MGCC, Snetterton (2021)

 MGCC , Snetterton

11/12, September, 2021

Equipe Pre63/50s (inc FISCAR)

Preamble

The second and last of our involvement in this year's busy Equipe Classic season, to which, like MG Live earlier in the season, we were invited to enter in the combined Pre63/50s races. This, I must emphasise, would not be the construction/content of any races that we might arrange with Equipe next season, when they hope to become meeting organisers in their own right.

Snetterton always seems to be a hard sell, particularly during September, the month in which both the Goodwood Revival (I’m watching it on live stream as I type) and Spa 6 Hours usually takes place. Even ACOC had one of their sprint meetings on the same weekend, so we maybe also lost a couple of Aces. However, the combined entry was interesting and eclectic enough and 21 cars went out to qualify on Saturday morning. As with MG Live, I will refer to all entries rather than simply ‘our’ cars, or indeed all the 50s cars, to provide a full report, but will, of course identify which class the cars were in. All photos are mine, so apologies for the variable quality!

Qualifying

Inevitably, Mark Holme qualified on pole in his Austin Healey 3000 Mk11. Inevitable, since the two drivers who had challenged him at MG Live, Silverstone, Nigel Winchester (Shelby Cobra) and Roberto Giordanelli (E type) were not in attendance here. Mark’s pole time of 2.19.482 put him in a separate race to the rest as he was fully 4.3 seconds ahead of the next man, Joe Willmott in another Austin Healey 3000 and Jamie Mason was third in his very quick Turner Mk II. All 3 were in the Pre 63 part of the race, of course, and the first 1950s car was the lovely little Lola Mk1 of Nick Finburgh which would not be FISCAR compliant since it has the FWE rather than the FWA engine. Nick was followed by 4 more cars in the Pre 63 class - another Healey 3000 (James Haxton), Lotus Elite (Marc Gordon), Morgan +4 (Mark Ellis) and Jonathan Smare’s Healey 3000. I don’t know why FISCAR member Marc had entered the Lotus Elite in the Pre 63 (as he had also done at Silverstone) as I believe the car to be perfectly acceptable in the 50s class and our member Mark Ellis brought his new acquisition along rather than the MGA, and whilst the Morgan is a 1959 car, it had been uprated to later Super Sport spec. The second of the 50s entered cars was the Jaguar XK150 of Rick Willmott, qualifying 9th and off the pace in 10th was our member Brian Arculus in his Lotus Elite. The car simply wasn’t pulling properly and it required attention prior to the race.

The rest of the grid in order was Andrew Moore (Jaguar E type - Pre63), Paul Mortimer (Austin Healey 100/4 - 50s), Noel Leonard (Turner Mk11 - Pre 63), David Wenman (Morgan +4 - 50s), Robi Bernberg (Austin Healey 100M - 50s) , John Pearson (MGA 1800- Pre 63), Pete Shepherd (Austin Healey Sebring Sprite), Peter Blanchett (RGS Atalanta - 50s), followed by 3 Martin Stowe (MGA 1640 - 50s) Chris Wilks (MGA Twin Cam - 50s) and Alan House, unhappy with his pace in his Morgan +4. It was good to see the very rare RGS out again (it even got a mention and photo in Autosport’s race report).

Race 1

Although 21 cars had qualified, only 19 appeared on the grid for the race. Poleman, Mark Holme was a no show. I originally thought this may simply have been because he would have romped off into the distance without any opposition and had decided to transfer to one of the quicker Equipe races, although I was subsequently advised that he had rear suspension issues? Chris Wilks failed to get on the grid with his MGA Twin Cam - reason unknown at this stage.

This was nevertheles a very representative grid of the 50s and early 60s sports cars and qualifying times had suggested some close racing and we weren’t to be disappointed. A superb start by James Haxton from the 3rd row saw him complete the first lap in the lead in his Austin Healey 3000 MkI with an almost 3 second lead from Joe Willmott’s Austin Healey 3000. Joe was closely followed by Jamie Mason’s Turner MkII and Nick Finburgh’s Lola Mk1. The gap to 5th had already opened up to 3 seconds. In that position was Jonathan Smare in his Austin Healey 3000 but he had gained a couple of places and was followed by Rick Willmott in his Jaguar XK150, also up a couple of positions, Marc Gordon’s Lotus Elite and Andrew Moore’s Jaguar E type. In 9th place was Paul Mortimer’s Austin Healey 100 closely followed by Noel Leonard’s Turner MkII rounding out the top 10.

