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SPORT

TRACK

7 NEWSAll the latest paddock gossip

12 HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAYWe celebrate 50 years of the Mini and its fantastic sporting history in rally and circuit competition

22 LOCOST RACE-OFFKeith and John go head-to-head in identical Locost race cars for the 750 Motor Club’s 70th Anniversary race

32 SAFETY CARWe drive the Kia cee’d Safety Car at Castle Combe and find the experience highly testing…

94 CLASSIFIEDPick up a track and race bargain

CONTENTS / OCTOBER 200912

35

22

TECH

TEACH

4 TRCMAGAZINE.COM - OCTOBER 2009

86 GPR OFFERSGrab some cheap racewear!

91 TRACK DAY DIARY The most comprehensive listings

34 NEXT MONTHCheck out what’s coming up

41 SAXO, ESCORT & NOVAM-Tech’s monthly power search

46 PORSCHE 944 BUILDRemoving sound deadening

49 LANCIA FULVIABack on track with gusto

59 HARNESS FITTINGImportant guide to fitting yours

64 NISSAN 200SX BUILDRemoving the interior

77 NEW PRODUCTSTesting the latest gear

46 OULTON PARK GUIDE The most comprehensive circuit guide

86 GO RACINGSee how easy it is to start racing

86 GO TRACK DAYSA rough guide to your first track day

Visit us online for updates on what’s coming up in the next issue:

www.trcmagazine.com

30

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52

WELCOME TO / TRC MAGAZINE

L ast month we featured the charismatic Martin Hines, the new owner of Grand Prix Racewear, and together we created a bunch of racewear options at knocked down prices. It wasn’t a one-off, so you’ll be pleased to know you can still grab one of the bargains, so get yourself to page 86, make your choice and take advantage of some proper bargains.

And if it’s a bargain you’re after then you cannot miss our story on our journey through a Locost meeting over on p22. This is the home of the true clubman racer, with second-hand cars hitting the market from as little as £3000 and full race seasons costing as little as £5000. I’d argue that there isn’t a more cost effective class of circuit racing currently available which creates such close and fierce racing.

I won’t spoil the feature but the top eight were separated by under a second once the chequered flag had fallen. It was to be the 750 Motor Club’s closest finish and a truly fitting tribute to the 10th Anniversary of the Locost Championship which certainly helped kick off celebrations for the clubs remarkable 70th Birthday. It was an absolute pleasure to be associated with the 750 Motor Club’s very special weekend of motor racing. Long may it continue to provide us with outstanding clubman motorsport.

Keith Wood

Editor

ISSUE 66

Tom SaundersAd Manager

Has mostly been?Sniping, moonwalking (no he wasn’t ~ Ed) and drinking to take the edge off the Stafford Kit Car Show

Andrew BrownPhotographer

Has mostly been?Playing a game where he hides from everybody in the office and we have to guess where he is. It’s great…

John HaymanSpecial Correspondent

Has mostly been?Stressing about this game that Andrew plays. Wonders why Brown actually owns a mobile phone?

Michael WoodEditorial Assistant

Has mostly been?Racing a bunch of Americans online. Geeky or useful? Upcoming feature next month people

TEAM TRC

PublishingFounding Directors: Keith Wood, Andrew Brown

Printing & Distribution: Warners Group Publications Plc, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire, PE10 9PH

Special thanks to: MotorSportVision, Radical Sportscars

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AdvertisingAdvertising Manager: Tom Saunders

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Online: www.trcmagazine.com

Pit Stop© 2009 P1 Media Ltd ISSN:1742193

Track & Race Cars Magazine is published twelve times a year by P1 Media Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written consent of the publishers is strictly prohibited. While every effort is made in compiling Track & Race Cars, the publishers

cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions. All prices correct at time of going to press but subject to

change. The publishers can not accept responsibility for any unsolicited materials. It is assumed that any images taken from sources which are widely distributed, such

as the internet, are in the public domain. However, since such images are passed freely between sources such as websites, the original source is not always possible to

trace. It is possible that copyrighted material has ended up being treated as public domain as a result. If you

see a graphic or image in this publication which is not public domain please contact P1 Media Ltd. Readers are advised to pay by Credit Card when ordering goods off

the advertising and editorial pages as they are regulated under Consumer Credit Act 1974, unlike debit or

chargecards which are not.

