Welcome back to the second edition of MB Motorsports week in review. Due to a lack of events and a technical issue the week before, we have decided to 'double up' the past two weeks into one big summary. It had been a considerably quiet first week with a small break given, allowing teams to work on the cars and for some drivers to take a well earned break. MB Motorsport took the oppertunity to get some tetsing in preperation for the second round of the Touring Car Masters and Road Atlanta, with Tezuka18 and racelegend MB1 managing last minuite comitments to attend the meeting. The teams no.2 and driver of the #27 car Sgt JigglyMoobs was back out in the french alps after returning for the MINI challenge event last week. However the following (and current) week has been full of news and we have it all right here for you.

This week we have reviews from the Touring Car Masters . This is then followed by a full review of the GT3 round one, round 3 of the MINI challenge and the Rally Italia! Best get cracking!
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Touring Car Masters

We start with the touring car masters round two from Road Atlanta. The team travelled out last minuite for the race with two drivers and cars ready with intention to race. Sgt JigglyMoobs was enjoying another buisness trip to france, which inevitably involved a lot of skiing, so was therefore unable to attend the meeting. Tezuka 18 and racelegend MB1 made there way to the states with high hopes, despite a lack of track time of the car on a curcuit like Road Atlanta.

Things were on the downward for the boys, tezuka failed to make the grid after a mix up with racecontrol and his race application, and the car was not in the best of shape anyway after some electronic problems from the quick practice session the guys grabbed. Then continuing the trend racelegend failed to qualify well, with a resultant last place on the grid, due to an off on his main flying lap. Still things could only get better. It was damage limitation for 'legend now as he tried to salvage as much as possible from a disastrous start to the event.

Race one saw him fight his way through the back of the field, climbing two places to 22nd overall with the aid of accidents. Race two saw a reverse of the field with each third reversed. This saw the downbeat brit start 21st overall, yet a lack of pace and some unfortunate forced errors whilst holding position saw him lose two places and finsihed 23rd. However with another grid re-shuffle for the third race which would see racelegend start 8th on the grid there was hope for some decent point from the weekend! Yet once again, luck did not fall with the berkshire based team as the car suffered damage during race two and as a result could not make the start of race three. Leaving the team feeling rather downed after a poor stint in the states so far, but the GT3 was yet to come, and the team hoped for a promising return to the Atlanta curcuit.
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GT3 Championship

The GT3 opener was deemed to be a return to good times for the MB Motorsport team, with plenty of experience in thee championship, and a belief the car, thats homologation limits were contraversial, could perform this season. The team had spent some track time getting to know the car and curcuit combination and with both Britracer and Sgt JigglyMoobs flying out to meet racelegend on race day, as second and third drivers, the team were set for some good results.

Testing had shown the cars were near to the pace, with racelegend able to set times towards the mid field area, and faster drivers such as 'Moobs already prooving from the media day they were quicker still. The MB Motorsport Gallardo was holding up well and seeming to be the most reliable car of the teams stable so far this season, and racelegend MB1 was keen to say how the car was

"...a dream to drive, it grips to the road well and is very responsive, you dont have to really think what your doing too much to drive it. If we really concentrate i can see us watching the lap times tumble.."

He wasnt far wrong either, both the other drivers comemnted on the cars drive-ablity and sure enough when it came to qualifying the cars were right in the thick of it. Quallifying went well for most of the drivers, 'Moobs proved his worth and reminded the boys why he was MB Motorsport top driver, securing 15th place on the grid of 34 cars. Racelegend managed a respectable 22nd with Britracer strugling with his own setup and finding himslef on the back row of the grid. Never the less, having three cars on the grid was a great start to the season, and all that was needed now was for them to all get some good points in the bag. The main aim for the series for the team has been to focus on the teams championship and consistanly score, and with such a start they were on there way to achieving that.

Race one was looking to be a good start for the team with all the drivers hoping to improve on there qually positions. Racelegend was able to get a good start, leading the 'D' pack away and managed to hold his own until trun 7 where the corvette of SARB sinister barged his way through on the inside, sending the MB driver wide on to the run off, this allowed the THR BMW of SelectiveRouge breeze by on the straight. However the MB Motorsport founder continued on as the better handling Gallardo remained all over the Alpina backed THR car for the next few laps with the BMW only pulling away down the straight.
Jigglymoobs’s specialy designed xtrac gearbox failed on him right away as the MB driver changed system last minuite with a new readout and lauch system, however instead of first gear it slipped into reverse causing jiggly to wind up at the back of the grid - the problem was later found to be a wiring issue from when the teams engineers incorectly fitted a sensor unit causing reverse to read as first when the launch system was enabled. With a massive challenge waiting ahead of him jiggly slowley but surley worked his way up trough the grid weaving past accidents and back up into 18th overall. The pairing of racelegend and Rogue battled for laps on end, with racelegend getting his nose up the inside on several occasions and even passing out of turn 6, only to lose out to the more powerful german car down the straight once more. Finally 'legend snatched the position from a late braking manouvre into turn 1 that saw him breeze up the inside of the BMW and hold him off on the cutback into turns 2 and 3. Unfotunately the battle had allowed the Corvette of SARB to get away and the following pack to catch up. The duo continued for the next few laps with Rogue eventually pulling out a 'last of the late brakers' move of his own into turns 10a and b after pulling alongside down the straight.
Feeling ever confident jiggly started to push to gain on 13th place whilst trying to loose tezuka 18 of his trail. However with a slip of the gearbox once again the MB Motorsport lamborghini of jigglymoobs slowed up and the ferrari f430 of tezuka collided with him pushing them both down into the back 3. Once again with a massive distance between him and 17st place jigglymoobs began to push and against all odds worked his way back up to 14th place for a well fought lobby podium in race one. Meanwhile racelegend was still fighting with rogue, trying time and time agian to push for position until way over the half way point, where XTI Apache caught up to the pair and began hustling the MB driver. Eventually XTI passed 'legend as the MB driver outbraked into 10a and ran across the grass. This was short lived with racelegend returning the favour and regaining the position along teh straight and down into turn 10. the pairing continued swapping places over the next few laps until racelegend faultered again under braking into turn 10 once more, gifting the place and a healthy gap to Apache. It eventually finished with racelegend just behind apache with a solid 23rd overall. Britracer had a relatively queit race but managed to get 29th overall. Yet afetr suffering damage was unable to make the second race.

