The Scottish Off Road Club Ltd have a membership of around 200 and cover many of the Cross Country driving disciplines.  We are a very friendly bunch with many differing interests and many interesting backgrounds.  Unlike other areas of motorsport where a club will exist for one discipline, such as rallying, tarmac, hill climbs, etc, we cover many, some details of these are listed below.  Our members take part in the events which interest them, help at some others and have a great social side outwith the events.  Many of our members have rally radios for use at motorsport events and help out at many other clubs events over the year seeing some fantastic sights, we are also rumoured to have more radio amateurs than some local radio clubs!

This year's diary sees 7 Tyros, 7 RTVs, 6 Comps, 4 Treasure Hunts, 1 BBQ, 6 weekends under canvas, and a Hogmanay party! Everything we do (social events excluded) are permitted under the MSA which gives us rules under which to run events and some limited third party insurance.  The overriding rule regarding any of the courses below – if you’re not happy with the way a course is set, speak up before the first competitive vehicle has driven onto it and it can be changed – and you always have the choice of not driving the route if you wish.

Tyro Trials (Tyro from the Latin for novice I think) – Tyros are set to be a challenge of you against your vehicle.  There are seven pairs of canes which you must simply drive through without touching any of them or stopping, and ideally, weather and light permitting, the are ten rounds throughout the day.  Sounds simple, but it is designed to test your driving agility and knowledge of where the corners of you car are with tight turns and the need to work out where your car needs to be in order to made the next gate…  The terrain used for Tyros is non-damaging and courses are designed not to allow vehicle to vegetation/ground contact with only slight side slopes.  Given the safety of the ground used Tyros are suitable for any drivers and entries are invited from people aged 13 and above.  Passengers in the vehicles are permitted, over two years old for the rear and over 14 for the front seats, new height restrictions for the public highways will rule on this for height/seat/age, etc.  (Entrants without a valid driving license are not permitted to drive around sites and are restricted to driving the actual sections)  This is designed for the family 4x4.  To be eligible for points in our championship the vehicle should be fairly standard, regulations covering eligibility are available from the downloads section of www.sorc.org.uk

RTV Trials – Road Taxed Vehicle trials are run very similarly to the Tyros above, but more of a test of you and your 4x4 against the course.  Full, valid license holders only for this one and the car may well come into contact with the ground and vegetation and the slopes used allow greater angles than Tyros.  Passengers are permitted in the front seats only and must be 14 or over (and in the right seat and be of the right height, etc).  Modified vehicles are permitted to compete alongside standard vehicles.  Again greater details of eligibility are contained in the regulations available from the downloads section of www.sorc.org.uk

CCVT – Cross Country Vehicle Trials, SORC haven’t run one yet, but it’s maybe going to happen this year.  Vehicles for this must be well modified and include a roll cage.  Up until now we haven’t had enough members with suitable cars, but we’re getting there and this year might see the first trial being run.  CCVTs are run in a similar manner to RTVs and Tyros, but the ground is much worse and entrants should be prepared for a roll…

Comp Safaris – Competitive Safaris are for race prepared vehicles.  A typical Comp Safari will see vehicles drive a 3-4 mile route as fast as they can and they perhaps have to drive this 10 times in the day.  If you’ve never witnessed a Comp, it’s worth seeing as there can be cars of £1000 competing against cars worth £50k+…

Treasure Hunts – SORC run a number of treasure hunts throughout the year, both on and off road and when necessary we run training days on how to do them!I hope I’ve managed to tell you something which has been of interest to you, please feel free to contact us and we'll happily tell you more!