LOCATION

Near Chippenham & Castle Combe Circuit

Offices, manufacturing, preparation and machine shops  & Hewland Gearbox Agency

HISTORY

1989 MBR Formed by Mark Bailey

Mark Bailey wins the TF3 Championship Click for photo

1990 MBR competes in TF3 Championship with William Hewland, Finishes 6th overall Click for photo

1991 MBR competes in TF3 Championship with David Jacklin Click for photo Finishes runner-up

MBR competes in Pre-87 F3 Championship with William Hewland Click for photo Finishes 3rd

1992 First full season in Formula Three for MBR, Drivers at MBR - William Hewland & Paul Evans Click for photo

Paul Evans won his debut race in F3 at Silverstone Click for photo

Adrian Cottrell finished 3rd in first ever drive in F3

Team Class B results: 8 wins, 8 thirds, 2 fifths, 6 fastest laps, 2 lap records, Overall position: F3 B-Class Champions

1993 Competed in Formula 3 championships, running cars for Derek Watts, Dominic Sutton, Jean Clermont, Steve Allen and Paul Quinn Click for photo

1994 No regular drivers but running two cars by the end of the year Click for photo

Tests with Dallara F393 and Ricardo Rossett and Marc Gene

Johnny Mowlem competes part of season and finishes 6th in F3 B Championship

The Team acheives five 2nd places, three 3rds, one 4th and one 5th place Click for photo

1995 MBR enters Dallara Mugen F394 in the F3 B Class Championship, No regular drivers

Team success: Johnny Mowlem gains top ten finish overall Click for photo

Tavo Hellmund runs at MBR

Other results: one lap record, four fastest lap times, four wins, two 2nds, two 3rds and two 4ths

1996 Backed by TOMS (Toyota works engines with all the technical support & resources) to run in Formula Three Click for photo

Chris Clark competed in three races finishing 2nd each time

Tavo Hellmund with no testing finished 3rd and won pole position in 5 races  Click for photo

MBR reconsidered their position and decided to turn their attention to Sportscar racing, acquiring two ProSport 3000 cars driven by David Jacklin and Barry Shaw  Click for photo

David Jacklin scored 3rd at Brands Hatch and two 4th places

1997 David Jacklin and Barry Shaw compete in the ProSport 3000 Championship. This includes competing at Spa Belgium. Tavo Hellmund is a guest driver at Mallory Park.

MBR acquire a rolling chassis to compete in the ISRS, The car is the sister car to the Daytona 24 Hr runner and it is completely redesigned to meet FIA and ISRS requirements  Click for photo

A Ford V6 Engine is fitted and the car runs for the last ISRS race at Jarama. The Team get a 3rd place finish in SR2 Class first time out

1998 the decision is made to compete in the ISRS SR2 Championship Click for photo

Drivers @ MBR in 1998 are Barry Shaw, Heinrich Langfermann, JF Yvonn, Adrian Cottrell Click for photo, also Paul Evans, & Martyn Smith.

Race finishes are acheived at Donington & Nurburgring Click for photo

Pole positions are gained at LeMans and Kyalami. Click for photo 2 MBR972's are built & testing by Oct'98

One MBR972 Ford competed 5 races, and the other MBR972 Rover 6R4 competed 1 race.

The Ford engine is replaced at the end of the season for the Rover 6R4 engine.

For the last race at Kyalami, RSA, MBR's 2nd 972 car competes  Click for photo

MBR are the ISRS SR2 1998 Championship runner-up

1999 Using their two MBR 972 cars (car no's 50 & 51) fitted with Rover 6R4 engines the Team are to compete in the ISRS SR2 Championship

27/28 March'99 Barcelona, pole position drivers Richard Fores & Heinrich Langfermann

10/11 April'99 Monza, finished 3rd in class 8th overall, Barry Shaw & JF Yvonn

15/16 May'99 two MBR972's compete - B Shaw & H Langfermann, R Fores & Ian Giles  Click for photo

Donington 17/18 July'99 two MBR972's - Barry Shaw & Nigel Smith, Heinrich Langfermann & Richard Fores. One car's engine fails, the other car's chassis is badly damaged in qualifying, but a complete car is built up by the Team overnight in the garages, and it then successfully finishes the 2½ hour race Click for photo

Kyalami 26th - 28th November 1999, a last minute request meant that the Team had to organize themselves very quickly to attend the race meeting.

