MG LIve (2022)

Preamble

The opportunity to race on the GP circuit is pretty rare for historic racers so when Equipe Classic Racing invited FISCAR to join them in their Pre63/50s race there, it made sense to avail ourselves of that kind offer. Afterall, we had contributed well to this race last year, and there was no reason why we could n’t do so again. However, it was not to be with just a handful of our members entering. We can point to a whole number of reasons - mixed grids, the entry process, pricing and even perhaps a certain antipathy amongst our members towards the Equipe operation. Our absence in numbers did not have a detrimental effect on the substantial entry list which was so large that a few cars (including two of ours ) entered for the Saturday race had to transfer to Sunday’s Equipe Libre/70s race. All I can say is that I am grateful to John Pearson and Rob Cull for giving us the opportunity to race with them and our subsequent parting of the ways has been entirely amicable. We simply agreed that the culture and approach was just different and I wish them every continuing success.

Qualifying

Our FISCAR cars were entered in Saturday’s Equipe Libre/Pre63/50s race. You will be pleased to know that I will not be giving a detailed account of all the 56 cars that went out for qualifying. However, as well as those who entered via FISCAR, I will touch upon the efforts of other drivers who have current or former associations with FISCAR and some of the other 50s cars. Incidentally, some of the photos will be quite random since I had to cull the majority of my shots as they were so poor, but our members will, ultimately be well represented, since we have the benefit of some of Mick Walker’s shots, too.

When we first accepted the invitation to this race, I was under the impression that it would be for Equipe Pre63/50s cars only as per last year. It was only more recently that it became apparent that the Libre class cars had been added and I fully expected that they would head the field as they had at Snetterton, but, in fact, it was the Dafyd Richards Lotus 11 (50s class) which topped the timing sheets on a 2.35.731, followed by 3 cars from Equipe’s Pre63 Class 7 - the Pearson/Pearson E type, Pochciol/Hamson E type and the Shelby Cobra of our friend, Nigel Winchester. The first of the Libre cars was the TVR Griffith 400 of Matt Holben who qualified 5th on a 2.39.835. Robin Ellis qualified his lovely Shapecraft Elan 26R, 9th, and the first 50s car (apart from the polesitting Lotus!) was Nicholas Harris in his Austin Healey 100/4 in 18th and next up was Martin Pratt in the Morgan +4 in 21st. The first of ‘our’ cars was Jonathan Abecassis in his Austin Healey 100/4, prepared by Woolmer Classic Engineering, in 22nd, on 2.46.467. Other 50s cars qualified 25th, 27th, 30th, 32nd, 34th,46th, 47th (Justin Beckett’a AC Ace, 3.00.788), 49th, 52nd (ex works MGA Twin Cam), 55th (Ex works MGA Twin Cam) and 56th, Alan House in his Morgan +4 on a 3.16.955. Somewhat confusing to this writer was the fact that other 50s cars were listed as entered in the pre 63 class and they included Richard Lawson’s MGA (39th), Mark Hoble’s Turner Mk1 Climax, (41st), Alex Quattlebaum’s LECo (44th, on 2.55.909), David Ferry’s TR3 (45th), Neil Burnside’s MGA (48th) and Roy Chamberlain’s Triumph TR2 (51st), so whilst some of those listed above may not have complied with our regs, 50s based cars were well represented on the grid. I have assumed that some of the MGAs were entered via the MGCC, and I can say for certain that the splendid ex works Twin Cam MGAs, 1 MTW & 2 MTW owned by the Daniels are FISCAR compliant, and that the Neil Burnside car is too, since they have all raced with us before.

Race (Saturday)

(Race3 -Equipe Libre, Pre63 &50s)

We lost 2 cars from qualifying and sadly, one of these was Alex Quattlebaum’s LECo2 XPAG with a head gasket failure, but a big grid of 54 cars took the start. This was to be a 40 minute race with a mandatory pitstop and although on the GP circuit, with over 40 seconds separating poleman from the back of the grid, lapping was to be expected! I do not propose to go into a lengthy race report, not least because with all the cars on the grid and a pit stop it was difficult to follow the race in detail especially since I was trying to grab some shots as well, so I will concentrate on the FISCAR cars and others mentioned briefly in the ‘Qualifying’ section above. The photos, on this occasion may not always correspond with the narrative. Austin Healeys will feature quite strongly in the pictorial part of this report since there were no less than 13 100s/3000s representing almost a quarter of the whole field!

