Something out of the ordinary happened on the morning of the 15 August at Llandow in South Wales. Four intrepid Speedmoggers arrived bright and early at a track where no SpeedMogger had been before! After unloading and unpacking their cars, four Morgans lined up in their paddock slots, and after signing on, Howard Burton, Clive Hall, Paul Clarke and Simon Baines set off to walk the course that was new to them all.
It’s a short blast from the start line into the first right, quick left, right again, then into a longer right hander, a short straight to a long right that opens up into the hanger straight. This straight walked long but drove short, descending upon the chicane at it’s end quicker than first thought, to turn immediately into a long sweeping double apex right onto a second straight that would be the finish straight next time around. This time around cars would blast full throttle past that finish, toward the ‘bus stop’. Pick a braking point then turn hard left, hard right, past the start line, to head into three quarters of the same lap again. Llandow is a challenging combination of fast sections that quickly transition into the twisty bits….this would be interesting!
Paul and Simon set the pace in practice in the Roadsters, throughout the day, they put in times in the low ninety second bracket running within a second of each other. Clive was around four and a half seconds adrift in his modified 4/4 with a time of 95.14 and Howard brought his 4/4 home with a best time of 105.56 seconds. All were rapidly learning the circuit, refining their braking point into the bus stop …contemplating if the chicane at the end of the straight could be ‘straight lined’, where could more speed be found, where was the grip?
The day ended with a win for Paul with a best time of 90.65 seconds, Simon a close second on 91.50. Close racing on a circuit that got the thumbs up from the Speedmoggers, one that all would like to see as a permanent fixture on the championship calendar.