WINNER’S
PODIUM
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THE
MAGAZINE FOR BRITISH MOTOR SPORT
SUMMER 2011
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MSA READER AWARDS 2011
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this issue
60
Contents 05 Forum
36
Readers’ response to the first issue of MSA magazine
ON THE
COVER
08 Action replay A selection of golden oldies, shot by Charlie Best at Silverstone, May 2011. Historics special on p26
The Britpart MSA British Cross Country Championship in May 2011
11 Briefing
David Coulthard joins the grass roots; Government announces closed-road consultation; McLaren duo launch road-safety campaign
17 Club news
South Wales Automobile Club raises appeal before National Motorsport Week; and Loughborough Car Club’s disability drive
19 Opinion
MSA Chairman Alan Gow explains why the top end of the sport is essential in the promotion and development of the grass roots
21 Talking heads
Susie Stoddart’s kitbag, on p67
The home of rallycross, Lydden Hill
52 Performance
Drivers who manage their mind as well as their car will go furthest
Is lifing the best way to ensure that safety equipment is reliable?
54 Ask the experts
22 Teen racers
57 Gear
26 Cover story
74 Simon says...
Robert Ladbrook looks at the fine balance between motor sport and education for young stars I’m given four race suits at the start of the year and I’ll use all of them at each race: the first for Friday practice, the second for qualifying, the third for the warm-up, and the fourth for the race
48 Place notes
Andrew Frankel examines the lure of historic motor racing and its explosion in popularity
32 Go see
There are some fantastic historic events in the next few months
Our people answer your queries The finest shades; hi-tech helmets; in-car cameras; harnesses; Susie Stoddart’s kitbag; gear of the year
26
Simon Arron wonders what will be the legacy of modern motor sport
CONTRIBUTORS
36 Start line
Colin Goodwin goes to the Channel Islands for a spot of sand racing 67
43 A day in the life
Peter Greenhalgh tells of his work as a chief incident officer at Silverstone
44 Insight
Team UK drivers spend 48 hours on arduous exercise with Marines
Andrew Frankel writes for The Sunday Times and runs the road-test section of Motor Sport. He also competes in various historic events.
Colin Goodwin is a freelance motoring journalist who has worked for a number of magazines including Car and Autocar, as special correspondent.
Simon Arron is a former editor of Motoring News. Now a freelance F1 writer, he contributes to Motorsport News and The Daily Telegraph.
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 03
letters
Forum
facebook.com/msauk twitter.com/msauk
We had an incredible response to the first
edition of your relaunched MSA magazine and we are thrilled that so many people enjoyed it. Thankfully, we did not prove to be as “Marmitey” as our Spring cover star Jason Plato admitted he is, but we are still grateful to those few who offered us constructive criticism! We’ve worked hard to incorporate your feedback into this second issue and we hope you like the result. Historic racing is a branch of the sport that really stirs the heart, and the weekends cannot come soon enough when there are the likes of the Goodwood Revival and Oulton Park Gold Cup to get stuck into. Whether you’re making up one of the HSCC’s bumper grids or heading to a VSCC hill climb as a spectator this summer, we’re sure you share our passion for the retro. We promised that the new magazine would offer an appropriate breadth of coverage to the varied disciplines of motor sport. We obviously can’t squeeze everything into every magazine, but it is worth letting you know that, in the next issue, we will look at rallying, with Autumn’s showpiece events in Wales and Scotland. We will try to find something for everyone. Until then...
Gemma Briggs
We want to know your thoughts on any motor sport issues you think we should cover. Email us at msa@ thinkpublishing. co.uk
Do you like Marmite? Plato goes down a treat with most MSA readers
CHARLIE BEST
EDITOR’S LETTER
YOUR THOUGHTS!
CONGRATULATIONS! Congratulations on a tremendous success: the revamp of the magazine works really well. The variety and scope of the articles reflects so many more types of motor sport in the UK than MSA magazine has ever done in the past. The interviews also give good insight into what it means to be involved in different aspects of the sport. I particularly liked the Jason Plato article (I like Marmite), which shows it takes real guts to hang on in there against all the odds; also Simon Arron’s column – often those involved in F1 have no interest in other aspects of the sport, but he captured exactly what it is about the diversity of motor sport that is so appealing. Carrie Bedford
COLLECTOR POTENTIAL Just a quick line to say how much I’m enjoying the look, feel and content of the new mag. It normally didn’t take very long before my Motorsports Now headed towards the bin, but the new mag looks like something I’m likely to keep and collect. Thanks for a much-improved reading experience! Simon Pryke
BIG IMPROVEMENT
Well done on the new format. MSA magazine used to be the dullest journal I received, warranting nothing more than a cursory glance before going in the bin. But this is a big improvement. A good job - keep it up. Eric Tharg
GREAT GRASS ROOTS
Thanks for the new MSA magazine. I like the new format and hope you stick to your coverage of grass-roots motor sport. My son, Ross Westgarth, was one of the award winners honoured at the MSA Night of Champions. He is the youngest winner of a full MSA championship at only 16, having beaten all the adults to win not only the junior, but also the overall, title. It was a shame that in your article Champions Crowned, you did not find space to list their names - it is so hard to get your name in print, especially at grass-roots level. Mark Westgarth Editor: Due to space constraints, we were unable to publish a list of winners – but in addition to sending a press release tailored to Ross’ local media, the MSA also detailed all its winners on the website and in its monthly newsletter. Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 05
letters At 16, Ross Westgarth is the youngest full MSA champion
SPRING ISSUE FEATURES FEEDBACK
Yes, I think there are. I have been suggesting to organisers for years that they amalgamate series on lap times rather than regulation compatibility. That way racers can run to their existing series regulations, but in the same race as others. With full grids, after a couple of laps, little battles go on throughout the field, which is more entertaining for drivers and spectators! David Thomas
TOP READ
Received the new MSA mag this morning and it’s great! I think the MSA should consider offering it for public consumption, as it’s a great read for anybody who is interested in motor sport but doesn’t want to wade through pages of car tests and price comparisons. Is Simon Arron going to be a regular scribe? I very much hope so! Michael Ashcroft Editor: Yes, you can read Simon’s column on the back page of every issue.
GREAT, COVER TO COVER You asked for feedback: absolutely great! An excellent spread of topics and a mag that I was interested to read from cover to cover, including the adverts. Gordon Elwell
NOTHING NEW
‘The MSA magazine for British Motor Sport’ dropped through my letter box today. What does it offer that Autosport or Motorsport News doesn’t? Erm, nothing. What does it offer that the various club magazines don’t? Erm, nothing. Would I even dream of paying good money for it? No. Stop wasting your time, my time and my money. Roger Bromiley Editor: Unfortunately, we’ve had to shorten Roger’s letter, but we do hope future editions may change his mind.
COMPETITION WINNERS THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED THE SPRING ISSUE COMPETITIONS. PHILIP ARCHBOLD, FROM BUCKINGHAMSHIRE WINS THE TW STEEL WATCH AND STEVEN CRAGGS, FROM COUNTY DURHAM AND DEBRA OXTOBY, FROM WEST YORKS EACH WIN A DUKE DVD BUNDLE.
EDITOR
Gemma Briggs PUBLISHED ON BEHALF OF MSA BY: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE MOTOR SPORTS ASSOCIATION (MSA)
Think The Pall Mall Deposit 124-128 Barlby Road London W10 6BL Tel: 020 8962 3020 www.thinkpublishing.co.uk
06 www.msauk.org Summer 2011
THE PIECE ‘HOW THE BIG CAT LEFT ITS MARK’ BROUGHT BACK MEMORIES FOR ONE READER... Having been a supporter of motor sport for many years, the article about the Jaguar D-Type was very interesting to me, as I was a marshal at Snetterton in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I remember several of the drivers who drove the D-Type, as you mentioned, including Salmon, Sargent, Charles, Brooks, Major Baillie and Sieff. Regarding marshalling, in my day, we had no fireproof
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or protective overalls, but just turned up in jeans. There were no safety barriers to hide behind – we just had straw bales! Ron Green
OUR ARTICLE ON FITNESS STRUCK A CHORD WITH ONE KARTING COMPETITOR WITH AN EXTENSIVE, FIVE-DAY EXERCISE ROUTINE... I am currently competing in the LKRC Rotax Max championship at Fullbeck. As a club competitor on a very limited budget, I know I am probably never going to progress further than club-level karting. However, I love my sport and I always want to ensure that I can get 100 per cent out of my kart and, just as importantly, out of myself! I spend nearly all of my spare time training – I have a full-time job, so often I wake up, go to work, then the gym, get home at 9pm, have dinner and go to bed, repeating the same process for the rest of the week. Training has made me a better driver: I feel more competitive, more confident, more alert and my results keep improving. But most of all, I really enjoy my sport so much more now. Michael Ward
Duncan Johnson Ian McAuliffe
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action replay
I chose to compete in the Britpart MSA British Cross Country Championship because it’s the pinnacle of off-road competition in the UK
DATA BURST
WHEN: 14 May 2011 WHO: Bob Seaman CAR: Milner R5 EVENT: Brynffynon in South Wales ORGANISER: Britpart MSA BCCC WEBSITE: www.marches4x4.com
Bob Seaman and his co-driver Neil Wakefield were first in Class G1 at the new Brynffynon venue near Llanwonno in the Rhondda Valley in round 2 of the Britpart MSA British Cross Country Championship. Their Milner R5 finished ninth overall. “This is the second year that I’ve been using my Milner R5 in the BCCC,” says Seaman. “The car is ballistic; it may look agricultural, but it’s mid-engined and produces about 350bhp, and it has a six-speed sequential transmission so you can left-foot-brake. It’s an absolutely fabulous, rapid machine.”
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 09
news
IN THIS
ISSUE:
Silverstone’s rebirth; McLaren safety; Motorsport Week
Briefing
NEW DAWN FOR SILVERSTONE VENUES
BRDC unveils circuit’s £27m pit and paddock
Some of the biggest names in motor sport, including Jenson Button, Mark Webber, Sir Jackie Stewart and Valentino Rossi, were at Silverstone in mid-May for the opening of the Northamptonshire venue’s new £27m pit, paddock and conference complex, dubbed “the Wing”. Damon Hill, President of circuit owner the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), said: “The official opening of the Silverstone Wing represents the culmination of many years’ hard work and gives a clear statement of intent for the future.” The facility was officially declared open by HRH The Duke of Kent, KG, who is President in Chief of the BRDC.
LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
Above, top: (from left) HRH The Duke of Kent, Sir Jackie Stewart and Damon Hill; bottom: cars on display. Right: BRDC members outside the new facility
260,000
The number of man hours spent building the Silverstone Wing
GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES ‘CLOSED-ROAD’ CONSULTATION MSA The MSA’s campaign to bring closed-road motor sport to mainland Britain received a major boost when the government announced plans for a three-month public consultation on the proposal. The MSA has been pushing successive governments to empower local authorities with the right to suspend the Road Traffic Act without needing an Act of Parliament. This would pave the way for stage rallies, sprints, hill climbs and other motor sport events to take place on a limited number of British roads, as happens across most of mainland Europe. Sir Jackie Stewart, triple FIA Formula 1 world champion, expressed support for the initiative. “The British motor sport industry is one of the UK’s most successful enterprises and we, indeed, lead the world in this field,” he said. “There are many other countries that use their roads on a temporary basis for significant sporting events that attract worldwide interest. In many cases, it can even progress safety standards on those roads for the benefit of the general public and all road users.”
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 1 1
REVAMPED RALLY WILL BE ‘TRULY PAN-WALES’ RALLYING
Route will bring economic boost to local communities
NEW ANTIDOPING RULES COME INTO FORCE MSA Drugs testing will help to move motor sport forward by bringing it into line with other major sports, according to Dunlop MSA BTCC driver Tom Onslow-Cole. Onslow-Cole is also an MSA coach and has been delivering anti-doping seminars to various championships in advance of the first round of testing, which begins this summer. “The MSA’s anti-doping programme is an important step for motor sport,” he said. “It’s essential we do as other sports do in striving to provide 100 per cent clean competition. Arrangements are being made for testing to take place and any drivers with prohibited substances in their systems can expect to be sanctioned, as is the case for athletes in most other sporting arenas.”
This year’s revamped Wales Rally GB will kick off on the legendary Great Orme Toll road, which was last used on the Lombard RAC Rally in 1981. Britain’s leg of the FIA World Rally Championship gets under way on 10 November and has expanded to take in classic forest stages across Wales over four days, culminating on the Epynt military ranges near Brecon before the ceremonial finish in Cardiff Bay. The main service area will be sited at the Royal Agricultural Society’s showground in Builth Wells, Powys, which will also host the rally shakedown. Andrew Coe, chief executive of rally organiser International Motor Sports,
believes that the new route will reinvigorate Rally GB, which has been run 66 times since 1932. “It’s been our objective for some years to create a truly ‘pan-Wales’ route that will spread millions of pounds’ worth of economic benefit across a wider range of communities than ever before,” he said. “The FIA has now given us the opportunity to do just that and the response among rally fans in North Wales has been stunning. With more than 150 entries expected, they will not be disappointed.” Visit www.walesrallygb.com for more information
GREEN PAPER FEEDBACK PUBLISHED
12
www.msauk.org Summer 2011
other organisations. A range of ideas was put forward, with common themes including there being too many classes and the need for MSA “arriveand-drive” karting. Rod Taylor, Kart Sporting Committee chairman, said: “I’m delighted by the level of feedback and it was very encouraging to see so many people taking the time to attend our discussion
meetings. We have taken all suggestions seriously and have acted on some already; the view that there are too many classes led the Motor Sports Council to suspend new class Regulations until the end of 2011 as part of the ongoing review process.” Proposed changes will be published for consultation later this year. View the feedback at www.msauk.org/news.
MCKLEIN/LAT
The MSA has published feedback on the Kart Sporting Committee’s Green Paper – a discussion document that was issued last year to give the karting community a say in shaping the sport’s future. As well as inviting written comments, MSA representatives held a series of regional meetings earlier this year to discuss the Green Paper with kart clubs and
news
NEWS IN BRIEF MALTA GETS THE RTP TREATMENT
TRAINING The Malta Motorsports Federation (MMF) was visited by the MSA in its capacity as an FIA Institute Gold Standard Regional Training Provider. The MSA is developing training and development proposals for the MMF, whose president, Tonio Cini, said: “We are thankful to the MSA. It marks a new approach and way of thinking for our sport.”
Top and bottom right: David Coulthard at Shelsley Walsh. Bottom left: the technology centre at McLaren Mercedes opens up to visitors
SOUTH WALES GETS NEW RDO
COULTHARD IN DRIVE TO WIDEN SPORT’S APPEAL
ZIPP PHOTOGRAPHY / LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
RECRUITMENT
Range of events for National Motorsport Week
Formula 1 driver-turned-commentator David Coulthard has tried his hand at grass-roots motor sport as part of National Motorsport Week, in an effort to show BBC viewers how easily they can get involved in the sport. Coulthard was filmed at Shelsley Walsh trying out hill climb, sporting trial and autotest cars for a feature that will be screened during the BBC’s coverage of the Valencia Grand Prix. Prior to that, David had checked out a public track day at Brands Hatch. “The thing that’s really hit me is the sheer fun and enjoyment to be had,” said Coulthard. “We’re all so engrossed in F1 that it’s easy at times to forget just how much motor sport there is out there and how accessible it is. It really does come in all shapes and sizes, with plenty for those who just want to have a great time without spending a fortune.” The BBC is one of many organisations to support National Motorsport Week. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has offered tours of its technology centre for groups of marshals and schoolchildren, who
will be selected through Go Motorsport competitions. Red Bull Racing, Mercedes GP Petronas, Team Lotus, Marussia Virgin Racing and Lotus Renault GP, are also throwing open their doors for factory tours. Meanwhile, MotorSport Vision has lined up several initiatives, from hosting a free amateur motor sport photography class to offering behind-the-scenes tours for schoolchildren and running a competition for aspiring young female engineers to win work experience. A host of MSA-registered clubs have also revealed their plans for the week-long celebration of motor sport: Peterborough MC will run a beginner’s Autotest on 1 July; Warwickshire Drivers MC will welcome novices to take a look at motor sport for road cars on 3 July; and Dukeries MC will host a Q&A session during their club night on 28 June. For more events, visit www. NationalMotorsportWeek.co.uk
GO MOTORSPORT Go Motorsport has a new regional development officer in South Wales. Ryland James, who has more than 40 years’ motor sport experience, will give presentations in schools and colleges, and liaise with venues, motor clubs and the Welsh Association to encourage participation in the sport. To contact Ryland or to book a school visit, email info@ gomotorsport.net.
