I suppose it all started when I was aged about 6, towards the end of the second world war when I stood with my mum at a bus stop in Barkingside. I could tell her by engine noise and recognition the models of cars passing us whilst we waited for the bus.
Passed my driving test in April 1955at 18 years and 3 months and was allowed to use mothers Austin A30. Tyre tread was not monitored in those days and in the wet, with the tread on the rear tyres virtually non-existent, whilst driving towards Burgess Hill from Clayton just North of Brighton, where we lived the A30 went off the road backwards into a hedge. Beddall Bradford, Dad’s insurers didn’t know I was driving. Need to purchase own car.
I bought a 1934 MG NA for 185 pounds from Cooks Motors, 

(run by Basil Beauman and Ron Cook, both Brighton and Hove motor club members) in John Street,  Hove just off Palmeira Square. Toss up between that and a 1937 Triumph Dolomite Roadster.
This NA was an ex Brooklands car, chassis NA 0603, owned by  Freddie Thatcher, mine host of the Hand & Spear in Weybridge. That’s another story. Car with lots and lots of history, now resident in Germany and worth close to 90,000 pounds.

The NA basically worn out – it needed total restoration. It was sold.  Bought 1946 MG TC (CFN 39) from Ian Raby (formula 3 racer known as `Puddle Jumper’). That TC had seen better days so traded it in for an excellent & 1948 TC (LKE 274) from Ray Moore.

   

Both these dealers were in Brighton. That was followed by a twin carb Alta headed low light Morris Minor in fire engine red with leopard skin seat covers. Perhaps not quite the right image!
RAF service intervened. I was posted to Aden – lucky me!!  I bought  a nearly new Austin-Healey Sprite from an 8 Squadron Hunter Pilot in Aden who was posted back to the UK.

I had my first introduction to motoring competition with RAF Motor Club in driving tests. THE BUG HAD BITTEN. Actually it was also quite a good car for enticing daughters of Squadron Leaders out for a dinner, dance etc.
I intended to bring the Sprite back to UK. I got a very detailed quote from Paddy Gaston for majorly modifying the car. However RAF policy changed and we could no longer put cars on Blackburn Beverlys returning from Khormaksar to Abingdon for Cat 4 checks. So, at the end of my 2 year tour the car was sold to an RAF Corporal.
Before returning to UK, having seen an advert in Motor Sport, I had a conversation with Vic Derrington, an  MG tuning and parts specialist in Kingston-on-Thames who had a 1957 MGA 1500 for sale fitted with a 1588cc engine. Interesting car so I put down a deposit. Car was Iris Blue, and registered VHY 781
Turns out this MGA  had been used by Vic and Ron Godfrey  of HRG fame to develop a cross flow light alloy head for the BMC `B’ series engine.

The car, as bought had a blue printed, balanced and modified engine with twin SU carburetors. That engine, following further modification would regularly see 6500 and sometimes 7000 rpm on the standard rev counter, and apart from routine adjustments and replacements of distributors and the like never needed major attention during nearly 3 years of competitive motoring.
Recapping for a moment, the choice in the mid to late 50s was MGA, TR3, and A-H 100/4. 

Undoubtedly the100/4 was the quickest and with the windscreen in the lowered position a very photogenic car, and far better in that respect than the 3000 which followed. This would have been the obvious choice.
However being an MG man I opted for the A and picked up the car in Kingston on Thames in early 1962 and drove home to Brighton. Going under bridge at Selsdon station, a tooth came off 2nd gear. (This possibly occurred as the car had been used by the motoring press in road tests to evaluate the HRG head. A certain motoring magazine also managed to drive on the green stuff instead of the black stuff. The car was badly damaged on the near side front and a new chassis member had to be welded in and the chassis rejigged   and at that point it was decided by Derrington to change the previous Orient Red a 1500 colour, to Iris Blue a 1600 colour).  A new gold seal gearbox was  fitted by Derrington. Initially the car was fitted with a twin plate Borg and Beck competition clutch, which was magnificent for competition work but a pain in town driving, as you had to leave a gap when starting from traffic lights otherwise you would be straight up the back of the guy in front. That was replaced fairly early on with a Borg & Beck diaphragm clutch plate which was equally efficient but easier on the transmission.
 I joined the Brighton & Hove Motor Club, the British Automobile Racing Club and the MG Car Club South Eastern Centre. First event was BARC Goodwood driving tests. 

I did a number of local BARC driving test events and sprints and began to realize, a) the inadequacy of my MGA in its present form and b) the fact that I wanted to go further in motor sport.
One of the early modifications was to go to Alexander Engineering of Haddenham in Buckinghamshire and have them design a  manifold and fit twin Weber 40 DCOE carburetors.

