Those of you who were at the ACTC Dinner on 16th March, and were lucky enough to have been watching the video at the appropriate time, may have spotted an essential item of trials trivia, probably without even knowing what it was or why it was significant. The short clip showed at least one car attempting a climb of Vale Street on the 1984 Allen Trial. Vale Street, in the Totterdown district of Bristol, is often referred to as “Britain’s steepest street” and, although there are several claims to this title, what is undisputed is that Vale Street is the steepest tarmaced road in an urban area with houses on both sides, i.e. most people’s idea of what is a ‘street’. In its short length it has an average gradient of 23%, and a maximum gradient of 25.7%, but these are measured (as required by the Guinness Book of Records) along the centreline of the road. The inside of the corner on the uphill turn-in from Park Street has been measured at 40%, so now read on …
John Hayes made several changes to Bristol Motor Club’s Allen Trial when he took over, in 1984, as Clerk-of-the-Course. The most significant changes were probably the introduction of Guys Hill and John Walker, both still in use on the current Allen, but the most bizarre change was John’s decision to route the trial into the centre of Bristol, and use Vale Street as an observed section; he even put a restart for the higher classes (the big-engined Beetles and the Specials) right on the very steepest part of the corner at the bottom, and used tape and bollards to ensure that the competitors couldn’t swing wide and away from the 40% gradient. The route instructions state: “No walking section. Remain with car. HITTING BOLLARDS = FAILURE. At summit dwell on the fact that you have climbed the steepest bit of tarmac in England, possibly the world !!!”. As it was, Vale Street stopped only a third of the entry, with notable successes in the classes required to restart by Alan Foster (1584cc VW), John West (1172cc Oliver Special), Dudley Sterry (1466cc MG), Paul Fairbanks (1493cc VW Buggy), and Simon Woodall (1641cc VW Buggy).
John’s use of Vale Street has not, so far, ever been repeated (one for this year’s 40th Anniversary, maybe?).
