News 08/05/00

After having had a down on power engine at the Barcelona race back in March, the Team took the MBR972 to a rolling road to be tested. It was found that the engine was losing around 50bhp due to an incompetent type of fuel regulator, which had been causing the power to drop off at around 7000rpm and to dive well below 300bhp.  On fitting a completely different type of regulator the engine was then able to maintain increasing its power when above the 7000 rev band, back up to its maximum output of 350bhp.

Mark Bailey said afterwards 'I knew that we had a problem because we would overtake our competitors in the corners, and then they would just romp past us on the straights. At the circuit we didn't have different sorts of regulators to try on the engine and all we could do was put a new one of the same type back on, which of course wouldn't have cured the problem. It is great that we have found the reason for such a major power loss, I had my ideas after the race, and it was the first thing that we tried at the rolling road, and it was with almost instant success'.

Also at Barcelona a hub failure had caused the leading SR2 lights car, the MBR972 to retire from the race with less than 20mins of the 2½ hour race remaining. Drivers William Hewland, Nicke Blom and the MBR pit crew had all worked extremely hard to get a commanding lead with a pit stop in hand, and 60secs ahead of the next SR2 car. It had looked like the MBR Team had an easy win well within their reach, but it wasn't meant to be and the hub had sheared causing the wheel to come off.

In frustration Team manager Mark Bailey has now completely redesigned the failed part, at the moment the new hubs are being manufactured on a tight schedule, and he is hoping to have them fitted to the car for the race at Spa on 20th/21st May.

Driver Richard Fores will be in the MBR972 seat for the race, but his co-driver is still to be confirmed. It is hoped that the second man can be named after the Team has finished testing later on this week.