MG BTCC winner, jack Goff, hands over the keys to a brand new car to its new owner at Snetterton.

Whilst MG Triple Eight Racing’s Jack Goff was celebrating his debut win in his MG at the MSA Dunlop British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton, 19-year-old Ryan Sykes was getting to grips with his very own MG off the track.

It’s not every day a customer’s new car is handed over by a racing driver, but for lifeguard Ryan Sykes that’s how he received his brand new MG3 last weekend (Saturday 8th August). Ryan is the son of the owner of Norfolk-based 5 Star Cases, one of Jack’s sponsors, and from the start of the partnership between MG and Jack, Ryan has been hoping to own one of his own.

Ryan said: “My dad started working with Jack in 2013, but it wasn’t until Jack started racing for MG Triple Eight that I started looking at MGs and saw what they had to offer. I thought the MG3 was great, so when my old car packed up I knew I wanted one. I got the chance to personalise my car and make it how I wanted it to look, which was pretty cool. I’m glad I did though, because my sister wants one now!”

Ryan’s dad, Keith Sykes, said: “I would have normally dismissed a brand new car, but with the PCP it’s a no brainer. I get peace of mind knowing that Ryan is no longer driving around in a car that would cost a lot more to maintain. It’s also great to know that the days of ferrying him around are gone, I think it’s fair to say that we won’t ever have to now that he’s got his pride and joy!

“I’m really proud to support MG through Jack, and now we’re continuing that support by owning an MG3.”

The MG3, alongside the MG6, is designed and engineered at the MG site in Longbridge, Birmingham, where final assembly also takes place.

The MG3 benefits from a low 4E insurance group, exceptional interior and boot space, and a class-leading chassis and driving dynamics. The MG3 is packed with the latest technology; from the distinctive LED daytime running lamps to DAB radio and Bluetooth audio streaming. There are also more than a million personalisation options, as well as exceptional value for money aftercare packages to choose from. The MG3 is priced from only £8,399 to £9,999 and available on a 0% APR finance, or a variety of PCP plans.

Plato shows everyone how to do it at the season launch test event at Donington Park.

Two-time Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Champion Jason Plato laid down the gauntlet to his rivals yesterday (24 March) at the Season Launch official test at Donington Park. The seasoned campaigner set the fastest time during the afternoon running – a 1:10.249s – just pipping his new Team BMR stable-mate and reigning BTCC champion Colin Turkington by 0.006s.

In identical VW CC machinery, the pair look set to lock horns throughout what will undoubtedly be another thrilling campaign, and with times already so close at the top there are sure to be fireworks when racing commences at Brands Hatch in Kent on 4/5 April.

With the top two from last year’s championship setting the pace, it was a very impressive showing from the two Mercedes A-Class machines of Aiden Moffat and Adam Morgan that saw them placed third and fourth in the time sheets for Laser Tools Racing and WIX Racing respectively. Morgan secured his first ever BTCC win at the Brands Hatch finale last October, and as Moffat makes the switch to a new car it looks like an exciting season in prospect for the ambitious young duo.

A team pairing took up station in fifth and sixth, as Triple Eight Racing drivers Jack Goff and Andrew Jordan put in a formidable tally of laps around the Donington Park National Circuit. Indeed the only driver to complete more circulations than Goff was Team BMR owner Warren Scott, who managed to post the eighth fastest time having lapped the 1.98-mile track an impressive 68 times.

Hunter Abbott was seventh fastest in his Exocet AlcoSense Audi A4,  with the returning Honda Civic of Martin Depper in ninth. Sam Tordoff secured top BMW honours in his first timed session for the newly-announced Team JCT600 with GardX squad in tenth, just ahead of Dave Newsham who has switched to a Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet for this year.

Honda Yuasa Racing unveiled the stunning new Civic Type R this morning in front of a huge media gathering, and the car will surely grab headlines as the it hits the track in earnest even before the production car hits the showroom floor. Matt Neal piloted the #25 car to the 12^th fastest time.

Attentions now turn to Brands Hatch for the first three BTCC battles of 2015.

Jason Plato said: “We had an issue which cost us about an hour today which is a little frustrating as we had a plan of things we’re trying to get though and it’s left us with a couple of questions on the set-up that aren’t 100 per cent answered. It was a good day though – the guys have had a tough six weeks and I think now it’s time to down tools, get everything ready and checked for Brands Hatch and make sure we don’t have any reliability issues. We’ll be on the pace at Brands – if we’re not quickest we’ll be there or thereabouts and I think we can win races.”

