Lydden Legend Festival 2024

[Pozi]

I had a very enjoyable couple of days.

Having been equally apprehensive at seeing everything labelled as demonstration runs this was not the case. Even the rally demos were being driven with far more determination from the drivers by Sunday. Credit to the rally Quattro S1 and V8 Firenza who decided to take the hairpin sideways every lap.

It was a shame they decided to run so many cars together on the Sunday and some of the grids looked more like circuit racing. I am guessing they were worried about the 4PM noise curfew but ended up with a load of time to spare in the end.

[Thundersports]

Went on Saturday having not been to Lydden for about 10 years. The Circuit looked really smart and tidy along with the new entrance. The range of catering outlets was excellent and reasonably priced.

The Retro racing was very very good with a wide range of cars mainly being driven hard. The Supercars need their wings clipped as I think they're simply to fast and as a result it's clearly difficult to overtake.

All in all a great day and I won't leave it so long to go back again.

[flatlandsman]

Seen some of the clips

Soon as the O Donovans sod off and go to rallying the better, they must be a nightmare to race against. I would be almost tempted to line up that idiot and follow him into the fence I really would.,

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Dust looked to be a problem throughout the day - I assume the track was being watered but it was just drying out quickly?

Yeah, despite watering the dust got bad a few times on Saturday (especially as the wind seemed to drop during the afternoon), but it seemed far less of an issue on Sunday.

Originally Posted by AndyS

The C4 in 90's Supercars was a bit odd. It wasn't like they were lacking numbers. Next generation of car and just drove away from the rest of them.

I assumed that Liam maybe wanted to minimize the risk to the car, hence why it wasn't entered in the Supercars?

I noted that when he was following during one of the races (sorry, demos ) on Sunday he backed off several times when following Kenneth.

Originally Posted by Sarge

Having been going to Lydden since the 80’s I’ll never be sold on the revised layout with the jump and the re-naming of Chessons for the short lived US based Nitro event seems nonsense to me, but perhaps I’m missing something.

I've not been going there for as long as you, but I refuse to acknowledge the renaming of Chessons as well!

I'll accept a Nitro themed name for the jump (or the kink leading to it), but turn one will always be Chessons to me!

Originally Posted by Pozi

Credit to the rally Quattro S1 and V8 Firenza who decided to take the hairpin sideways every lap.

I think it was Krinks driving the "correct" looking S1 and he was great to watch. Absolutely ragging the car from the first session to the last. Some lovely cars on track in the 4WD and 2WD groups, hard to pick a favourite.

Delecour might not have been quite as flamboyant as Liam in the RS200, but he was great to watch. Real shame he didn't run the last couple of sessions. The Delta S4 was hugely entertaining and they really looked like they were trying in the Group B cars.

With regards to the Ollie incident I always try and remain objective on these situations, but it does frequently seem to be OOD at the "scene of the crime". Wasn't surprised to see it end that way, as Ollie and John had traded paint a couple of times during the day. Shame for Patrick as I felt that incident overshadowed his win(s).

I think the event has a lot of potential and I really hope they run it again in 2026.

[Thundersports]

Having not been for many years where have the Proctor/Bellerbys gone? Always a friendly bunch.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by Thundersports

Having not been for many years where have the Proctor/Bellerbys gone? Always a friendly bunch.

The Bellerbys are still about; Paige has been in the Super National Exige for the last few years, Drew and Dave in the MINI class. Dave won the class title in 2022 and 2023. Can't recall seeing any Bellerbys on track this year though.

Kevin Procter hasn't been around for a few years. I think the 2021 pre-season test was the last time he was on a rallycross track, but I am not 100% certain on that. His Fiesta is now in the hands of Tommy Graham.

[flatlandsman]

Procter has gone back to rallying

[AndyS]

Originally Posted by Thundersports

Having not been for many years where have the Proctor/Bellerbys gone? Always a friendly bunch.

I think Kevin Proctor has been very busy with his business. I think his coach sales business has expanded significantly in recent years. He'd have also had to deal with his coach operation business during Covid, which will have been a headache I suspect, as that industry had a very difficult couple of years.

He is still active in rallying and given that I think he sold a large chunk of his coach operation very recently, he might well have the time and money to race again!

[flatlandsman]

Did Mark Rennison actually attend, I keep seeing footage saying Harris was driving his car?

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

Did Mark Rennison actually attend, I keep seeing footage saying Harris was driving his car?

I don't believe he was there at all; the entry had Steve (Harris) and Mark sharing driving duties in that RS200, but I believe Steve drove it all weekend.

[flatlandsman]

That is a shame, he would have been the only reason I would have gone!! A bit of a hero of mine back in the day. Wonder why he did not go, money praps!!

