MG Racing

PBIC Donington Race Report

Alan Jones — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:23:29 +0000

It was a hand in glove victory for Alex

Race 1
Smiths Reunion Straight in at Number 1
Alex Smith scored his first ever PBIC victory by doing what all sons do, driving their dad’s car far too fast. Having inherited Peter Best Pole, Alex had a relatively relaxed drive to the chequered flag (so it wasn’t a case that he started something he couldn’t finish), calmly coping with the changing weather, fading brakes and a few laps behind the safety car. In between time, he also managed to ruffle a few trophy feathers as he beat 6 of those too. So no pressure on Dad who takes over for race 2. Modest Alex confirmed after the race “it was really nothing”.

First of the group A cars was last of the International Playboys, James Darby, who overcame what can only be referred to as a pretty poor qualifying position, even by his standards, to also finish second overall. Both Darby and Smith were assisted by Andrew Ashton’s failure to get his purple helmet Metro to rise to the occasion. Ashton who having qualified first overall could only mumble “Heavens knows I’m miserable now, this doesn’t normally happen to me” when his car capitulated on the warm up lap when, by all accounts, his butterfly got stuck somewhere in his throttle body.

Team Purple Helmet's novel approach to Health and Safety Regulations

Simon Tinkler was James Darby’s closest rival, finishing just half a second behind, having kept his cool, no doubt thanks to his waterless lubricants. The Darby / Walpole rivalry did not materialise, despite Carrot Cruncher improving his equally woeful qualifying by some 6 places. Whilst he secured third in class, his bronze place was 5 seconds short of the shiny medals.

Alistair Bell’s BGTV8 was fifth overall and second in Class B, despite some unusual bodywork “improvements” courtesy of a practice session spin. Ali B’s race was building up nicely until the arrival of the safety car.

Jonesey Jones debuted his ex-team Neaves MGB Roadster and was caught napping at the start, meaning his fifth place on the grid was soon given up. However, Jonesey was to, as always, play a pivotal part in the race, albeit not our race. When the safety car appeared following a Trophy detour, Jonesey found himself behind (that is, for once, right behind) the race leader, (we shall politely ignore the fact that he was being lapped) so on the restart, was caught up in the gaggle of Trophy boys keen to make up for lost time. Naturally, being the polite chap he is, rather than panic on the restart, Jonesey allowed them through, only for 5 of them to be penalised for taking up Jonesey’s offer before the green lights. Sadly, they did not also take up his offer of waterless car wash, last few bottles still available. As a result, they were all penalised by 10 seconds and we didn’t get the results until nearly two and half hours later. No truth in the rumour that Jonesey was voted driver of the day in the Trophy race!

Also caught up with the Trophy battle was Nick Arden’s Class A Maestro which was next home, having just managed to hold off the charging Richard Wilson, who provided plenty of entertainment in his efforts to recapture the 5 places he lost when his race started from the pit lane. The 2 TCs were next, with Peter House first by almost 6 seconds and John Bussey second as they reversed their qualifying positions, both cars being driven to the limit.

Kevin Stibbards had a relatively lonesome race (and was as the only MGF in the absence of Paul “I’ll enter every race” Rigg) but did make up a few places on his qualifying position at the expense of Gary Weston who was so pre-occupied with repelling the advances of Micheal Piggott he was never able to make up the gap on the MGF. Mr P’s efforts to catch Weston were themselves subject to fighting off Kevin Hewer’s black BGT, but what could have been a great battle at the back was Johnny Marr’d by the safety car and then the return of the Trophy driver that caused it!

James Darby contemplates his qualifying efforts...

All told, a relatively restrained start to the season. Driver of the day as voted by the commentary team was James Walpole, presumably for several overtaking manoeuvres that the writer, whilst searching for the bar, missed completely and still had no recollection of, despite Carrot Cruncher providing a lap by lap resume post-race. The only reason CC had to make up for lost places was due to his poor qualifying, so it was all self-inflicted and thus earns no sympathy from OMG! James Darby made up just as many places in the race, but, what difference does it make, he misses out on the OMG! nod of approval for the same reason. As you will see, a calm, focussed work-man like approach doesn’t cut it for us. What we want, at 12.20 p.m. on a windy bank in Derbyshire (with no beer available) is to be entertained. Our driver of the race was Richard Wilson, who also made up numerous places having started from the pit lane, and managed to get it sideways every lap at Redgate, to include those when the safety car was out.

Race 2
As ever, the Peter Best paddock was a hive of activity following the initial race. Ali B’s team concluded that whilst their inspired Gaffer tape aero package could not be improved upon, the car may perform better if the exhaust pipe was attached, so more gaffer tape was called for. Andrew Ashton’s team had his car fixed in a jiffy whilst Peter House decided to quit whilst ahead in the battle of the TCs and headed home for the day. Michael Piggott was busy fixing the Grey Pig’s head gasket in the hope that his engine would then produce more grunt. Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain as it gave up the ghost on the warm up lap, compounding the misery for MP on a dreadful weekend. Already grieving the removal of cigarettes from public display, neither he nor his car were “smokin” at Donington. There were 2 driver swaps, Dad David Smith taking over from Alex whilst Paul Wybrow stepped into the MGB he was sharing with Gary Weston.

