Safety Fast! October 2018

THE MARQUE OF FRIENDSHIP

October 2018 Volume 62 Number 10 £3.95

THE

CAR

CLUB

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PROJECT MGA GEARBOX CONVERSION ● MANCHESTER XPAG TESTS – FUEL AND TUNING ● ITALY ODYSSEY Safety Fast_October18_Covers.indd 1

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www.mgcc.co.uk

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Inside this issue 7 8 12 14 59 60

Club Matters and Kimber House News News Products Postbag Race Torque MGs on Track

61 71 82 92 98

MGCC Speed Championship Centre Updates Register Updates Classifieds Looking Back

Features 16

Second studio success for SAIC The opening of an Advanced London Design Studio, focusing on digital design.

19

Manchester XPAG Tests Fuel and tuning – part 2.1 choice of fuel and tuning carburettors

22

Project MGA – Update!

An update on Mike Brewer’s MGA

27

Project MGA Gearbox Conversion Rally Preparation Services carry out a Moss Vitesse five-speed gearbox conversion to the MGA

32

MG Italy Odyssey Ex-RAF pilot, Robb Metcalfe, takes to the roads in his MG TF

37

Event Report A report on the Yorkshire Centre’s Dales Run

55

Oulton Park Race Report Graham Keilloh reports on the penultimate MGCC meeting of the year

62

BTCC Championship

A round-up from Knockhill and Silverstone

64

Overseas News A report from the European Event of the Year and the MG Car Club Western New York Centre 60th Anniversary

27

Newsletters 38

Vintage Newsletter Peter Jones reports on his Vintage experiences of 2018

43

Triple M Newsletter Register News, MMMs across the Channel and MGCC Wiscombe

49

MG 635 Newsletter An Australian MG3, Middle East MG GS ownership and more

49

The MG Car Club, Kimber House, PO Box 251, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 1FF Tel: 01235 555552 Fax: 01235 533755 E-mail: mgcc@mgcc.co.uk www.mgcc.co.uk.

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www.mgcc.co.uk

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Welcome

The first outing for almost 25 years of the MG J2 ‘Bannell’, named after its creator, being driven by Jeremy Hawke at the September 2018 Wiscombe Hillclimb. Photo: Colin Murrell

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@mgcarclub

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The official publication of The MG Car Club Incorporating ‘The M.G. Magazine’, ‘The Sports Car’ and ‘Brooklands Track and Air’, Safety Fast!

Copyright MG Car Club 2018

We may be into October but that’s no excuse to start thinking about putting your car away as there’s still plenty going. One show we’re heading back to is the NEC Classic Motor Show this November! Don’t forget that, as a member, you have access to our exclusive Club discount if you want to attend the show. The NEC Classic Motor Show theme is “Built to Last”. The organisers selected Built to Last because it pays tribute to the various elements of motoring, but also recognises the Centenary of the end of World War I, which falls on the last day of the show this year.

This year, for the first time ever, The MGCC are giving members the chance to get involved!

We are giving away the chance to exhibit your car on The MG Car Club stand at the NEC Classic Motor Show November 9-11 2018! Any interesting story is welcome to enter, as is any era of vehicle. We want to showcase a car with an interesting story to fit the show’s theme and hear more about the interesting cars within the Club.

Has your car been passed down from generation to generation?

Have you and your car been on a truly epic adventure?

Has your car been rebuilt for the future?

You can enter by sending in a short description of why your car fits the theme, along with three accompanying images to webmaster@mgcc.co.uk with the subject line “NEC “Built to Last” by 10.00am on Monday October 8.

The winner will be selected by a panel of judges and will be notified on Monday October 15.

Please note, though, that cars must be available November 8-12, owner must be able to transport the car to and from the NEC and owner of the MG must be a member of The MG Car Club. Good luck, everyone.

Until next month, drive safely.

Andy Knott

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www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 17:25

CHAIRMANS NOTES

BY IAN QUARRINGTON

Words. Our Safety Fast! editor, Andy Knott, has been very liberal with me over the length of these notes since 2015 and I am very grateful to him, but I know it has sometimes caused the editorial team a nightmare to fit my efforts in amongst the rest of the magazine. Thus in these, my last notes as Chairman to you, I won’t bore you again with too many literary quotes, but if I may I should like to offer just one final little piece of advice, please: I have found to my great cost that the use, or worse the misuse, of a single word can and has had catastrophic effects all over my tenure of Office so please, whilst I would not want anyone to think they should not express any views on MGCC matters, if you remember me for only one thing, please let it be that we should all be mindful of the Marque of Friendship in everything we say or do for our Club.

As you read on, do bear in mind I have always considered these notes as very

personal, they are simply my thoughts and views and nothing more.

How can you sum up eight years on the Board and three years as Chairman in 500 to 600 words?

Prioritise is the answer. So firstly there are at least 500 to 600 key people to whom I owe my thanks for their advice, friendship and support, and on occasion the well-deserved ticking off and poke in the eye when I have got things wrong. Let’s make it clear and misuse some of the English language: being Chairman ain’t no easy task but I signed up for it, as have my predecessors, willingly. It’s only with support from so many quarters that this task can even be attempted. Next, I would love for you all to not think about what we have done together but to think of what we need to do next together. Supporting you and your MG since 1930 is number one priority for the staff and the Board and those fantastic volunteers all over the

Club, so that message needs to be the focal point going forward. There is a lot still to do: continue to grow the membership, keep the mix of motorsport and social activities going strongly so that everyone has a chance to participate in their favourite pastimes in the Club, build on the wonderful work we have done and continue to do with our racing customers and guests, promote our motorsport better and more widely, keep Safety Fast! as the leading magazine on MG matters, plan plan and plan again for the big events and the little ones. 2020 is going to be a significant date for the Club, 2023 leading into 2024 sees the centenary of the Marque and plans are already under way for this, so that the MG Car Club becomes the leading light in this celebration which will happen all over the world and I will emphasise this, it will happen in collaboration with all the other MG Clubs. Looking back to look forward, the Midget 50, MGB 50 and MGC 50 anniversary preparations are the bench marks we will be using to make the centenary events happen to everyone’s benefit.

Here we are, then, with Council not many weeks away, so that for now that is enough from me, enough words.

KIMBER HOUSE NEWS

adding: “It underlines the strength of our relationship with MG globally – when Mr Shao heads back to Shanghai and sits down to design his next MG, we want him to be thinking of Abingdon and of the MGA, B, Midget and F!” As part of his trip to the UK, Shao has been looking to purchase a classic MG for himself and Kimber House

played host to a selection of classics, ranging from MG Midget, to MGB GT V8 and MGF and TF on the day.

As well as the cars, the trio enjoyed a tour of the building, including the Club’s archive, and also visited the iconic admin block before taking the opportunity to become members of the MG Car Club.

The Club was thrilled to welcome MG’s global design director, Shao Jingfeng, to Kimber House recently. He was joined by colleagues Zhong Chen (Head of Design) and Carl Gotham (SAIC Design European Advanced Design Director).

Shao was in the UK for the recent opening of SAIC’s Advanced London Design Studio (see page 16 in this month’s Safety Fast!) and was keen to take the opportunity to visit the traditional home of MG and the MG Car Club.

“We were thrilled to welcome Shao and his colleagues to Kimber House,” said General Manager Adam Sloman,

www.mgcc.co.uk

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NEWS

A Tribute to Jeff Gibson (1945-2018) In Amersham on August 14 2018 there was a strong gathering of local MG colleagues and SVW Register members, amongst his family and many long-standing friends, in a very moving celebration of Jeff’s life.

Jeff’s life was dominated by cars, his father having provided him with his first car at the tender age of 12. It was therefore no surprise that on leaving school he headed to college in London to secure a qualification in motor engineering, which led to a successful career in the motor trade. In the early years his spare time included dabbling with the excitement (and tinkering) of racing a Mini, although it was not long before wife, Ann, and daughters, Suzannah and Tasha, became his priorities.

In 1985 MG came to the fore when father-in-law, Peter Strawson, acquired a WA Saloon from Germany. Both Peter and Jeff then enjoyed many years with the WA which they entered in all sorts of events and rallies in the UK and Europe. By 2004 the WA had passed to Jeff and Ann, and they soon became involved in many MG Car Club events, and more particularly the SVW Register. Despite the WA being a substantial car to drive, Jeff used it regularly on social runs such as the AWC’s Speckled Hen Run, the SVW Weekends wherever they were in the UK or Europe, and was a regular supporter of his local Natter in Chesham. A highlight was being entrusted with an SVW in New Zealand for their Pre ’56 Rally.

It was not long before Jeff’s enthusiasm for all things SVW led to his joining the Register Committee, and becoming their Treasurer in 2010. From this, on two

A tribute to Tomi Lundell, Chairman of MGCC Finland Our friend Tomi Lundell is gone. Tomi Lundell’s career at the MG Car Club Finland started when Mika Kaskinen and a couple of other MG car enthusiasts decided to set up a club in 1995.

The Club now has about 200 members. Tomi had always been interested in travelling to new places, so the Club’s first group trip was to Estonia in 2004. There were three cars, only two of them MG, but this did not hinder travel decisions. The first trip was held 14 years ago, and every year since that the MG Club has held an Estonian tour; this year there were 12 cars. Another great event in which Tomi had been involved since 1997 is the very popular picnic in the grounds of the Haikko Manor Hotel, organised by the Club at the beginning of June.

Tomi’s third and perhaps most important task for the Club was to act as a ‘temporary’ editor of the Club’s publication Brittisportti from 1999. Tomi has taken care that all of us reading Brittisportti received it on time and that it included a good balance of members’ travel reports, member presentations, and technical tips.

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occasions, Jeff and Ann enthusiastically managed the popular SVW Weekends for which they chose Cambridge and the Chilterns. The presentation of the Frances Adam Award for his considerable contribution to the Register was therefore more than deserved in 2014.

Jeff enjoyed his humour, so his response to social media was to refer to Facebook as Faceache and WhatsApp as What’s Up. A devoted follower of the MG marque, a gentlemen in every respect, Jeff will be sadly missed by so many.

Richard Colston and Mike Greasby SVW Register

A very happy Jeff with wife Ann and WA at the SVW Dorset Weekend.

Photo: John Dutton

In addition to those duties, Tomi served as president of the Club and as a member of the board. Tomi was the driving force of the entire Club’s activity, where the Club’s interests always prevailed.

Tomi’s unexpected passing has shocked us all, and we would like to express our condolences to Tomi’s wife, Marja, and other close friends.

Rauno Halme MG Car Club Finland

www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 17:25

NEWS

PERSONALISED TOURS & EVENTS

Off Again Roy Locock hopes to be off on his travels again. The twice-round-the-world traveller, who used an MG Midget called Bridget for the trips, has decided this time to use his newly re-bodied MGB. Roy has done most of the painstaking job himself in his garage at home and the results are stunning. The car is in Snowberry White with the colour red being used for the wheels and other detail parts of the car. The car is running beautifully and Roy commented: “I took the car to Oselli Engineering, the original engine supplier, and had use of their rolling road where the output was recorded at 116.2bhp, so there is plenty of power on tap for my trip.”

Roy’s planned journey will take place in 2019, where he intends to visit Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Tibet, China and then on to Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and then the Americas. He estimates his trip will take 18 months, with around 40 to 50 thousand miles to be covered.

“Preparing the car was the easy part,” Roy said.

“I now have to find some sponsors.” So if anyone out there would like to sponsor Roy, give him a call on 07802 253937 or email him at roy.locock@ btinternet.com

Ever wanted to arrange a road trip for some friends?

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‘Scenic & Continental Car Tours are very helpful and certainly make life easier for the busy leader of a car club! The hotels have been excellent and the impressive Road Books not only contained routes and maps, but also details of the places we were to visit’.

BRITISH & IRISH TOURS

EUROPEAN TOURS

MOTORSPORT & WORLDWIDE TOURS

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Tours are organised for the MG Car Club by Scenic & Continental Car Tours

For more information on our group tour planning service call our Group Relations Manager Kieran on: 01732 879153

or see: www.sceniccartours.com/clubgroup-tours www.mgcc.co.uk

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GROUP TOUR HALF PAGE MG Safety Fast SEPT 2018.indd 1

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EXCLUSIVE 2019 TOURS FOR THE MG CAR CLUB Operated for the MG Car Club by Scenic & Continental Car Tours

Belgian Delights - 24th - 27th May 2019 Exclusive MG Car Club Tour

From £249.00 Per Person Including a Tasting Tour of the famous Stella Artois Brewery.

