Greetings all!
I'm coming back down to daily life after a fun pre-war and MG "T" filled
weekend at Blackhawk Farms Racetrack in Northern Illinois. For me, this
was a new experience as I had never raced wheel to wheel before, and
attended the VSCDA drivers school Thursday night and Friday. Some classroom
instruction Thursday night with helpful hints such as the red/yellow flag
means oil/coolant on the track, the black flag with orange dot is your car
is having mechanical troubles (what eh? a British car with mechanical
troubles?) and so on. Friday, we began with a short meeting and then were
assigned to an instructor. Fortunately for myself, my instructor was
Chris Beebe, ex-D-Production national champion (Lotus Super Seven), rebuilder
of my TB engine, and former Boss. After a few laps around the track in his
Honda CRX, I asked if anything could be transferred to the TB, i.e. I could
in no way imagine going as quickly with a car suspended on wire wheels with
a frame that was about as flexible as my old Flexible Flyer sled. The only
good answer, of course, was for Chris to take the TB out with me riding.
Funniest thing, it will go around corners! And the brakes are capable of
much more than I ever realized. Finally it was my turn. After a few slow
laps Chris helped by a light touch over my hand on the steering wheel (don't
turn in too soon), and hand gestures for braking points and so on. By
the end of the day I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable diving
into and sliding around corners. To finish the school, we entered a 5
lap race. I brought up the rear as all of the other cars were much faster,
but managed to keep up quite well with a Volvo P1800 and slightly off tune
Bugeye Sprite.
Saturday came practice and qualifying for the race. By then the other
Pre-War and T type cars had arrived. Frank Diaz in a 1931 MG "C" type
racer, Bob Sterling in a 1934 MG "NA" special, Marv Primack in a 1947
MG Lester special, Tom Moore, Ben Rose, Don Boehme all in TC's, Rey
Navarro in a TF, and John Kleen in a 1927 Bugatti type 37 Grand Prix.
The first couple practice laps were a wonderful surprise-seeing the
cars on the track, following them through corners is the best seat
in the house for watching a vintage race. By the time our qualifying
was over, I was gridded between Tom in his TC, and Rey in his TF.
Sunday brought an (Almost) all-MG handicap race, where the slowest car
starts first followed by the faster cars, the idea being that theoretically
all the cars cross the finish line at the same time. I managed to hold off
some of the faster cars (the NA, Lester, and some MGA's) for a few laps
before getting reeled in, but did manage to catch up to the slower TC's
and the C type. Really a lot of fun.
The final race was all the Pre war and T type cars. I was gridded 5th
and managed to move up to 3rd by the finish, but actually was given
3rd by Tom as the cars (TC, TB, and TF) are all so close in ability
that the only really safe way to pass was for the leading car to let
up on the throttle for a bit to let the car behind pass. We had a good
time swapping positions, alternately leading and following each other
through corners. A fun way to finish off the weekend.
Some initial reactions as a novice vintage MG racer: It's a whole lot of
fun, it's wonderful to see the cars on the track at speed, it's great
pushing the cars in a controlled environment, and I am fortunate that
nothing broke!
The next race I'm planning on is in September at Road America (Elkhart
Lake, WI). I urge Greg Petrolati and everyone else to attend (and
participate) if they can make it. By then, we should have the same
cars as last weekend with the addition of a couple more TC's and a couple
J2's. Keep them going, and keep them SAFETY FAST!
Bill Putnam
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