I have read that the Spitfire's major limitation was its c of g limitations which inter alia precluded extra fuel tankage. I have also read that great care must be taken on runup because if the tail begins to rise the limited prop clearance and high polar moment produces an inevitable strike no matter how quickly the throttle is closed.
A good friend and the man who introduced me to airways flying with a trip from Belfast to Bremen in my Arrow, Allan Deacon joined Shorts as a test pilot after a period with Rolls-Royce during which he flew the RR Spitfire XIV which I think is the one in these pictures, and borrowed it (yes, a Spitfire!) for our air display about 35 years ago.
At that time I was de facto airfield manager (which involved clearing up, driving digger and mower etc) and went ballistic when I spotted a line of slashes down our new runway surface. Who the ****** drove a tracked machine down the runway, I demanded. Turns out that Allan to his great mortification had tipped the Spitfire prop when he opened up on takeoff, each slash being the tip of its five-bladed prop.
Engineers came from RR and declared it fit to fly home for repairs. Poor Allan was drowned after baling out from a Tucano which broke up during test flight over the North Channel.