Just a stone’s throw from Brussels stands the old Burgundian town of Leuven. It has so much to offer, from its amazing gastronomy to its spectacular Gothic Town Hall, a delicious Leuven pint and the atmosphere of the Old Market Square to the demure magnificence of the Saint-Peter’s church, Leuven is truly one of Belgium’s hidden treasures.

Chocolates & Beer - Belgium is world-renown for its high quality chocolates, a tradition that started when chocolate was introduced to Europe in the 17th century. Today, Belgium produces 172,000 tons of chocolate per year with 2,000 chocolate shops. So culinary travellers, pack your sweet tooth! Beer is a part of Belgium’s culture with over 650 different varieties. There are approximately 178 breweries in the country, ranging from international giants such as Stella Artois to microbreweries like Domus, both of whom are based in Leuven. During your Stella Artois Brewery tour you will discover the secrets of their brewing process during a new interactive guided tour. The tour lasts approximately one hour and ends with a delicious Stella Artois tasting. Other Attractions Include: Waterloo Battlefield, Brussels, plus Autoworld, housed in the vast Palais Mondial takes visitors on journey of over 100 years of automotive history.

Price Includes: Return P&O Ferry crossing from Dover to Calais • 3 Nights at the Novotel Leuven • Buffet Breakfast each Morning • Tour of the Stella Artois Brewery & Tasting • Detailed Road Book featuring Maps, Great Drives & Local Attractions • Commemorative MGCC Tour Rally Plate • Single supplement £150.00 per person

Lake Garda & The Stelvio Pass - 3rd June - 12th June 2019 Exclusive MG Car Club Tour

From £919.00 Per Person

The Italian Lakes are unique and unmistakable.

From landscapes to language, famous food to friendly locals, there are lots of bright, colourful towns around all of Lake Garda, and its clear blue waters are edged with Cypress trees, olive groves and dramatic mountains.

Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location located in Northern Italy, about halfway between Brescia and Verona. Its shoreline is dotted with picturesque villages, medieval castles and lakeside promenades that create a unique magical atmosphere. There are 24 towns located on Lake Garda. Its 158 kilometers (98 miles) of shore length and its clear blue waters are edged with Cypress trees, olive groves and dramatic mountains. Desenzano is one of the largest towns on the lake and is popular with foreign visitors and Italian visitors alike. Located on the lake’s south west corner, it has its own train station so you can easily get to Milan, Verona or Venice. The Stelvio Pass at 2757m is one of the highest and most dramatic mountain passes in the Alps. You’ll experience the drive down the famous switchbacks driving through the heart of the Stelvio National Park before starting the descent, taking you through some great stretches of alpine forest and fast sweeping roads prior to your arrival at the foot of the pass.

Price Includes: Return P&O Ferry crossing from Dover to Calais • 2 overnight stays en-route to Lake Garda and 2 overnight stays on return Journey • 5 nights at the Hotel Drago in Lake Garda • Buffet Breakfast each Morning • Dinner included each evening • Complimentary Car parking included throughout • Detailed Road Book featuring Maps, Great Drives & Local Attractions • Commemorative MGCC Tour Rally Plate • Single supplement £350.00 per person

Jersey Island Tour - 28th September-2nd October 2019

From £439.00 per person

An island of rediscovery where landscapes are just waiting to be explored.

Whether it’s the view from the battlements of a 12th century castle, a beach walk along Jersey’s unspoilt coastline or taking time to reflect while you watch the sun sink into the sea over St Ouen’s Bay, Jersey is there waiting to be discovered.

Exclusive MG Car Club Tour

Sparkling seas, golden sands, rugged cliffs, picturesque harbours and fascinating countryside await the visitor to Jersey. A welcoming island that offers the best of Britain with the added zest of France.The largest and most southerly of the Channel Islands, but still only 45 square miles, Jersey is situated on the edge of the Gulf Stream, 100 hundred miles south of England and 14 miles from France. The Island slopes from north to south to face the sun and boasts the best sunshine record in the British Isles and a climate which is milder in all seasons than the UK. Just nine miles by five, Jersey’s size makes it easy to fit plenty into a weekend; with heritage discoveries on your doorstep and miles of beaches and bays to explore.

Price Includes: Return Condor Ferry from Poole to Jersey • 4 night stay in the 3* Merton Hotel, St Helier • Buffet Breakfast each Morning • Dinner included each evening • Detailed Road Book featuring Maps, Great Drives & Local Attractions • Commemorative MGCC Tour Rally Plate • Single supplement £200.00 per person

To Book or for more for more information on our group tour planning service call our 10 SAFETY FAST! OCTOBER 2018 www.mgcc.co.uk Group Relations Manager Kieran on: 01732 879153 or see: www.sceniccartours.com GROUP TOUR FULL PAGE MG Safety Fast AUG 2018.indd 1 Safety Fast_October18_Front.indd 10

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NEWS

European Nuffield Trophy Congratulations to the MG Car Club Germany who were awarded the European Nuffield Trophy for 2018. The award was presented on the Saturday of this year’s European Event of the Year in Switzerland. After a long day touring around the San Bernardino Pass, the rally dinner took place in a cabin in a restaurant with spectacular views. After dinner the participants celebrated the MG Car Club Switzerland 70 years anniversary. As usual, lots of presents from the different clubs were presented and to top it off, at the end of the evening Hakan Sigemark, the MGCC European Manager, made a speech and presented the European Nuffield Trophy, in front of an applauding room, to the MGCC Germany for all their hard work in promoting the MG marque and MGCC.

,

MG Breaks sales record in August!

The August sales results, taken from the latest SMMT market report, show that MG has achieved an impressive 5,685 new car registrations so far in 2018, over 1,000 units more than it achieved in the whole of 2017. This significant increase in new car registrations amounts to an increase of 129% compared with the same period in 2017.

Daniel Gregorious, Head of Sales & Marketing at MG Motor UK, commented: “August was an extremely busy but rewarding month for MG as we launched our fabulous New MG3 and achieved our best ever monthly market share. We’re getting closer and closer to achieving our stated objective of doubling our sales volume this year and everyone within our business is committed to achieving this goal”.

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www.mgcc.co.uk

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PRODUCTS IF YOU HAVE A NEW PRODUCT THAT WOULD BE OF INTEREST TO OUR MEMBERS, AND WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT IN SAFET Y FAST! WHY NOT CONTACT COLIN GRANT AT COLINGRANT@MGCC.CO.UK

MGB: THE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY BY JONATHAN WOOD AND LIONEL BURRELL The MGB was Britain’s most successful ever sports car, with sales of over half a million. And the truth is, that more than three decades after production ceased, the MGB’s classic lines, affordability, fun factor and certain ‘rightness’ mean that its enthusiastic following remains undiminished. In “MGB: The Illustrated History” the authors, self-confessed ‘B’ enthusiasts both, recall the remarkable history of this remarkable car. Originated with full co-operation and contributions from key members of the original design team, including John Thornley, Syd Enever, Don Hayter and Roy Brocklehurst, this book takes the reader behind the scenes at the world-famous MG factory at Abingdon, which closed its doors in 1980 with the demise of the MGB after 18 years in production.

The background to the MGB roadster’s development is first recalled in the context of its immediate predecessor, the MGA, the various famous EX experimental models, and the heritage of MG as a whole. Separate chapters then follow the development, introduction and production of the GT, MGC and V8. Further chapters on the MGB’s competition successes and the RV8 complete the story. Along with a feast of colour photographs and contemporary brochure material – enough to satisfy even the most ardent MGB lover – the book also features full-colour cutaway illustrations of the three main ‘B’ variants.

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These are manufactured in High Impact Alloy with slotted/channelled edges for additional strength.The Bracing Strut is secured to existing fixing points, so no drilling or modifications necessary.Once fitted, the Strut does not obstruct any access to the engine components, etc.The two Securing Brackets either end can be supplied in almost any desired colour, although Black, Red and Silver are standard. Full fitting kit with Stainless Bolts and instructions with photos supplied.

Price £118.00 includes free courier p&p. For more information or to order contact Roger Briscoe at MG & AMC Parts, The Smithy, High Street, Southwick, Fareham, Hampshire, PO17 6EB. Web: www.mgandamcparts.com Email: admin@mgandamcparts.com Tel: 02392 372648. Mobile: 07454 006080

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Set of four mudflaps embossed with ZS logo (rear) and a perfect fit, as these are NOT a universal mudflap that has to be trimmed, cut and generally messed about to fit. These are specifically designed and manufactured for the MG ZS and will not fit any other vehicle.

Excellent quality and manufactured from a material specifically for their flexibility and longlife durability. Boxed and ready for dispatch.

Priced £44.95 p & p Courier £2.98. For more information or to order contact Roger Briscoe at MG & AMC Parts, The Smithy, High Street, Southwick, Fareham, Hampshire, PO17 6EB. Web: www.mgandamcparts.com Email: admin@mgandamcparts.com Tel: 02392 372648 Mobile: 07454 006080

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STOCKISTS OF:

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21/09/2018 17:26

POSTBAG

MGLIVE!

WIRE WHEELS

As one of the diminishing number of people who remember the first Silverstone! I thought it appropriate to put in my two cents worth. For years the controls tower was a dark green double-decker bus and the course, particularly at Becketts and Woodcote, was defined by straw bales and green oil drums. The local farmer supplied new straw bales, but the oil drums went from year to year!

The Heroes in those early days were Mary Harris and later Gordon and Elsie Cobban. My word, what would they think of MGLive!?

I am no longer a regular at Silverstone; it’s a long way from coastal South Carolina. Last time I was over, 10 years ago, I saw what our annual race meeting had developed into; it continues to develop. And so it should. I very much doubt that you will find a couple of mugs changing a T Type engine in the paddock!

I understand the difficulty of finding suitable venues with the infrastructure to support such a large and diverse set of events. But that is only the physical part.

The amazing accomplishment is the team of organisers and volunteers. That is where the praise should be and it speaks volumes about the Club and the calibre of people that our little cars attract. Always has and hopefully always will!

Yet again, having had new front tyres fitted complete with inner tubes, within six months the labels on the inside of the tyres which are only papery, have worn through the inner tube and caused a slow puncture.

I would warn anybody who is having inner tubes fitted to make sure that any labels inside the tyre are removed before the inner tube is fitted, otherwise it will eventually wear through.

I was on what should have been a three-hour journey up to Donington.

I stopped at BP Brackley on the A43 to refuel and grab a sandwich when l noticed that the offside front tyre was rather low. l inflated it at a cost of 50 pence, and then sat in the car and found that the tyre went down again. Thank goodness for the internet which indicated Lough Brothers Ltd in Towcester, who are also known as Towcester Tyre Services. They did not have a new 14-inch tube in stock, but a 13-inch one seemed to fit pretty well. Since writing the letter I’ve had the correct size fitted.

I had the same problem with labels inside the tyres when I used inner tubes on Quicksilver (my MGB GT LE V8) to stop air leaks on the old aluminium wheels. On that occasion l had two punctures on the same day!

Peter J H Thornley

SEPTEMBER SAFETY FAST! I was most surprised and delighted to see a photograph of my parents on page 23.

For the record, Dad’s competition number of 251 confirms that the photo was taken on the 1939 Land’s End Trial on April 8, perhaps on ‘New Mill’ section.

The passenger is my mother. They gained a Premier award for a penalty-free performance. This was exactly three months after the Cream Cracker team’s final event – the Exeter Trial of January 7.

During those three months, dad had disposed of his T-type Cream Cracker (BBL 78), purchased this N-type, got married, had a honeymoon, etc!

I don’t want to be picky, but surely the picture of Doreen Evans in her ‘Dancing Daughters’ Le Mans PA (almost certainly JB6156) must have been 1935, not 1934.

