Well it didn’t start well for me. Firstly, not racing myself…bummer. Secondly, my drive shaft went in me Audi on the way up. Double bummer. Finally, it was cold wet and miserable on arrival at the circuit. Cadwell heatstroke and Snetts wellies…go figure.

Anyway, there was some new blood in the paddock in the shape of Jamie Golby who has just bought Sam Heads old Tuscan as an interim car whilst his GTF Cerb GT is built. He’s a mate of mine with quite a bit of racing history and a love of TVRs, so he’s fitting right in.

Also new out (this year) is Keith Vaughan-Williams in Tony Abrams RV8 Tuscan. Lovely car this with oodles spent over the years, 5L, Throttle bodies, Ohlins etc so expect Keith to be well up there when he gets to grips with it.

Another new face is Peter Hunter. Peter is sharing the CTS Tasmin (Ex Sam Head and Tim Davis) with Dave Stewart son of Tom Stewart. Peters turn after Dave’s first race at Cadwell. It’s very incestuous this racing lark. If you know someone who races, I would give them a wide birth or you could be out there in 2011!

To everyone’s delight, the weather cleared and the track dried. It then became obvious that the circuit had filled quite well with spectators. A good 3-4000 motorsport fans (many TVRHeads) were gathering on the banks and major corners for what was a busy days racing with the TVRs having Qualy – Race1 – Race 2 in 41/2 hours. Not much time for repairs and several would need it.

The TVRs were racing with the Intermarques again. The TVR grid is strengthening nicely with 12 runners, but as the Inters still only had 6 so it made sense to drop the two together again. They have some real pace in their silohettes in any case.

So, Qualy put Graham Walden 1st on the TVRs with his Group B Tuscan on a superb 1:16:3 only 4 seconds off Tim Hoods GpA Sagaris GT fastest lap of 1:12:3 in 2007. Also stellar in Qualy was Dave Chant on 1:25:4. only a couple of secs off my 2007 time…and I had a 380bhp V8. Well done DC, right on the back of John Simpsons M.

Onto the Racing. To be honest, so much happened and I could see so little, its difficult to give an accurate report.

In Race 1 there was action from the start, with Graham sliding wide on cold tyres after the rolling start. This baulked Deano and new boy Jamie who had to run onto the grass and span on his first corner. Keith VW in his first GpB race did the same. From there things settled down, with lots of in fighting throughout.

DC and John Simpson battled constatly with Dave clinching the C battle at Richies Chicane with 3 laps to go. The spinners fought their way back through to finish in there appropriate positions but Deano was well away at the front. All was steady until Tim Davis S3erbera dropped back after a late breaking move put him on the grass and holed his oil cooler. There was more action at the chicane as several others straight-lined the chicane or got caught on the inside. Finally, Deano’s throttle stuck going into the Bombhole ½ a lap from home putting him into the tyre wall again. This meant Hui Humacher took his first outright win after 100 races in Tuscans. He seemed to come alive after 10 or so laps and was right on the money after whatever glitch he had cleared itself, so his first win was a strong one.

A check over of Dean Tuscan found a small pebble had jammed his throttle pedal full on. Some gaffa, supaglue and a couple of bolts from the back of my car would repair his car and see him JUST make Race2 from the pitlane. However, my our late arrival would mean I was too late to the holding area and the cars went out for Race2 with all my cameras switched off.

Race2 started as Race1. This time the two leading Inters touched at Turn 1 and this allowed Humacher to slip by. He then had a fantastic 4-5 laps holding off the two much quicker cars. Putting his very wide and occasionally sideways Tuscan just where it needed to be, Hui battled  hard with the lighter and aero’d up Inters but finally they pulled past on braking, then away. Meanwhile, Deano was sytheing through the field on a mission. It’s a bit of a speciality of Dean’s, coming from behind as it were, and this would be another belter of a drive going on to win.

Further along and Jamie returned the favour to Graham, spinning at the chicane causing Graham to drop it in sympathy. By then Kev Gore had a modified front end, so somewhere in the first couple of laps he lost his splitter. DC and JS continued in GpC where they’d left off earlier but this time John pipped DC to take the honours. To round off the meeting, Graham, like Deano in Race1, lost out on a certain win with a techy failure. His car slowed to a halt within sight of the Trophy due to an electrical failure. Practically unheard of in TVR circles.

With 250 miles to drive home with a failing driveshaft I legged it as the rain fell and the proverbial cats and dogs bounced off the returning cars. A terrific days racing and only a fortnight until the next rounds at Brands.

Andy TVRMonster