Nigel Winchester got off to another great start from 4th on the grid and snatched the lead in the lovely early Shelby Cobra, closely challenged by the Pochciol/Hamson E type. As they came through to complete lap 1, Rick Willmott’s E type was shadowing them with poleman, Dafyd Willliams, down in 4th with the Lotus 11. The Lotus whilst quicker around the circuit may not necessarily have made a bad start but was probably simply outdragged by the much more powerful Cobra and E types, and he soon set about addressing this setback! Robin Ellis had the Shapecraft Elan in 8th. Jonathan Abecassis was 18th and already embroiled in a battle with fellow Austin Healey 100 racer, Nicholas Harris, who had qualified ahead of him. Further down the field, Justin Beckett was in 47th in the only AC Ace and Alan House was 53rd in his Morgan +4, ahead of Mark Halstead’s Ginetta G4R which had qualified 10th, but spun in Luffield and had to wait for the rest of the field to pass before he got going again. He now embarked on a recovery drive.

The status quo was maintained at the front for the next few laps with Nigel Winchester holding off the Pearson E type, but poleman, Dafyd Richards, displaced the Willmott E type to take 3rd in the Lotus 11 and tagged onto the back of the leading pair, all 3 pulling clear from the rest of the pack by the end of lap 5. Robin Ellis had the Shapecraft Elan up to 7th whilst Jonathan Abecassis had to give best to fellow Austin Healey 100/4 racer, Nicholas Harris, and dropped to 19th, but still well in contention for 50s honours. Mark Hoble and David Ferry in Turner and TR3 respectively were still slugging it out further down the field and Justin Beckett had the Ace in 47th but in plenty of action with cars just ahead and behind, Nick Brayshaw’s MGA being almost within touching distance. A number of cars, including Alan House’s Morgan +4 were about to go a lap down, such was the pace at the front.

A safety car period intervened ( cause unknown to the writer but likely a car stopped/damaged in an unsafe place) during the course oflap 6 but not declared until the leading cars had already passed the pit entry lane and headed onto lap 7. This completely changed the outcome of the race, since many of those behind effectively took a ‘free’ stop. The first to capitalise on this situation was Mark Holme in his Austin Healey 3000 MkII, lying in 12th at the end of lap 6 and he was followed in by at least half the field. This put all the others on the back foot, not least the quickest cars at the front who were unable to fully recover from this, as the SC period was fairly short and they had to take their mandatory stop, sooner or later, with the race already back up to full speed. During the course of all this, Dafyd Richards had taken the lead from Nigel Winchester’s Cobra whilst their immediate pursuers, and indeed most of the rest of the field, took their stops at the end of lap 7, albeit too late to maintain their positions once all stops had been taken. The Cobra pitted at the end of lap 8 and Nigel was never in contention for the lead again, finally finishing 8th. The leading Lotus pitted on lap 9, at which time the Holme Austin Healey assumed a lead that it would never relinquish, winning by a clear 19 seconds from the Jack Chatham Austin Healey, another who had benefitted from taking his stop during the SC period. The Lotus 11 was consistently the quickest car in the field and managed to recover much of the lost ground, finally getting up to 3rd but still 39 seconds behind the winner. He was, of course, by far the quickest of the 50s cars and posted the race’s fastest lap at 2.36.270.

The length of the race, number of cars involved along with the pit stops meant that I could not easily follow all the on track action and dices, so if any members want to contact me to give greater detail of their race I will be happy to add it in. I include below the placings of members and other cars mentioned in the report.

