A combination of the car being off the road most of last year for respray and an few modifications that took longer than expected has meant has been a couple of years since I have attended a track day. I did contemplate booking a track day late last year but I still feeling precious about my paintwork and was unsure whether my car at 105dB with track cans on would pass the noise limit at a track with the new manifolds.
When I read that the that the annual Cerbfest event organised by a group of TVR Cerbera owners had been opened up to TVR owners of all models, and was taking the form this year of an unlimited noise limit track day Rockingham I signed up without hesitation. It has been a while since I have attended a TVR only track day and in the past I have really enjoyed them. It is always refreshing to be on a track day with cars of a similar ability and not having to keep checking your mirrors for Radicals and other race cars that just appear from nowhere. It is also good to attend a track day with no cheap kamikaze track sheds being driven to within an inch of their life. The ettiquite of a club track day makes for a very enjoyable day with the clear understanding that no-one whats to write off theirs or anyone else’s pride and joy.
The circuit for the day was the Rockingham International Super Sportscar Circuit which is the same layout used by the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. The description of the track is a circuit that combines long straights, sweeping high-speed bends including the infamous Turn 1 and Gracelands and a lower speed, highly technical infield layout.
Average lap speeds around the circuit range from 1m 24s in the BTCC to 1m 12s in British F3.
Another circuit of the bucket list for me.
Rockingham did still complete the noise test despite there being no noise restrictions in place. Mine measured 105dB. Of course this was a green light to some of the Cerbera owners to see who had the loudest car. From what I understand the loudest was Nev Butlers mental AJP Cerbera at 128dB. WOW
As usual I had my GoPro camera, Harry’s Lap timer running on my iPhone and my Racelogic Vbox Sport running to capture some footage and telemetry.
My best lap of the day was 1:45.42 which I was happy with. I was playing with Nick Fisher’s TVR Cerbera. It is amazing with a car to chase how the lap times come down. Unfortunately the iPhone got confused with portrait mode and landscape so the G-meter is incorrectly orientated by 90 degrees.
Quite happy with the lines through the corners as shown by the Vbox software:
One more video on track with the Griff just before it started to rain and the track got slippery.
On my last session I did notice that a had a fair bit of blue smoke coming out the back of the car when changing down a gear and a number of people who had spotted it also expressed their concern. I suspect the car got too hot and hopefully no permanent damage but I must get my oil temperature gauge fixed and look into the possibility of fitting an oil cooler. This is my own fault as I usually only go out for 15mins at a time to keep the temperatures under control but I got a bit carried away and stayed out for about 30mins.
As always with TVR track days it is great to catch up with old faces and also meet new people. TVR community is unique in the way it brings people together from all different ages backgrounds that you wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to meet. Unlike other marques I have been involved with over the years with TVR there is no snobbishness over what the value of your car is or what you do for a living, just a bunch of enthusiasts enjoying their cars together and having a good laugh.
In summary this was one of the best TVR events I have attended, it is up there with TAG11 and Millbrook.
A big thank you to Nev Butler, Richard Sails, the TVRCC and all the other people who helped organise this event.
Thank you very much to Ian Longden of http://www.fasttracktours.co.uk for the photographs of my car on track who kindly supplied these free of charge to attendees.
TVR Griffith 500 