MGCC MG Cup Sponsored by Peter Best Insurance

In the MG Cup’s Snetterton contest we at last got what we had been keenly anticipating all season: a straight fight out front between the evenly matched Metros of Mike Williams and reigning Metro Cup champion Jack Ashton.

We had to wait another race to get this though as Ashton missed the first counter thanks to an oil seal coming off. Williams won that race but it was far from simple as his newly fitted rear wheels had not been torqued fully. He went as quickly as he dared to beat the returning Peter Burchill’s ZS 180 (pictured above) by just 0.333 seconds.

Dennis Robinson was third home in his MG ZR 170, taking the place and the Class B victory after champion Richard Buckley slid his 170 off at Oggies late on. Robinson also got Driver of the Race while his son Carl took Class A victory in his ZR 160.

The Williams vs Ashton battle was fully joined in race two, and it was worth the wait. Williams led from the line but Ashton was quickly by and established some breathing space over Williams. But Ashton was using a new tyre compound and found his initial grip fell away meaning Williams closed and overtook. But shortly afterwards Williams had a massive moment – wherein Ashton noted Williams “almost killed himself…I think he was opposite lock three different times!” – that let Ashton back past. Williams reclaimed the lead at Riches late on and crossed the line first, but got a five-second track-limits penalty that handed Ashton the win.

It didn’t affect either driver’s relish of the battle though. “A fantastic race,” Williams beamed. “The back end was all over the shop, I had trouble trying to keep it on the road, that was the cause of the time penalty. But it doesn’t really matter because the race we had it was just absolutely immense.

“Nothing happened for me in the first race. I went round as slow as I possibly could to keep the lead. That [race two] has more than made up for it. It goes to show the racing we’re having, you win one race and you can’t even compare it to the race you’ve just come second in. That’s how it is – you come for the fun!”

Ashton concurred: “Epic race, loved it,” he said. “Got some nice grip for about five laps then all of a sudden it went to really bad jelly tyres. That’s when Mike started to reel me in quite quickly. He’d gone off a couple of times after he got the black-and-white flag, then I saw them holding the board out and I knew exactly what it was. I’d probably try to battle with him [without the penalty], but I wasn’t going to stop him, he was on fire, he was pushing that thing like you wouldn’t believe.”

Buckley this time got Class B win in fourth, just ahead of Carl Robinson who took the Class A win and got a Driver of the Race award of his own. Dennis Robinson this time suffered from lost revs with a suspected VVC Unit problem.

The countdown begins for rounds 3 and 4 of the MG Cup at Snetterton on the 6th September…….

MGCC MG Cup supported by Peter Best Insurance – All change for MG Cups long-awaited Donington 2020 season-opener

MG Car Club’s 2020 racing season at last got underway with a packed meeting at a sunny and warm Donington Park. The meeting with Covid safety measures in place so paddock life was a little changed with out spectators.

MG Metro Cup champion Jack Ashton was yet another in upgraded equipment. He has replaced his 1.4-litre Metro engine with a 1.8-litre version for a move to MG Cup. And at Donington he immediately joined similarly equipped Mike Williams in fighting for victory.

Williams won the first race, while the pursuing Ashton retired with a broken gearbox. Reigning champion Richard Buckley, now in Class B with a ZR 170, rose to finish second overall ahead of Stuart Tranter’s Tomcat and got take the class win with it. Carl Robinson beat Dale Reet to Class A victory and was awarded Driver of the Race.

For race two Ashton installed a new gearbox with a diff in it, and found the car much improved. On lap one though while dicing for the lead with Williams in the Craners with his unfamiliar ‘box he selected second gear instead of fourth, locked his wheels and ran through the Old Hairpin gravel. “I over-revved it to God-knows-what rpm,” Ashton recalled. “Thought it was game over there and then but it still managed to keep on going.”

He quickly recovered to second, and before we could find out if he could haul Williams in, Williams pulled into the pits with a seized wheel bearing. “It just made the car undriveable,” Williams said, “it got to the point that it’s dangerous. It was a big lead, if the car was running fine I would have driven comfortably and maintained a distance [to Ashton].”

It left Ashton well clear, yet there was late drama as his Metro started to smoke, possibly related to the earlier over-rev, but he just held on to beat Tranter by a scant 0.6s.

“I tried to just limp it home, which I just about did!,” Ashton added. “It’s leaking oil internally, I think a cracked piston or something not good. But we finished!

