A NORTH Yorkshire racing driver has produced a record-breaking performance to lift the Brighton and Hove Motor Club's Kings Cup.

Moulton driver Peter Herbert made his first appearance at the historic Brighton Speed Trials ten years ago, when his Westfield was beaten into second place in class by the Davrian of south coast driver Ken Banks.

Since then, Banks has remained unbeaten in the 1400cc modified production car class, his standing quarter-mile record of 13.08 seconds being unchallenged since 1993.

That is until this year, when Herbert returned for the 64th running of Brighton's sea front Madeira Drive sprint, an event first held in 1907.

In practice, a 13.34-second run put the Cosworth BDH-powered Westfield into a provisional lead.

In the opening competition run, a time of 13.03 seconds kept Herbert ahead.

A final blast down the course, aided by Newsham preparation ace Russ Cockburn's installation of a drag race-style line lock which allowed the rear tyres to be spun to full working temperature prior to the start, saw the record further reduced to 12.75 seconds.