The Anglo-Dutch
reliability Trial
- Earnewald, Holland - 2003
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It all
started in
1912 when
the first trial was held in Holland. Based in Amsterdam the trial was a
route of 158 miles and left the aptly named Darracq Palace on the 5th
August at 8.ooam. Riders were set off in groups of three on a circular
route
that went through Apeldoorn, Arnhem, and Utrecht before returning to
Amsterdam.
Marks were lost for each minute early or late as well as being unable
to climb
the test hill and for missing a control point.
Entrants
were split 50-50 between trade riders and private owners. It’s
interesting to
note some of the names that rode for England. Riders such as
F.A.Applebee
aboard a Scott, W.F.Newsome on a Triumph were part of the event whilst
the
reserves for the trade class had names such as Rex Mundy (Singer),
George
Brough (Brough) and Hugh Gibson (Bradbury) on the list.The
Reliability Trial was won by Holland and it was decided that another
such event
would be held in 1913 in England. That event took place and was won by
the home
nation – so – it was agreed that there should be a decider to be held
the next
year, 1914. However, the Great War prevented the event taking place and
it was
not until 1989, some 75 years later that the Third England-Holland
Reliability
Trial eventually took place.
The trials
since
then have been held on a
bi-annual basis and have alternated between Holland and England. Score
to date,
excluding the 2003 event, was, I believe, 2 wins to Holland and 7 wins
to
England.
The
current series is restricted to veteran machines in order to preserve
the
spirit of the original events and for this year the trial was to take
place in
the north of Holland, based at the Hotel Princenhof in Eernewoude,
Friesland.
Just in case you look at a map for Eernewoude, it is placed about
halfway
between Leeuwarden and Drachten. The hotel is on the edge of a lake
complex
that was created in the late eighteenth century by the locals cutting
the peat
for fuel.
Assembly
was scheduled for Monday the 28th July with
scrutineering taking
place during the late afternoon. During scrutineering a film crew
turned up and
their film and interviews actually made it onto the Dutch national
television
that night.
These machines were
pictured at the
start of the event. The 1905 Auto Fauteuil is certainly an interesting
bike - water cooled and no radiator
Tuesday
dawned and the sun shone as we set off at minute intervals on the first
day’s
social run of some 75 miles. Route cards were not issued, instead signs
were
placed at road junctions with a circle indicating a right turn, a
square
meaning turn left and a triangle being used for straight on. This was
the first
time that I’d ridden using these signs and they certainly worked. I
found it a
lot easier than having to squint at a route card for the next
direction. We
headed north for the coffee stop before turning west to Franeker for
lunch and
a visit to the planetarium museum of Eise Eisinga. A very
pleasant day
was spent riding on the straight roads of
the area, although I’m sure that
we could
all have done without the ‘Drempels’ that were found in each of the
villages
that we passed through. Drempel is the name for the speed humps that
are used
widely on the continent now and tend to be placed at road junctions in
the
towns and villages.
Day
two, Wednesday 30th July was also a social run
of around 75 miles
and this time the weather did not look too good. It was trying to rain
as we
set off to the northeast towards Veenklooster for the morning coffee
stop. We
continued northeast to the village of Kloosterburen for lunch whilst
the skies
tried desperately to squeeze some rain onto us. However, by the time
that we arrived
at the lunch stop, which was at a small transport museum, the drizzle
had
stopped. The museum housed a collection of small cars, such as
the
Gogomobile
and Lloyd whilst the two-wheeler offerings included a 1902 Clement and
various
other small capacity machines. All the time that we were there a
one-man band
entertained us. The afternoon run back to base was held in dry
conditions,
thank goodness, as it’s difficult enough trying to stop my single speed
outfit
on one brake in the dry – and even more difficult with a wet belt rim.
Briefings
on the next days riding took place each evening and Wednesday evenings
meeting was no different except that the following day, Thursday 31st
July,
was the official trial day. Two speeds were on offer – 30kmp or 36kph –
that
took some working out, I can tell you. Being used to 20 or 24 mph it
was all a
ploy, I reckoned, by the home nation to put us on the back foot.
Anyway, after
a thunderstorm the night before the day dawned with some nice sunshine.
