Writers Note – This years Edinburgh was a controversial trial. While developing this report I would be grateful for any factual additions or corrections so it is as accurate account as possible. You can make these in the comments here on this page or by any of the many other ways you can get in touch with me – Michael
This years Edinburgh Trial was heavily promoted in all the available Social Media channels, emphasising a significantly different route avoiding main roads and the inclusion of some of the challenging classic sections for more classes.
Come the day the event was beset by bad weather which particularly affected the later numbers resulting in many cancelled sections including what many regarded as the “best” ones. The second half of the event also presented a navigational challenge and many missed sections. All these issues contributed to a significant number of retirements.
A Different Start
The Ladies missed the usual Loo
Special Test was an Autotest on a Kart Track
Test diagram at the start showed the various lines lettered but unlike the other tests the lines had no letter boards when you got there, adding to the confusion.
The considerable number of wrong courses justified the dissatisfaction of many competitors.
The Finish was not COVID secure
Up until this point all the controls were in the open air so competitors concerned about COVID security could choose not to go inside at the meal stops and minimise their infection risk.
This was not so at the finish and competitors were expected to walk through a crowded bar to hand in their numbers and inform the officials they had finished. Initially those competitors that did not do this were deemed to be non-finishers but this was changed after objections.
Summary
This years Edinburgh Trial was a controversial event. It was ambitious with its routing and attempts to find new sections. Although interesting these were generally non competitive and in the case of XXX necessitated a lot of extra road mileage and a potentially damaging exit track. The trial route mainly achieved its objective of staying off main roads but at the expense of difficult navigation and many who choose to rely on the road book had difficulty following the route.
Classical Gas 