15 minute read
Tech Tips
THE FORGOTTEN FILTER
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One filter that is often overlooked, and fairly easy to change on the majority of cars, is the Cabin Air Filter (quite often referred to as the Pollen Filter). On the MG ZR and ZS the filter is located behind the glovebox. Below is the sequence for changing it on an MG ZR without air-conditioning. Failure to replace the filter on a regular basis (MG Rover recommended every two years) can lead to a number of issues including, an unpleasant and musty smell, less effective heating or cooling, increased fan noise or condensation/foggy windows. To replace the cabin filter on a MG ZR first locate the two 8mm bolts under the glovebox holding it in place and remove both (1). Next remove the glovebox by opening it. You should then be able to lift it away exposing a support bar (2). The filter housing is located behind the support bar. Remove the two 7mm bolts holding the support bar in place (3). Unclip the filter housing cover to expose the cabin filter (4) and slide the old cabin filter out. At this stage I normally turn the air blower on full to clear the bits out of the housing – be prepared to get the vacuum out to clear up the bits off the carpet. With the housing clear, insert the new filter in position, making sure it is the right way round (5). Clip the housing cover back in place, and reassemble.
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The mixed grid of the Equipe Pre’63. Photo: Dickon Siddall
Stephen Pegram’s Class A 1460 Midget (65) ahead of the MkI Class E Sprite (19) of Ian Burgin. Photo: Dickon Siddall
SUNNY SILVERSTONE
By Mark Paulson
Glorious sunshine greeted the MG Car Club’s flagship summer race weekend on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, sadly without the accompanying MGLive! this year. But the drivers put on a magnificent show with close-fought, fair racing enjoyed by competitors and spectators alike. Five of the
Club’s championships were joined by three Equipe Classic Racing grids and a bulging entry from welcome guests the Mini 7
Racing Club.
MGCC Cockshoot Cup
Three weeks after claiming two wins at the Cockshoot Cup’s Oulton Park season-opener, Ray Collier added two more victories to his account. The first came after a race-long duel between his MG ZR 190 and the MG ZS 180 of Karl Green. The pair traded the lead throughout, sometimes more than once per lap, before a slight mistake from Green on the final tour allowed Collier to make the decisive move and win by a third of a second. Keith Egar’s MG Midget was third. Mike Peters (Midget) recovered from a quick spin to catch and pass Mark Bellamy (MG ZR 170) for Class B honours, while Paul Wignall (MG ZR 160) was a comprehensive winner of Class A, as he would be again later in the day. In Class F, champion Brian Butler led all the way but a fast-closing Chris Greenbank fell less than half a second shy at the flag, earning the commentators’ Driver of the Race award for his efforts.
Collier, who was having to manage a cracked brake disc in the first race, took a more comfortable win in the second, aided by Egar’s typically fast start getting his Midget ahead of Green and allowing Collier to build an early margin. From there, he was able to use traffic from the concurrent Midget & Sprite contest to maintain a buffer, with Egar again third. “I did really have to work hard for the first one,” admitted Collier. “It was really well driven by Karl. We were incredibly close and two or three times we followed each other off!
“The second one, I could see that Karl was too far behind, so it was a case of making sure that every gear shift is perfect. I did miss it once and I just let the ‘box settle because the last thing you want to do is hit second, not fourth.”
Peters again secured Class B honours from Bellamy, with Butler also repeating his Class F success. Greenbank was closing him down before a spin at Luffield meant he had to settle for second in class. Third in Class F, repeating his earlier result, was debutant Joe Jones in his MG TF LE500, which earned him the Driver of the Race award.
MGCC Lackford Engineering Midget & Sprite Challenge
After racing less than two weeks previously at Castle Combe, it was a slightly depleted grid of Midgets and Sprites that arrived
to contest the Ted Reeve Memorial Trophy, remembering the longstanding driver who competed in Midgets for an incredible 48 years.
Polesitter Richard Wildman led away the trophy race from the fast-starting Class E Sprite of Pippa Cow, as front-row man Edd Weston dropped to fourth behind Stephen Pegram. But Weston, continuing to campaign his father Dave’s Midget, returned to second within a couple of laps and proceeded to hound Wildman’s similar machine. The youngster drew alongside on a few occasions but was biding his time. With a run out of the final corner, he pipped Wildman by just 0.05 seconds in a photo finish, claiming his maiden victory in the process. It was particularly poignant given the family connection to Ted Reeve.