Independence Track & Race Cars Magazine is lovingly published

every month by P1 Media Ltd for all owners, drivers and enthusiasts of track and race cars. It is entirely

independent. And we speak as we find… The opinions of our contributors are not connected with P1 Media Ltd

P1www.p1-media.com

5OCTOBER 2009 - TRCMAGAZINE.COM

123

DON’T MISS INSIDE……the race report of our Pre-93 Touring Car Championship from Snetterton on p78

…our Nissan 200SX over on p59 - it has a set of suspension specially created by BAD. Whose BAD?

…our Nissan 200SX over on p59 - it has a set of suspension specially created by BAD. Whose BAD?…more action from the TRC supported Mono Championship at Donington Park on p80

…grab a bargain race outfit combination from GPR. We’ve got exclusive deals on p86

TEAM TRC CONTRIBUTORS: Ben Birch, Tony Murray, Andy Glenister, Paul Williams, Alex Baker, Simon Davey, Norwich Photo

12

SPORT / Mini’s 50th Birthday

TRCMAGAZINE.COM - OCTOBER 2009

HAPPY 50thFifty years young and it’s still going strong, the Mini is a motoring sensation and a fantastic racing car to boot. John Hayman charts its rise to the top and why we all need to race one…

13OCTOBER 2009 - TRCMAGAZINE.COM

A couple of months ago,

on August 26 to be

pedantic about it, the Mini

celebrated its 50th

That landmark date was

for the innovative car that Alec Issigonis

famously designed in 1956, and by 1959

at the BMC (British Motor Company)

plant at Cowley in Oxfordshire, was

where and when they started bolting the

little darlings together.

However, of more interest to us in

those early days was what John Cooper’s

(of the Cooper Car Company and his and

its F1 notoriety) foresight achieved - for

he, before the Mini’s production line had

even been turned on, saw the sporting

potential in this cute little package.

Even though Issigonis had in his mind

a car for everyday motoring, a peoples

car, John Cooper knew its compact

dimensions and nimbleness was the

perfect recipe for something more

competition orientated.

And thus the Mini Cooper was

born - originally 850cc’s with 55bhp,

up 21bhp from the original after a lot

of modifications to the engine, Carbs,

cams etc - and later bored and stroked

to 1,071 cc which kept it within their rally

class limit of 1100cc. A sufficient capacity

increase to raise the A-series engines

power by another 15bhp to 70 bhp at

6,200 rpm - and it could now rev to 7,200

rpm as well, so even more was there for

the taking. Which happened with the

introduction of the 1275S with 90bhp.

All these versions were equipped

with upgraded brakes (front discs and

a servo), likewise modified gear ratio’s

to fully exploit all that new found power

with. So they went racing…

MINI BIRTHDAY

Below: The Mini was a little star and in Monte Carlo a worthy opposition to its bigger rivals

22

SPORT / 750MC Locost Race

TRCMAGAZINE.COM - OCTOBER 2009

Below: The Locost Championship was officially ten years old in 2009 and to celebrate it had an almighty race off. Every lap created a similar scene to the picture the below…

The proceeding days

running up to the 750

Motor Club’s race

weekend at Silverstone

fun filled. Both myself

and Hayman had - rather generously

- been invited into the driving seats

of two Locosts to take part in the

10th Anniversary celebrations of the

championship and, inevitably, against

each other in the process. Cue the

barrage of abuse from both parties…

although alarmingly it was Andrew who

was more excited about the impending

inter-office duel. He had built up the

rivalry into near epic proportions, one

he would have happily notched into

Wikipedia, alongside such greats as Ali

and Foreman. It would be the first time

both Hayman and myself would race

‘against’ each other, so I shouldn’t have

expected anything less?

