Brighton Speed Trials 2009
After a wet and miserable summer, the sunshine came through when we most needed it – on the glorious weekend of Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th September.
Saturday saw the annual Speed Trials along Madeira Drive, where thousands of spectators flocked to watch some seriously fast cars and bikes take on the quarter mile straight.
The bike side of the Speed Trials is managed by father and son team Phil and Juan (John) Manzano, who kindly gave me their time to explain how the day is organised. The event is run by the Brighton and Hove Motor Club, the bikes and riders are invited along as guests, so a limited number of 60 places are available for two wheelers. As John explained, “We get a lot of applications for these places as Brighton is a very popular venue, so our biggest problem is deciding who gets to run. It’s a great showcase for our sport.”
Bikes of all shapes and engine sizes lined up for the famous dash along Madeira Drive. Most were there for the fun of it, from ancient British classics through to some seriously modified modern machines.
The fastest time of the day was set by Roger Simmons on his Huyabusa 1300 turbo with a very impressive time of 8.89 seconds over the quarter mile run, clocking 157 miles per hour! This was only two hundredths of a second slower than the all time record set by Phil Woods.
More details of the Brighton Speed Trials and other such events in the south east can be found on www.vmccsprint.co.uk or email juanvmcc@btinternet.com