RACE THE MG - MG Trophy Championship 2011

24 entries were listed in the programme for our two rounds on the full Arena GP circuit at Silverstone, unfortunately the Koskela ‘family’ were again unable to compete here otherwise we would have had a very respectable 27 starters. A (very) late entry by ex champ Charlie Brown in Paul Savages old F 160 was welcomed, good to see you back Charlie. DC and Helen were able to join us in the first race along with ex Trophy racer James Brice who did both races. Our two rounds were combined with the similar classes of the Lancaster MGOC championship as per last year.

Once again David Wood of Luffield MG did us proud and sponsored both of the Trophy races, thanks David, sorry you were unable to be with us this year.

 

Testing on the Friday saw most of the Trophy cars on track at some point during the day. Once again the morning session produced the best times with Streather clocking a respectable 2m 26s on this new circuit with no previous times to judge against. The quickest of the rest were 1-2 secs off this. Various problems arose during the day including those to a glum Williams with a failed oil pump in the morning and timing issues in the afternoon. Cole had persistent PAS problems and Wahlgren had to replace his clutch at the end of the day.

 

The combined qualifying kicked off at 11:04 on a cloudy but dry day despite earlier rain. Lap one saw Penfold out with a blown engine on the pit straight sensibly pulling right off the track unlike some of the ‘parking’ which caused red flags on the Friday testing sessions. Early front runners were Bray, Coulthard, Gammons, Luti and Makar. However, the top places changed all the time with Wahlgren, Wetton, Jacques and Walker also featuring. Streather went top with a 2:31.3 at 8 mins with Ross, Robertson, Wahlgren, Coulthard, Wetton and Luti behind. At the flag it was Bray, Streather, Luti, Gammons, Ross and Surridge. The C class pole went to Barnard who just pipped Makar by 0.17s. Qualifying problems included Brown with a buzzed engine and Cole with more PAS problems and gear linkage issues. Savage had an unusual electrical problem which caused a blown fuse resulting in no track time and a back of the grid slot. Campbell had ABS sensor problems.

 

The first of the two Luffield sponsored Trophy races (combined with the MGOC) saw 39 cars start the race at 15:57, the green flag lap having been hurriedly performed by ex Trophy driver Barfoot ! Penfold was a non starter but Brown made the start thanks to stirling work by Gammons and Montgomery who fitted a new head in time. By the end of lap one Streather had taken the lead from Bray, Luti had an off at Brooklands. A collision on lap two between Fitzsimmons and Barnard on the Wellington straight brought the safety car out which lead the pack around for a further four laps before coming in. The race ended with a one lap dash to the flag with Bray taking the win from Gammons with Luti, Ross and Robertson taking the next four places. Jacques who was an excellent 3rd in the safety car crocodile was pushed off at Brooklands on this lap dropping down to 14th.

1Makar took the class C/D honours for the first time (?) pipping Barnard to the flag by just 0.42s. Campbell and Williams filled 3rd and 4th spots with Brice in 5th from Brown both in class D cars.

This was a most disappointing race for all concerned but fortunately Fitzsimmons was deemed OK after his very heavy impact with the armco which resulted in his car being a write off. Fastest laps Class A/B, Bray 2:27.653 on lap 7; Class C/D, Makar 2:35.337 on lap 7. Driver of the Race Due to the race being primarily behind the safety car no driver of the race was nominated.

 

This was a reverse grid race similar to last year where the top 11 cars were reversed down to the first class C finisher from race 1. Coulthard was not competing in this race so this left the top 10 to be switched. The class C cars were not switched this year on safety grounds due to the huge differential between the first and last class C cars from race 1. Penfold’s engine was changed so she was able to run in this round. Unfortunately Surridges engine blew up in qualifying for the pit stop race so he had to miss race 2 however, all the other glitches were sorted so we had 20 Trophy starters for the second combined race.

 

What a difference a day makes ! The race kicked off at 15:02 with Wetton and Walker on row 1, Cole made an excellent start moving from P4 to first at the end of lap one, Wahlgren holding on to P2 until he was passed by Luti on lap 2. At the end of lap 5 the positions were Cole, Luti, Robertson, Gammons and Ross. Gammons passed Robertson on the next lap to take P3. Luti missed a gear going into Brookland and was collected by Robertson who had nowhere to go and Ross hit the back of him. Luti and Robertson blocked the track which brought out the read flag, Ross staggered on. The final result on count back was Cole from Gammons followed by Ross, Streather and Bray. An excellent first Trophy win for an ecstatic Cole. In the class C/D race Barnard lead all the way followed by Makar and Campbell to the flag. Savage was 4th and Williams had his best ever race coming in 5th.

 

Fastest laps Class A/B, Gammons 2:28.327 on lap 5; Class C/D Barnard 2:34.865 on lap 2. Driver of the Race and Overall Driver of the Day Doug Cole