As Motor Racing Legends launches its innovative Generations Trophy single-marque race series (click here for details of the series and its first race at Silverstone), Octane interviewed MRL owner and series creator Shaun Lynn (below left) and MRL CEO Pierre-Antoine Lecoutour (below right) about what inspired the series and what they hope it will achieve.
Octane
What is the purpose of the Generations Trophy?
Pierre-Antoine
The idea is to bring new people into the paddock. What we’ve seen over the last few years – and what I’ve seen at Peter Auto over the past decade – is that we get a lot of young drivers coming in, but they’re often coming from modern championships: GT3 or GT4, for example. What we want is brand-new people discovering motorsport for the first time – sharing a great experience with their parents or grandparents, and enjoying their first steps into motorsport and the historic racing world. We want to do that in a cosy, friendly atmosphere surrounded by people they know.
Octane
So it’s designed to make primarily younger people who haven’t previously done any motorsport feel comfortable?
Pierre-Antoine
Yes, that sense of comfort while giving them a good introduction is the overriding factor. It’s about understanding the passion their parents have for motorsport and enjoying the weekend. Of course, it’s still a race, but performance and victory are not the main focus.
Octane
Where did the inspiration come from?
Shaun
I’ve been racing a long time and the family’s a bit racing-mad. My eldest son, Alex, races in the WEC series, my youngest started racing karts at a very young age, and joined the Caterham Academy when he was just 16, and from then on we’ve shared the track. He loves classics, and the inspiration for the Generations Trophy really came from that. I enjoyed racing with him so much, and we became closer through it.
Octane
So you’ll be racing with Alex?
Shaun
No, I’ll be racing with my 26-year-old daughter Jemima. She’s never raced before and only got her ARDS test two weeks ago. She’s always wanted to take part and she’s often said she’d like to sit beside me as a co-driver on events like the Tour Auto, so when this idea came up, I said: ‘Right, we’re doing the Generations Trophy – it’s all about fathers and sons, fathers and daughters, uncles, nephews, whatever the pairing. Would you do it with me?’ And she said yes, without any hesitation.
Octane
The historic racing world – like most of motorsport – is very male-dominated. How encouraging is it that already around a quarter of the younger entries are women, and most of them novices, and what are you doing to make sure this series gets them hooked?
Shaun
It’s fantastic – really encouraging. I was so pleasantly surprised. It’s lovely to see, and we should do everything we can to inspire and welcome more women into the sport. The key is building that atmosphere: the hospitality, the social side, meeting friends, talking about it afterwards. When people feel part of a community, they want to stay.
Octane
Is there a danger some people will get a bit too competitive when the flag drops and ruin that environment?
Shaun
It’s up to us to manage that and we’re determined to do so. We want fair, enjoyable racing. The whole point is spending time with your child or relative and having a good time. There are plenty of other series if you want to be ultra-competitive, this isn’t the place for that. We’ll do everything we can to prevent aggressive driving or rule-bending. Of course, there’ll always be winners – and that’s fine – but we want safe, fair driving and zero intimidation. There will be a lot of beginners on the grid and we want them to feel confident and come back for more. Anyone who can’t play nicely won’t be invited back.
Pierre-Antoine
In historic racing, nobody’s trying to be world champion — at the end of the weekend, you’re more likely to win a gold medal made of chocolate! Performance matters, but it shouldn’t be the most important thing. The focus is on enjoying a great weekend with family.
Octane
How big a role does the choice of MGBs play in creating such an environment?
Pierre-Antoine
A huge role, because they’re cheap to buy, cheap to run, and easy to drive. They weigh around 860kg and produce about 160bhp, so they have a good power-to-weight ratio. It’s a great starting point for anyone wanting to get into historic racing.
Shaun
Exactly. MBGs are strong, solid, and forgiving. Not the fastest, but really enjoyable. And you can do so much with them: Spa Six Hours, Tour Auto, all sorts. They’re also a great investment.
Octane
How will you police the grid to ensure parity of the cars?
Pierre-Antoine
We’ve set a 950kg minimum weight for all cars and can adjust ballast if some cars are lighter. Silverstone was the first test day and all the cars went on the dyno so if any big performance differences come to light, we may introduce time handicaps. The aim is for all the cars to perform as equally as possible to eliminate any discussion about whose car is lighter or more powerful. Once that’s set and everyone knows the cars are equal, there’s less room for complaints, which usually come down to the cars rather than driving skill.
Octane
So, with this first test/race weekend done, what’s the plan for 2026?
Pierre-Antoine
Four UK races I think, most likely Donington, Brands Hatch, Snetterton, and Silverstone, but probably one in Europe as well, not least because we already have interest from some European teams. I’d love to add Charade to the calendar, but Dijon might be more suitable for beginners.
Octane
I know you haven’t even formally started the series yet, but where does it go from here? You’ve got 20 crews now and will have up to 40 by Donington in May, but in a couple years those teams might want to move beyond MGBs. So do you continue the same formula or expand into other cars?
Pierre-Antoine
The good thing about historic racing is that we have more flexibility than in modern racing. We can adjust things as we go. We might open the formula to other cars in the future, but the MGB works really well because it’s cheap, simple, and accessible, the perfect starting point. A single-model series is one that we can tightly control and closely monitor the cars.
Shaun
Let’s see how this goes before we think about doing anything else! There are always possibilities, but for now the focus is on controlling costs – classic racing can get very expensive – and controlling stress, we want this to stay fun and affordable so people can just enjoy the experience.
Octane
What about crews with no experience between them who like the idea of joining the series but don’t know where to start?
Shaun
If someone’s curious but doesn’t own a car, we can help arrange something. There are MGB specialists who have cars for rent, and we can help facilitate that, we can make introductions, help find cars, instructors – whatever’s needed to encourage non-racers to come and have a go.
Octane
So Pierre-Antoine, Shaun is racing with Jemima, will you be taking part?
Pierre-Antoine
Not for a while because my son is only six-months old, but ultimately I’d really like to. My father wasn’t into cars at all, so I’d love to share this passion with my son.
