Article by Dave Jenkins

19 tvrs turned out for what is, normally, without a doubt, one of the highlights of the Speed Championship calendar. Each year Abingdon motorsport join forces with, amongst others, the
Farnborough and district motor club and Sutton and Cheam motor club, to host the Abingdon CAR-nival, a whole weekend devoted to club motorsport and fundraising for the Army benevolent fund and Stowford house, a local long term home for those with learning difficulties.

The weekend consists of our two course sprint event, a special stage rally, an autosolo (slalom course) and an off road event for real mud-pluggers, not those who think that parking with two wheels on the pavement outside the school qualifies as off-road.

The mornings activities began early with a convoy run on the Bentley course, a point and squirt exercise down the runway, followed by two practise runs and two timed, all before lunch.  Sadly it turned out to be too much for some of our number, Chris Gale and his Ford V8 powered 5000M were sat in the queue for too long before boiling over and depositing the contents of its radiator on the side of the road before first practise. Alan Bankhurst was spotted rectifying a "senior moment," suffered during the recent cylinder head replacement. Remember Alan, locknut; the clue is in the name. After a quick adjustment of the tappets, the two-tone blue Vixen made an all too brief appearance before retiring hurt with a crank sensor problem.

So practice was complete and the scores seemed to have an almost predictable look about them, Simon Cole and the white Wedge were again sat proudly at the top of the list, nothing unusual there. The modified Griffs of Adrian Duggleby and Matt Oakley were chasing, separated by just a tenth of a second on handicap. Steve Cox was next in the Hethel Hybrid V8s pursued by Alan Hugh Davies in a Chimaera 500 and John Cucchi in another modified Griff. Chimaeras featured heavily in the next group with the Blacklee family car, Mike Horn, Hugh Davies and Dave Jenkins split by Geoff Stallard' s S2 Vixen and Peter Watson in yet another modified Griff, this one being the Ex TMS racer.

No points for practice however, so onto the timed runs. The rate of attrition sadly continued to rise, as did the temperature in the paddock, contrary to the BBC weatherman's prediction. After the first run Hugh Davies's newly fettled and Bling wheeled Chim limped, coughed and spluttered its way back to the trailer, battery and charging system problems in tow. Could it be resuscitated and given a new lease of life before the day was out?  Little change on the massive score board then, and everything to play for. Steve Heath was still struggling to get to grips with the Purple Shed; slightly modified would be an understatement. This car began its life as a 350i but appears to have grown to 5200cc, acquired a supercharger the size of a third world countries national debt and a dump valve from a top fuel dragster. 500bhp on tap before the boost pressure was taken into double figures, with the promise
of water injection and a few other enhancements yet to come. All this goes someway to explaining the 101.5% handicap suffered by this car, which is driven to events, complete with trailer, rather than on one.

The V6 Tuscan of Paul Crossman was the latest to take an early bath, oil surge being the problem in this instance. Chris's 5000M finally managed to complete the course and record a time, before being winched onto the trailer and taken home for a new head gasket to be fitted.

The afternoon session was to take place on the Abingdon course, generally considered to be more fun as it consists of some very fast bends with a chicane in the middle. The start was delayed as the officials tried desperately to clear the morning's backlog of re-runs following someone's altercation with the timing gear at the finish line. The problems with the timing equipment were clearly not rectified however, and several competitors had no times recorded in practice. Adrian's lack of time was explained later when the gaffer tape came out to hold the door mirror together, dented pride being the only real damage.

Times from second practice went up amidst gaps of disbelief from the assembled masses, Mr Cole had been removed from his prime position; the Griffs of both Adrian Duggleby and Matt Oakley were in front, with Nicholas Blacklee, Alan Davies and Steve Cox within touching distance. Hugh was mobile again but starting to have second thoughts about the promise he made me, I quite understand, and maybe demands were a little high.

The timing gear was still giving huge problems and causing long delays, leading to both cars and drivers overheating in the disorganised chaos that is so unlike previous Abingdon events. Most of us managed a timed run, eventually. The organisers were at a loss and eventually conceded defeat, announcing that there would be runs for all those who wanted but the times could not be recorded. The Abingdon course results were to be decided on a single run, and the White Wedge had finally been defeated. Well, almost. The best time from each of the courses are added together and then scored as a single event, and yes, Simon was again victorious. The Griffs of Oakley, Duggleby and Cucchi followed, with Alan Davies, Geoff Stallard, Nick and Richard Blacklee and Steve Cox all within a second of each other. Then it was off to the beer tent and Bar-B-Q.  Things never seem quite as bad after a pint. I'm sure we'll all be back next year.

Full and detailed results can be seen on our website
http://www.tvrspeedchampionship.co.uk/