I don’t know what the weather has been like round your way recently, but winter is well on its way up here and the rain has been relentless. The lanes have turned to rivers and the fields are knee deep in mud. Perfect conditions for trialling in fact, and just in time for one the oldest events on the calendar.
Organised by the Motorcycling Club (the MCC), the Edinburgh Trial was first held in 1904, setting adventurous motorcyclists the challenge of getting from Central London to Edinburgh in only 24 hours. Given that tarmac had only been patented two years previously and the machines were primitive in the extreme, travelling 400 miles up the Great North Road through day and night was not to be sneezed at. Of the 52 starters who left London in 1904, only 12 finished on time. However, those pioneering motorcyclists were clearly made of stern stuff because it wasn’t too long before the challenge was deemed to be too easy. The length of the trial was doubled to 48 hours non-stop, including the return trip down south. The regulations were updated in 1906 to permit cars to be entered and from 1920 the route started to diverge from a “straight” run, to take in some of the more challenging passes and climbs of the north midlands and beyond.
As time went on the whole Edinburgh element was dropped completely until the MCC amalgamated the event with their Derbyshire Trials weekend in 1967. Today, the event is a staple of the Derbyshire and Staffordshire motorsport calendar and competitors traverse a route of nearly 200 miles, starting late on Friday night and running through to tea-time on the Saturday. Some of the competitive sections have been unchanged for nearly a century.
The challenge is simple on paper; to make a successful ascent of each hill without stopping and without prior reconnaissance. However, the hills are not paved with paper; they’re invariably twisty, rocky, muddy and very steep. To make life even more difficult, four-wheel drive and tricky diffs are not allowed. Competitors use road cars on road tyres, usually modified only for height and underside protection. Additional traction is gained only by letting some wind out of tyres and having a rear seat passenger bounce over the spinning wheels. It is frankly astounding what can be achieved from those who really know what they’re doing.
Yours truly in highvis which did nothing to scare off the rain as I attempted to capture the best pictures for you.
We stopped by for a bit of spectating fun at the Hob Hay section, deep in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Other commitments prevented a longer stay, but by the time we scarpered the weather had blown in and the rain had become torrential. Continuing with photography would have become an expensive business. So, here’s a quick look at some of the mad people coaxing their cars and bikes up the hill, and if you ever wondered where all the Suzuki X90s have gone, here’s your answer. Motorsport doesn’t get much more challenging than this.
