"Trialling"

I've been reading a lot of kit car magazines recently, all of which contain the occasional article about a random, from-scratch, one-off build or the racing progress of certain regular builders or owners.  After reading one such feature, my mind started wandering back to my childhood and, potentially, the source for my current interest in a self-build.

When I were nowt but a slip of a lad, my family used to holiday in north Cornwall, staying on a dairy farm owned by Roland, a childhood friend of my father, along with his brother and their families. Ro, like any good farmer should be, was (is) very mechanically minded and channeled his skills into his hobby... Sporting Trials Cars.

Courtesy of 750 MC Sporting Trials

Trialling is a particularly different form of motorsport to what I had previously experienced. It isn't a race as such, more a combination of slightly odd-looking vehicles, big hills and a scoring system akin to golf. Each trial comprises of a slalom-type course, marked out by poles, upon an often unfeasably steep or undulating slope, which each competitor and their passenger hurl themselves up. The objective is to get to the top/ end of the course, without touching the poles, stalling or going backwards. If the top isn't reached, each car is scored based on which gate they get their front wheels through, with the gate values decreasing the further along the course they are. The car with the lowest overall score at the end of the event is the winner.

The cars themselves are built to a very specific set of rules, which cover all aspects including dimensions, engine types, wheel sizes and safety devices. Locked or limited-slip differentials are not allowed, but independent rear "fiddle" brakes are used to control wheel spin, along with a highly mobile passenger (or "bouncer"), who is usually throwing themselves around trying the get as much weight as possible over whichever of the large rear wheels has most chance at grip. The smaller front wheels look comparatively like they've been stolen from a bicycle, when compared to the rear, and can turn virtually 90 degrees each way, meaning each car has the turning circle of a fork-lift. Allied to this some long travel suspension and you have a vehicle that is capable of some very impressive hill climbing. The fact that a modern trials car bears some visual similarity to a Sevenesque roadster is no coincidence, as the Lotus Mk I, II, IV and VI were all used successfully in trialling.

Ro, my sister and me in "Kernow 2"

Not only did Roland partake in the sport (and still does) but he built his own car. In fact, he built two. Each car was powered by the guts out of a classic Hillman Imp and I can still remember the fleet of discarded Imp bodies lying around the farm, having been surgically picked apart for useful bits over time. Whenever I visited, I always tried to get a trip out in one of the trials cars, and I think this is possibly where my interest began. Whilst not built for speed, they certainly felt fast to me at that age. They were light, uncomfortable and without any form of windscreen. They had a clunky gearbox with fantastic transmission whine and you could get from the bottom of a vertical (to my eyes at least) slope to the top in seconds. Brilliant. The fact that they (and their trailers) had been built in a farm shed was also rather amazing.

As far as I am aware, at least one of these home-built marvels is still running, as there are photos of Ro's son, Ben, driving it on the trialling websites, although Ro now uses a more-modern pre-built car for competition (built by Crosslé in Northern Ireland). If my Zero turns out to be anywhere near as much fun to own as one of these, I will be very happy indeed.