Save the Brighton Speed Trials

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Shouldn't PH editorial be getting behind this? Perhaps if everyone alerted the news desk to the OP

[Fire99]

I'd also ask anyone that is on Twitter to share the page links and ask people to RT (re-tweet) the campain.
Love it or loathe it, Twitter is very good for getting a campaign known.

I've so far 'harassed' Chris Harris and Jenson Button among others to share the campain.

[ClassicMotorNut]

carl_w said:

As you say, an incredible list. Off the top of my head the only ones I don't know are:

George Abecassis, Bill Boddy, S. F. Edge, Jack Fairman, Joe Fry, Bob Gerard, Earl Howe, Dean Moon, Kay Petre, Dennis Poore, Ian Raby, Geoffrey Taylor, Mickey Thompson, Peter Westbury

I even have my name on the same trophy as Tony Marsh!

S. F. Edge and Earl Howe were pre-war racing legends and Bill Boddy was a Motorsport journalist who was like a walking encyclopaedia.

[Red Devil]

Mickey Thompson was a legend in America who set more speed and endurance records than anyone in the history of motor sport.
He and Dante Duce raced their Top Fuel dragsters over here in 1963. Mickey is nearest the camera in this picture at RAF Debden.
They were both at the Brighton Speed Trials that year.

[carl_w]

Red Devil said:

Mickey Thompson was a legend in America who set more speed and endurance records than anyone in the history of motor sport.
He and Dante Duce raced their Top Fuel dragsters over here in 1963. Mickey is nearest the camera in this picture at RAF Debden.
They were both at the Brighton Speed Trials that year.

LOL, the surface at Debden isn't quite as smooth as that now.

[fatboy18]

My thoughts on this.

I've watched many cars and Motorcycles race here over the last few years, (I even help friends out in the pits) but I have also seen a quite a few 'moments' towards the end of the sprint where the surface 'at speed' becomes questionable?
I would like to see the event continue, but I would also like to see the track fully resurfaced and any undulating bumps/dips ironed out.

I love the nostalgia of the place, but I do feel safety needs to be improved. The Police statements on the bike lifting or bottoming out due to surface changes is clear to me that something needs to be done.

Sadly when someone dies, its only then that people look into the cause a bit more. Just look at the events at Le mans 2013, Allan Simonsen RIP, his car veered sharp left after running wide and hit the painted corner road markings, his car then hit the Armco barriers with a bloody great tree behind it preventing the Armco barriers from absorbing the shock of the impact. The ACO are now taking steps to iron out the possibility of an accident like this again.

So to reinstate the Speed trials without addressing the road surface is a big danger (in my book).

I do not want to see this event closed, but I don't want to see another death caused by dodgy surfaces.
RIP Charlotte Tagg

Edited by fatboy18 on Tuesday 24th December 20:30

[rogerhudson]

I have visited Brighton (and Hove) since before I could remember and lived and worked there for seven years and as a student lived within 100 metres of the drive.
The council went from being a corrupt clique in the distant past to a nutty clique and they have done everything to ruin the town. The traffic plan has no strategy and is pathetic.
Brighton is all about 'events'and to cut one is a stupid mistake.
One of my great memories is of a conference day when a couple of hundred police de-bussed on Richmond terrace and were marched in ranks of 3 down to the front , lead by an inspector with a silver topped cane.
Another was driving from St.Peters church to London Bridge in 45 minutes.

[motco]

rogerhudson said:

I have visited Brighton (and Hove) since before I could remember and lived and worked there for seven years and as a student lived within 100 metres of the drive.
The council went from being a corrupt clique in the distant past to a nutty clique and they have done everything to ruin the town. The traffic plan has no strategy and is pathetic.
Brighton is all about 'events'and to cut one is a stupid mistake.
One of my great memories is of a conference day when a couple of hundred police de-bussed on Richmond terrace and were marched in ranks of 3 down to the front , lead by an inspector with a silver topped cane.
Another was driving from St.Peters church to London Bridge in 45 minutes.

It hasn't been quite the same town since the police stopped wearing white helmets...

Edited by motco on Wednesday 25th December 18:25

[rev-erend]

Signed... hope the event can be saved as its one of the best and most friendly events anywhere.

[fatboy18]

Signed

[cramorra]

5962
done

[papercup]

Close to 7000 now. Tiff Needell signed and shared it to his 85,000 (!) followers on Twitter yesterday, telling them to sign, and it made page 8 of [the main part of] The Sunday Times.

Today there are interviews with the Daily Telegraph (after Honest John featured it last week) and MCN.

Its been on local TV news this morning, and local papers over the last week.

Please keep sharing and signing, and cross-posting to other forums etc.

http://www.savebrightonspeedtrials.com

[Si.P]

Signed and posted on FB

[CanAm]

carl_w said:

As you say, an incredible list. Off the top of my head the only ones I don't know are:

George Abecassis, Bill Boddy, S. F. Edge, Jack Fairman, Joe Fry, Bob Gerard, Earl Howe, Dean Moon, Kay Petre, Dennis Poore, Ian Raby, Geoffrey Taylor, Mickey Thompson, Peter Westbury

So that's nearly half of them then! Time for you to swot up on motor racing history!

[carl_w]

CanAm said:

So that's nearly half of them then! Time for you to swot up on motor racing history!

My point was that although I don't really know the history of the Brighton Speed Trials, I recognize more than half of them from other motorsport disciplines. Hence the "off the top of my head" quote. I could look them up on Wikipedia of course.

[KingAdam]

Signed. Only attended once a few years back and really loved it. It'd be a real shame to loose it. Maybe the council should use some of the funds it's generated for them over the years to re-surface the road, particularly the bumpy bit towards the end. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and all that.

[Europa1]

dugsud said:

I bet Scarborough Council would have an event like this. It's already the only place in the UK mainland where racing is still allowed on closed public roads.

Dugsud - they are having something very similar, organised by Steve Berry of "old" Top Gear - http://www.eastcoastclassic.co.uk/

[dugsud]

Europa1 said:

dugsud said:

I bet Scarborough Council would have an event like this. It's already the only place in the UK mainland where racing is still allowed on closed public roads.

Dugsud - they are having something very similar, organised by Steve Berry of "old" Top Gear - http://www.eastcoastclassic.co.uk/

That looks great.....something at the end of the summer to put in the diary!

Thanks for the heads-up!

[wl606]

Whilst I wholeheartedly support the endeavours to save the Speed Trials, the choice of bland, modern cars in the photograph to promote the campaign is rather misguided, I believe.

Why not ditch the recent cars and motorbikes, expand the historic element, and go for a Goodwood revival by-the-sea image?

[GadgeS3C]

wl606 said:

Whilst I wholeheartedly support the endeavours to save the Speed Trials, the choice of bland, modern cars in the photograph to promote the campaign is rather misguided, I believe.

Why not ditch the recent cars and motorbikes, expand the historic element, and go for a Goodwood revival by-the-sea image?

I like your thinking.