Robin Ellis was 9th overall in the Shapecraft Elan 26R, winning Equipe’s L2 class whilst Jonathan Abecassis was 11th and, 2nd of the 50s cars home, winning the Equipe 50s Class 5. Martin Pratt won the Equipe 50s Class 4 in his Morgan +4 and John Pearson the 50s Class 2, in his MGA. Mark Hoble (Turner) and David Ferry (TR3) came in 32nd and 33rd after an unfortunate coming together but both won their respective Pre 63 classes! Justin Beckett was 38th and second to the Pratt Morgan in the 50s Class 4. The Daniel/Mooore ex works MGA Twin Cam was 39th but the sister car of Daniel/Alcock was unclassified, whilst Neil Burnside brought his MGA home 42nd ahead of Alan House in his Morgan +4.

In addition to the unclassified MGA mentioned above, there were 9 non finishers amongst which was the Austin Healey 100/6 of Doug Muirhead and the 100M of Bernberg/Ugo. I’ll endeavour to tabulate the results of the 50s cars whatever class they were in.

Gallery 1

This gallery will focus mainly on 1950s cars, including the FISCAR entries. However, I will add an ‘Others’ gallery at the end of the full report.

Qualifying (Race 7 - Sunday - Equipe Libre & 70s)

Although, in title, nominally excluding both Pre 63 and 50s classes, there were in fact several of both classes in this race. Those we are particularly interested in since they were entered as FISCAR members were the Elva MkIV of Shaun Bromley who won the Archie Scott Brown Trophy earlier this year, this time sharing with his son, Josh and, Glenn Brackenridge in his Sunbeam Alpine Le Mans Harrington. The latter was a delightful surprise since he had not been on the last entry list I had seen. Glenn had done a bit of work on this road rally car which included the removal of the front fog lamps, so a bit lighter anyway. It was also good to see David Brazell entered in the XK120 and Marc Gordon in the XK150 (the programme says Lotus Elite!).

The Bromley Elva qualified 17th in a grid of 36 cars, Marc Gordon, 20th in the XK150 and Brazell/Broad XK 120 qualified 34th. Not unexpectedly, Glenn qualified the Sunbeam 35th, ahead only of the E type of Rick Willmott, who had failed to record a time!

A further pleasant surprise was the presence of Steve Wright and Ian Clark in their Porsche 356A, who raced with us many years ago and whom I am trying to entice back to us, although I know that they like the longer races. The Porsche qualified 31st. John Pearson and Nick Brayshaw were out again in their MGAs, along with the Martin Pratt Morgan +4 and the John Alexander Austin Healey 100. Dafyd Richard’s Lotus was also out again and having qualified on pole on Saturday was well up on this grid here too, qualifying 3rd.

Race

This will not be one of my usual lengthy accounts! However, as an aside, and whilst I would not normally draw attention to the efforts of race commentators who have quite a difficult job to do, I was somewhat amused by their apparent inability to differentiate between the Willmott E type and the Brackenridge Alpine Harrington Le Mans when the cars lined up on the grid. Both cars were starting from the back row.! It was a clear sunny day, and it was only after some discussion and conjecture that they finally correctly identified the Alpine for what it was stating that the cars had a similar outline!! Hmmm!

Graham Bryant was on pole in the Morgan +8 ( more usually driven by his son, Ollie) and duly took the lead, completing the first lap just over one second ahead of Mark Halstead’s Ginetta G4R. The pair had already drawn over 4 seconds clear of the chasing pack which was led by the Porsche 911ST of Richard Hywel-Evans. The Lotus 11 of Dafyd Richards, having qualified 3rd non started, so the quickest 50s car on the grid was Martin Pratt’s Morgan +4 which completed the first lap in 14th position. Shaun Bromley had the Elva MkIV in 18th place, Marc Gordon had the XK150 in 20th, whilst John Pearson (MGA) was 26th, Nicholas English (Austin Healey 100/4), was 28th and the Porsche 356 of Steve Wright was 30th, followed by John Alexander (Austin Healey 100/4), Nick Brayshaw (MGA), David Brazell (XK120) and Glenn Brackenridge in the Sunbeam Alpine Harrington LM. It was not surprising that these 50s cars were propping up the back of the field given the other cars on the grid but they were giving a good account of themselves and making their presence felt.

