Getting to Race Day

So it was a bit of a strange/stressful week leading into my first race weekend...! Some things aren’t meant to be easy, and getting to race day seems to be another thing to add to the list, so here’s a little insight.

One week to race day:

“We have finalised our entry list and unfortunately you were not successful this time…” words that I absolutely dreaded to read. Thankfully it didn’t relate to this weekend’s race in the MGB, but it would mean that the planned triple header race for next weekend in the MK1 MX-5 was out the window. A very disappointing and frustrating situation that came about due to what seemed like an admin error after my entry had been confirmed and full payments had been taken.

Regardless, together with the great team at Kent MX-5, we pressed ahead with making plans to race the little Mazda at Silverstone in late August. The only problem being a further compressed time frame to gain those six license upgrade signatures!

48hrs to race day:

The MGB engine has some major issues. Following on from some ongoing engine temperature problems, the summary is that there is more to it and that there’s quite a high chance that the engine won’t be able to survive the weekend. The engine undergoes last minute inspections and testing from the legends at MASS Racing.

24hrs from race day:

The wizards at MASS have the engine back into the chassis and patched up as well as possible. The MGB makes its way to Raceworks Motorsport for final transport to Donington Park.

The final decision is to run the car gently, watch the temperature gauge constantly and try to get it home for the 2 license signatures. But the general feeling is that the engine is indeed “knackered”.

Race day should be exciting! I’ll always remember this week as a reality check of racing in classic cars!