We will get to Lydden eventually, but for those of you not able to get to Mog here is a look at some of the ancillary attractions available in Kent and off the Mog schedule.
Kent contains one of the more famous gardens in England. Sissinghurst was developed from the ruin of an old abbey starting in the 1950s. The gardens are well worth a visit and you can climb to the top of the clock tower where the family flag still flies.
Once at the top of the tower you get a view of the hop dryers of Kent.
If Gardens are not your cup of tea then the Mog weekend was shared with the Eastbourne International Air Festival. This festival is run once a year for 4 days over the sea just off Eastbourne which gives a wonderful view of the action. We were treated to a range of planes including this B17 which starred in the film Memphis Belle
The Harrier gave us a helicopter style performance, interrupted by a display of its performance as a front line jet.
This plane is based on the German wartime spotter plane the Fiesler Storch. It is about 2/3 full size and is apparently used in Australia to herd sheep as it is much cheaper than a helicopter. There was a strong wind along the beach and the aircraft was able to hang almost motionless just off shore. A very disturbing sight in a fixed wing airoplane, without all the noise that the Harrier used to achieve a similar effect.
So much for the tourism on to the real topic.....
The day at Lydden dawned wet with a wet forecast and many of us feared that it would be a wet day. However by about 11am it had cleared up and the natural amphitheatre that contains the track gave everyone an excellent view.
These pictures should give those who were unable to attend something of the flavour of the day at Lydden. MSCC put on its first ever full days racing with sprints in the morning and a full race programme in the afternoon. Ably organised by our new competition secretary. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come.
The big boys in Class A show that they can do it too. (and faster than a Ferrari F50 I believe).
Close racing on three wheels as well! Look how low that F4 gets.
The three wheel race was not as close as the others, but it was still pretty good.
How to slide on three wheels, note that the white line is the theoretical track edge and the white stuff in the bottom right hand corner if the gravel, getting ever closer.... In the scratch race this car was close to the Plus 4s, but could not make any headway against the class A Plus Eigths.
Adrian Van der Croft in hot pursuit in XOV 555 as the leader takes it wide. Are we a little sideways Adrian? While Adrian's style was more spectacular; there is no doubt it cost him more than a second a lap, controlling the slides.
A nice straight drift this time, but still in pursuit. These 2 cars were beautifully matched, as were the drivers. Both being Plus Fours from the same era, now prepared for historic racing. In both the historic invitation race and the scratch race these guys gave us some extremely interesting and very close competition lap after lap.
A grandstand view for a midfield battle as Adrian once again shows how to lose a few hundredths while at the same time sending photographers and marshals alike diving out of the way. He did at least keep most of it out of the Gravel and stayed on the track for another few slides.
Everyone enjoyed the day. Roger tells me that the organisation was somewhat stressful, but now he's had some practice we look forward to more.