A Golden Jubilee of 50 years for any racing event creates an atmosphere of awe and reverence. Especially when that Jubilee is the 50th Anniversary of the Collier Brothers Cup and MG racing at ‘The Glen’ (Watkins Glen, NY).

Watkins Glen

‘The Glen’ is situated in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York State. It has been the scene of many Formula One championships and U.S. Grand Prix races. In addition, the challenging road course has also hosted many memorable sports car events. This time the SVRA (Sportscar Vintage Racing Association) held the 50th Anniversary Collier Cup Race to commemorate MG Motorcar Racing in the United States.

Going back fifty years to 1954, the MG motorcar was still a very different and exotic alternative to the new car designs coming from Detroit. The end of WW II had seen a renewed interest in British sports cars and in major events for them to compete in. The Collier Brothers funded such a race and the American public developed an instant romance with British sports cars. That romance remained strong until the unfortunate and sad end of MG motorcar production in 1980.

Over 150 MGs were entered in the race with about a third of them being Pre-war and ‘T’ series cars. The largest majority was, however, MGBs (Roadster and GT) with representation from many Clubs and independent teams; a true MG ‘happening’. There was a wreath laying ceremony to honour the Collier Brothers on Thursday afternoon.

Before the start

The B-Stingers, well aware of the importance of this Golden Jubilee, were determined to participate in this historic event, no matter what. Last year, during our construction of the racecar, the B-Stingers ‘publicly’ proposed making the Watkins Glen event their primary target. Many present thought it was a brash and overly ambitious plan. At that point we were barely a team, we did not have a finished car, but what we did have was unbridled ambition.

As work progressed on our racecar and we took our new car to the Wild Hare Run and later the not so fun (for us) Gold cup, both held at the VIR (Virginia International Raceway), we grew together and realised we were going to the Glen, barring some major calamity. Our hope was for all of us to make it there. We reasoned that if all went well we could probably do as well as the other racers working on a tight budget, and running with ‘legal’ cars, we could possibly run mid pack and have a good time.

The team members going packed the car early Thursday morning and headed north for a long drive (12 hours) to our potentially wet weekend of racing in the Finger Lakes. Due to the large entry list (over 150 cars) there would not be as much track time as some other events. Friday morning it was cool, grey and cloudy. At the racetrack we had plenty of time to sign in, off load, get our bearings and prepare for our first practice.

Rick Starkweather (our driver) despite his many years of racing had never driven at the Glen so he took it easy to ‘learn the lines’. We went over the car post session to make sure nothing was wrong with the precious new engine (rebuilt after the not so good Gold Cup) and tweak it for the following day. We ran 21st out of 82 cars with a best lap time of 2:37.

Saturday was qualifying and the weather was beautiful. We arrived at the track to behold the mist in the valley and sunlight on the track. Our schedule had a morning practice and the qualifying race in the afternoon (the qualifying race determined our grid position for the big race on Sunday). We elected to revisit ‘Tech’ and have the car weighed as we had modified the car since it was last weighed at Digital Chassis. To our surprise we were under the minimum and needed to add some ballast prior to heading out for practice.

The B-Stinger Team at the Glen

Start your engines

Our race group included Porsche 356s, Midgets, Healeys but was comprised mostly of MGBs. There were a few GTs and half of those were powerful V8s capable of lifting their left-hand front wheels several inches above the ground as they came around the peak of turn 9. We finished practice in 16th (fast time of 2:33) without incident, and made some checks and adjustments ready for the qualifying race.

With the sunshine came more heat and we adjusted the car’s set-up to account for this. We even decided to adjust the timing back from optimum HP to give a bit more torque for some of the uphill climbs, sharp corners and even the major sharp turn into an uphill climb known as the, ‘toe of the boot’. Alas, we do not have a nice high dollar close ratio gearbox like all the other racers.

The afternoon qualifying race came around and we were ready and at the pits in plenty of time. The race started and we ran an eventful session qualifying for the race in 11th place with a 2:31 lap (quickest time so far). We were all feeling happy and confident, the only downside was that Rick had commented on having gear selection issues while racing.

