TVR Speed Championship 2021
Round Seven
Castle Combe 17th July 2021
Round Seven
Castle Combe 17th July 2021
Castle Combe 2021 was a sizzler! Perhaps the track temperature didn’t quite reach the fifty degrees or so the F1 boys endured the following day at Silverstone, but it wasn’t far behind. The day was certainly more suited to B1 tyred cars than those on Uniroyal Rain Sports, and the slick shod entries were in their element.
Current championship leader Rob Pack was fastest overall with his Tuscan Racer.
Four TVR competitors enjoyed this particularly friendly Bristol Motor Club organised event at the Wiltshire venue. The Combe is a former Second World War airfield like Silverstone, although is set in prettier scenery, and it isn’t flat. A new course was utilised for this event, known as the Dick Mayo Sprint course. The finish came shortly after Bobbies chicane, thus missing out Camp corner.
The format for the day was one practice followed by three timed runs.
TVR didn’t warrant their own class so the four cars were scattered between classes A4, B3 and C3. Everyone was allocated a generous parking area to ensure social distancing was observed. With entries approaching thirty for the Classic Marques Championship there were many friendly faces in the paddock, and much banter on the peculiarities of the various examples of British classic motors present.
Rob Pack arrived with a cheerful pit crew comprising his partner Amy, ably assisted by his very well-behaved children Emma and Dan. The Pack family’s contribution to entertainment, refreshment, and taking the numbers throughout the day was greatly appreciated.
Rob was greatly looking forward to the dry conditions, at his last outing at Wiscombe he had to borrow a bucket to bale out five litres of rainwater from his driver’s seat between runs. As it turned out Rob was the only one of the four able to improve on his times with each successive attempt.
The rumble of familiar sounding engines heralded the arrival of a mini convoy of green TVRs as Mark Everett’s Griffalo 5000 and Alan Davies’ Griffith 4300 arrived at the paddock. Mark was accompanied by Tess, and we were delighted to receive the happy news the couple are engaged to be married.
The final entrant was Richard Blacklee in his blue Chimp 4500, resplendent in the sunshine following a respray.
Mark’s engagement present to himself was a new set of slicks. These were put to good use as he set a stonking time of 69.99 secs in practice, an interim TVR track record for the Dick Mayo layout. In fact, Mark was 19th out of the 138 entries after practice and Mr consistency Everett’s times varied by only three quarters of a second throughout the day.
T1 set the tone for the TVR competition, with Mark and Rob separated by just one hundredth of a second. In T2 everyone went a little slower apart from Rob, heat exhaustion being the general excuse.
In T3 Rob and Richard set their best times of the day, Mark and Alan relying on their excellent times from T1 to cement their excellent points scores.
Richard noticed the similarity of his sector times in T3 to those of Alan. 2.31 secs against Alan’s 2.30 for the sprint from the start to sixty-four feet, and identical finish speeds of 79.8mph. Unfortunately, Richard dropped seven seconds behind Alan in the bits in between, where driving skills became a factor.
Rob’s diet of spicy chicken and chips, ice creams and bravery pills worked wonders and he is now the official holder of the TVR class record at the Dick Mayo Sprint at Castle Combe with a time of 68.47 secs. Previous class record holders for various layouts include Mat Oakley and Paul Edwards.
Reigning TVR Speed Champion Mark ‘Kenny’ Everett pipped Rob to the twenty-five points after the times were adjusted for handicap, and Alan was an extremely close third, just two tenths behind Rob.
Words by Richard Blacklee
Current championship leader Rob Pack was fastest overall with his Tuscan Racer.
Four TVR competitors enjoyed this particularly friendly Bristol Motor Club organised event at the Wiltshire venue. The Combe is a former Second World War airfield like Silverstone, although is set in prettier scenery, and it isn’t flat. A new course was utilised for this event, known as the Dick Mayo Sprint course. The finish came shortly after Bobbies chicane, thus missing out Camp corner.
The format for the day was one practice followed by three timed runs.
TVR didn’t warrant their own class so the four cars were scattered between classes A4, B3 and C3. Everyone was allocated a generous parking area to ensure social distancing was observed. With entries approaching thirty for the Classic Marques Championship there were many friendly faces in the paddock, and much banter on the peculiarities of the various examples of British classic motors present.
Rob Pack arrived with a cheerful pit crew comprising his partner Amy, ably assisted by his very well-behaved children Emma and Dan. The Pack family’s contribution to entertainment, refreshment, and taking the numbers throughout the day was greatly appreciated.
Rob was greatly looking forward to the dry conditions, at his last outing at Wiscombe he had to borrow a bucket to bale out five litres of rainwater from his driver’s seat between runs. As it turned out Rob was the only one of the four able to improve on his times with each successive attempt.
The rumble of familiar sounding engines heralded the arrival of a mini convoy of green TVRs as Mark Everett’s Griffalo 5000 and Alan Davies’ Griffith 4300 arrived at the paddock. Mark was accompanied by Tess, and we were delighted to receive the happy news the couple are engaged to be married.
The final entrant was Richard Blacklee in his blue Chimp 4500, resplendent in the sunshine following a respray.
Mark’s engagement present to himself was a new set of slicks. These were put to good use as he set a stonking time of 69.99 secs in practice, an interim TVR track record for the Dick Mayo layout. In fact, Mark was 19th out of the 138 entries after practice and Mr consistency Everett’s times varied by only three quarters of a second throughout the day.
T1 set the tone for the TVR competition, with Mark and Rob separated by just one hundredth of a second. In T2 everyone went a little slower apart from Rob, heat exhaustion being the general excuse.
In T3 Rob and Richard set their best times of the day, Mark and Alan relying on their excellent times from T1 to cement their excellent points scores.
Richard noticed the similarity of his sector times in T3 to those of Alan. 2.31 secs against Alan’s 2.30 for the sprint from the start to sixty-four feet, and identical finish speeds of 79.8mph. Unfortunately, Richard dropped seven seconds behind Alan in the bits in between, where driving skills became a factor.
Rob’s diet of spicy chicken and chips, ice creams and bravery pills worked wonders and he is now the official holder of the TVR class record at the Dick Mayo Sprint at Castle Combe with a time of 68.47 secs. Previous class record holders for various layouts include Mat Oakley and Paul Edwards.
Reigning TVR Speed Champion Mark ‘Kenny’ Everett pipped Rob to the twenty-five points after the times were adjusted for handicap, and Alan was an extremely close third, just two tenths behind Rob.
Words by Richard Blacklee
The Griffalo@Castle Combe Dick Mayo Sprint (short circuit)
