MG Enthusiast Magazine MG Enthusiast August 2013 Edizione posteriore

LAST ISSUE WE HELD BACK a couple of
pages so that we could rush our first
impressions of the MG3 into the
magazine. Since then, the cars have been
shown to great acclaim at MG Live! and this
month we have a more detailed assessment of
the car and its role within MG. The undoubted
conclusion is that for a little car, it has a massive
role to play. Turn to p6 for the full five pages.
That does mean that the rest of the News
pages have been a bit squeezed, especially
since we have made room to at least try and
do MG Live! justice as well (see p12/p14). So I
hope you will forgive me for taking the unusual
step of squeezing in my BTCC report here.
This month’s racing was at Croft, and while it
was not generally a great day for MG, it did end
on a promising high as the teams went into the
mid-season break. To start with the bad news,
in Race One the MGs looked out of sorts and
were more concerned with desperately
defending their positions than attacking, Plato
struggling to a disappointing sixth with Tordoff
seventh as the BMWs emerged as potential
championship rivals to the two MG6s and
multiple Honda Civics. Worse was to come in
Race Two when the MGs were the only cars to
choose wet weather tyres. They streaked
ahead in the rain on the first two laps, but then
the track dried and they might as well have
been driving backwards, finishing dead last.
And the good news? In Race Three with
pouring rain and standing water causing
mayhem, Plato and Tordoff started from the
back of the grid but traded fastest lap times
with each other as they carved through the
field to finish sixth and seventh respectively. It
was a major demonstration of skill and
commitment in cars that were finally on song
and means the next round at Snetterton on
August 4 suddenly promises to be a lot more
exciting – I can’t wait!