Mothering Sunday meeting in the sun

Donington Park, 30th March 2003

What a fine start to the season. The sun was shining, the breeze light, as 24 intrepid racers met for the first time this year. After what seemed a very short night (the clocks went forward) we were gathered just inside the entrance gates, conveniently close to the café. All the Morgans and support vehicles were parked in the same area – much easier for gathering the information for these notes, for which much thanks. Cars were in a variety of states of preparedness: some had had major make-overs with new chassis and/or engines; others had new paintwork (Simon OG and Paul Burry, but not James Paterson’s Noddy which is still multicoloured); some had even put in a passenger seat in order to increase the weight (and to charge for passengers); a full roll cage had appeared on one vehicle, and Mary had complied with the rules for a broader harness. And others had done nothing all winter. Drivers were about as prepared as they usually are ...

It was the second day of a 2 day meeting with 260 drivers signing on during Saturday and 190 on Sunday – busy times for the 750 Motor Club organisers who also had some trouble with incompatible transponders but all went (mostly) smoothly for the Morgan drivers.

Keith Ahlers, Tim Bryan, Rick Lloyd and Chris Williams were all entered in the Roadsports Race, so practised early. (Keith has neatly ensured that he doesn’t have to change the number on his car – having won both championships last year, he is No 1). All qualified without incident for that race with Keith in pole position, though Chris entertained the early spectators with 3 spins – maybe he thought that he was participating in the current World Figure Skating Championships.

We were pleased to see a late addition to the entry for the Morgan Race when Adrian van der Croft arrived in his new green van which hardly looked large enough for a Morgan but out of which came XOV to join David James in Class E. By 10.45am all was set for the Morgan practice session and drivers were in the collecting area when we had our first sighting of Peter Sargeant heading for signing on and scrutineering. Well done Peter for maintaining your reputation for last minute timing. He joined the practice from the pit lane only 5 minutes later.

Practice was without major incident for most drivers, though many agreed with Chris W that the surface was as slippery as a skating rink, particularly at the back of the circuit. Planes dumping fuel when landing at East Midlands Airport and the prolonged dry spell were blamed for this. Those who had recently returned from skiing holidays obviously had an advantage. There was general agreement, even from those who hadn’t driven the circuit before, that Donington is a lovely circuit.

As the cars were held before being let out on the track, David James didn’t notice the hold up and gave those in front of him a vision of a rapidly approaching cloud of +4 smoke going sideways. He didn’t hit anyone, nor did he when his front wheels decided to go straight on at the hairpin. There was some close “racing” between James P and Adam Jones going into Redgate, and as usual between Mary, Jack Bellinger and Kelvin Laidlaw – it is only qualifying after all….

All the Class A cars were still running after the practice session, though Simon McD felt his car was going faster than he was. Sadly, we had lost some other cars through mechanical failure. Tim Bryan’s Class B car had dropped a valve and the engine needed major renovation not possible at the track. Jack heard a horrible graunching noise as he changed down into 2nd at the end of the session coming into the pits and knew that one or more of his teeth had fallen out (of gearbox not mouth). Needing to conserve the car to get him home he opted out of the race and into the bar. Billy Bellinger dropped out of the practice early as one of his father’s specials (bodge says his mother) resulted in the disconnection of an electrode. The family made sure it was mended before the race.

Running repairs were required for a few other cars too. Nigel Ingram (a welcome newcomer to Class B) had a water problem – a leaky hose made his driving exciting by spraying liquid on to his rear wheels – leaving him with no coolant by the end of 15 minutes practice. Peter S was still working on an oil leak as the summons came to the collecting area (he had found an engine compartment full of oil when he finished his foreshortened practice). And Mary was busy looking at ways to make her wider strapped harness less restricting of her driving style – it was suggested that she should just not wear it, like Barrichello and his neck restraint, but John vetoed this as an approach. Our most technologically advanced driver, Simon OG, had the only transponder which did not work – loose wire, indeed!

Pole position was again taken by Keith with Rick next to him and Peter Horsman (Class B) and Simon McDermott on the second row. Paul Burry (Class C) qualified alongside Chris W and ahead of the Class A and B cars of James, Adam and Phil Hollins.

