Croix-en-Ternois 2012 - an Odyssey

Time again for my annual trip to la Circuit d'Automobile at Croix-en-Ternois in far northern France. As always for me this is an eagerly awaited weekend because it gives me the opportunity to meet with UK friends and to see much pre’78 machinery, solo and sidecars especially a good number of BMWs!  

Left home Thursday morning to stay overnight at Rouen in Normandy then the next day carry on to Croix.  You may call me a wuss if you wish but these days a trip of just over one thousand kilometres in one day is just too much, besides there is no rush anyway. The journey as far as Tours and the River Loire was pleasant, little traffic, sunshine, satnav behaving herself.  It is said that France has a distinct division of weather that north and south of the Loire.  Yet again it was true, as I crossed the river the sun disappeared, huge black clouds appeared in virtually an instant, suddenly unannounced the skies opened – not rain but hailstones the size of marrowfat peas.  The noise on my car roof was deafening, I was hoping that the hailstones would not damage the roof - this is not unknown in France, car insurance carries specific cover for hail damage.  There was little option but to slow down as the road was very slippery within a few seconds and only possible to continue at about 50 kph.  Thankfully the hail stopped in about five minutes turning to seriously heavy rain of almost biblical proportions for a further few minutes. The storm was accompanied by gale force winds which continued after the deluge ceased all the way to Rouen.  Last year at Croix the weekend was blighted by heavy storm conditions until the Sunday afternoon, I was praying that 2012 would not be a repetition.

Saturday morning – blue skies, breezy and warmish, obviously prayers had been heeded.  A stop was made en route to Croix for breakfast for Team Triplebrew of the obligatory baguettes, croissants and pain au chocolat which were very welcome on my arrival.  The team had a good journey from UK and were comfortably setup anticipating an enjoyable weekend with all problems sorted beforehand.

The paddock(s) were very full despite there being a meeting at Dijon the same weekend for classic machinery – this year somehow or another a couple of F2s had sneaked into the entry, oh well suppose that it gives the quicker classics something to aim at!  There were some interesting outfits to be seen, a pair of T500 Suzuki engined bikes (one of which was reputed to be leading its class in the French championships), the usual spread of Kawasaki fours, a two Konigs and a very large handful of BMWs.  One of the Konigs was a copy of Rudi Kurth’s chassis where the passenger lies prone without moving for the entire session, the driver was working hard on lefts but without any apparent problems because it was quick, very quick.  To seemingly much relief the Honda twin outfit with the passenger of the most extreme and outrageous style was not present this year, they caused quite a few problems for others last time due to their infinitely variable width and unpredictability.

First session went well for 118 after the usual reluctance of the Triumph to initially fire up.  Grant and Ian soon settled into a comfortable rhythm, Croix is all about rhythm, circulating fairly rapidly indulging in a battle with the quick T500 for a good number of laps.  End of session, 118 pronounced the session good and better than last year (apart from the weather) as gearing had been raised seemingly spot on. Another sidecar session promptly began, in this there was Derek Plummer and his passenger Roger on a tidy but functional BMW – they went well and seemed to be enjoying themselves.  At one time there was a bunch of five BMWs all on megas together, oh what sweet music to my ears!

Lunchtime – a slightly different affair to the usual British thirty minutes or so, one and a half hours duration, that is normal in France even at the National Championship rounds.  If you have never seen lunch in a French paddock it would be a revelation, table with tablecloths, chairs a huge variety of cold meats, fish, salads, fruit, tarts accompanied by the inevitable bread and a little wine!  As for myself I was treated to sandwiches (fresh made) and some superb frites all naturally accompanied by tea – for his efforts in the latter department the entire weekend Ian must at least be mentioned in dispatches!

First sidecar session of the afternoon and Team Triplebrew were out again, thankfully the triple was more inclined to start this time.  Soon a rhythm was established, surprisingly they were staying in contact with both F2s on circuit.  Without warning they disappeared, for a couple of laps before reappearing in the paddock.  Puzzled looks all round because the throttle has suddenly developed a mind of its own and jammed wide open into a corner, suffice to say there was minor panic before normal order resumed with withdrawal from the fray deemed the wisest option.

Fairing removed allowed a close examination of throttle cable, for some reason when on lock the cable had managed to get itself snagged behind the rev counter.  Said cable freed then much lock to lock waggling of the steering in an attempt to replicate the problem.  After a few turns the cable became entangled again, the obvious question was why now when it had never occurred before?  Much conjecture followed leading to the obvious question of what is different this time.  A number of different routes were tried all without apparent resolution, cable tying it too various bits as well as the clutch cable did not work satisfactorily either.  Anyone remember the Simon and Garfunkel hit ‘Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover’?  There is now a revised version if that classic song: ‘Fifty Ways to Route a Cable’!  Grant is an inveterate taker of photos, this time his pics of various bits of the bike really paid off – amongst his collection was one of the rev counter head and the offending cable.  Cable rerouted correctly this time with the aid of the odd cable tie and it was pronounced good.

That was the end of track time for day one, now there was an even greater problem, what to do for dinner this evening?  Basically there were two very obvious choices, stay in or go out – the former meant the fast food bar in the paddock which is quite good as such places go, especially their French bread hamburger with all the trimmings.  When I say French bread I mean a standard French loaf with obvious contents covered on top and both sides by frites, never have I seen a burger so big and all for €7.  Of course there were other options including the usual local style hot dog ...

