MG Live back with a bang after four-year hiatus
The first edition of MG Live since 2018 was highlighted by diamond anniversary celebrations for the marque’s best-selling car. Equipe Classic Racing organised a special MGB 60 race for a capacity grid of FIA Appendix K cars, while the MG Car Club’s BCV8 Championship showcased modified machinery as reigning champion Ollie Neaves made a winning return.
On his first appearance in the series this season, Neaves made light of the changes required to his GTV8 under
2022 regulations to win both races from pole, despite a clutch problem hindering his starts. Saturday’s defeat of James Wheeler and Russell Mccarthy proved more straightforward than the Sunday rematch when Neaves thrillingly fought back from fifth. “Dad’s been working on the car for me all week, and it’s awesome straight out the box,” beamed Neaves. “I really wasn’t sure what to expect after all the changes, but it was fantastic.”
Even once Neaves led, the Wheeler/ Mccarthy scrap continued to entertain before Wheeler consolidated second. Oulton Park winner Neil Fowler’s challenge was thwarted by recurring gearbox problems, after briefly leading both races.
A fine turn of pace and quick thinking earned Mark Holme’s Pre-’63 Austinhealey 3000 an overall victory in Saturday’s Equipe Libre race. Holme was running eighth when the safety-car train reached pit entry as the pit window opened. Holme was the first to dive in and, with only one lap under caution, gained a healthy advantage over the quicker cars after they stopped.
Dafyd Richards (Lotus Eleven), who had jumped Nigel Winchester (Shelby 250) and Gary Pearson’s Jaguar E-type in traffic, led the late stoppers and charged to third for Equipe ’50s honours, with Matt
Holben’s TVR Griffith 400 taking the Libre section in fourth overall.
Holme nearly repeated the feat aboard his MGB in the following day’s Equipe GTS thrash in similar circumstances but was chased down by Ollie Pratt (Morgan +4), after Pratt’s dad Martin also pitted promptly to relay him. The MGBS of Sam Kirkpatrick and Tom Smith had set the pace, and Kirkpatrick was promoted to third after Smith was penalised for a short stop that had helped him leapfrog the early leader.
Sunday’s Libre win went to Mark Halstead’s diminutive Ginetta G4R after the Morgan +8 of Grahame Bryant pulled up with a suspected electrical failure at half-distance. Second for Richard Hywelevans’s Porsche 911 ST earned him Equipe ’70s honours on the category’s debut.
Karl Green’s MG ZS 180 powered to a pair of Cockshoot Cup victories despite differential problems that required an overnight change. Paul Wignall’s similar car chased, then led the sequel until a slide on his own coolant at Brooklands let Green through and precipitated Wignall’s retirement. After fetching a new set of slicks overnight following a couple of spins on road tyres – he’d punctured a slick in qualifying – Keith Egar climbed to second on Sunday ahead of Mark Wright, who was running a production-spec MGF on slicks while his MG Cup car awaits engine repairs.
On the same grid, Richard Buckley twice topped the MG Cup section after trading the lead with Matt Simpson’s similar Rover 220 Tomcat.
Jason Burgess continued last month’s Cadwell Park form with another pair of MG Trophy successes. Despite struggling with
set-up, Adam Jackson challenged around the outside of Brooklands early in race two before slipping back and losing out to
Doug Cole, as he had in the opener.
A non-championship race for Morgans and MGAS brought a comfortable win for father-and-son duo Bill and Howard Lancashire in their +8. Second place seemed a poisoned chalice as both William Plant (+8) and Andrew Thompson (Morgan ARV6) spun it away and Simon Orebi Gann
(sharing with James Bellinger) slowed in the closing stages. Roger Whiteside (+8) benefited as Thompson and Richard Plant (in for his son) recovered to fourth and fifth.
John Pearson’s searing early pace broke the opposition as he took a commanding GT & Sports Car Cup win alongside brother Gary in their Jaguar E-type. Rally man Richard Tuthill shared Richard Cook’s AC Cobra to second in the two-hour race. Oliver Bryant’s mid-race pace carried Hywelevans’s Cobra to third, while the John Clark/ Gordie Mutch E-type met a smoky end with Mutch challenging for the podium places.