Round 18 - Aintree, Saturday 3rd September
So a quick recap, Aintree has a long and proud history as a motor sport venue. The 3-mile track, opened in 1954 by Earl Howe and Raymond Mays, remains Britain’s only purpose-built Grand Prix circuit.
For your next pub quiz Aintree staged the British Grand Prix in 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961 and 1962. Stirling Moss scored his first World Championship Grand Prix victory in the 1955 event at Aintree. This also marked the first occasion on which a British driver had won his home Grand Prix. |
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This is the first time the TVR Speed Championship has been to Aintree in a few years, the internet always a good place to pick up the race notes on how to drive a circuit, however on the early morning course walk whilst the lines are clear some of the potential obstructions are disconcerting if you do get it wrong. The more benign being bushes and golf bunkers in the middle of the course the less so is the armco backed by grass banks and the large jump structures of the Grand National Course which are placed at annoyingly regular intervals around the sprint course, one of the larger being Bechers Brook.
Liverpool Motor Club, have run events here over the last 30 or so years and to be fair are very well prepared with the straw bailing placed at strategic points to ensure the deflection of any errant excursions and a direct attempt on a jump.
The forecast for the day with our friends at the BBC was not great and almost on cue during the drivers brief the first showers could be felt and from here it just became an exponential increase throughout the morning.
There were three full time championship members, Steve Hunter, Jo Briars along with Dave Barrowclough plus other known TVRs Dave Welton and his merry men Duncan Woodcock, Mike Pardon and Bill Campion, seven in total for the day.
The forecast for the day with our friends at the BBC was not great and almost on cue during the drivers brief the first showers could be felt and from here it just became an exponential increase throughout the morning.
There were three full time championship members, Steve Hunter, Jo Briars along with Dave Barrowclough plus other known TVRs Dave Welton and his merry men Duncan Woodcock, Mike Pardon and Bill Campion, seven in total for the day.
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First practice under our belts and with the track as top gear might describe a wet lap, second practice a very wet lap (you can see where this is leading) and even with the conditions a fast turnover of cars enabled the first timed runs before lunch. Till this point Barrowclough had led the speed championship and times coming down in all cases despite the weather, however on algorithm Duncan in a very nice bright red Chimaera 400 was leading the board based on the assumed algorithms, he used to rally so the conditions were suiting him.
Barrowclough was seen to look out over a torrent of water and put on some swimming safety armbands whilst humming a famous Beach Boys surf song before attacking the first timed run. Aquaplaning down the back railway straight to go over the line at 125mph. For Steve, Jo and Dave it’s a case of trying your best to feel the grip and avoid the now enlarging area of standing water. The results at this point Barrowclough 1st, Briars 2nd, Shunter 3rd and the eventual outcome.
Second timed runs began but with worsening weather the clerk of the course suspended these runs and the Liverpool Motor Club stood down to see if conditions would improve, whilst taking the actions of digging drains, dams etc in an attempt to clear/hold back the water, however with Melling Road which cuts through the Aintree horse course flooding and draining on to the track we were to learn later this was likely to have always been a losing battle, this ship was sinking!! However after an hour or so an attempt was made to restart but with the running cars quickly proving the laws of physics cannot be overcome and with the very best efforts by the likes of Michelin, Pirelli etc in tyre design the recovery truck was out again to pull a luckily not too badly damaged Peugeot 205 out of the bog.
Drivers meeting called and it can be said a genuinely heart felt disappointment by Liverpool Motor Club the decision was made to call the event to a close and declare the results after T1. The first time in 30 years this had happened.
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A very wet event but besides all this we still had good banter amongst the TVRs present, so don’t be put off, it’s a once in 30 years!! So next year Aintree at least is assured to be scorching hot.
Go on, put some numbers on it! Dave Barrowclough (Photos: WhiteDogPhotography.co.uk) |
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