With the end of 2025 bringing engine woes, the start of 2026 would all be about getting these sorted on the ZR.

First up though was sorting a few little issues with Red Shed II, this was to be ready for the first autotest of the year right at the beginning of January. Apart from a coolant pipe leaking before the start the day went well, and I finished up 2nd overall and 1st in class.

With a bit more work Red Shed II was then ready to go again for the February autotest, landing back from Turkey just hours before the event wasn’t the most ideal prep but the day went well and we finished up first overall and taking the win by over 50 seconds. Good to be back to winning ways in the Red Shed, though it did claim yet another alternator….

So another little job done, and a tyre change and puncture repair the Red Shed was off again to do its now annual car trail with Cambridge CC. This is fun event, and with all the rain we have had this year, it was very slippery. The car ran well, no issues at all this time and we finished up 3rd in class and 7th overall – not bad competing against crews who do these types of events all the time.

Here you can see my ‘style’ of driving isn’t delicate, but it worked more often that it didn’t

So on to the MGZR Rally car…. .this turned out to be some major work with many late nights working outside on the drive (no garage here!).

Work done

Engine swapped for a 1.8 ‘135’ engine, which has been ‘hugged’ by Ian Mepham of Performance Motorsport.

Suspension all fully rebuilt and serviced

Engine bay cleaned, and various little cracks weled up

Wiring cleaning up

New radiator and fan

New lighter flywheel and clutch

Oil cooler fitted

New driveshafts

This work isn’t quite fully complete yet but will hopefully be all competed in time for the Kent Targa Rally.

The end of the year was all rather busy and manic with motorsport, life and a number of overseas work trips.

In between this I did manage a few more motorsport events, though they didn’t all finish that well…

The last event of the year for Red Shed II was a SOCC Autotest, although we finished ok (5th overall) the car wasn’t well with a lower engine mount ripped apart. On further inspection it appears it may not have been the right mount. This lead to a few pieces of work on the car, including fitting poly bushes and upgrading the engine mounts and welding them up.

Also as well as the usual maintenance things, I found a set of strengthening plates for sale on eBay so I bought this and fitted them as well at the same time as well as welding up the rear subframe where they all fail. This just leaves a few more jobs to finish before its next outing at the beginning of January.

So on to the MGZR Rally Car, we had a good run out at the Debden Targa Rally finishing up 7th overall driving with David Lobb on the maps and a very pleasing 2nd overall navving for David. As ever it is a busy day, though worryingly during the day the ZR didn’t want to keep its coolant in the header tank….

Next up it was back to Debden for an Autosolo, of course meant a long drive to the event in the rally car which is never much fun. The day started off very wet, but being an airfield once the rain stopped it soon dried out. The event used a number of new test sites and layouts, which were good fun especially once there was some grip you could use. It was pleasing to be close to the normal event top runners, and finished up 2nd in class.

Sadly soon after this the ZR decide the head gasket wanted to fail, thankfully on my drive not on the way back from the Autosolo. So although annoying it didn’t leave me stranded anywhere.

It seems like the liners have dropped, so it will be easier to get a new engine fitted. So it will be out with the spanners in the new year to fit a new engine, carry out some tidying work and then get back on with things.

Sadly with the engine not wanting to play I didn’t get to enter Goodwood Stages or the Preston.