MG Trophy Championship – MG 90 Silverstone

It was MG 90 last weekend (21st/22nd June), the big MG weekend of the year and the home of F1, Silverstone hosted to the event. Weekend race report by MG Trophy Championship Co-ordinator Pete Macwaters…

31 entries, I believe, was an all time record for the Trophy championship, newcomer Alex Flower was a last minute withdrawal and a few other regulars were also missing, 35 entries was a real possibility. I had set my own personal target of 32 which was almost achieved. Both races at this very special MG 90 meeting were sponsored by Finishline UK Ltd. and our sincere thanks go to Chris and Amy for their valued support. In addition, our Saturday race was being filmed for Motors TV to be shown in August combined with one of our Brands races in a one hour special. We were blessed with glorious weather for the whole weekend.

Testing

Testing took place on the Friday with 4 timed sessions two each in the morning and afternoon. In the first morning session Julia Penfold’s alternator failed bringing the car to a halt and the session was red flagged. Ross Makar experienced a front hub problem which was rectified with a new bearing. Jack Roberts had the first of several head problems with bent valves. Many cars were present with at least twelve cars actually testing, some doing the full day, some just the afternoon sessions. Australian guest Cody Hill was putting in some impressive times in the Finishline rental car in his first fwd drive for sometime. Cody is the 2013 champion of the equivalent series in Australia and drives the ex Paul Luti LE500. Dan Molloy was literally just back from his trek across the Himalayas and he too was posting some impressive lap times considering he was race rusty. Graham Ross was bedding in his new AVO dampers and Fergus Campbell was out in his own car, having previously raced the DC Motorsport rental car.

New Drivers

At this meeting there was another newcomer, ZR 170 driver James Cole (son of Doug Cole #99), three returnees out for the first time, plus our Australian guest. All the other drivers new to the championship were taking part with the exception of Andy Martin who will be back out at Knockhill. Previous guest driver, Vince Pain (#33) has now joined us from the MGOC for the rest of the season, welcome to him.

Qualifying

The Trophy qualifying session commenced at 09:35, weather/track – bright/dry, all 31 cars took part. After two laps the front runners were Luti, Ross, Makar, Robertson, Walker and Bray in class B. In class C, the order was Campbell, Molloy, Hill, Marsh, Pain and Rushforth. Makar was out after two laps with gear linkage problems. At four laps the order was Bray, Luti, Robertson, Ross, Makar, Walker, Fraser-Burns, Molloy, Hill and Campbell. The fight for overall pole changed several times between Bray, Luti and Robertson, Luti coming out the victor on his sixth lap over Robertson by one thousandth of a second, posting a time of 2:26.678, with less than half a second covering the top four. Doug Cole was initially missing from the times having pulled off to fix a throttle cable. He rejoined and managed six laps to post P5 in class B. The class C pole eventually went to the not so rusty Molloy on 2:33.837, Aussie racer Hill was second on 2:33.938, an amazing achievement considering he had never driven the car or the circuit before. Pole for class D went to Jonathan Harker in his rebuilt car following his Brands accident, with a creditable 2:47.294. There were qualifying problems for Ashton, Coles, Martin, Fraser-Burns, Molloy, Pain and a few others who didn’t manage to complete all their laps.

Race 1

The first of the two 20 minute Trophy races was at 13:54 on the Saturday, unfortunately with Fraser-Burns missing, still with head gasket problems and a broken bolt. Mooney had a last minute panic with a loose earth wire but made the start joining the other 29 cars.

Class B:- The opening lap saw Luti and Robertson in close contention, then a small gap to Ross and Bray, followed by Cole, Makar and Walker. On the subsequent lap, Bray and Ross exchanged places, the rest of the order stayed the same. On lap 4, Robertson took the lead away from Luti, Luti dropped back a further place on the next lap with Bray moving in to P2 at Copse. Bray piled on the pressure and at Brooklands there was an exciting moment as Bray and Robertson made contact but both managed to hold on to their positions. On lap 6, Luti retired with engine problems making the order Robertson, Bray, Ross. Cole moved into P3 on lap 8, Ross retiring at the start of the Wellington Straight with a broken exhaust and loss of coolant. Robertson took the win, with Bray 0.646s behind, Cole a distant 3rd.