John Pearson was 11th in his very smart MGA, and, already showing signs that all was still not well with the Elite, Brian Arculus came through in 12th. Well out of position, in 13th, was Mark Ellis in his Morgan and he was surely to make progess once into his stride. Robi Bernberg was 14th in his Austin Healey 100M with Pete Shepherd’s Sebring Sprite 15th. David Wenman was next up in his Morgan, another who would appear to be out of position. David was followed over the line by Martin Stowe in the MGA and a rather unhappy Alan House already almost 2.5 seconds away from Martin. They are usually fairly well matched with Alan just having the edge. Finally, the RGS Atalanta hoved into view and headed straight for the pits. Peter Blanchett had been a bit too enthusiastic early in the lap, gone off and damaged the rear of the car. He wisely brought the car in to check the damage and although it subsequently transpired that the damage was cosmetic only, he was not to know this without a closer inspection which prevented him from returning to the race.

Over the next few laps, James Haxton continued to lead but couldn’t get completely away as his lead stayed around 3 seconds, Joe Willmott, keeping him in sight. Both were in Austin Healeys and appeared to be untroubled by the chasing pack. Nick Finburgh in the Lola Mk1 had displaced Jamie Mason’s Turner for 3rd on lap 2 but whilst Jamie gradually fell away, Nick seemed equally unable initially to make any headway towards the leaders. Behind, a fabulous battle for 5th was brewing up headed by Andrew Moore’s E type who had made rapid progress in the first 3 laps. He had Jonathan Smare (Austin Healey 3000), Rick Willmott (Jaguar XK150), Paul Mortimer (Austin Healey 100), Marc Gordon (Lotus Elite), Noel Leonard (Turner MkII) Mark Ellis (Morgan +4) and John Pearson (MGA) for close company, just 5.5 seconds covering all 8 cars at the end of lap 3. Surprisingly, not able to stay with them was Brian Arculus, and it was clear that the Elite was still suffering the maladies it suffered during qualifying. Robi Bernberg’s Austin Healey 100M was next up and very much on his own with Pete Shepherd (Sebring Sprite), Martin Stowe (MGA), and Alan House (Morgan +4) strung out and well sepoarated behind him. David Wenman pitted at this point (reason unknown) but returned to the track after a short stop.

Meanwhile, at the front the status quo was maintained but in 4th place, Jamie Mason, who had been 11 seconds clear of the pack, came round behind the Moore E type having lost around 13 seconds so although I cannot recall it mentioned in the commentary, Jamie had clearly spun the Turner or had, at least an off track excursion. Although the E type was beginning to pull clear in 4th place, Jamie was going with him ahead of the monumental dice for 5th, in which Mark Ellis had made several places during the lap and Paul Mortimer had dropped back a couple of places in the 100M. The order behind John Pearson who was doing a fine job of hanging onto this battling group remained unaltered. David Wenman had returned to the track without losing a lap but was 16 seconds behind fellow +4 driver, Alan House, and intent on pulling some time back. Alan was really struggling to get decent lap times out of his Morgan and, understandably, was not happy about it!

By the end of lap 5, James Haxton had eased his lead out to almost 4 seconds but it still didn’t seem decisive as over the following laps the lead back to Joe Willmott fluctuated beteen 3 - 4 seconds with Nick Finburgh trying desperately to get on terms with the latter, in his little Lola Mk1. However, these 3 were way ahead of the chasers. Nick was some 24 seconds ahead of the Andrew Moore E type who still had Jamie Mason in the first of the Turners, on his tail, the battle behind them between Jonathan Smare, Rick Willmott, Paul Mortimer, Marc Gordon and Mark Ellis still raging and not likely to be settled anytime soon. Just beginning to lose touch with them was Noel Leonard in the second of the Turners and he had not quite shaken off John Pearson’s MGA. The out of sorts Lotus Elite of Brian Arculus had dropped to 13th and at the end of lap 6 Brian pitted to retire the car, hopeful that it could be sorted for the following day's race. David Wenman failed to complete lap 7 in the Morgan and at the end of that lap, Rick Willmott pitted the Jaguar XK150 to retire after being heavily embroiled in the battle for 5th, so we were now down to 15 cars still circulating. The Jaguar was the last car to retire from the race.