Soon after lunch the Roadsports race was won in style by Keith after an awful start with lots of wheel spin left him well behind Rick to begin with. Congratulations to both for giving the spectators a good race.

And, at last at 4.20pm, the summons to collect for the Morgan Challenge Race. They lined up as per qualifying with the only 3 cars missing: Jack and Tim had cars not working and Simon McD had sensibly decided that if his car was going faster than he was it was safer not to be in it. Those of us on the pit wall had to be reminded that we could not be there for the start (easy to forget the procedures over the winter) but were able to see that there were no alarms or excursions into the first corner. It was an interesting start with Keith spinning his wheels again and Rick getting ahead of him into Redgate. Chris W and Peter Horsman also fought the sideways Keith there but he kept ahead of them.

Several others had cracking starts – Adam got ahead of Paul and Chris A and James; Chris Dady passed Phil Hollins; and Peter S got ahead of Simon OG. Further down the grid Leigh passed Nigel who then watched Mary and Kelvin pass him one on either side, meeting each other briefly in the middle in front – a kiss, he called it! Billy at the back got ahead of David and Nigel. David had the advantage of Adrian at the start (Adrian says that the clutch on XOV is different and so he didn’t get a clean start) but then Adrian regained three places before the Esses. Andy Green had a fantastic start and run through the Old Hairpin, passing 5 cars – but then lost it going too fast on cold tyres on the entrance to the Esses. He span, spreading dust and gravel all over the place and frightening lots of people. Those who didn’t back off did well out of his excursion. Andy rejoined the back of the race and enjoyed the overtaking practice that he got moving up the field to finish 12th overall. Chris A also had a good start but was one of those who took a strategic view and for a few laps had Chris Dady snapping at his heels. Chris D’s new straightened chassis and lack of understeer did well for him on corners, but Chris A was faster on the straights and pulled away. Then, as several others, he had a lonely race.

On lap 3 Keith got past Rick at the Craner Curves and then stayed ahead of the field throughout the rest of the race. Adam, who had done so well at the start, had “a moment” and lost places to Paul and James who were having a real skirmish of their own. Paul hadn’t had one of his best starts losing places to James and Adam but had passed James in the first lap. These Class A and B boys seem to have the Class C’s more than chasing at their heels though James got ahead of Paul on lap 3 and then drew away. Another ClassB/C skirmish was materialising behind with Phil Hollins and Simon OG changing places through the race, both hot on the heels of Peter S who had passed Phil on lap 4 in spite of having suspect brakes and still leaking a little oil. The closeness of their racing is illustrated by the 1.15secs between the 3 of them at the finish. The trio were closely followed for a few laps by Leigh who then was overtaken by Andy coming from behind in lap 7.

Mary again showed her predilection for white/cream paint by committing at McLeans with Phil Goddard and having a front and back coming together. Inspection afterwards showed exchange of colour rather than bodily damage but Mary’s brakes became suspect (Hint: brake linings sometimes help) and Billy passed her under braking at the Esses. Phil G had an exciting time with four excursions from the track and an ongoing battle with Adrian who got ahead of him only in the penultimate lap.

During the race we lost Chris W who had been battling with Peter H and occasionally outbraking himself (a spin at the Old Hairpin was particularly noted) then overtaking on the straight. Peter overtook in his turn at Craners as Chris had another huge moment and on lap 7 he decided to call it a day. Sadly Nigel, on his first race outing, had a recurrence of his water problem with it blowing out everywhere. This time it was in his face as well as on his tyres so he pitted on lap 6. Better luck next time both of you.

At the finish the class winners were Keith, Peter H, Paul, Kelvin and Adrian with new lap records for Keith and Peter. Awards were made by Jan, our lap recorder, ably standing in for Serena who was not with us, having tripped over the dog and pulled a muscle in her back. As an excuse for missing her first Morgan race in 10 years it was novel. We look forward to seeing her back (!) at Snetterton on 27th April. It would be good as well to see a few more of you there too, especially Class D cars where the racing is fun and all too sparse currently. Weather at Snetterton is always fine and warm in April so we look forward to seeing lots of spectators too!

Kate Orebi Gann, with thanks to Roving Reporter, Liz Burry