Fifties Sports Car Racing Club (FISCAR)

[John Turner]

Yes, TT, almost certainly will have classes for 'up to' and 'over' engine sizes. Need to look at the brake situation but we have to see who is going to join us before we can decide how much of an issue that is.

[lml698]

TT. The principle aim is t get all the cars onto their correct brakes, wheels, tyres, engines and weight. clearly after that late 50's cars are always likely to be a bit quicker than early 50's cars for all the obvious reasons. The main aim of the "50s inter Marque" race ( which will be our initial fare) is a "team" race for teams of 3 or 4 cars from the same marque and hopefully same model to compete on handicap against each other. We have a system where each car is in a pecking order of speed and improvement or lack of against that pre-ordained order gains points for your team. The team with the most points wins the Trophy for the day. We ran this system elsewhere for a few years and it worked well. We are less interested on who takes the flag and that result will be overshadowed by the team results.
In time we may develop a race structure for a scratch race and group cars into Under 2 L sports, 2- 3 L GT etc. Do you have a car you would like to enter with us ? We would love to have you along

[rjbell24]

The Fifties Sports Car Racing Club website www.fiftiesracing.org now has links to the entry form and SRS for Oulton 1st October - also the list of eligible cars and membership application form. We're looking forward to a really good grid!

[Stan Hibberd]

It was interesting to read the published list of eligible cars for this proposed series.

For me it was a little disapointing but not really surprising to see no Buckler models on this approved list.

There are some good examples of Buckler sports racers around the world the best examples are in New Zealand, several though are in the UK and in Europe.

It would be good to see Buckler DD1/DD2/90/MkXV included in your consideration.

In the UK most Bucklers have been active in recent years in Trials. Recently there has been a bit of a resurgence in Speed Hill Climbs at Wiscombe and Brabon.

A series of this kind could appeal to the younger Buckler owners who tend to be put off by the start up costs of getting into racing.

[lml698]

Stan
Great to hear from you. Well I admit the Buckler was not on the list and to be honest I didn't know much about them until your post !!! All I can say is that from what I know now if any Buckler wants to submit an entry form ( all on the website - www.fiftiesracing.org) I think it would stand every chance of being accepted. Clearly it will need to have the right engine ( BMC / C'climax or MG ) and not be bored out and be to the right weight etc.
Lets hope someone out there with one comes forward

[John Turner]

Bucklers are very rare and I do not remember seeing one on the tracks in 45 years of going to motor racing. However, can I remind everyone that the above is our core list only and we have said that we would give consideration to other cars. However, I should also add that Sports racers are not our main target; indeed we have, with one or two exceptions as explained in my earlier post, excluded them. However, if a road registered early Buckler should be presented to us, I'm sure that it would indeed merit our consideration.

[lml698]

Well put John. If anyone is looking for a suitable car I see that Peter Bradfield ( www.bradfieldcars.com) has an AC Bristol and AC Aceca and a nice Aston DB MkIII for sale both look ready to race and are perfect for the Fifties series.

[john ruston]

Or buy similar direct from an owner for much less money.
This place back in advertising job.

Is Peter Bradfield sponsoring series?

To give balance with similar cars

......and so has Hall and Hall,Fiskens,Andrew Hall,Tom Edmards,Maxted Page,Vanessa and Flavian,Proctors, etc,etc.

[John Turner]

Indeed they have John. Think Mark is just encouraging people to look at suitable cars for the series. The Aceca would be a particularly lovely addition to the grid! And of course, if your Speedster is still up for sale with Maxted-Page, very definitely another we would love to see.

[lml698]

John
Sorry if I offended anyone and I have no interest in car sales apart from the frustration of seeing cars in garages and not on the track !!!
I am happy to ask the FiSCaRC committee if we could post notes of 50s sports cars that are for sale on our site for no commission, but merely to help get them into new racing hands. I am happy to promote anyone trying to sell a car that would race in our series.
So the 3 cars already mentioned
John's - Porsche Speedster

anyone else??

[midgetman]

Buckler...my father's mate used to race one in the late fifties. So you need to remember more than 45 years JT!

[MGDavid]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Buckler...my father's mate used to race one in the late fifties. So you need to remember more than 45 years JT!