Following a delayed start, Smith Snr was soon passing the back markers whilst Andrew Ashton in his glorious sounding K series Metro was quickly amongst the leading Trophy cars. James Darby was having a ground hog day, reliving has 2011 race by spinning again at Redgate and re-joining pretty much last. With Ashton and Smith disappearing into the distance, Jonesey was the best of the rest and unlikely leader of Class A for a whole 5 laps, before a combination of his big feet on little pedals, and various other excuses meant he dropped back, first being taken by Darby, who had passed all his Class A rivals by lap 7 and 2 laps later by Sprinkler. Darby also reeled in Alistair Bell who was so involved meddling with the Trophy cars, he failed to see Darby sneaking through. Whilst the BGT V8 still collected second in class B, Ali B missed out on the PBIC podium.

Jonesey did manage to hold off Richard Wilson by half a second, to complete the Class A top 3, Wilson himself having a race long battle with Nick Arden’s Maestro. Carrot Cruncher turned gear cruncher, as he found that only fourth gear was an option from lap 1 and by all accounts (i.e. Walpole’s) that only worked when being held in place. Walpole piloted the whole race with one had on the wheel, making his sixth place in class pretty respectable. Note, 2 races down and 2 excuses used for Carrot Cruncher.

There was an entertaining battle for most of the race at the rear, with Kevin Hewer’s BGT swapping places, but not paint, with John Bussey’s TC and Kevin Stibbards’ F, and Paul Wybrow’s retro works-look B. As the race wore on, moves became more desperate with greater risks taken, but this came to a premature end when Paul Wybrow ended up broadside at the old hairpin. Despite gallant efforts to restart, the Roadster was having none of it and Paul elected to abandon ship whilst waiting for the RAC to arrive. This left Hewer first of the 2 Kevins, with John Bussey completing the trio, notwithstanding Kevin Stibbards recording the fastest laps of the 3.

Up at the front Andrew Ashton and pushed himself to seventh on track, ahead of 7 Trophy hunters whilst David Smith, maintained that he equalled his son’s first race success by also finishing tenth overall; so there was nothing to choose between father and son if you ignore Alex running a clear 1 second a lap faster and also being first PBIC driver home in race 1. That said, David started at the back of the grid and his efforts in progressing through the gird also earned him the official driver of the day award. Whilst Smiffy Snr was also in contention for the highly sought after OMG! Driver award, as were Hewer and Walpole, this time the nod went to Darby for his grass tracking.

Other events of note were Richard “We’re all in it together” Tinkler suffering a seizure when the commentator suggested that son Sprinkler and car Grimerose were nonstarters and then seeing his celebration dance upon realising that it was in fact the Grey Pig that had expired.

Photos courtesy of Alan Jones.

Race Results

Donington Park

PBIC Dominates Donington Race Card

Alan Jones — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:34:19 +0000

Such is the interest in the 2012 Pete Best Insurance Challenge that the MGCC are struggling to cope! Places for the season opener at Donington Park on Sunday 8 April are so sought after it seems more than probable that the classes will now have to be split, meaning that at least 4 races on the timetable will feature the PBIC racers. Although entries are now officially closed, by splitting the grids, drivers who have not yet entered could still be accommodated. But don’t hang about as rumour has it that competitors in other series are likely to jump to the PBIC, given the promise of full grids and double headers at each MGCC event in 2012.

The strong entry list is solid backing for new co-ordinator Richard “The Thinker” Tinkler and his team, in their efforts to streamline the series by simplifying the regulations and reducing the number of classes to 4. The Donington meeting sees the MGFs of Paul Rigg and Kevin Stibbards plus the TC of John Bussey sharing Class A with usual suspects MG Stalwarts for the first time, but the lone Maestro of Nick Arden could be the car to beat.

Classes B, C and D feature a similar mix of motors, to include the MGB of returnee Peter Bramble, the V8s of Alistair Bell and Rob Spencer and PBIC debutants, Alex Smith in his father and son ZS, Thomas Halliwell in his allegedly engine less ZR and Andrew “Shton” Ashton in his 1800cc Metro. Also look out for the Roadsters of Paul Wybrow and Gary Weston, who whilst new to the series in 2012, has a previous driver of the day accolade at Donington.

Your Race Space

Danielle Stanley — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 18:33:20 +0000

How do you fancy a YOURSITE.mgracing.co.uk website? We are looking for a volunteer (or two) to test drive this new feature.

What’s the catch?
Nada, zip, you will be up and running in a few clicks and have your own Race Space on the interweb to keep your fans/sponsors happy.

You don’t need to be a wordsmith, you only need a few photos, perhaps of your car development, and you are on your way….

