Autotrial in details

Autotrial has a special place among car racing. What makes this sport so fascinating?

Types

Autotrial is a general term for a group of competitions. Depending on the vehicle on which the competition takes place, there are several types of Autotrial. These can be jeep-trials or tractor-trials.

Jeep-trial refers to autotrial on serial production jeeps. Compete in three disciplines. In the trial, the main objective is to accurately pass all obstacles. When passing them, it is necessary to take into account both the speed and accuracy of passing the track. Different obstacles modify a normal route. They are marked by the gates, which show exactly where the obstacle to be overcome.

Carousel Race is a 50-100 kilometer off-road race with a common start. As the name of the discipline implies, the races are held in circles, usually 1-5 kilometers long and 20 meters wide. The winner is the one who finishes first. Parallel races are organized on short parallel tracks on the Olympic system.

If obstacles are overcome by trucks, the sport is called tractor-trials. It also uses the variety of natural obstacles: hills, quarries, rocks, piled in a pile of logs, water obstacles, etc. There obstacles are difficult to manage in general, and driving a truck is also an undertaking.

Trucks with 4×4, 6×6, 8×8 wheelbases participate in competitions. Naturally, modified production vehicles are used for these competitions. German Unimog (Mercedes-Benz) and Russian Ural trucks are recognized as leaders. Not only Russians, but also Austrians and Germans take part in the Ural international competition. The team, just like in the jeep trial, includes a pilot and a navigator.

Rules

Competitions take place in the five classes: Original, Standard, Modified, Promodified and Prototype.

Original is the class that includes production cars, modified only to improve safety. This class is open to any driver who owns an off-road vehicle. Prototype class is suitable for cars built specifically for racing.

The three intermediate classes (Standard, Modified, and Promodified) correspond to a lesser or greater degree of the modification.

History

In the late 90’s in the U.S., a new type of motorsports became popular among fans of off-road entertainment. It was called “rock crawling”. At first, slightly modified off-road vehicles took part in rock climbing competitions (now only amateurs compete on similar vehicles). The competitions attracted crowds of thousands of spectators.

Then big sponsorship money came in, the sport became a professional one, and the vehicles themselves turned into specially designed rock-crawling buggies. Rock crawling has a lot in common with Jeep Trials. Both sports require passing the route in the shortest possible time, overcoming all obstacles, adhering to the order of passing the gate. However, in rock crawling obstacles are much more difficult.

All in all, autotrial is a popular but dangerous sport.