Midland Centre Spring Sprint - April 2025
Curborough was at its sunniest best, not a cloud in the sky all day. It wasn't short-sleeve weather until after lunch though, a bitter little breeze numbed fingers early on. Ideal conditions for some brisk sprinting on Sunday April 6.
Another great collaboration with our good friends at Shenstone and District CC, who own Curborough. Thirty-five of their members turned out, with 30 from the MG Car Club. Nottingham SCC, Hagley and District, and BTRDA members made it up to a grand total of 72 heading for the start line. We also welcomed five novice drivers, all of whom behaved themselves; Simon Morris, clerk of the course, was very pleased. We expect to see them all again at the summer sprint in August on the figure of eight course.
Jake Wheeler won Class Sa in 40.57 in his standard ZR, a class for newcomers trying sprinting for the first time. He was in his first competitive event after attending the S&DCC Sprint course in September last year. He now owns Graham Harvey's car, which has been very successful over the years. Jake certainly knows how to extract the best from it.
In the first of the MGCC Speed Championship classes, David Coulthard's standard 1800 ZR set 39.50, an improvement of .01 sec on his previous best; a small margin, but he is consistently effective.
Martin Wollacott won Class MG2 for group 2 road going cars with 41.97 in his MGA. This car is almost a veteran; Martin has owned it for 40 years, and this year MGAs celebrate their 70th birthday. His previous best lap was 43.55; what a difference a warm day can make, but one has to take advantage of it.
Class MG3 for modified road going was a win for Simon Jones in his 1380cc Austin-Healey Sprite in 36.78. This was his first competitive event since 2019; previously he campaigned a Westfield. John Payne had owned the Sprite, which was a regular speed championship entry. It was a nip and tuck competition with Martin Lunn's 1380cc Midget on 37.73, previous best 39.50. He has moved from Group 2 into 3 this year.
Class MG4 modified non-road going was a win for Gregory Elwood's 1798cc MG in 39 dead. He's changed to sprinting this year from circuit racing, looks like a good move.
Graham Harvey won Class 1a for road cars up to 1400cc with 37.99 in his home-tuned 1380cc fuel injected Austin Mini; his previous best lap was 37.16. He was closely followed by long time Curborough runner Howard Cottrell's Midget on 38.69.
Class 1b for road cars had the biggest entry of 12. Jamie Yapp in his Mazda MX5 set 37.36; his previous best time was 37.09 in a Renault Clio 172 Cup. Second in a Clio was Paul Glendenning on 38.18, closely followed by Willars Lee on 38.39 in а 1998cc ZR, the 2023 MG Car Club overall winner of the sprint championship.
Rosemary Collins, running in Class MG4, was fastest lady in her MG ZS 2500cc, on 39.68; well done to her.
Dan Whitman was best novice with 37.20 in a Vauxhall Nova. This is his first sprint and competitive event in over 15 years, after a short spell in rallying. He says he is on a very steep learning curve but is coping well.
The fastest time by an MG was set by Martin Lunn's MG Midget in 37.73 seconds. He won the Midnight Cup for his effort.
Mike Hull set Fastest Time of the Day with 29.98 in a 998cc Mk1 Jedi, and won the Weston Cup.
There were a lot of smiley faces throughout the day. We were delighted to see a good crop of first timers and novices dipping their collective toe in the excitement of sprinting; this augurs well for the future, and builds on the back of steadily increasing entry numbers. Also, a brilliant day for a good number of competitors who took advantage of terrific track conditions to put in new best times, very satisfying.
The Summer Sprint will be the figure of eight and an opportunity to celebrate 70 years of MGA, 50 years of MGB GT and 30 years of MGF; not be missed.
Finally, a big thank you to all the marshals, timekeepers, rescue teams, medics and organisers without whom this friendly event wouldn't happen.
Thanks to Tony Lake for this report…