upper reaches of Quarry Bend. Thanks to marshals and my passenger, the owner! He is very patient with me.
David Cochrane supplied a set of replacements by return: many thanks. One week to Chatsworth!
How did you go, Stuart?

Hi, You can see pictures of the trial at:

www.vintageknowledge.co.uk

(Go to "Gallery" on the left strip and select. A list of events will appear. The top one - the latest - is the one you want, of course. But, if you haven't visited the site before, I'm sure that you'll enjoy looking at the photo albums of previous events, too).

Plenty of A7s in evidence and in action....

Jim,
Think we dropped a massive 21 points. Quarry bend, Long Mollam and another, whose name escapes me, stopped us.

Quarry Bend caught me too. I scrabbled to 20 but ran out of grip. I'm surprised that Long Mollam stopped you. The top end of Broford spoiled my card. Broford was to one where you ford a stream then switch on launch control and squirt the nitrous at about flag 16.
We were over-geared on Hunstone 2, so fell off the card there.
How were the tyres? I heard lots of stuff in favour of security bolts in the pub afterwards. I suspect it was cold weather and the swing doors in the gents!

Stuart wrote:
> another, whose name escapes me, stopped us.

That was probably the hill I was on, Broford. It stopped most people - only some of the early arrivals managed to clean it.

Looking forward to the John Harris/Derbyshire...

David

Not sure about the tyres, i was running the Cheng Shins but only a 3.50x19, I used to run Avon SM in a 4.00x19. They may as well allow security bolts again as it seem everybody glues their tyres on anyway.
I think most of my trouble was I was still reading the hill as if I was in my HRG not the 7 and Hurgs fit nicely in the ruts, but I'm going to play with the weight distribution of the Cup and maybe finally get round to moving the fuel tank into the boot.