This article was first published in Issue 152 of Triple, the Official Journal of the Motor Cycling Club.
“Why is an event that takes place entirely in the Peak District called The Edinburgh?” is one of the first questions asked by many newcomers to the sport of classic trials. Most MCC members will be vaguely aware that it’s got something to do with the MCC’s Sporting Trial, which used the hills of the Peak District in the 1930s, but I suspect that very few know the full story, so read on …
Let us briefly review the scene in 1939, immediately before the outbreak of WW2. The Edinburgh Trial, although sharing the same long distance overnight format as the Exeter and Land’s End Trials, had evolved into a subtly different event. The Edinburgh remained more a test of endurance and less a test of hill-climbing ability, with fewer observed sections, than the other two events. By 1939 it was also attracting a generally smaller entry than the Exeter and the Land’s End Trials. The Sporting Trial was a daytime event, of much shorter mileage than the MCC’s ’Big Three’, starting and finishing in Buxton, and with hill-climbing ability more important than endurance.
When motor sport restarted after WW2, it was under the cloud of petrol rationing and the MCC was unable, for several years, to run its long distance events in anything approaching their PreWar formats. Only the Sporting Trial, with its much shorter mileage, was able to restart much as it had been in 1939. The Exeter and Land’s End Trials were back to their PreWar long distance formats by the early 1950s, but the Edinburgh never recovered. Whereas the two events held in the South used minor roads and unsurfaced tracks, the observed sections used for the PreWar Edinburgh were mostly ‘normal’ public roads, and many of these had been surfaced during the war or immediately afterwards. The organisers had difficulty in finding suitably-testing alternatives and interest in the Edinburgh dwindled still further. It became a rally in 1951 and, by 1954, no longer went north-of-the-border, being renamed the Whitsun Rally.
In 1956 the MCC Committee decided that they needed a third long distance trials event to sit alongside the Exeter and Land’s End Trials, and the Derbyshire Trial was born. This was, in essence, the Sporting Trial with multiple start locations and an overnight run tacked-on at the beginning. Then, in 1957, the Committee re-introduced the Edinburgh Rally, rebranded as the Scoot to Scotland. Initially sponsored by Esso, the intention was to capitalise on the new enthusiasm for scooters as a two-wheeled form of transport and the ‘Scoot’ was an immediate success. It followed the format of the PreWar Edinburgh Trial with multiple start locations, an overnight run, and, crucially, it finished in Edinburgh. Both new events were extremely popular; by 1962, the Scoot to Scotland was regularly attracting well over 300 entries and the Derbyshire over 150. But why is 1962 such a crucial year in this story?
During the late 1950s and early 1960s there had been a rising number of complaints about motoring events which took place on public roads, with most of the complaints relating to night events, excessive speed, and the use of green lanes and narrow roads. The Government was determined to ‘do something’ to minimise these complaints and decided that some form of regulation of motoring events on the public highway was essential (none had existed before). Section 36 of The Road Traffic Act 1962 introduced authorisation for motoring events, but did not apply immediately.
Instead, Ernest Marples, the Minister of Transport at the time, created the Motor Rallies Advisory Committee, under the chairmanship of Lord Chesham, “to advise the Minister of Transport on the exercise of his powers for regulating motoring events on the public highway under Section 36 of the Road Traffic Act 1962”. The Committee reported in March 1964 and their recommendations, which attempted to strike a fair balance between the interests of the sport and disturbance to the general public, were eventually incorporated into law in the Motor Vehicles (Competitions and Trials) Regulations 1965.
The MCC was placed in an enviable position by MVCTR 65. One of the main recommendations of the Chesham Report was to limit the number of competing vehicles to 180 for day events and 120 for night events (defined as any part of the event taking place between 10 pm and 7 am). But the Chesham Report also defined ten ‘specified events’ which were, to quote the Report, “established events” whose entries already exceeded the proposed maxima, with a recommendation that they should be exempted from the new restrictions on numbers. These ‘specified events’ were formalised in Schedule 3* of the 1965 Regulations and included the MCC’s three long distance trials, the Edinburgh being listed in the Regulations as “The Scoot to Scotland and Edinburgh Run” which was its official name at the time.
In retrospect, it is highly unlikely that the Edinburgh would have been included in the list of ‘specified events’ had the Scoot to Scotland not been running successfully, with entries well over 180, in the years immediately prior to the creation of the Motor Rallies Advisory Committee.
MVCTR 65 came into operation on the 1st September 1965. The 11th Derbyshire, held on the 2nd October 1965, seem to have slipped-under the net of the new Regulations, with 185 competitors starting from Coventry at 2:46 am. But, by the 12th Derbyshire on 12th November 1966, the route had been shortened, the entry reduced to below 180, and the start time put back to 7:01 am.
By 1967, interest in the Scoot to Scotland had waned significantly (with only 85 entries for the 1967 event) whereas the Derbyshire Trial was running close to its allowed maximum of 180 entries. The MCC Committee therefore took the decision that 1967 would be the last year of both the Scoot to Scotland and the Derbyshire Trial. From 1968 the Derbyshire was, in effect, renamed as the Edinburgh, allowing the event to run as a night event and without limit on the number of entries. The numbers were down (to 152) for the first running of the ‘new style’ Edinburgh on 5th October 1968, but then climbed rapidly – to 193 in 1969, 200 in 1970, 227 in 1971, and 243 in 1972.
The 1965 Regulations were replaced by the very similar 1969 Regulations, which are still in place today. When one considers the changes over the last 50 years to our roads, our vehicles, and the public’s attitude to motor sport, it is a remarkable tribute to those who contributed to the Chesham Report, and to those responsible for drafting the subsequent legislation, that the 1969 Regulations are still considered ‘fit for purpose’ in a totally different motoring environment. It is also a tribute to the ACU and the RAC (subsequently the MSA and now Motorsport UK) who have been responsible for the ongoing implementation of these regulations.
And the MCC’s Edinburgh Trial continues to thrive, in a very similar format to that of 50 years ago, and all thanks to those intrepid enthusiasts who ‘Scooted to Scotland’ between 1957 and 1967.
* Schedule 3 of the 1965 Regulations became Schedule 4 of the 1969 Regulations