During the course of the next few laps there was little change at the front, the Morgan generally holding a 1 to 2 second lead over the Ginetta, and both continuing to pull clear of the field. Glenn Brackenridge was lapped by the leaders on lap 4, whilst the Pratt Morgan moved forward one place to 13th. Shaun Bromley was enjoying himself in the Elva but was dropping down the field. He simply didn’t have the straightline speed to prevent several cars moving passed him on the straights, and was then a bit frustrated by some of them in the corners as they held him up, the Elva being better on the brakes and handling. One of those that passed him was the XK150 of Marc Gordon who was really getting stuck into some of the later cars , even getting ahead of the Laurent/Stanley E type on lap 4 and up to 19th on lap 5. There was a good deal of dicing and place swapping at the back of the field between the 50s cars, so they were clearly enjoying themselves, and one of them, Nicholas English in the Austin Healey was the first of the whole field to pit, at the end of lap 5.

Grahame Bryant continued to lead the Halstead Ginetta but on lap 8 the Morgan trickled slowly into the pits and didn’t return to the track. The Ginetta followed it in but having completed his mandatory pit stop he returned to the race and, once the Hywell-Evans Porsche took its stop a couple of laps later, assumed the lead which it was never to relinquish. Two thirds of the field had actually taken their stops at the end of lap 7 and this included the Brazell XK120 (handing over to Broad), which was actually on its 6th lap having already been lapped, Marc Gordon in the XK150, John Pearson (MGA) and John Alexander (Austin Healey 100). Steve Wright pitted the Porsche 356 on the following lap and handed over to Ian Clark, and Glenn Brackenridge brought the Sunbeam in on the leader’s lap 9 although Glenn was, by this time 2 laps down. Shaun Bromley followed Glenn in but was still on the lead lap and because of the pit stops already taken, up to 11th at this point. Shaun handed over to his son, Josh. The last 50s car to pit was the Martin Pratt Morgan+4, also still on the lead lap.

On the leaders lap 11, the Brazell/Broad XK120, 2 laps down, again pitted and retired from the race. By this time Mark Halstead was unchallenged in the lead, the Ginetta G4R 13.5 seconds ahead of the Porsche 911ST of Richard Hywel-Evans who was just over 5 seconds clear of Christian Douglas in the TVR Griffith 400. There was a big gap to 4th and most of the field was by now well spread out. However, Marc Gordon was 19th and Josh Bromley 20th separated by only 6 tenths of a second and Josh was to take the Elva ahead of the Jaguar on the following lap. Both were still on the lead lap. Up ahead of them the Martin Pratt Morgan was lying a fine 8th, a position it held to the end.

As the race ran down to its conclusion, there were few changes in position but a couple of noteworthy battles went to the flag. The very combative Rob Cull somehow held on to the TVR Griffith 400 of Matt Holben finishing just over 1.5 seconds behind in his TVR Grantura. They finished 6th and 7th respectively, Rob putting in his fastest race lap on the final lap! A little further back, and on the lead lap, Martin Pratt somehow managed to keep his Morgan +4 ahead of the Moore/Daniell AC Cobra despite the latter having posted a best lap almost 5 seconds quicker than that which the Morgan produced. They finished 9th and 10th respectively, the Morgan being the first of the 50s cars home.

The Bromley Elva took 18th overall and promptly ran out of fuel on the slowing down lap! Marc Gordon was 20th in the Jaguar XK150 and John Pearson (MGA), 21st. Nicholas English and John Alexander came in 25th and 26th in their Austin Healey 100s, and Nick Brayshaw was the last of the classified finishers in his MGA in 27th position. Glenn Brackenridge was unclassified having completed just 12 laps. I had noted that he had appeared to run out of brakes towards the end running on in Brooklands but felt sure that I had seen him get going again!,

Results for Race 2 here

Gallery 2

Results, and more photos to follow. - JT