Buckler... made 3 or 4 miles from here - there's a plaque on the site of the old works just off Crowthorne High Street...

[Stan Hibberd]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Bucklers are very rare and I do not remember seeing one on the tracks in 45 years of going to motor racing. However, can I remind everyone that the above is our core list only and we have said that we would give consideration to other cars. However, I should also add that Sports racers are not our main target; indeed we have, with one or two exceptions as explained in my earlier post, excluded them. However, if a road registered early Buckler should be presented to us, I'm sure that it would indeed merit our consideration.

Bucklers are not all that rare, as you say not many are seen on the UK race circuits these days. My last race in a Mark XV Buckler in 1971 at Silverstone could have been the most recent track appearance in UK. However there are several cars nearing completion of rebuilds which may have the right kind of owners to take an interest in the 50s series. My reason for bringing this up on TT is to put a marker down in the hope that one or more Bucklers might join in.

[John Turner]

Good post, Stan, and comments noted, thank you.

[lml698]

Whilst discussing rarer cars we are looking for owner/ drivers of the following marques to join the series. Of the nearly 140+ on the dtabase we have everything else covered but no one who drives a 50s : Arnolt , BMW, Berkeley, Bristol, Fairthorpe , Fiat , HRG, Maserati, Peerless, Swallow, TVR
So if anyone can help or knows who can or where these owner/drivers are please let me know here or by PPM
Tks

[rjbell24]

If you visit our website www.fiftiesracing.org you can download the list of eligible cars, membership form etc. and contact us at mail@fiftiesracing.org

[rjbell24]

Following Mark's note on our search for cars, a visit to www.fiftiesracing.org will give you a link to the current list of eligible cars plus the car entry compliance form (on the 'Our cars' page that you can send to mail@fiftiesracing.org if you want us to check out your car for eligibility.

[lml698]

As you may imagine there is a vast amount of work and trawling involved in even getting basic specifications for 50's sports/GT cars. Lots of series have settled on their own weights for a number of reasons some of them not suitable for our series.
As a test I would be interested in what figures 10 Tenthers come up with for two iconic 50's cars
Jaguar XK 120 production fixed head coupe
MGA twin Cam road going fixed head coupe.

This should be a on the road weight and in period !! If you have a homologated or similar competition weight I would be interested in that as well.

[Peter Mallett]

Oh, I think the on the road weight for an XK 140 is around 850kg. The MGA is slightly lighter at 680.

Interestingly they both benefitted from discs all round (vented at the front), four pot calipers and of course aluminium radiators.

[Brian A]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Oh, I think the on the road weight for an XK 140 is around 850kg. The MGA is slightly lighter at 680.

Interestingly they both benefitted from discs all round (vented at the front), four pot calipers and of course aluminium radiators.

Careful Peter - someone might take you literally.

According to the Jaguar factory brochure, the XK120 fixed head had a "dry weight" of 25.5 cwt. This converts to 1298 Kgs, a tad more than 850. What constitutes "dry weight" has always been a bit of a mystery to me, one of those delightful old style measurements like the 265 bhp from and E-type!

[HRSTR5]

Any reason why MG T types aren't considered in your list?

[Peter Mallett]

I suspect only the TD and TF would fit. The former would be a bit slow but the 1500 TF would be a credible machine.

[lml698]

Thanks for the info Brian. I think Peters input rather underlines the reason for my question !!!!
I would be interested for any other inputs.
Regarding the MG T question ..well these cars are now well covered by MGCC races and cover a large range of cars often developed for races with different regs to ours. We don't intend to compete against other series/ races so that partly explains things. Also as stated only some models cover the 50's and we would be looking for fairly original race bred versions. We also don't include DB4's although they are in period( just) and some other marques/ models.

From work already done dry weight means... no water in radiator or wash bottle, no oil in engine, G'box and diff, no petrol and also I assume brake fluid !!!
Add that lot and remove the spare wheel and your closer to a weight to start a race !!!

[Peter Mallett]

For the MGA why not contact the MGA register through the MGCC, I'm sure they'd be glad to assist?

[Simon Hadfield]

Also missing is the Elva Courier - an MGA but much much lighter! (Mark Donohues' comment, not mine....)