After the 1935 Le Mans race, my understanding is that the three Le Mans cars were brought up to PB spec (including being bored out to 939cc) at Abingdon, probably in early July, and were then repainted from BRG to Cream and Brown and converted to trials-specification for the Three Musketeer team for the MCC Torquay Trial and Rally at the end of July 1935. They were then converted to racing spec and loaned to the Cream Cracker drivers to race at Brooklands on September 14 1935, and my father won a race that day in JB6156. The car was later returned to trials specification and sold into private hands and competed frequently until the war, but has since disappeared.

Howard Gosling Jonathan Toulmin.

SEPTEMBER LOOKING BACK I was pleasantly surprised to find a photo of my MG TC in the Looking Back section on page 98 of September Safety Fast!

I acquired BFK 744 on November 19 2010 from Tessa Barnett, the widow of Mike Barnett. Mike had owned the TC for 45 years and over that time had carried out a full restoration which included some engine modifications for sprints and hill climbs.

I cannot say for sure but I believe the photo was taken at Curborough with Mike driving at one of the Midland Centre’s Sprints; I have a photo of him in a very similar position on the

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Curborough circuit but displaying entry number 46. He and the car were featured in a five-page article entitled ‘Long Term Love’ in MG Enthusiast magazine of August 2007. I would think the photo in Looking Back must have been taken between 2006 and 2009.

BFK is suffering a little at present, confined to the garage with a cracked cylinder head. However, a ‘new’ one has been sourced and is at present being fettled by George Edney.

Andy Kirk

www.mgcc.co.uk

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POSTBAG

PHOENIX PETROLEUM CHALLENGE I thoroughly enjoyed John Prewer’s fascinating article on supercharging his MGB (SF! June 2018) and I was interested that he mentioned the Phoenix Petroleum Challenge and its roots. I have to say that this is not quite as John describes it, but it is an interesting tale and one which I believe deserves to be told.

John states that the Phoenix Petroleum Challenge came about after we attended the Snetterton track days. It is true that we attended the events, and even tried at one time to revive it (so I can attest that track days in the eighties were far from lucrative; indeed, quite the opposite) but this was not how the series originated.

Phil Thompson was Competitions Secretary for Anglia Centre and a long-time BCV8 competitor in both road-going standard and modified cars through the 1980s, but had become increasingly frustrated at how difficult it was for the ‘ordinary Joe’ on a limited budget to remain competitive. He felt passionately that there should be a race series available where the emphasis was on controlling costs whilst still offering close and exciting competition. This was the genesis of the series.

An approach was made to good friend and MGCC member, Charles Butler, at Phoenix Petroleum who agreed to sponsor the series. The idea then had to be ‘sold’ to the committee members of the Anglia Centre, who, it is fair to say (and following our hugely enjoyable but costly foray into track days) were slightly sceptical. Phil’s enthusiasm and drive eventually won them over and all that needed to be done now was to also convince the circuit owners. So now Phil had to plead the case for track time for a race series that had no competitors, no rule book and just some silverware donated by the sponsor. Once again, Phil’s brilliant negotiation skills secured us slots at Snetterton and Cadwell Park on a ‘see how it goes’ basis.

Fortunately for me, whilst strong on drive and enthusiasm, Phil was less burdened on the admin front and needed a pen-pusher to look after all the boring stuff, like collecting the entry fees. I think my being Centre scribe at the time also helped, as it guaranteed plenty of column inches in SF! Phil was always keen to exploit any marketing opportunity.

Thus we set about compiling a set of regulations. With absolutely no experience in the subject, we drew heavily on the regs for the Cockshoot Cup. The rules for road-going Midgets were compiled around (whether he knew it or not) the road car of Lenham Le Mans racer David Stubbings. In fact, it is fair to say that several of the regs reflected the idiosyncrasies of specific individuals’ cars. We also secured the services of an RAC eligibility scrutineer who went by the marvellous handle of Dallas Smith – I could write an entire

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series on that particular gentleman. Suffice to say, he was a joy to spend time with.

It may surprise some people to learn that Phil and I did not always see eye to eye regarding the series.

Our first disagreement was actually about the very format of the series. I envisaged a series specifically for Abingdon-built MGs but Phil had a much wider vision and fortunately ignored my pleadings, throwing the series open to any vehicle bearing the marque initials.

This turned out to be a master stroke and paved the way for the enduring series we see today.

So, with everything in place, we advertised the series in SF! and waited… and waited. At first there was a trickle of entries, but as the first race began to loom on the horizon we started to sweat a little. Then the trickle became a flood (not the sweat, I hasten to add) which was a great relief in one way, but now meant we had no choice but to deliver a race series, having absolutely no experience and no idea how the first race would pan out.

We needn’t have worried. By throwing the net wide, Phil ensured that the first grid, on a cold and wet Snetterton (isn’t it always!) was not only full, but featured everything from a supercharged T Type, through MGAs, Midgets and Bs, to a full works spec MG 6R4. The series was up and running and the die had been cast – variety would be the driver of its continued success.

Yes, we made a few mistakes along the way. For instance, acceding to a request for the modified cars to run with aero screens. They looked amazing but with slicks and no windscreens the speed differential to the road-going cars increased immensely. In those days races tended to last 10 laps rather than the 20 or so minutes we have today. With the slower cars being lapped several times, some of them were only getting six laps. You live and learn and the situation was corrected.

It’s very satisfying to see the (now titled) PBIS Challenge continuing three decades later and going from strength to strength, but I often think back to the time Phil and I stood surveying the less than half a dozen entries lying on his dining table and discussing plans to leave the country!

David Doulin North Yorkshire MGCC (formerly Anglia Centre and Abingdon)

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our commitment to growing talent by placing us firmly in the heart of one of the globe’s design destinations.”

SECOND STUDIO SUCCESS FOR SAIC

M

G’s continued sales growth both in the UK and across the world has been well documented in the pages of Safety Fast! and in the wider motoring press, but perhaps one story that has gone untold is the success of the UK-based design and engineering team, at the SAIC Motor Technical Centre (SMTC) UK. Longbridge remains home to over 300 designers and engineers working on MG cars for the global market, as well as cars for SAIC’s other brand, the China-only Roewe.

This success has led to a need to increase the size and scope of the UK team and this had led to the formation of the Advanced London Design Studio.

Based in the heart of London, in Marylebone, the Studio shares the same building as MG’s second London showroom and the headquarters of MG’s sales and marketing team.

The new studio will focus on digital design, working heavily with new technology, such as virtual reality, while working in tandem with the existing studios in Birmingham and Shanghai,

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who will have increased opportunity to focus on physical design, utilising traditional but essential techniques such as clay model as well as 3D printing.

London was chosen by SAIC as it is seen as a global centre for design and fashion, with the city being a draw to talent from across the world.

A selection of VIPs were on hand for the opening, including MG’s Global Design Director, Shao Jingfeng, who said: “We are really excited to have this new Design Studio in the heart of London opening today. The team is already taking advantage of the cutting-edge creative environment.

Design is a huge element of the SAIC Motor vision, as we continue to explore the possibilities of the rapidly evolving automotive sector across the globe. The new Advanced London studio will allow us to focus on concept studies and pre-concepts for future production projects.”

The studio will be led by Design Director Carl Gotham, who added: “Over the past six years we have formed strong relationships with many pioneering institutions, and the opening of Advanced London will help us further

Nurturing the next generation As well as the opening ceremony for the new studio, the day also saw the culmination of the European leg of the 2018 SAIC Design Challenge. Students from across the continent have been working to design and develop their vision for a flagship electric MG for 2025 and the final six were on hand to present their concepts, with three finalists heading to Shanghai in October for the grand finale.

The contest launched in March, with the European launch taking place at Coventry University, with MGCC members’ support coming in the form of a display of what SAIC Motor called ‘MG’s greatest hits’ – a TC, A, B and F. Mr Gotham added: “Our annual SAIC Design Challenge will be the first output of Advanced London, bringing together some of the keenest young minds in the European design sector, with concepts being put forward that can only come from people looking at the industry with a fresh perspective.

Advanced London, alongside our Birmingham studio, is ideally positioned to help provide an environment to explore new concepts and help drive the brand forward, maintaining the same talent training system as SAIC Design China headquarters. We will continue to search for the best creative talent, and we hope that, through the internationalised platform built by SAIC, the designers will flourish and grow within the design industry. Creative energy, high potential, ambition and dreams will encourage them to become future design industry stars.”

Stay tuned for further updates on the 2018 Design Challenge in future issues of Safety Fast!.

O

• • • • • •

C

www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 17:26

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18 14:45

FEATURE

MANCHESTER XPAG TESTS FUEL AND TUNING – PART 2.1 CHOICE OF FUEL AND TUNING CARBURETTORS

By Paul Ireland

Introduction In the previous article I suggested steps that could be taken to mitigate the problems a number of classic MG owners suffer from: Weak Running, where the engine stops in slow-moving traffic, especially on hot days, and the Hot Restart problem where a hot engine cannot be restarted after stopping for 5-10 minutes. The Manchester XPAG tests identified a further problem with modern petrol: Slow Combustion.

Particularly at normal road driving speeds and with high throttle settings, modern fuel appears to burn too slowly, overheating the valves, cylinder head and exhaust system. This in turn increases under-bonnet temperature, making the Weak Running problem worse.

In this article I will discuss the effect of different grades and blends of petrol on the severity of the Slow Combustion problem and the importance of choosing a fuel best suited to your car.

The implication of these results is that the normal additives used to enhance the octane rating are possibly to blame

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for Slow Combustion and fuels that use ethanol or other chemicals as an octane enhancer perform better.

A number of articles have been published on the dangers of ethanol blended fuel. There is one other potentially serious corrosion problem I have discovered and I will cover this in a later article.

Remember that our cars are all different and the severity of the problems experienced by owners varies immensely, even between the same models of car.

The suggestions in these articles should be taken just as that, suggestions for people to try; they are not intended as solutions to be blindly adopted.

Slow Combustion Previous articles described how poor mixing of the air and petrol in the carburettor can lead to a problem called Cyclic Variability. This is a condition where, in every cylinder, the timing of each combustion cycle can vary significantly cycle by cycle leading to some cycles firing too early, or pinking,

and others firing too late, resulting in very hot gases and unburned fuel leaving the cylinder. It is as though something is making huge adjustments to the ignition timing every time the engine fires.

Carbon monoxide (CO) in the exhaust gases is an indication of poor combustion. CO is produced when there is insufficient oxygen present to burn the carbon to carbon dioxide (CO2). In an engine that is running rich, insufficient oxygen is inducted with the fuel and this will lead to high levels of CO in the exhaust gases. However, at Manchester both the mixture and timing of the engine were set to the optimum for each test. Therefore the high levels of CO are a direct indicator of poor combustion caused by imperfect mixing of the air and fuel in the cylinder – one cause of Cyclic Variability.

The measurements of the SU suction piston heights at Manchester provided an indication of the scale of this problem particularly when using full throttle settings below 3,000 rpm. In addition, there was a strong correlation between the degree of enrichment seen

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FEATURE

below 3,000 rpm on full throttle and the levels of CO in the exhaust gases for the different fuels, confirming the link between the Slow Combustion problem and poor combustion.

Choice of Petrol At Manchester nine different fuels were tested, along with a 20% kerosene mix and the use of a nebulizer to improve petrol atomisation and mixing. Each of these combinations produced different levels of CO. As the Slow Combustion problem appeared at its worst on full throttle between 2,000 and 3,000 rpm, the diagram below shows the average CO levels in the exhaust gas for each fuel or combination for these tests. The lower the levels of CO, the better that sample of fuel is burning. The grey bars show the special fuels we tested and the orange bars the ones containing ethanol.

These results show significant differences in the levels of CO between the different fuels. The top performing fuel is the Sunoco Optima 98 that was also rated highly as not suffering from the weak running problem.

Of the top six best-performing fuels,

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three were ethanol blended, one an ethanol blended Super grade, came in third. Remember Cleveland Discol that was introduced in 1928 and mentioned in the first article? This fuel contained alcohol (ethanol) and these findings support the manufacturer’s claim that it “contributed to a brilliant performance and better mileage because it keeps the engines cooler and cleaner”.

