Round 20 – Prescott, 5th October
Planning, Planning, Planning
It took a lot of ingenuity to obtain the vial of Spanish flu from Porton Down. But once it was in my sticky paws, it was just a case of a few hours in the car to Moggy’s house and “Plan A” could come to fruition. Out of the car under the cover of darkness, gas mask and protective clothing on and sneak up to his front door. Snap the vial and wipe it round the letterbox and door handle with a rag. Job done. Now for AHD. Employ a Cub Scout on bob-a-job week. Instruct him to trip our victim up with a method of his choosing; just a small injury, nothing too serious. With a confirmatory text from said boy I was safe in the knowledge that “Plan B” was complete. |
Now for “Plan C”, the Grand Finale. Prescott and the final round of the TVRCC Speed Championship.
Saturday arrived damp with heavy rain overnight, but a promise of a dry day’s racing ahead. Of all the TVRs, I arrived last. Getting out of the car, I greeted my fellow competitors for the day; Hank and Steve in their Vixens, Peter and Sheila in their double-driven Griff 500, James in the Cerb, JC in his V8S and Richard in his Chimaera 450. The conversation from the group went something like this: “You won’t believe it but neither Moggy or AHD are here. Moggy has really bad flu and AHD has had a fall and damaged the cartilage in his left knee and can’t drive. That means all you have to do is pootle up the hill and be within 2.5 seconds of the winner and you’ll win the Championship! How lucky are you!?” |
“Plan D” comprised a look of unbelievable surprise from myself, followed by an exclamation of, “Well I’ll be darned, who’d have thought it…?”
Prescott was still damp for the first practice run but fortunately, being the last batch on track there was a dry line for us to work with. And being the last car out, I was fortunate enough to have the driest run (Plan E) which put me at the top after P1, but with slippery conditions, it was good just to see everybody back in one piece. So to practice 2, where the track had dried out significantly. With this in mind, everyone put the “pedal to the metal” and a jubilant |
Hank was leader on handicap by the time we settled for lunch. I was 2nd (that wasn’t Plan F), with Steve Thomas in 3rd, and a truly excellent James Howell in 4th; not bad for a driver returning to the Championship this year. Amusingly, James managed to get a late entry accepted in his Cerbera by joining the non-V8 powered Class A TVRs; just as well the scrutineers didn’t look too closely under the bonnet!
To keep things neat and tidy, Richard and JC decided to record the same time, whilst the biggest improvers were Peter and Shelagh in their Griff. Lunchtime provided the opportunity for a good look round the paddock and there was plenty to see. The Bugatti Owners Club |
put on a great show and with this being the Autumn Finale, it was their usual American theme with some fantastic cars and bikes to look round. There were also singers, dancers and men on stilts to keep us amused. It really is a great atmosphere and I encourage everyone to visit if they can.
With cars and drivers refuelled, it was time to get down to the serious business of racing and recording our times; after all, there was a Championship to be decided here. Personally, and unusually for me, I’d elected to drive as quickly and neatly as possible (Plan G): Prescott is a really easy place to overdrive and lose time rather than gain it. And if you drive too |
conservatively, it is easy to lose concentration and make a mistake, and I had to complete this event as this was to be my 8th and final round.
Everyone pushed hard on Run 1 with JC the biggest improver, taking 3.5 seconds off his practice time. With this also being the last round of the Championship, people seemed to be throwing caution to the wind, all determined to finish in a blaze of glory. Everyone bettered their practice time with Sheila brilliantly finally breaking the mental 60 second barrier. However, “Plan H” seemed to be working as I just pipped Hank to slip into first place again. Steve Thomas was thoroughly enjoying himself and was closing the gap to the top two, whilst Richard, Peter and James all recorded times just tenths apart in the 57sec bracket. |
So to the final runs. Even though I was a little off my personal best time, I decided to stick with “Plan G”.
I managed to improve by a few tenths, which was enough to stay ahead of Hank for the win and to sneak the title of “TVRCC Speed Champion 2019” from underneath Moggy’s whiskers; “Plan I” (I become Champion) was complete. Steve Thomas was 3rd on his first visit to Prescott for a while, and really deserved a “driver of the day” award for being so competitive in what is a very standard Vixen. JC was a solid 4th and very nearly won the “battle-of-the-fastest-scratch-time” with myself, whilst Richard and Peter both made the biggest improvements to sandwich James in 5th, 6th and 7th. Shelagh was 8th and drove wonderfully all day to end up recording her final run in the 58s, achieving a personal best on every run she did; no mean feat! |
So the 2019 TVRCC Speed Championship came to a conclusion with a great day’s racing, at a great venue, with even great weather (well, it was a bit overcast, but it didn’t rain).
It was a shame that Moggy and AHD couldn’t be there but, unlike myself, they should have planned ahead... If you fancy getting out on track next year, come and join us. We’re a friendly bunch, getting started is easy and it really is the best way of wasting your time. It just requires a little planning, that’s all. Go on, stick some numbers on it! (Plan SSNOI) Chaos (Photography: Richard Blacklee) |