THE TEAM

A very experienced race team established in 1988, Mark Bailey Racing Limited has competed in Sports Car Racing in the FIA Sports Racing World Cup.

The team principal is Mark Bailey, himself a successful championship winner in single seaters. Since being formed MBR have competed successfully in several single seater classes including British Formula 3 with drivers including William Hewland, Paul Evans, Johnny Mowlem, Adrian Cottrell and Texan Tavo Hellmund. Mark Bailey Racing turned their attentions to sportscars in 1996 and entered the British ProSport 3000 series which included a round at the challenging Spa circuit, Belgium. In August 1997 the decision was made to compete in the 1998 International Sports Racing Series Championship with the team entering the final race of the 1997 season at Jarama, Spain. With their drivers MBR were pleased with their podium finish of 3rd in class first time out using the Ford powered car.

1998 saw one MBR972 Ford V6 Powered Spyder Car starting the ISRS race series, but it became evident that this engine was not up to the job, and even though the car finished races, the engine had a high maintenance demand and needed nursing to get a result. In September 1998 MBR rallied for a change in rules so that further engines would become available for use in the SR2 class. The acceptance of this proposal eventually lead to MBR opting to run their second 972 chassis, using the Rover 6R4 engine for the Kyalami race in December. It showed that with the knowledge of a good engine and chassis package MBR could look forward to the development of an excellent Sportscar.

The 1998 race season ended with MBR gaining 2nd in the SR2 ISRS Championship.

1999 started off to a good start at the Barcelona race in March where a pole position was gained, then Monza with an 8th place finish overall. But the year ended as a year of mixed fortunes, with one of the MBR972 chassis' being destroyed in a bad accident, and with 9 different drivers driving for the team throughout the season, it was difficult to maintain much continuity with results. Kyalami ended the season for MBR on a high note, where 3 completely new drivers to MBR drove the car home to a good race finish.

2000 saw a season of varying results. The start of 2000 got off to a good, but unlucky start at the first race, when the Blom/ Hewland combination lead the race, then with only 4 laps to go a wheel flange failed preventing what would have been a comfortable win. The best result of the season was a 6th place at Spa Francorchamps in very wet conditions, the result would have been better, but at the start of the race the car was spun and trapped on kerbs for a short while, but it finished the race being 3rd quickest in class. The end of the year saw the MBR972 under go a lot of development at the rear end of the car, with new rear bodywork and suspension, and a great deal of development testing being carried out.

In 2001 the new MBS Osprey was produced, it did some early season testing, but due to the increasing costs of the FIA run Sports Car championship there has been a demise in the grid numbers, making it no longer cost effective to compete with the Osprey.

Because of increased interest in Track Days in 2001 the MBR972 chassis was purchased by the Thruxton Motorsport Centre to use for their Le Mans Experience Course, whereby members of the public can buy themselves a drive in the MBR972 sports car.

In 2002 MBR diverted back to Formula Three Racing with ARP F3 whilst still supporting the MBR972 at Thruxton.

2003 saw the first outing of the MBR 2 seater corporate car (MBR-TSO-3), with dual brake and clutch system, making it an ideal training car, and Track Day vehicle. MBR competed in the ARP F3 Championship in A Class  and gained a 100% finishing record with one car, a Championship win and Championship 4th with the other 2. A 4th driver joins the Team towards the end ot the season.

2004 Competed again in the ARP F3 Championship in A Class  gained another 100% finishing record with one car, a Championship win and Championship 5th with the other 2. A 4th driver joins the Team towards the end ot the season. Even though the TS03 Sports Car was still available for track hire, we were too busy with ARP F3 and other projects to take the car out. The highlight of 2004 was a race at Spa with ARP F3.

2005 MBR run 5 different drivers in the ARP F3 Championship, some compete in selective races, one driver competes the full season and finishes as runner up in the Championship. We also take on Race Preparation of a Mallock Sports Car and a Nemesis Sports Car, and another F3 Car competing in the Formula 4 Championship all these Cars gain top results in their respective Championships. Towards the end of 2005 we start on the conversion of a Van Diemen Formula X single seater Car to get more downforce on the Car, better traction and handling, and more speed and power with the intention of competing the Car now re-named the FX Blower in the Brit Sports races in the Brit Car Championship in 2006.

2006 Testing with the FX Blower Sports Car starts in February ready for the first race at the end of March. We will compete the full season of the Brit Car Brit Sports Championship with the FX Blower if we can get a more reliable engine. We are still race prepping other Sports Cars and single seaters, and will be running in the Club Formula 3 Championship at selective races with drivers from previous years that are still running with us.

More information on our history, and more photos