The diagram on the right shows shows the average relationship between unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust gas against exhaust temperature for the 2,000 to 2,750 rpm range. As the engine was fully tuned for each test, high levels of unburned hydrocarbons reflect poor combustion. As might be expected, the less of the fuel that has burned the lower the gas temperatures and the less efficiently the engine is running.

It is interesting to note at the bottom right hand of the graph, the 95 Octane + foil and 95 Octane + 5:1 kero both burn better than the 95 Octane on its own. Adding kerosene certainly improves the combustion, suggesting any fears it will not burn are unfounded.

The three red tests at the top right of the graph show that increasing the volume of ethanol in the petrol both improves combustion and reduces exhaust temperatures as more hydrocarbons are replaced by oxygen molecules. However, before filling up your car with an ethanol blended fuel, read the warning later in this article.

Unfortunately, these findings show that not all Super grade fuels performed as well. The Super grade with ethanol produced 1.55 ppm CO while a different brand of Super grade without ethanol produced 4.16 ppm CO – more than double.

One question most people will ask is: “Did you see any difference in power output between the different brands?” The answer is yes. The average full throttle power output of the test XPAG between 2,000 and 2,750 rpm was 25.2 BHP, The difference in power output between the worse performing petrol and best was one BHP. While measureable, this difference is small and would not be noticed during normal road driving. However, this measurement was obtained for an engine that was fully retuned for each fuel and rev setting. Different fuels showed different levels of enrichment due to the Slow Combustion problem.

When an engine is running rich, it produces less power. Hence when used on the road and where the engine is not being continually re-tuned, as in the tests, these fuels will produce less power than the tests predict.

The fuels that gave the maximum average power output were Sunoco Optima 98 and the Branded 95 Octane (Batch two) with nebulizer. One surprising result is that adding 20% kerosene to the 95 Octane (Batch two) reduced the CO emissions by nearly 50%. However, it also gives the lowest power output. It is not clear why adding kerosene should significantly improve burning and reduce the effect of Slow Combustion while, at the same time, reducing power output. The power

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FEATURE

reduction is not caused by the kerosene failing to burn properly; the level of unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust (141 ppm) was slightly less than that of petrol on its own (149 ppm), suggesting people’s worries about the kerosene not burning are unfounded.

This test was run with a very high concentration of kerosene (one part kerosene to five parts petrol or 20%).

Adding kerosene to standard fuel is perhaps something worth trying. Best to start with lower concentrations, eg 5% kerosene (one part kerosene in 20 parts petrol) and increase it if it appears to improve matters. Owners of high compression engines need to take care as adding kerosene also reduces the octane rating and could cause pinking. This is discussed more fully in the next article.

These results demonstrated differences in the performance of different brands and grades of petrol in the XPAG engine. High ethanol content fuels appear to perform best, but they bring with them another set of problems. Trying different fuels to find one that best suits your car, is not easy. Look at the difference between the two batches of the same brand of 95 Octane petrol, both bought within

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Safety Fast_October18_Front.indd 21

days of each other in Manchester at a filling station close to the University.

The one without ethanol burned worse, producing 50% more CO but with an exhaust gas temperature 50oC lower than the ethanol blended batch. Also remember the composition of the same brand and grade of petrol will vary across the country.

However, for normal driving, remember the advice that was given in the last article: To avoid the Slow Combustion problem, do not open the throttle fully below 3,000 rpm. If you wish to accelerate, select a lower gear first. Conversely, if you are cruising in third or second gear and your revs are above 3,000 rpm you should change UP to a higher gear.

Conclusion The Manchester tests showed there were significant differences in the way the engine ran on different brands and grades of petrol. They showed that with the exception of the specialist Sunoco Optima 98 petrol, the best performing, commercially available fuels are ones that used ethanol to boost the octane rating. But these come with a warning.

The advice for classic car owners is try different brands and grades until you

find a fuel that works best in your car.

As Cyclic Variability causes an engine to run slightly rough, owners should choose the fuel on which the engine runs most smoothly, particularly on full throttle below 3,000 rpm.

Although Sunoco Optima 98 is around twice the price of pump fuel, its low volatility below 50oC, improved running characteristics, guarantee it does not contain ethanol and long storage lifetime make it a fuel of choice for low-mileage vehicles.

Sunoco Optima can be ordered direct from the Anglo American Oil Company via their web shop (www. aaoil.co.uk) or by telephone on 01929 551557. Be aware: the law limits the amount of petrol that can be stored in a garage, or anywhere within six metres of a dwelling to 30 litres.

Adding around 5%-10% kerosene to pump fuel reduces its volatility below 50oC, also reducing the degree of the Slow Burning problem. Owners of high compression engines who try adding kerosene must watch out for pinking as it reduces octane rating.

If you live in the UK remember, you can legally add kerosene to petrol for cars produced before 1956, but you will need to apply to HM Customs and Excise for a Concession. Write to: Mr John Loughney, Excise, Stamps and Money Businesses, HM Revenue & Customs, 3rd Floor West, Ralli Quays, 3 Stanley Street, Salford, M60 9LA Requesting a “General Licence to mix hydrocarbon oils under Regulation 43 of the Hydrocarbon Oil Regulations 1973 (SI 1973/1311)” giving your name, address, model and dates of production of the model of your vehicle.

The MG Car Club takes no responsibility for any loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any material or information in these articles, and the opinion of the author is his own and the Editor and the MG Car Club are not bound to agree with those opinions.

OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 21

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21/09/2018 17:26

SUPPORTED BY

FEATURE

Body off in the RPS workshop, before the major chassis strip down

PROJECT MGA – UPDATE!

It’s been a little while since we reported on the progress of Project MGA, but now Mike Brewer gives us the low-down on how the restoration work at RPS is proceeding.

T

here’s been plenty of developments with the MGA in the last few months, thanks to the guys at Rally Preparation Services, Moss Europe and Cotswold Accident Repair Centre.

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_October18_Front.indd 23

Firstly, the body has been sandblasted and Mark Rainer and his team are undertaking a few minor repairs before it’s ready for a fresh coat of (nonyellow) paint – you’ll be able to see more about the work that’s going into the body in the next issue of Safety Fast!

In the meantime I can tell you that, after much discussion with the team at Kimber House and RPS, we’ve decided to go for silver – it’s something we think will really compliment the gorgeous lines that have won the MGA so many fans down the years.

Inside, we’re carrying on the modern retro theme, with a baseballglove leather interior and matching trim – it’ll give the car a bespoke, custom look without being garish or too in-your-face.

If you’ve seen the videos we’ve done on Facebook and YouTube, you

OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 23

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A FEATURE

Body being sandblasted, ready for the respray next month

SUPPORTED BY

can see we’ve already decided to go with an engine transplant from the MGB, swapping the A’s unit for the bigger 1798cc from the later car. Now, I know there’ll be plenty of purists wondering why, so please let me explain my thoughts. This car needs to be usable on a regular basis – it’s going to be doing lots of charity runs to raise lots of money for good causes, which means people that aren’t necessarily used to a classic car like the A are going to get behind the wheel – if it’s got a bit more power and a bit more torque it will certainly be more user friendly. Secondly, I’m going to keep the original engine, so if ever the time comes when it needs to be returned to its original factory spec, that can be done.

On the subject of drivability, if you turn to page 27 in this issue you can see the full step-by-step guide to another popular mod for the MGA – a Mazda five-speed gearbox conversion.

While plenty of progress has been made, there’s still loads to be done as we continue the build-up to the A’s grand unveiling later this year.

If you’ve got any questions about the A, the restoration and the look of the car, let us know – we’d love to hear from you!

Want to get involved?

We’re looking for help with trim and brightwork – if you’d like to become part of Project MGA, get in touch with the team at Kimber House – email adam@mgcc.co.uk

The MGA as purchased by Mike Brewer. Visit the NEC Classic Car Show in November to see the restored and transformed MGA

See the finished MGA this November The completed car will be making its show debut at this year’s NEC Classic Motor Show this November. The show is on from the 9-11 and you can get an exclusive MG Car Club member’s discount – head to the Members Area of the MGCC website and book your tickets now!

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www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 17:26

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21/09/2018 17:49

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PROJECT MGA GEARBOX CONVERSION

Mike Brewer’s MGA has now reached the rebuild stage. We caught up with the car at Rally Preparation Services to see the Moss Vitesse five-speed gearbox conversion being fitted.

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ork has been progressing rapidly on Project MGA and, in the very capable hands of Ben Harris at Rally Preparation Services, reassembly has begun in earnest on the freshly powder-coated chassis. In keeping with owner Mike Brewer’s plans for the car, the MG is going to be upgraded in a few key areas.

Utilising the parts catalogue of project partner, Moss Europe, Mike had decided that a five-speed gearbox conversion was high on the wish list.

The finished car will ultimately be used

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By Gez Hughes on driving events and runs to raise funds for Mike’s chosen charities, so driveability and reliability will be key.

The Moss Vitesse conversion utilises the Mazda MX5 five-speed unit, with its legendary slick change and that additional gear for relaxed cruising.

To the same end, the MGA’s engine will be replaced with a more powerful ‘B’ Series. The Vitesse conversion kit can be ordered for a range of configurations and as such, can be mated to the MGA 1500 and 1600, Twin Cam, MGB threeand five-bearing engines.

The kit is comprehensive and contains everything you need to carry

out the job, other than a handful of nuts and bolts. It includes a brand new Mazda five-speed gearbox assembled into custom casing and bell housing, which has been carefully designed to resemble the OE part. This is to preserve the original look in the engine bay, and it bolts directly onto the engine’s back plate. A modern concentric clutch slave cylinder assembled with pipework comes ready fitted, as does the speedo drive.

The clutch utilises the cover from the chosen engine, along with a Mazda OE clutch plate. In the case of Project

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FEATURE

SUPPORTED BY

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The MX5 gearbox supplied ready to fit, assembled into its custom casing and bell housing, with concentric slave cylinder ready fitted. It’s even already filled with the correct gearbox oil.

The clutch assembly is a hybrid using the clutch cover appropriate to the engine with a Mazda driven plate.

In our case, the cover is fitted using stainless spacers to accommodate the thicker driven plate and aligned with a Mazda tool which is supplied with the kit.

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A new spigot bearing to suit the Mazda box is fitted into the end of the MGB engine’s crank. It’s lightly greased to aid smooth fitting of the gearbox.

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The concentric slave cylinder comes pre-fitted with all necessary pipework – a banjo ended pipe which goes to the master cylinder and a bleed pipe. These exit through the top of the bell housing and need to be handled with respect during the fitting process.

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As we’re fitting the gearbox into an effectively bare chassis, we can pre-assemble the engine and box as a unit and fit from the front. If you’re going to fit just the gearbox, it’s necessary to go in through the car, meaning all interior trim, the floorboards and the transmission tunnel will need to be removed.

The new gearbox mount is cleverly designed to wrap around the cross member and has inbuilt adjustment for both fore and aft and side-to-side.

7

If you’re working on a complete MGA, you will need to remove the propshaft before removing the transmission tunnel.

MGA’s chosen setup, the cover is fitted with spacers to allow room for the heftier driven plate. Also included are the neat custom gearbox mounting, a bespoke propshaft and gear lever, plus the bits and pieces you may think you have to seek out elsewhere such as the

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speedo cable. Even a Mazda OE gear knob is included along with all other hardware for installation, and the unit is even ready filled with oil.

As Mike’s MGA is undergoing a ground-up rebuild, we were working without the restrictions of bodywork or

trim, which meant the gearbox could be mounted to the engine on the workshop floor and then the whole unit could be craned into place. This is also an option when working on a complete car, but will require great care when slotting the unit in through

www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 17:26

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FEATURE 9

The standard gearbox mount is welded to the cross member. This needs to be cut away with an angle grinder, all traces ground flat and then the area needs to be painted to prevent future corrosion.

The new gearbox mount is secured by four nuts and bolts.

It fits snugly between the longitudinal rails which require two holes drilling on each side.

10

The engine back plate should be cleaned carefully before the box is mated up. There are no dowels to aid location so an extra pair of hands will be very useful at this stage.

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Once the gearbox slides home, fit the top two nuts and bolts to secure in place. Note that the length on the bolts vary around the bell housing.