South African drivers Francois Gerber, Alan Eve and Colin Frost drove the MBR972 at the meeting. Having not driven the car beforehand all their experience was needed for an easy transition to the Sportscars from the smaller VSP cars with less power, that they usually drive. But they all found the MBR car easy to drive and just needed more time before the race to improve their lap times  Click for photo

Qualifying was just one timed lap because of an incident on the second lap, which prevented the Team from qualifying higher in class. The race was shortened to 1½ hours due to torrential rain conditions and Alan Eve started the race behind the pace car for the first 20 minutes. Colin Frost went out on wets on a gradually drying track. The Team did eventually get to change to slick tyres when the third driver Francois Gerber took over. All three drivers had very little experience on a wet track, but drove sensibly and cautiously to a good race finish. Bailey said afterwards 'A dry track would have definitely been to our advantage, but we were very pleased with a good Team result. It was hard work but the Team and drivers all thoroughly enjoyed their time at Kyalami'. Click for photo

2000 The MBR972 MKII is finished in time for the first race of the season to compete at Barcelona on 25th/ 26th March with drivers Nicke Blom and William Hewland. Click for photo

After being bugged by engine and electrical gremlins, the car only completes 3 qualifying laps, and is to start at the back of the grid. After extensive work on the car overnight by the team the car goes out in the warm-up session the next day and times showed 11th overall and 2nd in class.

Nicke Blom started the race and by the time of the driver change over he'd moved the car up from last to 4th in class. A demon last pit stop also moves the car up another place, and with just 20 minutes remaining in the race William Hewland has driven the MBR972 up to 1st in class, and 8th overall (out of 22 cars) and a 60 second lead, with the next SR2 behind him still needing a pit stop. But unfortunately what looked liked being an inevitable win for the team, was prematurely ended, after a hub sheered on a rear wheel putting the car and driver into the gravel at the side of the track. The only fortunate part being that William had noticed a change in the car just before the incident and had slowed his pace in avoidance, but not before crossing the start finish straight, and too late to limp the car into the pits to be worked on. The result left the drivers and crew deflated, but optimistic for future races after having lead the race with a comfortable margin, even though during the race, the engine was losing out on power along the straights to the other SR2 competitors . Click for photo

SPA  19th - 21st May - QUALIFYING - Richard went out first on new tyres but on his flying laps was held up by a yellow flag and a slower car, which prevented him from qualifying higher up the grid. Simon was second to go out, but as soon as he sat in the car it poured down, and on wet tyres he was never going to better Richard's lap times . Click for Photo

THE RACE - Richard started the race for the MBR Team, but due to very bad weather conditions it was started for 2 laps behind the pace car. When the race did eventually get going Richard made a flying start and was up to 5th place (from 11th) by the third lap, but was hit in all the bedlam of a hectic start and as a result ended up spinning out at the 'bus stop' chicane during the third lap. This stranded the car until Richard got the car back to the pits to be looked at, which meant that the car would be down by 2½ laps when it got back out again. He kept the car going around the track but was suffering with bad under steer as a result of the earlier hit and he decided to pit early in an attempt to cure the problem. Team manager Mark Bailey then made the decision to change drivers and tyres, and Simon went out on a still wet track and proceeded to work back up the field again to 7th position. He pitted later on in the race for a last fuel stop, but unfortunately was caught speeding in the pit lane and had to return to the pits again for a 10 second stop/ go penalty. Simon then rejoined the race on a drying track, and could have put slick tyres on the car, but with only 10 laps left it was decided that the extra time delay would have been of even less of a benefit and he was left out on wet tyres. Even so he still managed to overtake other SR2 cars in the closing laps and got back up to 7th place again, setting the 3rd fastest lap time of the lights class. Click for Photo

The team were philosophical after the race, and pleased to have finished the race in such atrocious conditions, and in 10th place overall . On contemplating the lost laps, it left MBR thinking of a lost podium finish, but glad to get the car back in good condition .......... and the drivers!! After they had both performed well in very bad weather around the Spa circuit.

