Octagon January, 2016

Stories From The Stables
THE JFR STABLE
Chris Johns with his
trophy for winning the
2015 Hillclimb series.
The MG Car Club, as you know, is not
an exclusively-MG Club as competition
members make up a significant proportion
of our membership and have done since
the formation of the Club in 1954. Thus,
not every Club stable is home to an MG.
The one Stable featured here, rather
remarkably, features three (!!!) competition
cars - one sedan, one sports car and one
openwheeler. Two of these were at each
round of the 2015 hillclimb series and
brought in an outright first, a best sedan
and two class awards. The third has been
seen at the hillclimb previously but is now
in new ownership and should be seen at Mt
Cotton in these new hands quite soon. So,
whose stable is this? That of Chris Johns,
winner of the 2015 Hillclimb Series.
motor. The car was imported from Japan
and was destined to be dismantled for parts
but Chris’s son, Tony, and Chris saw other
potential and a couple of years later the
car ended up in Chris’s hands. He put the
spare parts together and logbooked the
car in 2008 with it having its first run at Mt
Cotton on 9 March dual entered by Chris
and son, Terry. This evolved into some
interesting and close family competition with
the two of them recording equal best times
on more than one occasion.
In 2010, Terry was invited to drive the
Esprit Sports 1300 sports car owned by
Chris’s brother, Steve, also known for his
photography. Terry had great success in
this car ultimately going on to win the 2011
Hillclimb series. For the next couple of years
the Cappucinno often had a second driver,
usually Anthony Toft. Life has not always
been easy for the ‘Cappu’ as various drivers
tested their limits (and were sometimes
found wanting) on more than one part of the
circuit but it has always returned ready to go
and better than ever.
The ‘Cappu’ and Escort in the pits at Mt Cotton
The mighty ‘Cappu’ in action.
Until the last couple of years, the car with
which we have most associated Chris is
his sports car, the mighty Cappuccino,
the car with the big 657cc turbocharged
For 2015, the ‘Cappu’ shared pit space with
another from the Johns’ stable, a Group U
Sports Sedan with Chris jumping from one
to the other for each run at Mt Cotton. For
2016, there’s a strong prospect of seeing a
new driver in the ‘Cappu’ competing under
the watchful eye and tutelage of Chris - and
possibly giving an opening for more
coffee jokes!
10
The Octagon - November 2015