Our recent track test on four of the

front running cars (which Hayman drove,

I might add - TRC62) certainly struck a

chord inside all of us. The majority of

the cars are literally built from scratch

(we’re talking from a pile of metal) and

run on shoestring budgets courtesy of a

strict set of regulations, a well controlled

1300 Ford Crossflow engine and road

legal tyres in the shape of Yokohama

A359 rubber. The results are 40 car

grids with the top ten being separated

by thousandths of a second. Amazingly,

running a car can cost as little as £5000

and, if you’re seriously interested, second

hand cars sell for just £4000 (and that’s

for a race winning chassis). It may be ten

THE DUELThe annual 750 Motor Club Summer gathering at Silverstone traditionally creates barn-storming races and this years 70th Anniversary meeting was no exception, as Keith Wood discovered while racing a Locost.Photography: Chris Brown

23OCTOBER 2009 - TRCMAGAZINE.COM

LOCOST RACE

years old but after our first feature we

had only just discovered what ‘real’ club

motorsport is really about.

I’ll hold my hands up; I didn’t

appreciate the sport of Locost racing until

our track test. Ok, I wasn’t driving but I

did spend a day among the competitors

and their respected cars. I was eagerly

told stories of the qualifying times for the

top ten being separated within a second

and animatedly talked through how the

racing creates five abreast overtaking

maneuvers. I was breaking a sweat just

listening to the hive of activity which

takes place seemingly at every race and

I left the circuit wanting to know more.

I wanted to see the racing for myself

and - as you do now - headed straight

to YouTube that evening. Amazingly

there wasn’t as much as I had hoped.

There was plenty of Locost action from

across globe (which includes road going

kits from Finland) but very little from

the racing itself. Although the few race

videos that were posted were more

than sufficient, it was all I required to

pursue a very kind offer to drive the

TMC Motorsport bio-fuel car of Matt

Cherrington (more on this in a minute).

So while I prepared for battle, Hayman

set about borrowing a car from an old

friend of his and a long standing Locost

ambassador, Brian Mitcham.

Brian has enjoyed the delights of

Locost racing from the very beginning

and along his rather interesting journey

through the ten years, his Stuart Taylor

chassis has become somewhat of a

legend. Race wins and lap records

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SAFETY CAR

29OCTOBER 2009 - TRCMAGAZINE.COM

SAFETY FIRSTIn a bid to understand what makes a race meeting tick, Keith Wood spent the day behind the wheel of a very trick Kia Cee’d as a Safety Car driver. Apparently the job isn’t as easy as it sounds…Photography: Andrew Brown

By now I trust we’ve all

seen the footage from the

World Touring Car round

from Pau? You know the

one; where the Safety

Car exits out of the pit lane, straight into

the path of Engtsler’s BMW causing an

almighty smash and plenty of YouTube

footage for the universe to gawp up. It

probably didn’t do the regular Safety

Car drivers across the globe any good

and the bad press unfairly painted them

all with a dirty brush. I appreciate the

roles of those around the skirts of our

race circuits. I’ve been there among the

marshals, sat in race control and had my

fair share of hours with scrutineering…

but I never had the opportunity to get

behind the wheel of a Safety Car.

So with all the hype surrounding the

WTCC incident I wanted to find out more

and it was Castle Combe and Kia which

came to my rescue. Castle Combe -

arguably the friendliest circuit in the UK -

was the place where I spent the day with

the marshals and it would also provide

me with the opportunity of taking control

of the Safety Car under the watchful eye

of Don Craig. The Kia cee’d I was to drive

wasn’t a regular road version either, it

was a fettled with diesel variant with

bigger wheels, improved suspension - all

part and parcel of a good safety car and

why Mercedes-Benz supply the F1 grid

with an SL65 AMG Black…

But just what is the job of the Safety

Car? Well, its use allows the race to

continue after a major accident, or other

incident serious enough to require

the presence of marshals on the track.

