Welcome to the Oddball Racing News site. Here you'll find the latest gossip on National Motorsport. For 2009 we are following a number of drivers in various formulae, and reporting on the matters of the moment. More updates to this site will be uploaded later in the New Year.

For coverage mail your news to news@oddballracing.com

1st July 2009
Project 8 Racing Second Stacy onto Organizing Committee
Although he didn’t stand for election at the AGM earlier this year, the committee
have asked Stacy to join them in an advisory capacity and he has graciously
accepted.  Effective immediately.

28th June 2009
Nip, Tuck and more full grids in TTRS
With Brian Mullender unavailable for Cadwell, Richard Eslick and Stacy Vickers travelled to Lincolnshire alone, and with the lack of accommodation (due to a lack of forward planning and a belief that Richard “snores too much”!) Stacy was camping in a tent in the trailer rather than Richard’s motorhome. Who said Motor Racing wasn’t glamorous.



Qualifying saw 4 10ths of a second cover the top 5 on the grid, with Tony Ellis’ larger 13B engined example on pole, followed by two BMW M3’s, Stacy and the flying Don Hughes
in 5th.

In race 1 Stacy made a great start (for once) and passed Wayne Howlett in his M3 for 2nd, borrowing some of the pit lane exit apron, and set after Tony Ellis. There followed a full 15 minutes of nip and tuck action, but Tony held his nerve and took the win despite some very close moments. Videos to follow.

In race 2 Stacy, now able to get the RX from the line more smartly, almost took the lead into turn 1 from Tony but grabbed 5th instead of 3rd on the climb through the box and that was enough for Tony to reclaim a lengths advantage. When grids are this tight you can’t afford those mistakes, and Tony made his escape leaving Stacy to defend from first Howletts M3 and when the BMW decided to exit stage right after rising the mountain on maximum throttle, the challenge to the RX7 was from series new recruit Colin Tester in a Sierra Cosworth.

Ellis secured an imperious 2nd win of the day and set a new lap record in his steadily developing class B machine, Vickers was 2nd winning class C, with Tester 3rd.

Rumours abounded that another RX7 was now in build for the series, and Stacy was heard to remark that he will be joining Ellis in class B with a larger “13B” engine next year. No less than 7 BMW 325’s are also in build and it was pleasing to see Olli Davies successfully complete a meeting in his ex Mark Fish Renault 5 Turbo.

28th June 2009
Tony Smith and Liam Crilly take the PBMW spoils at Cadwell
Click here for the race report

17th June 2009
Snetterton Photos and Review by Paul Belson
"Racing at Snetterton. Toyo Tires Racing Saloons - Stacy Vickers – Mazda RX7 in class C. Race two, leading the race. I’m sure there’s daylight under that there tire!

A few laps in, Stacy tagged the rear of Tony Ellis car coming out of the chicane. It was a pure racing incident from what I saw, and I was directly level with them. It was the lightest of nudges, nothing like the stuff those clowns in the BTCC do.





Unfortunately it was enough to help Tony into a spin, dropping him down the field. After the race, which Stacy won, he was interviewed on the podium. He immediately apologized to Tony and, I subsequently found out, offered on board footage from his car as evidence to the stewards as to what happened. He was given a 10 second penalty as a result, which dropped him down to third overall, and Tony up to second. A true gent"


14th June 2009
Donington Park Listed by Dunn and Bradstreet
Following last weeks downpour, flooded track, collapsed tunnels and surface failures Dunn and Bradstreet have now compiled a report on the Donington Park operators financial strength to add to their woes.

They report that Donington is in the bottom 2% for prompt payments and therefore “98% of UK businesses have a lower risk of paying significantly late.”. Further they were ranked last of 62,353 businesses in the same industry group for financial stability.

Since March the owners of Donington Ventures Leisure (Gillett and White) are personally funding the operation after the loss of a backer. All credit to them for doing so while they search for the major backer needed to deliver the circuit works not so much for the British Grand Prix but instead so the circuit can be utilised once again as a mainstay of the British motorsport calendar.

13th June 2009
P8R AGM & New Committee
P8R (PBMW and TTRS) held elections for their 2009 committee after the Snetterton races, and they now consist of; Julian Newman (Entries & Finance), Liam Crilly (Regulations), John Willcocks (Calendar), Charlie Moseley (TTRS Drivers Representative), Mike Dugdale (PBMW Drivers Representative), Media & Sponsorship (Jimmy Cuthbert) and Dave Kirby (Race Day Coordinator).  

The meeting lasted just over an hour and we are pleased to report it was good natured and positive throughout with all attendees looking forward to the coming year.

13th June 2009
Mazda RX7 Back with a Bang in TTRS
Even with the recession, breakdowns and accidents claiming nearly a dozen drivers from the TTRS grid a full 48 entries still qualified.



An entry which required some lateral thinking by the organizers and was resolved through the purchase of an additional race slot and the breaking up of the grid into 3 sections – A, B and C. With a double header format A&B, A&C, C&B they had everyone racing with everyone else in a sunny weekends racing.

Click here for the full race report


26th May 2009
OBR Launches the UK Grid Size League Tables
In the absence of this information being freely available we have decided to do the leg work for you. You’ll see who’s hot, who’s not and after many years of endeavour by the MSA grid size panel how successful they have been.

We were surprised to note that only half of the UK’s 100+ series
and championships puts on grids of 20+

Click here for the OBR league table section

29th April 2009
Stacy Vickers Completes London Marathon
Stacy ran the last Flora London Marathon on Sunday, raising over £3,500 for the
Anthony Nolan Trust in the process. 

Braving the mini heat wave he weathered blisters, nausea and dehydration to come home in front of the guy dressed as Great Uncle Bulgaria from the Wombles. Unfortunately Tobermory was just too quick. As was Mr Tickle, and the lady called Doris who was 80
if she was a day.




