Article by Steve Cox

I think it was the poet W.H. Davies who wrote the lines:

What is this life if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare
At Tivs lined up in time to race
With sinews taught, get on the pace
The sprinters squeal and passions rouse
And avoid the name of big girls blouse

I may not be 100% accurate with the words but it's the gist of what he meant.  

This gem of a circuit is located on the A2 between Canterbury and Dover and offers the best viewing of any track in the country.  The format of the event hosted by Borough 19 Motor Club was one three-lap practice followed by three official timed runs of two laps each.  Any time sub-90 sec is considered good in a Tiv.  It should be noted that Round 11 is the half-way mark in this year's hotly contested championship.
Practice proved interesting as usual; Alan Bankhurst hadn't driven at Lydden for 30 years but was quickly reminded of the sting in its tail as he spun off at Chessons Drift – a bend sensibly named some years since.  Steve Dennis soon discovered the tricky adverse camber of Paddock Bend and the deceptively tight Devil's Elbow during his "sighting" laps.  Steve Heath did his best to asphyxiate us all as his supercharger pushed the price of oil over $140 a barrel.

You just knew from the banter in the paddock that it was going to be a hard fought day; I've seen that cheeky look on Jes Firth's face before, I think it was when he robbed me of a win at Lydden three years ago.  Mr Dennis is always "on it" from the start but a spin at Paddock Bend slowed him down momentarily, Hugh Davies suffered a twitch (or maybe an itch) at the Elbow, and Steve Heath made a routine visit to the gravel as he entered Paddock sideways.  But then, I heard the news I'd been dreading, Jes Firth had put in an 82.60 on his first run, a time fully 2 seconds better than his previous best.  Hmmm – much to do!
Run 2 saw the earlier times improved but extra effort was affecting the risk/reward profile of some drivers as they tested the envelope to its limits (I got that phrase out of a project management manual – what do you think?)  David Balderson nearly overshot the hairpin as he tried his famous "late turn in" technique.  I think he should have turned in a little earlier the night before.  Tony Bradfield started to crank up the heat but suffered a time sapping moment at the Elbow – you can never get it back.    New member Philip Phedonos joined us for the first time and, throwing his Chimp into the gravel at Paddock, officially became one of us.  Incidentally, we weren't ready for Philip's paint job either – have I missed the start of a new TV series called "Pimp my Chimp"?  Actually, its an awesome piece of kit that goes very quickly and sounds superb – but it does look (and smell) like a high-class tart's boudoir - although the smell of burning rubber later turned out to be coming from a wheelarch. 

More significantly, Run 2 saw the emergence of two very important milestones; Steve Heath got all the way round for the first time – there was a ripple of appreciative applause from a group of spectators up in the stand, and Dave Morris' race Tuscan put in an 81.91 which made Cheeky Firth reach for his calculator.

Third runs saw all of the Chimaeras improve their times with Alan Davies leading home the chimps of Mike Horn, Phil Phedonos and Hugh Davies and the Cerbera of Tim Scrivens - but in Class A, the Vixens were still upping their game as Geoff Stallard and Alan Bankhurst both took nearly a second off their times.  More spectacular though was Tony Bradfield's car as it attempted to vaporise on the entry to Paddock Bend – I thought he was being abducted by aliens but apparently it was the heater hose that let go spraying boiling water all over his back tyres.   She canna' take any more cap'n.

It was a superb day's motorsport and congratulations go to Jes Firth for another fine win on handicap, to Dave Morris for a new outright circuit record, to Steve Dennis for a new Class A circuit record, and my commiserations to Simon Fletcher who had to leave at lunch time because tow car's engine was making a noise like a-clangada-clangada-clangada.  He wisely phoned for the AA who had no idea what the noise was either, so loaded him up and took him away.

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