Round 1 of the 2014 Morgan Three Wheeler Club Challenge Series at Loton Park on Easter Monday.
A report and plenty of photos are all here. Read on. Results will follow ASAP.
Ancient and Modern
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Loton Park saw the Three Wheeler Club Competition Scene enter a new phase. Mark Reeves, R & D Manager at The Morgan Motor Company, entered his new 2 litre car. In contrast, Steve Lister’s 1927 Blackburne engined Aero gave away 86 years of development, 1 litre of engine capacity and 4 gears (the new car can go backwards too!)
Loton Park Speed Hill Climb course is set in the beautiful surroundings of a deer park owned by Sir Michael Leighton, and is situated 9 miles west of Shrewsbury on the B4393 road in the village of Alberbury. The course is 1475 yards (1349 metres) long with an average gradient of 1 in 25 (4%) and the steepest of 1 in 7 (14%) and is rated as one of the country’s most demanding hills by competitors.
Quick clicks: The Write-up (click). The Photos (click). The Video (click). The Results (click)
The Hill: (click on the map to enlarge):
The Words from Competition Secretary, Pete Clews:
A superb day is the best way to describe Easter Monday at Loton. We have usually competed on Sunday and Sunday was very wet whereas Monday saw the mist clear and the sun shine. Secondly it was a historic day in the annals of Morgan three Wheelers because we had the first 5 Speeder taking part and finally we had 20 entries making a real spectacle, in our own paddock. Added to this were the large number of club members who came along to support many from the northwest and midlands areas. There seemed to be three wheelers dotted everywhere with a group of 5 speeder owners who had come to offer their support to Mark Reeves and Joanna Wallace in their first competitive event. Mark is the R&D Manager at Morgan Motors and is very keen to get the 5 speeders on the track and offered to help other owners who came to prepare their cars.
The track was green after all the rain and the first practice runs were taken slowly.
Things soon speeded up when the competitive runs started after lunch. Tom Cowley had a significant birthday and was celebrating it with panache driving Tony Quinn’s Matchless racer with Lily in the passenger seat to stop him abusing it but he still put up a very fast time of 70.19, by far the fastest petrol engined car in Racing Class. The methanol cars saw a duel between Hamish Bibby and Bill Tuer both passengered by Maggie Tuer and this time Hamish took the honours to be fastest Morgan of the day. Tim Gray was enjoying his rebuilt chassis and was third fastest ahead of Chas Reynolds with Greg Bibby, Sue Darbyshire, Pete Clews and Dave Say completing the class after Alistair Rew with son Alex out for the first time, over revved the JAP and a valve touched the piston. Danny and Dave Hodgson sharing the racing F-Type suffered gearbox problems which put the Hodgson racer out of commission. Danny hopped into the TM car and did 81.42 for the TM class so he took the TM honours from Cathy Quinn followed by Rob Pike with his daughter Georgie in the passenger seat. Georgie was the youngest of a group of newcomers and behind third placed David Poplar was Anthony Jenkins in his first competitive drive with a creditable 88.15. Standard Class saw another young newcomer, Ian Hughes sitting beside Steve Lister whose Blackburne engined Aero easily saw off the father and son team of Chris and David Harfield.
The 5 Speeder was in Drivers class and Mark Reeves had set himself a target of breaking the 70 second barrier which he did with 69.24. It was a milestone having the new car compete and Mark and Joanna will be at “La Vie en Bleu” Prescott and at Curborough why not come along and introduce yourself he’s just like the rest of us who enjoy racing our three wheeled cars. The MTWC Challenge Round 1 was an excellent day’s sport with good company, good racing and sunshine let’s hope we can do the same for Round 2.
The Photos:
On the track, from Dennis Rushton. To view the photo gallery, click on any of the photos to bring up a larger version. You can scroll forwards and backwards using the [,] and [.] keys. Press [ESC] or click on the image to Exit.
- James Gill’s lovely Super Sports JAP sets the scene in the paddock.
- Cathy Quinn at Triangle in the F2
- Sue Darbyshire exiting Triangle. 1928 Super Aero
- Greg Bibby 8/80 JAP Super Sports Racer at Triangle.
- Alistair Rew. 1928 Aero JTOR JAP. Son alex in the passenger seat – first time out.
- Mark Reeves puts 2 litres of energy to good use at Triangle. 2013 M3W Morgan Three Wheeler.
- Danny Hodgson exits Triangle in the 1936 F2 Willment OHIV Racer.
- Anthony Jenkins, sharing Dave Hodgson’s F2 TM Car (in Team Hodgson colours to confuse everyone) exiting Keepers Corner
- Tim Gray bounces on the rumble strip at Keepers in his 1932 Super Sports Racing 8/80 JAP. Mum Annette keeps out of the way, tucked well down inside the car.
- Dave Say, nearly at the top, in Museum. 1931 Super Aero JTOR JAP
- Tom Cowley in Tony Quinn’s Matchless MX2 2 speeder Super Aero. Lily Quinn keeps an eye on things from the passenger seat.
- Bill Tuer at Museum in his rebuilt 8/80 JAP Super Sports Racer
- Hamish Bibby in Bill Tuer’s 8/80 JAP Super Sports Racer at Museum.
- Steve Lister at Museum. 1927 Aero Blackburne.
- Chas Reynolds approaches Museum in his 1933 Super Sports JAP
- Peter Clews, our Comp. Sec. arrives at Museum in the 1935 F Super with Elva OHIV engine.
- Chris Harfield, Club Secretary, exits Keepers.
- Dave Poplar, 1950 F Super, at Keepers.
- Relaxing at the top. Looking across from Museum to the Holding Area. Lovely when the sun shines!
In the paddock, from Sue Clews. To view the photo gallery, click on any of the photos to bring up a larger version. You can scroll forwards and backwards using the [,] and [.] keys. Press [ESC] or click on the image to Exit.
- A bevvy of beauties. Often the unsung heroines, pushing cars, priming fuel pumps, checking oil pumps, counting laps…. Left to right in the leathers: Maggie Tuer, Paula Heaney, Maggie Bridge and Annette Gray. In the background, Sue Weeks and Sue Rew.
- Bob Cope discreetly eavesdrops on Robin Rew and Lol Weeks sharing technical tips.
- Mark Reeves and Joanna Wallace chat about their introduction to Morgan Three Wheeler Racing. Take note – you can park the Five Speeders facing downhill without draining the gearbox oil onto the paddock!
- the Nailsea Boys. Tony Quinn (left) chatting to Dave Poplar
- “OK Alex, when Dave Say starts up, just keep hold of this plug lead please”. Alistair Rew introduces his son Alex to ignition systems using Dave Say’s Morgan as the guinea pig.
- The next generation!
- Time for a chat.
- Lined-up (sort of) and waiting to go.
The Video:
Mark Reeves in the Five Speeder – 2nd Run in 69.66 seconds. Click on Logo
The Results:
* Note: Mark Reeves, No. 40, was entered in the Drivers Class, not Touring Modified. Roger Orford’s record from 2004 still stands.