MGF: Racing into History

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The MG Car Club has been involved with the racing history of the MGF from the very outset. Within a year of being launched in 1995, the first racing MGF hit the circuit as part of the MGCC Anglia Phoenix Championship in 1996. Of course, the Anglia Phoenix Championship lives on as the Peter Best Insurance-sponsored ‘MG Cup’.

That first racing MGF was built by Gaydon Team Spirit, an ‘after hours’ team of Rover factory employees, based at the Rover Engineering Centre at Gaydon. The driver was Don Kettleborough, who is well known in MG circles for his development and engineering work on the MGF.

Don’s racing MGF started life as a Quality Prototype phase four car (QP4), chassis number 48. ‘QP’ cars were used to iron out any issues encountered during the production line build process. It was a highly successful debut for Don and the car, taking a race win at a very wet Silverstone on Saturday March 16 1996. Thanks to a 100% finishing record, success continued throughout the season, with Don and the red MGF eventually winning the Championship.

On October 23 1997 during the Earls Court Motor Show, Rover Group and the MG Car Club made a joint announcement, proposing two race Championships specifically for the MGF, starting in 1998. One would be the high profile, big budget MGF Cup and the other, aimed at MG Car Club members, would be the multi-disciplinary Abingdon Trophy.

With the support of Rover Group, the MGCC Abingdon Trophy allowed the MGF owner to take part in races, sprints and hillclimbs in a mildly modified MGF. A kit could be purchased from Roversport, comprising all the parts a budding racing driver needed to start competing.

For the BRDC organised MGF Cup, 30 identical and highly modified racing MGFs were built. The Championship supported the British Grand Prix and was part of the ‘Power Tour’ package for the British GT and Formula 3 championships. By coincidence, both championships had their first races on Sunday April 5 1998.

The MGF Cup and the MGF Abingdon Trophy ran in parallel for the next three seasons, until 2001 when they merged to form the MGF Challenge, under the management of the MGCC. In 2003, the championship became the MGCC Mayflower MG Trophy and eventually today’s MG Trophy.

Whist the MGF and TF were dropped from the MG Trophy a couple of years ago, cars continued to race in the MGCC Cockshoot Cup and MG Cup, plus the MGCC Speed Championship for sprints and hillclimbs. Following the success of last year’s Church Square Autos-supported MGF 20th Anniversary race at MGLive!, the Club is delighted to announce a series of races for the MGF and TF.

Races will be held at each of our six race meetings in 2019. It is anticipated that the MGF races will initially be merged with either the Cockshoot Cup or MG Cup races as appropriate, until such time that numbers have grown sufficiently to support a stand-alone race. This has the added benefit that competitors will still be eligible to gain points for the Cockshoot Cup or MG Cup, in addition to the chance to win awards for the MGF/TF element of the race.

The MGF/TFs ran in two classes: one for fully modified race cars in the spirit of the MGF Cup and a second for more ‘standard’ cars, in the spirit of the Abingdon Trophy. Assignment to a class will be at the organiser’s discretion, based upon the specification of the car.

With the 25th anniversary of the launch of the MGF just around the corner in 2020, the Club looks forward to supporting the ongoing sporting history of this iconic sports car.

 

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Appeared in Safety Fast! February 2019

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