It’ s 06:15 on Sunday morning as I leave the house and head north up the M40 for a two-hour drive that will take me to a rather bleak hillside just outside Bridgnorth in Shropshire. As many of you will know only too well, heading out early on a Sunday morning is like being transported in a time capsule back to the road conditions that we enjoyed 50 years ago, with light traffic, and those who do venture out seeming to have a greater propensity for moving along swiftly and enjoying the drive. I was struck by the remarkable number of groups of modified and customised cars travelling in convoy to some unknown destination, and what stood out was not only their presentation, which was immaculate, but also the careful and considerate way in which these hot rod cars we’ re being driven. It struck me that the country still has a huge passion for the automobile despite the attempts of many forces to relegate it to the ranks of pure utility and function. The day that followed would prove all of this to be true and born out through a wonderful spectrum of formats of competition managed by our amazing volunteer community.

As with most cross country and trials events, the venue is generally identified by a grid reference, or its modern-day version: what3words – which is a genius solution to identify otherwise nameless places across the planet. In my case I was meeting the team from the Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire Car Club( WSSCC) who were organising the Gaby Mohr Memorial Car Trial, named after one of the earliest members of the WSSCC who achieved great success in a VW Beetle. Production car trials are quite literally at the grassroots of our sport and provide a simple and accessible entry point for anyone with a very modest car, to demonstrate their skills and have lots of fun with a welcoming community. The entry fee for this event was £ 39, for which you got a whole day of competition made-up of eight separate Tests spread across a range of challenging hills. Trials( including relevant types of Cross Country) are of course distinctly different from every other format of motorsport in that speed, per se, is not the objective of the exercise, but rather the precise control of the motor vehicle in increasingly difficult circumstances. I very much like this facet of our sport and having had the opportunity to drive a Sporting Trials car under the tutelage of multiple champion, Julian Flack, I can attest that despite the lack of speed it is both thrilling and challenging.

I bumped into several old friends and colleagues from Motorsport UK committees including Nick Pollitt and Mark Hoppe, both of the British Trial and Rally Drivers Association( BTRDA), and competing in its championship, but also there to lend a hand to the newcomers who had any recently

Production car trials provide a simple and accessible entry point for anyone to try motorsport

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Revolution- September 2025