Colin Turkington said: “It’s been a good day because I’ve been able to do a lot of laps. I'm still adjusting to the car and so the more time I'm in it the more it feels like mine. I want to be in there all the time and learn as much as I can before the season starts! I’m really looking forward to the start of the season – it’s coming around really quick but today has been another good learning exercise and it’s given us lots to look through and will hopefully get us to Brands Hatch with an even stronger package.”

Adam Morgan said: “It’s gone really well today – it’s always nice to get back out on-track with the rest of the field and compare times. To have two Mercedes cars towards the top of the time sheet is really encouraging. It was a bit of an unknown coming into today as you never really know what people are doing in testing. We seem to go very well around Brands and we’ve had a good two-day test there – there’s no reason why we can’t look to be right at the front.”

Aiden Moffat said: “It’s a great way to start the year, I think we could’ve gone a bit quicker if the weather hadn’t changed, but we can take a lot of positives out of today. The Mercedes really works with you and gives you confidence. I think we’ve come a long way – we didn’t do much pre-season testing last year, but we haven’t made the same mistake again and we’re in a much better place already. I think initially we’ll be aiming for the top ten – we have got good pace but we’re not going to get too carried away just yet!”

Jack Goff said: "It's been nice to get on track at the media day, having never really managed it before. It was good to pound round and get some more laps under my belt. Overall it's been a really good day, I managed a new tyre run and I definitely think we have more to get out of the car, despite finishing fifth.”

New Kent MG dealer has exceeded targets before official opening.

It’s triple celebration time this weekend as Maidstone MG toasts the dealership’s official opening.

Extensive refurbishments of the showroom in Sutton Road, Parkwood, have been completed in time for this weekend’s major opening event. In fact so many guests want to come along that the celebrations have had to be spread over three days from Friday to Sunday!

Celebration number two will be the display of the all-new MG Pirtek racing car replica as part of Maidstone MG’s special weekend. The car is fully dressed in the racing livery of the new team car, which will be fighting for honours in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. The 2015 season starts on April 4/5 and MG are hoping to successfully defend the Manufacturers title which they won last year.

But Maidstone MG’s Director of Operations, Bala Waran, says that the third celebration is closest to his heart. He explained: “When we started trading a few months back I set a target of 50 sales by the time the official opening came around.

“But I’m delighted to say that we have sold more than 60 new MGs and the interest from customers is growing every day. With the NEW MG6 just around the corner, things are looking pretty good for MG and for us.

“Joining the MG franchise was a great decision for us, so I think we deserve this triple celebration.”

Maidstone MG is run by the F.G. Barnes and Sons group, one of the region’s best-known family firms which operates seven automotive sites across Surrey and Kent.

The Parkwood site covers more than three acres and employs 50 people.

F.G. Barnes started in 1899 and the third generation of the family now run the business. It has a turnover of more than £60-million and is in the Motor Trader Top 200 list of automotive companies. The company employs more than 200 people.

Bala, who has worked in the industry for more than 30 years, said: “I remember lusting after an MGB GT when I was young, but I was always too tall for the car.

“It’s a different story with the much more spacious MG6 and MG3 models, which I am really impressed with. These cars offer so much value-for-money, driving quality and character.”

MG opens first new dealer of 2015, and starts selling straight away.

MG has appointed its first new dealer in 2015 – but staff are too busy taking new car orders to celebrate!

Telford MG opened a £1-million new showroom in the heart of the town’s ‘motor alley’ and sold a new MG33STYLE to a delighted 21-year-old Alix Lye on the opening day. 

Alix is a barista at her local Costa Coffee and the MG3 has been the centre of  coffee shop conversations.

Last year MG was the fastest growing brand in Britain and it looks as if motorists in Telford intend to keep it that way in 2015. James Martin, Managing Director, of Telford MG, part of the Budgen Motor Group, said: “We have been inundated with enquiries as soon as people heard we were going to sell MGs.

“We were thinking of having a party on the opening day, but we've had so much interest – especially with the new March registration looming – that we've had to put that back to April.”

MG’s dealer network is growing at the fastest rate in the brand’s 91 year history. Last year 24 new sales dealerships and two new After Sales dealers were appointed. The expansion will continue throughout 2015 and details of more new MG appointments will be announced in the coming months.