In hindsight Weber 42 DCOE would have been better and would have particularly increased top end power with some detriment to initial bottom end torque. I also paid a visit to Microcell Engineering Limited to obtain a set of contour bucket seats for the car so that the steering wheel could be used for its intended purpose, rather than hanging onto it to keep me in place! At this time I met up with a fellow competitor name of Len Hall who owned an ex Dick Fitzwilliam racing team `A’ registered UPO 929 and had an engineering business in Croydon. We became good friends and rivals during the 3 years I owned VHY 781.
Tyres were the next concern as radials were just coming into play. Someone suggested I fit Dunlop Durabands – big mistake – dreadful in the wet – massive understeer. I was not keen on Michelin X stop tread as they had a tendency to grip well but with no indication of reaching the point of no return which did not, in my view, suit the MGA chassis. Pirelli Cintura were the next choice, finally ending up with the Cinturato which was a good compromise tyre.
With this now suitably modified car,  initially, I took part in a number of local hill climbs at Firle, Gurston Down etc. I mentioned new tyres. Unscrubbed bar the 12 mile trip getting to Firle hill climb on the South Downs, this is how not to do it!

Now to racing proper – high speed trials and production sports car races with MG Car Club. Again these showed up deficiencies in VHY 781. Although the car with its cross flow head and webers had the speed its ability to get off the line with the standard differential and gear ratios left me trailing somewhat. So more expenditure, in the form of a 4.55/1 diff in place of the 4.3/1 and a set of close ratio gears from the BMC Competition department transformed the car, along with a free flow exhaust system from Mike the Pipe of Wallington in Surrey exiting under the passenger door. Under extreme conditions the rear axle could become a little wayward and we managed in part to fix this by fitting Spax adjustable telescopic dampers, inclined at about 30 degrees with the top mount protruding into the boot via a strengthening plate, leaving the lever  arm dampers in place  Brakes were an eternal problem (this was a drum braked car) and even fitting Alfin drums they continued to crack radially as a result of using  competition Mintex R72 linings. Should have fitted discs. The car, with 95 bhp at the rear wheels was now as quick, or quicker than the newly introduced Twin Cam up to about 80mph.
At Brands Hatch, for example, at an Allard Motor Club meeting I came second in the up to 2 litre class behind a Bristol engined AC Ace.

I couldn’t do much more with this production sports car under the existing regulations and continued to race at Goodwood, Brands Hatch and Silverstone with moderate success with many a first in class.
Talking of Goodwood, my favourite circuit, in the early to mid fifties at all meetings, perhaps excluding International ones, it was possible to walk round the paddock and freely mix with the likes of Stirling Moss, Roy Salvadori, Tommy Sopwith, Duncan Hamilton et al. I particularly remember a few of us amateur sports car competitors talking at length with Stirling about the Goodwood circuit. He gave us various advice based on his experiences and the one I particularly remember and which stood me in good stead over the years, regarding anything but a high speed  corner was slow in, fast out. Regarding the chicane his advice was get the right line out of  Woodcote and get your braking done well before the chicane, no one is going to pass you on the outside at that point and then foot down  dear boy. He also reckoned the most dangerous part of Goodwood was St. Marys (regrettably how right he was). There’s only one line through there – get it wrong and you are in trouble either going off onto the grass on the infield, or missing the apex for the second kink. What a superb gentleman he was with so much time for others when time allowed. Duncan Hamilton could always be found in the Goodwood Arms after a meeting, pint in hand, holding forth about something or the other, but again quite prepared  to enter into conversation provided you bought him a pint! Happy days. And those guys were so versatile. At a national meeting they could be seen driving in a saloon car race, then a sports car race and then in a Formula 1 single seater e.g. a Mk VII saloon, a C-type Jaguar and then a 250F Maserati. Can you imagine any of today’s Formula 1 prima donnas doing that?
However I digress. Typically, like many others I had a desire for more performance. I tried unsuccessfully to buy Bob Olthoff’s racing Twin Cam with the big 1760 cc engine. I had already agreed a deal with Bob, but Abingdon refused to let the car go with this development unit and insisted on it being replaced with a standard 1588 cc unit. At this point I lost interest. But that again is another story for another time. The bug bit further, and I jointly purchased a Lotus 18 with a Holbay Ford 997cc engine to take part in BARC  Formula Junior races. But that’s yet another story.
I leave you with this shot of VHY 781 competing in a hill climb at  the Guinness hop farm at Bodiam in Kent.