 I have had confirmation today that John Hartshorne from Peninsula will be bringing the 2005 Le Mans car to the 60th celebrations in August and it gets better than that, the car will have an engine in it and will be running at Rockingham. So even if you didn't get to Le Mans in 2005 you will have a chance to see the car IN ACTION at the biggest TVR party to date.
 In another Le Mans 24 hours dominated by Audi with their 7th successive overall victory and the second for their diesel-powered R10, our special congratulations go out the fourth place and TVRCC favourite, Martin Short. St Ives based 'Shorty', well known to all TVR enthusiasts with his exploits through the 1990s in the TVR Tuscan Challenge and later in GT racing in his Cerbera and Tuscan R, was just 10 laps off the podium in his Rollcentre Racing Pescarolo Judd along with co-drivers Joao Barbosa from Portugal and Stuart Hall from Essex.
 There are just 11 days remaining before bookings close for Gang on the Green 2007 and the last few remaining places are filling up fast. This is the biggest TVR gathering in this 60th anniversary year in the southern half of the country and if the 2003 event is anything to go by, it is an event not to be missed. It's also the start of the summer's main anniversary celebrations with S Club, Wedgefest, Diamond Rock, Griff Growl, Chimfest and BNG all following on consecutive weekends over the next two months.
 It was split honours for current Class A leader Tim Hood and former TVR Tuscan Challenge runner up David Mason at Snetterton today. Race 1 went to Mason, nearly 20 seconds ahead of Darren Dowling and some 53 seconds ahead of third placed Dean Cook whilst Hood, after setting fastest lap, went out on lap 8. Fortunes were reversed in Race 2 where Hood took the chequered flag by some 7.8 seconds ahead of Dowling. By contrast, Mason retired after just 2 laps. In both races, Class B was won by Tony Abrams and Class C by current Championship leader Sam Head (right).
The TVRCC is grateful to the race sponsors, Sebring International. The next race, sponsored by Castle Race Engines, is at Cadwell Park on 15 July.  So we're into the last 5 hours, and the night's survivors are hanging in there - some better than others!
Audi No 1 (Biela) leads following the early morning demise of McNish's No.2, when a wheelnut released, launching Capello into the wall. 2nd is no 7 - Jaques Villeneuve's Peugeot 4.5 laps behind. In GT1 - the Corvette No.63 of Magnusson is chasing the Aston 009 of David Brabham for class honours, with less than 1 lap between them. 3rd is Larbre Aston 008 and Aston 007 is 4th after an off by Johnny Herbert. In LMP2, the Lola Zytek No.31 car leads - huge attrition in this class means that there are effectively only two runners. In GT2 - Repairs to 76 Porsche have delayed it, but is it still leading from No.99 Ferrari and No.93 Porsche The No.82 Panoz is still running but out of contention, down in 5th  Well, thrills and spills all round in the first six hours - more than I can keep up with updating here without it becoming a full time job!! But, the rain early on took out the No 3 Audi at Tetre Rouge, leading to a safety car whilst the barrier was replaced (wish our motorway maintenance guys were so quick!) - this led to a chaos of pitstops and tyre changes, but since then, some stability (and attrition) is starting to happen, and the race is taking shape.
 Time 1400 (EUR) -1hr The buildup to the 75th 24 Heures du Mans is well underway, the grid is filling up with the start in 1 hour - 3pm European time (2pm uk). Weather conditions here can best be described as changeable - high winds, and alternate bright sunshine and heavy rainshowers. The stage is therefore set for a great race - a number of battles are eagerly awaited - in particular between the diesel powered Peugeots and Audi in LMP1 and between the Corvettes and Aston Martins in LMGT1. In the support 'Le Mans Legends' races, Daniel Nash and Kingsley Martin acquitted themselves well in the Le Mans Grantura - more on that later. I will aim to keep you updated with the action as we go through the 24 hours - technology permitting!