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Ben fits lifting eyes and a load leveller in preparation for hoisting the engine and box into the chassis. The leveller allows the unit to be tilted safely to guide it into place without catching on the cross members.

www.mgcc.co.uk

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13

The engine/gearbox assembly is gently guided into place.

If you’re going to employ this method, it is a two-man job to prevent any damage to either the unit or the car.

OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 29

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On the left-hand mount, the engine restrictor bracket is fitted. This prevents the engine moving forward should the mounts fail for any reason.

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With the gearbox supported on a trolley jack, the engine mounts are aligned and the fixing bolts slotted into place.

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The propshaft yoke is lubricated with some gearbox oil and then slid into the gearbox‌

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‌ and the propshaft rear flange is bolted up to the differential.

The front of the gearbox mount is secured to the cross member using four M8 nuts and bolts. The bottom of the mount should align with the longitudinal members of the chassis.

19

The rear rubber mount is fixed loosely to the bracket.

They need to be no more than finger tight at this point as the final position will be determined once the transmission tunnel has been fixed back in place.

the engine bay, and will of course require the removal of the engine to start with.

The second method is to fit the gearbox through the cabin. The seats, carpets, floorboards and the transmission tunnel will all need to be removed, but the engine can

30 SAFETY FAST! OCTOBER 2018

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then stay in situ. Moss recommends this method if the fitter is confident that the floorboards can be removed without damage as it allows greater access when removing the standard gearbox mounts, and when fitting and adjusting the new rear gearbox mount.

The kit is so well designed and thought out that Ben had little reason to call on the extensive resources at the Rally Preparation Services premises. A comprehensive tool kit, a decent jack and stands and an engine hoist should see you well equipped to complete the

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FEATURE 21

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The bracket has side support plates which fit inside the The support brackets are then slotted into the c-section of the longitudinal members of the chassis. c-section and carefully lined up with the edge of the These have to line up exactly with the end of the masking tape. bracket if the pre-drilled holes are to match. Ben uses some masking tape to mark the ends of the bracket.

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The gearbox mount is then secured with four M8 nuts and bolts.

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With the support brackets held securely in place, the holes are marked and then drilled with a 9mm drill bit.

The gearstick is slotted into place and secured with three M6 dome head cap screws.

Ben checks that all gears can be selected easily.

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The Kit Moss Europe Vitesse Five-Speed Mazda Gearbox Conversion For MGA The gearbox tunnel now has to be refitted to check the alignment of the gearbox. The propshaft has to be removed to facilitate this, and will need to be refitted once the tunnel is secured.

27

Ben gets a colleague to hold the gearbox in the right position while he tightens the two nuts and bolts securing the rear rubber mount to the bracket.

task. Ben is an experienced and skilled restorer, and amongst many others, has restored several MGAs in the past, but he agreed the kit would present few challenges to the home mechanic.

The trickiest part appeared to measuring and accurately drilling the holes for the new gearbox mount, but with a little thought and time applied, Ben had this sorted quickly.

www.mgcc.co.uk

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Moss have engineered in some float on the rear mounting to allow for variations in the gearbox tunnel. There needs to be 5-8mm on the right hand side, and around the same between the propshaft yoke and the left hand side.

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A hole needs to be cut in the right-hand side of the transmission tunnel to allow the speedo cable to pass through. A template is provided in the comprehensive fitting instructions.

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The completed job. Once the trim is in place, there will be no sign of the modifications.

Five Speed Mazda Gearbox Conversion Part Number: TMK30726 Application: MGA converted to MGB 3 Main Bearing 3 Synchro £2,925.00

Five Speed Mazda Gearbox Conversion Part Number: TMK30727 Application: MGA converted to MGB 5 Main Bearing 3 Synchro £2,925.00

Five Speed Mazda Gearbox Conversion Part Number: TMK30728 Application: MGA converted to MGB 5 Main Bearing 4 Synchro £2,925.00 www.moss-europe.co.uk

OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 31

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FEATURE

MG ITALY ODYSSEY PART I

by Robb Metcalfe

Ex RAF pilot, Robb Metcalfe, decides to hang up his flying goggles and take to the roads in his MGTF and travel to Italy.

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www.mgcc.co.uk

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FEATURE

S

ince 1970 we’ve owned five MGs, three MGBGTs, an MGF and latterly an MGTF. Indeed, I think the only time I’ve been without and MG was when our two children made operating an MGBGT as the only car impossible. I am almost loath to tell you that we replaced it with an Austin Allegro! However, if anyone knows what happened to our white BGT, BON 996K we’d love to know.

Over that time Barbara, my wife, learnt to drive in our first BGT and we’ve driven thousands of miles around Europe in our MGs. The reason for this is that,

San Leo castle and village, with Barbara in the MG

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although I was a Royal Air Force pilot and have been flying since before I met Barbara, she dislikes flying almost to the point of hatred. So we go by car. This, we firmly believe, has been a godsend as driving through a country gives you much more opportunity to see the country and to meet the people. People like the boy, 12 years old at the most, who leapt into our brand new BGT in a Thessaloniki hotel and drove it to the car park, and an aged man, I reckon he was over 80, who did the same in Lugano Our first real MG odyssey was to Greece from Northern Germany, where I was then based, which involved on the return trip a drive over the Cakor Pass in what was then Yugoslavia and is now in Montenegro. It looks bad now, so think what it was like in 1972!

Since then we’ve toured most of Europe east and west, not to mention the British Isles. Our Italian trip was to fulfil one of Barbara’s bucket list wishes, to see the Amalfi Coast and southern Italy. We reckoned on around 4,000 miles and planned on a four-week journey. We live in West Sussex, so we’re conveniently placed for the Tunnel and ferries, but chose the Tunnel this time, planning our first overnight somewhere near the Luxembourg-Germany border on the upper reaches of the Mosel.

I should explain that we rarely book accommodation ahead preferring, at around 5.00pm, to start to look for

somewhere to rest our heads. We’ve only failed to find somewhere once, back on our Greek Odyssey when we had to sleep on a beach. However, on this occasion I thought we may be stuck again as we arrived to find the local wine festival in full swing and accommodation at a premium.

Nevertheless, a slightly extended drive found an excellent B & B in a small inn.

From there we travelled on to Austria for a night stop before crossing the Brenner Pass into Italy. I had planned our first stop in Italy to be at Teolo in the Colli Euganei, a hilly – we would say mountainous – area rising from the River Po Plain a little west of Padua. I had visited there often in the past and had always wanted to show it to Barbara, as it is one of the unknown jewels of Northern Italy.

The hills rise 1,000 to 2,000 feet out of the plain and are spectacular with winding roads and fabulous views. But beware cyclists – there are hundreds of them, or so it seems. Creeping up the steep inclines, weaving from side to side, or roaring down the hills at 40 plus miles per hour, using the whole width of the road at times to navigate the numerous hairpin bends. We overnighted at the Hotel Alla Posta in Teolo where I had stayed during my visits to the Italian Air Force base in the mountains.

At this stage we used primarily the autostradas to cover the distance, but prefer to use the minor roads when

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Typical Puglia, the MG in front of an olive grove

we can. We rarely drive for more than two hours at one time before stopping for a couple of hours somewhere that attracts our attention.

From Teolo we headed south down the east coast via Ravenna to San

Marino, stopping in each for a couple of hours to our next overnight at San Leo. This amazing village, with a castle that seems to be a natural part of the mountain on which it is built, is again one of Italy’s best-kept secrets. The

village is a delight to wander around and there are a couple of excellent restaurants in the cobbled square.

I would point out that we don’t have a planned itinerary but use maps and guide books to wander in the general direction we wish to follow, choosing to stay overnight somewhere that looks interesting. Surprisingly, we have found that this often leads us to an overnight stop in a gem of a place of which we have never heard. San Leo was one such example. However, as I said earlier, we always start to look at around 5pm, as this gives plenty of time if accommodation is scarce or you end up in a wine fest or arrive at carnival time! This plan was to serve us well on our next night.

After departing San Leo in late morning, having spent an hour exploring the village, we continued south now aiming to cross from the

The Amalfi Coast road with MG 34 SAFETY FAST! OCTOBER 2018

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FEATURE

east coast to the west coast towards one of only three pre-booked stays in Sorrento. I will explain the reason for this pre-booking later.

We stopped in Perugia for lunch, another fascinating medieval city, which like many other towns where we stopped for a couple of hours, tempted us to stay a few days. It is a beautiful place full of narrow streets and glorious piazzas with photo opportunities on every corner.

Continuing onwards, we noticed that en route there were a number of towns not in the guide book, but in which we thought we would find accommodation. However, on arrival in three of the towns in which we stopped, there was nothing available, and my Italian is not up to the dialect or the speed of conversation! However, our 5pm rule served us well, allowing sufficient time to press onwards towards Cassino where we knew (hoped) there would be accommodation. So it proved and we stayed in a room overlooking the famous monastery and the Second World War battlefield.

Overlooking is actually a misnomer, as from our balcony we had to look upwards at an angle of at least 45 degrees to see the monastery on the hilltop. How the allied troops fought their way up those hills to capture the monastery I do not know and just looking at it made one feel humble for what they achieved there in 1944. Cassino itself was flattened in the battles around it and is now not particularly attractive, but not to be missed if you are in the area. There are many Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries, as well as those of the other allied nations who fought there and of the Germans who defended with equal gallantry.

We drove on, somewhat subdued, towards Sorrento.

Another aside: I like cars and aeroplanes with no top. The wind in the hair, or what little of it I have left, type of flying and driving is exhilarating.

www.mgcc.co.uk

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Rain en route to Sorrento

Barbara, whom I’ve not yet converted to open-cockpit aviation, has accepted my penchant for top-down motoring in all weathers, winter and summer. On this trip, we had the roof on for less than four hours in total and two of those hours we were on the road to Sorrento.

As we came in sight of the sea the sky darkened with huge black clouds towering over the Tyrrhenian Sea, away to the west. We drove on with me confidently saying: “The clouds will peter out before they get this far inland”. It was not to be: the wind increased quite alarmingly and we could see the heavy rain falling from the still-approaching weather system. So we stopped and put the roof up. Just in time, as we were rapidly engulfed in a storm of tropical intensity. The rain was torrential, monsoon like, and the road ahead quickly became deep in water. It was so bad that even the Italians slowed down!

This leads me on to thinking about Italian driving and non-British driving in general. I listen to a lot of friends asking Barbara and I how we can be so comfortable driving overseas. I realise that living in Germany for almost eight years does help, but we have always felt comfortable driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road. Yes, we do have the occasional flutter, say when

coming out of a one-way street, but it’s usually when we’re back in Blighty!

We have discussed the matter and have decided that to be happy driving outside the UK you have to adapt to the driving style of the country. In Germany, for example, this means adhering to strong lane discipline and not swopping lanes whilst going round roundabouts and rushing into the inside lane as if your life depends on it, as a large number of British drivers do.

In Italy, it means adjusting your driving style to a more ‘laissez faire’ style so that, for instance, traffic lights can appear almost advisory, particularly in towns. The amount of ‘laissez faire’ increases as you go south, so that in Naples traffic lights are ‘only advisory’, an occasional car-to-car touch is amazingly rare but generally shrugged off when he or she who is in front has the right of way. By in front I mean any distance from a few yards to a millimetre, and I do mean a millimetre.

Back to the odyssey. The monsoon stopped almost as quickly as it had arrived and after a period to let the roof dry off, down it came again and we continued towards Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. Our route took us through the outskirts of Naples and close to Pompeii, so we decided to

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FEATURE

stop off in the latter for a few hours and visit the remains of the Roman city.

It’s another of those must-see places, but we decided later that we preferred Heracleum. It’s more compact, less tourists and more atmospheric.

Another aside: we do use a satnav but always backed up by a map. The latter proved extremely useful when I found, on day one of our odyssey, that I’d failed to include Germany on our satnav! However, we have found that putting in ‘shortest route’ takes you through those parts of a town that you never see when taking the ‘fastest route’. One does have to take care or you can end up in areas where you’d prefer not to be, and it’s not a system to use in the dark, but in the bright daylight. Another piece of advice: always travel in an MG as the small, narrower car is essential in many back streets.