CHESHIRE SCHOOL CLAIMS BSKC SPOILS
KARTING Altrincham Grammar School for Boys claimed the 2011 British Schools Karting Championship at Daytona Milton Keynes. Max McGuire (17), Alex Wilson (14) and Zubair Hoque (14) beat more than 600 rival schools and colleges from around the UK to clinch the Go Motorsportsupported title for the Cheshire school. McGuire said: “The BSKC is great fun. I know several people who started off in this championship and are now looking to race professionally.”
MORE THAN 25,000 LICENCES PROCESSED FOR 2011 LICENSING The MSA Licensing Department has reported another successful renewal period. As of 30 April, 26,203 licences have been processed, with 99 per cent being delivered within two weeks and 26 per cent completed online.
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 13
news
SAFETY FIRST ROAD SAFETY
McLaren duo helps launch accident-reduction project
MSA INITIATIVE WILL PROTECT TEEN RACERS
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have helped to launch a global project to save five million lives on the world’s roads over the next 10 years. The McLaren drivers joined Prime Minister David Cameron at Downing Street to publicise the UK’s arm of the Decade of Action campaign. The UN initiative, supported by the FIA Foundation, is a response to the number of worldwide road accidents, which are on course to claim more lives than HIV/AIDS over the next decade.
“Every six seconds, someone is killed or seriously injured on the world’s roads,” said Cameron. “That’s why I’m adding my voice to all those coming together in support of the Decade of Action for Road Safety.” Hamilton pledged his support, saying: “Every day, young people are needlessly killed on roads around the world. This doesn’t need to be the case.” Button described the number of fatal road accidents as a “tragedy” and added “we must all take action”.
MSA The MSA has moved to safeguard the welfare of thousands of young competitors by launching an under-18 compliance scheme for UK championships. A policy has been launched that sets out the MSA’s principles regarding young people in motor sport, and championships that uphold these principles will be designated “U18 Compliant”. The Dunlop InterSteps Championship is the first to receive the badge. “Leading teams are looking for intelligent drivers; not those who have dropped out of school to go testing,” said MSA Chief Executive Colin Hilton. “We are in discussion with various series, such as the MSA Formula Ford Championship, regarding the U18 Compliant designation, which we hope will become the norm.”
Read the MSA U18 Policy at www.msauk.org/u18policy
MY MOTOR SPORT MARSHALLING
A Q&A with veteran marshal Peter Wilson
When and why did you start marshalling?
REX FEATURES
In the early 1960s, our definition of a family day out was visiting circuits such as Cadwell Park, Croft or Rufforth. My brother and I wanted to get more involved, but couldn’t afford to compete, and were told marshalling was the next best thing. So, in 1964, we had a word with a gentleman called John Fox, from the Northern Race and Rally Rescue Marshals Club, who invited us to give it a try. How does marshalling then compare with marshalling now?
Back then, there were no orange overalls; we worked in shirt and tie most of the time,
and we trained on the job. My brother and I became fire marshals, who worked in teams of two; one wore a fireproof suit and waded into the flames to rescue the driver, while the second had a small extinguisher to put you out afterwards. It was more common at that time for marshals to deal with distressing scenes because the sport was so much more dangerous, but you just had to deal with it and get over it.
You run a successful marshal recruitment programme at BTCC events. How did that start?
In the early 2000s, driver Martyn Bell decided to try marshalling and was put
on my post at Cadwell Park. We had a good chat and I later heard he was going to race in the BTCC, so I asked if we could join forces to promote marshalling. We stationed ourselves in the pitlane during walkabouts and, by the end of the year, we’d signed up 120 people. The next year, I moved into the trade areas with a gazebo, manned by myself, my late wife, my brother and his partner. We became known as Team Wilson! I’ve been doing it singlehandedly for the past two years and we’ve signed up more than 5,000 people. To find out more about how to volunteer as a marshal, visit www.GoMotorsport.net
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 15
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news CLUB
FOCUS
NEWS IN BRIEF BRISTOL MC PREDICTS STRONG SHOWING FOR DYRHAM REVIVAL
HILL CLIMB Bristol Motor Club is predicting a capacity entry for its October hill climb at Dyrham Park – the first at the Cotswold venue for more than four decades. The club secured the meeting – a round of the ASWMC Hill Climb Championship – after negotiations with the National Trust, which owns the land. Club chairman Allen Harris said: “We ran the last meeting at Dyrham in 1966 and are very excited about taking the sport back to the park in our Centenary year.”
CENTURY-OLD CLUB PLANS FOR THE FUTURE WALES
SWAC uses National Motorsport Week to widen its appeal
The concept of the relaunched National Motorsport Week (NMW) has been met with great enthusiasm among MSAregistered clubs, none more so than the 109-year-old South Wales Automobile Club (SWAC). For the past seven years, SWAC has exhibited at Porth Carnival and, this year, plans to tie its presence there into NMW. “Our growth strategy over recent years has been to attend non-motor sport events, such as Porth Carnival, which this year takes place on 2 July – right at the end of National Motorsport Week,” says club president Ian Howells. “So we’re really pushing the boat out. “We’ll be displaying Dakar vehicles, an Innocenti Mini Cooper S, Ford Escort rally cars, Mitsubishi and Subaru rally cars, a Triumph Spitfire Mk1 and much more. The aim is to grab people’s interest and then bring them into the sport.”
SWAC is a keen supporter of the MSA’s closed-road motor sport campaign, as Howells explains. “The club was registered in 1903 and we ran a legitimate closed-road event on Caerphilly Mountain before the law changed in 1930. If the MSA is successful in bringing closed-road motor sport back to Britain, we’d be champing at the bit to promote an event in South Wales; whether it’s a sprint, a hill climb or a rally, we’re up for it and we have the expertise to succeed.” SWAC has enjoyed a varied past, from organising the famous Welsh Rally to running – and almost buying, according to Howells – Llandow race circuit in the 1960s and 1970s. “We’ve had a great history, but we still have plenty to look forward to,” says Howells. “We’re currently putting together a new venue in Brynffynon and we’re also planning – when the time is right – to relaunch the Welsh Rally as an event that spans the whole country.”
WOOLBRIDGE CELEBRATES GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
CLUBS Woolbridge Motor Club will celebrate its 50th active year by staging a 100-mile classic car run in aid of Action for Children on 14 August. The event is open to club and non-club members, and among the entries so far is a 1935 Rapier Ranalah. The club is also running the 11th Kart Grand Prix at Clay Pigeon over the August bank holiday. Proceeds will go to Action for Children and Headway, the brain injury association.
TROUGHEAR HONOURED BY AWARD AND BURSARY
AWARDS The Association of North East and Cumbria Car Clubs has set up the Best Club Member Trophy in honour of late President Bill Troughear. The annual award will mark a person’s service to their club. A bursary of £100 per year will also be given by Bill’s widow, Val, to the Association’s Autotest team to help it compete.
LOUGHBOROUGH CC PROVES DISABILITY IS NO BARRIER David Barrett and Ian Trott are Loughborough Car Club’s Disabled Driver Scholarship winners and will each receive a fully funded season of motor sport. There were 25 applicants for this year’s competition – supported by the MSA and its insurance broker, JLT – with 12 selected to take part in an assessment day at Gamestock Barracks. All took the wheel of a Nissan Micra, which was
fitted with hand controls. “I’ve been in a chair for 24 years, and this scholarship has opened a new door for me,” said Barrett. Organiser Richard Egger said: “We want to show there’s nothing stopping disabled people from competing in motor sport and highlight the fact it’s one sport in which they can compete with ablebodied people on a level playing field.” Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 17
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opinion
MAKING THE MOST OF A VIRTUOUS CIRCLE The MSA is committed to bringing new people into the sport at grass-roots level, but the top level has a vital role to play in this, says Alan Gow, MSA Chairman
ZIPP PHOTOGRAPHY
It is difficult to say for sure, but I am pretty confident that the words “David Coulthard” and “Sporting Trials” have never before appeared in the same sentence. Yet, as you will have read on the news pages, the BBC’s newest Formula 1 commentator headed to Shelsley Walsh last month to learn more about parts of the motor sport spectrum that he never even knew existed, let alone understood. The BBC TV cameras were there to film his very first attempts at a hill climb, an autotest and a sporting trial, and the resulting feature will be seen by many millions of viewers during the BBC’s Formula 1 Valencia Grand Prix weekend broadcast – as the perfect kick-off to National Motorsport Week 2011. Go Motorsport – the MSA’s year-round initiative to attract more people to get involved with motor sport – is sometimes criticised by those who feel that it is too focused on Formula 1 and the top end of the sport. But that really couldn’t be further from the truth. Go Motorsport has never been about finding future world champions; it’s about showing people that motor sport is fun, accessible and friendly, doesn’t need to cost a fortune and takes place all around the country almost every weekend of the year.
Of course, those already involved know how good motor sport is and understand the attraction, enjoyment and camaraderie. As a sport, though, we are not great at looking outside of our own community or trying to understand why others don’t get involved in our sport. The truth is that the vast majority of the UK population has no idea, let alone cares, that there is anything at all beyond Formula 1 or the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. So our challenge – as with any marketing project – is to highlight our “product” and communicate to a large target audience why they should purchase it. Assuming that our product (ie, motor sport) is good, we have to work out who’s likely to get involved and how we can tell them about all the great opportunities. Much as we all read them and they are integral to our sport, there’s little point looking for new recruits through the pages of Autosport, MN and, dare I say it, this magazine. That would simply be preaching to the converted. Instead, we have to reach out to totally new audiences, ideally ones that might be
naturally receptive to our “motor sport is for you” message. And the very top of the tree is invaluable in this respect… in fact, every governing body uses their heroes and household names to promote their sport. The championship-winning exploits of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button catapulted Formula 1 back into the mainstream about five years ago. The public became captivated again, the media started to take an interest and gave it more coverage and the BBC took over the broadcast rights. Formula 1’s surge in popularity has not only created a whole new audience for motor sport, but it has also provided a variety of media platforms through which we can reach a group of people who are already interested in one part of our sport, but may have never considered or known what could be available to them. And that’s where David Coulthard at Shelsley Walsh comes in… David had a blast in all the cars and was struck by how much fun it all was – and he will be broadcasting that message to more than four million viewers. This can only be
Go Motorsport has never been about finding future world champions; it’s about showing people that motor sport is fun, accessible and friendly a good thing for our campaign and our sport. If it sparks the interest of just a tiny percentage of the audience, then we stand a better than average chance of bringing new blood into the sport – not as Formula 1 drivers, but as motor club members, volunteers and supporters. Be under no illusion, these opportunities come about only because of motor sport at the very highest level. Without Formula 1, the BBC would have had neither the airtime nor the inclination to produce a feature about J-turns and fiddle brakes, there wouldn’t be a receptive audience and David Coulthard would have had better things to do with his time than spend a day in Worcestershire. So, rightly or wrongly, top-level motor sport indeed opens the doors; and as the governing body, we make no apology for continuing to push those doors open, for the greater benefit of all UK motor sport. Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 19
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Aiming to become a professional racing driver? Are you aged 16-18 years old?
If you are serious about a career in motor sport and think you have what it takes to succeed in this sport, then you should be looking towards the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE). AASE is a government-funded two-year sports performance programme for 16-18 year olds who have the potential to go on to become elite drivers. It’s run as part of the MSA Academy by sports specialists Loughborough College.
You will: • • • • •
become a better driver have access to top trainers, coaches and mentors learn about sports science and human performance gain proper qualifications at the same time be a member of the MSA Academy
Applications are now open for the next intake, beginning August 2011. To find out how motor sport can be a legitimate and responsible career choice visit www.msauk.org/aase or email aase@msauk.org In association with
talking heads
Motor sport at every level from Formula 1 to club racing must target driver safety
IS THE LIFING OF COMPONENTS NECESSARY?
An investigation into extending the lifing of rally car harnesses has thrown light on how the integrity of components is protected
YES
LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
Colin Barnett, MSA Technical Commissioner
The compulsory lifing of components is a sensitive issue, affecting two areas of great interest to competitors: their health and their wealth. Apart from vehicle homologation, the principle of lifing is only used for safety-critical items, notably seats and harnesses. The issue is in focus now because of a proposal to allow the use of rally car harnesses for up to six years beyond their FIA-homologated expiry date. The integrity of the harness is arguably the first line of defence in any serious accident and the majority of the, thankfully, few lifechanging injuries sustained in motor sport can be traced to failures of seat or harness.
Every hard brake application or heavy landing represents an unrecorded duty cycle and we can all think of crews in which one member is twice the weight of the other. While most cars are lovingly cherished between events, many more are Martin Chinnery, left in the state they finished Association of South the previous outing. In my Eastern Motor Clubs day job, I’ve witnessed just how seriously the strength of webbing straps is compromised The use of lifing is by even minor damage and debatable because the neglect, and there’s only one main criterion should be the way for even an expert to tell quality, not quantity, of that by just how much they life. The Rallies Committee have been compromised heard that a car may – and that’s by not be involved WHAT DO destructive testing. in an accident YOU THINK? When dealing necessitating the We want to know your with safety-critical replacement of thoughts on whether the lifing equipment the belts, but of components for safety is with so many the impacts necessary. Email us at msa@ thinkpublishing.co.uk intangible factors, sustained in Turn to page 64 to the worst case has heavy landings learn how to fit your to be considered as would put the same safety harness the norm. Certainly, stress into them. perfectly serviceable Lifing has less harnesses will be discarded, relevance for the ordinary but I’d rather see a hundred club competitor because the harnesses thrown away than frequency of use could be one life, especially when the once or twice a year in cost of a reputable-brand, sixa 1,000cc Micra compared to point harness is similar to 12 or more events in a fulla tank of petrol. house WRC car.
The views expressed by the individual contributors are not necessarily those of the MSA.
NO
Under the current rules, the Micra may have to replace the seats and belts after four events – clearly a serious barrier to that competitor continuing. But the WRC car would be able to use them for perhaps 50 events. Although the owner may have chosen to replace ahead of this, they are not required to do so, especially if the scrutineers use the life regulations to avoid making a confrontational judgement on the condition of the seats and belts. In reality, it is not a problem if the Micra’s components are used for a further five years. But the WRC car would be safe only if the scrutineers made a proper assessment in the later years of the period. This means the life regulation has no relevance to its safety. And all this takes no account of the storage conditions – anything from a heated, clean garage to being left on a trailer during damp, cold weather. We should remove the lifing aspect of our regulations to avoid this unnecessary burden on competitors.
