Greetings Race Fans & Happy New Year to you all.

The annual tradition of the Motorsport Show at the NEC saw the usual subjects in attendance.

Blagger “it’s for the kids” Burchill was lapping the hall quicker than he laps a circuit (not difficult I hear you say) nabbing all the good discounts for the Loony Team.

He was closely followed by AlanF & son to record his actions on film.

Team Neaves were also out in force using their tried and trusted technique of boring the stall holders into submission and getting discounted products, so long as they agreed to move along to another stand.

Very little was left for Jonesey Racing so I had to be content with a collection of carrier bags and a show guide.

Later during the day Long Haired Dave and Brooke junior appeared.

An impromptu meeting was held around the bar area where we met Jerry of Silverstone Tyres.
He put forward a proposal to better any rival tyre suppliers 2010 price on both his own Silverstone brand and also other branded tyres. I understand the Silverstone tyres are subject of a test by one of the car magazines where they offered comparable performance for a lower price than the well known brands…..sounds a bit like the Daz test to me.

Jerry  has asked if drivers could submit a list of the tyres they are currently running and the best price they can genuinely get them for.

He has offered to do free fitting and balancing and provide a support van at the races.

I presume there may be a requirement for the cars to have his stickers on too but perhaps LHD could confirm this.

In any event I have offered to compile the list of tyres currently required by drivers to see if Jerry can better the prices being paid.

As I understand it there will be no obligation for drivers to run or purchase tyres from Jerry but certainly in my view if we can save a few bob on running costs and have the back-up at the circuit that cannot be a bad thing.

Let know know your views.

I also understand that we have a new treasurer in the shape of Blagger Burchill. In all honesty this is a thankless task and I wish him the very best of luck with it.

Again LHD can correct me if I have got this wrong but I believe with Burchill on board this will allow our series a little bit more say in how things are run, against when the MGCC managed things???

I also asked LHD how the race calendar was looking and he is on the case but appears to be encountering some delays in the response from the Official Side. Hopefully we will soon have those dates sent out.

I have had a few interesting suggestions for the Caption Competition, most of which I will be able to print “in no particular order”.

I will announce the results next month and will naturally respect the requests for anonymity by some of the entrants!

It looks like another interesting and exciting season lies before us especially with several new drivers joining, some of whom are seasoned veterans from other series.

Dave if you are able to get me a list of any of the newbies I will print a brief character assassination of them, or of course the drivers can send me in their details direct.

I am also aware that several new projects are in hand, if you are happy for me to put these in the public domain let me know….otherwise I may have to drop some strong hints or resort to my usual fabrication and embellishment techniques.

That’s all for now…..hopefully I will be able to print a fuller update next month.

Jonesey

The year ended up with the return of the Carrot Cruncher to his rightful place as overall Chump, I mean Champ.

Many of the Drivers summoned their remaining strength to attend the Annual Drivers Meeting which if all the comments were taken seriously promised to be a right old bun-fight.

In the end although the usual banter was there things are pretty much the same for 2010 as they were in 2009.

Class A is relatively unchanged except for a relaxation of the rules regarding Miss Daisy in an effort to improve her competitiveness.

Long Haired Dave remains in his favoured class but has to carry a small bag of sugar as ballast next year out….well he would have to if his car wasn’t already heavier than the weight increase imposed.

Burchill got a few extras permitted for his car but by and large it should be steady as we go for next year.

The Christmas Do was a relatively tame affair as the meeting clearly sapped the strength of the drivers, I am sure it had nothing to do with the amount of Christmas Spirit consumed.

The annual appearance of Blaine Neaves’ Red Shirt was eagerly awaited but failed to materialise as he went for a fetching sky-blue number instead.

A smattering of cups was dispensed throughout the evening with the majority of them going to Lofty Cripps, who having only prepared the one speech just re-used it each time he went up.

The award for sartorial elegance went to Cat Weasel who many of you will know as Andrew Barker in car 8. He thought he was given the cup for Best Rookie of the year but we all know it was the velvet suit that won it for him.

There was another Best Rookie this year too….a well deserved Cup for Ollie Neaves after his blistering performance  at Snetterton. Not sure about the miniscule tie though Ollie.

