Competition News – September 2025

BHR Anglesey Race Weekend 16 & 17 August

Tony Pearson reports –

Only two Morgans at Anglesey.  Weather was super.  Saturday saw Richard Simmonite in the Darmont and Tony Pearson in his F type.

Tony noticed a slight lack of power in practice but couldn’t find anything obvious.  Race one saw a tight race with the Morgans until lap 3 when the F type issue became very obvious as a rapid rise in engine temperature made Tony pull off the track. On coming to a halt, the radiator cap blew off some 20 feet in the air and misted the entire water contents in the air. This ended the weekend for Tony. Richard however had a trouble free weekend in the Darmont.

Meanwhile at Scarborough….

Oliver’s Mount Hillclimb Weekend 16 & 17 August

Tim Giddens reports –

Another excellent weekend at Oliver’s Mount; friendliness & helpfulness in paddock & office are unrivaled. Also pretty good value, with two practice & three timed runs each day.

It’s a very long way for us (we leave home on the Thursday & return on Tuesday, benefit of retirement). Would be much closer if Manchester could be moved, but still highly recommended.

 

I was pleased with our times-we managed to make up 8.46 seconds on the hillclimb & 12.21 on the twisty sprint since last year, mainly down to a change of sprockets allowing use of both gears on the climb.

 

There was one very minor inconvenience; for the sprint, we set off from the paddock in a group, to turn around in the far distance & return to line up for the start. The turning area is a bit narrow, any attempt to do that showing-off thing on my part just results in lots of noise & no action. So, jump out & push!

Last year, there was a very helpful marshal on the spot, but word must have got around…….

 

John & Jackie (Scruton) seemed to have a good weekend, with a slight improvement on the sprint time since last year (they couldn’t do the 2024 hillclimb, hence our podium position…..)

There was a change of passenger for the sprint on Sunday, a chap we met at Blyton. Typically, I’ve already forgotten his name (It’s me age, y’know). Unfortunately it’s not in the program, or I would remember immediately!

 

Jackie was having a good look at Bill & Hamish’s record times, so we expect to see them again next year. Along with a few others, if it doesn’t coincide with Anglesey.

Schwanenstadt Old Timer GP 2025

From Hamish Bibby…..

For the last 6 years I’ve had the honour of driving Bill Tuer’s Morgan, the sister car campaigned by my dad Greg Bibby with great success needed, let’s say a little more than a rebuild at the end of 2019.

At the start of the year we set the target to get to the Schwanenstadt old timer GP in August with both cars. It ran for the first time in the very early hours of the Monday with the boat booked to Calais 24 hours later.  It was by no means finished but we were going!

There were a good amount of Brits entered: Nancy Thomas on 650 Triumph solo, Phill Bridge and his daughter Kelly Fisher on their Triumph outfit, Sue and George with their Morgan Super Aero.  Sue had young solo rider Alex Linortner in the passenger seat.  Myself and Mia in the green, Bill and Maggie Tuer in the grey.

 

The star attraction Brit was Carl Fogarty riding in the legends class with Chris McGahan and Sidecar world champion Tim Reeves.

 

The Morgan went very well, first session we managed 5 laps of the 7 and second session we finished.  Sunday race 1 DNS, race 2 we finished so a huge success on what was quite an emotional weekend for the team. Without Bill Tuers total commitment to this it wouldn’t have happened. “Thanks Boss”

 

We were all very shocked to hear the news of Phill Bridge’s passing, he persevered with the outfit all weekend and succeeded finishing race 2.  He’ll be greatly missed around the many paddocksthat he was a part of. Condolences to his daughters, Sue and George and the rest of the family.

 

BHR Cadwell Park 13 & 14 September – Challenge Series Round 6

From Tony Pearson….

Cadwell saw the final round of the championship. We were well represented with 6 Morgans on the grid.

 

Keith Cook had lent his Racing class F2 to Bill Swallow, (a well known solo rider) so spent the 2 days in the passenger seat.  The weather held up for both days, with sunshine and no rain.

 

Saturday’s 1st race was somewhat eventful with Tony Pearson losing an exhaust and Tom Cowley losing a brake pedal!   Tom managed to miss the rest of the field and planted himself into the armco, and considering he came off reasonably lightly with minimal damage to the car and a bit of a sore chin. All this after a late start due to oil being dumped all over the circuit by a poorly sidecar!

 

The Challenge race was a bit more normal but Tom was taken off the start grid due to a technical error, leaving Danny Hodgson, Tony Pearson and Richard Simmonitte to battle it out.  Danny had a slight issue with pedals on the second to last lap and once sorted, set himself the goal of catching Tony. Unfortunately, the red flags came out meaning Tony took full advantage.

 

Sunday’s racing saw more issues in the early races, leaving Danny and Richard on the grid for the challenge race and Tom looking like Desperate Dan from the day before and deciding not to compete!!  Bad luck struck again with an oil pipe coming loose for Danny, meaning early retirement. Richard went on strong and quick to grab all the days points.

 

Just an added note.  Many of you will now know the passing of our excellent chief tech and good friend, Phil Bridge.  Phil had planned to come to Cadwell, as he always did, showing support and encouragement, as well as making log fires and bowls of chips for all.  We raised a glass of red to Phil on Saturday night. You will be sadly missed my old friend.

 

NHCA Wiscombe Park 14 September

From Tony Quinn……

Wet and windy at Wiscombe in Devon best describes it.  The hillclimb course is 1,000 yards long, the same as Shelsley Walsh, not as steep but with more challenging bends including two hairpins one right and the other left up a corkscrew to the finish.

 

The NHCA hold this event as their all-bike meeting and invitations extend to the Morgan crews on a day membership basis.  As usual we were made very welcome.

 

I had an interesting chat with a chap who has a supercharged Nimbus 4 cylinder 750cc motorcycle, the engine of which he plans to use in a threewheeler for hillclimbing.  Looking around the paddock there were some very interesting bikes including a 350cc Aermacchi Ala D’oro, a special framed Velocette with a sloping 350cc MAC engine and a BSA Rocket Three.

 

Despite the inclement conditions and an entry of 100 plus, the meeting ran smoothly with very few stoppages that only briefly paused proceedings.  This year three Morgans were entered and we had done our two practices and two timed runs by about 3:30pm.

 

All three Morgans behaved themselves with no mechanical issues of off-tarmac experiences.  The practice runs took place in damp conditions, but over the lunch break the rain came down steadily and never ceased.  However, this meant that the rain washed all oil, leaves and other debris off the track to give a consistent feel to things.

 

Tim and Alison Giddens from the wilds of mid-Wales have a great time wherever they go, be it up country to Scarborough or down to the South West for this event.  Phil Yarnall is more local, being based in Bath.  His 5 speeder is immaculate in Jaguar Pearl Grey and he’s getting quicker as he became more familiar with the twists and turns of Wiscombe.  Phil was well ahead of me in the first timed run.  The 5-speeder is much quicker off the line and along the two straights, but loses out to the smaller Super Sports MX2  through the tight corners and the esses.  The final result couldn’t have been closer.  Only a hundredth of a second separated our times for the final run.

	P1	P2	T1	T2
Phil Yamall and Nico Panigada	64.59	60.89	60.75	60.64
Tim and Alison Giddens	67.60	67.05	73.94	70.32
Tony Quinn and ballast	62.89	59.61	63.67	60.63

 Tony Quinn

Competition Treasurer