Simon
Rogers passed Damien Maloney in his Austin-Healey 100/6 during the
final lap of the Group Sa & Sb production sports car race at the
2012 Phillip Island Classic (picutred below).
2011
(updated 4 December)
November
saw two race meetings for Rogers Corse, however, Charles did not compete
at Sandown, but was there as pit crew & commentator. Father, Simon
made his return to the MG Racing field after a 12 year absence.
Simon
had excellent dices with Don Edwards (in a similar MGB) at Sandown,
but not all went well with fuel starvation problems for the first
two-thirds of the weekend. At one stage he borrowed the spare GT (refer
to Chris Carter's happy snap in the photo gallery) for one of the
Regularity sessions.
Above
photo courtesy of Grant Peterson -
www.formula5000.net
The
fuel issues were resolved after much work, and a simple solution -
carbruettor clean out.
On
24-28 November the Rogers father-son duo headed to Eastern Creek in
NSW, where they took both cars in a big logisitcal effort (with Charles
borrowing a trailer from Mark O'Neill), after father Simon well and
truly got the racing bug back at Sandown.
Eastgern
Creek was wet & wild for Friday practice & Saturday morning
qualifying, before fining up for the remainder of the weekend (refer
to full story in the race reports section).
For
Charles, who has being to Eastern Creek as commentator for the HSRCA
on numerous occasions since 2003, was a great experience to share
his first time there in his car alongside his father. It was also
Simon's first time ever racing the MGB outside of Victoria.
Above
photo: Simon (left) and Charles beside their cars in the first true
Rogers Corse photo (first time father & son competing at the same
event). Photo taken by Jeff Brown.
2011
update (4 October)
Sunday
2 October 2011 saw the first real outing of Rogers Corse with both
father and son competing during the same event for the first time,
in both of their cars.
The
event was the PIARC organised OLT & Sprint day at the Phillip
Island Circuit two hours from Melbourne.
The
OLT is the Observed Driving Test, which competitors entering motor
sport need to complete in order to obtain their CAMS racing licence.
My father Simon has spent the past couple of months preparing his
MGB Roadster (No. 26) for this particular day as he intends to finish
his 11 year gap from racing and make his return to the MG Racing ranks.
I
brought my MGB GT to Phillip Island for the Sprint event.
The
growth of Rogers Corse from one to two as a first at this event is
not entirely true, as both father and son shared Charles’ GT
(No. 28) at a recent Sprint & Regularity meeting at Calder Park
in mid-August that the MGCC organised. That day the car did about
50-60 laps of the Calder circuit. Simon had the advantage having competed
at Calder during his time racing in the 90s; however, it was the first
time for Charles with the Calder circuit rarely used in recent years.
Fierce competition between father and son prevailed throughout that
day, with Charles eventually taking home the pride of fastest lap
between the two, some 7 tenths of a second faster than Simon.
Back
to Phillip Island.
Simon
re-acquainted himself with the PI circuit, one which he had not competed
at since 1999. The hold up, however, in a car that had not seen the
track since that same year, was a fuel issue at high speed, however,
his driving standards were checked and approved. The observers put
together the grid for the 2 races as part of the OLT & to mix
things up, rather than fastest to slowest, gridded the cars up in
random. This put Simon on the front row alongside the similarly outpaced
Venom F.Vee of Michael Balcher. They were both swamped by the first
turn, but both came out having an excellent day & obtaining their
CAMS licences.
For
me it was a chance to take to the Phillip Island Circuit in an event
other than the Historic meeting where about 50-60 cars are on track
at once in the Regularity event. This day there were four groups,
of which three were for cars (other was open wheelers) & each
of the car fields comprised of about 20-25. This meant Charles had
the opportunity to finally see how fast he could go in the GT. Having
previously done a 2.23 & at the recent Classic a 2.27 he managed
in the first event (soon after the track had dried from heavy overnight
and morning rain) to record a fastest lap of 2.23, equal to his previous
set in 2010. Charles ended up taking part in six Sprint sessions,
and in the final session managed to topple the fastest time to a 2.18.2
The
Rogers Corse calendar for the remainder of 2011 will see Simon make
his “re-but” at the VHRR Historic Sandown meeting, competing
in both the MG & Invited British Sports Car and Regularity Division
One events. Charles will sit out this meeting to focus on being pit
crew for his father, but will compete in the Regularity events at
the HSRCA Eastern Creek Historic meeting on the last weekend of November.
2010
We
are all familiar with the 
terms
“life is too short” or “you only live once”.
I have chosen to embrace the latter and as such have decided to do
as much of what I enjoy most as possible – car racing.
Unfortunately, my budget does
not extend to racing a car; however, the budget is sufficient enough
to enjoy track time in regularity events.
2010 has been a busy year in
my life of following my motor sport passion, starting as a spectator
in New Zealand for the 2-week Bruce McLaren Festival in January. Upon
return to Australia I have since competed at the Phillip Island Classic
and Bathurst.
The second half of the year
is to be busy and costly, but the enjoyment and friendships should
make it all worthwhile.
The
name “Rogers Corse” has been adopted for these events.
It is hopeful the Rogers Corse name will also appear on my father
Simon’s MGB if he takes to the track again – potentially
at Sandown in November.
The calendar of events entered
is as follows:
6-8
August - FOSC Winter Invitation, Wakefield Park, NSW
- click
here formy FOSC Wakeifld experience!
13-15 August – Winton Festival of Speed, Winton, VIC
17-19 September – Wakefield Park Historic, Wakefield Park, NSW
15-17 October – MG Historic Race Meeting, Baskerville, TAS
5-7 November – Historic Sandown, Sandown, VIC
A busy schedule, but a very
fulfilling one for the remainder of this year.
2011 is yet to be planned out
in full, but at this early stage will include visits to Phillip Island,
Mallala in South Australia, and possibly a return to other interstate
circuits.
Full
reviews will be posted as each event occurs with links from the above
calendar.