This cannot be allowed to happen with

cars still running at full speed - or even

Above: The Safety Car duties extend to Pace Car for rolling starts, here controlling some rather rapid Superkarts

OCTAD200512238 12/10/05 4:17 pm Page 1

CroydonR&R.indd 1 19/8/09 19:10:05

Untitled-1 1 9/7/09 12:40:58

41OCTOBER 2009 - TRCMAGAZINE.COM

If circuit racing just doesn’t have that adrenaline rush you’re after, then there’s always a bit of ‘light contact’ motorsport that can get the pulse going. So this month Matt Thorne delves into the world of Grasstrack racing. Oh, and there’s even a spot of Hillclimbing, too.Photography: M-Tech

Your typical grass-track

car may not look that

appealing from the

exterior. Take Ed Scott’s

Mk5 Escort, a far from

snazzy paint job, and an interesting

choice of matte black shell with white

fiberglass bonnet, but it’s under the

bonnet where the eyebrows start to raise.

The car came to us (all the way

from Durham) after he purchased a

V3 ECU and had problems with a local

tuner who just couldn’t seem to get the

power from the engine. The engine, in

this case, being an ST170 fitted with

GSXR motorbike throttle-bodies. For

safe measure we popped the car on

the rollers, noting the poor 115bhp

produced. One thing worth noting with

the ST170 engine is its use of a Variable

Valve Timing system on the inlet cam.

If this isn’t setup correctly, the engine

just won’t produce its claimed 170bhp.

We have seen this ourselves when

experimenting with the VVT. Switching

it on at 4,500rpm (rather than the

recommended 1,300rpm) will give you

a massive jump from 120bhp to 190bhp

in the space of a few hundred revs. Not

the smoothest ride, but an experiment

Above: Zetec powered grasstrack racer is fitted with a ST170 engine. M-Tech extracted a healthy 194bhp with Jenvey bodies

WORKSHOP

GREEN GRASS

78 TRCMAGAZINE.CoM - oCToBER 2009

TRC PRE-93 TOURING CARSLYDDEN HILL / JULY 25 / RoUND 7www.classictouringcars.com

JAMIESoN V STANFoRD PT2The Autogylm Historic Festival at Lydden Hill saw the latest round of the TRC Pre93 Touring Car Championship as Andy Glenister reports.Photography: Paul Williams

Another full grid of twenty four cars

assembled on the grid for the start,

ensuring some close racing and some

incidents. As the cars headed for the first

corner chaos ensued, with cars going left

and right as they all tried to avoid each

other. Len Simpson in his VW Vento along

with Robert Sadler and Anthony Gorman,

both in BMW’s, were out on the spot with

damage. Up front it was that man, Roger

Stanford, who was once again leading

in his BMW M3 from pole sitter, Craig

Jamieson’ Sierra Cosworth. The Tomcat of

Anthony Wright was third with the DTM

liveried M3 of Andrew Busby fourth who

had managed to avoid any damage.

Malcolm Wise and Graham Myers,

both piloting Sapphire Cosworths

benefited from the first corner trouble by

moving up to fifth and sixth respectively

from the fifth row of the grid. But

Jamieson was harrying Stanford hard.

The Sierra driver, millimetres off the

rear bumper of the BMW but at no time

did they touch. Roger was defending

skillfully where he had to and was

backing the Sierra up in the slow corners

knowing that the naturally aspirated

power from his AHR prepared M3 would

have the legs pulling out of the corner

before Craig’s turbo came on boost.

Craig was trying very hard, leaving

black lines coming out of the hairpin in

graceful power slides as he tried to get

alongside Stanford.

Peter Winstone and Ken Lark, Rover

Tomcat and VW Corrado respectively

both retired early with suspected

QUALIFYINGJaimeson snatches pole from Wright

With only ten minutes

of track time on

the tight one mile circuit

getting a clear lap with

twenty two other cars

would prove difficult. First

to set their quickest times

were Daniel Smoughton

in his BMW and Dean

Raymond in his Vauxhall

Astra GTE. Andrew Busby

in his BMW E30 M3 also

set an early quick lap but

then struggled to find

another clear opportunity.

