Fun With Corners

I missed Hot Rods & Hills this year. Again. Despite the fact that it was the best event I went to in 2009 that has so far been the only running of this event that I've actually made it along to. Damn.

Still, the silver lining is that I had to go to the inaugural American Speedfest event at Brands Hatch on Sunday June 9th, and Christ almighty what an incredible event that was. An international-standard venue, a packed bill of racing and the organisational abilities of MSV meant hundreds of cars on display trackside and plenty of other entertainment for the visitors, which apparently numbered almost 20,000. That's not dicking about.

Top of the bill was the Euro Racecar series, which is a European version of NASCAR but on road circuits. It was cool, lots of V8 grunty power and some close racing, but once the pack had strung out a bit it seemed rather processional. The Legends had an endurance race - 40 minutes. I'm not sure whose endurance this was meant to test, the drivers' or the spectators', but it took some enduring. There was an Intermarque series for what seemed to be large go-karts with odd jelly-mould bodies, but I didn't get that at all. Pick-up trucks looked lots of fun, though, even though they're four-pots.

The true stars of the show for me were Bernie's V8s. Now this series really appeals to me. The criteria are thus: 1. The cars must be production based, no kit cars. 2. They must be V8s. 3. Convertibles must have roofs up or hardtops. 4. No whingers. That's my kind of rule book.

 Obviously there were stacks of Corvettes, Camaros and Mustangs filling the grid, but in amongst them you'd find some really rare stuff like this (above), an Iso Rivolta with a 327 Chevy V8 and quad Webers. There was a Ford Maverick, which looked the business, and an Opel Manta painted in a stars'n'stripes paintjob that really kicked some arse. Apparently it used to race in Thundersaloons, or some such?

There were TR7 V8s like this above, and a MkI Capri that the announcer said was a Perana but I'm not so sure. Actually, I couldn't give two shits whether it was a Perana or not, it looked the dog's and went like frozen shite off a shiny shovel.

These guys all lined up behind Bernie's old Fifties Chevy pick-up on the grid, then went for a parade lap before Bernie peeled off and they took the green flag as a rolling start. If you can imagine 30-odd V8s on a rolling start when you're stood right next to the start line ... I think a little bit of love-wee came out. The fastest cars on the day were the Brits - an MGB V8 took both race wins, with this SD1 running a close second all the way

Of course the Yanks have more power, but the MGB was close to half their weight. He and the SD1 swapped the lead once a lap for five laps. And that's racing...

And it has to be said that none of these guys were at all precious about their rides. There was one guy with a Shelby GT350, and I don't know what was under the bonnet, but when he opened it up on the back straight... oh boy. Imagine a jet engine on the brink of orgasm. Although it was me who had to fight the urge to give Mr Winkie a good beating. One guy in a Sunbeam Tiger lost the back end getting back on the power after Druids and fetched the tyre wall a mighty wallop. He restarted it, reversed out of the tyres and got the fuck on with it. I think he finished fourth. One guy with an Aston Martin DBS V8 stoved the front end in in the first race. Did it stop him? Did it arse-burgers. One guy with a Cobra Daytona rep tore the middle out of one of his rear Halibrands...

At the end of the day there was a parade lap for all the American cars on show. They lined up, three abreast, and filled well over half the Indy circuit. One guy in a C4 Corvette pulled onto the track, gave it a load and ended up backwards into the gravel at Paddock. Total time spent on track? About 10 seconds and 100 feet. Total number of cars who drove past him thinking "Wanker"? About 200. Bless.

This event has been Brands Hatch's biggest event of the year. At 9am, I joined the back of the queue to get in. It was four miles away, on the M25. The event outsold the BTCC and the DTM events, no problem. Some of the marshals told me they hadn't seen crowds like this for a non-motorbike event since the last British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch ... that was in 1986, when Nigel Mansell won. It's been so successful that they've already pencilled in Speedfest II for the same weekend next year. And if you can't make it to HR&H, this is definitely worth the trip.

Eugene