This is a brief explanation of some of the events which the Club runs.
These are driving tests on grass or tarmac, where the driver has to follow a prescribed route around cones or other obstacles in the fastest time. The cars are divided into classes according to engine size, driven wheels etc. Penalties are incurred for cones knocked over. If the driver does not follow the prescribed route he is given a 'washout' time. Tests are usually between 30 seconds and 2 minutes long, but cars rarely go faster than second gear, although reversing is also involved.
Affectionately known as CT's. Sections are laid out on grass where drivers have to climb a hill. There are 12 section markers between the start and finish. If a driver climbs the hill, he gets a 'clean', i.e. '0' marks. Otherwise the mark is at the point of failure. CT's require good car and clutch control with a gentle right foot. Junior members may compete from the age of 16 onwards.
They are somewhere between a treasure hunt and a road rally and provide an ideal introduction to motor sport in your own, standard car.
How Much do they cost? They are dead cheap to do - £7 entry per car, £10's worth of OS maps (which can be used again) and probably about £15 worth of petrol for over two hours of sport, not bad by today's standards.
What else do you need? Well, a couple of pencils, a rubber, a torch and a romer for plotting map references (which should last you all year), a car and a crew of at least two people.
What do you have to do? You plot a list of thirty or so simple map references, then choose which of the plots you want to visit. When you get there there will be a question to answer to prove you were in the right place. Visit as many points as you can to score as many points as you can.
What can you win? There are awards for first overall and first Novice crew, plus your finishing position determines how many points you get in the Skipton Trophy Navigational Championship.
When are they? We run six each year, all on a Wednesday evening. The first one is run in January, details are found in the 'forthcoming events' section.
Run as part of the Skipton Trophy Navigational Championship
A road rally with autotest sections interspersed. Cars classed as Historic must be registered before 1968 and Post - Historic vehicles registered before 1975. It is part of the National Championship and is usually run in April. The rally is a plot and bash event while the Run is a closed to club event and the navigation is by a tulip road book. Check out the Historic Rally Website at: http://www.jubilee-rally.org
Yorkshire Revival Rally
This event is aimed mainly for historic cars in order to capture the spirit of the original event run during the 1950’s and 1960’s - but we will still cater for ‘moderns’.
Competitors will have a choice of finishing on Saturday evening having completed the Tests or to continue after the evening rest halt to do a full night navigation rally finishing at breakfast on the Sunday morning.
The Day Leg Tests will be on airfields, farm tracks and other areas of private land. These will be a mixture of tarmac and gravel surfaces. The road sections will be untimed and the route will be in the form of a tulip road book. The Night Leg will start after the evening rest halt. Event website.
Firstly, the point has to be made that classic trials are not just for classic cars although many do take part. Classic trials are for all sorts of cars and motor cycles. What is "classic" about classic trials is the format of the events. The event reflect the style of events that was prevalent in the 30's where works teams from Ford, Austin, Singer, MG and others battled it out for advertising honours over long distances and the steep muddy slopes of the country. The route is used primarily to get from one slope to the next and the timing is used mainly to keep the whole event on some sort of schedule rather than as a way of penalising competitors. Many of the observed sections, which is the name given to the muddy slopes on which one's performance is observed are the same ones which were used at that time and are still as capable of challenging modern vehicles as they were then. Event website: www.ilkleyclassic.org
IDMC was originally founded in 1910 as a motor cycle club. The motor cycle section, although small in number, still promotes 3 renowned annual events:-