STAFF CAR SAGAS
Matt heads to Curborough for some pre-season testing
Matt Tomkins
WORKSHOP EDITOR
Engine 747cc/4-cyl/SV Power (standard) 12bhp@2400rpm Torque Not stated Gearbox 4-speed manual 0-50mph 58sec Top speed 51mph Fuel economy 45mpg
Attended ‘Sevens back to the Track’ track day at Curborough.
1 (day)
TIME
70 (£)
SPENT
4 MILES
1960 MORRIS MINOR CONVERTIBLE Out for a sunny blast.
1968 AUSTIN MINI COUNTRYMAN Now complete and looking for a new home.
1988 LAND ROVER NINETY Rotten exhaust just fell off!
Regular readers will be familiar with my big plans for this year. With the Austin Seven Special on the road after a two-year build, I’ve passed my ARDS assessment (PC, December 2023) and have my MSUK race licence in hand for 2024, with the intention to taking to the track with the 750 Motor Club’s Historic Formula, a motley group of Seven-based racers. I will confess, however, to being a little apprehensive when it comes to taking to the track. As the MSUK triangle dotted across every venue states quite clearly ‘Motorsport can be dangerous’, and I have got a daughter to worry about now. However, having spent my formative years with my dad watching Vintage Sports Car Club heroes wringing the necks of their machines at Silverstone and beyond, and with an open invitation from the 750 Motor Club to come and play, not to at least give it a go would forever leave me wondering ‘what if?’.
A conversation with VSCC stalwart Guy Loveridge at the NEC in November 2023 put my mind at ease. ‘Do you drive the Seven hard on the road?’ well, yes, I do. ‘Well on a track, everyone’s going in the same direction, other drivers are expecting you to be there, there are no potholes and if things go wrong, there are run-offs and marshals at every corner.’ Wise words and, having attended a 750 race meeting and met with Historic Formula competitors (PC, February 2024), it was clear that this is a friendly endeavour, full of advice and with consideration for the safety of all drivers at the forefront of every competitors’ mind. Time to put the Seven through its paces, then, and gain some track experience for myself.
For the past decade, 750 Historic Formula Austin 7 Representative, Charlie PlainJones, has organised a ‘Back to the Track’ day at Curborough Sprint course in order to allow fellow 750 competitors and first time track drivers alike the opportunity to test their cars and gain track-driving experience in a friendly and exclusively Austin Seven environment.
This years entrants ranged from supercharged racers out to ensure winter fettling had been productive to 12 year-old Henry, who h