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 21
Th e awkward teenage years For young drivers who aspire to a professional career in motor sport, starting early is vital. But, as Robert Ladbrook discovers, they face significant hurdles
investigation
Clockwise from left: Former Ginetta Junior champion Sarah Moore; the youngest-ever F1 champ Sebastian Vettel; the new InterSteps Championship; Saxmax action; in the thick of a Ginetta Junior race. Below: Seb Morris in victory
REDBULL PHOTOFILES; LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
Young drivers are expecting to reach the higher echelons of
the sport at a younger age than ever before, encouraged by Sebastian Vettel’s World Championship success at just 23 years of age, which is prompting some people to start labelling drivers in their mid-20s as “too old” for Formula 1. The pressure is growing in junior categories to ensure that they don’t miss the next step on an increasingly age-critical career ladder and, consequently, today’s teenage race and rally protégés are juggling a number of commitments alongside their motor sport. Currently, the MSA sanctions just four junior championships open to competitors below the age of 16 – Ginetta Junior, Saxmax, InterSteps, the Club Fiesta Junior Championship and the Junior 1000 Rally Championship. However, once a driver has turned 16, the choice of championships explodes. Good grades in school should be able to run parallel to a successful driving career, but the biggest challenge for any young driver is finding that balance between education and motor sport. Seb Morris became one of the youngest podium finishers in the Ginetta Junior Championship, aged just 14. He says mixing school with motor sport isn’t easy. “I have school during the day and 90 minutes of homework a night as well as revision for my module exams,” says Morris. “I train three nights a week – and that’s
all before I’ve even looked at a racing car.” Although motor sport is largely a weekend venture, there are clashes with testing. “I have to miss 10 Fridays per year for testing,” adds Morris. “Sometimes I get out of the car, go straight to the motorhome and bury my head in a book for a few hours before I drive again. If I’m racing a long way from home, I often don’t get back until late on the Sunday night, which can leave me drained for school on Monday.” Drivers missing school or being too tired on a Monday morning are the worrying byproducts of a sport that is heaping more and more pressure onto young shoulders. They are issues that the MSA is committed to addressing. “As a sport, we have a duty to ensure that we are not asking young people to gamble their futures in the pursuit of the world championship dream,” says Robert Reid who, as the MSA’s Performance Director, oversees the activities of the MSA Academy. The MSA last year unveiled its U18 policy that sets out the principles that the governing body believes should be upheld in junior motor sport. It states that time out of school should be minimised, education should always take precedence over motor sport, that all young drivers must have permission from their head teacher to compete and that this permission can be withdrawn if school work starts to suffer. It also encourages championships involving young people Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 23
investigation
PAUL HADLEY; FORD RACING UK; JAKOB EBREY; LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
Clockwise from above: Formula Ford AASE student Jake Cook; GP3’s Alexander Sims; Cameron Davies in his Nissan Micra; the Club Fiesta Junior Championship kicks off this summer
to schedule their events in school holidays or to avoid examination times. Encouragingly, InterSteps this year became the first series to be awarded MSA U18 accreditation and others are showing an interest in doing so. Reid says that the battle is not always with the competitor. “Very often it is the parents who think that it’s a good idea to take their child out of school. It is this attitude of ‘well they are going to be world champion so doesn’t need to be at school’ that we really have to eradicate from the sport. Last year, we had a parent who thought it acceptable that his son should miss a GCSE science exam to attend an open test day!” As Performance Director, Reid has met with the UK-based F1 and WRC teams to check what they are looking for in young drivers. “Without exception, they all say they only want intelligent and educated drivers,” he says. “Just being fast is possibly enough when you’re young, but if you want to make it further, you have to work with a team, understand the mechanics and technical aspects, communicate with your engineers and analyse your performance – you simply won’t be able to do that if you’ve flunked out of school.” On reaching 16, a driver no longer has to be in school, but the smart ones would do
well to heed the advice of those that have gone before. “If you could say with certainty that you would definitely become an F1 driver, then maybe that’s a reason to go full-time,” says GP3 front-runner and Team UK graduate Alexander Sims. “But you can’t say that for sure, so you have to keep your options open.” The good news for the current crop is that there is now an option for 16- to 18-year-olds to focus completely on their development as drivers, while continuing to secure qualifications that will stand them in good stead further down the line.
coaches and they gain a range of academic qualifications in the process. The training is designed to make them better drivers, but it can also act as a safety net if they want to progress into coaching, management or just go to university with the UCAS points that they will get.” Formula Ford racer Jake Cook recently graduated from the inaugural AASE intake and was named the RSF MSA Apprentice of the Year in 2010. He received his £1,000 prize at the MSA’s Night of Champions ceremony in January. “I don’t think you should ever give up on your education, no matter how good you believe you are behind the wheel,” he says.
I’ve had a few sessions where I’ve got out of the car, gone straight to the motorhome, and buried my head in a book for a few hours before I drive again The Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) is a government-funded training and development programme for potentially elite athletes. It operates with great success in other sports and was launched for motor sport drivers in 2009. “AASE makes becoming a professional driver a legitimate career choice,” says Reid, the 2001 World Rally Champion co-driver. “It’s a two-year course delivered by Loughborough College. The apprentices are taught by sports science experts and motor sport specialist
“That’s really why I joined AASE, and looking back I know it was the right move; I’ve gained academic qualifications and become a better driver at the same time – it doesn’t have to be one or the other.” The message could not be clearer for all the young wannabes and their parents. Either you’re going to make it as a professional driver or you’re not – but either way you’re going to need a formal education. Robert Ladbrook is the 2011 Renault MSA Young Motor Sport Journalist of the Year Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 25
Right: Jan Biekens’ Sharknose Ferrari, Goodwood 2009. Below: The Richmond Trophy, Goodwood Revival 2010
26 www.msauk.org Summer 2011
historic racing
Playing with history Barely a weekend goes by without some form of historic motor sport taking place in Great Britain. Competitor Andrew Frankel explores what is driving this passion for the past
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 27
Something very strange has happened to historic racing. While people have been racing
old cars for almost as long as people have been racing cars, in the past 20 years there’s not been an increase of interest in the genre so much as a thermo-nuclear explosion. Consider this: in 1991, historic motor racing sat in the same small niche it had occupied since its birth and was well-provided with small club meetings run by the likes of the Vintage and Sports Car Club (VSCC) and the Historic Sports Car Club (HSCC), founded in 1934 and 1966 respectively. Twenty years later, Donington, Silverstone and Brands Hatch all now hold packed three-day historic festivals, while more people flock to the Goodwood Revival than any other motor racing meeting save the British Grand Prix. And that’s without mentioning the colossus that is the Goodwood Festival of Speed… Nor has this been at the expense of the establishment. According to HSCC CEO Grahame White, membership has steadily increased in recent years, leading to bulging grids. Even at a small club meeting at Cadwell Park, the HSCC fielded 260 entries. “At the same meeting 15 years ago, we’d have been pleased to get 100.” So what’s going on? The ball started to roll in 1992 with the first Coys International Historic Festival. Then, the chairman of Coys was Jeffrey Pattinson and, today, he remembers “we just seemed to capture the moment”. But it really started to pick up pace the following year, when Lord March, looking to return competitive motor sport to Goodwood as an interim measure while battling to reopen the circuit, decided to hold what amounted to an automotive garden party in the grounds of his house. He called it the Goodwood Festival of Speed. In that instant, historic motor sport broke free from its cliquey and concrete confines, and, in finding a place on the social calendar as a kind of Wimbledon on wheels, reached out to a constituency that had never thought about going to a blustery former airfield to watch old cars drive in circles. The rest was comparatively easy. Fears that Coys and Goodwood would take all the pie for themselves went unrealised; what they actually did was make a far bigger pie into which many more people could dive. They provided the opportunity for a hitherto
Above: Gounon/ Hardman Ferrari, RAC TT Celebration Race. Left: Pembrey 2010. Below: James King’s Brabham at Goodwood
26 www.msauk.org Spring 2011
unimaginably diverse range of people to realise what those who did it had always known: historic racing provides beautiful cars to look at, wonderful sounds to hear, serious racing and real characters. Goodwood didn’t take over the sport: it released it. Throw in YouTube and the proliferation of other digital media, meaning anyone could see if they liked the look of historic racing at the click of a mouse, and its new-found popularity is not difficult to explain. Why it has become so compelling to you, the competitor, is a story less easily told and one in need of some expert opinion. Ben Cussons is chairman of the Royal Automobile Club’s motoring committee, as well as a keen historic racer: “The whole emphasis of historic racing has changed in recent years. In the past, the thinking was to have a very varied race card to keep the public interested. When people such as Carol Spagg started introducing long-distance, two-driver races to their fixture lists, a new dimension was added to the sport.”
As a kind of Wimbledon on wheels, Goodwood reached out to a constituency that had never thought about going to a blustery airfield to watch old cars drive in circles It’s an incredibly important point. I can remember starting out in historics and doing a 10-lap sprint on the Brands’ Indy circuit, which, in my old Camaro, took about nine minutes, yet still seemed to occupy the entire weekend. You couldn’t persuade anyone to come with you for that, so it was, at times, a lonely pastime. Now you can share a car (and the costs) with a friend, sibling, child or parent in races lasting one, two, six or, next year – for the first time in Britain for historic cars – 24 hours. You can support each other before the event, drink too much and talk rubbish together after it. At least that’s what I do. At the HSCC’s International Trophy meeting at Silverstone in May, I met Hugh Colman, sharing his beautiful Chevron B8 with his son, Mark. “Don’t tell me there’s a better way of passing the time than this,” he beamed. This change of focus from the gate to the paddock has been instrumental in the transformation of historic racing. The MSA’s attitude to historic racing is defined as a “celebration of the history of motor sport”. According to Rod Parkin, chairman of the Historic Committee, these are carefully chosen words. “Historic racing is about more than who comes where in a race. Whereas in more modern racing the focus is understandably on having the fastest car, in historics there is another perspective: winning isn’t
historic racing
HISTORICS FOR THE GRASS-ROOTS RACER an FIA-specification car that can race internationally and the other developed to comply only with the rules of a certain UK domestic series. But if you’re getting started, and only plan on racing at home, that might suit you very well indeed. “Then you can buy a nice touring car, fully prepped and ready to go, for £15k or less. A friend of mine has just done exactly that with an MG Midget-based Ashley GT. But then you have to run it and – even if you’re handy with the spanners, don’t crash or blow it up – by the time you’ve bought your entry fees, paid for consumables, travel and subsistence, you’re looking at a minimum budget of £5-6k per year if you’re doing a typical eightrace programme.” But bear in mind that, although historics at the more affordable end of the market rarely skyrocket in price, your core investment is usually pretty safe.
LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC; PHIL JONES
Even for licence holders, historic racing can seem a world apart, a world of strange cars, stranger people, big bills and bigger money. In fact, and for the most part, it need not be like this. Historics feature nowhere on the ladder to motor-racing superstardom, so most do it just for fun. Almost all paddocks have an abundance of helpful, friendly people nearly as keen to see you make the grid as you are. But what should you buy, how much will it cost and where should you run it? Julius Thurgood founded the Historic Racing Driver’s Club (HRDC) with the specific intention of promoting historic racing at an affordable, grassroots level. “First you need to go and watch some races, see what you like, see what’s available and how much it costs. You could find two outwardly similar cars, one costing three times the price of the other. That might be because one is
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 29
historic racing tax-free investment,” he says. “It’s also incredibly accessible in a way frontline modern motor racing is not. If you are middle-aged, the desire to compete might burn as bright as ever, but, with the best will in the world, you’re not about to do Formula 3. Historics let these people compete at an incredibly high level against some of the best drivers in the business.” You need only look at the names that populate the best historic grids to see the truth in that. So now comes the note of caution. Pattinson and White are wary of the huge expansion of this strand of the sport. “I worry it’s all going to get too much,” says White, “that there are just too many new organisations for demand to be sustained.” Meanwhile, Pattinson has come full circle – the man who helped make the change is being drawn back to the small club meetings. “You turn up, race and go home. No fuss, no bother.” Both know it has to stop somewhere. But whether it is a bubble that will burst or a long-term, under-utilised resource still finding its level remains to be seen.
LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
Above: Mike Gregory in the Chichester Cup, Goodwood. Left: Barry ‘Wizzo’ Williams. Below: Christopher Mann in the Freddie March Trophy, Goodwood
everything. These cars often take real skill to operate correctly and safely. As a result, they tend to be driven by people who want good, hard racing, but who also appreciate the provenance of their cars.” There is something else here. However good old racers might look in the pits, they always look better on the track. Because they slide and drift around on skinny tyres, they look spectacular to the spectator and make their drivers feel like heroes. Anyone who has watched Grant Williams aboard a Mk1 Jaguar at the Goodwood Revival will know that sight alone is worth the price of the entry ticket. As a result, once bitten by the historics bug, either as a spectator or competitor, bitten you tend to stay. The perspective of Julius Thurgood is thought provoking. As the man who founded Top Hat Racing, advises Lord March and has this year founded the Historic Racing Drivers’ Club, few have been closer to the scene as it has evolved over recent years. “Twenty years ago, historic racing was a secret society. If you met someone at dinner and told them you raced old cars, they’d think you were slightly peculiar. Not any more. The popularisation of historic racing through Goodwood, the Silverstone Classic and so on means everyone knows about it. Those who liked the idea of racing an old car, but thought it a closed shop, now realise it’s fun and easy, which is why so many classic road cars are being turned into racers.” Something else has happened, too: pursuing your passion for driving in public has become an increasingly fraught pastime – if the law doesn’t spoil your fun, the traffic will. Racing your old car comes free of such joy-killing drawbacks. For now, at least, our interest in historic racing continues to burgeon. This year, Donington Park reopened with its own historic festival and anyone thinking it a festival too far wasn’t there. There were nearly 500 drivers and 12,000 spectators. Organiser Duncan Wiltshire said the event and the numbers through the gate “exceeded our wildest dreams”. “It’s not just about guys with a lot of disposable money reliving their youths while seeking to make money from a
Historic racing is accessible. If you are middle-aged, the desire to compete might burn as bright as ever, but, with the best will in the world, you’re not about to do Formula 3 I incline to the latter view. What I find most encouraging is that almost everything that has happened to historic racing in the past 20 years has been additional to what was already there. The small club meetings with fixture lists full of short, wonderfully varied races are still there, for much the same cost. I’ve been lucky enough to race historics at every kind of event, from the 10-lap club sprint to the Goodwood Revival, and detect no sense of a sport made temporarily popular. What I see is a sport that, through a few visionary people, has reached a new audience and gained the recognition it has always deserved. Why is historic racing so popular today? Simply because it should be.
Summer 2011
www.msauk.org 31
MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS
There is a bumper crop of historic racing and rallying this summer, so get your diary out... 1-3 July
Brands Hatch, Kent
The FIA Historic Formula 1 Championship is the star of this three-day event, which should draw more than 400 competing cars with its classic saloon and sports car races. And if watching some of the most iconic Formula 1 machinery tackling Brands Hatch’s Grand Prix loop wasn’t enough, historic Formula 2 is also there. www.MotorSportVision.co.uk 1-3 July
GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED
Goodwood Estate, West Sussex
They call it “the largest motoring garden party in the world”; we call it unmissable. No other motor sport event bundles together such an incredible array of historic machinery, from four wheels to two, race to rally, as well as aeronautical action. If you want to see the stars of yesteryear – and today – then a trip to the country’s most famous hill climb is a must. This year’s theme is “Racing Revolutions – Quantum leaps that shaped motor sport” so expect lots of groundbreaking icons. www.goodwood.co.uk 15-17 July
CHOMONDELEY PAGEANT OF POWER Malpas, Cheshire
Now in its fourth year, the imaginatively titled Pageant of Power aims to bring a new twist to the historic motoring event – powerboating on the estate’s lake. Added to the “explosive military combat displays” and fireworks concert, this marks it out as a family event rather than a pure motor sport spectacle, but they are boasting the presence of the world’s only collection of four-wheel-drive Formula 1 cars. www.cpop.co.uk 6-7 August
CROFT CIRCUIT NOSTALGIA WEEKEND
Dalton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire
After last year’s inaugural event, North Yorkshire will again play host to its own historic racing festival, where the public 32 www.msauk.org Summer 2011
22-24 July
SILVERSTONE CLASSIC Silverstone, Northamptonshire The USP of this event is the mixture of motor sport and music – “rocking and racing” is its strapline – so you get Suzi Quatro, 10cc and Wishbone Ash in addition to the biggest gathering of historic racing cars anywhere in the world. The Jaguar E-Type’s 50th anniversary celebration is the big draw, but, elsewhere on the schedule, the HSCC’s Big-Engined Touring Cars race will see a bumper grid of 58 cars. www.silverstoneclassic.com comes dressed in retro gear for what they hope will become the Goodwood of the North. On track, the HSCC brings its mix of machinery, from 1970s Road Sports to Historic Formula Ford; off track, there is just as much to entice vintage aficionados, with military and classic car displays. www.croftcircuit.co.uk 7 August
TOP HAT SUMMER FESTIVAL Mallory Park, Leicestershire
The Masters Historic Racing banner covers a wealth of championships for all manner of historic motor sport and five of its series will compete at the short Midlands track in this one-day event. Moved from its October slot to early August, the Top Hat Summer Festival will cover pre-1960s GT racers through to touring cars of the 1970s, as well as the Formula Ford 1600 trophy. www.themastersseries.com 19-20 August
ULSTER HISTORIC RALLY County Antrim
From Sweet Lamb to the Isle of Man, the Dunlop/Wonago.com MSA British Historic Rally Championship takes in some legendary stages over the course of its season, so choosing a single event to visit is tough. New for the calendar last year, the Ulster round proved such a success that the championship is returning for more asphalt action, covering 100 miles on classic closed
LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
HSCC HISTORIC SUPERPRIX
go see
WIN! Your chance to win one of five pairs of tickets – worth £100 each – to the finale of the 2011 Silverstone Classic www.silverstoneclassic.com
This is your chance to attend the final day – Sunday 24 July – of the Silverstone Classic, the ‘World’s Biggest Classic Motor Racing Festival’. Now celebrating its 21st birthday, you can look forward to around 800 fabulous and exotic race cars competing in the festival – attracting about 1,000 competitors – more than 7,000 beautiful classic cars on the infield, an “Access All Areas” policy, rock and classical music entertainment on a grand scale, aerobatic displays, a Period Fun Fair, shopping, and so much more to entertain you! To enter Send the competition code [MSA magazine – Silverstone Classic] along with your name, address and telephone number on a postcard to Think, The Pall Mall Deposit, 124-128 Barlby Road, London W10 6BL or via email to msa@thinkpublishing.co.uk. No purchase necessary. One entry per person. Check the terms and conditions in full at www.msauk.org. Promotion closes at 11.59pm on 17 July 2011. Promoter: Think, The Pall Mall Deposit, 124-128 Barlby Road, London W10 6BL. Open to UK residents only aged 18 or over.