The alternative was to eat out so we headed for the nearest village of St Pol de Ternois which has a number of eateries to choose from, our selection was the old post office offering an inexpensive and varied menu.  Inner beings satisfied it was back to respective bases and goodnight Vienna.

Sunday morning broke very grey and breezy, en route to the circuit from my hotel the rain started becoming somewhat heavy.  Oh dear thought I, a rerun of last year, please no!  Made the daily victuals stop on the way arriving at Croix still in the rain.  First session was sidecars, the boys were out in this one, I saw the last few minutes and they were going very well indeed with the little 500 Suzi following but unable to pass.  The track was very wet, the odd large puddle forms here and there so caution is the watchword.  118 came out of a left hairpin just in front of where I was watching lining up for the next corner, a right hairpin, some one hundred and fifty metres on.  The Suzi hit the puddle between the two corners and aquaplaned in a very spectacular fashion with literally a lock to lock old fashioned tank slapper, looked a bit scary.  Somehow the driver caught it whether it was skill or reaction I know not but it was a tremendous save indeed.  

End of session, two more later to go.  The penultimate one was wet again but Grant and Ian love the wet so off they went.  Only about a dozen or so went this time, some had already given the weather best and were packing up.  A few short minutes later 118 came back to the paddock with a persistent misfire, obviously a case of water where it didn’t oughta.  There was a fair while before they were due out again including the lunch break so they started to hopefully find the cause of the misfire.  Just a few years ago electrics were simple, very simple, a battery to run the SU fuel pump and a magneto for the sparks – that was it, nought else, so simple that even I understood them.  For the first time I had a look at the electrickery on the Trident, hmmm, a grey box about the size of a junction box with a rainbow coloured assortment of electric string to and from it, a cluster of more electric spaghetti shooting off all over the place.  Confused?  You bet I was!  The grey box was explained to me as the Trispark ignition system, I liked that because all the gubbins and thingummies are inside unseen so there is for me no need to know anything else.

Connectors were disconnected, plugs unplugged, adaptors unadapted, wires pulled and poked, everything being dried meticulously.  Much kitchen towel was used and some left over lunch in the hope attracting any remaining moisture.  Inner men (and lady) fed it was time to put it all back together and see what happened.  Any guesses are probably not worth the effort, the misfire was still alive and well.  Further cleaning and demoisturising continued apace still to no good effect.  In the meantime the rain became more intense, just what is needed when trying to eliminate damp problems, the sky darkened even more as another attempt was made to get Neptune running on all three.  Oh dear, still the bike was only one of a very few 620cc Tridents around ...

Grant, still astride the back sat up with a sort of smile gesticulating to the ignition coils.  He had seen a spark between the HT outlet and a low tension wire on a coil.  Further investigation showed that was the case, substitute coil fitted in less than a minute and bingo! - one very healthy sounding Trident.  What an absolute flook of a fault, if the light had not been poor then it could have taken ages to find the problem.

By now, mid afternoon, the paddock was almost empty due to the appalling weather, control was calling for any solo riders to brave it, not just in classes as earlier but anyone brave or foolhardy enough to give it a go.  No takers so there was an empty twenty minute slot with nothing happening apart from the incessant rain still falling.  Then a sidecar session was called with about half a dozen bikes turning out.  Why not, said les frères Tapsell, it’s only rain.  The first lap was behind the safety car to line up a grid.  Start and everyone was away in what turned out to be probably the fastest session of the day despite the conditions.  Clinging fairly closely to Team Triplebrew was an immaculate, metallic green, naked 1000cc BMW which sounded absolutely gorgeous.  Try as Ian and Grant might they did not manage to dislodge that BMW for the entire session, that is certainly one of the quickest Be-ems that I have ever seen.  Apart from what is presumably a well tuned motor the passenger, a young lady of only about nine and a half stones certainly contributed to their performance with an economy of movement and wonderfully neat positioning, she was a sheer joy to watch.

So that was Croix 2012.  Well, not quite.  Left hotel Monday morning to travel for an overnight stop at Rouen, pleasant hotel, good night’s sleep.  Tuesday morning my car would not start, not battery problems, plenty of diesel in the tank.  Thankfully recovery is included in French car insurance – simples!  No, all necessary details are at home, phoned Jane to liaise with our bank (our car insurers).  Recovery truck arrived thirty minutes later taking me to a Rouen garage.

By lunchtime, it’s France so that garage closed for a two hour lunch break, the problem had not been identified.  Sat around another three hours when the news was gently broken that the injector pump had failed, an ex-injector pump so to speak.  Would be repaired but not ready until two days later so an enforced hotel stay in Rouen.

Thursday morning found me back at the garage having been told that all was fixed and ready to go, great!  Fate had one more little surprise waiting for me – my bank debit card was rejected, apparently there is a maximum one payment ceiling on it.  Panic!  Not having a cheque book with me (cheques in France are as good as cash) how do I get out of this one?  Phoned Jane again who went see our bank manager who was as ever very helpful.  Thirty minutes later a fax arrived at the garage proving that payment had been made, smiles and handshakes all round and left homeward bound and €2,200 euros poorer.

Eight hours later and I had never been so pleased to see home, Jane and our two cats!