Back at the front, by the end of lap 8, Nick Finburgh had finally closed to within a second of the second placed Austin Healey of Joe Willmott. The first 3 cars had lapped the off form Alan House in his Morgan. Now 40 seconds behind the second placed battle, Jamie Mason was still hanging onto the E type and both had pulled clear of the pursuing pack which itself was beginning to break up following the departure of Rick Willmott’s XK150 from the race. It was down to 3 cars headed by Jonathan Smare’s Austin Healey who was keeping a wary eye on his mirrors, full of a very intense battle between Mark Ellis in the Morgan and Marc Gordon in the Lotus Elite which was commented upon by the commentators. Paul Mortimer had dropped away from the group in his Austin Healey 100M, but he’d had a particularly bad lap some 7 seconds off his true pace, so an ‘off’ somewhere, or another problem, since he never fully regained his earlier pace. Several seconds behind him was John Pearson’s MGA and he was now less than 2 seconds ahead of the Robi Bernberg Austin Healey 100M. The last of the unlapped runners was Pete Shepherd in the Austin Healey Sebring Sprite since by that time the leader, completing his 9th lap had lapped Martin Stowe who was, nonetheless, driving the socks off his MGA, as usual.

Joe Willmott’s battle with Nick Finburgh didn’t slow either of them down. In fact they were now lapping quicker than the Haxton Austin Healey so that by the end of lap 10, the lead was down to less than 2.5 seconds as Nick had taken the Lola passed the Willmott Austin Healey and started to close in. It was all building up to a great finale if there were enough laps left to catch James. Over 50 seconds behind, Andrew Moore’s E type had still not shaken off the attention of Jamie Mason’s Turner Mk II. This was a great David & Goliath battle, the E type’s advantage on the straights no doubt negated by the Turner’s nimbleness through the infield and other tighter sections of the circuit. This was a great dice and just a few seconds behind was another, as Jonathan Smare (Austin Healey 3000) in 6th continued to fight off both Mark Ellis and Marc Gordon. In 11th place, John Pearson had been caught by Robi Bernberg’s Austi Healey 100M so despite the reduced field it was providing some great racing and several battles were still to be fought and won!

Over the last 3 laps, although James Haxton continued to lap in the 2.22/23 bracket, the chasers were now homing in. Nick Finburgh had on several occasions lapped in the 2.21s and had recorded fastest lap of the race as early as lap 7. He had closed to within a second of the lead Healey by the end of lap 12 and had spurred a determined Joe Willmott in the other to try to hold onto him, so that when they entered the last lap (13) just 1.5 seconds covered the three cars. However, now that Nick was on the tail of James it had just slightly slowed his momentum and allowed Joe to close right up to both, so that the Lola was was now the meat in the Austin Healey sandwich and having to defend as well as attack. The Lola was vulnerable to the superior acceleration of the Austin Healeys on the run to the flag out of Murrays for the last time and just as James Haxton used this power to pull away on the straight to take the win, Joe Willmott did the same to pip the Lola at the line by less than 2 tenths. It had been a superb effort by Nick Finburgh and a what might have been if the race had been a lap or two longer.

Over a minute behind, Andrew Moore brought the E type Jaguar home comfortably 4th, but behind, Jamie Mason in the Turner MkII had outbraked himself into Murrays and as a result lost more time dropping several seconds behind the Jaguar, and even succumbed, on the last lap, to a late charge by Jonathan Smare in the Austin Healey 3000. Mark Ellis had also closed to within 3 second of Jamie at the flag to take 7th. Mark had finally got the better of the Lotus Elite of Marc Gordon, who finished 2.5 seconds behind the Morgan driver. Some way further behind, Paul Mortimer finished 9th in his Austin Healey 100, less than 3 seconds ahead of Noel Leonard’s Turner MkII with Robi Bernberg’s Austin Healey 100M less than 2 seconds further back. Robi had gone quicker over the last few laps and his pace took him passed John Pearson’s MGA on lap 11 and he had pushed on to make his fastest lap on lap 12 to close in on the Turner but ran out of laps to challenge. John was 12th and the last to finish on the lead lap.

In a rather lonely 13th place, Pete Shepherd brought the little Austin Healey Sebring Sprite home well clear of Martin Stowe in his MGA. A disappointed Alan House was last of the classified finishers in his Morgan +4. He felt that he was 6 - 7 seconds a lap behind where he should have been, but he had the opportunity to have another shot at it the following day, as did Brian Arculus, who, assuming the car was sorted in time, wanted to make amends for his race retirement. It remained to be seen whether Rick Willmott would bring the XK150 into the fray again but it was certainly looking good for Peter Blanchett in the RGS Atalanta, the damage to the rear apparently being cosmetic only and capable of being tidied up for Sunday’s race.

