This weekend, E3 Team Gravytrain was in full force at Rockingham Motor Speedway, Europe’s fastest racing circuit. The team were there to compete in rounds 3 & 4 of the MX5 Cup and the MX5 Championship.

As always gravytrain’s Kevin Taylor was there along with team mates Jade Edwards, Bret Smith and Jim Edwards, who had a brilliant first race in the MX5 Cup, starting in 6th position and fighting his way up to 2nd, clinching the teams second podium of the year already. Unfortunately, the other members of E3 Team Gravytrain weren’t so lucky this time out.

Taylor started well in the MX5 Cup, moving up from 13th to 7th place, but was then hit by Abbie Eaton, knocking him back down to a finish in 23rd place. However, Kevin did place a more respectable 11th in the second MX5 Cup race, despite being spun with just 3 laps to go.

It was a similar story for Smith who crashed out of the first race and managed just a 19th place finish in the second race with a badly damaged car. Meanwhile, Edwards placed well in 6th in the first Mazda Championship race but was then taken out of the second race after fighting her way up to 4th place. Unfortunately her car was written off, meaning a DNF in the second race and uncertainty for the coming outings.

So, maybe not the perfect outing but plenty of action from the E3 Team Gravytrain! Make sure to watch this space for all the details and drama from the rest of the Mazda MX5 series.

Rounds 1 and 2 of the UK’s biggest single make motor racing championship gets under way on Sunday 27th March at the home of racing, Silverstone. E3 Sport is all set to run 4 cars; Gravytrain’s Kevin Taylor will be competing in a Mazda MX5 2.0 Sport (Mk3) in the MX5 Cup after graduating from the Mk1 series along with multiple Renault Champion and former BTCC driver Jim Edwards Jnr. Jim’s daughter Jade will be racing in a Mazda MX5 1.6 Mk1 in the Mazda MX5 Championship along with the son of a current BTCC driver, Brett Smith.

To help get your racing juices flowing for the start of the season, here is a little history on the single make motor racing championship. There are 2 championships; the MK1’s which is the MX5 Championship and the MK3’s which is called the MX5 Cup.

In its first year the championship was popular and by 2009 the number of drivers competing had doubled from 20 cars to 40! By 2010 the Ma5da MX5 racing championship had become the UK’s biggest single make motor racing competition. It attracted some of the best drivers in the UK, from BTCC (Jim Edwards Jnr), Clio Clip Cup and many more.

The Mazda MX5 Championship is now recognised as the UK’s largest single make racing series with over 120 registered drivers, extensive TV coverage and a huge following due to its ultra competitive and extremely close racing. With over 100 cars entered and full grids of 54 cars around the Grand Prix circuit, the weekend promises to be a spectacle.

We’ll let you know how the E3 Sport / Team Gravytrain cars get on with a full update after the weekend. All four drivers are looking forward to the races and hopefully starting the season with a good result.

Brands Hatch saw the first three rounds of the Mazda MX5 Championship on 10th & 11th April and the series got off to a flying start.

The Gravytrain sponsored E3 Sport team (who of course include our MD Kevin Taylor as one of their number) did us proud in a fiercely competitive, packed grid.

In group one qualifying, Chloe finished an impressive 7th in her group, clocking in a time of 59.125 seconds. She was closely followed by Kevin in 11th with a time of 59.653 seconds.

In group two qualifying Jim Snr finished 14th with a time of 59.726 seconds and Jade finished 21st in 60.211 seconds.

And so to the race proper – Chloe put in an absolutely fantastic performance, finishing 12th; 8th & 10th – which places her 15th in the overall Championship standings. Stonking!

Jim Snr also put in a solid performance finishing 10th, 12th & 17th which places him 20th in the overall Championship standings.

Kevin's car after the 3rd Round... Ouch

Kevin had a bit of a torrid time – despite getting spun in the first round he recovered and managed to place 24th; it was a similar story in round two where after being bumped off he placed 24th again. In the third round he crashed out, this time failing to finish. This sees him placed 45th overall.

Likewise Jade suffered a similar fate – crashed out in round one, a puncture in round two, bad times. Fortunately round 3 saw things start to go her way as she finished 14th. This places her 49th overall.

Want to live it for yourself? Join Kevin in the driver’s seat in the second round by viewing the in car video footage below – watch out for the spin around 6 minutes 10 seconds…

Brands Hatch Race 2 – 10th April 2010 from Kevin Taylor on Vimeo.

So what’s next? Rounds 4 & 5 take place at Snetterton, Norfolk on 24th & 25th April -  we can’t wait!

Tuesday 30th March saw the launch of the Mazda MX5 Championship, the biggest single-make motor racing series in the UK. With 95 cars, over 100 drivers and over 160 hours of TV coverage via MotorsTV, Eurosport & ITV4 this series looks set to be a corker.

Here at Gravytrain we’re very excited as not only are we sponsoring one of the teams – E3 Sport; our MD Kevin Taylor will be racing too! Over the next few weeks we’ll also be launching a new website for E3 Sport, and managing their online presence.

Having briefly considered doing a 'Dukes of Hazard'; Kevin elects to enter the car the old fashioned way...

So, who are E3 Sport?

Bar Kevin, it’s a family affair. The team is managed by Jim Edwards Junior, who started racing back in 1985 in the Super Road Saloon series. Jim Junior is a former Elf Renault 5 GT Turbo champion, Renault Clio Cup champion and BTCC race winner.

Jim Edwards Senior (Jim Junior’s’ father) has come out of retirement to race again. He’s a seasoned pro – a former Formula 3 driver and the 1979 Renault 5TS champion.

Racing prowess certainly runs in the family, as he’s joined on the team by Jim Junior’s daughters Jade and Chloe.

Jade, 19 competed in the 2006 Ginetta Junior Championship, was one of only two female drivers to be awarded a Race Drivers Academy Scholarship; and won the Cosmo Magazine ‘Risk Taker of the Year’ award in 2006. Chloe, 21 has seen similar successes – most notably finishing 3rd in the 2008 Renault Clio Cup Scholarship.

Kevin Taylor’s also no stranger to the circuit having raced in 4 successive Renault 5TS Championships, finishing 3rd in 1995. He also finished 3rd in the 1996 VW Polo G40 Cup.

So understandably, we’re expecting big things from the E3 Sports team; the first round commences on 10th April and we can’t wait!

The track day launch was fantastic, and Kevin even took one of our clients for a spin – Mark Hare, MD of Bedford Insurance. Check out the video below:

When asked if he enjoyed the experience Mark said “I’ll be fine once I’ve changed my pants…”