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,…
Category: Trials History Research
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…
The Guy Fawkes Trial
The Falcon Motor Club’s Guy Fawkes Trial was one of many trials first run in the late 1940s or early 1950s as motorsport was restarting after the Second World War. The Guy Fawkes started off as a “North Chilterns” road trial before moving to the Cotswolds, then back to the Chilterns, ending its “first life”…
Classic Sections – Leckhampton
From the JES (Jesus) Jones collection with thanks to Mike Dalby and Bryan Ditchman. Leckhampton is interesting for two main reasons: it caused a sensation when first used for the 1935 Colmore Cup, as described in detail by Austen May in Wheelspin; and it is right on the outskirts of Cheltenham and probably closer to…
Classic Sections – Ibberton
From the JES (Jesus) Jones collection with thanks to Mike Dalby. I’d long wondered about the location of the wonderfully atmospheric picture on Page 161 of Bacon but it wasn’t until August 2007 that Bryan Ditchman positively identified it as Ibberton Church Hill. (There is another picture of Ibberton on Page 106 of Bacon.) Shortly…
Classic Sections – Dane
MG Musketeer team captain MacDermid climbs Dane, probably on the 1937 Wye Cup Trial. Photograph taken from page 48 of Thomas. Dane Hill in Kent is hardly a well-known PreWar section, so why does it feature here? Solely because Brunell took some photographs there, in 1937, which have been famously mis-attributed. Data County OS 100km GR Entry…
ACTC Championship Trials
The ACTC was founded in 1981 and the Championship was started in 1984. Since then it has run every year, although awards were not made for 2001 (as the number of events was reduced by the Foot and Mouth crisis) nor for 2020 (as most events were cancelled due to the Coronavirus crisis). This page…