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In 1979 a few members of the now disbanded Cardiff & District Autograss Club decided to hire the local Llandow airfield so the Autograss boys could see what their cars would go like on the 1 mile oval. Only a handful of cars made the trip for that first meeting but it was popular with all that attended and the Llandow Festival of Speed was born. The event was run at the end of the Autograss season in October by Len Levics and a small but enthusiastic band of friends and family. It ran every year until 1995 when the circuit was redeveloped making it unsuitable for the 40 car grids the event was famous for. The best thing about the Llandow meetings was seeing the Autograss cars take on and often beat the various Rally, Rallycross, Hot Rod and Circuit cars. This event did more for the reputation of Autograss than anything else at the time as the other forms of motorsport had to take notice when they were being beaten at their own game.
A shot from the first ever Llandow meeting put on for Autograss cars. Derek Tovey leads Don Wassell, both in Class 6a 100E Ford Pops with Ford pushrod engines where the passenger seat normally resides.
Stroud's Steve Smith was a regular in the early days with his 8 port Mini's, and this Imp - his first Class 7 car
Evesham's Andy Carlin in his Tyler powered Starlet
Dave 'Bumble' Fenwick from Yorkshire made the long trip down to Wales a few times famously beating John Cross in his Rallycross car on one occasion
Grassing legend Don Jenkins was a Llandow specialist and always entertained with his sideways style. Here he is racing against ex Bristol South member Maurice Cox in his Monoposto championship winning car.
Yeovil racer Richard Hann in his V8 pickup. Richard got a taste for the tarmac and went on to race in National Hot Rods and the Rover Cup.
Spam and Malcolm Rees amongst others prepare to do battle against a Mini Miglia.
Pete Brewer from Hereford in his BDA special
Derek Adams continued with Bruce Campbell's old car that he had been the mechanic on for many years
Nigel Pike changed his Class3 Escort for a Class6 Mini to good effect
Roger Bown even fitted his Class 9 with Formula 3 style single nut wheels
The Cole family were big fans of Llandow. Here is Darrell at speed in his BDG Imp.
Mark Webber from Ledbury was always quick round Llandow with his Ford V6 homebuilt special having some great battles with Terry Brown
Peter Williams supported the Llandow meetings from the start and was always on the pace
Paul Fackrell had a few special Llandow add ons such as a windscreen wiper and these front and rear wings
Don Jenkins taking the corner the only way for any self respecting Welshman - sideways!
Keith Davidge's 'Sidewinder' was one of the very first bike engined specials, although it was very unconventional with the engine sat alongside the driver.
Steve Mundy in his 5 litre Rallycross TR7V8 trying hard to keep on terms with Bumble Fenwick
Class 9's prepare to do battle on the Llandow startline
Terry Brown's Nationals winning Class8
Viv Cole sporting an interesting front spoiler on his Class 3 Escort
Very quick BDH Class8 special of TA19 Eifion Griffiths.
Andy 'Shakey' Lee with his Chevy V8 special. Andy did a bit of National Hot Rod racing but has come back to grassing with a Class 10 twin. Incidentally Shakey raced his twin at Llandow in 2006 and was clocked at 160mph!
Mini driver Martin Bowen tried a couple of seasons with this A Series powered Renault 5 but went back to a Mini afterwards
Darrell and Viv's Dad Haydn Cole ran this Lotus twin cam Class 9 for many years.
Evesham driver Robin Eardley in his very tidy Class 3 Mk2 Escort
Paul Gillard made a lot of effort with his cars at Llandow and after a few years he had developed a very special Escort just for racing there
Pete Haines and Robin Eardley having a private Evesham club battle
Tim Janes in his Mini leading Paul Bailey at Llandow 1983, and a later shot of him in his Stagg Metro around 1991.
Future Mini se7en champion Matthew Hayman got his first taste of circuit racing on the Llandow 1 mile oval, seen here in his class4 970S pickup
Phil Barlow puts 2 wheels on the grass in his 1300 BDH special
A West Midland League class 4 battle between Steve Jenkins and Bernie Jones
Pembrokeshire racer Phillip Thomas leads the 'Llandow special' BDA Escort of Bristol driver Matt Lillington
Kev Nash was always quick round Llandow in his 1350 Mini. Kev went on to do circuit racing, motocross and apparently is now doing remote control car racing!
Cardiff racer Bob 'mad dog' Tansell in his class 9 special
88 Nationals winner Lyn Powell in the ex Gerald Brace car
Another shot of Doug Brown's 1300 crossflow special
Darrell & Viv's dad Hayden Cole in his Lotus twin cam class9
Darrell Cole's big bore Rover V8 mk3 Escort
Completing the Cole family album this is Viv in one of his early class 3 Starlets
Keith Iles in one of his many class 3 cars. Never was sure what bodyshell this one was...
Paul Fackrell coming round the bottom corner
Tommy Mills 1350 Mini special was equally competitive on the tarmac
Terry Brown leads Paul Fackrell with the V8 Alfa special
Mike 'Arfur' Deeley was a familiar sight with his V8 specials
Turbocharged cars like John Lloyd's Cosworth special often performed better round Llandow than they did on the grass...
Terry Brown again with the old special sporting an interesting aerodynamic aid on the front
Spam must have competed in virtually every meeting that Len Levics promoted at Llandow, seen here with his 1380 pickup
Bala driver Kenny Roberts with another attempt at front end downforce
Carl Wilde spent a lot of time on tarmac suspension setup and this was reflected in his results
Looks like an expensive blow-up for Paul Bailey's class 6 Fiesta