Those
on the 30kph schedule were off first and amongst a crowd of people Mike
Wills
pushed away his ’04 Bradbury. Mike’s foot didn’t make clean contact
with the
pedal and both bike and rider collapsed in a heap. John Mockett had
just got
aboard his 1909 Triumph and quickly took avoiding action around Mike
and the
Bradbury. However, only pride was hurt and Mike soon had the Bradbury
on its
way. After fifteen minutes of running, my Triumph came to a stop –
check plug,
magneto, timing, and clean carb float chamber – you know the routine.
Just as I
was doing this, the camera crew turned up and started filming my mild
panic, as
I couldn’t find the problem. That made it even worse and I wasn’t
thinking
straight, however, the problem turned out to be nothing more than the
nipple pulling
off the cable at the air lever which I eventually found after looking
at
everything else for 25 minutes. Solderless nipple fitted and we were on
our way
some forty minutes late. I tried to make up time but in only a few
miles we
came to the first check and that was that. From then on we were back to
our 30
kph schedule.
By
the time we got to the morning coffee stop the rest of the field were
beginning
to leave. Chris Franklin pushed off his 1914 T.D.Cross and missed
getting his
foot on the pedal. That resulted in him ending up with the bike on top
of him
in the roadside ditch but that didn’t deter Chris and at the end of the
day he
had the best overall timekeeping. The lunch stop, situated to the east
and near
the German border was, again, very good and everyone made it okay. Even
Ron
Farthing and Sheila, who arrived over an hour late seemed to be
enjoying
themselves, “We’ve seen parts of Holland that you haven’t” commented
Ron as he
rode into the parking area.
During
the afternoon run I came across Baz and Jenny Staple with their very
nice 1913
Rex outfit. The rear of the sidecar chassis had broken – it was
probably down
to riding over those drempels. Baz managed to tie the loose chassis up
with
everything that came to hand and the outfit was soon back and running.
Of all
the problems that the English team suffered they seem to have all
happened on
the trial day. With the days run finished the machines were garaged for
the
night and we all cleaned up for the evening meal, whilst Baz and
Vincent Belgraver
set about welding the Rex sidecar chassis. After dinner everyone was
treated to
a three-hour boat ride around the lakes. Very leisurely it was, on a
particularly balmy evening.
Friday
was the last riding day and yet again the weather was dry and sunny.
The
one-minute intervals between each rider setting off had shortened quite
a bit
now and it wasn’t long before everyone was on their way. The route took
us
southwest and after the coffee stop we ended up at the Indian
motorcycle museum
of Tony Leenes in Lemmer – well worth a visit if you’re in that
area.
After the
afternoon tea stop we took one of the few small ferries that still
operate in
Holland, but by this time the welding of the Rex chassis had decided
to
let go
so out came the rope and straps to tie it all up once more. To my
knowledge
everyone made it back safely and looked forward to the final evening
and the
announcement of the trial results which were 23 marks lost to the
English and
21 lost to the Dutch, thus giving Holland the win.
All
in all an excellent week of riding amongst like minded people, and
proof, if
there was any doubt, that a veteran motorcycle can manage over 300
miles in
four days and be relatively trouble free. Special thanks must go to
Roel van
Maarseveen and Vincent Belgraver who managed the event on behalf of the
Veteraan Motoren Club.
By
the time we got to the morning coffee stop the rest of the field were
beginning
to leave. Chris Franklin pushed off his 1914 T.D.Cross and missed
getting his
foot on the pedal. That resulted in him ending up with the bike on top
of him
in the roadside ditch but that didn’t deter Chris and at the end of the
day he
had the best overall timekeeping. The lunch stop, situated to the east
and near
the German border was, again, very good and everyone made it okay. Even
Ron
Farthing and Sheila, who arrived over an hour late seemed to be
enjoying
themselves, “We’ve seen parts of Holland that you haven’t” commented
Ron as he
rode into the parking area.
After the
afternoon tea stop we took one of the few small ferries that still
operate in
Holland, but by this time the welding of the Rex chassis had decided
to
let go
so out came the rope and straps to tie it all up once more. To my
knowledge
everyone made it back safely and looked forward to the final evening
and the
announcement of the trial results which were 23 marks lost to the
English and
21 lost to the Dutch, thus giving Holland the win.
