In early 1973 George Begg embarked on his most ambitious racing project to date. After seeing the McRae set-up in England he had decided to contest as many rounds as possible of the European F5000 Championship, most of which were held in England. David Oxton would drive, Joe Wright would be head mechanic and George himself would be "team manager, mechanic and general dog’s body." Preparations were made for the team to live in England for the season, though it meant the end of the partnership with Fred McLean who chose to move to Christchurch and open a garage. Fred helped prepare the cars for the English circuits. The package taken abroad consisted of FM5/01, two spare engines, a spare gearbox, four spare front wheels, four spare rear wheels and 13 cases of other parts and tools. In a curious reversal of the problem New Zealanders had racing English-made cars, the Begg team couldn’t nip around the corner to obtain parts from the makers. The first race at Mallory Park resulted in a damaged engine in practice, after Oxton had qualified the car 12th out of 30. With no time to change the engine the car was withdrawn. The potential, however, was evident. At Silverstone a week later, with a rebuilt Morand Chevrolet V8 fitted, the car was qualified in 24th place out of 30, in a combined F1/F5000 entry. An F5000 race on the Saturday saw Oxton 12th on the grid and despite less-than-ideal tyres, forced his way into a fine 5th. In the main event, a snow shower re-inforced the tyre problem and Oxton spun out of 15th a few laps from the end, and only one lap down on the leader. A George Begg said "In terms of results it meant nothing. In terms of human endeavour, it meant the world." The weather continued to be poor and Snetterton was also cold and wet. Oxton was as high as 4th on the grid but a mechanical problem (traced to a fuel delivery fault caused by the contrasting weather conditions between New Zealand and Britain) saw him drift back to seventh.
Heavy rain at Brands Hatch meant a start from the rear of the grid though times in private practice matched the front runners’. Driving with caution in heavy spray, Oxton hit a bump on the track surface launching the car off the track. Though the FM5 was extensively damaged, Oxton was uninjured. A huge rebuild followed and FM5 received its back paint scheme (as it now appears in the Southward Motor Museum). Previously all Begg cars had been yellow. Another wet practice at Oulton Park resulted in Oxton starting from ninth and finishing ninth. While the following meeting at Mallory Park threatened to be another wet weekend, clearing weather gave Oxton a chance to show FM5’s abilities and he started from the second row. Oxton drove the car into third before a slow puncture forced him to back off, eventually crossing the line for a superb 5th. A European detour to Misano in Italy held plenty of promise as the car was qualified third but the local council decided the track was unsafe to run F5000 so the race was abandoned. A 3000 kilometre trip but apparently a lot of fun. The Dublin Grand Prix for F5000 cars resulted in a 6th overall placing over two heats. It was the last race for in Britain for George, as the car had to be shipped back to New Zealand after the next meeting at Silverstone, and George had promised the family a tour of Europe before they returned home. At Silverstone the Begg was 4th fastest but torrential rain just before the race flooded the circuit and the meeting had to be abandoned. FM5 was sold to David Oxton. George calculated that of the 35 international F5000 races in 1973, the car had finished in the top six in five of them, not counting the NZ Gold Star which Oxton had won. The season had delivered plenty.The next project: the last and most original F5000 Back |