To be continued

Where you get to if you Tom Tom the shortest route!

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21/09/2018 17:27

DALES RUN 2018

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By Ken and Julie Cothliff

ith over 100 MGs and other cars planning to attend, this year’s Dales Run was going to be one of the best ever. However, Mother Nature had others ideas and after a wonderful summer, Sunday August 27 dawned dull and overcast. As the cars gathered at the Bay Horse, Skipton, the clouds darkened and down came the rain – exactly as forecast. 109 cars were expected but 96 turned up, including two late additions.

I must admit we had second thoughts, but as it was dry when we left home in Leeds, we decided to go, so Julie and I, and poor old MGB “Marmalade” got a true Yorkshire soaking.

The oldest car attending the run was Jeff and Kate Marsden in their 1953 MGTD, with another 1953 TD from Chris Morley of Bradford, and the newest was Robin Kent’s MG3. As usual, by far the most numerous were the MGB/MGC series cars including the MGC GT of John Weston, a regular attender. Also present were three of the rare ‘85th Anniversary’ MG TFs, encouraged by Noel Linford of Tyneside, the others being Roger Stones from Stockport, and John Rogers from Grantham.

Alan and Dorothy French’s TF. What Bank Holiday Traffic?

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Fortified by bacon butties and hot drinks, the cars started leaving base about 9.45am. Amongst the early starters were Wayne and Dot Lee, Otago Branch NZMGCC, from Invercargill, South Island, New Zealand in their VW hire car. They had contacted organiser Paul Croft to ask if they could join in as they were staying in Yorkshire. In the true spirit of friendship of the MGCC, he told them they were welcome. I think they were the farthest travelled for the run in the history of this event.

As the rest of us left, the rain really started to hammer down, and we all proceeded northward from Skipton on the classic ‘Dales’ road, the B6265, past the beauty spot of Kilnsey Crag, through Kettlewell, Starbotton, and Buckden, turning off to Thoralby to Aysgarth, location of some of the most spectacular waterfalls featured in the movie “Robin Hood Prince of Thieves”. Our northward journey continued through classic Dales villages such as Askrigg, Muker and Thwaite, all of which are regularly featured on TV documentaries. We were climbing all the time over narrow unfenced moors roads, testing our driving skills, before we ended up at the halfway point, the Tan Hill Inn – the highest and remotest hostelry in England.

The Inn was packed with MGs, campers, cyclists, and even hikers. It was so busy that we took just a comfort stop and headed further north, downhill, on the way passing through one of the many

A trio of 85th Anniversary MG TFs

Wayne and Dot Lee, from New Zealand

fords in the area, then our route was over Buttertubs Pass, so named after the limestone ‘wells’ next to the road, and down into Hawes, known as the ‘capital’ of the Dales. One cannot go to Hawes without calling in at the Wensleydale Creameries, home of Wallace and Gromit’s favourite cheese.

Our return run took us through Gayle, past its 18th century cotton mill, (possibly one of the first in the North), and again over the moors of Wether Fell and across a Roman road. Dropping down to Oughtershaw, we drove alongside the upper waters of the River Wharfe, though Hubberholme, and its excellent pub, the George Inn, and on to Buckden and Kettlewell. Passing the spectacular Kilnsey Crag again, we skirted Grassington, and south through Rylstone, and we were soon back at the Bay Horse, wetting our collective whistles with some fine Yorkshire ale, and wine, before an evening meal. The run had been 104 miles long.

With the support of MGCC North Yorkshire Centre organising raffles and book sales, the event managed to raise over £1,000 for our charity, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. A special thanks to Paul Croft for organising the run itself, and the NY MGCC members for helping out on the day. Thanks also to our sponsors, Stanley Cars of Bradford, AMJ Engineering of Earby, Mulloys of Sutton in Craven, and not least Whitakers of Skipton who supplied us with some very yummy chocolates to sell at the start.

OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 37

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VINTAGE NEWSLET TER Peter Jones peterjones1880@me.com

WELCOME TO THE VINTAGE NEWSLETTER Romping up a section on the Kimber Classic in the MG 18/80

I was struggling out of Sainsbury’s, loaded with bags of shopping, when I saw a rather sporty Audi TT Quattro parked next to the 18/80. Now I have rather liked these ever since my stepdaughter was thinking of buying one and asked me to go with her to test drive a couple. They go like a rocket but I found them rather tricky to get in and out of – eventually she bought a Honda CRV (!) but there we are.

Shame, really, as she often borrows our ‘van based’ useful vehicle so I though she would leave me with the Quattro and… anyway, as I walked over I noticed that my steering wheel was taller than the Audi’s roof! My, how car design has changed over the last 90 years.

On the other hand, bits like pistons, con rods, crank shafts, poppet valves and so on would have been recognisable to Siegfried Marcus who built the first petrol powered combustion engine in 1870 and went on to introduce a four-cycle engine with an ingenious carburettor design and magneto ignition in, of all years, 1880.

However, things are now all set for change as battery technology is leaping ahead and in a few years I’m told that all new cars are to be electrically powered. After that, all internal combustion engines will be banned as the electric revolution progresses.

Incidentally, the first known electric car was built in 1837, in Scotland by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen.

It was powered by galvanic cells (that’s batteries to you and me). The question on everyone’s lips is how will all this affect our ‘classic’ cars? Well, that nice Mr Gove suggests that we will all have to fit electric motors in them!

This may not be altogether a bad

The Jones’ enjoying the Kimber Classic Trial. Photo: Simon Lott 38 SAFETY FAST! OCTOBER 2018

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thing. The other day I was reading about the new Tesla Model X which will have all-wheel drive and a 100 kWh battery providing 351 miles of range as well as, and this is the best bit, “it’s ludicrously fast, accelerating from zero to 60 miles per hour in as quick as 2.9 seconds”. Now (accepting the unusual English phrasing) that is the sort of conversion I would be interested in. Obviously I would selflimit the top speed to below 100mph for safety’s sake – after all, I am not irresponsible; however the acceleration would be most invigorating even if the cost is astronomical.

However, back to the present day and at last I seem to have the better of the gremlins that have dogged performance of my internal combustion engine for the last half-dozen or so years. As you may know there is no ‘automatic advance’ on the standard 18/80 distributor, merely an ‘advance and retard’ lever on the steering column, together with a hand throttle, so that the discerning motorist can gauge the correct amount of advance and adjust it correspondingly. Another interesting feature of the original is the cam, in that it has just three lobes and, for a six-cylinder engine this is on the low side. To overcome the problem they fitted twin contact breakers on opposite sides that produced the right number of sparks at more or less the right time. The Morris Isis, which used the same engine, by contrast had a sixlobed cam and an ingenious automatic advance mechanism. Actually the Morris was in many ways a more advanced device in that it also boasted hydraulic brakes – apparently Cecil Kimber didn’t trust them, so kept going with rods and cables!

Well, as time progressed the supply

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VINTAGE NEWSLET TER

of ‘double’ contact sets dried up and so I fitted an Isis one and all was well.

Or so I thought. My engine had always run ‘cool’ but now on a long run it started to overheat when at speeds over 2000rpm, which made life rather dull as this is about 50mph and I had back flushed the radiator, sluiced the block, replaced the water pump and generally fettled everything, all to no avail. I also noted that after a spirited climb up Shaft Road in second gear (there are only three) the head got very hot and even boiled the water.

So, in one of the later night’s work trying to get the thing to work properly, I had the wheeze that perhaps the ‘automatic’ advance was a bit over enthusiastic so I tried retarding the ignition and then, at low revs using the hand advance and as revs increased, I could then retard it suitably. Bingo – performance is improved and the engine runs a lot cooler. However yesterday’s enthusiastic climb up Prior Park Road did show an engine temperature of 90°C at the top, which is a bit on the warm side, but then I noted that the ambient air temperature was 33°C, which is a bit on the warm side too!

Overall the saga has been long and tortuous and, even now, I can’t put my finger on a particular issue and say that this has made all the difference, but a cumulative difference there has been. Take, for example, the drive up to MGs on Grass 1 on April 28 (an excellent event that more of you may care to enter in 2019!) turning off the A4 London road to join the Batheaston and Swainswick Bypass and thence the long pull up the A47 Gloucester Road to Charmy Down. On this ascent I not only overtook a lorry but also a car!

Admittedly there is a notional 50mph speed limit but even so…

The event itself went splendidly and I ended up as joint third overall with Chris Moon (TC) behind the double-entered Midget of the Dellafield father and son, John and

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Putting the 18/80 through its paces on MG on Grass 1. Photo: Jim Lott

Ben. What a glorious day. I had let the rear tyres down a bit to gain traction on the very wet, grassy surface and had forgotten to pump them up on my return home. The 18/80 is a bit picky about tyre pressures and, on the first corner, reminded me that such an omission was clearly unacceptable to the vehicle. I pulled into a handy lay-by and got the electric pump out to refill both to the preferred pressure. Coming the other way was a young couple I know from church and they saw me by the side of the road. They went on a mile or so to the first possible turning space and returned to see if I was OK. They had been on the way to a family dinner with their new baby but thought I might need help! Fair confirms one’s faith in human nature (I chose to overlook their apparent lack of faith in my mechanical ability).

Incidentally, there is a wonderfully descriptive piece on this epic event in the July 2018 Vintage Register Bulletin but, alas, not on the South West Centre’s website.

Before all that, back in April there was the famed Kimber Classic Trial when I came third in the ‘pre-war old stuff’ class behind Jim Rolanson (Austin 7 special) and Roger Tushingham (PB), so an 18/80 can be competitive against both old and new MGs! (If you are really interested there should be a full report, from a Vintage point of view, on the cracking Kimber Classic in the Vintage Register July Bulletin. Contact John Day on mg1880@ntlworld.com and he may

send you copies of both issues.)

And so on to the future. We enjoyed a long heatwave of the “Phew, what a scorcher” variety over the summer and used the Six as everyday transport and it was an absolute joy – especially as it doesn’t even overheat now. It always surprises me how few other old cars I see as I motor round Bath and environs. There are a few old-style Minis (the first was made 59 years ago!) but very little of the 60s/70s or even 80s and nothing at all interestingly earlier!

This strikes me as most odd. A ‘classic’ car is relatively cheap to run in that, although more thirsty than a modern, it is cheap to insure and repair and for ‘round town’ use is well able to keep up with average modern traffic speeds (apparently 18mph).

There is also an added bonus of being repeatedly waved out at road junctions by fellow motorists in their hermetically sealed, pollen filtered environs! Above all that they are fun to drive, so why are there so few in regular use? Now Bentleys, Rolls Royces and even the older MGs are fairly expensive and beyond most pockets but there are plenty of the ‘lesser makes’ that are perfectly practical propositions at a fraction of the price and they don’t depreciate like newer vehicles. So my advice is to get out there and, if you haven’t got an old car, then get one then use it before the electric revolution stops you having fun in it, despite the pedestrian acceleration.

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Days gone by, Peter Jones hurtling around the field in the TC.

MGs on Grass 2 MGs on Grass two, organised by Dave Coppock, was held on August 5 (in the middle of the heatwave in which no rain had fallen for nearly two months) at Lower Court Farm, Claverham, which is about half an hour south of Bristol on the Weston-super-Mare Road. It was swelteringly hot. This event is of the same nature as MGOG1 (unsurprisingly) but on a much larger and considerably flatter field.

The 17 entrants were a mixture of the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ comprising MGFs, Metros, Midgets, MGB GTs, T types and my 18/80.

There were three tests set out in fine style but, I fear, without particular regard to the turning circle of my 18/80, which all made things even more exciting. They did give me one concession in that there was a ‘square garage’ marked out with bollards that could be taken in one if judged right – unless, that is, you were in a ‘larger’ vehicle, so they generously let me go ‘round the outside’ which, I mentioned, meant that I was travelling further than the rest of the field…

Ben Dellafield in the winning Midget.

Now, in wet/slippery conditions I can mix it with smaller, more modern machinery as they can’t get their ‘power down’ with wide tyres on mud. However, this was amazingly dry and gave good grip so I was not really in contention but winning is not everything, or so they say.