Above: the great sports cars of the past grace the Silverstone Classic. Left: The Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb is the world’s oldest motor sport venue
3 July
VSCC SHELSLEY WALSH HILL CLIMB Nr Ombersley, Worcestershire The VSCC’s calendar takes in Great Britain’s array of stunning hill-climb venues and picking a stand-out event is almost impossible. But where better to watch pre-war cars than the world’s oldest motor sport venue in continuous use. Those who would rather avoid the crowds at Brands Hatch or Goodwood on the first Sunday in July should head to the Midlands instead. www.vscc.co.uk
public roads in the County Antrim area. www.hrcr.co.uk/bhrc 28-29 August
OULTON PARK GOLD CUP Tarporley, Cheshire
The Gold Cup has developed from a nonchampionship Formula 1 race started in the 1950s to one of the most thrilling historic racing events in Britain. The HSCC’s bank holiday special takes in its fantastic roster of series, including the Classic Racing Car Championship for 1960s single-seaters, covering Formulas 1, 2, 3 and Junior. www.MotorSportVision.co.uk 28 August
SCOTTISH MOUNTAIN CHALLENGE Scottish Highlands
The Caledonian Classic and Historic Motor Club (CC&HMC) runs rallies and tours for all historic and sporting cars. This event aims to bring members of one-make Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 33
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The basis for any good driver is to continue on the road to improvement. SI904_3TsAdvert_MSA_180x120_v02_AW.indd 1
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go see clubs and owners of classic cars into motor sport. Described as “more than a tour, but less daunting than a historic rally”, participants receive a map identifying roads within the Grampians and Arrochar Alps. They plot their own route and gold, silver and bronze awards are handed out depending on how many roads are completed. www.caledonianmsc.com 3-4 September
VSCC PEMBREY
Llanelli, Carmarthenshire
The Vintage Sports Car Club made a triumphant return to the South Wales venue last year – in its own words, it’s “not as far as you might think” – and returns in 2011 for its Sprint event on 3 September. The race event will take place the following day with the Hawthorn Memorial Trophies at this fast and technical circuit.
LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC / PHIL JONES
16-18 September
GOODWOOD REVIVAL Goodwood Estate, West Sussex If you’re looking to step back in time, the Revival is your event. From Marilyn Monroe lookalikes to pensionable legends hitting the track again, it’s retro overload. This year, there is an E-Type-only race, a tribute to Juan Manuel Fangio and a parade of British-built Fords, plus the usual top races. www.goodwood.co.uk
www.vscc.co.uk 25 September
HUGHES RALLY
Mereworth Woods, Kent
Organised by the Blackpalfrey Motor Club of Kent, this small event is part of the 10-round HRCR Clubmans Rally Championship, an affordable way for historic rally competitors to see some action. A daytime regularity rally, it includes special tests and welcomes cars up to 1981 – with special awards up for grabs for pre-1960s entrants.
Above: the great racing cars of the past graced the 2010 Goodwood Revival in the RAC Tourist Trophy. Right: retro Goodwood fashions
www.hughesrally.co.uk
BEHIND THE SCENES WITH OUR COVER STARS
During testing for the Silverstone Classic, we assembled a selection of some of the mouth-watering historic racing machinery to appear on the front page of our summer issue Jaguar E-Type This beautiful, puttycoloured E-Type from 1963 has recently been sold by the restoration company JD Classics. It was being driven for JD Classics by Ed McDonough, the European editor of Vintage Race Car magazine. “This car is important because it remains essentially as it was originally raced in the USA. It was raced by Ed Leslie and Pedro Rodriguez at Laguna Seca. It disappeared and was in hiding for 30 years and was discovered in California. It’s been restored sympathetically and is in very good condition.”
McLaren M26 This glorious McLaren, raced by James Hunt in 1977, is owned by Frank Lyons and was being tested at Silverstone by 20-year-old son Michael, who competes in the British GT Championship. He has also raced in Grand Prix Masters, becoming the youngest driver in the UK to race a Formula 1 car. “My experience driving the Formula 1 car has definitely helped me in GTs – I’ve gone straight in and won races. Historics are just as competitive, but the paddocks seem a lot more friendly!”
Porsche 911 RSR The classic, 1973 canary-yellow Porsche is owned by Paul Howells, who competes in the Masters Historic Racing championship’s World Sportscar Masters series. “I also enjoy the Porsche Club Speed Championship’s hill climb and sprint events, where I have led the class during this season. I’ve got five 911s and I’ve had this car for three years. I’ve got an original at home and I’ve made one up the same as it.”
Ford Lotus Cortina The evocative red and gold Lotus Cortina was recently bought by Mike Gardiner, who competes in the U2TC category for pre-1966 under-two-litre touring cars, and the lovely machine was run by him for the first time at Silverstone testing. “I’m really looking forward to racing it. I have another Lotus Cortina, which looks identical - I run that in the HSCC’s Historic Touring Car Championship - as well as a Ford Falcon.”
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 35
start line
SUN, SEA & SAND RACING
Colin Goodwin hadn’t raced a car for years, but a chilled Saturday afternoon pootling on the beach couldn’t be too hard... could it?
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 37
The race track is in a right state. Ruts in turn three are now so deep that racing
cars are being bounced several feet off line, and the back straight is rapidly becoming waterlogged. But never mind, because, within a few hours, the tide will have come in again and the scars made by a load of fast and furious racers this afternoon will have been washed away. Welcome to sand racing and to the Channel Island of Jersey, where it seems that almost everyone is nuts about motor sport. Today’s event is being run by the Jersey Motorcycle and Light Car Club, which not only organises sand racing, but also hill climbs, sprints, rallies, trials and motocross. Members of the Toyota MR2 owners’ club would cry salty tears if they could see this. The little Mk1 MR2 is without doubt on its way to being a classic. You don’t see many really tidy ones about these days and probably already there are a few spares that are becoming tricky to find. Perhaps there are a few hard-to-find bits on the blue example that I’m strapping myself into right now. The car has seen better days and it’s about to see a very bad one. Possibly the last one of its life. Graham Godel, club committee member and starter for the afternoon’s racing has a couple of cars that he rents out to racers who either don’t have their own car or have one that is temporarily unwell. He’s kindly lent me this MR2 and a Mazda 323 to racer Natalie Cook.
I’m concerned with rather more serious details such as where is the track and how the races are organised
38 www.msauk.org Summer 2011
Colin Goodwin (top) gets ready; and the car racing (and some motorbiking) that took place on Millbrook beach, between St Helier and St Aubin
standard markings. I haven’t raced a car for years and knew that I had to get myself a new National B (speed licence), but didn’t think about my lid. No problem – within minutes, Graham Godel has nipped off home and fetched a spare helmet for me. Very few people could simply “pop home” from Silverstone. Suited and booted, I’m ready for the off. I think. There are four classes of car racing today. Saloons, superbike-engined buggies, the MR2 class and a junior class for drivers of 14 and 15 years old. Because it’s the first event of the season, there are still many competitors who haven’t put the finishing touches to their machines so the grids today will be quite small. Once the season gets going, Nick Wood tells me, the pits will be full of competitors. My main opposition is Graham Le Cornu in another MR2 and a more jovial and enthusiastic rival you could not meet. Le Cornu has a Clouseau moustache and the same hard-to-place Jersey accent that everyone here has. If he drives as quickly as he talks, the game is already over. Godel informs me
JAMES LIPMAN
I feel like I’ve entered a very foreign world. Nick Wood, today’s clerk of the course and chairman of the club, has been holding my hand, but everyone is so friendly that finding out where to go and what to do is not a problem. Those are simple issues; I’m concerned with rather more serious details such as where is the track and how the races are organised. We’re on a section of the huge beach that runs from St Helier to St Aubin called Millbrook. It’s one of two venues that the club will use in the 10-round sand-racing championship in 2011, the other is at St Ouen’s Bay. The track is an oval, marked out by a blue cone at each corner and then a succession of more cones that mark the inside and outside of the track. Actually, there are two tracks, one large one for the cars and a smaller one inside it for the motorbike races (which are run anti-clockwise in the opposite direction to the cars). The races are over seven laps, and there’s a practice and five races. Mother Nature decided the 3pm start time today because the tide was in this morning and it was only just before lunch that the venue turned from rolling waves to square miles of pristine sand. We’ve already scrutineered the MR2. We had a bit of trouble with the battery cut-off switch, but we think it’s sorted. The whole atmosphere is friendly, but they take the safety side of things seriously. My fireproof overalls and my helmet are checked. Disaster: my helmet is a bike one and doesn’t have the correct
start line that he’ll set the saloons off ahead of us and then, a few seconds later, Le Cornu and myself in our MR2s. We should catch the field pretty quickly, he reckons. I think I would have more butterflies if I knew what to expect. I’m strapped into the standard Toyota seat by a four-point harness with a view very familiar to a hen. My car is one of several here today that doesn’t have the luxury of a windscreen. Instead, there’s a couple of layers of mesh to prevent anything substantial I might hit coming into the cabin and clouting me on the bonce. “I’ve stuffed a couple of J-Cloths into the driver’s door,” explains Godel helpfully, “to wipe your visor because you won’t be able to see a thing once you’re going because of the spray from the cars in front.” It may look as though it has a long criminal career as a ram raider, but my little MR2 sounds right on the money, its 1600cc engine revving sweetly. To start us off, Godel raises the flag instead of dropping it. Ten seconds into our practice run, and it is quite clear that this is going to be an afternoon to remember. If you like going sideways, then this is your sport. Just the lightest of bungs has the little Toyota sweeping around the corners in a marvellous opposite-lock drift. Ahead of me, Le Cornu’s MR2 is chucking bucketloads of sand into the air as it screams sideways through the corners. You get up to a good lick on the straights, too. Sand racing is also for you if you hate waiting around for the action. We line up several hundred metres from the oval track so that, as we enter the first straight, already the battle has commenced. Graham Godel’s flag flies up. Six saloons scream away, turning the cabin of my Toyota into a scene from Lawrence of Arabia. Quick wipe of the visor and we’re off. Blast, I’ve held first gear for too long and Le Cornu has edged ahead. I try to take a nice tight and tidy line into the first corner, but Le Cornu seems to have gone off to buy an ice cream because he’s way out on the outside of the corner. Ha, this mainlander will show him. But what? He seems to have found some traction and is now blasting past me. Up ahead, it’s mayhem. The saloons, all front-wheel drive, are able to hold tighter lines into corners than us but, as predicted, we are catching them up. This MR2 will be wishing I missed this morning’s ferry from Wareham. The engine is screaming away as, in the heat of the action and the flying sand, I hold it right up near the red line in second gear. I’m using only second and third – third for the straights and then smashing into second for the corners. Just going down a gear is enough to put the mid-engined Toyota into a steering-wheel spinning slide. I’m not last but Le Cornu is nowhere to be seen. Race two and my plan to get into second gear much quicker has paid off. It’s started to rain and now I can see even less through my chicken-wire windscreen. My rival is giving me a right roughing up in the corners. Truth be told, I’m being a bit wet. More aggression, Goodwin; mix some red mist into the swirling haze of rain and wet sand. So for race three, a new man is in the blue MR2. Still, the white MR2, being driven even more crazily by Le Pilote, is hard to keep up with but we’re both Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 39
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start line scything through the saloons. The corners are being seriously cut up, and turns two and three are now like a motocross circuit. It’s hard to hold a line and finding grip is getting more difficult. Wuumph. I’m hit in the rear three-quarters by a saloon with nowhere else to go. My machine still seems to handle all right. Or at least feels like it’s still on four wheels. The dashing Le Cornu has more serious trouble. His left-hand door has been hit so hard, the gear lever is almost in its door bin. Within seconds, a burly crew has set to work with a huge sledgehammer and what looks like a fence post.
Le Cornu has more serious trouble. His left-hand door has been hit so hard, the gear lever is almost in its door bin
Above: Le Cornu’s car door gets the sledgehammer treatment. Right: Le Cornu on the move; a buggy racer; and a Honda. Below: Colin Goodwin in his Toyota MR2
CHARLIE BEST; LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
Work continues as we go out for the next race. It’s me and the saloons now, and the red mist is in full swirl. Conditions are frightful and I’m navigating by memory. Cones are flying and one particularly lurid slide nearly has a marshal joining me for the ride. I think I’m third in the race, but it’s hard to tell in the mayhem. Another huge bang in the fourth race, but still the MR2 thrashes on. Natalie in the other Scuderia Godel car is not so lucky. The Mazda is hit so hard that, sadly, its life is over. So I do the gentlemanly thing and offer Natalie the MR2 for the last race. Actually, it’s less chivalry and more to do with wanting to watch the action from the outside. And it’s almost as mad to watch as it is to take part. I doubt there’s a car out there that cost more than a couple of hundred quid. With an entry fee of only £40, I can’t think of a cheaper way to have so much fun. If you’re the sort of person who hates a “sitting on the beach” holiday, may I suggest that you try racing on one instead?
A SHORT HISTORY OF MOTOR SPORT IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS
Reg Parnell won the first post-war motor race in the British Isles at St Helier
The Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey have been a haven for motor sport since the early days of racing. Today, the islands are best known for hill climbing, particularly Jersey, with a round of the Nicholson McLaren MSA British Hill Climb Championship at Bouley Bay. The overall record at Bouley Bay, captured in a ferocious F1-engined singleseater, is still held by Guernsey-born Andy Priaulx, now a multiple WTCC world champion.
Although Jersey doesn’t have the space for a racing circuit (there was an MSA kart circuit, but it was covered by housing years ago), the island is no stranger to road racing. In 1947, barely two years after the island was liberated on 9 May 1945 (a Liberation Day hill climb runs at Bouley Bay each year), a road race was held on a 3.2-mile road circuit in St Helier. It was the first postwar motor sport event in the British Isles and
attracted international drivers. The race was won by Reg Parnell in a Maserati. The Jersey International Road Race was held for a further three years with a gap in 1951 before returning in 1952 but for sports cars, not single seaters. The Jersey Motorcycle and Light Car Club was founded in 1920. Today, it has almost 600 members, remarkable considering that Jersey has a population of only 75,000. Guernsey also
has a very active car and motorcycle club that holds autotests, sand races, sprints and hill climbs. There’s friendly rivalry between the two islands with competitors from each taking the short ferry ride to compete in one another’s events. Maybe it’s a long history of motor sport there, or the spirit of islanders, but few places have a higher density of petrolhead per square mile than the states of Jersey and Guernsey.