Driver’s Driver was Lofty Cripps…who I think was also entertainer of the year in my book.

This year’s Christmas Challenge was to make a little car out of matchboxes and washing up bottles.

Naturally I was no help in this area on my table, and we failed miserably despite the valiant efforts of Church Lane Racing.

But  now the moment you have all been waiting for…yes that’s right another first for this site, in a desperate attempt to retain my reader I am offering a fantastic motor sport related prize which will be awarded at the first race next year.

All you have to do is look at the following photo and submit a humorous caption to go with it.
Results to be published either next month or when I receive any.

All that remains is for me to thank you all for another clean and competitive years racing.

I look forward to more of the same in 2010.

Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to you all.

Jonesey

Hopefully you will all have received the proposed rule change info which LHD sent out last week.

If not I have copied it below for easy reference.

I don’t know if there are any other proposals on the Agenda for consideration and perhaps Dave could clarify this, but in the meantime I will use this new posting to allow any comment….for those of us who are willing to stick their head above the parapet.

If it goes some way to give a flavour for the general feeling of the drivers and also reduce the length of the drivers meeting…all well and good!!

Naturally I am happy to start the ball rolling and will place the first comment, which will deal with mainly the class A regs as that is the one I attempt to participate in.

Proposed regulation changes for 2010 season.

Generally the championship seems to be working well with ten rounds and a number or those as double header events.
The RAC MSA has indicated that the championship will be granted a permit for 2010 and a set of ‘Draft’ regulations will have to be submitted very shortly. This does not mean that the items below will or will not be adopted as default.

The drivers still have the chance to vote on amendments at the drivers meeting.

There are undoubtedly some changes that will appear to the MSA driven part of the regs, for instance the safety car amendment will be rolled into the main document.

All classes (sporting, not technical)
Clarification of grid times used to set two grids from a single qualifying session
Use of first and second fastest times. Trying to avoid inconsistency if championship
has some classes running in another race.

Points scoring to only use official posted race results. No more point for entry on in time. Easier for those that want to keep score for themselves. Also with many completing the season entry form it has become irrelevant to its original purpose of encouraging people to enter before the closing date.

However, it is still felt by MGCC that this is an incentive worth keeping so perhaps we put the season entry list up on the website or push for closing date entry lists from the club.

Class A
Clarification of Shock absorber mounting regs.
Make it very clear that the shockers can only mount on existing mounting holes, no
extra holes or alternate mountings like turrets.

Fibreglass panels may only replace bolted panels.

No fibreglass rear wings or rear valences etc. However no replacement of doors
whether cage has door bars or not.

 Restriction on cylinder head mods.
As well as valve size restrictions we could specify inlet/exhaust port/gasket
dimensions.

 Allow MGC to run a non standard cam.

Currently the MGC is restricted to a standard cam and it has been asked if a
sportier option could be allowed. If the engine is built to the limit of the current
regulations will it be slower than an MGB?

Class B
Restrict MGB V8 models in Class B.
3.5 litre engines only? Do we continue to allow 3.9 engines? Several people are
looking at building/buying cars and have 3.9 engines. Do we set the 3.9 weight
higher as per the MGR V8?

Move MGB V8 models to Class C.

Same comments as above.

Restrict MGC models.
Two main areas where MGC is possibly ahead, induction and tyre size
Reduce tyres back to same as B variants on 6inch rims.
Restrict carbs to production SU HS or HIF 6.

Restrict class B current popular cars to encourage Midgets.
How do Midget times compare? Similar to MGC above we could restrict the carbs
or tyres on MGBs. This would be at odds with the Cockshoot regs and would not
allow a progression from class A

Should any form of differential other than original be allowed?
Currently the MGB and V8 are allowed limited slip but not locking differentials,
should this continue, should it extend to other models?

Class C
V8 to be 3.5 litre only
See class B point above. Currently class B allows 3.9 litre engines and if we put all
V8’s in class C what engine maximum is allowed.
Further clarification of K series regulations.
Clarify the spec of the K series engine.

Once again romance is in the air as we all look forward to spending time with our true-loves.

That’s right I’m talking about our beloved MG’s!

I shall be treating mine to some “Flowers” naturally, (4.4% ABV) and possibly a rub down with the Sporting Life if all goes well.

