The John Clegg Mini Miglia Tour 2019 (Scroll down for the entry list and code board scores)
Supported by Therma-Clad
As in recent years, the 2019 John Clegg Mini Miglia Tour started from the NWA Auction site at Crooklands (just off J36 of the M6.) A Touring Assembly of 135 miles was planned over classic road rally routes. By popular request, the finish whold be at Banny’s Fish & Chip Restaurant by Boundary Mill in Colne.
Many hours of strong winds and heavy rain before and during the event caused the Clerk of Course to call an end to proceedings at the Fat Lamb lunch halt when the course opening car was unable to find a safe route to the finish.
The John Clegg Mini Miglia 2019 from the Course Car.
In the weeks running up to the event and bearing in mind the ‘Beast’ from last year, we were worried about the possibility of snow on the higher parts of the route. However, the day before the event the detailed area forecast was for wind, rain and possibly some early fog, but no snow or ice.
The morning run from Crooklands went well, plenty of running and standing water on the roads and the odd deeper stretch. After we put out the first code board, my feet were wet from water running down the road. By the time we had placed the 9th or 10th board, we were both soaked through and very glad of the roaring fire which awaited at the Fat Lamb. The only serious concern had been the height of the river in Ravenstonedale which was very near to overrunning its banks.
Leaving the Fat Lamb we soon came across the first deep flood on the B road running south from Kirkby Stephen – we got through, but clearly couldn’t expect the entrants to follow suit, so contacted the CoC and advised a reroute down the A683 and across the A684 to rejoin the planned route near Garsdale Head station.
When we arrived at the rejoin point, someone coming down from Dent station told us Dentdale was impassable. Once again we contacted the CoC and advised the reroute should continue along the A684 into Hawes and then run south to Ingleton via the B road. We only traveled a mile or so along the 684 towards Hawes before coming across another impassable flood.
Turning back, we decided to try the road over from Garsdale to Cowgill and to then turn left to try to reach the Ingleton B road. From Cowgill the road runs alongside and then bridges the river, which we could see was a torrent. After crossing the bridge we had to drive upstream through the river which had overflowed. Clearly another no go for the tour.
By the time we reached the B road into Ingleton and had a phone signal, the CoC had already advised crews to head for the finish along the major roads. A sensible decision – the rain was still heavy and waterfalls had appeared on the hills where we’ve never seen them before. Alongside the A65 huge areas of land were under water and it’s likely that our route around Wray, Slaidburn and Downham would have been difficult if not impassable.
For those who made it to the finish, we were delighted to see you there. For those who didn’t, we’re sorry that the conditions got the better of us but we did our best to find you a safe re-route. CoC Steve Warrington will be in touch.
(Scroll down for the results of the code board check sheets)
A new event in our calendar, the Knowldale Autumn Tour took place on Saturday 6th October.
The Autumn Tour was aimed at classic and collectors vehicle owners and one-make/model owners. Like the Mini Miglia, it is a non-competitve run and at 65 miles catered for those who don’t want distance of a full day challenge. A shorter route of about 45 miles was offered.
The weather forecast for the day promised heavy rain all morning but it remained fine and dry with the sun attempting an appearance as the first cars reached the finish. The event started at the Turnpike Inn near Junction 22 of the M62, where crews had breakfast of bacon butties whilst signing on and collecting their tulip-style road book. Those who wished could use the tricky navigational instructions also provided to plot the route on OS Maps 103, 104 and 110.
The route began with a run around Scammonden Water into Ripponden before skirting Sowerby Bridge and running over the moor into Oxenholme. The longer route then continued over the moors into Trawden and turned towards Hebden Bridge over Widdop. Roadworks in Mytholmroyd delayed proceedings somewhat but it was worth the wait for a final push through Ripponden Maze and over Pike End to the finish.
At intervals along the route, code boards were put out both to reassure crews they were on the correct route and also to allow the organisers to see who had followed the correct route.
On the Thursday before the event the weather was still fine and warm’ish, but the weather for the Eastern side of the route was looking grim, saying freezing conditions and snow would be coming in and forecasting temperatures between -1 and -4 and light snow but high winds starting between 11.00am and 1.00pm on Saturday.
Route planner Deryck Pickup reports:“I went round the route on Thursday with Ted (Roberts) and it was all totally clear, even Tan Hill. The worst road was Garsdale Head which still had big banks of snow at the sides but was still passable. I came to the conclusion that because nobody lives up there it was probably the last road to be cleared last time, and probably would be again.”
It was decided to plan re-routes to be deployed as necessary. Garsdale Head/Dent Station would be easy enough to avoid by using the main road from the Hawes lunch halt, losing only 7.5 miles of route. Unfortunately prior to that in the morning it wasn’t possible to cut out the likely problem roads without using other problem roads.
Deryck: “The solution was to turn right in Kirkby Stephen and use the B road that comes out on the A684, turn left and follow that road into Hawes. Mileage loss 22 miles. So almost 30 miles lost in total. I then did a re-route sheet in case it was needed.”
On the day, Ray Dale and Andrew Lord marshalled on the road leading to Leases Ford to hand out a mini re-route around it if necessary, but the ford was fine so was left in. As it turned out, all the route up to Kirkby Stephen was passable. Deryck and Ted in the course opening car set off along the rest of the route, with Clerk of Course Steve Warrington awaiting their phone call should the route be impassable. Come that call, Dave Pedley and Alan Kitson would set up a control on the road coming down into Kirkby Stephen and hand out a re-route sheet.
Deryck: “We didn’t have any major problems until turning on to the Tan Hill road proper where its a tight hairpin right and a fairly steep hill. It was immediately obvious that this road hadn’t been used as much as the others and we we were struggling to keep moving up the hill. Just before the top of the hill there is a farm road on the right – no one had been any further and there was a snowdrift across the road.