Donington - 26 - 27 Aug 2000 Drivers Adrian Cottrell and Richard Fores, in MBR972 MKII. Qualifying was done in very wet conditions and the Avon tyres used for qualifying didn't work very well in the conditions. This meant Adrian started the race from 16th in Class, and after a ½ hour period had worked his way up to 6th in Class, but on lap 14 a clutch housing problem put the car out of the race, with no drive left to the rear wheels. A very frustrating race for all the team, to be put out of the race by a part failure. Click for Photo

June - October 2000 - MBR running Ralt RT34 and Dallara F392 in B Class at various Test Days and ARP F3 Race Meetings for Jess Racing, drivers are Guy Heselden and Scott Stringfellow. Click for Photo

July 2000 - Start design build on a Porsche 962 chassis  project.

2000 - Build of new  SR2 Sports Car Chassis started

2001 - Testing carried out in Nov/ Dec 2000, and re-starts in February and March 2001 with the MBR972 Sports Car MkII chassis. Click for Photo

March 2001 - June 2001 - Running Dallara F392 in B Class at various Test Days  and ARP F3 Race Meetings for Jess Racing, driver Guy Heselden. Click for Photo

March 2001 - October 2001 - Running Reynard 913 for Keith Baldwin in ARP F3 B Class Championship, Keith achieves 2 x 1sts, 2 x 2nds. Click for Photo

April 2001 - September 2001 - Build of new  SR2 Sports Car Chassis  completed and Test Days carried out with the new  2001 Chassis.

June 2001 - Design build on Porsche 962 chassis project - finished, mid October 2001 complete first shake down Test with Car. Click for Photo

October 2001 - MBR Sports Car, 2 seater Track Car goes  to Thruxton Motorsport Centre and is sold to be used for their LeMans driving course based at Thruxton race circuit. Click for Photo

2002 - March 2002 - October 2002 -

Running a Dallara F398 for Keith Baldwin in ARP F3 A Class Championship, he finishes as runner up in the A Class Championship, with a 100% finishing record at all the races. Keith's  results  include - 1 x 1st, 5 x 2nds, 2 x 3rds. Click for Photo

Running a Reynard 913 for Alan Ellis  in the ARP F3 B Class Championship, but after an engine problem, he switches  to a Dallara F398 chassis and runs  in it, in the A Class at Mallory 4th Aug '02 and then competes in the remaining ARP F3 Championship, the last race meeting being on 27/10/02.

2002 - Jan to July - Design and build project, of a single seater Track day chassis.

End of 2002 - Building a New  2 Seater Sports Car for use at Track Day events.

2003

Competing in ARP F3 Championship in A Class with Keith Baldwin, Alan Ellis, and Richard Marsh all 3 drivers  running in Dallara F398's. Click for Photo

MBR 2 Seater Sports Car is available for Track Day events. Click for Photo

Richard Marsh wins  the A Class  and overall ARP F3 Championship, Keith finishes 4th in the championship. Alan has a100% finishing record until an accident at Combe prematurely ends his 2003 season. Stuart Wiltshire runs with MBR for the last race of the season.

2004

In 2004 Alan Ellis and Richard Marsh are joined by Stuart Wiltshire to compete in the ARP F3 Championship at MBR. All three run in Dallaras  in the A Class Championship. Stuart competes in a F301, Richard and Alan in F398's. Gary Marsh joins the Team with 3 races to go.

At the end of the season Richard wins the A class and overall ARP F3 championship with a 100% finishing record, Stuart gains 5th in the Championship, Alan and Gary only do a few events each.

MBR carry out race preparation for Chris Kite (F394 in Formula 4 Championship).

2005

Alan Ellis competes in a Dallara F301with MBR in 3 races but decides that his budget is spent better Testing in the car ready for 2006, Stuart Wiltshire competes in the same car for 6 races, gaining 2 results in the top 5.