Class C:- Molloy’s race was short lived, pulling off at Copse with a broken hub, which brought out waved yellows until the car was safely behind the wall. Campbell was the initial leader followed by Hill, Marsh and Pain in close contention, a small gap then to Rushforth, Ashton and Savage. On his second tour, Campbell threw away the lead with an off, rejoining in 10th place. Pain took the lead from Hill with Marsh, Rushforth, Ashton and Savage all together. Hill, Pain and Marsh traded places over the next few laps. Candy slowed at the mid distance point dropping back through the field. Hill and Pain continued to dice and contact on lap 8 saw Hill off, rejoining several places back. Pain took the win, with Marsh in second and Ashton third.

Class D:- Martin suffered with a loss of power from the start, Harker held the lead from his class pole, a position he never relinquished. Boulton and Bryson had a good dice finishing as they started in 2nd and 3rd some way adrift from Harker, Martin bringing up the rear.

Fastest laps Class B was Colin Robertson on lap 5 with 2:27.199, Class C was Fergus Campbell with a 2:34.252 (n/r) on lap 6 and Jonathan Harker in Class D, with a 2:46.774 (n/r) on lap 7.

Driver of the Race: Cody Hill.

Race 2

The Fraser-Burns, Molloy, Makar and Ross cars were fixed for race 2, however the Candy and Luti cars were non-starters and Harker was unable to compete leaving 28 cars to take the start. The Roberts car had more valve problems with the head off four times in the weekend (an all time record!). A spare hub at one stage had been on three different cars! The Penfold car sheared all it’s wheel studs in the Cockshoot race but was fixed in time for the second Trophy race at 11:46 on the Sunday. Weather/track – bright/dry.

Class B:- Robertson made a good start from pole and held P1 to the flag. Bray held P2 until lap 6 when Ross edged in front, these two battled hard and were just 0.17s apart at the flag. Fraser-Burns initially held 4th but lost it to Cole on lap 3, Cole taking 4th, Walker snatching 5th from Fraser-Burns at Copse on lap 9 and they were still just 0.15s. apart at the finish. Makar retired on lap 6. Robertson took his second win of the weekend, with Ross 2nd and Bray 3rd.

Class C:- This race was exciting sometimes for the wrong reasons, Campbell made an excellent start to head the pack, meanwhile pole-sitter Molloy and Hill had a coming together on the Pits Straight resulting in Hill making heavy contact with the wall. Despite this both continued and a fierce race long duel ensued with Marsh, Molloy, Hill, Ashton, Pain, Savage and Rushforth all in very close contention, at one stage there were four cars abreast along the Wellington Straight approaching Brooklands, this enabled Campbell to draw away and by lap 3 he was already over 3.5secs. in front of the chasing group. Pain, Hill and Marsh traded places as Molloy dropped back through the field with loss of power. Cole and Roberts fought close for much of the race, with excitement at Brooklands when they touched. The final positions were Campbell from Pain with Hill 3rd, Marsh 4th and Ashton 5th.

Class D:- With pole-sitter Harker having to miss the race it was down to Bryson and Boulton to battle it out for class honours. Boulton lead initially succumbing to Bryson on lap 3, these positions held with Martin 3rd.

Fastest laps Class B was Doug Cole 2:27.932 on lap 3. Class C was Cody Hill with a 2:35.504 on lap 6 and Class D went to Paul Bryson with a 2:49.983 on lap 2.

Driver of the Race: Colin Robertson.

CONGRATULATIONS to Colin Robertson voted Driver of the Day on the Sunday.

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