23rd April
Tom Wheatcroft takes legal action against Donington Park
for Unpaid Rent Previous owner Tom Wheatcroft has commenced legal proceedings against the tracks operator for £2.47m in rent arrears, and is pushing for a forfeiture of the lease.

Kevin Wheatcroft said;
"Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd owe us nearly £2.5m in rent dating back to September 2008. Despite receiving numerous reassurances over a number of months they have consistently failed to meet their financial obligations under the terms of the lease.

"We have held off taking legal action for as long as possible but have been left with no choice but to commence proceedings to recover the outstanding rent and forfeit the lease."

19th April
New Mazda RX7 sets Lap Record on Debut
The Mazda RX7 that Brian Mullender and Stacy Vickers self prepared this Winter had it’s first competitive outing at Silverstone on Sunday with the MSVR Toyo Tires Racing Saloons.  Following the first shake down at a Brands Hatch test day the car sported a rebuilt gearbox and numerous other modifications which were “run in” on the Saturday prior to
the race day.



First qualifying saw Stacy post a 1m09, just 4/10ths of a second shy of the benchmark Pre-93 Touring Cars lap record from 2007.

However, in the super competitive and 37 car strong TTRS grid this was good enough only for 9th.  With Stacy complaining of an unloaded left front wheel causing wheel locking, Brian, Stacy and Richard Eslick worked on setting the corner weights, made a raft of suspension changes and prepared for the first race.

Stacy set a time of 1m07.5 but disaster struck on lap 12 of the 18 lap race when he lost 3rd and 4th gear and was forced to retire.

The trio removed the gearbox, replaced it with a spare unit, made more suspension tweaks and readied the car to start the second race of the day from the back of the grid.



On his way through the field Stacy posted a new lap record of 1m05.705, some 3 seconds quicker than the previous best. Unfortunately his charge wasn’t rewarded by a podium, instead finishing in 4th place. After catching the leading trio who were circulating as one on the penultimate lap, he was unable to pass wily tail gunner John Willcocks’ M3 on the first time of asking, and the flag came down too early on what was regarded as a very successful weekend.

While pleased with the lap time, the guys are just as happy to have eradicated the brake vibrations the car suffered with all last year. With more to come it looks like a
great season ahead.

19th April
Toyo Tires Racing Saloons Silverstone Double Header
37 grateful drivers qualified at Silverstone today, after MSVR found an alternative for the cancelled Donington round (see previous).  The day started well with the news that Retro Cars magazine were providing coverage for the series, and that the first of the two races was being filmed for Motors TV.

The racing was tight throughout the field, and Tony Ellis’ class B (2.6l) Mazda RX7 showed his outright win at Brands Hatch was no fluke by claiming a second, a V12 Jaguar XJS also took a win with John Willcocks was always in close attendance.

Roger Kneebone’s BMW M5, a brace of E36 M3’s including debutante Wayne Howlett who overcame a scrutineering session that saw his extinguisher unintentionally fired, Ken Lark’s Corrado VR6, Dean Spurr’s Rover Tomcat and Stacy Vickers’ class C (2.1l) Mazda RX7 meant real depth to the grid.

Rob Payne was also fully in the mix, but lost his brakes at the end of
the straight in race two and crashed heavily



He was lucky to escape unscathed, if a little stiff, from what was a significant impact.

Colin Tester was a creditable 9th in his first ever race in his Sierra Cosworth.

Elsewhere class wins for Laurence Ball, Tom Ibrahim and James Hebditch,
Matt Urlwin and Rob Smith rounded the day.

The next race is at Snetterton on the 13th and 14th of June.

19th April
Gaz Shocks Production BMW Championship Silverstone Double Header
A full 40 cars took the start in race 1, where Len Colley took the initiative and held off
Rob Smith taking the flag to win by a considerable (by PBMW standards) 1.6 seconds.
Mike Dugdale came in 3rd with Liam Crilly in 4th.

In race two Rob Smith took the spoils from Liam Crilly, while Mike Dugdale and Alan Wileman fought for 4th with Dugdale eventually winning through.

13th April
Grid Watch
Just 6 (six) cars graced the BARC MX5 grid at Thruxton on Easter Sunday. It remains to be seen if any mergers will be forced, and next month we will start to put together a league table of club racing series so that the viability of each series can be established.

12th April
Donington Cancelled - MSVR reschedule to Silverstone
In the wake of the news that Donington no longer holds a valid track licence after their works, MSVR moved quickly to take Production BMW, TTRS, GT Cup and the Lotus Elise to Silverstone on the 19th April. Click here for the MSVR news release.

Donington are still to issue outlines of how the funding has been secured for the F1 developments, amidst rumours that work has stopped and payments have not been made in some areas since before Christmas. Their apparent non-communication to MSVR in the days leading up to the cancellation was notable, and it is not clear how they intend to execute the work required to have their licence reinstated. As a result British GT's and British F3 have also been forced to cancel their April meeting.

11th April
Mazda RX7 Rebuilt
Looking for the extra challenge Brian Mullender and Stacy Vickers have fully stripped, repainted and rebuilt the Mazda RX7 for the 2009 season. The work was comprehensive and as well as much needed repair work such as welding and replacements, it also sports newly engineered wheel assemblies, sparkling white powder coated suspension with some new tricks, new gear ratios and much more.

The only item carried over unchanged from last year is the engine and engine management system. We will be putting together a page on the rebuild shortly. It's first competitive outing is hoped to be this weekend at Silverstone but the guys will be testing their creation first. It is hoped they will be able to take the fight to the newly re-engined BMW M3's, M5's and the rest.

For older news please Click Here