Another win for Jes in his Cerbera!
Discussion
I've just got back from a weekend away and am updating the Speed Championship website.
You may be pleased to see that Jes Firth has piloted his 4.2 Cerb' to yet another victory in this years Championship, this time at the 1 mile circuit buried in deepest Kent - Lydden. That makes it 5 wins out of 5 events, quite an achievement in anybody's book.
So, here's his write up from the event, if you'd like more info on the Championship or want to see what's going on, logon to our website: TVR Speed Championship
Tim
It is always sunny at Lydden. It may be raining all over southern England but as soon as you get to Lydden – blazing sunshine – it's great. So it was for round 9 of the championship. Simon Fletcher even hid under a panama all day to avoid a repeat of the natural glow that he achieved at North Weald earlier in the year.
Lydden Hill is a technical and challenging circuit set in a natural amphitheatre. This may sound nice for the uninitiated and indeed it is for the spectators because they can sit on any of the banks surrounding the circuit and get an excellent view of the proceedings. From a drivers perspective it is rather different. The elevation and track camber changes make this an interesting and hugely challenging circuit. It requires the competitors to maintain significant speed through the bends to get a fast time and as such it rewards bravery. The down side is that it can punish the over enthusiastic as there is little run off and all corners are surrounded by tyre walls.
The event had the usual mix of cars, the Vixens and Paul Crossman's Tuscan in Class A with Cerberas, Tuscan racers and Chimeras in class B. Mark Harris and his Cerbera did not make it – his starter motor failed when he went to start the car at 5am. Whilst Mark was undoubtedly disappointed I understand that his wife and neighbours were very grateful. Mark did however come to support us at lunch time. He said it was to soak up the atmosphere but we know that he was really just missing his lunch time burger.
The event is a little different from normal in that you get one practise followed by 3 timed runs. The means you can be braver as you still have 2 more chances if you end up in the kitty litter on the first one.
Practise was very enthusiastic with various people testing, finding and in some cases exceeding the levels of available grip.
Julie White joined us for her second event having already done well at Mira. It is rumoured that you do not truly belong to the championship until you have thrown your car at the scenery. It usually takes a new competitor a few events to achieve this feat but Julie managed to chuck her car into the gravel in front of all the spectators at Paddock Hill bend at this, only her second event. Well done and welcome Julie.
Yet another new Cerbera was piloted by Peter Myles, in this his first event. It didn't take him long to get on the pace by taking over 6 seconds of his practice time in the first timed run. Peter may need a note on his dash reminding him to lock the bonnet though. When left unlocked it became mischevious and floated up at about 85mph blocking Peters view and making it rather awkward to pick the right line for the next bend.
Steve Cox changed the two front shocks on his Vixen before 1st practice and the two rears at lunchtime. Well when I say Steve I actually mean, Geoff Stallard, the rest of us just stood around in awe feeling vaguely useless as he demonstrated his flawless mechanical talent. Steve's times tumbled during the day as a result so the continuing development of his new car is clearly working.
The timed runs commenced and the Vixens were instantly hard at it with times in the low 91's and only a couple of seconds between them. Mike Roe was super smooth and led the class A pack with Geoff Stallard, and Steve Dennis chasing hard. When I saw Coxy go sliding through Paddock Hill bend he was clearly trying but the run 1 time did not seem to reflect the level of commitment he displayed.
In the class B camp Simon Fletcher put in a fierce first run to clock 82.24 which was only a fraction outside the lap record. As he got out of his car his hands were visibly shaking – always a sign of good run! Both Dave Morris and I were within 0.2 second of Simon so we knew it was going to be close all day. Hugh Davies snuck in a quick lap when we weren't looking and hopped up to 4th on handicap – and it wasn't even raining! Mike Horn was driving smoothly and was within 1 second of his old adversary Hugh. Meanwhile Paul Crossman's car shocked him by running faultlessly – it must be a first.
In run 2 the Vixens consolidated their positions although Coxy suddenly found an extra second and a half to catch Mike. Then Dave Morris shot out of the pit lane in his 6 litre Tuscan racer complete with carbon wheels, slicks and trick gearbox. He went round the aptly named Chessons Drift completely sideways and put in a blinder to break his own lap record. Most of the rest of us went slower although Julie and Peter improved mainly because they kept their cars on the track this time.
The final run approached and everyone was in a position to really go for it – we all had a reasonable time banked and nothing to lose. Only Geoff in his Vixen and Peter in his Cerb managed to go quicker on that last run. The rest of must have been over enthusiastic and whilst slipping and sliding around is great fun for us and the spectators it does not make for a quick lap.
Coxy then ran the algorithms and it ended in another victory for me closely followed by Simon and Dave in the Tuscan Racers. In class A Mike Roe just nicked it from Coxy by 0.06 second – an incredibly close result with a good end to a great day's motorsport.
What really put the icing on the cake was that Dave, Simon and I even beat a full blown wings and slicks Reynard race car. Not bad for old plastic tubs from Blackpool-eh!
Jes Firth
You may be pleased to see that Jes Firth has piloted his 4.2 Cerb' to yet another victory in this years Championship, this time at the 1 mile circuit buried in deepest Kent - Lydden. That makes it 5 wins out of 5 events, quite an achievement in anybody's book.