There has been some banter following last months report and it seems the long haired one is short of material for the official site.

He is asking for drivers to send him their “profiles” so he can add them to the site plus any other interesting material.

(Although I notice my profile hasn’t been published Dave….nor yours for that matter)

If the site is to be updated on a regular basis as promised then if Dave has plenty of material to choose from this must be of help. Unlike me he cannot just make it up as he goes along. (Apparently it’s the spell-checking that takes the most time)

It has also been said that because the entries for Donington have been a little slow off the mark, this is the reason why our race  has been amalgamated (at present) so don’t delay, send your entry in now.

Hopefully Steve Carr will soon add the confirmed entry list to the MGCC site (as he did during 2008) so we can see who the slackers are!

In other news I understand major investment has been made in the Miss Daisy Montego. Jones junior has forked out £3 on a set of brake pads from Ebay.

I would have thought slowing the car down was the last thing he’d want to do.

The Blaine boys are clogging up the internet with photos of their mirror image Roadsters, which is all very well but when are they going to be ready? The half price race entry will be just a distant memory at the rate they are going!

Incidentally, it was good to see a true professional in action during my recent trip to the NEC. That’s right, I’m talking about “Blagger Burchill”.

No manufacturer was spared as he “smooth-talked” them into donating various bits for his car with his well worn “it’s all for the kids” patter.

If this didn’t work he fell back on his “as driven by Anthony Reid” line.

Good work!!

With the credit crunch biting some of the richer drivers have been e-mailing me asking for investment advice.

Well I have always said “no question too difficult”.

Having given it some thought, I’d say the best way to invest your surplus cash this year (if only!) would be to buy shares in Lead. If my suspicions are correct there could be a lot of extra ballast being dished out after race 1!!!!

Ok, that’s all for now, get back to your garages and chip out your MG’s…and get those entries off.

Jonesey

The count down has begun to the first race in April at Donington so I hope you are all working away on your cars.

2009 Predictions

1. James Darby will win the first race in class A with his new super-tuned engine.
2. Blaine Neaves will take a break from his manual labour and return to JCB Racing.
3. The overall race winner will be one of the incoming BCV8 guys.
4. Miss Daisy will return and consolidate her position at the back of the grid.
5. SheD will start to grow his hair again.
6. Pete Burchill will become over confident in his Anthony Reid tuned car and spin off on the first corner.
7. The official PBIC website will be updated annually (which will be a step forward).
8. Dan Ludlow will race without his sandbag and create several new lap records.
9. Weasley will part company with the Yellow Peril and enter a gleaming V8, sadly still painted yellow.

Just a short report this time out as it’s too **** cold!

In the meantime I have compiled a rogue’s gallery for you all to look at…..some familiar faces I think you will agree.

Click on the image below for those incriminating Christmas photos! (Double-click the photos individually for the full effect!)

Jonesey

Yes, that bit is actually true!! Following tough competition with no other eligible websites I am pleased to report that the Jonesey-Racing site left no other rivals reeling and was voted No 1 !!!

 Yahoo!

As I am clearly not offending enough of you, I have decided to make a concerted effort to wind up the whole field ….and why wait for next year? I’ll start right away!

I must say I was surprised (and grateful) to receive the Spirit of the Championship Award, so I immediately entered into the “spirit” of things and changed my tipple from wife-beater to Gin & Tonic.

As  the racing is over I have resorted to a post Dinner & Dance report for my material, and to be honest there is more to report now than when the racing was on!.

We were promised a better D&D than last year and sceptical as I was I must give credit where it’s due and express my thanks to Maggie and the team.

I was overwhelmed to find hot food  this year, plus gravy and also extra veg. Who knows next year there might even be hot water in the rooms too!

The after dinner speaker was sacked (HURRAH) and was replaced with a competition to find out which team was full of hot air with a balloon blowing game.

It came as no surprise to find the Churchlane Racing Team are still the biggest wind bags of them all!

A lady on an adjoining table was heard to exclaim “I’m blowing like mad but it won’t go up!!”

Too much drink I expect…….

Another shock of the evening  was when the new-look Long Haired Dave made his first public appearance.