Before I provide the Race 1 results, I’d just like to mention our member Robin Ellis, who later in the day, took his Lotus Elite to a very fine 6th in the Equipe GTS race having started from the back row (no qualifying time) of a very large grid. He then went on to finish 3rd in the Equipe Libre race in his Shapecraft Elan, so a pretty successful day for Robin. I understand that he has entered the Elite in our season finale at Castle Combe.

Race 1 Gallery

Race 2

16 cars came out to the grid on Sunday. Both Nick Finburgh and Marc Gordon, in Lola Mk1 and Lotus Elite respectively had gone home on Saturday, as presumably had Mark Ellis in his Morgan +4. However, the good news was that Peter Blanchett had repaired the damage to his RGS Atalanta, Roy Gillingham had sorted out the Brian Arculus Lotus Elite, Rick Willmott was back out in the XK150 and Mark Holme, in the potentially quickest, by far, car of the field was also there. All 4, of course were starting from the back of the grid along with the Noel Leonard Turner which was being driven by second driver Dave Gardner. Two of the 5 were to have a considerable impact on the race, moving forward with alacrity. Two of the others were to be less fortunate!

James Haxted again took the lead in his Austin Healey 3000 Mk1 and crossed the line at the end of the first lap with a 1.5 second lead over Joe Willmott, already 3.5 seconds clear of Jonathan Smare, so it was an A-H 3000, 1-2-3. 4th was Andrew Moore’s E -type Jaguar with the Turner MkII of Dave Gardner, 5th, having just passed the MGA of John Pearson who had made a stormer of a start from the fifth row, although the quicker Turner had made an even better start from the back. Jamie Mason was 7th in the other Turner, ahead of Brian Arculus who had also made good progress in his now on song Lotus Elite. 9th was Rick Willmott in the Jaguar XK150 and 10th, Paul Mortimer’s Austin Healey 100/4. Robi Bernberg was next up in his 100M version with Peter Blanchett’s RGS Atalanta a further 3 seconds back in 12th. Martin Stowe’s MGA was 13th, very closely challenged by Pete Shepherd in the pretty little Austin Healey Sebring Sprite, whilst already dropping away was Alan House in his Morgan +4, stil perplexed by his lack of pace but at least feeling a bit more positive! Finally, Mark Holme drifted into the pits to retire before completing the lap, clearly still dissatisfied with the car. Down to 15 cars then but there had been much action in that first lap and more was to come as the grid substantially rearranged its starting order!

Joe Willmott was determined not to let James Haxted get away this time and closed to within 3 tenths of a second as they completed the 2nd lap. They were clearly in a league of their own having already pulled out a gap of almost 8 seconds over Jonathan Smare’s A-H 3000. Jonathan had a 2 second lead over Andrew Moore’s E type but Andrew was about to be challenged by the hard charging Turner of Dave Gardner. Both Jamie Mason and Brian Arculus had displaced John Pearson’s MGA to take 6th and 7th respectively, but John had a 7 second cushion over the Paul Mortimer A-H 100/4. Pete Shepherd had taken 2 places in the Sebring Sprite to get ahead of both Peter Blanchett’s RGS Atalanta and Martin Stowe’s MGA. We weren’t short of action!

The Austin Healey battle for the lead was intense over the next few laps. The Austin Healey 3000 1-2-3 was maintained as some way behind the leading pair, Jonathan Smare held down 3rd place, gradually pulling clear of a great dice between Andrew Moore’s E type and the Dave Gardner Turner. In the meantime, Brian Arculus had been making impressive progress through the field and at the end of lap 4 arrived on the tail of the Moore/Gardner battle and by the end of the following lap, Brian had taken his Elite passed the Turner, and the 3 cars crossed the line separated by one second. Behind them, Jamie Mason hadn’t given up in the other Turner and was just over 2 seconds down. John Pearson was now more or less in splendid isolation in his MGA, 9 seconds back from Jamie but 6 seconds clear of Paul Mortimer’s Austin Healey 100/4 who was in 9th place, 15 seconds ahead of a very lonely Robi Bernberg in the 100M. Pete Shepherd was 11th and followed at a distance by Martin Stowe who was edging away from the similarly powered RGS Atalanta of Peter Blanchett. Alan House was again propping up the tail in the Morgan +4 but enjoying his Sunday outing. However, Rick Willmott was less fortunate, recording his second retirement of the weekend in his Jaguar XK150. We were down to 14 cars but it was the last retirement and we were well entertained by some strong dices amongst some of the survivors.

