Safety Fast!
As most of us are aware Safety Fast! is the MG Car Club's monthly magazine. On these pages we have saved for future reading the articles that have been published in the mag that are of particular interests to those of us with Midgets and Sprites!
Here are extracts from December
Register notes
As you will have see from the title panel at the top, you have a new scribe. After three years of monthly notes Adrian decided to take a well earned rest, while also giving him more time for other projects. I'll do my best to continue the good work, but first I must say a big thanks to Adrian for all his efforts, just hope I can keep up the high standards he set!
You should already have seen my name within the mag as I organize the Register's Car of the Year Award, more of which later, but with not too much space lets get straight into things. The Register's year has been pretty busy our final events of the year being our annual pilgrimage to Mallory Park where we met up with our mates from MASC to cheer on the Midget Challenge guys. This was on the 11th October, and although the day started a bit damp things fortunately brightened up in time for the Midget race, which was won easily by Paul Sibley, once William Smallbridge's challenge evaporated due to drive train problems. Dominic Moony took the overall championship at his third attempt, even though he too had mechanical problems. Well done Dom, all the effort paid off in the end - although it looked like you'd never win it at one time! A big thanks must go to Larry Quinn and the 750 Motor Club for providing us the 50 free tickets to this event.
At the time of writing we have one more event organized, that being the rolling road shoot out at Aldon Engineering on the 31st November. This is always popular, where again many of our friends from MASC join us. Among the Midgets and Sprites this time we had a Triumph TR3A, a Mazda MX5, and the clubs MG ZT-T joining in the fun. A full report of the day will appear in SF early next year from the pen of James Thacker.
Apart from myself taking over the notes we also had a change of Registrar at the November committee meeting which saw Graham Springthorpe taking the helm. Graham will be familiar to many of you being one of our longest serving committee members, he will be moving house very soon, relocating from Essex to Somerset, so if you do need to contact him the email would be best. He can be found at: graham.springthorpe@btinternet.com
I mentioned the Car of the Year award, well this is really hotting up, there will be a full report next month so all I'll say for now is that two members are truly going for it, in the meantime however just remember you two, I'll not stand for any sabotage!
The new year will see the Register very busy indeed for we will not only be organizing the next MGCC Star Car - yes its a Midget - but also we will be the main driving force behind the 2011 Midget 50 celebrations. We are hoping the event will be similar to the very popular Spridget 50 and be a multi club affair, however if this is not the case then we will organize the event alone. Next year should also see an all new Register web-site, plus like last year, we'll be responsible for the main marquee at MG Live - phew! Before all that though, can I wish all our members a Very Merry Christmas, and peaceful New Year. Lets hope we can all enjoy some truly great motoring in 2010.
This months picture shows some of the Spridgets seen at Mallory last October
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John Britten 1931–
2009
It is with great sadness that I report the passing of John Britten, one
of the early racing exponents of the MG Midget. John, proprietor of the
Arkley-based sports car garage, which bore his name, did not start racing
until he was 34. The ex-Paddy Gaston Sprite Coupé RAM 35 was his
first competition car. His inaugural race was at Mallory Park in May 1966,
when he was unfortunate enough to roll the car at Shaws Hairpin, whereupon
it promptly caught fire. Undeterred by this slight setback, John and his
mechanic, Oliver Ball, built another racer using a crashed LHD 1962 Midget,
as a basis. This was later registered as SS 1800 – a number that many
would come to remember during the remainder of the 1966 and all through
the 1967 season.
John debuted the Lenham GT-bodied car at Brands Hatch on July 10 1966, where
he won the race for Sprites and Midgets, having led from flag to flag. During
the last half of the season he amassed no less than 14 wins. At the end
of the year he was awarded the Peter Collins Memorial Trophy for the most
promising newcomer. A regulations change for 1967 saw SS1800 revert to standard
silhouette, again with a body in fibreglass. That season’s tally was
28 wins and nine lap records. Many times the Midget had shown more powerful
and expensive sports cars the way home! He later raced another Midget, which
carried the notional registration BRI 10.
John was also responsible for the Arkley SS, a fibreglass kit to replace
corroded bodywork on tired Spridgets. In 1972, his racer was converted into
a Modsports Arkley, which John and later his Service Manager, Peter May,
successfully campaigned. The garage also had two unique Midget pick-up trucks.
His company’s half-page advertisements in the cars for sale columns
of Motor Sport, written in John’s inimitable style, became legendary.
He later moved from cars to cameras when he founded the Tecno and Fox Talbot
camera shop chain in 1971– sold to Jessops in 1998.
Ever progressing, in 1983, John launched the Morse Computer group. He still
maintained an interest in motor sport and around this time forged a link
with his friend Richard Lloyd’s international sports car racing team.
Perhaps his most significant involvement in the sport was yet to come when,
in 2003, he joined Jonathan Palmer and Sir Peter Ogden to found Motor Sports
Vision, which successfully acquired the Brands Hatch group of companies
and thus took control of Brands, Cadwell Park, Oulton Park and Snetterton
circuits. John’s business acumen played no small part in turning the
business round financially.
In 2007, my friend Shaun Rainford of CCK Motorsport, decided to build a
replica of SS 1800. I introduced him to John, who though surprised that
anyone should want to do such a thing, promised his help and also put us
in touch with Oliver Ball. That summer, Shaun and I took the completed replica
up to John’s Surrey home and spent an enjoyable morning with him as
he walked round and sat in the car whilst reminiscing about those 1960’s
races. He also confided that he named his first daughter Sophie Simone,
so he could pass on SS 1800 as her personal plate, once she passed her driving
test.
Ever the car enthusiast, John still had a project on the go: a 1935 Jensen
Sports Tourer, based on a Ford V8 engine and chassis, which he intended
to sprint, sadly his ill health and component supply problems meant it was
not completed before his passing. I last met John at the Goodwood Revival
a year or two back, when he gently chastised me for still having film in
my camera – he had naturally gone digital at the earliest opportunity.
John Britten – precise racing driver, astute businessman and a true
gentleman. He leaves his wife Diana and three daughters Sophie, Chloe and
Fleur to whom we extend our deepest sympathy. John Baggot
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