Curborough Twisty Sprint – Sunday 9 June 2024
A Matchless Occasion
This year’s annual twisty sprint was held in memory of Greg Bibby, regular racer and wonderful all-round good guy who passed away earlier in the year. The event program had a lovely photo of Greg in his 8/80 JAP racer coming out of the chicane at Mallory Park with the inside wheel just kissing the rumble strip.
Entries were down slightly on last year with the Tuer racer and Chas Reynolds absent, but this left the field wide open. For competitors and spectators there was both quality and variety in the paddock. Most importantly there were some first timers and folk who had enjoyed last year returning for a second injection of Morgan excitement.
Before we turn to the activity on the track, it’s important to mention that the Curborough sprint is as much a social event as a competition meeting. Several folk arived the evening before and enjoyed plenty of pre-event banter. Sam Savage arrived towing a trailer with lots of oily bits in it from the Used Parts scheme which created much interest. As the Sunday progressed, a large number of club members arrived not only to see the racing but to meet up with friends old and new.
Star of the show was the return to the track of Mike Guess’s lovely purple 3-speed Aero powered by its rare 8/75 JAP. After over half a century of ownership by Mike, the Aero has been acquired by Gloucestershire member Roger Coombs who very generously lent it to Dave Cameron who put in a superb performance culminating in a best time of 46.61which is very much in line with the times that Mike was clocking in the early 1970s. Go to the Morgan Three Wheeler Racing page on Facebook for two in-car videos!
And talking of very pretty cars, Richard Simmonite brought along the ex-Dave Pittuck racing Darmont which sounded crisp as usual. However, it became reluctant to start as the day progressed and Richard’s last timed run was marred by a misfire that might have been due to battery issues.
It must be 30 years or so since we last saw John Blower’s Touring Modified F2 which we understand is being purchased by Simon Scott. Simon’s passenger was his son Austin and they double drove with Austin behind the wheel so that he could have his first taste of Morgan competition. Father just pipped son by a second or so, but it was very close.
Two similar looking yellow boat tail Sports? Yes, with Colin Bromley in the famous Safari, now J series JAP powered and Tom Golland with the more usual LTOWZ ohv w/c JAP on the front. Tom, who has previously competed in VSCC events, had a trouble-free day with a best of
As expected, the Safari was quicker but with only one timed run at 47.80 when a mysterious voltage drop caused Colin to draw stumps for the day.
Another first time entrant in Morgan competition was Tim Giddens from ever so rural Wales with his Super Aero, also JAP J series powered. Tim’s last foray into competition was many years ago when he was into 500s.
Shame that there were only two 5-speeders with John Scruton in Rob Pike’s racer and Dave Pitt. Dave, accompanied by the taciturn Barry Ballast, came out on top, but by only 2.90 seconds.
The contest for fastest F type looked like a five-cornered fight between Danny Hodgson, Rob Pike in Danny’s car,Tony Pearson, Keith Cook and Nigel Clay in Keith’s car, all being Ford 100E engined with ohv inlet heads courtesy of Willment and Elva. Danny prevailed with some
tyre-bending cornering, clocking 42.70 followed by Tony, Rob, Keith and Nigel.
Touring Modified was won by Tony Quinn passengered by Jackie Scruton who then swapped places with Tony to claim second place in the class with Cathy Quinn in her F2 taking third. Jackie also passengered for husband John in his 5-speeder, so she had a busy day!
Standard class contained but two Morgans with Steve Lister’s Aero Blackburne taking first place despite a strange problem requiring the choke to be used on the Bowden carburettor. Tom Edmonds’ lovely mid-20s Standard boiled merrily as he cruised around the course. Seeing it made one realise just how nippy even basic Morgans were in their era. Lovely sight – many thanks Tom for treating us.
Clan Cameron invaded Curborough with no less than six entries. The two youngest, Fergus and Arty, were motorbike mounted (JAP engines, of course) with elder brother Fin behind the wheel of the Chicken, now JAP 8/80 powered. Ewan had built a new engine for the historic three wheeler, the Halec, whilst nephew Hamish and mum Gigi drove and swapped to double drive the smart J series Super Aero.
First place in Racing class and overall FTD were both up for grabs. Last year at the all-bike Shelsley Walsh there was close competition between Alistair Rew in the JTOR Aero, Tom Cowley in the 1296cc MX2 2-speeder and Dave Pitt in the 5-speeder. Add to that Fin Cameron in the Chicken, it was anybody’s guess as to who would come out on top in Racing class. Strong contender for FTD was, of course, the Halec which has an impressive record in previous years with Ewan at the helm.
Tom Cowley with the big Matchless on methanol clinched both first in Racing class and Fastest Time of Day with a 40.50 on his second timed run. Fin was a very close second in class with 40.69, Dave third at 41.33 and Alistair fourth in 42.40. Ewan in the Halec was sandwiched between Tom and Fin with a very quick 41.61, just missing out on FTD. Fin took the Chicken out in the ‘open’ runs after the competition runs and eclipsed Tom’s time so honour was satisfied.
We were also joined by Tony Banister on his Triumph outfit and regular guest Mick Smedley on his 49cc Kreidler. After all the smoking rear tyres of the Morgans it was intriguing to watch Mick using his legs to paddle the 49cc monster off the line.
Lots of thank-yous are due to:
- the passengers, too many to mention individually
- those who volunteered to act as marshals
- Lesley Reaney, our competition Secretary who organised the event
- Steve Kowolski, Clerk of the Course and all the other officials without whom the event could not have taken place
- anyone else who I have forgotten.
Please visit the Morgan Three Wheeler Racing page on Facebook for lots of photos of the event, plus two excellent videos on-board with Dave Cameron in the 1932 Aero JAP 8/75.
Also, have a look at the interviews with competitors conducted by our young roving reporter, Alex: All interviews of Morgan 3 wheeler sprint course at Curborough (youtube.com)
Next up is Barbon hillclimb on Saturday 22 June, swiftly followed by the all-bike Shelsey Walsh hillclimb on Saturday 29 June. It’s a busy month.
Tony Quinn