LETTERS from READEARS

The Ban on Competition Tyres. it

see it is announced that the M.C.C. has placed a ban On Competition tyres in their events subsequent to the London-Exeter. As Hon. Secretary of the one make Club which supports Trials to a greater extent than any other similar Club in the world, I should like to take the opportunity to

express the view that this is definitely a retrogressive step.

Looking at Trials from the broad aspect, one may say that the Club organising a trial finds a route and then announces that they will wager a premier award against your entry fee that you cannot drive a motor car around their route without failing in any observed section and complying with such special tests as they may impose on a selected portion of the route.

A competitor, by forwarding his entry fee and entering for the Trial in effect accepts the wager.

In my view it is not the business of the Club organising an event to impose limitations of any sort upon the manner in which a competitor prepares his car for the event, provided only that, in the interests of the improvement of the breed” the said competitor uses officially recognised proprietary brands of equipment.

Competition tyres definitely come under this heading, and if the M.C.C. finds it necessary to impose such a ban this must be construed as a tacit admission that Trials have so improved modern sports cars that the organising Club finds itself in the position of losing more wagers (i.e., premier awards I) than it wins.

In any case it seems to me that by banning competition tyres the M.C.C. is only creating another rule which can be circumnavigated, since it is conceivable that competitors and manufacturers will conspire together to this end. I am, yours etc., ALAN C. HESS. Friars Cottage, Clive Road,

Esher, Surrey.