cauntg Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 Hello, My first post so please be gentle! I have a Montesa 315 in great shape and am considering having a go at sidecar trials after my new girlfriend said she would rather compete together than stand watching me go solo!! We live in North East Scotland and I cannot find a club that runs a sidecar trial -- any ideas please or even if a club allows some practise with chairs. If there is a yes answer, I then need the chair...... Gary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillary Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 Sorry to have to disappoint you, but I don't know of any clubs in Scotland that cater for sidecars. You are about 30 years too late! The whole UK sidecar scene has diminished greatly, some 25-30 years ago it was booming but whilst there is still a British Championship series that attracts around 25-30 riders, there are not many other trials in which to take part, certainly none in Scotland that I know of. In fact even when the scene was at its best, I don't think there were ever any in Scotland. I rode as many as I could from '79 to '84 and never once in Scotland yet I live only 70 miles from the border. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p@ul250 Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 (edited) I would suggest that you talk to your local club and ask if they would be willing to allow outfits. Here in England it costs no more to include sidecars on the permit and at our club we run them on our Dead Easy and Easy routes. Any increase in insurance costs are covered by the increased entry fee. (around £3.00 more than a solo entry fee) So for a club its a win,win situation! We have a small club down here in East Anglia that my wife and I run and we got interested in sidecars for exactly the same reason(She was fed up of doing all the paper work only for it to be expected that she then stand and observe all day) When we first included sidecars at our trials at the beginning of last year, we had one turn up. At our last trial of 2013 we had five and we have another member building one now and another one hunting for a chair. As a side note. We have also seen an increase in solo entry's over the year and I think some of it is down to the buzz caused by having the outfits running. Edited January 17, 2014 by p@ul250 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2stroke4stroke Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 The last time sidecars were in use in Scotland as far as I’m aware (I was one of the drivers at the time) was in the early Nineties when Graham Smith was getting top three placings in the British Championship and Fred Hendry and his wife were also doing a lot of those events. Not many (ie one or two) clubs up here catered for the chairs and it was often really a case of crews turning up and sorting out what we could from the solo sections laid out if I recall correctly. There were several crews in the Northeast ACU Centre so events there were reasonably common and easy to get to but that's finished now I believe. I think you’ll be struggling to find anything to be honest (and need deep pockets for the travel costs). Oh yes - it's a bit more precarious than solo trials, especially in the early days. Don't tell your girlfriend but my passenger was a female and the full length body bruising used to draw some strange looks down the swimming pool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wobbler Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 (edited) Gary, The nearest will probably be Yorkshire - Unless the Isle of man is closer. The best suggestion I can give you is to get your outfit sorted and take it to a club trial for a ride around - on an outfit even the basics are a nightmare. If you enjoy it take yourself to a british championship round - have a weekend away (and a few beers) enter the "Newcomers" class and have a ride round - if you try some sections all good - if not You'll see what can be done and meet some of the friendliest people in trialing. If you get the bug-the rest will follow on. Good luck and Cheers The Wobbler- I was the Monkey in the chair........... Edited January 17, 2014 by wobbler 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishsteve Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 hi no sidecars at trials up here now.if you want to practice the wobblers do easy trials you could give grant a call he can only say no.would be good to see sidecars out again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cauntg Posted January 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 Guys, Thank you all for the replies, really helpful. I think I will join the Bon Accord club again this year and ride a couple of solos on the hard route to get my eye in again. The full length body bruising might put my lady off a bit!! We both went to Sheffield for the arena trial this year and loved it - Bou is taking things to a whole new level. Many thanks, Gary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig10 Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 To echo scottishsteve's comments, the AMCA Wobblers clubs have nice easy B routes you could probably get a chair around. You'd need to be either brave or very handy to get an outfit round an SACU trial B route. There are Wobblers clubs in Montrose http://www.mdmcc.webeden.co.uk and the East Neuk of Fife http://eastneukwobblers.webeden.co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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