The first entry for the Winton Festival of Speed has been received as MG Racing builds for another strong showing.
The past three Festival of Speed events have seen over 30 entries for the MG field and 2018 should be no different. The first entry out of the blocks will see the return of a competitor who hasn’t been on track for a few years in David Vernall. Usually on the other side of the pit wall as Clerk of Course or a Steward he will get back on track with the MG field for the first time since 2015 where he ran this event in an MG ZR.
“I haven’t been able to do much the last few years and for 2 or 3 rounds I am usually in some officiating capacity, this event however is one I get the opportunity to be on track” Vernall commented. He will ‘debut’ and MG ZR 160 recently purchased which he plans to develop over the next few years, “I bought the car with the intention it is and easy to maintain entry level car and it’s a starting point for me again after stepping away from an MG B, Paul (Vernall) ran a car similar for 5 years and it was relatively trouble free and capable of being in the pack”.
The entry marks the first real step into racing properly for Vernall since stepping back in 2012, having done just one meeting since then in 2015. Vernall marks one of 6 expected ZR’s to enter the Festival of Speed.
Phil Chester confirmed despite being the first entry there has been strong interest in the event, “the response has been great to this event again, we are well down the path of our Friday night function again and tentatively we have some faces returning for this event.”
The Festival of Speed is always a really well supported event, the rural Victorian circuit is one of the few circuits where horsepower doesn’t rule. Despite that we should see some six V8 MG’s alongside up to ten late model MG’s joining a strong field of MG B’s and Invited British cars.