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 41
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a day in the life
KEEPING CONTROL OF THE BRITISH GP As a chief incident officer at Silverstone, Peter Greenhalgh is the man with the keen eyes and radio in hand, on the lookout for everything from mad priests to march hares “I’m one of the four chief incident officers at
Silverstone. Between us, we each work at half the meetings, taking it in turns as chief or deputy. “We sit in race control, watching the CCTV around the circuit and acting as a central point of communication for all the incident officers who are out on the circuit. “On an average race weekend, when the activity gets started at 9am, one of the chiefs will be at the circuit at 7am. First of all, we collect all the radios and headsets for the incident officers, and then at 7.30am, we’ll be signing folks on and handing out the radios. At 8.15am, they go out to their posts all around the circuit. “We’ll then do our check calls with them at 8.30am, making sure that vehicles are in the right places, that personnel have the right equipment and that it’s functioning properly. At 8.45am, the four chief incident officers will be advising the clerk of the course that we’re ready to operate. “Over the British Grand Prix weekend, our start will be significantly earlier. As
LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
Every event, every race, every lap provides a learning experience for us, whether you’re starting out or not the deputy, I collect radios from race control at about 5.45am, and they’re collected by the incident officers between 6.45am and 7am. We are then operational from about 7.30am to 6.30pm for all three days. “I then spend Friday morning going around the circuit dealing with issues – failed radios, headsets and so on. I normally use a moped on the track. Two years ago, I travelled more than 60 miles on various trips over the grand prix weekend! “The incident officers will radio in only if they need assistance, if they need
Peter Greenhalgh was on radio duty at the 2003 British Grand Prix at Silverstone when priest Cornelius “Neil” Horan ran onto the track
a doctor’s car or rescue unit. At “A lot of the time, the team that point, we’ll communicate members are self-critical and BRITISH only with that individual. it’s not unusual for our day to GRAND PRIX The 2011 Formula 1 Then we’ll be relaying finish at 7pm – but it’s always Santander British Grand Prix information to the medical worth it. will take place from Friday centre, and making sure that 8 July to Sunday 10 July at Silverstone, which the cameras are homed in An unholy moment was host to the first-ever correctly and following “Of course, one very World Championship Grand Prix in 1950 the incident. well-remembered incident was “We’re doing that all the way when a priest got onto the track through the day – we will take time at the 2003 British Grand Prix. I was out for a 45-minute break for lunch on the radio for that occasion. Everyone on a good day and for about 20 seconds spotted the man on the track at the same on a bad one! If there’s anything that we time and our jaws all dropped. can provide guidance on, we’ll do that as “My role was to communicate with the well. And if there are learning experiences team and tell them, ‘As long as it’s safe, for anyone, then we’ll invite them to race could you please tackle the individual control for a chat. and get him out of the way of the cars?’ And then the priest did get a tackle – Learning from events a rugby tackle! “Every event, every race, every lap “There was another time when we provides a learning experience for us – were doing an emergency exercise for and this is true whether you’re a marshal the FIA. One marshal simulated a heart just starting out or one of the most attack so accurately that the members experienced observers. of the audience weren’t too sure if it “After the last chequered flag, all was real or not. of the radios are brought back and are “Other than those two things, the main put on charge in race control, and some problems that we chief incident officers of the team will come back and review have is with the hares: they seem to hide any incidents that have happened during away and deliberately come out during the the weekend. grand prix weekend…” Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 43
The MSA’s Team UK scheme may exist to nurture talent, but that doesn’t mean it goes easy on its young drivers. Ben Anderson gets the lowdown on a formidable military
insight Right: Tom Blomqvist, last year’s Formula Renault UK Champion, scouts out the terrain during the arduous military exercise
JAKOB EBREY
Not many racing drivers can say they’ve taken part in
a base-storming mission or fired a semiautomatic rifle in the name of their sport. But that’s what a handful of the MSA’s Team UK drivers can boast after swapping race shoes for combat boots and overalls for fatigues. Physical fitness and mental toughness are crucial components of the modern professional racing driver, but this usually means making sure that you visit the gym regularly and don’t be too harsh on yourself when things go awry. So, would a selection of the most highly rated aspiring pros in the country have what it takes to survive a gruelling 48-hour military exercise? Eight of Team UK’s 13 aces were put through a programme of specially devised military toughness tests – held within the picturesque Pippingford Park estate in East Sussex in February. And it turned out that only three – British F3 racers Harry Tincknell, Will Buller and Jack Harvey – managed to survive the entire two days. The drivers (and co-driver) were under the command of ex-Marine Ben Mason, whose repertoire of fiendish fitness tasks ranged from navigational hiking and river-crossing, to base-storming and sneaking missions. The boys even fired semi-automatic rifles – adapted to shoot BB pellets. “It was an opportunity for some early-season team-building and to give them a chance to get to know each other,” says Team UK’s programme administrator Fiona Miller. “The instructors were told the guys were not there to be ‘beasted’ [an informal army punishment]. The idea was to run them ragged and push them to their limits. “We wanted to assess their levels of tenacity, endurance and leadership, and see how they reacted under pressure and when fatigued.
“It’s something we tried last year over 24 hours and it’s quite useful for seeing how they’re going to react in the pressure of a racing situation.” The Team UK drivers are used to facing stiff competition on circuits and rally stages, but, as one driver and his commander reveal, little could prepare them for 48 hours of warfare in the woods…
The Driver’s Diary Harry Tincknell
At the end of last year’s 24-hour exercise, they asked us if there was anything they could improve – we all said it needed to be a lot harder – they certainly listened to us! We met the instructors at 9pm and they went through their rules – basically to give maximum effort the whole time. We started with a kit inspection... which we all failed! I spent probably two or three hours making sure that everything was perfect and they still managed to come up with something that was wrong. The punishment was an hour of “remedial physical education” and that was before we’d even got started. Then we were told to put our backpacks on. We were given a list of 15 checkpoints, which we had to visit in order, and told we were not going to sleep until we had hiked to them all. That meant a 50km hike, at 10pm, without much help. If we went in the wrong direction, it was up to us to realise – and when it’s completely dark and you don’t know where you are, that’s really difficult! We got back at 6.30am, completely soaked and cold. We had just 30 minutes of sleep before they got us back up to instruct us in army tactics. They taught us some battle techniques, camouflage, and the way they move as a team. Then we did a Summer 2011 www.msauk.org
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Pushed to the limit: as well as orienteering, the Team UK racers were asked to fire semi-automatic rifles and cross rivers during the 48-hour military exercise at Pippingford Park estate in East Sussex, designed to assess the group’s tenacity, endurance and leadership skills. Only three drivers made it through until the bitter end, under Ben Mason’s guidance
little bit more navigation, which included We had another river-crossing and some river-crossings that were bitterly cold. They running to wake us up, before they sent also threw firecrackers, which was us on a military mission; sneaking, the signal to plunge our heads storming an enemy base, completely under the water – ambushing the enemy and that was quite interesting! being ambushed, just as they FIND By 9pm, our group was would in Afghanistan. OUT MORE down to five people as Tom We finally got back to For new Team UK performance psychologist Dave Collins’ Blomqvist, John MacCrone, base about five minutes tips on how to use psychology and MacCrone’s co-driver before the 48 hours were to boost your own track performance, turn to Stuart Loudon had prior up. We counted down the page 52 commitments. We were meant clock and there was a bit to be moving to an area in of a celebration. It was an the woods to camp out, but the achievement to make it to the weather was so bad and we were so end and prove we were hard enough knackered, they let us have five hours of to beat the military toughness test. During sleep in a cabin – quite nice of them. the last 15 hours, because we knew we were We woke up at 5.30am, which is when reaching the end, it really kept us going. At Oli Webb and Lewis Williamson dropped the time, I just thought, “this is ridiculous!”. out. It just shows how bloody tough it was. It was a really good experience and Morale was starting to go down – people I still feel the benefits now – 6am training were starting to ache and get quite sore. It sessions don’t seem like such a chore any was raining, we were cold and hadn’t had more! We all take things like a comfy bed much to eat, so we had to come together as for granted at night. But this experience a group to push each other round. There has made me appreciate the guys fighting was great teamwork – we really wanted to around the world. It’s definitely one of the support each other to get to the end. best things I’ve done with Team UK. 46 www.msauk.org
Summer 2011
The Instructor’s Diary Ben Mason
We wanted to try to catch people out, so we did a lot of navigation and map-reading. On the first night, the drivers were out from 11pm until about 7am on a long exercise similar to orienteering. They were split into two teams of four and given a grid reference. Each team had a lead navigator, a number two to check his navigation and two pacers to keep track of how far they had gone. Basically, it was my job to give them a bollocking when they got it wrong. They were pretty resistant to start with, but, come five or six in the morning, they had stopped looking at me as if to say: “Who are you telling me what to do?” They had realised the quicker they got to the checkpoints, the quicker they were going to get back to base. Next, we went to do the river crossing – in a lake about a mile from HQ. Well, it’s more of a bog than a lake! They all ran down and had a little lesson about staying clean in the field, so they all got in the swamp and had a wash. Their press-ups hadn’t been up to
insight
A TEST OF BRAINS AS WELL AS BRAWN The new Team UK psychologist joined the action to see how the drivers would react to pressure
If you don’t win that race, or get knocked off the track, then you have to deal with it. We saw that in the three who completed the course scratch the night before either, so we made them practise in the middle of the swamp. We then built in different drills: how to patrol as a four-man team; who’s going to do what if you get attacked. I wanted them to camp out, but the weather was disgusting so I decided it would be better if they slept for some of the night in a troop shelter. The next morning, we got them up early and built the training into real battle scenarios. Normally, we would split up the group so they could take turns to attack each other, but as there were only three of them left, I had to involve the instructors a lot more. I had a serving female captain from the Army, two ex-Marine officers, a guy from the Mountain Leaders and another ex-Marine who is now my bank manager!
The boys got on terribly in the mission situations and were a little ill-disciplined. I’ve been through Commando training, 32 weeks of absolute hell, but I can’t instil that same fear of God into these lads. We made it as serious as we could, however, and they entered into the spirit. If you put a group of guys in a set of tough circumstances, with little sleep, they start to learn what makes them tick. This is useful in racing – when things aren’t going your way, what are you going to do? Shout? Have a quiet word? And how is that going to affect the team? It’s all about attitude; the three guys who carried on to the end – knowing it wouldn’t be pleasant – showed they had what it takes. Equally, in life, it’s very important to be positive about negative situations. Most of the time, when the chips are down, if you don’t win that race, or get knocked off the track, then you have to deal with it. We saw that in the three who completed the course, but it also gave me a sharp reminder of how hard my own military training was. Given the opportunity, I’ll admit I probably wouldn’t want to do it again!
Dave Collins is a former performance director of UK Athletics – he has worked with around 50 Olympic medallists – so he knows a thing or two about what it takes to become a top professional sportsman. In his new role as the MSA Team UK’s performance psychologist, Collins is responsible for providing “support, advice and development” for the elite squad’s 13 drivers and co-drivers. He attended the military bootcamp in an effort to get to know some of the drivers a little better and find out how they reacted in a high-stress environment. “I was in the Royal Marines myself, so there was a good deal of ribbing back and forth,” says Collins. “I did 24 hours with the guys and tried to keep up as best I could! “They [the drivers] were working impressively hard, and the whole thing was well run by Ben Mason and the guys at outdoor event providers Votwo. “For me, it was about getting to know the guys as quickly as I possibly could – and there’s nothing like spending half-anight wandering around the countryside with someone to get a sense of how they react!” Collins was impressed with the focus, determination and teamwork he saw in the drivers who attended the bootcamp, but says, ultimately – as with their motor sport – it was more important that each competitor felt they got something out of the two days as an individual. “I’m reminded of an old Aldous Huxley quote,” says Collins. “‘Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.’ I think that’s a big thing. “It was interesting to see how much they learned from the exercise. People who take an experience then go away and learn from it – that’s the mark of someone who has the potential to go far.”
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 47
Lydden Hill It may be short, but this Kent venue – dubbed the home of rallycross – has a serious appeal, says Matt James
DATA BURST
LENGTH: 1,609 metres DATE OPENED: 1955 LAP RECORD: 38.3 seconds LOCATION: Wootton, Canterbury CT4 6RX WEBSITE: www.lyddenhill.co.uk CONTACT: 01304 830557
Nestled in the rolling Kent countryside between Canterbury and Dover, Lydden
Hill is a hidden gem of UK motor sport. Although it measures only one mile in length, the undulating surface offers plenty of challenges with tricky off-camber corners and some high-speed sweeps that lead to difficult braking zones. Lydden is also widely known as the home of rallycross, and it has the distinction of creating the first purpose-built track for the new type of motor sport in 1967. Since then, the category has flourished at the
48 www.msauk.org Summer 2011
Kent venue and it is intrinsically linked to its development. Lydden was created as a grass-track venue in 1955 by landowner Bill Chesson and the Astra Motor Club. The initial layout used the lower part of the current configuration. Motorcycles would sweep around Chesson’s Drift and head down the Dover Slope before doubling back along the start-and-finish straight. It proved to be a popular place and after just 10 years, Chesson took the decision to lay Tarmac around the configuration and add in a demanding blast up Hairy Hill into a 180-degree hairpin known as North Bend. The guise has changed little since. Chesson sold the venue to rallycross competitor Tom Bissett in 1989, but his tenure lasted only two years. In 1991, grand prix team McLaren purchased the circuit with plans to turn it into a test track and a development facility for its new McLaren
place notes
F1 supercar, and later for high-performance Mercedes machines when the Woking squad forged an alliance with the German firm. The plans stayed dormant after lengthy disputes with the local council, but the track remained active. It was the permanent home of the British Motorcycle Racing Club, which operated the track, but Lydden remained open to car-racing clubs. The future was uncertain, however, with McLaren unwilling to put any major funding into the track and question marks remaining over its long-term viability. Salvation came in 2008. Four-time MSA British Rallycross Champion Pat Doran stepped in and took over a five-year lease to operate the track, which is now run by his eldest daughter, Amy. Doran explains that the decision was prompted after he had enjoyed success working on rallycross events at the Kent bowl. “We were involved in the
An aerial view of Lydden Hill race circuit, which opened in 1955 under the aegis of the late Bill Chesson and the Astra Motor Club
promotion of rallycross at Lydden, which we did off our own backs, and we were getting 7,000 or 8,000 people to each round,” explains Doran. “That made us think about it, and I went to see McLaren. Pretty quickly, we came up with an agreement for a five-year lease initially and we took over at the start of 2008.” The track had been unloved over the previous seasons, and the Dorans set about on a major programme of investment in the facilities. Two new grandstands were erected, the toilet blocks were rebuilt, and new offices were installed. The paddock area, which had previously consisted of broken rubble, was relaid with Tarmac and the entire venue took on a much more purposeful feel. Life was returning to the track. “The circuit still needs a lot of work, but we are coming to the end of the first phase, which is to upgrade the periphery Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 49
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place notes things that needed doing,” says Doran. “It is never going to be the most high-profile track in the country, but it needed a certain amount of attention immediately.” The attraction of promoting rallycross to return it to its heyday of the late 1980s was one of the carrots for Doran to become involved but, like many others who regard the circuit as their local venue, there is a strong emotional attachment to it as well. “I made my rallycross debut at Lydden Hill in 1990,” says Doran. “It was the first time I had been there and I loved it. I had gone from being a big name in rallying to an unknown in rallycross when I turned up at Lydden for that first time. I fell in love with the place and with the sport as a whole, and it hasn’t stopped. I never thought then I would end up running it.” When the idea first struck him, Doran says that he was utterly convinced that he could make it work. A number of highprofile racing clubs – such as the British Automobile Racing Club – looked at taking up the lease but decided against it because they felt the restriction of only 52 operational days a year would make it too hard to turn it into a profitable venue. Doran, with his background in rallycross, felt differently. “It is the only race track in that area, and it offers something unique,” explains FIA European Rallycross Championship
I made my rallycross debut at Lydden Hill in 1990. It was the first time I had been there and I loved it (ERC) runner-up Doran. “OK, there is Brands Hatch just up the road, but we aren’t trying to compete with circuits like that. We are not trying to be that type of venue – we want to be able to carve our own niche.” With daughter Amy in charge, things are looking up for Lydden. Although circuit racing continues with many of the smaller clubs taking up the option to race there, rallycross is the key area that the Dorans hope will maintain its growth. The work done has brought the blue-riband FIA ERC back to Britain. The series returned in 2009 after an 11-year gap – some 13 years since it had last visited its spiritual home. It was the impetus of Pat and Amy Doran that sealed the deal. Between them, they dragged the venue back up to the standards required by the FIA with fresh facilities,
The FIA European Rallycross Championship returned to Britain in 2009 after 11 years, and 13 years after leaving its spiritual home of Lydden Hill
IT’S A DATE
Six events not to miss at Lydden Hill race circuit this summer 18 June Event: Pace Ward MLR Sprint Series Description: A round of the popular Mitsubishi Lancer Register sprint competition 9 July Event: South East Motor Sports Enthusiasts Club Sprint/Race Meeting Description: Club-level national race meeting comprising SEMSEC’s entertaining saloon, sports car and singleseater championships 30/31 July Event: Vintage Motorcycle Racing Club Description: An eclectic mix of classic and vintage two-wheelers compete, recalling the circuit’s origins 13/14 August Event: ACU Grasstrack Masters and MSA British
Sprint Championship Description: The return of off-road motorcycle racing to the Kent track featuring some of the nation’s best riders will operate alongside an MSA Sprint championship round on the sealed surface 21 August Event: South East Motor Sports Enthusiasts Club Description: More offerings from all of SEMSEC’s roster of racing championship for sports cars, saloons and single seaters 28/29 August Event: Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship Description: The thriving Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship will grace the venue on the bank holiday with a variety of categories.
improved run-off areas and protection for the marshals, a new lighting system and all the peripheries required for the FIA to install its timing equipment. That reborn ERC round was a watershed for the track; nearly 20,000 fans came to watch. The ERC continues to have a permanent home in Kent and it is the highlight of the Dorans’ achievements so far – but this is only the opening chapter of the story. Amy Doran has succeeded in broadening the appeal of Lydden, which will hold off-road motorcycle racing for the first time in a number of seasons this year. It is also the home of the hugely popular BHP Performance show. The BHP event, which highlights a variety of performance and racing machines to a family audience, took place on 2 May this year. Pat Doran says: “One of the things that we are keen to do with Lydden Hill is to show fans the broad spectrum of motor sport. Take the BHP show, for example; we can show off rallycross cars there to a new audience and they could well be the rallycross fans of tomorrow. I feel that is very important for the health of motor sport as a whole and it is something we won’t ignore. “We have finished the first part of what we wanted to do at Lydden Hill,” adds 51-year-old Doran. “Now we can look at other things. For example, the motorcycle contingent wants a slightly longer track to create more of a challenge. We are looking into ways of doing that with the land we have available. If we do that, then there is the chance we can attract bigger racing categories to Lydden Hill, too.” Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 51
Dave Collins, psychologist for the MSA Academy, believes the complexity of the human mind needs to be catered for as if it were a machine
52
www.msauk.org Summer 2011
performance “Don’t believe in all that you’ve been told. The sky’s the limit;
you can reach your goal. No one knows just what the future holds.” For those of you who wanted to go through life without reading a motor sport feature with lyrics from an S Club 7 song, we’re deeply sorry (it won’t happen again). But bear with us as, on this occasion, it does hold some relevance – positive mindmanagement is vital if you’re going to reach those goals and shape that future. Dave Collins, director of Grey Matters for Performance, professor at the University of Central Lancashire and performance coach to a host of World and Olympic medallists as well as the Chelsea Football Academy, is now the psychologist for the MSA Academy. “I’ve been a sports psychologist since the mid-1980s,” he explains. “Up until recently, I had motor sport clients as one-offs – I would be called in by a team to solve an issue, or worked for individuals. It’s only in the past six months that I’ve picked up the opportunity to work for the MSA Academy.” This is a part of the job that Collins loves: the nurturing and guidance of up-andcoming talents. “You’re setting things up for the future,” he smiles, “but you never have enough time with them. It is a challenge, and it’s good that a lot of them make the effort to stay in touch with me regularly. It’s a matter of getting to know them well enough to make a difference.”
LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
There is a set of characteristics – which I call a shopping list – that most people who excel have So where do we start? Well, where the S Club 7 bubblegum-pop-psychology approach falls down is in the “sky’s the limit” cliché. Everyone has heard someone telling another to “visualise what you’re going to get and you’ll achieve it”. But it’s more complicated than that: you can’t reach for the stars unless you’ve got a pretty decent space rocket parked in your garage. “You have to tailor achievable aims to each individual,” says Collins. “There is a set of characteristics – which I call a shopping list – that most people who excel have. The closer you get to 10 out of 10 on all of them, the better you’re going to be. If you have one characteristic that’s below five or six, we have to sort it out. “You can have a ‘natural’ talent, but I’m not sure you come out of the womb with it, but, as you move up the pathway, things get complicated. It’s those people who can hit the speed bumps and keep going who will
WHY YOUR MIND MATTERS
Having natural talent is one thing, but those drivers who manage their mind as well as their car will go furthest, discovers Marcus Simmons
succeed. The psychological make-up that allows you to push yourself to the top is so much a part of things – it’s as important as talent, fitness, agility, hand-to-eye coordination and the ability to go fast.” Collins finds it remarkable that, in a sport where places are often decided by thousandths of a second, this angle can be so neglected. “The complexity of the human needs to be catered for as well as the car. The advice can be simple, but the underpinnings complex. How can you be a good performer and not understand how the car works? How can you be a good performer and not understand how you work?
Sporting intelligence
“Many things that apply to motor sport are general: here’s a performer, they want to be good and there’s a set of skills they will need, whatever field they’re working in. Not everyone will get a Formula 1 drive, but there are a lot of things that can stand them in good stead for whatever they want to do. “So many people talk about mental issues – you only have to listen to football interviews on TV – but there are far fewer people doing something about it. It’s easy for people to set their stall out and say they’re a mind coach, but it’s a challenging and complex role. It’s not as simple as watching a DVD and filling in a few sheets – there’s a serious need for both in-depth knowledge and experience, to recognise the complexities you’re dealing with.”
While the sportsman or woman doesn’t need PhD levels of understanding across the various complexities, Collins says: “The requirement for people to have intelligence in sport is growing. They need an emotional intelligence to get on with and motivate people, a level of technical intelligence to facilitate self-coaching, plus intellect to understand the feedback they get and how to consider and plan things. “So I always ask people to understand why we’re doing what we’re doing. If people take it at face value, we’re all in trouble. People need to understand why, say, they feel so nervous to be able to fix it.”
Mental TLC
Collins pinpoints three main ways in which competitors, from aspiring professionals to dyed-in-the-wool club racers, can benefit from giving their minds a bit of TLC. “Firstly, the idea about visualisation is good, but it’s better to think of it as mental rehearsal. Rather than thinking of yourself as the next icon of the sport, think about you doing what you do – imagine yourself in your car or kart. When you do that, the rehearsal is going to be multisensory. We call it MSM – mental simulation of movement. “Secondly, you’ve got to be realistic on evaluating what’s going on. If you win a little karting championship, it’s a mistake to see yourself as the next Jenson Button. And it’s equally foolish to see yourself as terrible if you finish third in a race you should have won. After every race, give yourself two things to work on, but, before you do that, give yourself two things you did well. It’s a positive-coping way of looking at it. “Thirdly, part of that realism is in giving yourself a pat on the back or kick up the bum, not just as an automatic, almost defensive action. Positive is generally more desirable – it’s always better to have a glass half full than half empty.” Therein lies the basic philosophy of psychology: it’s best to focus on the positive. “We’re not there because there’s anything wrong, but to make things right,” adds Collins. “A lot of stuff we do in psychology is common sense – it’s just not very common!” Summer 2011
www.msauk.org 53
ASK THE EXPERTS
From drugs testing to marshalling, helmets to roll cages, our panel tackles your puzzlers... COUNTING THE COST
Why has the cost of Historic Technical Passports (HTPs) risen this year?
An FIA Historic Technical Passport is a document that confirms that a historic vehicle features the correct specification. It is used at FIA – and possibly other historic category – events, as part of vehicle scrutineering. As of 1 January 2011, the fees for processing and issuing these documents rose with a scaled level of charges according to the category of car – the higher the value of the car, the higher the fee (there are three fee bands). Part of this covers the checking and administration process by the MSA; the recent increase has been introduced by the FIA in order to generate funds for the creation of a worldwide centre for historic information.
LET’S GO CLUBBING
I’m running a Clubman rally; what documents do I need to send to the MSA afterwards?
For most types of event, the organisers are required to submit a number of documents to the MSA within 14 days of the meeting, as detailed in MSA Regulations (D)26.4. and 26.4.1. However, for Clubman events of the type listed in (D)4.5., Regulation (D)4.5.5. states the following: “Unless there has been any incident involving loss or damage to persons or property, in which case full details must be submitted to the MSA, the only documentation required after the event is the completed permit form along with the correct fee.”
DRUGS DENIED
I need to use medication that has a substance on the prohibited list – what if I’m drugs-tested?
If you are using medication that contains a Prohibited Substance and you are drugs-tested at an event, you will need to download a Therapeutic Use Exemption application form from the UK Anti-Doping website, www.ukad.org. The form must be completed in conjunction with your GP, after which it should be sent to UK Anti-Doping for review. You will hear from UK Anti54 www.msauk.org Summer 2011
Doping only if your submitted urine sample tests positive for a Prohibited Substance. Information about the prohibited status of specific substances can be found at www.globaldro.com
appropriate to the vehicle and discipline, and does so in every respect; The roll cage is built to meet FIA Yearbook Appendix J Article 253 regulations, and does so in every respect. You do need a certificate if: SKID LID The ROPS has been certified by the Why is the ECE 22.05 helmet manufacturer with the MSA, FIA or HAVE A standard not acceptable another ASN, and does not meet QUESTION? for MSA motor sport? the requirements detailed above. If you have The only acceptable helmet If you do need a certificate a question you’d standards for MSA motor for your ROPS, you must like to put to the sport are listed in (K)10.3.1 keep an original official copy experts, email msa@ of the 2011 MSA Competitors’ with the vehicle to produce at thinkpublishing. scrutineering. Original official and Officials’ Yearbook. The co.uk copies of ROPS certificates can tests required to obtain the be provided by the MSA Sales ECE 22.05 standard are very Department, provided that the ID different to those for the accepted number is known. All ROPS issued with a Snell standards or BS6658-85 Type A/FR certificate from 1997 onwards will have the standard. For example, ECE 22.05 does not ID number displayed on an ID plate. require a double-impact test, penetration tests, batch testing or “blind-buy” testing. UNDER SCRUTINY The MSA takes guidance from the FIA How can I become an on matters such as these. The FIA has MSA scrutineer? reviewed the suitability of the ECE 22.05 The MSA is always on the lookout for standard for four-wheel motor sport and Volunteer Officials, including Scrutineers, concluded that it is not appropriate to and the process to obtain a Trainee this activity. Scrutineer licence is free and simple. You just need to complete the New ROLL WITH IT Officials Registration form on the MSA Do I need a certificate for my roll cage? website and return it by post to the MSA Whether you need one depends on various Licensing Department. You will need to factors. You do not need a certificate if: tick the relevant box or boxes depending The Roll Over Protection System (ROPS) on whether you want to be a Car, Kart or is built to meet MSA Blue Book regulations
ask the experts THAT’S MOTOR SPORT MSA National Co-driver Coach Nicky Grist, former co-driver to the late Colin McRae, looks back on the advice and inspiration that shaped his career and brought 21 WRC victories
Clockwise from left: which Clubman rally documents are needed; how do you become a scrutineer; and will you be hired to be an Apprentice with Loughborough College and the MSA Academy?
Environmental Trainee Scrutineer, and you can apply to be all three if you wish. You’ll then be sent a trainee licence and an introductory pack, with a Training Module and DVD. If you have any queries, there will always be a member of the Technical Department on hand to talk to.
YOU’RE HIRED!
I’ve heard about an Apprenticeship in motor sport. Is this correct?
Yes. If you are seriously considering a professional career as a driver, you should make every effort to get onto this scheme. The Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) is a governmentfunded and accredited training and development programme for potentially elite 16- to 18-year-old competitors, delivered by Loughborough College in conjunction with the MSA Academy. To join the two-year course, you must meet the Sporting and Academic Criteria, found at www.msauk.org/aase, with programme information and the AASE application form. Applications close on 29 July. The 2011/12 AASE begins in August. The programme is based upon human performance, covering subjects such as fitness, nutrition, sports psychology, media & communications, sponsorship and lifestyle management. Apprentices will also work with experts to develop their driving, and will have the chance for sessions with top guest speakers.
“I don’t really think there’s such a thing as bad advice, as all advice can be learned from, but I still chuckle at some of the words of wisdom I was given when I was young. “I was only just out of school and was training to be a golf pro. To pay the bills, I took a job at the local garage, where many cars were prepared for rallying. One weekend, I was given the chance to co-drive a mate for a bit of fun and I thought, ‘Why not?’ One rally and I was hooked for life! On hearing the news, my golf instructor pulled me firmly aside and said, ‘What do you think you’re doing? You’ll never make a success of rallying and there’s no money in it. Get your head into the golf and stop being stupid.’ I met him again 10 years later and he was extremely sheepish! “The best advice I have ever had wasn’t so much
advice, I suppose, as inspiration. In 1990, I was co-driving for Malcolm Wilson in the Q8 Team Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, where I met the then-world champions Miki Biasion and his co-driver Tiziano Siviero. “Tiziano was quite unique in his approach at that time, a co-driver way above anyone else, and he and Miki were taking a good two-thirds of all events they entered in the late 1980s. His attention to detail was supreme, taking meticulous care of his notetaking and setting in motion systems and procedures that supported his driver and the team to ensure mistakes were minimised. “Over the 1990 season, Tiziano taught me that, to be a co-driver, you really need to up your game, and I followed his example. Therefore, I became far more professional and I will always be grateful to him.”
Nicky Grist won 17 WRC events alongside the late, great Scottish driver Colin McRae
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 55
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IN THIS
ISSUE:
Stylish shades p58 Life-saving lids p60 In-car cameras p62 Safety harnesses p64 Susie Stoddart’s kitbag p67 MSA Gear of the Year p68
Gear Compiled by Mike Breslin
Blow the Budget
Bentley Estede Sunglasses €11,500 (platinum frames) www.bentleymotors.com
Well-known Austrian eyewear manufacturer Estede has produced these limited-edition, classically styled sunglasses in collaboration with the designers at Bentley Motors. They come in three frame materials and prices to fit each: silver palladium (€1,400), 18-carat gold (€4,100) and platinum (€11,500) – the first time this ultrarare metal has been used in sunglasses, we’re told. If you want to look like you run things – as in own the car and the team, as well as the circuit – you’ll just have to splash out on these super shades.
Best for Value
Qstarz BT-Q100eX £139.99 + VAT
www.gprdirect.com
Have you guessed what it is yet? OK, it’s a GPS lap timer that fits in your pocket. It allows you to record and then analyse your track-day or race-day performance. With its plugand-play capability, you can analyse and plot your driving in data-graph statistics and draw a complete track map using the data. Oh, and it has a recording life of up to 10 hours, thanks to its lithium rechargeable battery, so you might struggle at Le Mans, but you’ll be more than fine driving all day at Silverstone. Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 57
WINNING
STYLE
tech specs
A good-quality pair of shades will protect your eyes from sunlight and grit – and just might make you look that little bit cooler, too… The eyes are said to be the windows to the soul. No wonder so many racing drivers wear shades, then. Joking aside, sunglasses are a mainstay of paddock life, the epitome of cool and, as if we need an excuse, a sensible way to protect your eyes from harmful UV rays and dust. So sunglasses need to be effective, functional and yet also stylish. Clearly then, there’s a lot more to designing shades than first meets the eye. Markus Ilmer is brand manager for Porsche Design Eyewear at Munich-based firm Rodenstock, a company that has been making glasses for 150 years and now also produces sunglasses for Porsche Design. “With eyewear, there are two aspects that influence the design in general: style and fit,” he says. “With Porsche Design eyewear, there is another aspect that we always bear in mind: functionality. We believe that sunglasses have to be stylish, have to provide perfect comfort, do have to protect perfectly against the sun, and, on top of that, have to be functional.”
Space-age specs
Porsche Design sunglasses are designed with pencil and paper first and finished as full CAD-specified prototypes before the manufacturing process begins. The frames are made from a variety of hi-tech materials, including the ultra-flexible B-Titanium. “Although most of our products require 80 per cent hand work, titanium can only be welded with a laser under high vacuum,” says Ilmer. “It is a unique combination of the latest production methods with well-grounded craftsman skills.” Lenses are also vital, of course, often featuring special coatings for anti-glare and anti-scratch. There are some specialists. Serengeti designs its shades specifically for driving, developing lens technologies that are engineered into the glass rather than being coated onto it later. “Serengeti lenses enhance the driving colours red, green and yellow to give better visibility of brake lights and traffic signals, even in fog and rain,” explains its business and communications director, Dawne Warren. What might the future be for sunglasses? Well, Ilmer says: “Ceramics, for example, is one material we could use for eyewear in the future.” Sounds like a bright future; so bright, might have to wear… 58 www.msauk.org Summer 2011
1. Ray-Ban Carbon Fibre CL
3. Serengeti Lizzano
Think Ray-Ban, think Aviator – a name that conjures up images of flying helmets and silk scarves. But there’s more to the company than just shades for pilots, and these hi-tech carbon-fibre glasses are typical of the sort of product that Ray-Ban is now marketing: extremely lightweight and very comfortable to wear, and at a price that’s not too steep for a name synonymous with quality eyewear.
The technology used in Serengeti sunglasses was originally designed to be incorporated into car windscreens and the company prides itself on producing some of the best driving shades on the market. The lenses are very hi-tech, designed for clarity and to adjust automatically to light conditions throughout the day, making these Lizzano shades both practical and classy.
£160 – www.ray-ban.com
£194 – www.serengeti-eyewear.com
2. Bollé Tetra
4. Porsche Design P’8478
These shades feature good and grippy temple tips and nose-pads to keep them in place, impact-resistant lenses and an innovative pin-less hinge system. The frames are lightweight and feel durable, while the wraparound design means there’s even less chance of getting dust in your eyes. The perfect sunglasses for outdoor training sessions.
These classic 1978 sunglasses have recently been relaunched by Porsche Design and now feature plenty of 21st-century technology to bring them up to date, such as ultra-light titanium frames and changeable, “unbreakable” polycarbonate lenses – and if you have always hankered after owning a 1970s classic Porsche, then an 8478 is certainly cheaper than a 911.
£98 – www.bolle.com
£250 – www.porsche-design.com
gear
1
2
3
4
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 59
gear BUYER’S
GUIDE
use your head...