“It’s testing the water with the new engine combo,” Ashton said of his weekend, “after putting a new diff in it after race one it felt really good, I could get on the power a lot better. Now it’s really singing. We hopefully can give Mike a good run for his money next time out.”

Williams concluded: “Good race win to start off with, it was great race. [Race two] I was in control – that kind of thing happens doesn’t it?”

Kayleigh Twigger completed the podium, competing in her dad Chris’s for-sale Tomcat in tribute to him as he is now unable to race due to motor neurone disease, and the tribute included running a ‘DAD 1’ number plate instead of the usual ‘TWIG 1’. Kayleigh also got Driver of the Race.

“First race it was fourth overall but I lost it as the driveshaft caputted, so I had a point to prove in this one [race two],” she said.

Dennis Robinson in his 170 won the Class B contest ahead of Buckley, who had a brief off at the Craners, while Carl Robinson again beat Reet to Class A honours.

Championship Points as follows

Thanks to our sponsor Peter Best Insurance Services for supporting the live streaming of all our race action with our media partner MySuperCar Productions. Just jump on our Facebook page to see all coverage from Donington Park, qualifying, Race 1 and 2 Driver interviews and paddock walk.

https://www.facebook.com/TheMGCup/

Thanks to Ian, Leon and Alain, and don’t worry Ian there will be bacon butties at Snetterton……

Sun shine greets the MG Cup after corona virus lock down, for rounds 1 and 2 of 2020 with all cars ready to qualify a great photo of Rover BRM and Rover 216 Gti another part of the celebration of MG Rover Cars running in 2020.

Qualification was as follows

The 12th of July will see the start of the MG Cup Sponsored by Peter Best Insurance season, clearly 2020 has been a challenge for all and we look forward to getting cars on track for the first time this year.  We once again will be gridding with the MG Metro Cup so bumper grid of Mg & Rover cars racing.

We would like to thank all marshals and officials for giving up their time to allow race events to happen.  With social distancing and COVID restrictions the paddock will not be its usual vibrant space as spectators can not enter the paddock, however the event will be streamed and will allow that can not attend to see friends and competitors on track.

Following the action on our Facebook page for live streaming  https://www.facebook.com/TheMGCup/  and don’t forget to give us a like.

We are pleased to confirm that Morgan Short will be joining the MG Cup this season. 30 Years after his father Martin Short built this ex championship winning 216GTI, the car has been purchased and is undergoing recommissioning in time for the first round of the MG Cup at Donington on the 12th July 2020.

We look forward to seeing Morgan on the grid and with the families racing pedigree I am sure he will enjoy finding his feet in the MG Cup.

The MG Cup offers close racing in 3 classes with Standard, Modified and Race classes for production MG and Rover cars. For more information please see http://www.mgcup.com

Without the Orange Army UK motorsport would not happen……. I asked one of my Marshall / Racing friends for a couple of pictures, Phil thanks… as ever rain or shine the orange army never fail to make you smile and when needed they get us out of sticky situations…. 

If you have a passion for motorsport and can give some time please see link below to find out more about joining the ranks of the orange army….

https://www.marshals.co.uk/

Hopefully 2021 will be travel restriction free, so who’s up for a MG Cup road trip?

Resumption of MGCC Motor Racing

Ladies and Gentlemen.  As many of you will have seen, Motorsport UK has advised that national motorsport will recommence from 4th July.

That’s truly great news and means that our two day meeting at Donington on the 11th/12th July can go ahead. Which we are sure will come as very welcome news to many of you!

We have a valid Motorsport UK permit for the two days and our Championships are not National [such as BTCC] and are therefore able to run, we have received written confirmation of the programme from Motorsport UK.

Meanwhile MSV have confirmed the circuit will be available and that all systems are go!

Obviously, since we are one of the first meetings to restart there will be extra vigilance that we comply with whatever the regulations are then. We really need your full cooperation on this aspect.

We very much hope the bar of overnight stays away from home will have been lifted.

Unfortunately it won’t be a normal two day meeting because some restrictions will remain and our primary concern is your safety and well-being which will call for some extra measures and an alteration to the usual procedures. One being that it will be a closed meeting without spectators, so no bringing your fan club!

We aim to keep the numbers in the paddock to a minimum at all times and there will be a specific manager appointed to ensure that social distancing and all the mandatory requirements are met.

Please be understanding, we are determined that the meeting will be safe and that you will have an opportunity to enjoy racing around this iconic circuit.