Peter James drives the T4, JOD 980, up Norman’s Hump (we think) on an Exeter Trial sometime in the late 1980s. With thanks to Mark Milne for providing the photograph. During the course of creating the original Troll T6 page I had a lot of correspondence from Peter James and David Alderson about the other…
Category: Trials History Research
Trials Trivia #3 – Scoring system history
Does anyone know when the 12 > 0 scoring system became the standard for trials? I’ve posted this question on the HSTA Facebook page quite recently, but am re-posting here, with updates, in the hope of reaching a wider audience. I know that the concept of sub-dividing sections was introduced in the late 1930s for…
Trials Trivia #2 – Chiltern Hills Trophy Trial 1952
Mark Milne has recently posted this wonderful video on the HSTA Facebook page: https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-chiltern-hills-trials-1952-online?fbclid=IwAR0rTEYQqKoEa1E7jOMEL-g5ItSc-ZeUonncRtT163e-6aM0Cw1haJGktGs Rather amazingly, I have some of the paperwork for this event, now posted here: Entry List / Route Card / Results.
Trials Trivia #1 – Allen Trial Results
It’s current trials folklore that Bristol Motor Club’s Allen Trial is always won on Special Test times because every year a number of competitors finish with a ‘clean sheet’. During last Sunday’s Kyrle Trial Dave Haizelden reminded me that there had been 30 ‘cleans’ on the 2021 Allen, and Pete Hart said that he thought…
Some historical notes on the route of the 2022 Edinburgh
Readers might be interested in some of the history behind the sections to be used for the 2022 MCC Edinburgh Trial: Haven Hill. First used in 2005 and used every year that the Edinburgh has run since then. It replaced Agnes Meadow (used 1994 to 2003) and/or Wigber Low (used 1999 to 2009) as the…
More on the Gregory
Shortly after republishing my Post on The Gregory, I unearthed an email which I’d received back in 2013 from Charles Helps of the Historic Lotus Register. He had attached two photos of XPP 886, an 1172cc sidevalve-engined, Lotus Seven lookalike, Gregory from 1956. I’ve checked on the DVLA website and it’s still around, still 1172cc,…
Golden Age of Motoring – Caption corrections
The Golden Age of British Motoring, sub-titled Classic Cars from 1900 to 1940, edited by Roy Bacon and published by the Promotional Reprint Company in 1995, is a large-format book of photographs from the Brunell Collection. It has been universally praised for the quality of the photography and the printing, and universally slated for the…
M.G.Trials Cars – Caption corrections
M.G. Trials Cars, by Roger Thomas, is one of the “Essential Seven” trials history books. Subtitled “An Appreciation of The Works Teams” this large format book was published in 1995 to accompany the MGCC “60th Anniversary Weekend” celebrating the formation of the famous Cream Cracker and Musketeers MG Works Teams. Lots of photographs, some well-known, and…
The Experts Trial
The Experts Trial was organised by the Mid-Surrey Automobile Club from 1933 until 1938. It used seventeen different sections scattered around Exmoor, so not quite on the organising club’s doorstep. Exmoor has always been prime trialling country and the Mid-Surrey AC were not the only club to travel miles to use Exmoor sections. The Brighton…
The Gregory
Josh Moss in PPP 387 on the 2012 Ebworth Trial. Photograph by Dave Cook This post (originally a page on this website) is the result of a trials-related “London Bus Syndrome” – most of us had never heard of the Gregory until along came two of them. 3 November 2007. The first item was in…