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

That is a shame, he would have been the only reason I would have gone!! A bit of a hero of mine back in the day. Wonder why he did not go, money praps!!

Yeah, it was a shame he wasn't there. Would have been great to have seen Delecour and Rennison go head-to-head.

Even later than usual from me (been even more life distractions than usual in the last fortnight), but some photos from Lydden...













...more here:

Flickr - Lydden Legend 2024

If any of you want to see them!

[BertMk2]

Some cracking photos there

A great variety of cars as well - good to see them being used properly.

The only oddity really is Liam's Autograss Mini - not sure why that was there, out of place and a bit unnecessary. The Autograss cars are impressive but it doesn't really have a place at a Rallycross event?

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Some cracking photos there

Cheers, pleased to get some decent angles of some of my favourites!

Originally Posted by BertMk2

A great variety of cars as well - good to see them being used properly.

For sure. Some of the rally contingent were clearly trying harder than others, but was great to see all the cars on track. Andy Krinks was a real standout for me; he was ragging his S1 from the start of the first session on Saturday to the very end of the last session on Sunday.

Fair play to some of the rallycross drivers as well. Some of the cars took a few knocks on Saturday (most notably Philippe Tollemer), but there seemed to be no hesitation putting the cars back on track and in harms way again. Great to see!

Originally Posted by BertMk2

The only oddity really is Liam's Autograss Mini - not sure why that was there, out of place and a bit unnecessary. The Autograss cars are impressive but it doesn't really have a place at a Rallycross event?

Perhaps I am jumping to (unfair) conclusions, but I think that it was just another opportunity to generate some content with that car.

That said it was only out for a few minutes at a time and I enjoyed seeing it on track. I have been repeatedly saying it for years now, but I have got to get myself to an autograss event. If one car is that much fun to watch then a whole pack of them must be very entertaining!

I wonder if Liam might enter the Lydden sprint event in an autograss car later in the year?

[flatlandsman]

You might be disappointed after the initial buzz of autograss, a lot of classes are identikit using the same cars and designs, Liam is actually out of date with that car most of the quick stuff now uses Chevies or very well tuned car engines, bikes are still the most popular, but as I say it can be very stop start, a bit like speedway, and a lot of the ingenuity of the older times has gone.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

You might be disappointed after the initial buzz of autograss, a lot of classes are identikit using the same cars and designs, Liam is actually out of date with that car most of the quick stuff now uses Chevies or very well tuned car engines, bikes are still the most popular, but as I say it can be very stop start, a bit like speedway, and a lot of the ingenuity of the older times has gone.

I find grasstrack sidecars (specifically the 1000cc sidecars) hugely entertaining to watch and I like to try and fit one meeting in at some point during the year. One day of grasstrack every 12 months is usually enough for me though: I would watch rallycross every weekend of the year if I could, but there is no way I could do that with grasstrack.

I'm expecting autograss to be quite similar to grasstrack in that sense... won't know until I try though!

[flatlandsman]

It is nothing like what you know.

There are multiple classes, 10 in all plus separate ladies racing and kids, the cars are basically split into 10 classes Doran's is a class7, some are basic, most are modified then you have specials which are single seat a bit like the crap buggies in rallycross.

But as I say the classes now have mostly morphed into single make formulas, in the past literally anything went within reason.

Only tracks near you are Kent league not sure where they are though, try NASA the governing body

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

Only tracks near you are Kent league not sure where they are though, try NASA the governing body

I believe Invicta (Kent) is the closest to me.

I have done a bit of Googling in the past and seen a brief summary of the various classes, so I have a rough idea on the cars. From what I have seen Class 7 is what I am going for, as they seem to be the most sideways of the lot.

[flatlandsman]

Probably not true really all the rwd stuff is like that, but the 7's have the most power and are basically unlimited engines, but most run like Doran, twin bikes.
It has developed it's own little cottage industry of people doing chassis, engines and gearboxes, as it runs all over the UK now whereas in hte past it was more regional. a lot of clubs have gone but a lot still remain and it is a very exclusively British sport they run similar stuff in Europe but nothing like autograss really, mainly autocross

[tbtstt]

Going back to rallycross, and more specifically Lydden, I noticed that the tyre stack on the curb after the jump was absent for Legend. Minor change, but I thought it improved the line of cars coming off the jump and heading for the Elbow.

Obviously improved the lap times as well, as Patrick beat his own best lap on the new layout (was 43.528 in the 208, now 43.470 in the Iriz).

Whilst getting my nerd on and looking at lap times I also noticed - and I don't think he has been mentioned in recent discussion here - how much single lap pace that Michael Leonard has.

He is a bit inconsistent but, other than Patrick, he was the only driver who posted multiple 44 second lap times throughout the weekend.