Luff Stuff                              Issue no 8/02

The newsletter of the Luffield Cars MGCC Speed Championship 

Also available at the championship web site www.mgcars.org/mgccsc

As the season draws to a close….

As I sit and write this, the September Newsletter, the last round of the Northern Series is taking place at 3 Sisters, and by the time I've finished it, the results will no doubt have found their way on to the web site. However, the final results we'll leave to next month when we can round up both series following the final event at Castle Combe.

Below are a few event reports, once again covering the Northern events only. If any one was at Wethersfield, Eelmoor or Wiscombe please send me a report (and clearly from the results there were a good number of you present) please send me a report giving the low down on who did what, and the lurid details of who fell off where and when, so I can include them next month.

Looking forward to next year, as we do at this time, there is a proposal to shake up the regs and redefine the classes and scoring system. I had intended to include the draft regs with this newsletter, but as I still can't make the new handicap system work, that will have to wait. That I have done is include Rodder's summary which you should read as a taster of things to come.

Also thinking of next year, Max Tyler has some special offers for Luffield Cars MGCC Speed Championship competitors, and enclosed is a flyer from RG Racewear giving the details. I'm sure orders will be taken (or maybe even delivered) at Castle Combe. I think I will certainly be investing in some decent footwear for next season, if only he has some that match Piglet!!

Anglesey Sprints: 31st August & 1st September 2002

It was a relatively small group of MGs that made the trek to Anglesey for the second set of MGCC NW sprint meetings. And once again the sun shone, personal bests were achieved and new records set.

Best of the bunch was Terry P in the V8, who set successive new records on each day of the week-end, pushing hard and getting into the 101s on the Sunday, and taking away 24 points and the Ted Lund Trophy (fastest MG) for his efforts. Diggers almost matched the feat, breaking the target times on both days, but just missed the records to net 20 points. Still he did collect 2 class wins and the trophies to go with them, while David Butler picked up second on both days, albeit a few second behind.

Among the less modified machinery, Keith Williams won the standard class on Saturday and Sunday, but Richard Watkinson, in the lovely powder blue Midget, managed a new record to pick up more points on Saturday and then beat the target to collect an extra point and finish the week-end ahead. Richard Saxton's Cockshoot car was also up in the record territory on Sunday, repeating his class win from the Summer meeting.

The most competitive class of the week-end though, was the Road-going Specials, where with Terry opting out of the MG classes to run in Modsports, it was left to John Rose in his rather less modified V8 to take on the Midgets of Gary Waite and Danny Cusworth, and the Arkley of Andy Long. Saturday's times told the story, just ¾ second between the top 3, all setting personal bests, with John edging Andy by 2 tenths to take the trophy. Come Sunday, battle was resumed. Gary stretched himself to find an extra 3 seconds while Danny found the missing ¾ s to register a 110.68, that would have won on Saturday, and put himself just 0.15secs behind the V8. Drive of the day though, went to Andy, who set another personal best 109.17, to take the Sunday class win and his second event trophy of the season.

MIRA Sprint: 14 September 2002 - John Dignan

Under grey skies a small and select band of MG competitors arrived at the Motor Industry Research Association establishment near Nuneaton in Warwickshire. The weather forecast was for the low cloud to clear by midday, but a cool wind and no sign of sun was to continue all morning. Having walked the track before briefing, the clerk of the course decided to do a convoy run for those new to MIRA. All the MG guys took advantage of this and everyone, novice or not, jumped in any available car and whizzed round the course. Two practice runs saw John Dignan fastest at 95mph through the speed trap with a time 1.4 seconds faster than Terry, who was suffering from an office party hangover following a clubbing session in Birmingham (we didn't know you did that sort of thing - future venues beware!)

The sun peeped out at lunchtime only to disappear again for the rest of the day. The first timed runs gave Ken Bound's RGM Midget a sub target time 10 points and Pauline clocked her best time 6 seconds faster than practice. Terry woke up at last and did a ton through the speed trap, but John Rose dropped to a slower time in the same class. John Hawley, in his last event of the season homed in on his class record and greatly improved his trap speed.

Second and final runs produced fastest times for 5 of the 7 competitors with Terry, John D. and John Hawley establishing new records. John Rose was seen to carry a lot more speed through the critical 'control tower corner' and was pleased with a 4 second improvement on his first run. Although Gary was quicker, he just missed the target time bracket. Terry clocked 103 mph and was quickest MG by just over 1 second from John D. Class winner run-offs followed for Terry and John, and although Terry was slightly quicker it was not enough to take the trophy for MG.

Harewood Hillclimb: 15th September 2002 - DC With the venue celebrating its fortieth anniversary, a good turn out of 17 competitors made the second visit of the season to Harewood. Efficient organisation resulted in three timed runs, which were completed in near perfect conditions.

First up Yorkshire's premiere hillclimb were the Midgets of Richard Watkinson, Allan Inwood and John Wilman. As singleton entries, each won their respective classes, with Allan and John achieving the Target Time. This capped a particularly good day for John, as he was one of only three competing drivers who actually drove in Harewood's first event all those years ago. (The history books tell us his standard 1600 MGA finished 2nd in class).

Next came the highly competitive RGM A/B/C class. Unfortunately, Tony Holt's B was sidelined during practice with transmission problems. Predictably, John Dignan emerged as the winner, but the competition behind was intense. Chris Cooper travelled all the way from the previous day's event at Wiscombe Park. His mammoth journey was rewarded with second place, with David Butler netting third.

Once again the ladies provided close competition, with each protagonist taking a turn at leading. At the end of the day, Helen Waddington (ZR) was a little over a second quicker than Pauline Dignan (B). Helen's "win" was enough to wrap up the Northern Ladies Championship.

In the smaller capacity RGS class, your scribe's home track advantage and a 'Personal Best' were too much for the rapidly improving Arkley of Andy Long. Gary Waite's Midget was a respectable third on his first visit to Harewood. It took Terry Pigott in the bellowing B V8 just one run to set yet another class record in the larger capacity RGS battle with John Rose. Midget-mounted James Thacker's Racing Special set MG FTD (an impressive 66.12 seconds), having overwhelmed Norman Pemberton's Modified version.

The gateposts on the entry to 'Orchard' may have gone and it's no longer necessary to stop the meeting to allow the milk wagon access, but Harewood still provides a real challenge to drivers. Here's to the next forty years.

So who's where….

All the class leaders can be found on the enclosed results table, but in the overall title chase Terry Pigott (North) leads Adrian Moore (South) by 4 points (96 vs 92) and ties with him at the same time in the Southern series. Chris Cooper lies 3rd in the South and 4th overall with 90, while Diggers and John Wilman, joint second up North on 88, round out the overall top 6 as 5th equal. Other placed drivers are Matt Dryell (4th South - 85), Diggers again (5th South - 84), Niall Campbell (6th South - 81), Tony MacIntyre (4th North - 80) and finally Ken Bound and Richard Watkinson (5th equal North - 77).

Well that's all for now, more to follow soon.

Jim Garvey