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Round 25 - Prescott, Saturday 30th September
A Bit of Racing and a Whole Heap of Fun
This sprinting lark is tremendous fun. Sure, we only get four minutes of exhilaration in a day, but the paddock banter and camaraderie is without equal. 13 of us arrived at Prescott for the last round of our 2017 Championship. With limited opportunity to make a difference to the overall standings, the emphasis was on fun. Read more...
This sprinting lark is tremendous fun. Sure, we only get four minutes of exhilaration in a day, but the paddock banter and camaraderie is without equal. 13 of us arrived at Prescott for the last round of our 2017 Championship. With limited opportunity to make a difference to the overall standings, the emphasis was on fun. Read more...
Round 24 - Goodwood, Saturday 23rd September
From Captain to King
Two weeks separated two momentous TVR occasions at the fabulous Goodwood circuit in East Sussex. The Revival weekend opened on Friday 8th September with the much anticipated launch of TVR’s new Griffith, which was the culmination of three years’ hard work by Les Edgar and the new team. Saturday 23rd saw the crowning of Mark “Captain Chaos” Everett as the TVRCC 2017 Speed Champion, which was the culmination of a season’s hard work driving three different cars to victory. Read more... |
Rounds 22 & 23 - Blyton Park, 2nd & 3rd September
Lincolnshire Sausage
I’m looking out of the window of our delightful B&B, and our car has disappeared. No wait. The whole car park has disappeared! A blanket of thick fog has descended upon Lincolnshire. It takes us a whole six minutes to cover the 1½ mile journey to Blyton Park. Not only does the fog slow our progress, but the pot-holed access road requires avoiding action. Thankfully, Richard Usher has spent the tarmac budget on the circuit rather than the access road. Read more... |
Round 21 - Harewood, Sunday 27th August
We Went Sprinting, It Was Good
When I was discussing being “volunteered” to do the write up with Dave Barrowclough, he told me that “We went sprinting, it was good” would not be acceptable so I have tried to pad it out a bit! Read more... |
Round 20 - Shelsley Walsh, Saturday 12th August
The Master (Cylinder)
August 12th and it's TVRs at Shelsley Walsh, weather forecast looking ok and Blower in attendance so aiming for a dry day. Another good turn out with 11 drivers in 9 cars, a mix of models, but with a distinct bias towards Griffs. Read more... |
Rounds 18 & 19 - Loton Park, 5th - 6th August
Oh Deer, Oh Deer, Oh Deer
My Loton weekend starts at 6pm Friday, while most of the others are on route or packed ready for the off in the morning. NOT me! My car is an hour away in the wrong direction having a little work done at Neil Garner’s. On arriving it looks like I might not be sprinting this weekend: half the engine is on the garage floor. I'm told by Neil and his two technicians we’re not leaving until it’s sorted. 7 hours later and the car has oil pressure and no engine fault codes, on the trailer and a drive home to pack, just enough time to grab nearly 2 hours sleep, monster energy will be my friend this weekend. Read more...
My Loton weekend starts at 6pm Friday, while most of the others are on route or packed ready for the off in the morning. NOT me! My car is an hour away in the wrong direction having a little work done at Neil Garner’s. On arriving it looks like I might not be sprinting this weekend: half the engine is on the garage floor. I'm told by Neil and his two technicians we’re not leaving until it’s sorted. 7 hours later and the car has oil pressure and no engine fault codes, on the trailer and a drive home to pack, just enough time to grab nearly 2 hours sleep, monster energy will be my friend this weekend. Read more...
Round 17 - Three Sisters, Sunday 30th July
Weather Apps – Why Bother?
I don’t know why anyone as sceptical as I am should bother to look at a weather forecast app on Thursday to see what’s going to happen in Wigan on Sunday, but I did. I know it’s always going to say cloudy, with sunny periods, or showers at 9:36 until 10:20 and such. But no, the forecast for Wigan on Sunday was RAIN, all day. Read more... |
Round 16 - Lydden, Saturday 15th July
Pilgrims’ Progress
Arriving together, Hank and Blower were greeted with mild and dry conditions (of course) and quickly found a nice, tarmac, level(ish) spot in the ample paddock. After feasting on Ibuprofen and various other concoctions Hank wound down his window to explain to Blower that it may take some time to extricate himself from his car as he’d done his back in a few days earlier whilst working on his |
his immaculate M in the evenings. Once out of the driver’s seat he proclaimed that whilst he had done a recent trackday here, it was interrupted by his motor catching fire (twice!), this all sounded to Blower like an attempt at mitigation even before unpacking for the day.
