Rounds 6 & 7, Wiscombe, Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th May

​‘You’ve got to be in it to win it!’

The weather on Saturday morning was beautiful, what were all these stories of rain so bad at Wiscombe that cars slid down the hill in the paddock sideways? Not this weekend.

Eight cars lined up with Steve Dennis expecting two class wins over the weekend on his first visit to the hill, mainly as he was the only class A car entered.

​The running order of the event bore little relation to the numbers on the cars. The organisers started with the highest number and appeared to be working downwards, but just before they got to the TVRs they called the lowest number and started to work upwards! During the course of the day SteveD’s car ran in three different batches. But it must be said that aside from the quirky running order it was a very well run event.

​First practice saw Steve Mogg quickest on scratch, his Griffith sporting a modified airbox atop his bonnet which some thought was a coolbox (not a cool box), and which I’m sure would have Peter Wheeler turning in his grave. Simon Cole’s Wedge was next, his faith in the new Toyos would improve as they got scrubbed in. Alan Hugh Davies was third quickest in Mark Everett’s Chimaera.

Into second practice and people were definitely getting down to business, Rob Pack improved by over 2 seconds, SteveD’s M had a very close ‘wall of death’ brush with the bank on the outside of the final bend. Alan improved by almost 1.5 seconds which gave him the lead on handicap, with just over a second covering him, Moggy and Simon at the end of practice.
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Into the afternoon and the first timed runs, Simon got into the 45s, so did Moggy.  Alan, Pete Watson and Rob couldn’t quite match their practice times, but SteveD, James Howell and Paul Moakes all continued to improve.

On the last run Simon’s progress continued with a 44.70 which clinched the win as Moggy was a little slower than previous, almost everyone found a bit more speed, however James Howell had to reverse his Cerbera when he found himself looking straight at a steep bank and so had his slowest run of the day, and SteveD’s car wouldn’t start for the run back down the hill......
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So Simon took the 25 points in a very close contest, with less than a second covering him, Moggy, Alan and Rob Pack.

​Sunday morning brought more sunshine, and a reduced TVR entry with Paul and James having left, and Richard Blacklee joining us in his Chimaera, his first visit to Wiscombe for 12 years.
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Then SteveD’s planned class A win floundered when the white M threw a tantrum. It had thrown its fanbelt off on Saturday, and Steve’s spares were the wrong size, cue a trip into Exeter to find a Motor Factor open on a Sunday, no problem. When that was fitted it still wouldn’t start, the suspected culprit being the coil pack, and with no spare available, the TVRs were down to six.

​The running order was still akin to the lottery but that aside it was another enjoyable day’s hillclimbing.
Saturday’s battles continued on Sunday morning, with positions after practice being the same, Alan, Moggy, Simon, Rob.
On his first timed run Simon was almost caught out at Sawbench when he made a rare error and almost put the rear end into the bank, on his way to a 44.94. Moggy followed with a 44.78 and Rob’s 47.05 was his best of the weekend, so far! Also Pete got under 50 seconds for the first time during the weekend.

​​All was to play for going into the last run. Simon lowered his long standing class record to 44.15, whilst Moggy was unable to do anything about it, being 6 hundredths slower than his first run. Alan matched his best practice time, Rob and Richard both posted PB’s and Pete put in his best time of the weekend.

So it was déjà vu for Sunday’s results in both practice and in the timed runs. Simon took another 25 points, from Moggy, Alan and Rob.
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SteveD (photos: coxypix & Derek Hibbert)