As predicted by this AWARD WINNING website, the flowing locks were gone following his championship win. I will now be calling him Short Haired Dave which I will abbreviate to SHeD…in deference to his faithful V8!

Following the marathon drivers meeting it looks as though there will be a few new faces out with us next year.

If the superlight BCV8 cars don’t blow away in the wind they might even get to race!.
Also I hear that the Neaves Team intend to field 3  cars next year with the addition of the Blaine Boys.

I was somewhat concerned about one of the lads though as I noticed he was suffering from a bar related ailment. Yes that’s right it was the old short arms and long pocket illness. I understand there are concerns that he may not be able to reach the steering wheel next year!

I know they are not officially drivers yet but why waste time?

Despite strong protests Blaine Neaves insisted on hogging the microphone for almost an hour having said he would not give a speech in response to his class win. The only sad note was that he forgot to mention his success was all due to manual labour, I am happy to put matters right here.

Back to the meeting a newly married “Blue Streak”  was present and was clearly worried about the likelihood of too many cooked meals as he was asking to have the car weights reduced in class A.

Put it this way he won’t have to worry about success ballast.(You can read that any way you want!)

Weasley was given the night off from Hogwarts but remained mysteriously hard to spot spending most of the evening under the invisibility cloak, only emerging for a brief spell (geddit?) to collect his award for most improved spinner…er I mean driver.

James Walpole spent most of the evening working on his Doctor Evil impression and Pete the Snail Burchill spent most of the evening entertaining his Loony friends in the bar.

Beaker, sorry I mean Simon Hutchinson collected the coveted Driver’s Driver award and tried to issue a protest about the result of the balloon blowing contest.

The DJ made a valiant effort with the disco but really stood no chance once word got round that the bar would stay open until the last driver remained standing. I hear they are still waiting for Burchill and his team to leave!

Well there you are folks, a good time was had by all and with winter upon us it is time to return to your garages and start the fettling and the tweaking.

Just so you don’t miss out on all the Peter Best related gossip I am pleased to tell you that the next update will be published in the New Year when, as is the norm I will be making  some predictions for the 2009 season and bad-mouthing those of you who have yet to make a contribution to the Jonesey-Racing fighting fund.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy (used to be prosperous but let’s be honest the Country is broke) New Year and look forward to seeing you all soon back on track.

Jonesey.

As you can see no expense has been spent to create a fully festive report for you all.

First off, Congratulations are in order to the Long Haired One for clinching the 2008 title, yes I refer to our very own Yeti, Dave Brooke and his trusty MGB V8.

Well done!

Next an urgent matter has been brought to my attention, namely the Christmas Video.
Lots of you have been filming away and in order for the Christmas DVD to be created for 2008 Ben Jacques is asking if you can forward any footage to him for inclusion at the following address ASAP so he can get it ready in time for the Christmas Dinner.

11 Keats Avenue,
Britannia Village,
London,
E16 1TW.

In the absence of any real race news I have had to trawl the vaults for some little snippets of Peter Best related information and failing this make up the rest.

It has been generally understood that Long Haired Dave vowed not to cut his hair until he had won the championship, and although a previous winner you can see by the lengths he went to how long it has taken him to regain the Championship again!

Rumour has it that with his goal achieved those famous locks are to be snipped off and auctioned for charity, I would suggest a worthwhile one would be the www.motorsportsafetyfund.com which supports those hard pressed and unpaid Marshals we all rely on.

I believe there are no shortages of offers from those willing to perform the haircut and Blaine Neaves has been seen sharpening up his angle grinder in readiness.

Incidentally I have added another in-car video to my YouTube section, kindly supplied by Cool as a Cucumber Racer Simon Hutchinson. It covers the Castle Combe Race this year. 

So if you want to see how cool Simon is throughout the race you could do worse than fast forward this video to the 7 minutes and 15 seconds bit where you will see and hear Mr H offering words of encouragement and advice to a lowly white metro.(it’s on page two).

 And of course none of us can ever forget the traditional end of race chant again first brought to us by Mr H…it was a reference to where he liked to take his holidays as I recall…was it Baldocks, Baldocks and Baldocks again?

OK then “Just for Fun” I have conducted  thorough Festive Research into some of the more well known drivers and was surprised to find many of them have very famous alter egos and have often appeared in public in various roles when they are not racing.