Race two saw a grid shuffle which promoted racelegend to 19th on the grid and Sgt JigglyMoobs. 'legend made a great start of the line with a good launch seeing him grab 18th in turn 1 and pushing for 17th into turns 2,3 and 4. Unfortunately the BMW 3 series of Gary was too much of a brick in the road and some excellent defensive driving pegged racelegend back. Ince again the corvette of SARB sinister ploughed its way through the field, in a somewhat overly forceful fashion, and overtook racelegend in to turn 10. The MB driver remained intouch with the leading pair through the esses, yet was caught up in the mix at trun 5, with a tap from apache from behind unsetlling the car, and with SARB spining in front, the MB driver collected the wreck stricken corvette and spun out himself into the barrier of turn 5. The 'vette later collected the Alpina THR car. 'legend came off worst and dropped to 23rd with a damaged gearbox and steering from the impact. Jiggly however against all odds got off to a flying start and stuck himself in second place for the majority of the race. With the xtrac gearbox working smoothly after the race mechanics had a quick look at it, he was still strugling to keep up with 1st place and with the mopar dodge viper of xti nightrider gaining mega yardige on him jiggly felt the heat and started to over run corners. However the cool headed xti nightrider was keeping calm and gaining at an incredible rate.
The MB motorsports race two wasnt looking so promosing, yet racelegend had managed to fight his way back to 21st and was up with the pairing of crisis and apache but was squeezed out trying to pass crisis into turn 3 and spun out, only to be collected by the corvette and suffer catastrophic body and transmission damage. He struggled to make much ground on the pack with the damaged car but was adimant he didnt need to pit, and thanks to his determination was aided to a 22nd place due to a series of accidents, ensuring that he had the pace to stave off an ever catching THR BMW driven by Rouge. With the checkerd flag only two laps away disaster struck for the number 27 car of sgt jigglymoobs, the tyres worn and the gearbox failing he lost it into the grass allowing for nightrider to overtake him and take the second. However all was not lost as sgt jiggly still managed a respectable 14th place.





























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MINI Challenge

The MINI challenge was to see the team set off for the picturesque Maple Valley curuit and its trciky combination of flowing corners. The team was unprepared after the highs from the GT3, and arrived at the circuit in time for qually, the cars were still set for Road Atlanta last time out and the drivers were told to take the first few laps with extra caution. But were they to heed such advice. Britracer was first to go for TM motorsport, stiffing into a barrier, closely followed by racelegend who decided his mini looked better upside-down after the chicane after already taking a trip sideways down the pit straight. Meanwhile the team's top dogs ColinMcRae and Sgt JigglyMoobs were setting the pace upfront and with 'moobs managing to qualify 11th.

The drivers had a real up and down event with plenty of action in each of the three races. Only 'Moobs managed to leave the valley unscathed with a clean set of races with no accidents at all. Meanwhile both Brit and race' managed to find the barrier or the roofs of their MINI cooper's on many occasion. JigglyMoobs managed a 14th, 13th and 7th in the races, as finished well in the top 15 overall. The rest of the team scraped for point at the back, with many suffering DNF's and not scoring. It was a poor event for the team on a whole, yet the consistant and perfection driving of Sgt JigglyMoobs has really shone through so far this season and all the team can hope is that the other drivers can learn something from him.
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TRC HRC

Last night saw the team head off to the Italian Mountain streets for the Rally Italia. Racelegend MB1 and Sgt JigglyMoobs both attended, and featured in both Group N and Historic classes. 'Moobs was riding high on his recent form and continued this through onto the italian stages, taking four stage podiums in the Group N class, on his way to a blistering 2nd place overall in Group N for the Rally. Meanwhile racelegend struggled with setup and scored few points in the Group N class and had to withdraw at the end of stage four with problems on the electronic ignition, but faired better in Historics managing a respectable 8th in the overall standings just two places behind team mate 'moobs who also struggled to make much of an impact in the Historic class.
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We will be bringing some photographs from the MINI and Rally Italia over the next few days, but in the meantime, thanks again for reading the MB Motorsport Weekly review. We look forward to next week, with offering of news from this weekends Le Mans Series race at the 1000KM of Suzuka and the third round of the Toruign Car Masters from Maple Valley. This will also be a bi-weekly review and will be out on the 12th March

Until then...