Last season at Snetterton

Racing With Olly       by Bruce Woods

Silverstone Circuit Saturday 8th March 1997 was the venue for the opening round of the 1997 MG Owners Club Racing Championship. Keenly contesting the championship once again is the 1994 Winner Adrian Olsson from Merrow Park.

Olsson, Sales Manager at local MG, Rover, & LDV dealer Wadham Kenning, had his 1996 championship bid brought to an abrupt end at the same circuit last year, when his car, leading the race, was hit from behind midway down the back straight by the eventual championship winner Fergus Campbell. The resulting accident saw Olsson's car thrown into a hundred mile an hour spin, smashing into the tyre wall, bouncing back out into the track with the rest of the field taking avoiding action. While Campbell drove on, Olsson by a miracle walked away from his now written off MG Maestro. Less fortunate was Ian Evans, who in avoiding the punted Olsson was also forced into the tyre wall. After over an hour of work by the circuit emergency crews Evans was eventually cut free from his car and rushed to hospital with a broken hip.

A winter of busy evenings preparing a new racecar, and it was a return to Silverstone for Olsson. Evans was there too, still on crutches, but most encouragingly, intending to be strapped back in his racing seat by the end of the season. However, like F1 World Champion Damon Hill, Campbell was not to be seen on the grid for the opening round.

Olsson, 39, qualified his new self prepared blue & yellow 2.0 litre MG Maestro on the inside of the front row of the grid, but a suspension failure made the handling of the car somewhat unpredictable, and by the time the chequered flag was waved he had slipped back to seventh place and 9 points.Also returning to the championship after a year off was Gomshall's Kim Chapman. After qualifying sixteenth Chapman had a fairly quiet race finishing in twelfth spot earning four points in his bright light green Maestro.The second round of the championship is on Easter Monday, 31st March, at the Wiltshire circuit of Castle Combe, where both drivers will be intending to improve their performance.

RACING WITH OLLY:
Driver: Adrian Olsson.
Mechanics: Tim Blackmore, John Nicholas, Danny Manktelow, Paul Clifford.
Team Manager: Bruce Woods.

Images from Silverstone.
The pictures below are stills taken from a video shot by Bruce Woods.

Olsson's Maestro for 1997	The lights green, & they're off!	Chapman's eye catching Maestro
The Winner-Rob Addisson. The rest of the field are just coming under the bridge.	1..Rob Addison (Montego) 2..Colin Simpson (Maestro) 3..Nick Golhar (Maestro)

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