Ed Stott was a true motorcycling enthusiast who earned his living as a graphic designer. He became a wealth of knowledge on trials and the Scottish Six Days Trial in particular and was highly respected by the committee of the SSDT.
Ed Stott lived at 44 Rodney Gardens, Pinner, Middlesex and was well known in the local motorcycling circles. In the 1970s, his vast collection of photographs were made into slides for his around the country talks on the Scottish Six Days Trial. Ed gave these talks with slide shows to various motorcycle clubs and associations over the years.
Stott was a ‘superenthusiast’ of the SSDT and trials in general, he was a rider, official and spectator at the SSDT. Stott earned the respect of the SSDT committee of the Edinburgh & District Motor Club Ltd and it’s clerk of courses over the years.
Ed wrote a number of articles for the Classic Motor Cycle, one of which he wrote in 1984, detailing the discovery and use of the SSDT section named firstly in 1953 as ‘Inchriach’, then ‘Creag An Eilein’ just south of Aviemore on the Rothiemurchus Estate, owned by the Grant family. The name in Scottish gaelic means ‘Hill of the Island’. Stott had observed this group of sections as ‘Team Leader’ during the SSDT and had a good knowledge of the area surrounding the hill.
Shortly before his death, Ed entrusted his motorcycling archive collection and notes to Deryk Wylde prior to his death. Deryk Wylde then passed this collection on to John Moffat of Trials Guru, gifted on 19th May 2025 and delivered in early October 2025.
Ed Stott had collected a significant amount of information on the SSDT, his first attendance as a rider was in 1947 and he rode until 1953. He attended every SSDT from then until 1995. Ed had been a competitor, an official and a spectator at the annual event.
Ed compiled information and photographs for a book detailing his time as a competitor, observer and spectator at the Scottish Six Days Trial. Entitled ‘Lochaber Rich Mixture’ it was published by Ariel Publishing and is a fascinating account of the life and times of the SSDT.
Ed Stott had struck up a friendship with Charlie Rogers of Royal Enfield and this was to be a very useful relationship over the years. This gave Ed access to information and advice when he owned and rode Royal Enfield motorcycles.
But it was the SSDT records that Ed Stott compiled and maintained that are of great historical value and significance. He kept many of the old reports and results of the SSDT, dating back to the very first Scottish Trial, a five day event in 1909. These were stored in lever arch files and have been hidden away for many years. Now they are in the public domain on this website, Trials Guru available free of charge for all to read and study.
Ed Stott recorded a vast amount of history on the Scottish Six Days Trial, our aim at Trials Guru is to share it with a wider audience.
Here are the links to the Ed Stott SSDT Results Archives:
‘Ed Stott – The SSDT Historian’ is the copyright of Trials Guru.
Photographic Copyright: The photographers named in captions to the images.
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