Back in December 2012 I prepared a list of the ten trials sections in longest continuous (or almost continuous) use for major trials, intending it to be used as one of Michael Leete’s Classical Gas Christmas Quiz questions. As it turned out, Michael found some better questions, but I thought people might be interested in…
Category: Trials History Research
Famous Test Hills
Climbing steep hills has held a fascination for the motorist since the very early days, as shown by these articles from motoring magazines of the 1920s and 1930s. The links all open new windows with the articles as PDF files. Some Noted British Test Hills Article from The Autocar for December 11th, 1920. This makes…
The Guitings unravelled
The area around Guiting Power and Temple Guiting, on the Cotswold Hills between Cheltenham and Stow-on-the-Wold, was criss-crossed by the three main trials that used the North Cotswolds – the SUNBAC Colmore and NWLMC Gloucester Trials pre-war, and the Falcon Guy Fawkes Trial in the 1950s to 1970s. After discovering Kineton, my attention turned to…
Classic Sections – Kineton
The Woodalls, Bertie (driving in the cap) and Victor (passengering in the fedora), in Victor’s Wolseley Ford special at the start of ‘New Kineton’ on the 1939 Colmore Trial. With many thanks to Simon Woodall for providing both the original photographs. Although Juniper might be considered a very obvious candidate for the first in this…
Classic Sections – Juniper
From an illustration in ‘Wheelspin’ by C.A.N.May. Before the War, Juniper was the most feared of all the hills in the Cotswolds and rates more entries (18) in the index of Austen May’s Wheelspin than any other section. It was also the one about which I’d received more “Do you know where it is?” requests…
A little piece of history
Some of you will know that I have spent a significant amount of time over the last eighteen months researching what I refer to as trialling’s Middle Ages (or even Dark Ages) – the period from the end of the Second World War in 1945 to the formation of the ACTC in 1979. Although there…
Where are they? – #5
Cotswold Clouds sections Has anyone got any idea where these three “used once only” sections are? Wellie Wanted – Used for the 1976 Clouds only. Hayhedge (Special Test) – Used for the 1983 Clouds only. Lutheridge – Used for the 1983 Clouds only. Please contact me by email or via Facebook. Update: 28 December 2021….
Ashmeads ‘discovered’
A section of the route of the 1938 Abingdon trial – Ashmeads is shown in blue. Ashmeads is one of those Cotswold hills that has been on my ‘to be discovered’ list for a very long time. It was used for the MGCC Abingdon to Abingdon Trial in 1937 and 1938, and a facsimile of…
Lyn Hill Update
I’ve received further proof of the location of Lyn Hill. Go to the original “Where is it? – No.3” post and scroll down to the 18 February 2020 update.
What’s been going on behind the scenes?
Regular visitors will know that there have been no updates to this site since late September, but that does not mean that nothing’s been happening behind the scenes. I was about to embark on a major update to the Trials Sections Database but decided to change my priorities. I have, over the last three months,…