Gary Marsh competes the first 4 Races in an F398 but an engine oil fire in the car prematurely ends his season.

Richard Marsh competes in a F398 for 2 races, then changes to an F301at the 3rd race (which results in his first non finshes over 3 race seasons after a clutch shaft breaks) he competes the full Race season in 2005 and just misses out on the Championship after a controversial decision is made at the last race of the season at Combe, which results in excluding the Combe Race results from the Race Season, he then finishes as runner up in the overall Championship and just misses out on a 3rd Championship. He gains 3 - 1sts, 5 - 2nds, and 1 - 3rd place out of the 11 races recorded.

Alex Khateeb competes 7 races in the Championship gaining top finishes in 5 of these races, which includes 2 - 1sts and 2 - 3rd places.

MBR carry out race preparation for Chris Kite (F394 in Formula 4 Championship), Shane Marshall (Mallock in Combe GT Championship), Tony Michael and Tom Richardson (Nemesis and Westfield in Combe GT Championship) .

2006

Running Howard Spooner in the FX Blower Sports Car in Brit Sports Races in the Brit Car Championship. The car is based on the Van Diemen FX single seater car but has been converted to gain more power, downforce and better performance with the Car so that it can be competitive for  the Race Season. Testing begins , we compete in 2 races but constant engine problems due to the supercharger make us change course.

A Jade Sportscar is obtained and instantly the car is on the pace and Howard wins his first race out, and a succession of top results means that we intend to compete a full Britsport championship the following season.

Competed selective Club Formula 3 Races with Alan Ellis .

MBR carry out race preparation for Chris Kite (F394 in Formula 4 Championship), Shane Marshall (Mallock in Combe GT Championship), Tony Michael and Tom Richardson (Nemesis and Westfield in Combe GT Championship) .

Borland Racing come over from Australia and run John Martin in FF Duratec with ADR, he gains a 1st place at Brands in his first UK FF event. MBR run Paul Laskazeski at the Combe Kent FF Festival he qualifies for the final but does not finish after a racing incident. MBR then run Paul at the Brands FF festival he finishes 5th in the Kent final. The Spectrum Kent Formula Ford then goes to the Wiltshire Motorsport college ready to compete in the Formula Ford Championship at Castle Combe in 2007.

2007

Alan Ellis competes in Club F3 in a Dallara F301, he gains a 3rd at Silverstone.

Howard Spooner competes in the Britsports championship with a Jade Sports Car, finishes 3rd in the Championship, gaining many wins and fatest laps, also successfully competes in some of the Combe GT championship winning races. A Morgan Aero 8 is  obtained and the end of the year it is completely stripped down and rebuilt at MBR with a BMW V8 engine ready for the 2008 season.

Restoration of a Vollstedt Indy car is completed in July and it runs at the Goodwood festival of speed.

MBR carry out race preparation for Chris Kite (F394 in Formula 4 Championship), Shane Marshall (Mallock in Combe GT Championship), Tony Michael and Tom Richardson (Nemesis and Westfield in Combe GT Championship) .

We run Nicki Templar in a Duratec Spectrum FF at selected test days in the UK.

Two Spectrum Kent Formula Fords successfully compete in FF Castle Combe championship during 2007.

2008

Alan Ellis (F301) and Mark Terry (F304) are run by MBR in the Club F3 championship, Mark gains a 3rd at Brands.

Howard Spooner runs in the Morgan in several Britcar races and competes in the Britcar 24hr Race at Silverstone. At the 24hr race the car qualifies  6th out of 51 cars, but eventually has to retire on the 290th lap after a Diff failure, Howard Spooner, Andy Thompson & Johnny Lang all drive the car.  Howard also competes in 2 GT Cup races at Brands Hatch in November.

We fit a TVR V8 engine in to a RAM F1 car for a customer, it is intended to be used as a track day car.

We also support the Spectrum Formula Fords at the track with a spares service and 3 Spectrums are run by Kevin Mills Racing in the Duratec FF Championship. KMR gain podium finishes with Adrian Campfield, Glen Wood and Alex Jones.. Adrian wins  at the FF A1GP meeting at Brands Hatch.

