
Trialling
#1
Posted 02 May 2005 - 02:50
Can you let me indulge myself in a few memories?
Every Sunday, during the winter, we would get up at about six in the morning to go to a 'trial'. My dad would have the trials car, referred to as 'the special', on a trailer. I remember that the original was a Cannon and its registration number was RPD 4.
My mum, it was her day off, would pack us off wih spare clothes and a packed lunch; various sandwiches, a thermos full of Heinz tomato soup and Jacob's Club biscuits. Once we arrived at some remote hilly area, my dad and his bouncer (usually either Trevor or Stan) and a lot of other blokes would endeavour to climb their specials up muddy hills, marked out with numbers. There was something called the 'fiddle brake' which was evidently very important in gaining the top of these hills. 'Bouncing' was important too - as a seven year old, I did it quite a few times when the official bouncer had over indulged at the pub at lunchtime.
Yes, these were the days before the breathalyser. These motorsport occasions were normally punctuated at noon with the lunch halt - a trip to the local pub for two hours. We kids were supposed to sit quietly in the car (or beer garden) with a bag of cheese and onion and a lemonade, but I think that most of the 'trials kids' learned to drive during these lunch halts - in the trials cars.
I really can't remember much about the other drivers. Though I do remember Cuth Harrison, from Sheffield, who I believe once had an F1 drive? There are other names on the tip of my tongue but on a Sunday night, after a few glasses of wine, I'm going to have to rely on you to remind me.
Before my dad's motorsport memorabilia was destroyed, we had stacks of Autosports and copies of Motoring News, describing trialling exploits.
Trialling was my first motorsport experience and I think I was about three the first time I attended one. It is just me who remembers?
#3
Posted 02 May 2005 - 13:03
http://forums.atlasf...490#post2004490
Sign the petition or it WILL be memories only...
#4
Posted 02 May 2005 - 21:16
I never read them much at all... it was a foreign activity to me, but it did lead to constructors who rose to a high level getting a start... in at the ground floor as you might say... and there was some of it went on here.
I remember that John Pryce, the heavy-handed racing rep for BP in Australia for a long time and a firmly entrenched CAMS rulemaker, was involved in them. So too was the guy who helped build the Ian Mountain Peugeot Special, though I can't think of his name off the top of my head.
#5
Posted 02 May 2005 - 21:35
Some names for you from the sixties when Sporting Trials were still very popular.
Rex Chappell, Colin Taylor (The photographer), Mike Cannon (who built the ubiquitous Cannon trial cars), Lol Hurt, Peter Highwood......
We used to watch these trials at such exotic locations as Boxley Woods and Vinters Park in the Maidstone area, and IIRC were probably rounds of the RAC Championship. Lunch was taken at The Bell at Bredhurst and some drivers went a lot better after a few pints!
Colin Taylor was very popular with us children as he was only too willing to take us for a spin at the end of the day and get as far up a hill as possible.
As you can see from the above, the names I can remember are from the southern entries, although I sure that I did see others who had travelled from much further afield.
The weather was always cold, wet and muddy, the hot soup was always welcome and mum was always moaning about how muddy I was at the end of the day.
Glyn
#6
Posted 03 May 2005 - 01:09
Glyn, it sounds as though we had similar childhoods in the trialling aspect! I remember Lol Hurt well, and Rex Chappel. The name Peter Highwood is familiar, but I don't remember him as such.
Yep, my mum moaned a lot about how completely filthy were all were when we got home...
#8
Posted 20 December 2021 - 13:23
Television Trophy Trial, near Wendover, Buckinghamshire, England,1963:
https://library.revs...&date=1963-1963
RGDS RLT
Edited by Rupertlt1, 21 December 2021 - 09:11.
#9
Posted 20 December 2021 - 14:18
I am pleased to say that, 15 years on from this thread, trials are still a thing. The big ones - the Land's End, the Exeter etc still take place - covid permitting - and are well supported by both competitors and spectators. Take a look on YouTube where there are plenty of videos.
Never my cup of tea, but there are plenty for whom it is just the ticket and good luck to them..
#10
Posted 20 December 2021 - 16:37
Funnily enough we were talking about these the other day. BBC TV played a major role in promoting them, after Raymond Baxter suggested they were an ideal format for early TV outside broadcasts - just two or three cameras needed for good coverage and not much cabling (a max of 100 yards was allowed between each camera position and the outside broadcast control van). They even came up with the TV Trophy for the winning regional team, based on the design of the then-current outside broadcast camera (the same design was later pinched for today's SPOTY - Sports Personality of the Year Award).
I recently found some of my Dad's photos of the 1968 TV Trophy Trial in December that year, when we still had winter weather (hope I'm not tempting Fate by saying that!). The 'fashions' also seem appropriate. Sorry, no idea about the runners and riders, or the location.
#11
Posted 20 December 2021 - 19:21
#12
Posted 21 December 2021 - 09:18
In talking about trials once with Colin Taylor - for an article I was preparing to explain this peculiar branch of motor sport to the American readers of 'Road & Track' - he came out with what I thought was a gem. He said "People can't be expected to appreciate that a form of motor sport which sees the cars never leaving first gear, running on near-flat tyres and never exceeding about 25mph actually demands driving skill. Well they should just try it sometime".
DCN
#13
Posted 21 December 2021 - 09:34
My old mentor Tom Sawell lamented the advent of 'freak' cars that arrived at events on trailers — in the early fifties he had a black supercharged Dellow, LYT 822, which could be used for trials, driving tests and rallies, and driven to the event. The Dellow, #289, was seen on the Lands End Trial in 1953. He felt the fun went out of it when road cars were no longer competitive, and cars with tiny cockpits and extended wheelbases were de rigueur.
Incidentally 'RPD 4' is here in spades: https://library.revs...ARCHALL="RPD 4"
RGDS RLT
Edited by Rupertlt1, 21 December 2021 - 10:20.