The Four Turnings Trial

Four Turnings Trial – Competitor’s Report (With a Wink and a Wince)
📍 Sunday 18th May 2025 | Somewhere between bluebell soap, garlic glory, and mild transmission trauma

🏁 Overview

Four Turnings lived up to its name—except it felt more like Forty Turnings by the end. A glorious day of Sporting Trials action that saw tyres scream, passengers pray, and clutches weep softly into the Cornish garlic slime. A diverse field tackled six sections across four rounds, with a healthy sprinkle of sun, grit, and just enough confusion to keep things lively.

🏆 Results Highlights

🥇 Thomas Bricknell & Beth Carroll (Car 17) – 1st Overall, RED INDY Winner – 27 Points

Clinical. Cool. Probably robotic. Tom and Beth sliced through the course like a hot knife through fudge. Their score was so low it had other competitors wondering if they were on the same hills. Rumour has it they didn’t touch a wheel wrong and still had time for a sandwich between rounds.

🥈 Stuart Beare & Max Burton (Car 1) – 3rd Overall, RED INDY – 38 Points

A valiant performance from the Beare camp, proving once again that controlled aggression (and a navigator who doesn’t flinch) can keep you high up the leaderboard. A couple of pesky 3s and 4s meant the top step remained elusive—but we’re definitely not bitter.

🥉 Andy Wilks & Mark Smith (Car 14) – 2nd in RED INDY – 34 Points

Andy made Hill 1 look like a parking bay—zero points there and only 13 in Round 1. If he’d been that tidy at home, he’d have finished decorating three years ago. Still, an excellent result and a clear threat for future trials.

🥇 Other Class Winners

• Rookie Class – 🏅 Alan Carr & Sharren Carr (Car 9) – 42 Points
  Despite being in Class 5 (weird typo or scoring magic?), Alan and Sharren swept their class, blending economy with style. No flashy antics, just clean lines and marital teamwork that didn’t end in an argument. Impressive.

• Blue Indy Class – 🏅 Peter & Liz Fensom (Car 11) – 46 Points
  Peter and Liz kept things Fensomly focused, with a middle-of-the-pack finish and a class win to boot. If there were points for calm, they’d be national champions.

• Blue Indy Class – 🥈 Alan & Gill Murton (Car 19) – 48 Points
  Second in class but first in surprising quiet efficiency. And with a total under 50, they drove the hills like they owed them money.

• Red Live Class – 🏅 Roger & Julia Bricknell (Car 18) – 48 Points
  Roger’s always one to watch, and this time was no different—nabbing the 2-4-6 Class win while looking suspiciously casual about it all. We suspect witchcraft.

🧗 Muddy Moments and Hilltop Drama

• Hill 2: Quietly cruel. Lulled you into confidence before knocking your wheels off-line like a passive-aggressive GPS.

• Hill 5: The great equaliser. If you left this hill with a clean scorecard, you’re either lying or levitating.

• Round 3: Where hopes went to die. Several competitors saw their clean rounds unravel faster than a cheap winch strap.

😂 Honourable Mentions

• Sam Beare (Car 2) – 68 Points
  Sam and Max put in the kind of enthusiastic effort that we’d call “optimistic”. A couple of cracking hills in Round 4 suggest they’re warming up for something big (or maybe just warming up because of all the pushing).

• Geoff & Della Grizzell (Car 16) – 105 Points
  Took the scenic route, stopped for tea halfway up Hill 4 (probably), and still smiled across the finish. True Sporting Trials spirit.

• Clive Raymont (Car 21) – Non-Starter
  Proving that the best way to keep your vehicle clean is not to start. Smart, strategic, suspicious.

📚 Lessons from the Field

• Zeroes are heroes: Just ask Bricknell. Keeping it clean is key, even if that means creeping like your nan doing a hill start.

• Never underestimate Hill 6: The fresh bracken is always lying in wait. Silent. Slick. Slightly evil.

• Bring snacks: For morale, for passengers, and for bribing marshals (kidding... sort of).

Final Thoughts

The Four Turnings Trial 2025 was a masterclass in bluebell-slinging, banter-flinging, wild garlic dodging brilliance. From pinpoint precision to “well, we gave it a go”, every driver and passenger brought something to the hills—be it talent, tenacity, or the world’s loudest throttle blip.

And if you didn’t win? Don’t worry. You probably looked better doing it.

Filed anonymously from somewhere near the bottom of the results sheet, clutching a muddy scorecard and a half-eaten pork pie.