NEWS

Dear Drivers

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mike Breedon for all his work as Chairman of the BCV8 Championship and I am sure we all wish him well in his BCV8 retirement. 

At the AGM we had a new Chairman voted in, a long-time member of BCV8 Mike Harris.  Mike has raced in Class A, Class B and now races an FIA MGB so he has plenty of inside knowledge of the Championship.  I take this opportunity on behalf of all the BCV8 Championship drivers to welcome him.   Mike takes over the Chairmanship with some trepidation given the falling grid numbers as for some years now, in common with many historic style championships, the BCV8 has seen a slow, but steady, decline in membership and grid sizes.  This has, of course, been exacerbated recently with the economic climate. 

2012 is the 50th anniversary of the MGB and we believe that we should take every opportunity to use this to our advantage while we are promoting the Championship which next year will have been running for 36 years and is the only dedicated MGB Championship run under the banner of the M.G. Car Club

The committee have decided, after a lot of very difficult discussions, that a radical approach to reorganising the class structure is required and although the  MGBV8 has played a major part in the spectator value of the BCV8 series the powerful full-house 11” slicked machines have now reached a semi closure.   In an attempt to gain back those cars and drivers who decided the speed did not give for equal or fair racing, the bodywork for these full house V8’s has been taken back to practically standard and the maximum tyre width has been reduced to 7” on treaded rubber.

The New 2012 MGCC BCV8 Championship will now be in four classes as follows:

Class C  Fully Modified

From 2012 the old class C & D class cars will run on treaded tyres and be required to display a narrow silhouette and all run in class C.

Class B Road Modified & Standard V8 remains unchanged but with the return of the Standard V8’s.

Class AB FIA and Semi Standard will be for FIA MGB cars, we will be allowing cars built to FIA specification without papers to enter as we are aware of a number of cars in development that would like an opportunity to race with us.  Added to the AB class will be MGB cars conforming to the current Standard Class A in the Peter Best championship running to their Regulations. Many of the drivers originating from the BCV8 Championship

Class A Standard Regulations will remain the same but will have an inclusion to add the current MGOC Standard Class A cars running to their Regulations.

All regulations will be enforced with a relaxed attitude for 2012 and we would hope that we can all race in the spirit of the regulations in this transition period.

The committee and many members, will be working hard in the coming months to promote the BCV8 to a wider audience to attract as many new drivers as we can. I would urge us all to go out and promote the BCV8 as the vibrant friendly championship that it is.  If you know anyone who has a race car eligible for the BCV8 please, have a chat with them, and get them out with us in 2012.

Rob Gravett, the successful production saloon car racer, Rob Huff the current Chevrolet World Touring Car driver, David Franklin, Terry Osborne, Barry Sidery-Smith, Malcolm Beer, Warwick Banks, Roy, Russell and Spencer McCarthy to name just a few who give their thanks to the BCV8 Championship for having provided them with a way of entering enjoying motor racing and learning the basic skills in a friendly and affordable club series.

Pam McCarthy

BCV8 Championship Coordinator