AUTOSPORT HISTORICS
32 25 JULY 2019 AUTOSPORT HISTORICS
s Nigel Brain lined up for the South Downs
Stages at the Goodwood Motor Circuit, it
was hard not to do a double take. For the
most part, his MGB roadster looked like a
conventional historic rally car thanks to its
mud flaps and a brace of spotlights. But down the flanks it wore
stickers from racing in the Classic Sports Car Club’s Classic K
series and Equipe GTS. That’s because, for 2019, he decided to
give his car a double identity to follow his Formula 1 heroes.
Brain used to rally a Ford Escort Mk2 in local Tarmac events
before enlisting in the military, during which time he flew the
Westland Lynx. It holds the official helicopter top speed record,
clocked at 249mph, so perhaps a return to the intensity of
motorsport was a given.
“I started rallying around in Escorts, very badly,” says Brain.
“I was much more successful as a co-driver because I was good
at reading the maps. I was a rubbish mechanic so any car I ever
built would break down and I spent my life trying to fix it.”
It wasn’t until a chat with John Pearson from Equipe GTS,
while on a tour in his Aston Martin DBS Volante, led to
Brain taking the plunge and buying the MGB. He sought
out MG Motorsport, purchased the 1964 example – built
within days of his birth – and began circuit racing.
Before long, the itch to return to stage rallying took hold,
but the dependability of the MG meant Brain didn’t want
to part with the car.
“I had a sense of loyalty to it,” he says. “In three seasons,
it’s never let me down – astonishingly, it’s never had a DNF.”
Taking the decision to stick with his car, Brain needed a
co-driver. His wife Jenny agreed to ride shotgun, so gained
her licence for their first outing at Goodwood in February.
While their partnership is close to home, the inspiration
for splitting their time between race and rallying had far
more renowned roots.
“I thought that back in the 1960s, guys like Jim Clark would
race in Formula 1, 2, 3 and just jump in anything. Some people
say they’re one discipline or another, but why?
“Old Farts Racing, which was founded by Stirling Moss,
has many members who are in their eighties and nineties.
They were in an era when absolutely anything went. They’d
be racing on a circuit, then doing
Monte Carlo, everything. That’s what
they had to do to make a living and
that’s what they enjoyed doing.”
Given Brain competes largely in
circuit rallies, there’s no need to fitEmulating the
versatility of
past legends
If you can’t decide whether to take your
historic car to the race circuit or on a
rally stage, then why not do both?
BY MATT KEW
A
Nigel and
Jenny Brain
split their time
between the
circuit and
the stagesMANSTONHAWKIN
S