An example of how www.darby38.mgracing.co.uk may look (sorry @jdarby, I’ve “borrowed” your photo!):

And for those feeling more adventurous, we have some advanced themes … an illustration of how perhaps Jason Plato’s people could put together a website (although given his official site is still under construction, perhaps not!):

If you are interested, please PM me, (that includes your people JP ).

Thanks!

Follow the PBIC on Twitter

Danielle Stanley — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:01:50 +0000

We are always looking at ways to improve our site and to help our readers (or dare we say fans!) stay up to date with the latest news and gossip, so we have now signed up to Twitter.

What is Twitter and What is the Point?

Twitter is a micro blog service which enables us to post immediate updates (”tweets”) of up to 140 characters. You can sign up for a free account and follow us direct on the Twitter website or you can add your own information to your own account which we can follow! If you cannot be at the track, you can even get text updates as soon as the action has taken place so you know exactly how many points you are behind! What more could you want?

PBIC Christmas Report 2011

Jonesey — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:44:03 +0000

How embarrasing...forgetting to do your shirt up properly!

Deck the boughs with oil and “Folly” tra la la la Castrol R,

Yes folks in true PBIC fashion here is the Xmas write up as we fast approach spring! So in no particular order here are my slightly beer clouded memories of the end of year shindig.

It came to pass that at the end of racing the drivers joined together and peace to all men prevailed. Past differences were far behind us as dreams of what should have been and tails of victories missed were cheerily talked over at the bar.

The wine flowed like high octane fuel and it became clear that although driving may not be the greatest skill of the PBIC’ers – dancing certainly was.

Not so much Strictly Ballroom but more Strictly Elbow room as when the red (disco) lights went out the drivers thronged onto the dance floor.

In pole position was mover and shaker Rob Spencer, who true to form swerved onto the dance floor and then adopted various unpredictable lines as he careered from one side to the other, but skilfully not spilling a drop of beer in the process.

Fellow competitor Vic Reeves-Holmes won the title of “Best Creative Dancer” which he swiftly followed with “Drinker of the Night” in recognition for consuming more alcohol than anyone else but still remaining on his feet.

John Wreghitt kept safety in mind and conscious of the need to keep hydrated in the warm atmosphere never strayed too far from the bar.

Dan Neaves demonstrates why he is so popular with the ladieees!

Kev Hewer completed a quick Part P as he checked over the Christmas Lights and then proceeded to do something quite unmentionable with two party hats….he has definitely joined the right race series!

Doing his best to mitigate the extra 85kilos added to car weights for 2012 was a dapper looking Pete Burchill, who has been following a strict training regime which has clearly paid off as he is now found to be drinking gin and slim lines as opposed to a pint of cooking.

Current Class A champ James “The Mekon” Walpole was strangely quiet this time out, with only the occasional glass of cider seen to pass his lips as he contemplated if he should sell his Red Rooster Roadster for an F in order to retain his title. Well with all the cash he got for weighing-in his old trophies, money should be no object!

Simon Tinkler of Primrose fame, was concentrating on dis-information, as he spread the rumour that he may not compete in the PBIC in 2012 which we all know can’t be true especially following the surprise change of co-coordinator to his father Richard…surprise well it certainly was to Richard as he thought he was only supposed to be taking the AGM minutes.

It was a break from tradition for Blaine Neaves who disappointed many of the waiting crowd when he decided not to wear his popular red Christmas shirt this year. I guess it goes to show that times they are a changing!

Vic is in the mood to celebrate having heard Blaine would be his new YTS boy!

As Long Haired Dave announced he was standing down as co-ordinator in order to spend more time with his hair, the new Master of Ceremonies was revealed as none other than former Metro Racer, Alan Brooke. Reading without the aid of an autocue, the softly spoken Alan did a fine job of dishing out the trophies.

The only problem was he spoke so quietly I did not manage to make a note of who got what, other than myself of course as to my surprise I was handed a large chunk of granite as the most improved driver of 2011….which only goes to show how rubbish I have been up till then, but thanks none the less!

A really good night was had by all and so much so, we have already pencilled in next years Do. I had looked at moving the venue for a change but having spoken to some of the other Series who used alternatives, many reported inedible food or poor accommodation. Other than the short walk (bracing) across to the hall this venue has been pretty popular overall, both with location and general value for money, so unless there are any strong alternatives we will probably come back in 2012.

Of course to avoid the walk to the hall if we increase the numbers of those attending we could move into the big hall which is attached to the main building….we just need to encourage the party-poopers to finish the years racing off in style with the only party worth going to the PBIC!

MG Racing

PBIC Donington Race Report

Team Purple Helmet's novel approach to Health and Safety Regulations

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Richard Wilson

Race winners are ultra fit athletes surrounded by a team of professionals!

If only it went as good as it looks...

MGCC’s flagship trophy racers hold up the Pete Best Cars again!

Michael Piggott / Gary Weston

Richard Wilson

Nick Arden wishes he had gone for the 60 thou pistons

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This charming man

Clive Jones / James Walpole

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Who sponsors this car?!

Alistair Bell

James Darby

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Ding Dong Armco Calling!

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Nick Arden

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