The Bexhill 100 - The 2000 Event
The Bexhill Observer report
"Never mind the weather. We're English and we're used to it."
From out of a sunny forecast emerged a morning of sluicing rain to greet the first Bexhill 100 Festival of Motoring of the new millennium.
Rather like the crowds who flocked to the same site nearly a century before for Britain's first international motorsport event, Sunday's first arrivals were soon slipping through mud.
The crowd arrive on Bexhill Seafront
But television presenter Geoff Clark's words in opening the event were apt. The sun shone later on the 11th annual celebration of Bexhill's place in motoring history. And like their Whitsun 1902 forefathers Bank Holiday visitors - many thousands of them - had a spectacle to enjoy.
One vehicle seems to dominate each Bexhill 100. This year it was Leo Smith's 1917 La France, a 15-litre leviathan he has spent six years restoring. The American La France company is better known for fire engines. Everyone from the VIP tent wanted a ride down the track on the "Outwood Flyer" named after Leo's Surrey home - a two seater with such abundant torque that Leo seldom bothers to change from top gear!
The beast's 6mpg thirst meant it was cheaper to bring it to Bexhill by trailer than drive it.

Russ Swift performing in his mini		 Reverse spin champion Russ Swift's twice daily demonstrations of car control were a crowd-pleasing highlight.
Symbolising nearly a century of motorsport progress, the replica of Leon Serpollet's 1902-winning "Easter Egg" steam car enjoyed tented shelter with a representation of McLaren's 1999 Formula One design. Steam expert George Hatley of Verwood, Dorset has little more than blurred sepia prints from which to construct the Serpollet replica - a steep learning curve which has yet to receive its engine and boiler.
George praised High School pupils for the enthusiasm and skill they had put into constructing the wooden wheels. "I've enjoyed the project," said High team member Michael Davis, 14. "I have done a fair bit of lathe-work and learned lots about that."
Resplendent in "flapper" dress and striped blazer in readiness for the May Storkey Car-and Lady Competition, Pam and David Edworthy, of Hastings, symbolised what owning an historic car is all about.
They bought their 1928 Singer Junior last August and, despite the early rain, later enjoyed displaying it in the later sunshine.
Leon Serpollet's Easter Egg, together with David Coulthard's McLaren
The tiny saloon was Singer's answer to the Austin Seven. David said of historic car ownership: "I had always wanted one and I thought 'if we don't get one now we never will...'" On 850cc, there is no hope of keeping up with modern traffic. But as David said: "It's a fun little thing".
John Tadman enjoys one of motoring's dream jobs. He is classic car valuer for motoring festival sponsor Hastings Direct, agreeing insurance deals with proud owners.
From his wealth of experience and from the pleasure he gains from attending concours d'elegance, he picked the event's "Millennium Ten" guest list.
Examples ranged from Edward Hickmott's 1914 Stellite, through the ubiquitous Model T Ford - owned by Paul MacKarel - the 1925 Bullnose Morris Cowley to the powerful Anglo-American 1937 Railton Fairmile.
Bexhill's firefighters needed all the power they could muster. On Sunday they were pitted not only against colleagues from Hastings but against 10 tonnes of fully-loaded fire engine for the Gaby Hardwicke Trophy.
After a surprisingly brisk tug by both teams along more than 500 metres of De La Warr Parade Hastings' Green Watch went over the finishing line a length and a half ahead of Bexhill
The fire engine pull
But as Wally Wallbank of Hastings explained, there were no losers. The firefighters hope to have raised more than £2,000 for the Fire Brigade Benevolent Fund, The British Heart Foundation and Listening Dogs for the Deaf.
The boggy conditions meant hours of phone calls by organiser Brian Storkey and assistant Ken Pope after a Thursday decision that the green in front of Sutton Place was unusable.

A steam roller makes its way down the track		 But a hasty revision to shorten the track and use the eastern end for display purposes, meant there was still a feast of modern classics to enjoy. At Galley Hill, the 'uphill dash' against the electronic timing beam for the Dray's Trophy drew large crowds and some notable sub-five second runs.

In contrast, traction engines and steamrollers with names such as Colleen, Ebenezer and Gysbertina delighted the public lining the track in their tens of thousands by processing at a smoke-belching but majestic walking pace.

So many lost motoring names were proudly paraded - Wolseley, Riley, Austin and Morris, Singer and Humber - that the fate of Britain's last volume car producer Rover was on many people's minds.
Still, the Bulldog Spirit was present - not only in the face of Sunday's wet start but in the considerable person of Buster, a two year-old example of the breed brought by visitor Derek Powell from Croydon.
Brian Storkey, the organiser and "voice" of the Bexhill 100, was awarded a spontaneous accolade at the end of Monday's festival. Brian's dedication to his commentary position post means that, having worked for months to plan the show, he misses each year's track action. Stunt driver Russ Swift had been seeking "volunteers" as passengers during his Mini Cooper demonstration drives.
The Bexhill 100 Marshals
(Click for big pic)
Knowing Brian would never willingly desert his post, track marshals put him on a section of road-side barrier and carried him bodily down the track where, to applause, he was given the ride of his life.
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