VHRA at Pendine Sands 2019

VHRA at Pendine Sands 2019 The VHRA were first contacted by Pendine Council in May 2012 to see whether they might be interested in running an event on Pendine Sands. They liked the idea of some vintage cars running at speed and the VHRA members seemed to be the type willing to give it a go. It took an immense amount of planning, panicking, and yet more planning, to work out what was going to be possible before we managed to roll onto the the hallowed sands the following year in September. 

I took the T Tourer down for a little spot of racing - 77.67mph - followed by a weeks holiday touring the west coast of Wales. Been back every year. Only once without a car to race, but even then riding shotgun in Andrew Charleton's 1929 Model A pickup.

Last year I took our little T Coupe (1927 T coupe body on a Model A chassis) along to set my slowest speed yet of 62mph, powered by a rather breathy Model B engine. Hmmm. With a few weeks to go I decided it was time to improve the performance of the Coupe which had spent most of the winter in the garage having new timber and a fresh vinyl roof fitted. The front axle was swapped out for a 1932 beam fitted with 1935 brakes. The old engine was pulled and replaced with the diamond B engine from my long suffering Fordor; built 12 years ago with a ported block, modern valves, Thomas head, reground cam and a Stromberg 97 on a Burns manifold.

With a 3.27 ratio in the back axle, the swap was made with a week to spare and we set off on our 300 mile drive across country from Norfolk, through to Buckingham, across the Cotswolds, and along the A40 from Cheltenham. Driving rain punctuated by moments of drizzle the whole way.

Pendine promised to be different for many reasons this year. Ongoing building works meant the museum and grounds weren't available for our normal meeting area, and the campsite had also disappeared. We commandeered a small carpark to use for scrutineering which worked well from 9am till 9pm Friday.

An additional scrutineering burden were the new rules from the IOPD (the sanctioning body for the racing) on the fitment of roll bars or cages on the fastest running vehicles - something that put a few people off from entering, but was made up for by more vintage engined cars including four Model T's. But the main difference this year was the very early tide which turned around 5.30am on the Saturday.

First port of call is half a mile down the beach to chose a suitable point to place the timing trap, picking a straight(ish) line back to the pit area and start line, marking and avoiding any rubbish strewn on the beach. This year an onshore breeze kept the tide in slightly longer but left a very wide strip of flat sand to choose from. Perfect.The track was set up and cleared by willing volunteers, marked out with flags, speed trap tested, and we returned to find the pit area filling up with race cars. Just before 9am and we were ready to roll.

So how was it? Well, for the past few years I've spent the racing hours out on the sands under the timing gazebo, and this year was no different. With my son staging the race cars on the software he'd written, I spent most of the day green flagging the start line once the timing traps were clear.

A quick breakdown of the roughly 120 entrants then. With all the race cars pre-1949, the majority were Model A’s and running vintage engines with only 28 cars fitted with an engine built later than 1954. For nearly half, the flathead V8 was the motive power of choice, but for those that favour an engine with no more cylinders than a cow has teats, Henry's four bangers was well represented and I’ll concentrate on the classes that ran them.

Neil Fretwell made an early doors handbrake dragging pass along the 1/2 mile at 65 in his 1929 Sports Coupe running in V4F/C (Vintage engine/four cylinder/llathead/closed car) which was followed later in the day with an even slower run when the top of his carburettor ejected some screws. My mid morning run along the still drying track, with a full height T Coupe body to slow me down managed 70.11 mph! Later in the day I managed to ease it up to 71.5 - a significant improvement on last year which left me leading the class for one day at least… 

V4F/M, ‘M’ for Modified referring to the body style, saw three Model T speedsters competing against a Model A equipped sprint car that had to be push started. They all managed to beat it on it’s first run, however whatever ailed the car was fixed as Brian Jones hit 83mph later in the day. Valiant effort for a T engine though as Joanna Kirby mustered over 50.

V4/M - Modifieds with overhead valve conversions, saw two T’s with Neil Tuckett’s beautiful Frontenac mustering high 60’s and Richard Wray’s Rajo headed speedster running over 74 against a Cragar overhead equipped sprint car that hit 93.99. An impressive first run but sadly the only one all weekend. Gary Bust sneaked his own V4BF/M record up to 67.52 running a tiny Aisin supercharger on his Model A roadster pickup running without the bed.

The thirteen entries in V4F/R for open cars were all Model A’s. Even the two wearing Model T roadster bodies. Ian Whittaker running a newly Bob Froch built engine started well with nearly 78mph - upping it to a best of 81.92. But Bamber Johnson with a Model A roadster pickup equipped with an H & H built engine and a quick change axle ran through at over 80 all weekend with a best of 82.59 - pipped by Peter Stevens at 82.96. Some really close speeds over the weekend with only 1mph between the top three.

V4F/S was a new class as we’d had no four cylinder streamliner entries in the past. Chris Rawllins pulled four plugs from his flathead V8 and cleverly linked the open holes with tubes for a surefire win, had Duncan Tamplin not turned up with a Model A powered belly tank complete with shark fin which eventually hit 88.12 by the end of play on Sunday. The Saturday track had to close early. The constant pounding of the same stretch of sand just in front of the timing trap drew water to the surface making it too slippery for the faster cars so the decision was made to halt the racing until the next day and hope the rains stayed away.

So - Sunday. Waiting for the tide to turn at 7.30 in the morning. A stiff onshore breeze kept the water in longer, but left a lovely, wide and smooth beach. Beach walked, track laid, pits built and we were up and running by 10am. We picked up the running order with the the cars left from Saturday before starting again, hoping that the weather would hold. And despite the doom laden skies promised by the Met Office, the rains stayed away until early afternoon by which time we were well into the second runs. Despite the strong crosswind, a number of people managed to improve on the Saturday speeds, and a few set personal bests. The inclement weather didn't deter anyone from running, or damage the track so we carried on running until everyone had completed their fourth run, and we finished with a massed run back of all the race cars.

The chance of a bed midway home saw us sneaking off early before the prize giving where Marcus Bennett was awarded king of the beach with a speed of 121.7 running a rather special Rover V8 in a Model A Sports Coupe, sans roof, that was finished on the Friday and driven to Wales. By all accounts though, Pendine 2019 was indeed another vintage year.