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Round 15 - Curborough, Sunday 2nd July
Of Molehills And Bollards
The Curborough Sprint Circuit, aka the Curburgring, is basically untouched since the first competitive sprint held there in June 1963. That’s 54 years. OK there’s a toilet block, an admin room and a permanent excellent greasy spoon but the track remains unchanged. Motorsport, old fashioned club motorsport. Read more... |
Round 14 - Aintree, Saturday 24th June
Weather Watching
Last year when the TVRCC Speed Championship came to Aintree the event was cancelled part way through as it rained in Biblical proportions. Despite creating ditches and dams to deal with the rivers of water flowing across the track the organisers were forced to cancel the event. Prior to this year’s visit Jo and Steve had asked for one of the Northern entrants to write the report, subsequently I was “volunteered”. Hoping to create a good impression of our nearest sprint venue I was praying for sunshine so kept an eye on the BBC weather forecast throughout the previous week. The forecast for the Saturday was not good with rain forecast as possible throughout the day. Read more... |
Round 13 - Stowe, Sunday 18th June
Cracking the Flags
Arriving at 7am to walk the track, it was already 20°. Shorts, factor 50 and gallons of water couldn’t stave off the heat. It kept building and building, going way past “gosh the tyres are sticky” to “OMG I can’t hold my steering wheel/gear stick/hans device”. Way over 30° by lunchtime, would have been delightful sat on a beach consuming ice-cream or sat in a pub garden consuming ice-cold cider. Sat in a paddock with no shelter, donned in two-layered nomex suits was not the most comfortable experience. But we battled on heroically for our weekend’s enjoying. Read more... |
Rounds 11 & 12 - Epynt, Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th June
Get Back on the Horse
As we made our way along the billiard table smooth service roads to the second day’s hillclimb deep in the MOD Sennybridge Training Area, we were momentarily held up by a battalion of troops yomping along the road. The drill this morning was clearly medevac training, marching in double time while carrying an ‘injured’ colleague on a makeshift stretcher. As we idled along behind them, the nominally ‘unconscious’ passenger was duly dropped from the stretcher, jumped up in a panic, looked sheepishly around and leapt back on it again. Read more...
As we made our way along the billiard table smooth service roads to the second day’s hillclimb deep in the MOD Sennybridge Training Area, we were momentarily held up by a battalion of troops yomping along the road. The drill this morning was clearly medevac training, marching in double time while carrying an ‘injured’ colleague on a makeshift stretcher. As we idled along behind them, the nominally ‘unconscious’ passenger was duly dropped from the stretcher, jumped up in a panic, looked sheepishly around and leapt back on it again. Read more...
Rounds 9 & 10 - Wiscombe, Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th May
Depletion & Frustration
The Speed Championship’s annual jaunt to the West Country hillclimb at Wiscombe Park on the weekend of 13th & 14th May should have had nine competitors, including two former Champions and two further multiple winners of the event. However in the preceding week we lost Simon Cole with a DIY saw/hand interface issue, then on the Friday James Howell realised the Cerbera wasn’t going to be finished after its TVR/tyre wall interface, and finally on Friday evening Steve Dennis had a trailer/gravity interface (in which gravity won convincingly) with the result that Steve then spent the rest of the weekend travelling between Devon and Yorkshire so as to end up with all cars and trailers in the right place. Anyway enough of the negative aspects. Read more... |
Round 8 - Debden, Sunday 7th May
Top Marques
The TVRCC Speed Championship circus visited the popular Debden airfield venue near Saffron Walden for its 8th round of 2017. Organising club Herts County Auto & Aero have improved their course by filling in some of the potholes and the removal of many unnecessary cones. This improved lap times by at least five seconds from our visit last October. Read more... |
Rounds 6 & 7 - Ty Croes, Anglesey, Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th April
A Science Experiment
Title: Is it possible to beat Dave Barrowclough at Ty Croes? Hypothesis: It is not possible to beat Dave Barrowclough at Ty Croes. Equipment:
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Round 5 - Gurston Down, Saturday 22nd April
Howell’s Howler
Dawn broke to a bright and fresh start for those who’d trekked down on the day, rather than stopping or residing locally, namely Blower and Hank. Although the rain clouds came along later and threatened to spoil things, a quick word with the Good Lord from Blower and the reminder of him also being a lucky weather mascot managed to avoid AHD’s threat of physical violence if he’d got his meteorological prediction wrong………………….oh ye of little faith! Dry and fine weather prevailed throughout the day………..of course!! Read more... |
Round 4 - Croft, Easter Monday 17th April
Gold & Green
Easter means different things to different people. For some it’s a holy time of reflection, about sacrifices and the resurrection. For others, it’s about egg hunts in National Trust properties overrun with screaming kids and understandably exasperated parents. To some it’s about enjoying the delights of spring, the rolling countryside, the gambolling lambs and the cute but destructive bunnies. Read more... |
Round 3 - Harewood, Sunday 9th April
What a Difference a Year Makes!
The 12th April 2016 had us at Harewood with start being delayed due to fog, and very cold and damp conditions. But Sunday 9th 2017 brought us wonderful clear weather with a great view across the course and down to the River Wharfe and Harrogate beyond; you could almost feel the vibrant level of expectation across the whole paddock, this was going to be a good day. Read more... |
Round 2 - Hethel, Sunday 2nd April
Tales of Whoa
It was Blower Bream who first said it. "My brakes are still not right." A fine excuse, but surely the fact he'd not been here before would be more of a hindrance to his time. Read more... |
Round 1 - Rockingham, Sunday 26th March
Clock Around the Rock
The first event of the year on the morning the clocks went forward - That’ll Be The Day! Before we knew it, it was time to Wake Up Little Susie, and Hit The Road Jack. Read more... |