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.
