SSDT

Competitors in the Scottish Six Days Motorcycle Trials which does its
stunts round the Glencoe, Kinlochleven and Fort William areas and
which is partly on the public roads and partly on mountain tracks seem
to be exempt from many road traffic laws. Many of the bikes have no
number plates, no mudguards and only display their rally numbers for
identification.

Does anyone know if such events have a special dispensation or do the
local police just turn a blind eye?

 

Why don't you ask the above question here:

http://ssdt.org/sitebody/

on their forum, I'm sure there will be many people willing to advise
you on there.

--
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Ah! I would have to be a member to post on their forum.

 

This is a local event for local people, so lay off the precious things.

 

Only if the roads have been closed to the public for the porpoise.
I've watched a competitor in a road race being nicked, he was pushing
his race bike back to the pits from where he broke down, but after the
roads were re-opened.

 

The trunk road (A82) and the B863 are fully open to normal
traffic during the SSDT week.

 

We know the police like to be sadistic at times but it would be
interesting whether or not he was convicted in court. I wasn't aware
that pushing a broken down bike was tantamount to riding or driving
it. I see no legal difference between pushing a motorbike along the
road and pushing any other non-powered wheeled vehicle such as a pedal
bike or a perambulator.

I once asked a policeman for directions and he advised me to get off
my bike and push it past a no-entry sign rather than direct me all the
way round town.

 

Cuntish behaviour by that copper, imo.

 

It was unplated, untaxed and uninsured for starters?

 

Grimly Curmudgeon said...

I saw the same happen at the NW200

 

That was the one I saw too, poor sod

 

The folowing may be a bit out of date, but was pretty much the
case a few years ago.

The SSDT competitors are not exempt from any road traffic laws.

The bikes are carefuly scrutinised before the start and IIRC
at the end of every day. I think that the number plates would be
checked
each day since you lose marks even for a broken spoke. The event is
the most prestigous of its kind in the world and competitiors travel
from
all over the world to compete such that locals can find it difficult to
get
a ride.

Clearly during the rough and tumble of a day on the moors and in the
competitive sections, which get harder and harder every year, there is
the possibility of various sorts of damage. If time permits, that is if
they have gone fast enough, the riders are able to
carry out repairs at the end of each day before the check-in.
The rider must do all of the work themselves on pain of exclusion
and the main components cannot be changed. IIRC things
that cannot be changed include wheels, engine casings, frame,
forks, rear dampers?. The full name of the event is or was maybe
The Scottish Six Days Reliability Trial. It has run every year
since about 1905 with the obvious exception of the wartime
and maybe the odd Foot and Mouth or whatever year.

Unfortunately it can no longer be included as a counter in
the Trials World Championships. This means that the very
top riders can no longer fit the event into their schedules'.
In many senses the event's status is a bit like that of the Le
Mans 24 hour car race. i.e Not part of the World Championship
(F1) but still perhaps the most famous and prestigous event
of its type that there is.

I guess that the most likely explanation for the number
plate thing is that you were looking at a foreign registered
bike that met some non-uk number plate requirements.

I have had a look on the web, the results of the last
event are here:-
http://www.ssdt.org/sitebody/modules/UploadIt/files/Saturday.pdf

Seems to be fewer foreign names than I would have expected.

The entry list:
http://www.ssdt.org/sitebody/modules/UploadIt/files/Riding Numbers.pdf


World champoinship photo:-

http://www.trialscentral.com/user_photos/andy/2005/world/uk/day_one/imagepages/IMG_0877.htm
"What was plan B."

Unlike the above, the SSDT observed sections are pretty much
all naturally occuring with just a few markers laid out
on the hill.

 

ah I like the IOM. as long as the vehicle in insured [1] then there is
a finite time [2] that race bikes can be ridden back to the pits.

[1] a sidecar bloke said the amount was about £45
[2] something like two hours before and after each road closed
session.
--
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Technically correct. In any civilised society, the rider would have
received an absolute discharge, and the wretched plod would have been
birched for wasting the court's time.

 

Thanks for all that info.

If the SSDT is, as you say, such an important world class event, why
does it get so little TV coverage?

 

Not many people in the head offices of the broadcasters are interested
in it. Used to be different back in the 60s when Moto-x or 'scrambling'
as it was then was covered regularly. Trials are a bit different though
and until recently would have been harder to cover adequately, plus it's
still quite a minority sport.

 

That's sense. Lacking in Blighty

 

Things are a bit more relaxed in France (or used to be at least). Did a
5Km hill climb at Limonest-Mont Verdun near Lyon in 83. When I got to
the top after the first practice I expected to be directed to a holding
paddock before coming back down the hill. Instead I was waved on
enthusiastically to proceed back to the bottom of the hill, via a route
of at least the same distance, on totally open public roads. 2CVs and
the like going both ways. Just a Gendarme on each junction to show
competitors the way and give them priority.

Marred somewhat by a bad accident involving a competitor on the
'return'. Never told the details but it could even have been a car not a
bike as it was a joint event. Presumably your entry fee included public
liability cover while on the return. Probably been stopped now.


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No TV 'cos no blood, no mangled machinery. This though is surprising
given the
size and difficulty of the sections.

Looking at the photos on the web remined me that in the world
Champoinship the riders are allowed their own 'minders' to
catch them if they fall. I think that they are also allowed to
coach the riders. Strictly no physical assistance though. I
think that a similar thing may be allowed in some gymnastics
events.

I have been told but cannot confirm it that Motorcycle Trials
is the biggest participant motor sport in the UK.

The top man in the world is from Yorkshire. Dougie Lampkin.
He has been top of the heap for quite a while.
http://www.dougielampkin.co.uk/trophy.htm

I did attend one World Champoinship round (the only one ever
held in Scotland?) a while back and the riding was just
extraordinary. Didn't really see the event though since I was
hacking together a spreadsheet for the results which the FIM
said needed to be presented within 15 mins of the finish.
Luckily no one else knew that I wasn't really ready and it
was all good when the time came.

IIRC Mick Grant the road racer from way back (won the
IOM TT round of the 500 World Championship at least
once according to Google) is quite handy on a trials bike too.

The British round of the World Champoinship is at the end of
July at Hawkstone Park.
http://www.ukworldtrial.com/latestnews.htm

May even try to go myself.

 

Alasdair () wrote:
: Competitors in the Scottish Six Days Motorcycle Trials which does its
: stunts round the Glencoe, Kinlochleven and Fort William areas and
: which is partly on the public roads and partly on mountain tracks seem
: to be exempt from many road traffic laws. Many of the bikes have no
: number plates, no mudguards and only display their rally numbers for
: identification.
: Does anyone know if such events have a special dispensation or do the
: local police just turn a blind eye?

In the past they've got away with tiny number plates on top of the rear
mudguard which is pretty much horizontal. This year they had to have the
no. plates on brackets so they were vertical though the plates still
weren't legal sizes;
http://ssdt.org/sitebody/modules/coppermine/albums/SSDT2006/normal_IMG_6409.JPG
The bikes should be road legal and competitors have been excluded in the
past for breaking the law (though it's tended to be for their riding than
anything to do with the bikes).

Blair