The Scott Trial preparations are well underway.
As the trialing world now knows, the Yorkshire dales where the Scott Trial is held has been devastated by recent floods. The streams which host the sections have expanded from six feet wide to forty feet wide in some places, causing the landscape to change considerably.
Lots of the usual gullys have changed, streams and becks now run in different courses and hillsides have effectively ‘moved’. Richmond Motor Club’s Scott Trial Committee have had their August meeting and have agreed that this year’s event will run as usual.
So now is the time to put your pen to entry form and get it posted so you can ride a bag full of new sections and new routes with the best in Britain. Entries are as always on a first come basis and remember in the past few years, there has been up to thirty entries on the waiting list, so please don’t delay.
As always your entry fee and kind donations throughout the event will go directly to local Scott charities and to supporting the Dales as they try to get back to some normality.
Download you entry form at  www.richmondmotorclub.com.

The five yearly Scott Trial Re-union Dinner will be held at the Ripon Spa Hotel, Park Street, Ripon HG4 2BU on Saturday, 16th November 2019.
Anyone interested in attending this prestigeous event should contact Alan Lampkin, Dinner Organiser for an entry form.

email: alan.lampkin@btinternet.com or phone: 07761 073368

Photo: Charlotte Brown, Richmond.

Richmond Motor Club’s Scott Trial committee were pleased to host their annual Charity Presentation evening on Friday 8^th March 2019 at The Buck Hotel, Reeth.

The evening started with John Fraser, Scott Trial Chairman, welcoming everybody and giving a résumé of the history of The Scott Trial and how Richmond Motor Club came to take on the running of it some 28 years ago. John thanked all involved in the running of the Scott Trial and also the landowners, tenants, farmers and gamekeepers for their continued support. He then introduced local trials legend and former factory rider, Richard Sunter who, along with his family, has competed in numerous Scott Trials.

Richard presented the cheques to representatives of the various charities, many of whom expressed their gratitude and explained how the donation would be used.

A total of £10,000 raised from the 2018 Trial was given out on the night. This brings the grand total of charity money raised by the Scott Trial since RMC took it on in 1991 to a fantastic sum of over £180,000.

Beneficiaries of this year’s donations are (in no particular order):

Swaledale Scouts, Swaledale Mountain Rescue, Friends of Reeth and Gunnerside Primary Schools, Reeth and Gunnerside Schools Fund, Ravensworth C of E Primary School, Yorkshire Air Ambulance, Great North Air Ambulance, Reeth Young Farmers Club, Swaledale Seedlings, The Bridge (previously St. Johns Community Centre), Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution, Hambleton and Richmondshire MS Society, Swaledale and Arkengarthdale Luncheon Clubs Association, Richmond Cricket Club Youth , Moorland Association, St. Teresa’s Hospice, Deaf Education Through Listening and Talking, Holmedale Pre-School, Richmond Cricket Club, Wensleydale Rugby Club Development Fund, Gamekeepers Welfare Trust , ACU Benevolent Fund, The Mowbray Suite at the Friarage Hospital, The Alistair Bullen Memorial Fund, Homestart, Just The Job, Robert Dent Memorial Fund, Marrick Parish Council Village Hall Fund, The British Lung Foundation, Reeth & District Community Transport Ltd, Rape & Sexual Abuse Counselling Centre CIO, Dementia Forward, Upper Wensleydale Sports and Recreation Association and Reeth Literary Institute Trust.

Saturday 13th October is the date in the diary of trials enthusiasts for the 2018 Scott Trial which gets kick-started into action at 09:00 GMT at Feldom Lane, Richmond, the official starter being Councillor John Blackie of Richmondshire council, himself a great supporter of the event.

The usual favourite to win riders will be there, strategically starting at the back of the 200 field of entrants and once again it will be run in what is described in the programme by the Scott Sage, Bruce Storr as a ‘backwards Scott’.

Some new hazards have been plotted by the Clerk of the Course and the setting out teams to keep riders on their toes.

Trials Guru’s John Moffat will be on hand to provide some start field commentary and also at the finish to interview riders as they catch their breath after hauling up the finish field on Park Top Farm land.

Remember to buy your Scott Trial programme which will be available at the start field and in local shops in Reeth and Richmond area. It is an essential piece of kit, priced at £5.00 the proceeds of which go to the ‘Scott Charities’, local worthy causes in the Richmond area.

Also please try and keep traffic flows going according to the signage, perk sensibly or better still in the areas provided, these are all located in the programme. There are several catering units near spectator heavy sections along with Ladies conveniences, all arranged by the organizing committee.

Have a great Scott day!

The Richmond Motor Club has now released the start times and rider’s numbers for their 2018 Scott Trial which starts at Feldom Lane, Richmond on Saturday 13th October at 09:00.

