by David Morgan
Haynes Publishing
Foreword by Bill Boddy
MBE Publication:
Out Now,
Format: Hardback, RRP: £30.00, ISBN: 978 1 84425 716 4
Here is the story of one of British motorsport's best-kept secrets -the Seven Fifty Motor Club. Celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2009, the club was originally founded just prior to World War Two, to cater for motorsport enthusiasts with 750cc cars, mainly Austin Sevens.
In the years of post-war austerity, the club provided an opportunity for young men with new skills and aspirations to take part in many competitive events, and to meet, share information and test their own theories on how to go fast in a motor car.
Since then, the 750MC has become the epicentre of British club motorsport,providing events available to motor sport enthusiasts every weekend of the year.
Within the club, hundreds of members have raced, rallied, trialled and sprinted their own creations and experienced great personal satisfaction doing so. The 750MC has always provided entry-level motorsport, on which many inspired designer-builders have cut their teeth.
Some, such as Colin Chapman of Lotus, Eric Broadley of Lola, Derek Bennett of Chevron and Tony Southgate,would go on to achieve world-beating success on the international motor racing scene.Others, such as Jack French and Arthur Mallock, have become revered by grass- roots enthusiasts for their innovative, but affordable, designs which have stood the test of time.
Illustrated with a wealth of archive photographs, this book tells the story of the creation of the club, with a decade-by-decade account of the development of the club and its many championships. Comprehensive chapters look at the cars that have appeared in the many 750MC championships - fromAustin Sevens and trials cars, to Stock Hatches and Radicals - as well asthe personalities who have shaped the club and learned their craft in 750MC racing.
Author David Morgan is a life-long member of the Seven Fifty Motor Club and an all-round motorsport enthusiast, writing in the club monthly magazine,the Bulletin, as well as on Lotus, military subjects and architecture.