A helmet is one of the most important purchases a competition driver will ever make, so ensure you know what you’re looking for You put a great deal of trust in your crash helmet, so it’s good to know that those who make them put a great deal of work into them, too. The better helmets are handmade, as Arai technical manager John Swann explains: “Everything is handmade. It’s a very labour-intensive product; the carbon-fibre sheets are laid by hand. Then resin is applied to the inside and forced through the layers of carbon fibre by an expanding hood – that’s placed inside the shell – and, under pressure, it’s squashed between the fibres. This gives it strength and rigidity. The inner [EPS foam] shell is put into the outer shell and bonded into place.” Stand 21 also makes its helmets by hand, but as much thought goes into the testing as the manufacture. Its head of research and development, Gerald Bonnet, tells us: “We use a twin-cabledrop test rig that’s used by the official FIA and SNELL laboratories.” Its lids are designed on CAD, using 3D printing for both half- and full-scale prototyping. Bonnet says: “A helmet could be very good for a high-speed impact, but bad for a low-speed impact. So, during the design and choosing of the material, we need to define the proper bandwidth of performance to maximise the level of protection. That’s the difference between a helmet that just met the standard and a very good helmet.”
Bell KC3-CMR £320
www.bellracing.info
This karting helmet, shown in its optional Tribal war paint, is certified to the new SNELL-FIA CMR standard, which was developed to create safer and lighter lids for karting, and is recommended for karters under 18 and mandatory for those under 15. The design is actually based on Bell’s F1 helmet, and features a cool-looking “duck bill” spoiler on the chin bar.
V2 Pro SNELL SA2005/ SA2010 £149
www.v2sport.com
An entry-level helmet, available in a wide range of sizes and suitable for many disciplines, this fibreglass-shelled lid features a narrow aperture and a fire-resistant lining. The helmet represents exceptional value for money, due to the direct sales set-up in the UK. A new line of FIA helmets is arriving later this year.
Shock energy
Helmets work by absorbing energy, but it’s not the shell that does most of the work, explains Bonnet: “For years, it was thought the shell had to deform to absorb kinetic energy. Most motorcycle helmets are like that; this can’t be a high-performance helmet. To absorb more energy to make a car helmet safer, the absorption must come from the liner. The future is to improve the performance of the liner with intelligent materials, keeping the helmet’s size and weight to the limits we now have.” Useful advice on buying and looking after helmets is in the Blue Book: always buy the best helmet you can afford, but the best is not necessarily the dearest.
60 www.msauk.org Summer 2011
Stand 21 Air Force IVOS £1,350
www.stand21.fr
All the helmets made by Stand 21 are for motor sport, so it’s very much a specialist. Its shells are carbon and its liners are made of EPP, which returns to its original shape after impact. This Air Force model offers the sort of ventilation system favoured by touring car aces; it’s made to measure (at its Brands Hatch outlet) and is available in both Snell SA2010 and FIA 8860-2004 (the latter for £1,775).
Stilo ST Quattro Rally Composite £615
www.nickygrist.com
Stilo may be best known for rally helmets, but it actually does lids for pretty much every form of motor sport. This one is for the rally boys, though, coming with full WRC Stilo intercom electronics and padded earmuffs to optimise crucial co-driver-todriver instructions. There’s a race version with a visor, but this Rally Composite (Snell SA2010) comes with an adjustable sunshade instead.
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WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR...
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Arai GP-6RC
£2,750 www.araihelmeteurope.com
The GP-6RC helmet is built to the stringent FIA 8860-2004 regulations and is a popular choice with professional drivers. It features a shell that is profiled to fit the HANS device, a neat little visorlocking lever, and lots of carbon. It also comes with the Arai Ped spoiler kit, which allows drivers to tweak the aerodynamic shape of their helmets.
1. Vents
The amount of ventilation you need depends on the discipline you’re competing in. Top touring car racers, and others who sit in hot, enclosed cockpits, often favour forced-air systems – with a pipe connecting to an air duct on the car – while a few well-placed slots in the chin guard and crown will work for others.
STILO THE BEST FOR HIGH-TECH RACING HELMETS Stilo helmets have both full and open-face options for open-top and saloon-car racing, as well as rallying and karting, and are the only manufacturer that offers part or full electronics in its helmets. Homologated in FIA 8860 and Snell, Stilo helmets have a large range of accessories, including visors, drink systems, spoilers and additional electronics. This, together with their superior fit and comfort levels, is the reason why professionals are fast changing over to Stilo. For more information on the Stilo range of helmets and accessories, please visit www.nickygrist.com
2. Build
The helmet shell, whether of carbon or fibreglass, is constructed to stop penetration, while the core of a helmet, the liner or inner, is to absorb energy. It is made of EPS – a rigid polystyrene foam – with differing densities for different parts of the helmet, depending on the level of protection required. The liner is then padded with foam, which is covered with flame-retardant cloth.
3. Frontal Head Restraint Helmet anchorage points can be fitted to many helmets – at a cost – but if there’s any chance you might be moving up in motor sport, it might be worth choosing a helmet that’s already FHR-compatible.
4. Fastening
Look out for the yellow Kevlar straps and the double-D fastening, which is a very simple and yet tried-and-tested mechanism – the strap is simply looped through the Ds and tightened to the correct tension. Sometimes you will also find a little popper, or a strip of Velcro, to make sure there are no loose strap ends.
5. Visors
In F1, the visors need to be locked into place, and some helmets will now have similar release mechanisms, chunky enough to be operated by race glove-encased fingers. Always check you’re happy with the locking mechanism of the visor before you buy, because some can be fiddly, and you need to be able to open it with one gloved hand.
YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A STILO HELMET BAG WORTH MORE THAN £100
WIN!
Nicky Grist Motorsport Limited is offering the chance to win a Stilo double helmet bag worth £105. To get your hands on this fantastic prize, simply answer the following question:
Who won a British race series this year wearing a Stilo helmet? A Jason Plato B Susie Stoddart C David Coulthard To enter Send the competition code [MSA magazine – Stilo] along with your name, address and telephone number on a postcard to Think, The Pall Mall Deposit, 124-128 Barlby Road, London W10 6BL or via email to msa@thinkpublishing. co.uk. No purchase necessary. One entry per person. Check the terms and conditions in full at www.msauk.org. Promotion closes at 11.59pm on 17 July 2011. Promoter: Think, The Pall Mall Deposit, 124-128 Barlby Road, London W10 6BL. Open to UK residents only aged 18 or over. Helmets not included.
TECHNO
FILE
time to get on board
In-car cameras are not only great for recording your hottest laps or stages – they can also help improve your performance What’s the first bit of kit a driver should buy? Well, according to veteran racer and driver coach Nigel Greensall, it’s an on-board camera. “I use it for every race and all my coaching. It is priceless, and it’s the first thing I’d buy if I was starting racing now.” Greensall uses a hi-tech data logging-style system, but he says that any video will reap rewards when it comes to developing driver skills. “You can learn so much watching a video of a lap,” he says. “Drivers I coach can look at their track position and racing line on the video and we can analyse what they’re doing.” On-board cameras come in all shapes, sizes and prices, but bullet cameras are popular with many competitors. These differ from your regular cameras because of the way they’re packaged. “They use solid-state memory, so there are no moving parts,” says Fun Cup racer and Racelogic boss Julian Thomas. “They’re also potted, which means they’ve got silicone or some kind of rubber compound actually inside the camera to stop it shaking itself to pieces.” These strong and simple cigar-shaped cameras are ideal for motor sport. Mark Nelson of DogCam says they’re pretty much the only kit tough enough for single-seaters, where vibration can cause problems. They’re also lightweight and small, hence unlikely to cause too much drag, which is important as cameras are often mounted on roll hoops. Most suppliers will also sell sturdy camera-mounting kits, often of rubberised polyurethane, and Greensall adds: “If you want to see how your car is behaving – whether it’s understeering or oversteering – you need to make sure the steering wheel
Specialists in the design and manufacture of gearboxes and differentials
Race Technology Video4 £995 – www.racetechnology.com This video and datalogging system uses 5Hz or 20Hz GPS, but features accelerometers within the unit. It’s great for simulating lap times – you don’t have to sit an ace driver in the car to find its potential. It has two Sony bullet cameras, and records in 16:9 at a resolution of 1,024x576. It can generate DVDs and be upgraded using ECU adapters, data displays and sensors.
DogCam Bullet HD
£99 – www. dogcamsport.co.uk This high-definition (720p) camera is tiny – “just about the size of your pointing finger”, DogCam’s Mark Nelson tells us, so it’s ideal for karting and single-seater applications. It’s the company’s entry-level camera and is great value at under £100. It’s simple to use, has a built-in microphone, and comes with its own mounts.
is in picture.” Microphones also need to be mounted securely – Thomas advises two microphones in a closed car, one for the engine and another for the cab to pick up comments (and curses). Top-end on-board kits marry the video element with data-logging, or “datalogging for the driver”, as Thomas puts it. Racelogic’s VBOX is a well-known example, with GPS technology to show speed, g-force
P O W E R
VCS Video Capture System
Racelogic Video VBOX Lite
P.O.A. – www.motec.com.au Specially designed for motor sport, this is ideal for both individual teams and category adjudication. It records broadcast-quality video and audio with gauges on the footage displaying speed, RPM, throttle, brake and g-force. It has 4GB/16GB memory and USB download and runs on 12V vehicle power. It includes Auto Start/Stop Recording, so there’s no need to get involved.
From £1,195 – www. videovbox.co.uk This popular and easy-touse piece of kit uses GPS technology to combine multi-camera video pictures with performance data. Circuit Tools software, a very simple-to-operate driver-training package, is included. There’s also the useful LineSnap predictive lap-timer display available, which gives a real-time indication of time gained around a lap.
and other data overlaid on the video picture. “People say GPS can’t be accurate enough, but there are key elements to getting it right; one is the update rate. Ours updates 10 times a second – your normal navigation system updates once a second,” Thomas says. One last thing: always check with the event organiser that you’re allowed to carry a camera and be prepared to have the mountings checked at scrutineering.
I N T O
M O T I O N
Tel 0845 1307400 / 01732 741144 or email info@quaife.co.uk www.quaife.co.uk Quaife Ad.indd 2
14/02/2011 14:50
gear Three-time Formula 1 World Champion Jackie Stewart foregoes his usual tartan helmet for an uncomfortablelooking version with a camera in the 1960s
You can learn so much watching a video of a lap. Drivers can look at their track position and racing line on the video
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HOW TO...
FIT YOUR SAFETY HARNESS
A safety harness can save your life, but you can only be certain it will do its job if it has been fitted correctly Club saloon-car racer Paul Cowland never really gave his safety harness a second thought until someone pointed out that his lap straps were positioned incorrectly. A few weeks later, he stepped completely unscathed from the wreck of his Toyo Tyres Racing Saloons VW Golf after a monumental rollover at Brands Hatch. Cowland is sure of one thing: taking that advice and then refitting his belts properly made all the difference. “I was told it was wrong because the belt was around my stomach; the two lap belts were above my hip bones,” explains Cowland, who now races in the Nippon Challenge. “So I spent an hour or two moving my harnesses down, until they were sitting right across the hip bones. It felt a bit weird, but after the crash, the medic reckoned that’s why I didn’t get any injuries, because my harness was perfectly placed.”
Cowland’s experience shows how vital it is to get the lap straps positioned just right and historic racer Simon Perkins – a man who knows a thing or two about safety belts, as he owns famed harness manufacturer Willans – agrees that drivers should be careful when locating them. “People will often have the lap straps mounted too far behind the driver,” he says. “The strap should go straight down to the floor. The reason for that is it stops the central release box riding up.” Perkins also maintains that it’s better if the shoulder straps – which should be as close to straight-back and parallel to the floor as possible, rather than at an acute angle – are as 64 www.msauk.org Summer 2011
Make sure that whatever you bolt your straps to isn’t going to come astray. It should be a part of the vehicle that will be able to deal with the load in a crash short as they can be, and this is why many installations will feature a rollcage plate to bolt the straps to. But however well you position your straps, it’s also vital they’re anchored to something solid. Time Attack driver and rally preparation expert Olly Clark – of Roger Clark Motorsport – says: “You need to make sure that whatever you’re bolting them to isn’t going to come astray, that’s the most important thing. It should be a part of the
LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
The right position
Top: The correctly fitted harness saved Gabriele Tarquini from injury. Below: A 2005 Renault Clio Cup takes a turn at Brands Hatch
gear POLE POSITION
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GEAR ROUND-UP MSA selects the best of new motor-sport-related goodies
vehicle that’s reinforced and is going to be able to deal with the load in the event of a crash.” They also need to be secured properly, says Clark: “You fit them with a two-inch square steel plate, which is welded on the outside [the other side of the fixing point], then threaded in the middle where you put your seat-belt eye.” Clark adds that it’s no use looking at your harness in isolation because the seat also needs to be fitted correctly if the belts are to work effectively. Any doubts, then refer to the manufacturer’s instructions, check out the clear info in the Blue Book, or visit a reputable preparation specialist and ask them to do the job for you. When it comes to fitting your belts, you can never be too careful – just ask Paul Cowland.
Mountain Legend
£16.99 www.dukevideo.com An evocative film of the 1965 Targa Florio from the BP Video Library. There is plenty of action from big names of 1960s rallying and then there are the cars: Ferrari P2s and GTOs, Porsche 904s and Ford GTs, all driven flat-out around the Piccolo delle Madonie course. The snapshots of 1960s racing life – and Sicily – make this film utterly enjoyable.
019 seamless balaclava
£32 www.019racewear.com New racewear company 019 has hit the ground running with its range of seamless, fireretardant underclothing, which includes this balaclava. Every garment is made in one piece – only the label is stitched in. There are no weak points and no edges to rub. The balaclava is doublelayered, one size fits all and comes in off-white, graphite, denim blue, red or Antibes blue.
GTO London Volante RFM cufflinks
From £356 www.gtolondon.com These cufflinks are precisionengineered and boast real Ferrari metal on the wheel rim. The Volante RFM (Real Ferrari Metal) links feature an enamelled wheel centre, but can be bespoke-finished with a precious stone. An offshoot of Ferrari fettlers GTO Engineering, the company also manufactures tie pins, key fobs, wallets and money clips.
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 65
Professional in-car Camera Systems
“More than 15 years’ experience in fitting cameras to cars” Go P ro – V. I .O. – M i n i DV R – Bullet HD Systems From £99 “ Fo r f r i e n d l y advice, please don’t h e s i t ate to c a l l us on 01208 269159” info@dogcam.biz www.dogcamsport.co.uk
gear RACER’S
KITBAG
Susie Stoddart
The popular Scottish DTM racer shares her essential kitbag with us One of the world’s leading female racing drivers, Stoddart was named top female kart driver in the world in 2000 and campaigned in Formula Renault and Formula 3 before earning a drive with TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes in the DTM. The Scot is one of Germany’s most popular motoring celebrities.
Head restraint “I wear a HANS device. I used to get quite bad bruises on my shoulders from it, so I now have special air padding fitted on the underside to make it more comfortable. I also have small carbon-fibre ledges mounted on either side to prevent my harness straps from slipping off. It took me a bit of time to get used to wearing an FHR, but I would definitely use the device, even if it wasn’t mandatory.”
Gloves “It gets very hot inside a DTM car and so you sweat a lot – it’s pretty easy to get blisters if your gloves don’t fit perfectly. I couldn’t find any gloves with the right fit, so I use a custom-made Alpinestars pair. You learn from previous versions where you like your padding to be and how thick it should be; I use very little padding and prefer a bit of extra material instead. Unlike with my race suit, I can choose the design of my gloves, so mine are pink with my name printed on them. I tend to get through five pairs per season.”
Race suit “My whole DTM team uses Sparco suits. Mine are made to measure, and I opt for a belt and no pockets. I’m given four at the start of the year and I’ll use all of them at each race weekend: the first for Friday practice, the second for qualifying, the third for the warm-up, and the fourth for the race. Then the suits will be cleaned for the next round – at the end of the season, they’re given back to Mercedes for the sponsors or for display. I do normally get to keep one each year, which I use for winter testing or promotional work.”
Other essentials “I have custom earplugs, and also tailored Alpinestars fireproof underwear because I’ve always found normal underwear to be a bit too big for me, even in the smallest size available. And I always make sure that I have my iPhone with me during race weekends, particularly so that I can listen to music to relax before heading out onto the track, or afterwards to wind down. I’m also a big watch fan; I’m an ambassador for IWC and I currently wear their Portuguese Automatic model.”
