This is David Leaver with Dave Barritt (father of Dan Barritt, so now you know where Dan got the bug from!) on his way to 2nd overall in the snow in a 3-litre Capri...
...which takes some b*££s...!
Before
I go on to KKC, let me finish with a word about some of the drivers I navigated
for during that driving drought when I felt about as poor as the proverbial church
mouse. Whose wife had left him. And taken all the furniture. Someone reminded me recently of an old saying
– “By the time you’ve got money to burn, the fire’s gone out.” Well I was at
the very start of that curve, I must say!
I’ve
tried to make a list of the drivers I navigated for. Here’s the best I can do –
if any of them are reading this, or if anyone knows the drivers concerned,
please add some comments with more information – it may jog my memory! In addition to Cyril Bolton, John Morton, Mark
‘Speedy’ Harrison, Brian Harper and Derek Ormerod, there were…
…actually
before I start – there were NO mobile phones in the late 70s / early 80s. Some cars had CB Radio – remember the ‘Convoy’
single? Rubber Duck to Plastic
Chicken? I was lent some for the Hall
Trophy – I was Clerk of the Course from around ‘79 – ’84 – and Mark Harrison
immediately gave me the ‘handle’ ‘Midge’.
I never knew why, but if CB Radio ever comes back I’ll still be Midge.
Okay,
here goes: Grant Ingham – in a blue
Sunbeam Talbot. One event, which
probably started in Burnley with the first selective from Sabden to the A59
over the Nick o’ Pendle. We both knew
that road so well we could each have got in the top five times.
Neville
Crossley – very sideways on tarmac and an easy-going driver. In the early 80s Jeff Smith asked me to run
an evening school navigation course, which I really enjoyed doing. This introduced me to Neville, John Cressey,
Niccy Whittaker and many others, and was great fun, apart from the first ‘practical’
where we had a run out and someone parked their car half way up a tree on the
back road from Edisford to Waddington…
John
‘Dunnow’ Thompson – from Slaidburn, mainly a stage rally man who I did a
daylight stage rally with. Smoothly
sideways and heading for a good result, but we broke a half shaft: Dunnow got a lift to Pyes of Lancaster to get
a replacement while I sat in a field for hours.
Very exciting…
I
did at least three rallies with David Leaver, a quick driver in a well-sorted
MkII RS2000. I remember it had a fierce ‘paddle’
clutch. The first event must have been in
the Lake District because Val, Mark (only a toddler at the time) and I were
having a weekend’s break at Troutbeck in a static caravan (we knew how to push
the boat out!) and David picked me up from there on the way to the start. I always
have to take one Kwell an hour before the start if I’m navigating – which lasts
for four days if necessary (!) but with the change in circumstances I
completely forgot. After about 50 miles I couldn’t carry on and we had to throw
in the towel. The next event was much
better - Bolton-le-Moors CC's Clubmans Rally, which we won overall. But our last event ended with a
fairly spectacular crash. It was at
97/651640 just SW of Ivah – I knew the bends were sharper than shown on the map
after the acute right S of Ivah farm but couldn’t remember the details, so I
called them as something like “It gets twiddly down here”… I don’t know what
Dave thought he heard me say, but it wasn’t that. On the steep downhill we arrived at the left
hander going far too fast and left the road (flew off the road would be a
better description!) The telegraph pole arrested further progress and was
felled for its efforts – oo-er. The car
was a mess, David was unhappy, and few words were said as we parted. I think it took a while for us to get back on
friendly terms, which happily is where we are again.
I
did one event with Geoff Altham, the 79 Devil’s Own in his Escort Twin
Cam. I don’t think we were in line for
any pots when a rather fierce dip on a straight caught Geoff out and we left
the road. We couldn’t continue, although
I don’t think there was too much damage.
Another
one-off was with David Calvert, this time the Clitheronian Rally, which used
many roads which were favourites of me and Dave. I thought we made a good team and we took the
overall win in almost relaxed style. We were
on the Gisburn Forest selective, going from south to north where the descent is
long and very, very, fast towards Keasden crossroads. Two or three times I reminded Dave that the
road going straight on bends to the right on an adverse camber, and I kept
saying “There’ll be spectators there – don’t overdo it and throw it off the
road!” We took the crossroads perfectly,
I said “Perfect!...” looked down at the map and said “…but we should have
turned right...” Despite the loss of 20
seconds we still won!
Another
three are drivers left – John Cressey, Ian Woof and John ‘Chocolate’
Morley. Cressey was (is) quick (although
I’ll tell you about somebody quicker), Ian was a very talented contender for
the Motoring News championship, and Chocolate gave me the opportunity to
co-drive on at least five International events including the Lombard RAC in
1986. Each one deserves a chapter on his
own. And there are four of my navigators
I haven’t told you about yet…
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