Off we set in fine style (I say “we” as the effervescent Victoria was in the navigating seat next to me, as we had entered the Gymkhana bit of the competition – much more sociable) and about half way round test one there was a very tight turn and so I reached for the handbrake to whip the back end round a bit. Unfortunately, I tried to do this with my left hand (50 years of doing silly things in a field with the TC tends to make for reflex actions).

Having waved my hand around a bit and found nothing I had to stop and reverse back a bit, which didn’t improve the time. For the rest of the

competition I had to keep reminding myself where the hand brake is and even then didn’t always get it right… but when I did, it improved the time more than somewhat.

Well, we had five goes at each test, the worst of which was discounted, and the provisional results were computed and announced at the end.

Ben Dellafield was first overall, beating his dad, John, into second overall but first in class this time (by 0.7 of a second) in their much-used Midget.

One by one the winners in the various classes were congratulated and, at last, I found that I had come 15th overall and had been awarded the first in the Vintage Class. (The South West Centre runs events to give the maximum number of prizes – it encourages one so.) I wonder if I will have any other members in the Vintage class next year to push me down to second in class.

Kicking up the dust during MGs on Grass 2. Photo: Mike Angwin 40 SAFETY FAST! OCTOBER 2018

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TRIPLE M NEWSLET TER Jeremy Hawke Tel: +44 (0)1225 863934 mgk3007@btinternet.com • www.triple-mregister.org

oFeb4 o26 to Oct19

WELCOME TO THE TRIPLE M NEWSLETTER REGISTER NEWS Following my ‘appointment’ as MMM Chairman at the last AGM, we’ve been keeping an eye out for a willing ‘volunteer’ to take on the job of writing these notes and I can now tell you all that my replacement will be not only known to MMM owners, but also to many in the wider Club (for as well as a J2, she also runs a Midget and 1300 at least). For those who haven’t twigged already, your new scribe is none other than Cathelijne Spoelstra, seen here recently with a T Type! I trust you will all keep her inbox full of reports from all the events you do, when she takes over

from January next year – it did seem a little harsh to have her start this month with a four-pager!

Back in July after the AGM, we published a picture of retiring Secretary George Eagle’s leaving gift, but also Dick Morbey stood down as Chairman (immediately sliding effortlessly into the role of Secretary) but we didn’t have the ‘de rigueur’ picture available. So, to make amends, at the last Committee Meeting I had the job of presenting Dick with a framed enlargement of one of his favourite pictures of his P Type (neatly arranged by Peter Green and Dick’s wife Julia).

New MMM SF Scribe Cathelijne Spoelstra. Photo: Cathelijne Spoelstra

Dick Morbey (right) receives his retirement present from new Chairman JH at the September Committee Meeting. Photo: Jeremy Hawke

MMMS ACROSS THE CHANNEL

4

es

19

rt, UK om

I received the following note from Graham Holdsworth, reporting on the Etretat-Benouville Hillclimb which takes place on a 1.2 km closed public coastal road, a short hop across the Channel in Normandy at the delightful seaside resort of Etretat, which lies between Le Havre and Dieppe.

It is in fact two events, one being a modern FIA hillclimb run on the Sunday morning. The other is a Vintage and Classic event which runs on the Saturday and Sunday afternoon, allowing plenty of time to visit the beach and cafes.

This event comprises about 90% British entries.

www.mgcc.co.uk

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Andrew Morland and his L1 at Etretat. Photo: Graham Holdsworth OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 43

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TRIPLE M NEWSLET TER

Alain, Andrew, Barry and Rachel with their cars in the Etretat paddock. Photo: Graham Holdsworth

For the past few years, Andrew Morland’s ‘Flying Tortoises’ team of Triple M cars have made the trip for this very sociable weekend. This year there were just three in the team: Andrew’s L1, Barry Foster’s C Type ‘The Rat’ and Rachael Holdsworth’s PB/s.

However, we were joined by Alain Muckensturm from Strasburg in his

‘Cream Cracker’ style NA/s.

Barry’s C Type just pipped Andrew’s very fast L1 on the final run and Rachael’s PB beat Alain’s slightly offtune NA. Excellent value for money as you get six runs in all.

On the Saturday evening the Mayor of Benouville hosts a reception with an endless supply of canapes and wine in

the true French style. This is generous indeed, considering part of the paddock blocks the main street of the village!

The prizegiving is held on the Sunday evening (in a thunderstorm this year) when everyone gets a prize!

Rachael was honoured to have her PB featured on the event posters and programme cover.

MGCC WISCOMBE

Mark Reece’s PB in the paddock at Wiscombe – it has had the unusual body style since the 1930s. Photo: Jeremy Hawke

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TRIPLE M NEWSLET TER

While the rest of the MMM fraternity were either at the Goodwood Revival (where sole MMM entry, Tom hardman, broke another Diff), or off sprinting at Loton Park, the traditionalists headed off down to Devon for the MGCC SW Centre Wiscombe Hillclimb. We were a varied bunch, consisting of Brian Galbraith (J2), Andrew Morland (L1), Mark Reece (PB), Graham Meyer (KN s/s) and myself (J2 s/s). Mike Dalby’s M Type was lurking in the paddock along with several long-time MMM enthusiasts (Colin Butchers was there with spanners in his pockets eying up Mark’s front axle!).

Now, back in the day, we’d get a dozen or so MMMs entering and the paddock would be full of Bs, Midgets, T Types, etc, with a smattering of Morgans and other invited clubs.

Now the MGCC Speed Championship entries were there, but what’s happened over the years to all those MG owners who did just a few events a year, usually organised by their ‘home’ Centre, or the one next door?

Maybe we’re missing something, but

1700cc’s of well-engineered oomph!, the business end of Graham Meyer’s KN s/s. Photo: Jeremy Hawke

these events take a lot of effort to put on (all done by Club volunteers). One can’t help but wonder if we rely too much on invited clubs to make events viable; those volunteers will eventually think “what’s the point of it all” and the events themselves will fizzle out – food for thought?

But, back to the event itself; though small in number, there was plenty of interest – Brian’s car has a competition history that stretches back

pre-war, Mark’s also has an interesting pre-war history (I must get him to write about it for these pages), Graham’s is the first of the rapid s/s cars built up by Bob Jones over three decades ago and Andrew’s is just too damn quick for a four-seater! Unlike last year, though, the forecast was looking none to good beforehand. It was dry all day so we could all think about going quicker, rather than slower just to avoid the trees… I’m pleased to

First run in nearly a quarter of a century; the Bannell J2 at Wiscombe. Photo: Colin Murrell

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The offset transmission of the Bannell J2; a std J2 box with involute chain fitted between it and the clutch.

Photo: Jeremy Hawke

report that nobody broke anything, the KN s/s was fastest with a respectable 53-second climb, with Andrew also dipping under the 60-second marker.

Mark and myself had the excuse (albeit

temporary) of “running in/getting used to new cars”. Mark also had the additional weight of a pre-selector to lug up the hill, though we did both improve throughout the day.

+44 (0)1451 810070 46 SAFETY FAST! OCTOBER 2018

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For me, this was the first time the J2 had run in almost 25 years!

J3400, aka the “Bannell J2” named after its creator, was built up from chassis and axles as an s/s with the smallest frontal area possible in an MMM chassis to go chasing records in the early 90s. This was achieved by putting a dog-leg in the nearside chassis rail as with EX127, then offsetting the diff and transmission so the driver could sit right down between the chassis rails. After initial teething problems, the concept proved very successful and the car still holds several 500cc and 750cc records up to 2,000km to this day. Having sat in a museum for many years, she has now joined fellow recordholders J2396 and K3007for a bit of occasional ‘light exercise’ – it sure is fun to drive!

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21/09/2018 18:05

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21/09/2018 18:05

MG635 NEWSLET TER Steve Haines Steve-haines@live.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/MG635Register Twitter: https://twitter.com/635register

WELCOME TO THE MG635 N E W S L E T T E R It’s been another busy year of MG 6.3.5 ownership, as well as helping to support new owners of the GS and ZS. There’s been a mixture of owners changing models for the newer SUVs, but also plenty of new members in MG3s and 6s in the UK, due to fantastic new and second-

hand prices and a realisation from many how good these modern MGs are!

This month we have a distinctly international feel to our newsletter, with reports from owners in Australia and Dubai, as well as West Yorkshire!

COAST TO COAST REPORT Like many of those taking part in the Coast to Coast, our weekend really started on the Friday when we drove from Leeds to Morecambe in preparation for the event starting early Saturday. Given the option of the motorway route across the M62 from just east of Leeds, or the more scenic run via Otley and Skipton, allowing the 6’s satnav to pick the route, somewhere just before Clitheroe the nav’s ‘Fun Chip’ kicked in and took us through the Forest of Bowland.

Beautiful scenery all the way up to Morecambe. Next morning was the Run proper.

Starting at The Midland Hotel where close to 100 MGs had gathered, covering all eras from T Types, MGBs, MG Rover cars and two MG6s,

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including ours. (Plus a couple of rogues, Caterham, SLK, TR7, Beetle, Jaguar XK* and a Stag). These trusty cars had brought their owners (or do the cars own us?) from all across the country. Next stop was the Marton Arms in Thornton in Lonsdale. The route being through the Forest of Bowland, the first 20-ish miles were the reverse of the way we’d come.

Still beautiful, even if the fog did weaken the views. After coffee, cake and a quick natter, we moved on to Catterick, The Farmer’s Arms, for a carvery lunch (and more natter), and more nattering about the lovely view coming through Hawes and scenery of the Yorkshire Dales B-roads. We then moved on to Goathland, better known as Heartbeat’s ‘Aidensfield’, a

The MG6 in Goathland, outside ‘Scripps Garage’

village that has wisely capitalised on that link, keeping itself in keeping with the period. More natter, more coffee, more cake, and then on into the North Yorkshire Moors for the final gathering in Scarborough.

Huge thanks to Norman Verona who planned the entire route, his first route, which really was four routes joined together. Fantastic day, and the multiple stops meant sitting with different people at each waypoint.

Norman is planning a two-day run for 2019, sure to be an even more social affair. I encourage all MG owners, particularly those driving the new breed, to drop Norman an email at norman@frenchblat.com for more info.

Andie Nelson

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MG635 NEWSLET TER

AN AUSTRALIAN MG3 As the saying goes, “without a past there is no future”. This is especially true of MG and also of MG in Australia. Launching any new brand in any market is very difficult, and Australia is no different, and probably more of a challenge as we are a suspicious lot! With the new cars coming out of SAIC, these suspicions are overstated by those masses who do draw comparisons with the past and expect modern MGs to still be bonejarring antiques of a past era. If these were manufactured by SAIC, would they buy one? Definitely NOT – we are now victims of comfort and practicality.

As an owner of an MG3, I still get all the usual statements of distrust by even MG Car Club members and those I call good friends. “But it’s made in China!” This I enjoy, when I point out that all the clothes they wear, and all the electrical appliances in their house come from the same part of the world.

Why wouldn’t I own an MG3? My age dictates that regular maintenance is out of the question, so the decision was not difficult considering that the top specification vehicle only meant an outlay of less than AUD $4,000 after selling my magnificent MG 1100 sedan. Plus, with six years’ warranty and six years’ roadside assist – why wouldn’t I?

Why am I riveted to the MG brand?

Over 50 years in the motor industry has taken care of that. In 1959, I started as an Austin apprentice at the BMC factory in Zetland, close to Sydney. As a wetbehind-the-ears 15-year-old, there were red MGA engines being assembled to be sent to the Enfield factory for insertion into MGAs. When the MGAs were completed they were transported back to Zetland for distribution to the dealers. I was not alone when we would risk admonishment by sitting in them and even firing up the engine to enjoy the music from the exhaust.

Fast forward to 1968 and now as a junior engineer, I was tasked with dimensionally checking the installation of the jigs for both MGB and Midget when the assembly was transferred from Enfield to Zetland. This assembly was short-lived when the factory closed in 1974.

