Devon - TVR Car Club

TVRCC Olympic Rock Relay
Cornwall & Devon
With much anticipation, a convoy of two Tuscans, two S3s and a Chimaera set off from Exeter on
August 11th to brave the Saturday holiday traffic in search of the fabled little stick of Blackpool rock.
We were heading for West Bay in Dorset to try and find some parking space amongst the throng of
holidaymakers and conduct the relay handover ceremony in style. The A30 and A35 were amazingly
free of traffic apart from a slight delay at Bridport. Even the North car park at West Bay had space
aplenty for the eight assembled TVRs. The weather wasn’t bad either as Dorset RO Tony Chitty
handed the torch over to Devon RO Graham Bailey.
L to R: Mark, Arthur, Rob, Chris, Tony, Graham, John, Lance, Dave
After a walk around the harbour and lunch at the Bridport Arms, it was time
to set off on the next leg and take the Torch into Devon, starting with our
monthly meeting place at the Turtley Corn Mill near Avonwick.
We decided to take the coast road back
which avoided very long delays at Honiton
but congestion in Lyme Regis and slow
traffic on the A3052 still slowed us down. By
the time we reached the clubhouse it was
threatening rain so a quick photo with John
and Graham was all we had time for before
engaging in a bit of time travel and bringing
Cornwall in on the act
The Rock was originally expected to arrive a couple of weeks earlier which would have coincided
with the monthly run-out for Cornwall. With everything already arranged, it seemed a shame to call
it off just because the Rock was enjoying an extended stay at various points back up the chain. A
great collection of three Cerberas, three S types, two Tuscans and two Chimaeras therefore
assembled at the Union Inn in Saltash, Cornwall just as the sun came out in late July. The splendid
facade of the pub in the shadow of the historic Taimar (sic) rail and road bridges made it a great
place to celebrate the arrival of the Rock in Cornwall – an arrival that had much to do with the
chimerical Cornish Pisky.
Two bridges cross the Tamar at this
point. The oldest is the Royal
Albert Rail Bridge designed by
Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It was
started in 1848 and completed in
1857.
The road bridge is known simply as
the Tamar Bridge and when it was
opened in 1961 it was the longest
suspension bridge in the UK.
As many will know, the Piskies’ favourite trick is to ride horses at night so
that their owners find them exhausted in the morning (have you ever said
to yourself in the morning “I thought I had more in the tank than that”?).
Those Piskies can be right little Vixens at times.
However, their Magick knows no end
and it would appear that at least
some of the delays further back in the
relay chain may have been caused by
the Piskies stealing the Rock and
bringing it to Cornwall for a day.
It is seen here in the hands of Andy
(RO for Cornwall) and Graham –
Magick!
Although, the Union Inn looks great on photos with a nationalistic,
Olympic theme, it doesn’t cater for those in need of sustenance and so
the TVR convoy set off for more hospitable climes in south east
Cornwall. Again, as many will know, Cornish roads were designed for
narrow gauge hand-carts and there is an advantage to being in a 9 car
convoy in that cars coming the other way generally stop and let you
through.
Lunch at the Edgecome
Arms allowed some nice
views back across the Tamar
to Plymouth, shown here
with the distinctive shapes
of the Tamar, Tavy and
Lynher tower blocks on the
skyline. These are named
after 3 of the rivers that
flow into the Hamoaze, the
stretch of water which the
two bridges span.
After an overnight rest, the next leg of the
journey on Sunday 12th August would take the
torch to North Devon via the A377 from Exeter
to Barnstaple on the river Taw.
Wiki tells us that Barnstaple is a former river
port and claims to be the oldest borough in the
United Kingdom. At the time of the Domesday
Book (1086), Barnstaple was listed as having its
own mint.
The Clock Tower in the Square is another
memorial to Prince Albert dating from 1862.
And so, on to Wellington on the A361 to meet
up with Somerset and hand over the Rock.
The chosen meeting point was TVRsSW Ltd. which is the business rising from the ashes of Dulford
Automotive. Colin is carrying on the fine tradition of service, repair and race preparation whilst Neil
is re-establishing the car parts business and both are based in the same premises on the Chelston
Business Park in Wellington, Somerset.
The interest was so great that the TVRs were lined up two deep for the handover ceremony.
Here Graham is handing over to Somerset RO Benn Laidler of Rally for Heroes fame. The baton had
covered around 270 miles through Devon and (magically) Cornwall and was now entrusted to
Somerset to help it to its final destination
Col had opened up his workshop and a quick peek inside revealed a Griff under rebuild and one of
his race cars in preparation.
The Griff has been fitted with
new outriggers and the chassis
has been powder-coated an 'off
white'. It's fitted with braided
hoses, Nitron shocks and is
running Tarox 10 pot calipers.
The wheels are Compomotive
MO's in satin black with Proxes
R888 semi slick tyres. The shell
and engine are currently under
construction.
The race car is a modified
Cerbera shell in matte black
holding a Chevrolet LS3 6.3
litre engine with an ARE dry
sump system. It has a 6 speed
sequential gearbox, Ohlin
shocks, HiSpec Monster 6
calipers with bespoke floating
discs.
Look out for it on a circuit near
you!
The Rock’s journey through Devon and Cornwall
A – West Bay, Dorset – rock received on 11th August
B – Turtley Corn Mill, Devon – rock presented to our clubhouse
65 miles
C – Union Inn, Saltash, Cornwall – rock handed over to Cornwall
20 miles
D – Cremyl, Cornwall – lunch with a view of Plymouth, Devon
20 miles
E – The Huntsman Inn, Ide – starting point for the Sunday tour
65 miles
F – The Square, Barnstaple – photo shoot
45 miles
G – TVRsSW Ltd, Wellington Somerset – rock handed over 12th August
45 miles
Total Rock journey distance
270 miles