Donald Cowbourne
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Donald Cowbourne's three "British Trials Drivers" books provide the most comprehensive record of car trialling Pre WW2. Austen May's classic, "Wheelspin", may provide his personal view of trialling in the 1930s but Donald Cowbourne's books provide all the facts and figures on all the major events from 1902 to 1939. Absolutely unparalleled and totally essential for anyone with a serious interest in the history of trialling.
The books
"British Trials Drivers, their cars motorcycles and awards 1902-1914" : The last of Donald Cowbourne's trio, with nearly 600 pages covering the Edwardian period. Published 2003 by Westbury Publishing (Smith Settle). Hardback.
"British Trials Drivers, their cars and awards 1919-1928" : The second of Donald Cowbourne's trio, with nearly 600 pages covering a slightly wider range of trials than the 1929-1939 book. Published 2001 by Smith Settle Ltd. Hardback.
"British Trials Drivers, their cars and awards 1929-1939" : The first of Donald Cowbourne's extraordinary trio of books. Over 700 pages listing all the entrants for about a dozen of the major 1930s trials, with brief route details and many photographs. Published 1998 by Smith Settle Ltd. Hardback.
Donald Cowbourne's books are no longer available from the publisher. They are now available from Clinton Moore (mbpa@c-pbm.freeserve.co.uk) who has the sole distribution rights for the original print run. The books are now £25.00 each + £5.00 postage to UK addresses. There is a special offer of £100 with free postage (within the UK) for those buying a set of all four books at the same time. For postage costs to overseas addresses, please contact Clinton Moore at the email address above.
Second hand copies do appear from time-to-time on AbeBooks or Amazon, or through specialist motoring booksellers, or at autojumbles, but don't be tempted by some of the extortionate prices being asked when brand new copies are still available.
More information is available at www.ralliesandtrials.com although please note that the prices are out-of-date.
Updates
Soon after I received news of Donald's death, and perhaps anticipating that the books would become unavailable in the not too distant future, I printed the Update pages from the publisher's website and reproduce them here as PDF files.
- Updates 1 to 10 inclusive are for the "British Rally Drivers, their Cars and awards 1925-1939" book, the first of Donald Cowbourne's four mammoth books.
- Update 11 - 1902-14 - P286-287, P290-291.
- Update 12 - 1902-14 - P291-292, P295, P299-300.
- Update 13 - 1902-14 - P300-301, P308.
- Update 14 - 1902-14 - P308-309, P395-399, P417-419, P434.
- Update 15 - 1902-14 - Too many to list.
- Update 16 - 1929-39 - Too many to list.
- Update 17 - 1929-39 - Too many to list.
- Update 18 - 1929-39 - Too many to list.
- Update 19 - 1929-39 - P597-601.
- Update 20 - 1929-39 - P601-604.
- Update 21 - 1929-39 - P604-606.
- Update 22 - 1929-39 - Too many to list.
- Update 23 - All books - Too many to list.
- Update 24 - British Rally Drivers
Published obituaries of Donald Cowbourne
With thanks to Greg Wrapson, who provided me with the scans of the original articles.