Longstone Light Car Race

 

The tension is mounting.

 

The entry list of mouth watering porridge. The likes of which has not been seen this century on a race track. Events the likes of the festival of slowth, Vintage Revival Montlhery struggle to display an array of vehicles with such dismal performance. I don’t think a grid this pathetic has been seen for over 50 years. 

 

Carden, Bedelia, Sima, Britania, Belsize Bradshaw, Swift and Trojan, all makes with such disappointing performance, the world has done its best to wipe them from its memory. Thankfully to no avail. The true car enthusiasts of the VSCC’s Light car and Edwardian section have tirelessly maintained the kind of car that no one else cared about. 

 

Yes, it is true that it is utterly impossible to not immediately fall in love with an Austin 7 chummy, and that the likes of a GN can be turned into a formidable racing car, and there is wide variety of techniques and easy ways to improve the reliability and performance of these little vintage light cars. However the cars eligible for The Longstone Light car race have been very carefully not improved in any way over the last 100 years and their performance is still just as pathetic as the day they were made.

 

Yes there is yet another Goodwood Festival of Speed on this weekend, like the ones that have happened before, but the Longstone Light car is something a bit special. A celebration of proper little vintage cars, a sight for the true enthusiast.

 

Dougal Cawley