G. B. STERNE 2005 INDUCTEE

First becoming a motorcycle competitor in his youth which culminated in his winning of the Western Canada Motorcycle Hillclimb Championship in 1931, George Sterne stepped away from wheeled competition until 1954 when, at the age of forty-two, he became a sportscar racer in an MG TC. He then joined the Sports Car Club of BC in 1955, racing at Abbotsford and other circuits. The Chevron service station which he was owner/operator of in Sidney became the first home for his dealership for the then-fledgling British-built Morgan sportscar in 1956 and the following year George began racing a Morgan four seater. In 1958 he won his first race and also the International Conference of Sports Car Clubs (ICSCC) class championship. The following year he won his way onto the Sports Car Club of BC’s Race Drivers Committee.

As a driver of exclusively Morgan cars for the nineteen years he competed, George drove a brand new Morgan Super Sport in 1963, a Morgan Plus Four competition model in 1966 and a new Plus Eight version in 1969. He then moved to a 1972 Morgan 4/4 1600 which he drove until his retirement at the end of the 1975 season. In 1974 he won his three hundred and eighty-ninth trophy. Of that total, one hundred and seventy were for first place, twenty-six of which were SCCBC championships and eight of which were Overall wins. Another seventeen were ICSCC championships along with 2 CASC BC Regional championships and one being an Overall.

George’s wins with co-drivers included the 1964 Westwood Enduro with Dave Ogilvy and capturing the Index of Performance award in the 1968 Westwood Enduro with Richard Evans. In addition, he and his son Robert qualified for the 1972 CASC National Championships at Mosport, Ontario which was his most distant race meet to which they drove nearly three thousand miles towing a small trailer which contained racing tires.

In addition to his driving efforts, George was a Charter Member of the Victoria Motor Sports Club where he served as President for two terms, a Charter Member of the International Conference of Sports Car Clubs where he was Vice-President for five years and Novice License Director for three years. In addition, he was for many seasons an Executive Officer for CASC and a club representative for both VMSC and SCCBC.

George’s wife Lydia was his active partner during his racing career, doing lap scoring, timing and some corner work duties as well as being a pit person. She even did some driving on occasion.