PICS! Brighton Speed Trials 2012

Right then, here's my report from said event. By way of background for anyone who isn't familiar, the National Speed Trials is organised by the Brighton and Hove Motor Club, and is the longest-running motorsport event in the world. This was the 107th iteration. Originally intended as an opportunity for the gentleman motorist to explore the parameters of their amazing motorised conveyance, the event takes advantage of the long straight wide promenade road along Madeira Drive on Brighton Sea Front. The road is closed for the day and a proper timing system set up to allow quarter-mile runs to be recorded over a whole range of different classes of vehicle; vintage, modern, competition and street, two, three and four-wheeled.

The setting is thus one of the most incongruous and evocative of any motorsport event, taking place amidst the Victorian ironmongery and pebbly shoreline of Brighton, and I for one love it. There's nowhere else you can sit by the washing waves and watch high-octane point-proving taking place a couple off feet away... well, short of cruising with the draggers along Havana's Malecon, anyway. The crowds always flock to the event, from passers-by just stopping to take advantage of the free viewing afforded by the top road overlooking the prom, to died-in-the-wool motoring enthusiasts who know each car in great depth and are exploiting the informality of the event and the opportunity to wander around the "pits" and literally get touching-distance close to the cars. Plenty of people turn up in or on their own cool vehicles; the bike park especially is a good place to see amazing transportation, if only because it stretches along the seafront from where the Trials barriers finish.

By way of illustration, a few scene-setting pics;

Random punters parking up and getting into "the zone"


The view isn't too shoddy


This is the view the other way, along the strip past the distinctive pillars of Madeira Drive towards Black Rock. Bonus 197mph Allard included for scale purposes


Crowds? Oh, yes


This is touching distance to your motorsport icons, this is. The start line thronged by spectators. Oh, and a priceless Maserati Monza


This is the one "show" where I don't think I've ever been to it and it's rained. Certainly this year it was HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! (That's a big "hot", not a long "hoot" by the way!). Here's a seagull enjoying watching the water-skiing in the glorious sunshine


The prom road during the week has bollards and K-Rail on it because it's long been a hang-out for petrolheads (or as the Daily Mail would have it, boy racers) who gather of a night-time. The Council put in the obstacles to stop impromptu races but obligingly enough, anyone of a mind to do so is grateful to them for the chicanes livening up their "track". All vestiges of this are vanished for the Speed Trials day, obviously.... though some slight traces remain of those nocturnal equivalents to todays' racers, if you look closely


And as always, plenty of genuine characters turn up for the trials, from octagenarians still campaigning their cars after decades to new blood finding their feet in the world of motorsport


Right, enough scene-setting, we'd better get on, hadn't we? This year I couldn't get out of work unfortunately (the Trials are always on the Saturday because the Ace Cafe to Brighton bike run takes place on the Sunday). That meant I had to get down the Trials early and then go off to work a late turn at two, so I didn't have as much time as I'd have liked to get everything in. It didn't help that the event was thrown into chaos early doors because the police had the West end of the road cordoned off. Sadly, some old dude had been stabbed to death during the early hours and half the event site was being held locked down as a crime scene! The competitior's cars were arriving and being stashed wherever there was space, and it took ages for the valiant organisers to battle through and get them into the right classes where they belonged when the police finally took their chemistry sets and went home. So, let's go on a whistle-stop tour before the schoolbell metaphorically rings and playtime is over, yeah?

Let's start with something a bit funky, shall we, and what better way to open than with one of the ultimate expessions of a modern-day supercar...


That's a giveaway right there, innit! Not just "any old" Lamborghini, if indeed there is such a thing...


...but a shiny new Aventador. Evil in black


and how incongruous parked up amongst the litter and debris left over from a clubber's night out in Brighton


The Speed Trials seems to attract a certain mindset of car owner, those who love their cars but aren't desparately precious about them. This seems to be shown neatly here by the numberplate casually folded in half to stick to the car's V-shaped nose, and the timing light actuator seemingly made secure by reams of yellow and black hazard tape!


This is definitely one of those cars that's fractal; the closer you look the deeper you find yourself going into seemingly never-ending layers of detail and finish


Whislt the bit you need immediate information upgrades from is simple and straighforward,


on the rest of it, the designers let themsleves indulge in the traditional Lambo excess and shock & awe






That gaping rear orifice in full;


Driven like it's meant to be, too, here it is giving some beans off the start line