Brian Trott passed away in November 2015 aged 88 years, but he left his mark on trials in the South West corner of the UK and also further afield. He was well-known to all competitors in that area for his enthusiasm and dedication to the sport of trials and to motorcycling in general. It is no exaggeration to say that he lived for the sport of trials riding. This article was the result of an interview in 2007 on the occasion of Brian’s 80th birthday for the South West Centre ACU Gazette. Mike Naish shares the life of a dedicated trials rider by re-publishing this interview.

Words: Mike Naish & Brian Trott

Photos: Mike Rapley; David Cole

Mike Naish: Where were you born Brian?

Brian Trott: “I was born at Hawkchuch near Axminster on 10th June 1927. The family moved to Harberton near Totnes when I was eight. My Dad was a gamekeeper and he got a job at the Dundridge Estate. No pay, but it was a lovely life. We dined well and enjoyed life. I picked up some of his expertise because I am very close to the countryside. It seems our family have either been in game-keeping or mechanics. I went to school in Harberton Primary and then later in Totnes.”

(Historical note: Dundridge House and estate was built by the Luttrells of Dunster castle in the late 18^th century and by the late 1800’s had been acquired by Sir Robert Harvey of Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry fame. The property remained in the Harvey family until shortly after the Second World War and was most recently used as a training facility for air traffic controllers)

MN: What was your first interest in motorcycles?

BT: “It was whilst I was doing my apprenticeship here in Totnes. The company was WH Jordan a Morris cars and BSA agent at the top of the town. The motorcycle was in a garden not far from here. The lady had it jacked up with a belt on it fixed to a tool bench, I showed so much interest in it she gave it to me. I took it apart and took it back to Harberton on a pushbike bit by bit. I got it going and ran it for a couple of years.”

“My next encounter with bikes was in the RAF which really started my lifelong passion with motorbikes. It was very strict training which is where I got my machining experience. I had been in the Air Training Corps up at RAF Locking near Weston Super Mare on Ansons, so I was accepted into the RAF and I did three years as a fitter 2e (Engines) working on Harvard’s with Pratt & Witney radial engines in Egypt that was in 1945. That was my first real association with motorbikes. When I got there they asked me what my interests were.  I said motorcycling, so they sent me for some despatch rider training at a camp in Ismailia just outside Cairo. I met a man called Ivan Kessell from Cornwall, he was involved in speedway. They arranged a speedway match between the RAF and the army and they put me on a 350 WD Matchless. In our spare time, and as part of the training, we would get these bikes ready for the next meeting.”

“When I came out in 1948-49 I got a job with a tractor company, Reed & Company, a Ford distributor. I ran the agricultural side. I had a brilliant life with a mobile workshop and travelled all over the South West on the farms, I loved it but I had a bad accident with a tractor. The caterpillar ran over my pelvis and smashed it up it affected my bladder amongst other things. I was in Torbay Hospital for a year. Luckily I met a good surgeon who came to Torbay and he did a good job on me. In the early fifties I was a member of Dartmouth and District Motor Cycle and Light Car Club. I rode a couple of grass tracks on a Velocette GTP with an outside flywheel at St Annes Chapel Bigbury with Dickie Bird Ellis, then I rode a 197 James in scrambles. I bought it off of John Crook Motorcycles. It had been a rigid model but I put a swinging arm on it.”

“Pat and I got married in 1954. I carried on in local scrambling riding a 250 BSA then a 500 Triumph converted speed twin. That wouldn’t half go, I had quite a bang with it at an Otter Vale scramble and it came right in half.”

“I had an accident on a Tiger Cub at a Devonport scramble over the border in Cornwall. I injured my knee and was out for the rest of the season. Of course in those days you rarely went to the doctor with these accidents you just waited for them to heal naturally.  I started trials when it was better, to get me fit for the next scramble season, but I liked trials so much I never went back to scrambles. It is a lovely sport and it has a lovely lot of people, that’s what I liked.”

MN: How did you get to events in those days?

BT: “We took the front wheel out and hitched the forks behind the rear bumper of our A30 car and tied it down, took the rear chain off and towed it that way. One day we went to the Isle of Man towing the bike, a Tiger cub, on the back wheel in the usual way. We were flagged down by someone at Tewksbury who said there was a fire coming out of the back of the bike. We looked around and couldn’t see anything wrong so went on our way we thought they must have been seeing things. We were stopped three times by people saying there were sparks coming out of the back of the bike but we could not see any thing. When we got to the IOM and we went to put the chain on, at least ½ inch of the swinging arm was gone, it had been worn away by the side knobbles on the tyre which had been deformed by the speed we had been going.”

“In fact when we got home and had a piece of plate welded in we had more clearance.”

MN: What bike did you start trials with?

BT: “Well it was nearly always BSA Bantams, it’s the bike I become most associated with and really I was the man who stated the bantam scene for trials. If only I knew then what I know now it would have been even greater. Although when I went to work at John Crook Motorcycles, I had sponsorship from Greeves along with Alan Stevens and Ian Crook through the shop. I probably rode Greeves for ten years. I used to normally get first or second class awards in local trials.”