The Wiltshire Motorsport college Spectrum also successfully competes a full FF Championship at Combe. The college run Ben Norton and Gary Marsh, Ben gains 2 wins at Combe during the season.

2009

Competed in the GT Cup with Howard Spooner in the Morgan Aero 8 and at selected Britcar rounds.

Competed in BRSCC F3 with Mark Terry and Nick Robinson.

Support Spectrum Formula Fords run by Kevin Mills Racing in the FF Duratec Championship.

A V8 Engine is installed in to the MBR track day car.

Ben Norton Wins both the Castle Combe FF Championship and Combe Carnival in his  Spectrum Formula Ford as run by the Lackham Motorsport college.

2010

Competed in Club F3 with Mark Terry (Dallara F304) and Nick Robinson (Dallara F398), Mark gains several podiums throught the year and achieves 3rd overall, Nick is also regularly in the top 6 cars and he also achieves a podium.

Carried out race prep modifications  on a Marcos  then in October competed in the Brit Car 24 hour race at Silverstone with Oliver Bryant, Graehame Bryant and Will Goff, driving the Marcos, the car qualifies  6th overall, and a broken chassis to Diff bracket nearly puts the car out of the race but drivers and team manage to get the car home and they finish the race 3rd in their class..

Install an FTR Gearbox into the Wayne Pool run Nemesis which competes at Combe.

Make a Gearbox to Engine adaptor kit to install an FTR Gearbox in to a Norwegian single seater.

Attended all of the UK Duratec Formula Ford rounds with spares packages, and support the UK run Spectrum Formula Fords at various race test/ events  at Castle Combe, Silverstone Walter Hayes, Silverstone, Rockingham, Snetterton, Knockhill.

Start the installation of a V10 engine into a road going version of a Morgan (to be Aero 10), but it has to be moved from our workshops before the project is finished.

A Spectrum Formula Ford goes over to Danish Team Copytec Racing at the end of the year, it is due to be run in Denmark during 2011.

2011

Competing in MSV F3 with Nick Robinson (F304), Stuart Wiltshire (F304) for the complete season.

Frank Thomas (F398) has a test schedule with the team prior to competing in MSV F3 races from May 2011 onwards, he also competes  with the team at his home race at Spa.

Competed in Brands Hatch night race in November with the Marcos Mantis driven by Grahame Bryant and Olly Bryant.

Attended all of the UK Duratec Formula Ford rounds with gearbox spares packages, and support the UK run Spectrum Formula Fords at various race test/ events.

Installed V8 engines  in to a 1991 Lola F3000, and a 1995 Lola F3000, which are both due to race over in Ireland.

2012

Competing in F3 Cup with Nick Robinson (Dallara Mugen F304), Stuart Wiltshire (Dallara Toyota F306), Frank Thomas (Dallara Toyota F306), and Ben Harvey (Dallara Mugen F306).

Team event at Brands Hatch F3 Cup race supporting Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

Competed with a Spectrum Formula Ford at the Walter Hayes at Silverstone, John Martin was driving and finished runner up at the event.

2013

Competing in F3 Cup with Nick Robinson (Dallara Mugen F304), Stuart Wiltshire (Dallara Mugen F306), Frank Thomas (Dallara Toyota F306), Alice Powell (Dallara Toyota F306).

F3 Cup team Champions 2013.

Competing in FF1600 race with a Spectrum Formula Ford at Castle Combe 5th Oct  and Scott Stringfellow.

After over 25 years of running the race team, in November 2013 Mark hands over the Race Team to Mike and Gale Force Racing. From 2014 Mike will run cars at the circuits, Good Luck GFR.

From November 2013 Mark as MBR will continue to go to the race tracks but will mainly be giving support to customers that require any Hewland gearbox parts or need any Hewland gearbox problems resolved. Hewland gearbox work will be undertaken at the MBR workshops still in Bromham, so any thing from gear ratio changes, gearbox rebuilds, differential work etc. can all still be carried out at MBR.

FOR MORE INFO CLICK ON A LINK BELOW