Send any thoughts or comments to [email protected] Nick Kay  Daniel Nash and Kingsley Martin today again raced their Grantura at Le Mans. The car that is a veteran of the 1962 Le Mans 24 hr race, and the 2006 Le Mans classic, scored another successful finish at Le Mans.
They went from a grid position of 55th to 41st - and were dicing (cruelly held up by) a Corvette 275 and Project DB2 Aston. Daniel was also treated to a front-row seat for a Healey 3000 spinning in front of him on the first Mulsanne chicane - 'carrying 10 mph more than a TVR into chicane braking zone just isn't sensible'! The damp conditions with cross-ply tyres meant the going was a little slippery, but the car went (in Kingsley's words) "like an absolute dream". Dan elaborated that it went like "A Hawaiian tropic girl on a trawler in a force 9 gale". Someone needs to explain that one to me!.. More seriously, he said the car was a credit to Ian Massey-Crosse together with Don & Scott at Radford Racing who had set the car up,  Snetterton this weekend sees the first 20 car TVR grid since the Tuscan Challenge was combined with the TVRCC Challenge Cup last season, and probably the first time that 20 TVRs have lined up on the starting grid in any race for at least four or five years. It promises to be a great race with no less than three of the awesomely quick V8 Sagaris starting, along with the debut of the 6.0litre Chevy powered Tuscan of John Sampson and T350c of Cliff Jobson.
Qualifying starts at 10:05 with Race One at 14:50 and Race Two at 17:10. The weather's looking good with a forecast of partly cloudy and a high of 20 degrees so why not get along to Snetterton and cheer on your favourite driver. Will Tim Hood dominate again? Will Class C Sam Head maintain his 100% success rate?  Following on from last month's interview in TVR Sprint magazine, the TVR Car Club is pleased to announce that Mr Al Melling of Melling Consultancy Design, designer of the AJP8, Speed 12 and Speed 6 engines, has kindly agreed to present a seminar to TVRCC members and TVR enthusiasts entitled "The AJP and Speed Six Engines" at Rockingham Motor Speedway on Friday 3rd August.
This seminar is open to both TVRCC members and non-members alike.  With just three days remaining now until the start of the "Greatest Race on Earth", the report from our correspondent on Houx campsite is that it is starting to rapidly fill up with TVRs. We are pleased to report that all of the Club's charity cyclists made it to Le Mans in one piece having cycled from Corfe Muullen to Poole and then from Cherbourg to the circuit itself. They are once again raising money for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.
If you haven't yet left for Le Mans but are travelling tomorrow or friday, have a safe journey. And don't forget to give Daviel Nash in the 1962 Le Mans Grantura a big cheer in the legends race on Saturday morning.  There's another petition now on the Downing Street website that ALL classic car owners need to sign, not that we expect the Government to take a blind bit of notice. The last Conservative Government introduced a rolling tax exemption for classic cars when they reached 25 years old. Unfortunately, one of the first actions of the current administration was to freeze that at 1 Jan 1973. The call now is for that exemption to be made rolling again.
So, if you would like to restore the tax exemption to all classic cars once they reach 25 years old, and remember that proportionally wise, there are probably more 25 year old TVRs still in existence in relation to the numbers produced than virtually any other make,  Many race fans will know that the racing at Le Mans on the Saturday morning can often be far more exciting to watch than the later and longer race that follows. And what's more, unlike the main race where once again this year there sadly is no TVR to cheer for, we are pleased to confirm that Daniel Nash will be there in the Legends race in the 1962 Le Mans Grantura.
Daniel is in Class 3 which is for cars built between 1961-1964 - 2000cc and Below and is up against a Porsche 904, two MGBs, an Alfa TZ1, an Elva GT160 and Lotus Elan although the front runners are expected to be the Class 6 GT40s and Ferraris. The full list of competitors is here. The Legends race starts at 10.15 so plenty of time for breakfast first and still time to find the perfect vantage point. A good place to watch is the Ford chicane where lots of cars get out of shape and there are lots of lurid slides as the cars accelerate out of the last bend onto the start-finish straight. |
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