By half way through the

session, Craig Jamieson

was quickest in his Sierra

Cosworth from Anthony

Wright in his Rover

Tomcat. In the final couple

of minutes though, Roger

Stanford took second in his

BMW M3.

79OCTOBER 2009 - TRCMAGAZINE.COM

RACE REPORTS

RESULTSLYDDEN HILL / JULY 25 / ROUND 7 Of 11 NEXT RACE: BRANDS HATCH / AUG 22-23

damage from the first lap incident.

Anthony Wright was in a safe third place

in his Rover Tomcat whilst Malcolm Wise

had closed on Andrew Busby’s BMW M3

in fourth with Busby having fallen back

from Wright. Graham Myers and Dean

Spurr were also in close attendance.

A little further back, the BMW 325i’s

of Andy Johnson and Ryan Gorman were

locked in a battle with the Vauxhall Astra

of Dean Raymond - who had made the

most of the first lap incident - to move

up to tenth from twentieth on the grid.

Johnson would eventually drop back after

a spin caused by a coolant leak. Indeed,

Gorman himself would have to back off

towards the end with an engine problem,

allowing Charles Hodge in his BMW 320i

to close to within a couple of seconds.

Tim Scott-Andrews was gamely

hanging on to Hodge in his Istel liveried

Rover SD1 Vitesse (as featured in this

very magazine only an issue ago) with

Alan Roper’s similar car a few seconds

further back. Back up front and Stanford

was still holding off Jamieson… JUST!

After nineteen exhausting laps the

flag fell with Roger taking the honours

from Craig by 1.2 seconds with Anthony

Wright in third. At the hairpin on the

last lap Malcolm Wise passed Andrew

Busby as he went slightly wide giving the

Sapphire driver the chance to dive down

the inside into Paddock. They crossed the

line 0.2 seconds apart.

The Graham Myers/Dean Spurr

battle went all the way to the line as

well, with them only being separated by

0.6 seconds. The Capri of David Hicton

followed them home with Dean Raymond

bringing his Astra home a creditable

ninth overall. n

POS DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME MPHPOS DRIVER TIME

1 Craig Jamieson 47.8742 Roger Stanford 47.9543 Len Simpson 48.5904 Anthony Wright 48.6135 Dean Spurr 48.6626 Andrew Busby 48.6927 Robert Sadler 49.0448 Anthony Gorman 49.0469 Graham Myers 49.36010 Malcolm Wise 49.425

1 Roger Stanford BMW E30 M3 19 15:25.501 73.902 Craig Jamieson ford Sierra Cosworth 19 15:26.768 73.803 Anthony Wright Rover Tomcat 19 15:40.038 72.754 Malcolm Wise ford Sapphire Cosworth 19 15:49.062 72.065 Andrew Busby BMW E30 M3 19 15:49.323 72.046 Graham Myers ford Sapphire Cosworth 19 15:54.623 71.647 Dean Spurr Rover Tomcat 19 15:55.248 71.608 David Hickton ford Capri 3.0S 19 16:04.519 70.919 Dean Raymond Vauxhall Astra GTE 18 15:29.503 69.7110 Ryan Gorman BMW E30 325i 18 15:40.575 68.89

fastest lap: Craig JAMIESON/Roger STANfORD - 47.987

RACE 1 - 19 LAPS, 19 MILESQUALIfYING WEATHER/TRACK: BRIGHT/DRY

The finishing order from race one would determine the grid for race two. This put the Cosworth of Craig Jamieson on pole from Stanford and Busby

in their M3’s. And once again it was Busby that made the best start

fIND OUT MORE ONLINEStay in touch with progress of this and the rest of the TRC supported championships by logging onto our website and hot footing it over to the ‘blog’.www.trcmagazine.com

Untitled-1 1 21/11/08 11:39:36