AROUND 200 bikers revved up their Nortons, BSAs and other classic bikes for the 63rd annual Talmag Pre65 trial at Hungry Hill, Caesars Camp, on the last Sunday of January.

Talmag Motorcycle Club (MCC) began in 1937 as the Territorial Army (London) Motorcycling Club, which produced a magazine, Known as the TALmag. When the club reformed after the war, the name then became abbreviated to match.

The club ran different types of motorcycle events during the 50s and 60s including ‘scrambles’ and observed trials.

The Trophy Trial was originally open to all machines, and the Army and Navy would also enter teams of riders up to the mid-70s.

But by 1975 smaller, lighter two-stroke bikes were developed and became far more competitive than the bigger machines, and the Talmag Trophy Trial was then restricted to four-stroke engines only, to keep the machines more evenly matched.

In 1977 the requirement of European Manufacture before 1965 was added, to ban lightweight Japanese four-strokes like Honda’s excellent TL125.

The current event follows the same 1977 format and remains on the same site in Aldershot known as Hungry Hill on the last Sunday in January.

Anyone who hasn’t been for 30 years will not notice any differences! Club officials, some still involved from the 60s era, remain fiercely loyal to the cause, shown recently when negotiations were required to secure the continued use of the MOD land.

With all of the admin and setting out the course that is involved in such a large trial, the day would not be possible without the small army of volunteers, many from the local Allaway family.

What has now become a tradition for many, is around 200 riders of varying ages, from all over the country and even some entrants from Europe, showing the skill involved in guiding 50 to 87-year-old bikes through 30 sections of off-road terrain and natural obstacles, while hoping not to stop or place a foot on the ground which incurs penalty points.

The lowest score wins, with a timed ‘Special Test’ to decide any tie breaks.

The historical and unchanged nature of the trial makes it a firm favourite for many, as it can be a chance to catch up with fellow riders as riders wait their turn, or for spectators to remember events from the past or see ever rarer machines like those they may have ridden many years ago.

Some bikes are highly polished and maintained impeccably in the hope of reducing mechanical failure, others still with their patina and less than fresh motors, some that only get used for this one event. None of them loved any less.

But just to prove the club is not completely stuck in the past, more information, pictures and videos of the event can be found online at talmag.co.uk and Talmag Pre65 Trial on Facebook.