Article by Simon Cole

One of the final rounds of the 2006 tvr Speed (or on this occasion it could have been powerboating) Championship took place at Loton Park on Sunday 1st October.  Admittedly, an event in October on the Welsh border does not guarantee tropical sunshine but this was rather more than just Autumn showers.

On 3 or 4 occasions during the afternoon, competition had to be suspended as the standing water and river running down the track (remembering of course that hillclimbs are generally uphill and water flows in the opposite direction) made it simply too dangerous.  The organisers had a particularly difficult day – not only did they have to cope with competitors throwing their cars off the track with monotonous regularity but over one hour was lost in the morning when proceedings were curtailed for a nearby Church service.  These factors combined to mean that running as the last batch of cars many of the tvr’s did not even get their first practice run until about 12.30pm.

Loton Park is a fantastic twisting track which runs up the narrow single track road in a deer park – a real driving challenge to achieve the balance of speed and aggression whilst avoiding paying too close a visit to the various solid objects (trees and banks) which lie in close proximity.  It was great to see so many tvr spectators coming to support but unfortunately we had little opportunity to put on a show.

We had 13 intrepid tvr entries of all shapes and sizes.  First timers to the venue included Charles Wootton in his S2 and John Carter in his V8S but in these conditions Loton is quite a daunting proposition.  

After first practice, we had a brief glimpse of blue sky and sunshine, and what a lovely place Loton Park is in such (admittedly rare) conditions.  Unfortunately this was not to last and we then suffered a rather torrential downpour which breached the waterproofing of most of the assembled tvr’s, including Matthew Oakley’s purple Griffith 520, through matters were not helped by Matthew having left both windows wide open!  Matthew duly wrung out his seat cushions and tried to ignore the sloshing sound as the water moved around in the footwell under acceleration and braking.

Unfortunately the combination of the various delays meant that we were restricted to only one timed run right at the end of the day.  It was getting so late that there was talk of spotlights being required if a second run was allowed, but this proved to only be a rumour. 

With only one shot at recording a time, it really was crucial to make it count.  Your author however failed to follow this advice knowing that Mr Oakley nor Steve Lyle would not be ones to settle for a “safe” run up the hill despite the conditions.  The white Wedge was making good progress (and apparently fractionally ahead at the half way split) but this of course counts for nothing if you don’t make it to the finish.  On the approach to the penultimate bend (a sharp 90 degree left at the end of a fast straight) the wedge outbraked itself on the slippery surface and promptly disappeared up the escape road with all wheels locked.  The very fine line between success and failure had been overstepped.

Congratulations (and respect for his bravery) must go to Matthew who recorded a time of 68.37 seconds, which was nearly 4 seconds ahead of the next tvr (Paul Edwards in his T350C).  After application of the Championship handicap factors second place went to Steve Dennis in his Vixen, closely followed by Steve Lyle and John Pollard.  Most importantly all the tvr’s survived unscathed ready to resume the challenge of the Speed Championship next year.

Results from the day (on real rather than handicapped time):

1st        Matthew Oakley          Griffith 520     68.37 secs
2nd       Paul Edwards              T350C              72.28
3rd       Steve Lyle                   V8S                 73.30
4th       Marcus Clay                 Griffith 500      73.71
5th       Simon Smith                S3 Cosworth    74.82
6th       Steve Dennis               Vixen S2          75.20
7th       John Pollard                3000S              75.58
8th       Geoff Stallard              Vixen S2          76.59
9th       Stewart Lobley            Vixen S4          77.48
10th      Simon Cole                  350i                78.32
11th      John Carter                 V8S 500           78.83