Saturday evening we explored the local village (Corning, NY) for somewhere to eat dinner and discuss the potential of failing synchros in the gearbox, before the live band started hammering out tunes and we retired to our hotels again.

Once again the pit crew watched the in-car (cockpit video camera) footage only to discover we had a bigger issue than the synchros. Listening to the ‘B-Stinger’ down the front straight it seemed evident that our gearbox was doing a great impression of a straight cut racing box, by making a lot of noise. We decided that there was little to do besides hope it held on long enough… oh, and not tell Rick.

We discussed our strategy over the hotel breakfast and decided to inform Rick to take it easy and run at 8/10ths for the Collier race which was more of a symbolic event for us. Also someone would ride down to the pits in the car with Rick to assess the extent of the noise first hand. Hopefully we would last and not be listed as one of the dreaded DNF (did not finish) cars.

Running well. A great race picture from the Collier Cup (C) Bob Harrington

The hunt

We did some pre race checks and adjustments and at the allotted time headed for the grid with Simon stashed in the passenger seat. Rick gave a cheery wave to a guy in a golf cart who struck Simon as looking a lot like Bobby Rahal… It was him. And he waved back! Needless to say the gearbox noise was not evident.

The Collier Races were run back to back with both groups (all 140 plus racing MGs) on the track briefly at the same time. The race started as planned and we jogged trackside to watch.

Rick was running well and as the laps ticked away we realised Rick was not exactly running ‘8/10ths’. He was having a blast mixing it up with his competitors and he posted a best time so far of 2:28 and finished 14th of 67 cars. Which would be great if the story ended here and we moved on to the Group 3 Race that afternoon?

However, as we were video taping the car as it came around turn 9 for the last time it was trailing blue smoke and we knew something was up. We showed the footage to the Crew Chief (Max Fulton) and then hot footed it back to the pits to find the car. Expecting to find, well we don’t know what really, maybe a big hole in the gearbox?

In our pit we were met by the familiar stench of hot 90 weight oil (only used in the axle and steering rack on MGBs). A quick check showed the left rear of the car soaked and it was obvious the axle seal had blown. We had two hours or so to the Group 3 Race and started pulling the axle apart and quickly determined that the seal had failed after the wheel bearing (we had indeed lost our bearing).

Getting the half shaft out proved to be a chore. In the scramble for tools and parts we realised how lucky we had been when packing our meagre travel box. We had packed an axle shaft (with bearing) but could not find a new seal or slide hammer. We went scrounging for a seal while the axle was slide hammered apart with borrowed tools. We just got everything back together and filled with oil in time to literally scramble for the grid. Whew!

Back to our clockwork world where the laps tick off and time goes too fast. We watched from the far end of the course and were surprised when Rick came by the first time in 5th position (from 11th on the grid). He was on pace and was passed by only one car while he posted his fastest time of the weekend at 2:26.4. We finished 6th overall and 5th in class of 45 cars.

The gearbox and axle… Did we mention the axle had a used bearing on it? It still managed to finish the race whole.

We beat a bunch of high budget veteran MGB racers and ‘mixed it up’ with the best out there. Most of all, despite the cost and lack of sleep, we had a great time upholding the honour of MG and taking part in the largest vintage race event with the largest ever collection of racing MGs to EVER race in the US. We race with history but that weekend we were part of it. The B-Stingers No.133 Race Car was 14th out of 67 starters in the Collier Cup II Event. In the Group 3 SVRA race we were 6th out of 46 starters (5th in class out of 18).

The B-Stinger Team at the Glen included: Simon Briggs, Rick Starkweather (our driver), Max Fulton, Andy Broughton, and Oliver Tolksdorf (soon to be our next driver), ably assisted by Jimmy Browne.

Unable to attend due to prior business obligations (but missed): Konrad Schoen and yours truly (Ted Alman).

Ted Alman