Last Sprint of the Season.
Since returning from Europe Madge has been kept busy with a social trip to Lydney that ended up with attendance at a charity classic car show at Lye Cross Farm Shop near Redhill in Somerset where I met a chap new to NBFL ownership called Josh.
After the show I took a circuitous route to London via Calne, Salisbury Plain and Andover.
A mid week wash for Madge was a precursor to her last competitive event of the year at Castle Combe for the Pegasus Sprint, organised by Bristol Pegasus Motor Club on Saturday.
It rained most of the way down, coming down absolute cats and dawgs twixt Newbury and Swindon after which the day would eventually become a sunny autumn one.
Two hours after I set off it was still drizzling and dark as I arrived at the circuit which made final preparations for Madge miserable work.
The screw hole in the number plate plinth I use to attach the timing light strut is a bit beyond it’s sell by date and because everything was damp the gaffa tape I used as a substitute did not want to hold anything in place, similarly I had trouble drying the white roundels sufficiently to get the tape I used for the numbers to stick.
Once the tow straps were fitted I went to sign on and had a bacon and sausage roll before struggling to get my race suit on in the damp.
Finally I was ready with all the parafinallia, tools, suncream, sunglasses, magnifying glass, road atlas of Europe, spare bulbs, boiled sweets, breathalyser kit, green vests, length of exhaust pipe, spare clothes, coat, unloaded from Madge safely tucked away in a little fold up shelter that is becoming a tad thread bare after 4 years of occasional use and that was never properly water proof in the first place.
By then the sun was gaining dominance in the sky and I had time to hang my blue and red MX-5 owners club fleece over the back of the camping chair in order to dry it out.
During all this I became reacquainted with fellow Classic Marques Sport Car Challenge competitors, along with numerous marshalls and members of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club of which I have been a member for nearly 15 years.
At 9am the first practice runs got under way and about half an hour later Class F, Classic Marques competitors were called to the pit lane where a sound check, keeping the revs at 5k revealed her stainless steel cat back exhaust sans baffle in the back box still emits 89 db as it has done since it was first fitted in 2019.
The track was still soaking and not wishing to explore Madges handling limits in anyway I took it very steady braking in plenty of time for Quarry one of the most hazardous corners on any UK circuit which is approached by a vehicle unsettling Avon Rise, a sharpish left then a long sweep to the right for which one wants to find a late apex to gain momentum for the straight that leads to the chicane.
To negotiate the chicane in these conditions I had all the braking done by the marshalls post before taking care to avoid the slippery paint and rumble strips that mark the tack limits of the right left chicane.
At the exit I was well placed to pick up some speed going into Old Paddock but with the track so slippery I stayed wide of the apex and held back a bit on the throttle to avoid any chance of loosing traction.
I slipped into 5th along Hammerdown and by the next marshalls post on the outside of the circuit I was back in 4th and had completed my braking for the fast right hand Tower Corner.
Photo courtesy Tony Smith with permission.
Where in the dry one can give it the beans on exit in these conditions I just eased Madge through the corner and onto the straight that leads to the right left Bobbies Chicane where again I took great care to avoid the slippery paint and lethal rumble stips.
From there it was a short blast to the timing beam which I crossed 103 secs after leaving the pit lane exit timing beam.
That time was 6 seconds faster than any of the three previous practice laps I’d recorded at Castle Combe in any conditions wet or dry. A sign that despite my caution I am gaining in confidence as the years go by.
As the day progressed I had various visitors including club member Alex with whom I have done several tours in the UK in the last couple of years , then Dave Cooper a former European F3 competitior from the early 80’s with whom I have shared Madge in previous seasons popped by.
All went well on my second run just under 91 seconds. During the lunch break it was a huge privilege and pleasure to find author and no mean racer Jeremy David Walton approaching me to ask if I was ‘Art Tidesco’. I first read Jeremies articles in Motor Sport magazine in 1972 when my interest in the sport was just beginnning to take off aged 13.
Over the last couple of years we have become aquainted through facebook but I never imagined in a million years we would meet, but he lives local to the circuit so maybe it should not have been quite such a surprise.
Photo courtesy Charles Alexander, with permission.
My third run would prove my fastest at just under 88 secs, I fluffed a gear change along Hammerdown so I was optimistic I might go a bit faster on the final run, but it was not to be I cut the timing beam just over 88 secs probably because I held on to 4th a bit too long on Hammerdown but I finished with my car intact and having avoided leaving the black stuff.
Photo courtesy Steve Gorse, with permission.
On top of all of that I collected the final signature I need from the organisers to apply for the third wrung of the Motor Sport UK Speed Licensing System, Speed International, just need to pass a thorough medical and get a vehicle suitable to compete with in Europe.
After getting changed, packing up, saying my good byes and thanks to everyone I could find who made this splendid event happen I went for fish and chips at the Cross Hands Hotel, where I believe the Great Western Roadsters still meet, with Alex.
We then parted ways and I made my way to the Walnut Tree Hotel North Petherton where a king size bed and good nights sleep awaited in Room 38 exactly as it had seven days earlier. I was up by 7am and packed Madge up for another little adventure before breakfast at 8.
The weather forecast was less than brilliant but insufficiently dire to deter me from making my way to Lynmouth departing at 9 while listening to Eldred Stevensons ‘You are now leaving West Sussex’. Waze gave me a choice of two routes and I chose to go the most familiar via Taunton, Elworthy, Exford and Simonsbath before heading across Exmoor down to Lynmouth.
Although the weather was a good deal more foul than I anticipated after looking at the forecast I had great fun on the almost empty roads while enjoying the piano of Ramsay Lewis playing Wade in the Water. By using my local knowledge and anticipation on the stretch between Elworthy and Exford I managed to avoid using Madges brakes at all except to cross the A396 at Weddon Cross. In places the wind was starting to bring down a fair a mount of debris in the form of rotted branches but it all added to the fun and sense of adventure.
After slowing for a horse and rider in Exford and going up hill out of Exford towards Simonsbath I started to pick up speed again but shortly after the national speed limit sign I had to bring Madge to an unexpected stop as there was a tree completely blocking the road.
By the time I had done a three point turn Waze had calculated a new route with a diversion which added less than 5 mins to my journey time. At Simonsbath where the road heads up and across the Exmoor the entire road was covered in leaves, there was not a patch of tarmac to be seen.
Driving up on to the moor the Bonzo’s were singing Hunting Tigers, but perversely there was no livestock to be seen, not sure where all the sheep, cows and horses one usually sees were hiding but it meant the road was empty of walking hazards which made it that little bit more enjoyable.
As I negotiated a couple of switch backs descending down the East Lyn Valley the Bonzo’s were regailing me with Canyons of Your Mind, apparently Viv Stanshal sang this covered in sequins just for me.
Unsurprisingly Lynmouth was very quiet, but the pastie shop was open and I enjoyed one as I walked from the first foot bridge acorss the East Lyn up to the second footbridge and back, not a long break but enough to enjoy the sounds of the river washing all my cares away.
As I headed the 200 odd miles home up Countisbury Hill there was still drizzle in the air so I left the roof up in anticipation of more to come. Again the roads were virtually empty and an absolute joy to negotiate, especially Porlock Hill. At once past Carhampton the Sat Nav directed me from Wilton to Taunton and then on to the A358 to Horton Cross where I picked up the A303 to Andover and from there onto the M3 and on home to end another excellent weekend with versatile Madge,