“I always felt I rode well when I went to Hampshire and rode in the Bluebeards and the Greybeards for over twenty years. I feel my best successes were there. I won the event in 1980 and 1981 and then had a bad crash in ’82. The winner Les Crowder, sent me the cup, said I deserved it more than him. There are some brilliant people in the trials world. The accident happened at Pepworth, I was in the lead on the 320 Majesty and I hadn’t lost a mark. Well on the course there was a part where two trees had fallen, they had been there for years and I thought I could jump them both, I was too cocky really. Well this time I just didn’t clear them; the back wheel just caught the end of the tree and sent me off sideways. There was a branch of a tree that had been cut off with a chain saw and it went straight in my mouth. I was in a terrible state with severe facial injuries, it cut an artery in the back of my throat. John Born was my hero who probably saved my life; he got me out of the woods and controlled the bleeding so that I could breathe. Jillian, Johns wife, drove me to Chichester Hospital where luckily they specialised in head injuries. The last thing I remember was going into the scanner then when I came around two or three days later my head was in a frame. I had screws to pull my face and jaw back out because all my jaw had been broken in four places and my teeth had been pushed back into my throat, which had cut the artery, I was in a hell of a state.”

MN: And did this not put you off riding?

BT: “No not at all, I went back and won the event the next year with ease, I still think that was my biggest achievement. I am sure it was the will to keep riding which helped me recover quickly.”

“The surgeon who looked at my ankles recently after I had two x-rays, looked at me and said, ‘Brian your ankles are shattered and I’ll put the cards on the table. You have three options. You can keep taking pain killers, you can have then screwed and fused but you will never get a boot on because you will not be able to bend your ankle or I can put you in a mechanical ankle, there is a new on just come in from the USA.’ After we had talked for a while and established that he had a Bantam he said ‘I think we can fix you up Mr Trott. You are almost eighty years old but you have the body of a sixty-five year old and the mind of a twenty-five year old. What do you want to do with a new pair of ankles?’ I said I want to walk down to the pub and I want to ride in motorcycle trials, so he said OK. I said when can you do it and he said next week and eleven days later I had a new ankle, it cost me £10,000. I have been back to work and it gives me no pain. The surgeon said that my positive attitude had helped my recovery no end. Now I have the second ankle done and am waiting to get back on the bike so that I can help Roger mark out the Dartmoor two day trial in September.”

MN: When did you open your shop?

BT: “I was working for John Crook Motorcycles in Totnes, I worked for him for twelve years and he took on a new Ford car agency but they dictated that he had to give up all his other outlets in trials bikes, so I said in that case I’ll take it on. That was in 1979. I eventually became a five star Honda dealer. It was hard work but as a family we all worked together and it worked well.”

MN: Did you ever ride outwith the South West centre, apart from the Greybeards?

BT: “I used to go to the nationals like the John Douglas and the Kickham and of course our centre nationals at Otter Vale and the West of England. I always went to the two day in Cornwall, the Tristan da Cunha and the Kernow. I also did the Jersey Two Day. One year I ordered a new bike, a 320 Majesty from John Shirt. They were going to bring the bike to the trial for me. Well they arrived late and missed the ferry; we could see John Shirt’s van on the Quay slowly disappearing. We saw the captain and he stopped the ferry and backed up back to the Quay so that they could board. There was no room for the van so they unloaded the bikes and the gear and pushed them in between the cars and left the van on the harbour side at Weymouth. Mick Andrews didn’t half give me some stick over that. I had some good rides on that bike.”

MN: When did you start riding Pre65 trials?

BT: “I cannot quite remember the date but I did ride in the first South West Classic Three Day trial in 1983 and carried on from there. I did feel very guilty because I had built this nice little BSA Bantam and most others were on big bikes like Matchless AJS and Ariel. Trevor Compton was on his Panther Stroud, I remember and I thought to myself what am I doing up here with this lot it is not fair on them, and I mean they were a lovely set of blokes. Pre65 gave me a new lease of life not only riding but making Bantams, I specialised in them. We tooled up and they became quite a large part of the business. We made the frames and sold bikes to Doug Theobold amongst many. I suppose we made about twenty-five. We did the motors up, I would machine flywheels and attach them to pressed steel plates and balance them up to suit trials. We also made some Tiger Cub specials.”

MN: You went to the Pre65 Scottish in 2006, did you enjoy that?

BT: “It was a marvellous weekend, I rode the Tandon along the Mamore Road with Dave Cole to see the sections. It was one of the most pleasurable weekends I remember. Scotsman, Jock McComisky arranged it for us.”

MN: And finally?

BT: “I have no regrets in my life I would do the same things again. Even my accidents, they make you realise that life is worth living and it gives you a positive attitude. I hope to ride a little Bantam engined James that I have built in some easier trials when both my ankles have healed. I always felt my best riding was done between the ages of sixty and sixty-two. I was very strong and this helped.”

“I have to give a lot of credit to my wife Pat who has supported me through my entire career and my times in hospital both in Cornwall Torbay and Chichester. She has observed and been with me at most of my events and I like to take this opportunity of thanking her publicly for all her support over the Years.”

Acknowledgements:

With thanks to the ACU South West Centre Gazette

‘Brian Trott by Mike Naish’ is the copyright of Trials Guru and Mike Naish.

More interviews with Mike Naish HERE

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