We’re still looking at our full plans for next year- as soon as we know we’ll post something up on the blog.

Although we’ve been a little quiet on the blog due to weddings and Christmas we’ve still been busy working on our racing plans for the year.

Firstly since breaking down at Snetterton, we’ve been fixing the engine issue that effected our MG Midget so that it will be ready to race early in the year.

As well as that we’ve also purchased a MG Trophy Class C spec MGZR. It will be undergoing some changes, especially with the colour scheme, but here it is in its original form:

We’ll posting our exact plans and testing schedule in the coming weeks but this all means that we’re going to be selling our 2010 Class D championship winning number 65 car. If you’re interested it is up for sale here: http://www.churchsquareautos.com/vehicle-details.asp?make=44,60&ID=1881174

Those 30 years have seen a range of Motorsport activities whether sponsoring teams or racing ourselves. Formula 2000, Formula Forward, the MG Trophy and HSCC Touring Cars are some of the series that have seen our distinctive name adorn the cars. Even Marcus Pye revealed to us last year that he remembered us from the early 80s!

So happy birthday Church Square Autos and here’s to another 30 years in Shepperton.

Not bad at all!

Firstly we have recently acquired an FIA MG Midget – fresh from its race-restoration:

On October 2nd it had its first outing in the HRDC ‘Grand Touring Greats’ for pre-’66, sub-1500cc GT cars at Snetterton. After never having raced at Snetterton before and in his unfamiliar car Mike qualified 19th. In the race itself he had managed to get up to 12th until he had to retire a couple of laps from the end. After having thoroughly enjoyed himself though we’re looking forward to giving the Midget more outings next year.

Mike is back racing his Anglia at Silverstone this weekend in the HSCC Touring Cars where we will be posting updates.

Qualifying went well with Mike bedding himself in after a couple of months out of the cockpit and no testing since his last race. He qualified 22nd at the end of the 20 minute morning session.

The race took place in the afternoon. After a slight false start and then a slow getaway he found himself a couple of places down by paddock hill bend. However he had a strong race overtaking a variety of classic cars eventually ending up 16th by the flag. His whole race can be viewed here in full HD:

Mike will be racing next at Silverstone at the end of the month.

After having spent the best part of 8 months repairing it since his crash at Silverstone last year – the Anglia made it’s first outing in anger in it’s brand new broadspeed colour scheme:

Practice and qualifying took place on Friday and with the sun shining – Mike managed a decent position of 24th on the grid.

Although the sun threatened to appear Saturday’s race was overcast, and started badly too with Mike dropping a couple of places with a sluggish start. However after some good dicing with Anglia’s, Mini’s and Jag’s he came through to a creditable 23rd place with a fastest lap of 1 minute 59.

On board footage can be found here:

And here’s some photos from the race:

With all of these racing miles under his belt Mike will return to the track soon and we’ll let you know where as soon as we know!

It was a good day for everyone and the weather, again, was beautiful. Initially the practice session (2 laps round the track) went well, with our team posting the following times: Mike – 212.39 seconds, David – 216.60, Marc – 222.70. (Marc would claim it was just a practice run so the times didn’t matter!) Here’s the videos:

Mike practice:

David practice:

Marc practice:

The sprint itself, then involved two separate laps from standing starts, with the fastest laps counting. The first lap times were: David – 109.61 seconds, Mike – 110.58 and Marc – 111.17 , so all covered by only 1.5 seconds. The videos are here (not one for David due to technical issues):

Marc:

Mike:

The final official runs then were even faster with David winning with a 107.27 seconds (and finishing 39th overall out of 80 starters), Mike posted a 107.65 (42nd) and Marc with a 108.60 (46th). Again, there’s no video for David, but you can watch Marc and Mike (destroying an engine by overrevving it – not impressed!):

Marc:

Mike:

David then actually posted the fastest lap in the extra laps available at the end – a 105 seconds (over 2 faster than previously). David (for once!) and Marc’s extra laps are available here:

Thanks to everyone who came along! We’ll have updates about our next outing (Mike at Snetterton in the Anglia) in the coming days…

However, we’re still not sure which cars we’ll be using. The number 95 that Marc raced at Brands Hatch two weeks ago will definitely be there (with new brake pads as they were totally worn out by the end of the race!), but we’re still not sure whether the 65 will be ready. We’ve installed a new engine after the old one was completely wrecked at Brands Hatch, but it might not make it in time.

Anyway, the weather looks like it should be great, so we’d recommend you come down to watch us and the other 100+ competitors!