Season ends at Silverstone

Silverstone 5th October 2002

Nineteen survivors of the MMCC assembled for the last race of the season on Saturday 5th of October organised by the Jaguar Car Club. A number of the merry band were absent with engine problems including Matthew, Chris W and Rick (whose engine had been repaired and then malfunctioned big time during testing the previous day). Peter H’s engine was still being repaired but he surprised class D by driving to the track in his ivory moss-box. Kelvin and Sarge also drove to the track co-ordinating their watches to arrive at the same time, last! Keith was out in his trusty motor which had given cause for concern on the Friday by developing electrical problems but which had been repaired by Ian overnight.

The weather was fine and a touch autumnal as the cars rolled out for practice at the civilised time of ten thirty. Once your scribe had found a place which wasn’t locked and out of bounds, or charging yet more money to watch from, she felt that the session was going well. Adam joined the track a little late after adding sufficient wadding to dampen his exhaust noise and satisfy the marshals. To the surprise of all, Simon OG was out first with Keith, a very close second, breathing down his neck. However, Simon spun at the end of the first straight and Keith resumed his customary place at the front to do his obligatory three laps before returning to the safety of the pits. Sadly he had no competition and was certain of pole even had his time been poor, which it wasn’t.

Suddenly, the tempo of the practice changed and ended in tears when Barry, having just negotiated Brooklands, saw Chas spinning a little way ahead and took his foot of the accelerator. Unfortunately Peter was right behind him and finding nowhere to go mounted the Black Sheep, flew up in the air and, upon landing, found himself having to avoid a sideways Chas. The track was then littered with bits of debris and oily fluids so that a number of people came in early as the session was almost over.

Barry was hardly out of the car before he began banging and hammering his back end into place, attaching a new stop light and returning to scrutineering. Chas found that he had lost all of his oil pressure and that the axle which had been damaged at Brands had pulled out from the back, probably causing the spin. He decided to pack up and return home as the job was a bit longer than the time between practice and race. Peter’s car was towed back and also set upon straight away by the Techniques lads who pulled off the bumper, straightened the front and fitted a new oil cooler kindly donated by an anonymous donor (please forward the bill!!).

Unsurprisingly, Keith was on pole with Chris A leading class B in second, despite having trouble with his gear sequence after driving John C’s Le Mans car which has a Meadowes box. For his last race as reigning champion James was third, and wound everybody up by attaching an aluminium spoiler to the rear of his seat in order to find that extra half second. Paul B, in fourth, led Class C with Adam between him and his rival for the class championship, Simon OG. Adam had been called back through scrutineering where copious amounts of wire wool stuffed up noisy orifices were found to satisfy Mr Noise Control man. Jack led class D from fourteenth place and David brought up the rear in class E.

Later in the afternoon the Morgans roared out for their final MMCC race. There was a sense of determination to enjoy the final outing and a few classes still to be settled. Keith had a lousy start, he is still undergoing operator training for his new clutch, which allowed James to whiz ahead of him and Chris A. Keith resumed his rightful place by Copse and then proceeded to streak into the lead, a position from which he could only have been unseated on that day by an unforced error or accident.

Racing interest was thus to be found further back in the field. James was pursued all over the track by Chris A, but James kept his car very wide and didn’t allow Chris the chance to escape knowing that once he had got past on a power part of the circuit Chris would have driven off into the distance. Paul followed the pair from a distance. Simon OG drew alongside at the start but was unable to drive past Paul on the outside at the first corner. Then Simon dropped back leaving Paul all alone until he was lapped much later in the race.

Sarge and Chris D got ahead of Simon when he failed to turn in cleanly at Maggots and then they had a battle lasting laps. Chris looked as though he might pass Simon on numerous occasions as they went around Woodcote but Simon always managed to fill up the track and Chris seemed to hesitate. On lap ten Sarge found himself slipping around the track and before he knew it the two passed him. Then as Simon and Chris were lapped at Woodcote on lap eleven Keith got between them as they headed down the pit straight allowing Simon to move ahead and Chris to lose the necessary momentum to position himself for another assault.

Peter and Barry had quite a dice for the first two laps until Peter got past him and then started to dice with his next quarry Phil McK. These two changed places constantly for about eight laps until Peter managed to stay ahead for the final eight laps. Peter’s brakes started to go off and then disappeared almost entirely, causing missed turn-in points as he tried to keep ahead of the more powerful Class A (ish) car. He had a huge opposite lock moment sliding on the grass at one point at Brooklands but drew cheers from the crowd as he recovered it. Phil, meanwhile, held off awaiting events to unfold and thus Peter kept ahead and stayed there to the finish.

Barry dropped back down the grid until he retired to the pits on lap six with a strange vibration over 5000 revs with possible chassis damage. Adam kept coming up behind either Phil McK or Peter, whichever was behind, but dropped back each time suffering strangulation by wire wool, the price which he paid for decreasing the noise to gain a sixth tick on his licence and to have a race.

Behind them Jack and Leigh were also engaging in a long, wide battle. Leigh was faster on the straights but was unable to escape from Jack who was quicker on the corners. Eventually Leigh made a final push and managed to stay ahead of Jack to the flag. For this achievement he received “driver of the day” and was delighted to announce that he had entered and finished every race, an achievement shared by few others this season.

Mary had overtaken Kelvin at the start but he retook her on lap four and then spent the race keeping her behind while the gap between him and Jack became unassailable. Gradually, Kelvin pulled away from Mary eventually finishing twelve seconds ahead. Phil B spun for the first time ever at Nuffield and was surprised to be let through by David on lap six. It later transpired that David had generously let Phil through as he had mistaken him for Chris A whom he was expecting to come roaring past at any moment in Keith’s wake. Phil G was not so easily taken in, staying ahead of Phil B but behind Mary.

There were no surprises, accidents or engine mal-functions so Keith swept to victory having lapped the entire field and broken another lap record. James P came second to win class B, but Chris A took fastest lap and finished third. Paul B who had, had a rather lonely race took fourth, fastest lap and the class C championship. Jack, in twelfth position, won class D and fastest lap, but the class championship went to Kelvin. David, although last, won his class, fastest lap and his class championship. Phil McK in ninth took second in the winner’s class taking this rather nice trophy home for the second time.

The season ended with a “tea party” and champagne presentation outside the Morgan motorhome, kindly organised by Mark and Serena. So the season ended, leaving many minor and not so minor, scrapes, dents and engines to be repaired and adjustments made to find those extra few seconds during the winter. Our thanks go once more to Serena for her hours of work on behalf of the Series and to Chris for putting out this newsletter. Thank you for your comments and support when I have hounded you after practice and race. See you at the Drivers’ Dinner when you are welcome to buy me a drink.

Ruth Horsman