Remember to buy your souvenir official programme, priced at £5.00 it is regarded as a Scott Trial essential. 88 pages of trial informtaion, detail, map, where to see, articles and rider list, the proceeds all go to local charities.

Link to rider list 2018 – Click Here

The annual Scott Trial, the toughest one day trial in the UK, kicks off at 9.00am on Saturday 13th October, 2018. Main sponsor this year is Riverside Quarry.

The ‘must have’ official souvenir programme will be on sale from Saturday, 29th September. It carries the full 2018 entry list, articles on local riders with Scott history, landowners and where to watch guide by the ‘Scott Sage’ Bruce Storr.

You can get your 88 page copy from the usual local outlets or get a copy online via the Richmond Motor Club website. (www.richmondmotorclub.com)

Price in the shops is £5.00 and online £6.50 to any UK postal address.

Local stockists include:

Brookes and Victoria Road Petrol Stations; CJ Tennant, Richmond; Neeps & Tatties, Richmond; Smith and Allan, Darlington; Piercebridge Farm Shop; AG Bikes, Low Row. Plus all the usual Reeth outlets.

Remember, all proceeds go to the local ‘Scott Charities’

Entries for the 2018 Scott Trial, to be held Saturday 13th October 2018 are now officially open.

Entry Form’s and official regulations are now available to download from the Richmond Motor Club website under ‘Scott Trial 2018 -Regs’ and ‘Scott Trial 2018 Entry Form’

Richmond Motor Club website Link

The organisers ask that you please read the regulations carefully before filling in the entry form to make sure that you enter for all the correct awards.

Entries for the toughest trial in the UK are on a ‘first come, first served’ basis and the entries will close on Friday, 2nd September 2018. The entries are limited to 200 riders, so get your entry forms in as soon as possible to guarantee your place!

Any businesses who may wish to take up advertising space should contact the programme editor by e-mail: scotttrialeditor@outlook.com as soon as possible as the advertising space is almost full, with full page adverts fully booked, but a few half page are still available, at the reasonable cost of £50.00.

The Scott Trial, for those who don’t know, is held near Reeth in Yorkshire, England by the Richmond Motor Club (Yorkshire) Ltd. A competition run over a moorland course of approximately 70-75 miles, consisting of one lap. It is the most challenging of one-day trial events in the UK, possibly the world, its appeal is universal to both club riders and international professionals.

David Tye on his factory BSA in the 1954 Scott Trial – Photo: Ray Biddle, Birmingham, England.

Annually this event raises a size-able amount of funds for the ‘Scott Charities’, a range of local charitable associations and trusts which helps local communities. Much of the funding comes from an auction at the presentation of awards on the Saturday evening.

The event itself began in 1914 when Alfred A. Scott who manufactured ‘Scott’ motorcycles in the town of Shipley, set up a test of his products ridden by workers at his factory. It was a  reliability trial event to help publicise and prove his machines to the buying public. Of the 14 competitors who entered only 9 completed the course. The First World war intervened, but it was re-started in 1919 and continued by the Scott factory until 1926 when it was taken under the control of the Bradford & District MC. The trial was based near Harrogate at a village called Blubberhouses, then moved again to Swainby in Cleveland, not too far from where it is based today. The event organisation passed to the Middlesbrough and Stockton Motorcycle Clubs.

From 1950 the Scott moved again to Swaledale where it has remained until the present day and it is held within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Prior to Richmond taking over the reins in 1990, the Darlington & District Motor Club had organised the Scott. But throughout it’s history the event maintained its stature as the ultimate test of man and machine against the elements and course not just on observation but on reliability and against the clock. Scott competitors are always conscious of the clock ticking on as they traverse the moors of North Yorkshire. There are several re-fueling stops along the way, staffed by teams of enthusiastic volunteers not just from the Richmond Club but by people that are happy to be part of this great event.

The course sports 76 observed sections and it is quite usual to see more than one rider in the section at one time, which is a feature of this event. There is at least one observer and also a ‘checker’ who notes only the riders numbers down as they enter the section. There is a team of officials on machines who make sure that all is well and they collect the observers books as soon as the last rider has left the sections. There is a small but very efficient results team back in Reeth who record all the observers scores into a computer for results production. The eventual winner is a closely guarded secret, until revealed at the presentation of awards and as the results are read out on the Saturday evening, you can feel the tension building within the Richmondshire Cricket Club pavilion where the awards ceremony takes place.

And of course on 18th October 2014 the Richmond Motor Club (Yorkshire) Ltd will host the celebration of 100 years since Alfred A. Scott organised the very first SCOTT TRIAL.

See you in Swaledale….

The Scott Trial winners – Year by Year:

18th October 2014 – Who will be the Scott 100 winner?

‘Trials Guru’ wishes to thank the members and committee of the Richmond Motor Club (Yorkshire) Ltd; Bruce Storr, Clerk of the Course and his team; and Neil Sturgeon for the use of his images.