“I was concerned that I’d get by him and then he’d go straight by me on the straight again and I’d lose time,” explained Weston, who was presented with the beautiful trophy by Ted’s wife. “So I hung back, stuck behind him, waited until the last lap and then pounced! That was my plan.
“My dad’s been mechanicking for Ted Reeve since I was born. I’ve grown up watching him race and watching my dad race, and had his car at my house whilst my dad worked on it, so it means a lot to win this.”
Weston’s success earned him the Commentators’ Driver of the Race nomination as well as Sunday’s overall Driver of the Day. He repeated the victory in the non-championship race two, this time beating Wildman by a slightly more comfortable 0.5s.
Cow enjoyed herself as she twice topped Class E on her way to third overall, some way clear of Ian Burgin. Mark Witherspoon pipped Carl Chadwick in a close scrap for Class D honours in the opener and was named Driver of the Race in the sequel after catching and passing Chadwick, whose race ended in the gravel while avoiding a spinner.
MGCC The Unity MG Trophy
Sam Kirkpatrick remains unbeaten in the 2021 MG Trophy but, once again, Fred Burgess made him work hard for his continued
success. On his first appearance of the year in a newly built ZR 190, albeit in a non-scoring guest capacity, Ross Makar looked set to give the leading duo a run for their money. From third on the grid, he ran around the outside of polesitter Kirkpatrick’s similar car through Copse before yielding into the Maggotts/Becketts complex. But the three-way fight was short-lived as Burgess’s gearbox gave up and Makar’s engine – an ageing unit transplanted from his previous machine – blew, ending his weekend. So Kirkpatrick eased to a fifth win of the year from Adam Jackson in a season-best second, with Doug Cole completing the podium. Josh Bacon (ZR 170) was named Driver Peter Samuels (871) leads a gaggle of similar machinery during the MGCC BCV8 Race. Photo: Dickon Siddall of the Race and Saturday’s Driver of the Day after claiming his first Class B win. He jumped class polesitter James Dennison and led throughout as a closely fought contest played out behind. Dennison fought off Tylor Ballard for second in class, with James Cole also edging Ballard on the run to the flag. Burgess converted pole position into the lead of race two but had his opening-lap margin wiped out by a safety car. He made a good restart but Kirkpatrick got a run through Aintree to take the lead, only for Burgess to fight back with an around-the-outside run through Stowe, completed into Vale, on the next lap. The effort earned Burgess the Driver of the Race, but a mistake under pressure at Brooklands allowed Kirkpatrick into a decisive lead to make it six from six this season. Jackson was relatively lonely in third. “I had to really fight for that one,” Kirkpatrick smiled. “Much more rewarding.” It was another case of what might have been for Burgess, who nevertheless relished the contest. Dennison secured Class B honours from Ballard and Fergus Campbell, while James Moreton (ZR 160) passed Paul Croker to take his second Class C win of the weekend.
MGCC MG Cup powered by Cherished Vehicle Insurance
Mike Williams chalked up two more MG Cup wins but they came in contrasting fashion, while main rival Morgan Short’s championship challenge was dented by failing to finish either race. Williams pipped Short to pole position as the engine in Short’s MG ZS 180 began to overheat – a legacy of the damage he picked up at Oulton Park that would come back to bite. He then got a jump as Short had his hands full with the Rover Tomcats of Richard Buckley and Matt Simpson. That gave Williams the buffer he needed to overcome his VVC-engined Rover Metro’s comparative lack of power as he eased to victory. Short’s day went from bad to worse as he pitted with a cooked engine and the suspicion that the car’s new radiator didn’t have the required cooling capacity. Buckley and Simpson engaged in a titanic duel for second, Simpson finally finding a way through on the last lap, earning the Driver of the Race award.
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The ZS 180 of Karl Green battling against the ZR 190 of Ray Collier in the Cockshoot Cup. Photo: Dickon Siddall
Josh Bacon in his ZR 170 (36) was named Driver of the Race and Saturday’s Driver of the Day. Photo: Dickon Siddall
With Short sidelined, the Tomcats made Williams work for his second win of the day. Both had spells in front before Williams eventually succeeded in his attempts to pass Buckley at Stowe. Past champion Buckley held on to second from Simpson.
