by David Champ

 

I have been meaning to go to these trials for a few years now. With the gauntlet throwing by 'JP' about beating Roy Smart's 12.2 sec. time from last year (if you've been on a gap year or three see http://www.gt40s.com), this time I just HAD to go!! Anyway it was an opportunity to visit my old town having lived in Brighton in the late 60s - the last time I saw the trials was in 1970.

The weather was a concern (well what else, we are in England!) as wet conditions would ruin any chance of Roy or his alternate driver Paul Thompson from beating the 12 second barrier. Predictions of a massive front passing though the area were made by the Met Office and even the normally reliable Dave Morton said it wouldn't be good. As it turned out the day stayed dry right up until about 5 pm, even though we had some black clouds at one point.

Ray Christopher had some type of problem in the morning as you can see. The regency promenade can be seen to the right. In the morning practice a TVR got well out of shape and threatened to go off road just below me. Not a nice scenario as I could see the cast iron lamp posts and promenade supports were only protected by a single depth tyre barrier! Anyway he backed off in time and had the balls to get back on it and blast on through the line.

Frank Catt's son Ian was there in a motorcycle engined open wheeler (forgive me I am not sure of the class) - anyway its in the picture right with Malcolm Macadam's 40 behind. Chatting to Frank, it has a sequential gearbox using a paddle change and effectively an automatic clutch or perhaps more accurately a pre-selector mechanism (or did I misunderstand?).

I also had an informative chat with Roy Smart as I wish to change my rod gear change to something more reliable in a stressful situation - namely halfway down Santa Pod strip! He clearly has a good mechanism but also fits an engine stay to limit the rotation under acceleration and sudden off throttle moments - it obviously works. It was interesting that he has a 5th gear lock out, something I also thought to fit as its not a gear you need on the 1/4 mile.

A lunch break followed the practice runs and I nipped off to get some excellent fish and chips. When I returned GTDs were in the line up to go for the first run. All very creditable runs and Roy's attempt looked smooth and sounded great but not being near one of the few timing displays I didn't know the result. It wasn't until I read it on the GT40s forum that I learnt it was 11.83 seconds - well done Roy. Ian Catt was not far behind with 11.87.

To the left see Roy's GT40 in full flow with the wind blown sea and Brighton's famous Palace Pier in the background. Although the parade is overlooked by a promenade for the whole length, and the main road higher up, getting a decent vantage point with a clear view was difficult so good video of the runs is in short supply. The black lines on the tarmac were partly put down by Paul who was complaining of too much power - or maybe too little traction! This car has apparently about 550 bhp.

I believe Roy was 10th quickest. The fastest run I witnessed was a motorcycle which did 9.11 sec. with a terminal of 167mph, however there was a faster run of 8.87 secs with a finishing line speed of 178 mph - a course record. Before the finishing line there is a long dip in the road which must look like a yump at this speed - these guys are brave, you can see the problems you would hit if something went wrong. As an aside the terminal velocity seems to rise inordinately compared to the finishing times, I think I need to revisit my 'O' level maths to check it out.

And finally here is a small video (670KB) of Roy's record breaking run - listen for the engine sound and look at the girl getting really excited to the left. Roy, you have a young fan!