We actually got through the drift but when we got on the flat we stopped to have a weigh-up and took the decision it would be irresponsible and so I rang Steve and told him to instigate Plan B. We then returned to Kirkby Stephen to make sure Dave and Alan were there and then went straight to the lunch halt along the re-route to make sure it was OK. – It was. “
At the lunch halt in Hawes reports were coming in that an MX5 had gone off and drowned out in Leases ford and blocked the route, forcing some crews to find their own way round. Ray and Andrew went down to the ford and towed the MX5 out, so the later numbers didn’t have any trouble. (Photo from Dickon Siddall showing stricken MX5.)
Deryck and Ted attempted Garsdale Head and got as far as Garsdale Station before slithering to a halt on the hill, so the second re-route was instigated, after which the route to the finish was problem free.
At the finish, most crews had polished off their fish ‘n chips and the atmosphere in Banny’s was buzzing – in spite of everything everyone said they’d had a good do – when Jim Porter eventually arrived. It turned out that he did his own re-route around Leases Ford, hadn’t gone through Dave Pedley’s control and so was unaware of the re-route and therefore stuck to the original route over Tan Hill. He managed to get over, along with one other MX5. You can’t keep a good man down! (Jim Porter won the Mini Miglia Road Rally in 1971 sitting alongside Roger Clark in an Escort Mexico.)
Deryck once more: “I spoke to him at Banny’s and he said it was “a bit grim”. I think he’s probably a master of understatement! He also said we had done the right thing and that although one car on its own could get through, 40-odd cars would definitely have had some problems.” (Photo taken by Jim Porter of his MX5 outside the Tan Hill Inn.)
The driver in the ford (or was it a Mazda?) had to call the RAC because the ECU in the footwell was full of water and it would not run. The RAC man said there was nothing he could do because it would need a new ECU. The crew were having none of this and bid him ‘proceed on his way.’ They then took off the ECU and baked it in the local farmer’s AGA, re-fitted it, fired it up and returned to Banny’s, having still had a good time!
From 47 entrants only 3 did not arrive at the start. Out of those one was on call from his work and had been called in, and the other two drivers both still turned out to navigate in other cars. They all deserve a medal for turning up. The driver of the TVR (Roger Lee-Emery) had broken down on the way, managed to get back home and came in another of his fleet!
The next day, Sally Traffic was advising everybody not to travel in the Kirkby Stephen area.
As in recent years, the 2017 run will start from the NWA Auction site at Crooklands (just off J36 of the M6.) This year, there will be no tests, just a Touring Assembly run of approximately 160 miles over classic road rally routes. By popular request, the finish reverts to Banny’s Fish & Chip Restaurant by Boundary Mill in Colne.
The weather fared well on Saturday 12th March for the fourth running of Knowldale’s Mini Miglia Tour, an evocation of one of the North’s premier road rallies, renamed this year in honour of John Clegg who passed away last year. John was a well respected and successful competitor for many years on international and national rallies and previous Clerk Of Course for the Mini Miglia Road Rally.
Taking it’s name from the Italian Mille Miglia road race, the Mini Miglia first ran as a Road Rally in 1957 and had a remarkable number of achievements, some of which are noteworthy for the classic car enthusiast. On the 1959 event, Stuart Turner (Competitions Manager of BMC) navigated for Pat Moss (sister to Stirling) and gave the Austin/Morris Mini it’s very first competition victory. Knowldale introduced the concept of standard car rallying, with Harry Ratcliffe’s (British Vita Racing) rolling road being used to scrutinise power output at the start, and on the 1971 Mini Miglia the Escort Mexico gained it’s first competition victory in the hands of Roger Clark and Jim Porter.
Leading cars away from the start of this year’s Tour at NWA Auctions, Crooklands were Peter and Kath Clegg followed by John and Sarah Ettridge – all members of the Clegg family. The aforementioned Jim Porter returned as a driver with his wife Jo in a Morgan Plus 4. A mixture of modern and classic cars included Sunbeams Alpine and Stiletto, a Talbot Sunbeam, Ford Anglia, TR6, MGB, Mk1 Fiesta Ghia, Vauxhalls Nova and Tigra, Renault Clio Cup, BMW 3.0CSL, Mercedes SLK, a Lotus Elise, and four Mazda MX5s.
The road book offered a choice of navigation by tulip diagrams or by plotting the route onto OS maps from a set of complex instructions. Code boards were placed in secret locations along the roads to check for compliance with the correct route.
A run over Barbondale and through Dentdale was followed by a climb past Dent Station over to Garsdale Head. Unlike in previous years, the remnants of recent snowfall was confined to off-road drifts and the roads were clear and dry. The respite of a section of A class road towards Hawes was halted abruptly by a passage of Buttertubs and Arkengarthdale, leading on to Tan Hill before arriving at the Fat Lamb in Ravenstonedale for lunch.
In the afternoon the delights of the fords at Smardale and Leases (both passable despite the recent weather) awaited crews as the route headed towards Eden District and another ford in Morland. Cars then turned south towards Orton and Tebay via that interesting section of road between the carriageways of the M6. After a late re-route due to a land-slipped road, the extremely narrow humpty back bridge at Beckfoot leading up to Howgill was the final challenge, especially for the wider modern cars, before a run via Killington to the finish back at NWA Auction centre where crews enjoyed a well earned meal.
into Oxenholme. The longer route then continued over the moors into Trawden and turned towards Hebden Bridge over Widdop. Roadworks in Mytholmroyd delayed proceedings somewhat but it was worth the wait for a final push through Ripponden Maze and over Pike End to the finish. 