Boots
Helmet
“I’m lucky to get custom-made Puma race boots, which are blue and pink with my name and a Scottish flag on them. I like very tight-fitting boots, with a thin sole for feel on the pedals and an ankle strap for a bit of extra protection. I use about four pairs every year. I’ll wear brand-new boots for any PR or promotional work, but then I have three pairs of battered, oil-stained boots, which are my favourites – they’re always in the truck and are the ones that end up on my feet when I go racing.”
“I use an Arai GP-6 RC carbon helmet. My favourite colours are blue, pink and silver, so they’ve always featured on my livery, and I also have stars as a sign of optimism. My helmet is painted by Wunschel in Germany. Last year, I got engaged. My future husband competes, too, so my livery is now half my design, half his.”
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 67
gear of the year
MSA magazine
Reader Awards 2011 GEAR OF THE YEAR CATEGORIES Venue of the year Event of the year Driver of the year Unsung hero of the year Manufacturer of the year Helmet of the year Fireproof overall of the year Glove of the year Boot of the year Gadget of the year
REMEMBER – THESE ARE YOUR AWARDS AND EVERY VOTE COUNTS Not only have we relaunched the magazine, but, this year, we’re also creating an awards programme to recognise the best in motor sport for 2011. We know that all of you have your own opinions who or what or where is the best, so here is your chance to be heard.
In the Autumn issue, we’ll be asking you to vote on your favourite products and services. From the best pair of gloves to that garage accessory you just can’t live without, this is your chance to tell the sport what you really think and champion the success stories that help make UK motor sport what it is.
The next issue of MSA magazine will include your voting form, with the award categories outlined above. If you think that there’s a category we’ve missed out, please get in touch. Every person who emails us at msa@thinkpublishing.co.uk by 21 July will be included in the competition.
Email us your suggestions by 21 July 2011, and you will be automatically entered into our fabulous competition, courtesy of GPR Direct (see right). 68 www.msauk.org Summer 2011
competition
Your chance to join Luke Hines around Silverstone in a trackready Ariel Atom 300
WIN!
BTCC and FIA GT racer Luke Hines will take you around Silverstone in a two-seater Ariel Atom 300, as seen on BBC’s Top Gear. It is a great opportunity to enjoy one of the world’s fastest-accelerating cars around this state-ofthe-art grand prix circuit, courtesy of GPR Direct. www.gprdirect.com To enter Email your opinions and category suggestions for Gear of the Year [MSA magazine – gearoftheyear] (along with your name, address and telephone number) to msa@thinkpublishing.co.uk or send them on a postcard to Think, The Pall Mall Deposit, 124-128 Barlby Road, London W10 6BL. No purchase necessary. One entry per person. Check the terms and conditions in full at www.msauk.org. Promotion closes at 11.59pm on 21 July 2011. Promoter: Think, The Pall Mall Deposit, 124-128 Barlby Road, London W10 6BL. Open to UK residents only, aged 18 or over
Summer 2011 www.msauk.org 69
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simon says...
“We have a glut of categories populated by identical cars” From Chevron B40s to mid-1970s Formula 2s, historic racing is populated by evocative machinery. But what legacy will current motor sport leave, asks Simon Arron
JOE WILSON; ULLA PUGGAARD/CENTRALILLUSTRATION.COM
The word “historic” is clearly embossed on the programme cover,
Simon Arron is a former editor of Motoring News and Motor Sport. Now a freelance Formula 1 writer, he contributes to titles including Motorsport News and writes a blog for The Daily Telegraph’s motoring section
yet, in your mind, the cars looming over the crest remain contemporary. It takes a moment to recalibrate your thoughts, to acknowledge that a Chevron B40 is more than 30 years old and that you must, therefore, be about 50. It’s wonderful that the racing cars of your formative years still compete, but the past’s meticulous preservation can be, in equal parts, pleasure and pain. Historic motor sport isn’t merely a British phenomenon, but thrives in mainland Europe, North America and the Antipodes, too. Earlier this year, Australia’s Phillip Island Classic attracted more than 500 entries, everything from a restored Darracq, bits of which competed in the 1906 French Grand Prix, to a 1981 March Indycar – nine decades of glorious miscellany contained within a single weekend. But what happens next? If, 20 years from now, a
race promoter wanted to run an event showcasing typical cars from Lewis Hamilton’s fledgling career, they might struggle. The industry has altered beyond recognition in the past 15 years: the competitive edge of rival manufacturing has dwindled and we’ve been left with a glut of junior single-seater categories populated by identical cars. Look at a European F2 Championship entry from the mid-1970s and you’ll find half-a-dozen mainstream chassis constructors taking on a few micro-volume specialists – and there was parallel variety in the engine bay. Cars hung around at that level for a couple of seasons, too, developing interesting case histories as they passed from team to team before eventually filtering into the hands of enthusiastic amateurs. Since 1996, though, the equivalent categories (Formula 3000 and GP2) have been governed by
74 www.msauk.org Summer 2011
monotype regulations that dominate the sport – a tactic that was designed to contain development costs and level playing fields, yet that has simultaneously stifled diversity. The same applies to most things with roofs, too. Bygone generations cut their teeth in cars with distinctive shape and character, but their modern counterparts are confined to anonymous, winged wedges that serve a short-term purpose, but do little to stir the soul. Formula 1 remains a rare commodity – an open category – but the equipment has for many years been considered too complex to be saleable. Ferrari makes recent grand prix cars available to
If, 20 years from now, a race promoter wanted to run an event with cars from Lewis Hamilton’s fledgling career, they might struggle wealthy private customers, but you have to buy factory support as part of the deal: wherever the car goes, a flock of highly trained Italians follows. Early in 2010, Williams took Damon Hill’s 1996 title-winning FW18 chassis to Bahrain for a parade celebrating the F1 World Championship’s 60th anniversary. When the car cut out after a few laps, the cause was a mystery because the team’s antique laptop had packed up and no one was able to interrogate the MS-DOS software. Such problems have yet to afflict a 1970s’ Tyrrell. We are privileged that so much of the sport’s heritage survives, but we’ve reached an impasse – a point at which today’s historic cars might remain at the coalface for decades, as relatively little can be added to what we already have.
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RULE CHANGES DO NOT THROW AWAY!
RULE CHANGES Decisions taken at the Motor Sports Council meeting of 8 March 2011 that affect regulations in the Competitors’ and Officials’ Yearbook Consultation and ratification
The Motor Sports Council must consider all new regulations proposed by the Specialist Committees. The regulations are first published on the MSA website so that comments may be received before they are presented to the Motor Sports Council for approval, incorporating any modifications that result from the consultation process (which may have included review by (B) Nomenclature and Definitions
another Specialist Committee or Advisory Panel). Approved rule changes will be published here and will be incorporated into the next edition of the relevant MSA Yearbook(s).
Explanation of format
Regulation changes are shown as red additions or struck through deletions. Rescue, Stage Safety and Rally Recovery Units and Equipment
CUT OUT AND KEEP Updated rule changes to your Competitors’ and Officials’ Yearbook
Rally Recovery
*
Stage Safety Unit
Rescue
Date of implementation: 1 January 2012 (b) Cross Country Orienteering. An event involving a cross country map reading Medical exercise where the use of a vehicle is merely incidental as a means of transport, and in which the experience or skill of a Driver plays no part. navigating and driving a vehicle to an objective, or series of objectives. Reason: To update the Orienteering event regulations to cater for a lower level type of event which does not require winching. Pulse Oximeter (D) Data logging Reason: These are now considered standard equipment for those involved in the treatment of accident casualties. Virtually all units now carry such equipment and Date of implementation: immediate the cost of them is now relatively small, thus there are unlikely to be any adverse cost 7.1.7. Championship Organisers may specify in their Championship Regulations implications by imposing such a requirement. procedures for the gathering of on-board data logging information which shall be in accordance with MSA guidelines. (J) Competitors: Vehicles Reason: To remove reference to guidelines which are no longer held by the MSA. Date of implementation: 1 January 2012 This highly specialised area is more suited for inclusion in Championship Regulations. 5.2.1. Be fitted with bodywork including a driver (and passenger) compartment isolated from the engine, wet fluid filled batteries, gearbox, hydraulic reservoirs, (F) Emergency and Medical Services transmission shafts, chains, belts and gears, brakes, road wheels, suspension components including their operating linkages and attachments, petrol/fuel tanks, oil Date of implementation: 1 January 2012 tanks, water header tanks, and catch tanks and fuel system components (other than 3.4. The crew will consist of a minimum of two fully licensed crew members, one where such components comply with J5.13.1 and J5.13.2). of which whom may be replaced by a Doctor or MSA Registered Paramedic (i.e. two crew or one crew plus Doctor/Paramedic). With the exception of cars of Periods A-E, front engine vehicles to be fitted with a bonnet covering the engine and all its’ major components. An additional person may be carried but if that person is a trainee rescue licence holder they may use no more than two SSU duty signatures for the purpose of Excepting for cars of Periods A-E exposed transmission shafts, gears and chains to upgrading their licence. be guarded such as to prevent their being a hazard. Reason: Regulations allow use of SSUs at stage starts and thus the crew have Where a radiator is not isolated from the driver/passenger compartment a suitable the potential to be faced with the same situations as those crewing rescue units. By deflector to be fitted to prevent fluid directly coming into contact with the vehicle’s allowing a trainee to be an additional crew member on an SSU it creates an added occupants. training opportunity. Reason: Clarification that suspension components are included as items from which vehicle occupants, on the grounds of safety need to be isolated and that, in front
engine cars, to provide effective isolation of the vehicle occupants from the engine compartment, a bonnet is required. N.B further considered in the light of comments from Executive Committee and appropriately clarified
position or installed by means of demountable joints. Reinforcement tubes must not be attached to the bodyshell.
(a) Transverse Reinforcing Members: The fitting of two transverse members as shown in drawing K9 is 5.2.4. Not have the space normally occupied by passengers encroached upon in permitted. The transverse member fixed to the front rollbar must not such a way that may impede extrication of the driver from that side, but may have the encroach upon the space reserved for the driver or co-driver. It must passenger seats removed. be placed as high as possible but its lower edge must not be higher than the top of the dashboard. Reason: To bring these general vehicle regulations up to date and for clarity. (b) Doorbars (for side protection): 5.2.7. Aerodynamic devices may only be fitted to single seat Racing and Sports Longitudinal members must be fitted at each side of the vehicle (see Racing Cars (unless prohibited by an Approved Formula), or where specifically drawings K9 and K12). They may be removable. permitted, where FIA homologated, or where complying with National type approval. Such devices may not extend beyond the maximum width of the vehicle, above the The side protection must be as high as possible but not higher than one maximum height of any roof or extend longitudinally from the bodywork by more half of the total height of the door aperture measured from its base. than 100mm. (c) Roof Reinforcement: Reason: Clarification of dimensional requirements. Reinforcing the upper part of the rollcage by adding members as shown in drawing K10 is permitted. 5.19.2. The vehicle occupant(s), seated in their normal position, wearing normal equipment, with seat belts fastened and the steering wheel in place, must be able to (d) Reinforcement of bends and junctions: evacuate the cockpit in a maximum of 7 seconds. The reinforcement of the junction between the main rollbar or the front rollbar and the longitudinal members is permitted as shown in drawing Reason: For safety ensuring vehicle occupants can evacuate the car freely and K12 as is the reinforcement of the top rear bends of the lateral rollbars. unimpeded when required. Note this proposal covers all types of vehicle, aligns with the principles of the FIA Regulations and is the test routinely used as part of The ends of these reinforcing tubes must not be more than half way assessing individuals fitness to participate. down or along the members to which they are attached. (K) Competitor Safety (e) Windscreen Pillar Reinforcement A tube the upper end of which must be less than 100mm from the Date of implementation: immediate junction between the front (lateral) rollbar and the longitudinal (trans1.3.1. Main, Front and Lateral Rollbars. These frames or hoops must versal) member and the lower end less than 100mm from the front be made in one piece without joints. Their construction must be smooth and even, mounting foot of the front (lateral) rollbar, as shown in drawing K62. without ripples or cracks. The vertical part of the main rollbar must be as straight as possible and as close as possible to the interior contour of the bodyshell. The front The tube may be bent on condition that it is straight in side view and leg of the front rollbar or a lateral rollbar must be straight, or if it is not possible, that the angle of the bend does not exceed 20°. must follow the windscreen pillars and have only one bend with its lower vertical part unless a windscreen pillar reinforcement [K1.3.5(e)] is fitted. The mounting foot must not be rearward of the foremost point of the rollbar. Where the main rollbar forms the rear legs of a lateral rollbar (see drawing K6), the connection to the lateral rollbar must be at roof level. To achieve an efficient mounting to the bodyshell, the original interior trim may be modified around the safety cage and its mountings by cutting it away or by distortion. However, this modification does not permit the removal of the complete parts of upholstery or trim. Where necessary, the fusebox may be relocated to enable a rollcage to be fitted.
1.3.5. Optional Reinforcement of Rollcage. The diameter, thickness and material of reinforcements must be as defined in 1.3. They must be either welded in
Drawing No. 62 Reason: Following the decision of the National Court on 23rd September 2010, the Technical Advisory Panel propose this solution for existing cars which are non-compliant. This is a safety issue, front hoop failure is a possible risk where multiple bends appear in ROPS members and this additional reinforcing member allows existing cars to have a retrospective modification to ensure their compliance.
✃
(L) Permitted Tyres Date of implementation: immediate LIST 5 Tyres for Cross Country Events (Competitive Safaris, Hill Rallies and Point to Point)
5 (a) All Terrain MARIX • Ecoland • Panther Reason: To add the recently announced Marix Panther to the All Terrain Tyre List for Cross Country with immediate affect due to the current shortage of similar tyres following the recent poor weather. (P) Cross Country Events
Standard Sections 10.2. A Standard Section may not use the same stretch of road more than once, nor include any intermediate Time Controls. Where a Standard Section if is timed to the second it must not: Reason: Clarification of Standard Sections. Regularity Sections 10.4.6. May only be included in the following rallies as defined by Permit; Historic Road, Endurance Road, Navigation, Veteran, Vintage and Economy
20.1.3. When running an Orienteering event at night careful consideration should be given to restricting auxiliary lights. R18.5. is strongly recommended.
10.4.7. Consistency Test. May only be run under a Historic Road Rally Permit and at a venue with a current MSA Track Licence. Written MSA approval must be obtained for any Consistency Tests by submitting detailed diagrams and written explanations of their format and finishing procedures, before the event. Reason: Clarification of Regularity Sections to prevent misuse of off highway sections and to provide for a Regularity Consistency Test. Heavily Revised after Consultation. Navigational Rallies 16.1.3. Route cards or route information (except the location of Give Way signs, rejoin points or black spots) must not be issued for any competitor, prior to their start time. Only the following information may be issued to a competitor before their due start time; Rejoin Points, Blackspots and the location of the Finish.
54.1.1. Competitors are expected to drive and navigate to specific eight figure map references objectives.
16.1.4. Cars must comply with 18.5 and 18.6. Information in a sealed opaque envelope is not considered as issued until the envelope is opened.
54.1.2. Vehicles taking part in night orienteering events must comply with the statutory lighting regulations.
16.1.6. Rejoin Points may only be located at the end of Neutral Sections.
Date of implementation: 1 January 2012
16.1.7. Cars must comply with 18.3.3., 18.5 and 18.6. Reason: Clarification Navigation Rallies to reinforce definition in 7.1.3. and the difference with a Road Rally. To also correct the omission for application of noise 54.1.4 3. Competitors will be issued with route cards and instructions five minutes limits consistent with other road events. Amended after Consultation. before their due start time. 19.1.4. Historic Category 2 and 3 Road Rally Cars are permitted to use matt black 54.3. The method of scoring must be specified in the SRs. bonnets and wing tops subject to 19.3. 54.4. Objectives must be attempted without the use of winches or other means of Reason: To permit the common period modification for the bonnet and wing tops to assistance. be painted matt black. Reason: To update the Orienteering event regulations to cater for a lower level type 19.7.6. The fitting of a dual master cylinder, or any other type of device providing a of event which does not require winching. simultaneous action on all four wheels and divided action on two wheels, is permit ted, provided the original brake pedal and pivot point are used and they cannot be (R) Rallying adjusted to affect brake balance by either the Driver or the Co-Driver when normally seated in the car. Hydraulic handbrakes are not permitted. Date of implementation: 1 January 2012 Reason: Aligning the MSA regulations with those currently in use and accepted by competitors in the HRCR Historic Road Rally Championship. 54.1.3 2. A compass and watch should be carried by all Competitors SRs will specify equipment required to meet navigational and route instructions.