Wiscombe VSCC meeting 2010

This year's Vintage Sports Car Club meeting was cold - so cold the batteries in my camera expired, one set after another. I tried warming them in my pockets and this helped a bit but eventually they all cried enough. If you scampered up and down from finish line to paddock - like I did - you could forget the cold but for the marshals and the guys on the gate who had to stay put, it was perishing.

The machinery, though, was as diverse and fascinating as ever. I went to both the Saturday and Sunday events and camped in my van (VT No.44) with an Arctic-spec sleeping bag.

The picture above shows Terry McGrath in his 1100cc 1928 Amilcar CGS special and several well wrapped up starting officials.

On the Saturday there were the Formula 3 500cc racers from the fifties and although I can't usually work up much enthusiasm for single seaters, I really like these little things. They are so cute you could wear them as a badge.

Number 64 is a Norton powered Martin and is a great example of a missile on wheels. Early 500 racers were usually home built and very much of the DIY post war period. Under the influence of Cooper, Kieft and Martin, the formula soon adopted this general layout and the engineering became progressively more sophisticated and minimalist.

On Saturday, the F3 500cc racers also had more modern single seaters for company and while I like to look at their suspensions, I don't find the later sort so interesting and have no desire to own them all, whereas with every 500cc racer I want to take it home and look after it.

I prefer two seaters, even if I am usually travelling alone.

Also very much in attendance on the Saturday were the motorbikes. This Kwacker belongs to Cornish hillclimbing royalty, namely Jamie Mitchell who held the record at Tregrehan for many years. I really like the highly polished finish on his zorst.

The following Sunday was at least as chilly as the Saturday. Hillclimbers often warm up their tyres by spinning up the wheels before rolling up to the start line. I am assured that this makes all the difference and in such cold conditions it must have been nigh on essential.

VSCC members are hardy types and the cold weather didn't keep them away. The public carpark featured many desirable automobiles in saloon form while on the hill various specials performed far better than their designers ever suspected they would. There was a "scurrying kindergarten" of Austin 7s, a squadron of aero-engined monsters and a couple of multi-thousand pound Alfa Romeos. There were lots of Rileys, lots of MGs and a surprising number of Lea-Franciseses or Leafs.

And that's not to say anything of the specials such as Cognac, Ron Footitt's legendary AC powered GN that is so much more than the sum of its parts. Here it is taking off from the line in the capable hands of present owner/driver Trevor John, who uses it like he should.

I found myself in a partially "mazed" state and when i bumped into some friends they said I was obviously in a little world of my own. All that rolling scuplture! Who wouldn't be?

As always, I ended up wanting to have a go. This is where my weakness for F3 500cc racers becomes a strength. The 24 litre Napier Bentley - subtitled The most effective laxative on four wheels - is very nice but needs a hefty lorry to carry it around the British Isles to places big enough to accommodate it. And to smaller ones like Wiscombe. But you could almost unclip an F3 500 from your lapel badge and go racing.

Pete Low was with me for most of Saturday and he was obviously thinking along similar lines. "Much as I like the idea of Run What Ya Brung, if you do bin it how are going to get home? You could almost get a Cooper 500 in the back of a reasonably sized van."

It's a shame he had to go home early.

These guys loaded two F3 racers into the back of a high top Transit with the aid of some very nice aluminium ramps and an electric winch. The Transit probably wouldn't notice the weight of these little things and once they've been unpacked you could sleep in the back of it.

Of course you could tow a trailer with the family car or really go for the paddock gentry look and get a Winnebago but car trailers are dangerous close to caravans. I prefer car transporter vehicles to car trailers in much the same way that I prefer motor caravans to the towable variety.

A Transit wouldn't fit in my garage though. It wouldn't be long before the Bodmin Moor climate would get at it and it would turn first green and then orange before disappearing entirely. My little Citroen C15D van suits me very well but you can't get a racing car into it, only a racing bike.

Or can you?

Just as I was leaving on the Saturday, this Citroen Berlingo turned up. At first I thought someone had kitted it out as a touring van but then I saw the headlights through the plexiglass. Inside was a 707cc Carden cyclecar, number 1 in the running order and possibly the slowest car in the entry list. It was still a racer though.

If you think about it, the Berlingo was in no way overloaded. My C15D weight limit is rated at 765kg and the Berlingo is that bit bigger and beefier. With the Carden on board, it would be well within its weight limits and only looks tail heavy because of the lumpy ground near the top paddock at Wiscombe.

This is what the Carden looks like once unloaded. It looks quite racey doesn't? The engines in the back so by reversing it into the Berlingo it won't wag the tail of the transporter vehicle. 10 out 10 for lateral thinking.

I thought this was a great idea and - again - when loading time came round a small crowd gathered.

Having arrived home and downloaded my camera it's occurred to me that maybe the batteries weren't suffering from cold so badly. In two days I took over 400 photographs. It still wasn't enough, though. How will I cope at the Le Mans Classic?