Over the next couple of laps, Joe Willmott dropped away a little from James Haxton, having had at least one grassy moment, but by the end of lap 7 was back to within half a second of the lead Austin Healey. Jonathan Smare continued to hold 3rd although the Moore E type had started to edge closer to him as Andrew was able to focus more ahead as Brian Arculus and Dave Gardner became embroiled in battle behind, the Turner repassing the Elite on lap 7. This dice had allowed Jamie Mason to join them in the other Turner MkII. Behind Jamie the status quo was maintained.

Joe Willmott finally seized the lead on Lap 8 but, whether he knew it or not at this stage, he had incurred a 5 second penalty for exceeding track limits, so needed to get away from James Haxton by more than that to take victory. Behind, Jonathan Smare now had Andrew Moore’s E-type for close company and for the first time in the race an all Austin Healey 3000 podium was at risk. Brian Arculus was in an excellent 5th place in the Lotus Elite, but had the battling pair of Turners of Dave Gardner and Jamie Mason hot on his heels. The remaining 7 cars were now pretty well strung out although the RGS Atalanta was not too far away from Martin Stowe’s MGA, and Alan House’s Morgan had been lapped by the leading pair.

Whether he knew of the penalty or not, Joe Willmott set about getting away from James Haxton, the Austin Healey visibly squirming through Brundle’s. He’d put a string of 2.21 second laps in which gave him a 5.4 second lead by the end of lap 10, enough to give him overall victory if he could maintain it. Andrew Moore got passed Jonathan Smare to take the Jaguar into 3rd. Brian Arculus had again been repassed by Dave Gardner and Brian must have thought that he was being ganged up upon by the Turner pair since he also had Jamie Mason tailgating him. Nothing much changed behind but Peter Blanchett’s RGS Atalanta was beginning to loom larger in Martin Stowe’s rear view mirror, so might we be in for another battle heading into the last few laps?

Over the final laps, Joe Willmott stayed on it, the green Austin Healey 3000 pulling away from James Haxton’s red example and he took the flag after 13 laps with a lead of 13.7 seconds, ensuring that even after the the 5 second time penalty had been imposed he was a clear winner, reversing the result of the day before - honours even! Well over half a minute behind Andrew Moore brought the E type Jaguar home in 3rd, having passed Jonathan Smare’s Austin Healey 3000 back on lap 9, but he had not established a big gap and Jonathan crossed the line just under 2 seconds behind in a comfortable 4th place. Brian Arculus had battled hard to again lead both Turners, taking an excellent 5th place back on lap 10 and staying there to the flag in the Elite, whilst they squabbled amongst themselves. Jamie Mason had got ahead of Dave Gardner and crossed the line just 3 tenths ahead of Dave, but unfortunately for him, he also received a 5 second penalty for exceeding track limits which handed 6th place back to the Gardner Turner.

John Pearson finished 8th in his MGA. He‘d had a 6 second lead over Paul Mortimer’s Austin Healey 100/4 on the penultimate lap but had eased up over the last which coupled with a good lap from Paul meant that they crossed the line 3.5 seconds apart. In 10th, Robi Bernberg finished quite a long way back in his Austin Healey 100M but was completely untroubled from behind and was the last to finish on the lead lap.

Pete Shepherd finished 11th in the Austin Healey Sebring Sprite, not having anyone to race with for most of the time. The anticipated battle between Martin Stowe in the MGA and Peter Blanchett in the RGS Atalanta didn’t quite materialise although Martin crossed the line only 1.3 seconds ahead of Peter. Final finisher, Alan House was over a minute and half behind these two when under normal circumstances he would have expected to be with them if not ahead. Hopefully, he’ll find more form for Castle Combe especially as he is in with a very good chance of taking the Whitehead Cup. He’s currently on 27 points, just 2 ahead of Martin Stowe with Chris Mann and current cupholder, Alex Quattlebaum also close. All 4 will be at Castle Combe!

Race 2 Gallery

Tailpiece