Article by Steve Cox

It was the Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott who immortalised the words “Great God this is an awful place” as he arrived at North Weald in 1912.  Unfortunately, as we all know, he was later beaten by Raold Amundsen in the first and only timed run under the most inhospitable conditions known to man.  Had Amundsen gone to the North Pole as originally planned, things may have turned out differently.

If it’s March, and it’s cold and raining, then it must be round 1 of the TVRCC Speed Championship – North Weald airfield with its lumpy surface, gale force winds and horizontal rain, is often the first taste that new sprinters have of our sport in their tvrs.  This year saw Steve Thompson (420 SEAC) and Simon Fletcher (Tuscan Racer) join our number – they are among the 12 new recruits that have registered for the 2008 season bringing our number to 45 for this year.

Jes Firth returned to the Speed Champ after a two-season absence brought on by the irreconcilable financial needs of schoolchildren versus the costs associated with returning a Cerbera to optimum racing condition.  Jes’ uncompromising style of driving was in evidence from the off – no wonder he won the “Driving for the Crowds” award two years running.  Great to see you back Jes.

Last year’s North Weald winner Mike Horn is probably the only person I know who looks forward to this event – whatever kind of holidays must he have had as a child?  His old adversary Hugh Davies (also in a Chimp) was in fine form and the pair of them were in the mid 90’s from the start of practice.  The dark blue Chimaera of Richard Blacklee was also on the pace in the worsening conditions but brother Andrew will not be joining this year unfortunately.

In the Vixen burrow, Alan Bankhurst (who had been doing his rain-dance all week) was rewarded with the kind of weather, which removes any advantage high powered cars may have in more clement conditions.  Geoff Stallard, whose pretty red S2 is awaiting a clutch, brought along his newly rebuilt Ginetta G12, just to give it a run. 

Those of us with a few more horsepower struggled all day to get it down.  Tim Scrivens and Mark Harris in Cerberas, new boys Thompson and Fletcher in their SEAC and Tuscan respectively, and Pete Watson and me were having a bad time – especially with the rain.  Fletcher’s racer and Watson’s Griff have no roofs, and my V8S has no side windows.  Weight reduction is all very well, but it’s not without its downside.  Thank goodness we had Bankhurst’s warm tow-car for the occasional thaw.

Eventually, our hosts (Borough 19 Motor Club) advised that the awful weather was affecting the timing equipment and it would not be possible to provide the full complement of four runs – this meant that we only had one official timed run in which to bank a qualifying time.  This is not good!  The consequence was that we must all drive sensibly and perfectly for 90 seconds.  How hard can it be?    Too hard for most of us as it turned out.  Jes Firth was superb and clocked 87.90 which was best time of the day, Mike Horn’s 90.69 looked good on handicap, Alan Bankhurst’s 93.11 was very tidy in the Vixen and Hugh Davies’ earlier form was proved correct when he stopped the clock at 92.57. 

On handicap, Mike Horn’s 90.69 in his 4 litre Chimp was good enough to take home the 25 points, just shading Jes Firth’s 87.90, and Bankhurst’s 93.11.  BUT, my man of the match award this week goes to Hugh Davies whose 23.34 total was a well deserved personal best - the talk of Bedfordshire for some weeks to come I’ll wager (well, in Hugh’s house anyway).

Next outings are at Croft on Easter Monday and Loton Park on the 6th April.  Come and wave your banners – we’d love to see you.

Steve Cox

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