Iain Dowler’s absence (owing to work commitments) allowed Dan Jones to dominate Class B in the first race but it came at a cost with a mechanical failure on the slow-down lap. That left the way clear for Wayne Stirling-Parker, making his final race start 27 years after debuting at Silverstone, in race two. He took class honours at the wheel of Rod Weston-Bartholomew’s MG ZR 170 after his own Rover BRM hit trouble at a recent Speed Championship event. Steve Tyler’s MG ZR 160 twice took the laurels in Class A from Ian Boulton, who was returning to racing in a borrowed trackday car following his heavy accident at Brands Hatch.
MGCC BCV8 Championship
Ollie Neaves clocked up his ninth and tenth wins in 11 BCV8 races over the past two years with another dominant display. Neaves was untroubled in the opener, heading home the similar GT V8s of Neil Fowler and Ian Prior as the only Class D finishers after James Wheeler (broken gearstick) and Simon Cripps (differential) both fell by the wayside. Class C winner Andy Young (C GT) pipped the invitational GT V8 of Peter Samuels to fourth overall after a good battle and was named Driver of the Race. Babak Farsian’s four-cylinder Roadster was a clear winner of Class AB, just two seconds behind Class B pacesetter Steve McKie.
Fowler jumped Neaves at the start of race two, and while Neaves was soon back in front, a mistake at Vale meant he had to come from behind again. It was hot work sitting behind the race-tuned V8, but Neaves still won with relative ease from Fowler and James Wheeler, with Young again taking Class C honours.
Returnee Mark Scott claimed Class B, while Driver of the Race and Class AB honours went to Paul Linfield who triumphed in a hard-fought battle with Russ McAngus, Cripps (who had switched to his FIA-spec Roadster), Paul Rayment and James Walpole after Farsian suffered a broken halfshaft.
Equipe GTS
An extraordinary last two laps shook up the order in Sunday’s Equipe GTS race. Saturday winner Lee Atkins (TVR Grantura 1800S) had rebuffed British GT racer Andrew Gordon-Colebrook’s repeated attacks, only to spin away the lead. Gordon-Colebrook’s Triumph TR4 then expired and, with his vision obscured by the TR4’s oil on his MGB’s windscreen, Tom Smith also had an excursion. That left Allan Ross Jones (TR4), who beat Smith to second a day earlier, to take the win from the recovered Atkins and Smith.
Equipe Libre
After Richard Woolmer’s exuberantly driven Ford Falcon retired, Robin Ellis overcame a clutch problem to win in Equipe Libre. Stuck in third gear, the Lotus Elan 26R Shapecraft headed Rick Willmott’s Jaguar XKE and the Elan of Cliff Gray. Chris Beighton’s Sunbeam Le Mans Tiger arrived overnight to dominate Sunday’s race. Woolmer charged from the back to be classified second after the race was red-flagged, with Gray third.
Equipe Pre-’63/’50s
Equipe Pre-’63 honours twice fell to Nigel Winchester’s monstrous Shelby 260, the first after withstanding pressure from Mark Holme (Austin-Healey 3000 MkII) and the Jaguar E-type of Roberto Giordanelli. Sunday’s win was easier after Holme’s Healey expired, leaving Jonathan Smare’s similar car in second and double ’50s winner Jonathan Abecassis (Austin-Healey 100/4) third overall.
Guest races
A large entry of Classic Minis provided terrific racing. Joe Thompson won the opening Mini Se7en contest from Spencer Wanstall and Nick Crowydon-Fowler. Thompson and Wanstall were eliminated early on from the sequel, which was won by Jonathan Lewis from Connor O’Brien and Jeff Smith. It was Lewis’s first Mini Se7en victory since winning the championship in 1981.
Endaf Owens triumphed in Saturday’s Miglia race by holding off British Touring Car champion Andrew Jordan’s last-lap challenge. Kane Astin and Aaron Smith joined Owens and Jordan in race two’s lead battle, and it was Smith who won from Astin, Jordan and Owens, with all involved grinning from ear to ear afterwards.