James said: “It’s great to be part of the new MG success story. We've invested heavily with more than £1-million being spent on new showrooms and workshop bays and we have every confidence in the brand for the future.

“If our MG business grows the way we think it will, we could be looking to take on new people and all the early signs are that there’s a huge demand for MG in Telford and throughout Shropshire.

“The MG3 is an incredible value-for-money package and the MG6 is hugely underrated. Once people test drive the new MGs they are impressed by the quality, high specification levels, value and of course they way the cars drive and handle. It’s just great to see MG back.”

Telford MG is part of the Budgen Motor Group family-owned business going back almost 40 years. The new 180 square metre purpose-built showrooms are on Stafford Park 1 and includes a five-bay workshop.

The business also runs an MG After Sales workshop in Featherbed Lane, Shrewsbury with a further 14 bays. In total the firm employs 75 people.

James has more than 15 years experience in the motor industry. He started his career in manufacturing and then became a fully qualified accountant. He has worked for some of the biggest names in the automotive industry alongside MG, including Inchcape, Pendragon and Volvo and for three years ran a Jaguar franchise.

MG Fan, Jack Goff, gets the drive of a lifetime, his own MG6 BTCC works car.

MG fan Jack Goff has landed his dream job – behind the wheel of an MG Triple Eight Racing car in the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. Jack, at the tender age of 23, has years of racing history behind him. He started in karts when he was just six-years-old and celebrated his 18^th birthday driving an MG ZR 190 in the MG Trophy Cup, winning on his debut and smashing the series lap record at Oulton Park and claiming eight podium finishes during the 2009 season.

Now Jack joins BTCC 2013 champion Andrew Jordan to complete the MG Triple Eight Racing team to defend the Manufacturer/Constructor title which MG wrestled from the hands of Honda last year. Motor sport pundits began monitoring Jack’s career in earnest after he clinched the Air Asia Renault Clio Cup, one of the BTCC Touring Car Championship support races, in 2012 before stepping up to the championship the following year.

Last year Jack finished 15^th in the championship with ten top ten finishes including an eighth spot in the closing race of the year at Brands Hatch, the venue for the start of the 2015 season on April 4/5.

Jack, from Stokenchurch, Bucks, said: “MG is a fantastic marque. I started my track driving with MGs in the MG Trophy Championship in the ZR and having had seven MGs in my lifetime, I have a real soft spot for them.

“I spent a lot of hours in the garage working on my MG racecars over the years!  MG has one of the most devoted and passionate sets of supporters of any car manufacturer. To have that support, hopefully, is going to be a real bonus. It’s a brand that gets into your blood so I can’t wait to do well for the team this year.

“Triple Eight has a big reputation for winning. You walk around the factory and there are trophies everywhere. I wouldn’t say there is pressure on me to perform because of that, but it gives you confidence in your performance before you’ve turned a wheel.”

Jack added: “These guys make up arguably the best touring car team in the world so the only pressure on me comes from myself. I have come here expecting to win races.”

Triple Eight Racing’s Managing Director, Ian Harrison, thinks that the 2015 driver line-up is the perfect combination of young talent coupled with racing experience and enthusiasm.

He said: “Jack sitting alongside Andrew ticks all the right boxes for MG and the team. We plan to continue to win races, take podiums and lock out front-rows so that the MG Triple Eight Racing MG6s dominate the grid. Everybody remembers the 2013 last round at Brands where Jack went wheel-to-wheel with Gordon Shedden and we need him to try to replicate that, on a regular basis.”

MG’s Head of Marketing, Matthew Cheyne, predicts fireworks from race one of the 2015 season. He said: “Jack completes a fantastic team and everyone is really fired up for the season.

“Last year we won the Manufacturers/Constructors championship on the track and off the track MG had a string of successes, including the MG6 being voted the Best Handling car in Britain in the Auto Express Driver Power Awards and MG was the fastest growing brand in Britain.

“We know how passionate MG fans are about motor sport so it’s great that the MG Triple Eight Racing team produced the goods last year and we just can’t wait for the 2015 campaign to open.”

In the last 12 months, the number of MG dealers has almost doubled. There are currently nearly 60 MG dealerships and 10 after sales outlets across the country. News of more new dealer appointments will be made shortly.