So, what do we do at the weekends when we're not beavering away working?

Sprinting and Hillclimbing
Now call me a sucker for punishment but I own a TVR Cerbera, not only do I own a TVR I race it as well, I really must need my bumps feeling. Although a TVR is more like a full time hobby than a viable form of transport there is nothing better than taking it out and blatting around a race track or up a challenging hillclimb at the weekend, in the company of like minded idiots!

I'm currently entered in the TVRCC Speed Championship, this is a sprint & hillclimb series competing at venues all over the UK. The championship is open to all TVRs and is run using a handicap system to level the playing field between the small 4 cylinder cars and the thundering V8s.

The Cerbera falls into the latter catagory, with a flat-plane V8, designed by Al Melling and loosly based on a Formula 3000 engine, the AJP8 is a gem, with a displacement of 4200cc, pushing out nearly 400bhp in a car weighing 1100kg it is exciting to drive, to say the least!

I've been competing for 3 years with varying degrees of success, my first season saw me take the novice award, that rather dangled the carrot for me. The car has undergone a lot of development since then, although it is still road legal and taxed it really is a track car and almost undrivable on 'normal' roads. The ride is rock hard and there's so much castor angle on the front wheels that I go through a set of front tyres in less that 100 miles! That's not cheap when it's shod with Dunlop semi-slick race tyres! But, it's all geared for the track and the 2008 season saw me knock approximately 2.5 seconds of my times at most venues, so experience and car development is paying off. Roll on 2009...