So, here's his write up from the event, if you'd like more info on the Championship or want to see what's going on, logon to our website: TVR Speed Championship
Tim
It is always sunny at Lydden. It may be raining all over southern England but as soon as you get to Lydden – blazing sunshine – it's great. So it was for round 9 of the championship. Simon Fletcher even hid under a panama all day to avoid a repeat of the natural glow that he achieved at North Weald earlier in the year.
Lydden Hill is a technical and challenging circuit set in a natural amphitheatre. This may sound nice for the uninitiated and indeed it is for the spectators because they can sit on any of the banks surrounding the circuit and get an excellent view of the proceedings. From a drivers perspective it is rather different. The elevation and track camber changes make this an interesting and hugely challenging circuit. It requires the competitors to maintain significant speed through the bends to get a fast time and as such it rewards bravery. The down side is that it can punish the over enthusiastic as there is little run off and all corners are surrounded by tyre walls.
The event had the usual mix of cars, the Vixens and Paul Crossman's Tuscan in Class A with Cerberas, Tuscan racers and Chimeras in class B. Mark Harris and his Cerbera did not make it – his starter motor failed when he went to start the car at 5am. Whilst Mark was undoubtedly disappointed I understand that his wife and neighbours were very grateful. Mark did however come to support us at lunch time. He said it was to soak up the atmosphere but we know that he was really just missing his lunch time burger.
The event is a little different from normal in that you get one practise followed by 3 timed runs. The means you can be braver as you still have 2 more chances if you end up in the kitty litter on the first one.
Practise was very enthusiastic with various people testing, finding and in some cases exceeding the levels of available grip.
Julie White joined us for her second event having already done well at Mira. It is rumoured that you do not truly belong to the championship until you have thrown your car at the scenery. It usually takes a new competitor a few events to achieve this feat but Julie managed to chuck her car into the gravel in front of all the spectators at Paddock Hill bend at this, only her second event. Well done and welcome Julie.
Yet another new Cerbera was piloted by Peter Myles, in this his first event. It didn't take him long to get on the pace by taking over 6 seconds of his practice time in the first timed run. Peter may need a note on his dash reminding him to lock the bonnet though. When left unlocked it became mischevious and floated up at about 85mph blocking Peters view and making it rather awkward to pick the right line for the next bend.
Steve Cox changed the two front shocks on his Vixen before 1st practice and the two rears at lunchtime. Well when I say Steve I actually mean, Geoff Stallard, the rest of us just stood around in awe feeling vaguely useless as he demonstrated his flawless mechanical talent. Steve's times tumbled during the day as a result so the continuing development of his new car is clearly working.
The timed runs commenced and the Vixens were instantly hard at it with times in the low 91's and only a couple of seconds between them. Mike Roe was super smooth and led the class A pack with Geoff Stallard, and Steve Dennis chasing hard. When I saw Coxy go sliding through Paddock Hill bend he was clearly trying but the run 1 time did not seem to reflect the level of commitment he displayed.
In the class B camp Simon Fletcher put in a fierce first run to clock 82.24 which was only a fraction outside the lap record. As he got out of his car his hands were visibly shaking – always a sign of good run! Both Dave Morris and I were within 0.2 second of Simon so we knew it was going to be close all day. Hugh Davies snuck in a quick lap when we weren't looking and hopped up to 4th on handicap – and it wasn't even raining! Mike Horn was driving smoothly and was within 1 second of his old adversary Hugh. Meanwhile Paul Crossman's car shocked him by running faultlessly – it must be a first.
In run 2 the Vixens consolidated their positions although Coxy suddenly found an extra second and a half to catch Mike. Then Dave Morris shot out of the pit lane in his 6 litre Tuscan racer complete with carbon wheels, slicks and trick gearbox. He went round the aptly named Chessons Drift completely sideways and put in a blinder to break his own lap record. Most of the rest of us went slower although Julie and Peter improved mainly because they kept their cars on the track this time.
The final run approached and everyone was in a position to really go for it – we all had a reasonable time banked and nothing to lose. Only Geoff in his Vixen and Peter in his Cerb managed to go quicker on that last run. The rest of must have been over enthusiastic and whilst slipping and sliding around is great fun for us and the spectators it does not make for a quick lap.
Coxy then ran the algorithms and it ended in another victory for me closely followed by Simon and Dave in the Tuscan Racers. In class A Mike Roe just nicked it from Coxy by 0.06 second – an incredibly close result with a good end to a great day's motorsport.
What really put the icing on the cake was that Dave, Simon and I even beat a full blown wings and slicks Reynard race car. Not bad for old plastic tubs from Blackpool-eh!
Jes Firth
Oops! Quite forgot to say - well done m8, let's see if you can wrap this up by the end of June. 
Hope that's not tempting fate.
Na, I'm sure it's not.
Let me know if there's any bits you need to borrow to get it all ready for Abingdon, I'll not be out until August!
Tim
Hope that's not tempting fate.
Na, I'm sure it's not.
Let me know if there's any bits you need to borrow to get it all ready for Abingdon, I'll not be out until August!
Tim
Edited by TT Tim on Monday 1st June 16:58
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