So here we have a once off Christmas Feature I like to call Separated at Birth….sounds weird I know but you’ll get the idea.

Just have a look at the driver’s names below and follow the links to find their alter egos!!

To use a well known phrase, “in no particular order” here they are:-

DAVE BROOKE CAR 11

PETE BURCHILL CAR 13

SIMON (Mr Cool) HUTCHINSON CAR 43  

BLAINE NEAVES CAR 7

JAMES WALPOLE CAR 15

ALAN BROOKE CAR 44

JAMES DARBY CAR ??

DAN LUDLOW CAR CAR 70

 ALAN JONES CAR 45

In my last report I made reference to Robert Beasley by his nick-name Weasley. My lawyers have asked me to point out that he is not at all Weasley and is in fact a very nice bloke and it just happens that his name rhymes with Weasley. I am happy to put matters right here.

ROBERT BEASLEY CAR 80

OK then folks, I realise I will be eating my Christmas Dinner in the car park and have already employed a food taster to check for any poisoning attempts.

But I guess you are  all wondering if there is a look alike for me…well here it is JONESEY

Happy Christmas to you all and thanks for a Great Year’s Racing.

See you all at the Christmas Dinner….and by the way at great personal expense here are the Festive graphics…too much do you think?

Humbug!!

Jonesey

OK, second…I have been reminded that the PBIC website does show our full calendar! (Thanks Dave!)

This is the list provided by the AMOC and some of the class entries look a bit odd but at least you can see the names of those who will be there. (I have removed the car registration numbers)

 Pre-race report in the next few days!!

Jonesey

Race 7 MGCC Pete Best Insurance Challenge
 No. Driver/Hometown Entrant Car cc Year Colour Reg No.
 Class A MGCC (A)
 2 John Bussey/Burn Bridge Driver MG TC 1460 1946 Red/Black 
 12 Paul Eales/Bradwell Driver MG MGB GT 1800 1971 Yellow
 15 James Walpole/King’s Lynn Driver MG MGB Roadster 1860 1972 Red 
 18 Simon Tinkler/Worlingworth Driver MG MGB GT 1840 1971 Primrose 
 23 Frank Thomson/Sutton At Hone Driver MG MGB 1800 1969 Purple/White 
 27 Dave Brown/Winnersh Driver MG ZR160 1800 2002 Blue/Yellow
 40 JONESEY!!/Bordon Driver MG MGB GT 1860 1974 White/Blue 
 44 Alan Brooke/St Albans Driver Rover Metro Gti 1396 1992 Red  

50 Michael Piggott/Baldock Driver MG MGB GT 1830 1967 Grey  

99 Sandie Robbie/London Driver MG Midget Mk3 1275 1969 Blue/Burgundy 
 Class B MGCC (B)
 11 David Brooke/St Albans Driver MG MGB GT 3948 1972 Blue 
 13 Peter Burchill/West Houghton Driver MG ZS 2500 2002 Black
 22 Fenn/Thorpe St Andrew Driver MG MGB 1950 1963 Green/White 
 32 Alan Kyson/Winslow Driver MG MGB GT 3500 1972 Green
 58 Terry Burrows/Eaton Bray Driver MG MGB Roadster 1950 1981 Bronze 
 80 Robert Beasley/Ash Green Driver MG Midget 1380 1380 Yellow
 87 Steve Dowler/Hucclecote Driver MG Midget 1310 1965 Red/White
 Class C MGCC ( C)
 7 Blaine Neaves/Chiddingford Driver MG MGB Roadster 1800 1967 Red/White
 41 Kevin Williams/Tenby Driver MG 180ZS 2500 2005 Blue
 43 Simon Hutchinson/Thetford Driver MG Midget 1380 1975 Blue
 57 John Moon/Batheasion Driver Austin Healey Frogeye Sprite 1380 1959 Red/Gold
 Class E MGCC (E)
 47 Tony Howe/Hucknall Driver MG Metro 1293 1980 Yellow/Red/Gree
 Class F MGCC (F)
 51 Kevin Stibbards/Buckingham Gti Corporation Ltd MG MGF 1800 1999 Blue/yellow  

71 John Binczyk/Rushden Driver MG MGF 1800 1999 Red