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I was up at 6.00am this sunny holiday morning, driving into suburban south London from the misty Kentish country side with hardly a car on the road. My 1963 Corvette coupe is as delicious to drive as when it was new. No rattles at all , power steering with plenty of feel, power drum brakes that work best when they are warm, Radio One FM to satisfy 10 year old son and passenger Alec, and it still has only 79,000 miles on the clock. At that time of day the interior temperature was pleasant but now the Warner T-10 gearbox is giving off plenty of heat, and I briefly wonder how it will be to drive to Le Mans in three weeks time if it really is going to be a flaming June in the Sarthe. Air conditioning was an option later in 1963, but not in April when my car was built. The classic ACO-24Heures sticker is already in the left half of the rear split window, along with my National Corvette Restorers Society and Sevenoaks & District Motor Club stickers, the last is why we are here on the old road circuit in Crystal Palace park.
There is a vertical aluminium blade just ahead of the divided front bumper, which will shortly interrupt a light beam. Sevenoaks & District Club members have eased my car back onto a wedge, where the car will rest briefly because we are facing uphill. The steering wheel is an eighth turn to the left because even here we are on a curve. Back in the parking area among the rhododendrons, my display board details what I know of the history of my Corvette, the recent magazine features, its shady history in the late Sixties in this part of London, and an appeal to any locals who might remember who owned it when it was unusually registered here as 4 FXB when brand new.
My crash helmet is almost touching the roof, my racing suit is hot, and my mouth is dry. Relief ! the light turns from red to green, I can go in my own time, rev the engine to 3,500, let out the clutch hard and the well worn low profile tyres on borrowed American Racing Torque Thrusts spin together thanks to the restored and original Positraction differential, blue smoke spirals off the treads and I hold the pedal down as a far as I dare into to the first tight corner. I am no racing driver and this is no race car, but I scrabble round the first bend and snatch second gear on the first straight down to the right hand hairpin. The track is narrow and this a big and heavy car, get on the grass and Mech Spray won't have time to repair the damage before Flight 2000.
To the spectators I know I look like another boring old driver driving a rather quiet classic car fairly gently, but here in the cockpit I'm having fantastic fun, the car rocks and heaves on its soft road suspension, squirms under power, and the brakes feel great. I squeeze through the adverse cambered and bumpy esses in first and then start to accelerate round the long final curve which not only progressively tightens, but is damp under the trees at the finish. Whoa! The rear slews sideways as I floor it in second and hit the damp bit and backing off hardly controls the slide. These old tyres are awful, probably age hardened or something, and I take it very gently to the finish line, heart racing and a big grin on my face, and slowly back to the paddock.
We get one more practice run and then two serious runs after lunch. I improve my time by a second or so each time, but my last run is slow because I am scared by the rain that starts to fall and I know my tyres aren't up to it. Tonight I can drive home with the car in one perfect piece. Next year, new low profile tyres and tomorrow fit better valve stem seals to the engine before Le Mans. And then start preparing the car to achieve a Top Flight award at Flight 2000 at the Great Danes Hotel in September. Based on my Second Flight score sheet from last year, I know that by changing all those parts and correcting a few deficiencies, I should just scrape the top award while still driving on modern radials and running Koni shocks. Doing a two hundred mile detour to the judging field will earn a 2% boost to the final score just to make sure, and that drive will be a pleasure!
And in an age when most of our American fellow members trailer their cars to NCRS meets, how nice to know that I race my car too!
Tom Falconer
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