Off road trialling is probably the cheapest form of motor sport to participate in and is the club’s core activity. Monthly trials are organised at various sites across the Island. An event
consists of a minimum of 8 short competitive sections. Each section has pairs of gates numbered from 10-1. The 10 gate is at the start of the section and the 1 gate is the final gate.

The object of the section is to complete the course using the shortest possible route without ceasing forward motion or allowing the vehicle to touch any of the gates. The gate markers are normally bamboo canes with ‘flags’ with their number on placed over the top.

If a section is completed without touching any of the gates the competitor scores zero. Should the vehicle touch a gate marker on the course the competitor is awarded the number of penalty points signified by the flag on the gate. So if a competitor hits the first gate (number 10) then they score 10 penalty points, if they hit the final gate then they score one penalty point.

Should the competitor cease forward motion their score will be the final gate they successfully passed through before coming to a stop. The remainder of the section is then void.

Although this all sounds highly competitive, for many of the competitors the events are highly social and there is a warm atmosphere during the event (even in mid-winter !) and the time between sections is a good opportunity to discuss vehicles and driving technique, seek advice and even just socialise !

We have included some examples of vehicle positioning to help new competitors interpret their scores, which can be a little confusing.