MG then disappeared from the Australian market until the early 1990s. Working then for Rover Australia as technical manager, I converted an early-build MG RV8 to pass the stringent Australian Design Rules. Unfortunately this never proceeded, as the worldwide demand outstripped supply. Our CEO asked me to get involved with Brian Griffin to get the MGF engineered for Australia. This

involved several test programmes in outback Australia and several meetings in the UK to make it happen. Brian became a personal friend and it was very sad to hear of his passing in later years. Post MGF, I continued on as an independent consultant for the new importer and successfully engineered the TF, ZR, ZS and ZT for the Australian market, but this was also very short lived when production ceased in 2004.

During the time that I was involved with the MGF, I demonstrated it to the MG Car Club and went on several runs with them. This interest grew and I joined up and bought an MGB GT. My real love was with sedans, and when a suitable MG1100 became available, I bought it also. Retirement brought on the need to rationalise the fleet and the GT had to go. The MG1100 was sold eventually to make way for the MG3.

My work with the Rover Group in the 90s established many friendships with the guys and gals at Gaydon and Longbridge. This continued though Nanjing and ultimately SAIC, with some assistance in the understanding of the Australian situation. However, SAIC’s first venture was in 2013 with an importer who had no idea of the Australian market and the certification handled by someone with even less knowledge. This was a disaster as

MG National Meeting in Tasmania

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MG635 NEWSLET TER

the MG6 cars imported did not meet local regulations and were manual transmission models in an automatic market, plus the importer could not establish a dealer network, with manualonly cars. This scenario was highlighted in the local press and MG became the laughing stock of the industry. This left SAIC to establish themselves as their own importer with a real mountain to climb. It didn’t really matter how good

the cars were, they were always going to struggle, and struggle they did. Now, under SAIC, they have an increasing dealer network (over 20 at time of writing), great models (manual and auto) and their certification handled by a good friend in the industry. All bodes well for the future.

My MG3 is not a daily driver, but is mollycoddled like a treasured classic and garaged most of the time. It only

goes out to MG Car Club events; these are not just short runs in this huge country. Been to Tasmania, Western NSW and will go to Queensland next year. The first thing I did was invest in a full stainless exhaust imported from MG and AMC Parts in the UK. This was a very good call as it definitely does improve the mid-range torque and sounds like an MG should.

John Lindsay

MIDDLE EAST MG GS OWNERSHIP In April 2016, I received a Rover Streetwise as a gift for finishing and graduating university. My plan was to keep the car for a short while, and once I had saved some money I would trade it in for a bigger, newer car. As I spent my year doing my teacher training, my car was invaluable for lugging my marking, books and an array of resources to and from school. I then, to my surprise and excitement, secured a teaching job in Bahrain, in the Middle East.

In August 2017, I left behind the Kentish scenery to embark on a new journey. My parents kept my car and traded it in for an MG3. I arrived in Bahrain to be greeted by an enormous seven-seater, automatic, left hand drive BYD, which incredibly stands for Build Your Dreams, which we renamed Burn Your Dreams, as this cheap, Chinese car was simply awful. This was a little bit of a change from the Streetwise, as was driving in Bahrain; undertaking, driving down the hard shoulders and sports cars weaving in and out of traffic at ridiculous speeds, whilst texting, without knowing what an indicator is. As I began to adjust to driving in Bahrain, my BYD hire car kept giving me problems – it broke down twice, and the electronics failed on me several times, once inconveniently when my family was visiting me. At this point I realised I needed to buy a car of my own.

After looking at various used and new cars, I was still unsure of

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what to buy. I decided I wanted a medium-sized car, a 4x4, in order to keep some presence on the roads.

Driving can be scary in Bahrain, and as a young female I needed a car that wasn’t going to be ignored. One day, in October 2017 whilst shopping at the local mall, I came across an MG stand with the new, shiny, black GS. I laughed to myself, as my dad loves MGs and I was surprised to see them here, in the Middle East. I took a peek at the car, and soon realised that it was the perfect size, perfect colour and a brilliant price. I booked a test drive then and there, and went down to Zayani Motors in Sitra the next day to test drive the car.

The car was brilliant. It was a smooth drive, a two-litre, four wheel drive. I drove the deluxe model with Bluetooth, parking sensors, reverse cameras, leather seats, amazing air con (a necessity in the heat of the Middle East) and realised I wanted to buy the car. A few days later I went back to the garage in order to buy the car. I received an excellent package, thanks to my boyfriend’s haggling skills and the fact that the staff went above and beyond to cater for my needs. In the end I managed to buy the car on finance, alongside the insurance, registration cost and a three-year servicing package, including a door-to-door courtesy car for the duration of the service.

The GS handover

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I’ve now had my car for nine months and I can honestly say it’s the best purchase I’ve made and that it’s worth every penny. I love driving it.

I love the fact I can fit suitcases in it, all my shopping in it and even once a kayak! Living somewhere with such a hot climate means that driving is a necessity and my car is a pleasure to have. I just hope that wherever I live after Bahrain, be it Asia, America or back in the UK, I will be able to buy another car that I love as much as mine.

Emily Harrison

NEW MG3 LAUNCHED – INSPIRED BY BRITISH FASHION!

Emily Harrison and her MG GS

EVENTS NOTICES The BTCC has gone fairly well for the team this year, with Rory Butcher making steady progress at each race weekend and Glynn Geddie getting used to the MG6 GT. On September 15 and 16, the Register, supported by the MGCC, had the usual infield stand at the Silverstone BTCC weekend. A report and photos will be published next month. We had a great turnout of MGs next to the Wellington straight, as we have done for the last few years, supporting the BTCC MG6 GTs of Glynn Geddie and Rory Butcher on track.

The AGM will take place at Kimber House in Abingdon this year on Saturday December 8 at 3.00pm. If you wish to come and offer your help to the committee, please do, and add your names to the events tab on our Facebook page so we can accommodate numbers.

The annual Christmas meal will take place from 7.00pm at the Ock Mill Beefeater in Abingdon, also on December 8. If you’re quick, you can get a fairly cheap deal at the Premier Inn next door!

The Register is extremely pleased to see the new generation of MG3 launched on the first of September and we are sure to see plenty on the roads and with new members of the MGCC shortly. Last month’s write-up on the new model from the press launch has certainly created a renewed vigour and interest in the brand and model.

Butcher in his MG6. Photo: Dickon Siddall

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21/09/2018 18:05

OULTON PARK RACE REPORT

By Graham Keilloh. Photos Dickon Siddall

A variety of MG Car Club series were packed into a hectic single day’s schedule on September 1 for the Club’s penultimate meeting of the season held in pleasant weather at the spectacular Oulton Park circuit.

The schedule included a very special one-off British Motor Heritage North West 100 mile race, run as an aggregate of two 50-mile races, allowing refuelling and potentially a driver change between legs. The race was open to sportscars, GTs and Saloons on moulded and treaded tyres.

Andrew Rath, driving a Lotus Europa, built a 54-second lead over Bernard Foley in an MGB GT in the first part of the 100-mile race. In the second part, though, it looked like Foley – who was driving alone – would be able to claw back the time to win overall and indeed at the halfway point of part two he was 44 seconds clear of Chris Tilly, who had taken over the Lotus from Rath. However, then the gap stabilised and Tilly was subsequently able to close back in, meaning he was only 21 seconds shy at the end and that he and Rath were

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Dave Nixon (52) in his Rover 220 Tomcat Turbo leads the pack in the PBIS MG Cup.

the overall winners.

The Dan Surridge and Julia Penfold pairing was third in their ZR 170 and Penfold was awarded Driver of the Race for the second part after holding off James Wheeler’s Roadster for much of the way in a spirited dice. Paul Rayment got Driver of the Race for the first part after prevailing in a long all-MGB Roadster battle with Simon Skentelbery.

Jason Burgess won both The Knight Industries MG Trophy races and in so doing took maximum advantage in the championship table.

Championship leader heading into the meeting, Graham Ross, led the first race from pole with Burgess in second seeking a way by. The pair touched at Old Hall second time through, leaving Ross in the barrier and Burgess dropped behind new leader Gary Wetton.

Burgess then got by Wetton at half distance for a lead he wasn’t to lose.

And Paul Luti in Class B, who was second to Ross in the overall championship, also didn’t make the end of race one as his brake pedal went to the floor leaving him in the gravel. Luti had also been unhappy with his brakes in the previous two rounds at Donington and Silverstone, and his problems included air getting into the system as well as issues with the pads.

Luti in the first Oulton Park race had been locked in a tight scrap for Class B honours, which was won by Ryan Firth in third place overall, and with it Firth got Driver of the Race. He just pipped Sam Kirkpatrick for the class win with Mike Harris, who was third in Class A, also in close proximity between the pair. Kirkpatrick dropped to third in class afterwards, behind Tom Butler, due to a five-second penalty for track limits being applied.

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The ZR 160 of Maddy Maguire with a couple of ZSs pushing hard in the Cockshoot Cup

Tylor Ballard continued his run of Class C wins stretching back to his Brands Hatch crash earlier in the year, consigning Class C table leader John Booth to second place, four seconds adrift.

The damage from his race one off meant that Ross was unable to take part in race two and Burgess again took advantage by winning. He led from lights to flag, though had to resist close attentions from second-placed Doug Cole for the entire distance, particularly after a period when the safety car boards were displayed then withdrawn before the pack had formed up, in which time Cole moved a little closer to the leader. Wetton followed them home in third, four seconds adrift.

“Over the moon,” said Burgess after his double win. “Really happy with the second race, it was a clean fight. Kept honest by Doug, as he always does, we were both throwing everything at it and we were pretty even.

“I was looking forward to the chequered flag – it seemed to go on forever and ever!”

“My early lead was because I managed to get a break away. I think Doug had got someone behind him and I worked extra hard to get the tyres warm, up to pace, and I was very confident from the word go.”

Race two’s Driver of the Race award went to fourth-place finisher Harris for upping his pace and staying well up the road from the Class B pack that time.

Burgess also made gains in the overall championship in race two as

Firth finished third and Luti fourth in Class B, behind class-winner Kirkpatrick and second-placed Matthew Turnbull.

The quartet had a close battle for class honours, though the mentioned safety car board intervention had the effect of spreading them out a little.

Ballard again led home Booth in the Class C race, this time by two seconds.

Russell McCarthy won the first TN Racing BCV8 race comfortably in his GT V8. Having taken pole by over a second he admitted that starts were his Achilles’ heel, which came to pass as he dropped to third at the off behind Rob Spencer and Neil Fowler – that pair who were separated by just a point at the Class D table top heading into the meeting.

McCarthy passed Fowler at Old Hall on lap two then swept by Spencer on the start-finish straight third time by to take back first place. Spencer then dropped to a distant third with a rough-sounding engine and secondplaced Fowler took up the chase of McCarthy enthusiastically, finishing within six seconds of him.

Ollie Neaves was fourth overall and took the Class C win ahead of Rob Spencer’s son Jordan, who also got Driver of the Race thanks to his spectacular driving. Benjamin Tovey took a comfortable Class B victory – pre-Oulton Park class championship leader Simon Cripps was not at the meeting – while Class AB leader Simon Tinkler also took class honours.

Poleman McCarthy was also beaten off the line in race two, dropping to Tony Howe in his distinctive MG Metro pushing hard in the Drayton Manor MG Metro Cup

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third initially and later on the first lap dropped to fifth after an off. He recovered to join a close three-way battle for the lead, with Fowler leading and Ian Prior in second – who had a puncture in qualifying and a throttle cable break early in race one.

McCarthy was able to take second place from Prior at around two-thirds’ distance but Fowler held McCarthy off for the remainder to win. Prior maintained third place and finished just over a second shy.

It was Fowler’s first win of the season and it also got him Driver of the Race. The result was particularly good for him in the Class D championship as Spencer’s engine problems in race one (which were due to a spring detaching with the potential to damage a piston) meant he had to sit out race two.

“Long overdue a win! So that was needed!” said a relieved Fowler afterwards. “I know I’m leading my class (now). Just one round to go at Snetterton, so (as) long as I finish there and finish reasonably I’ll be quite happy.

“The whole race (two was) under pressure. It was really enjoyable – enjoyable seeing the chequered flag!”

Neaves was denied a double Class C win when he pitted with technical problems with just two laps to go, which let Andrew Young through to take the victory. Tovey and Tinkler again took comfortable class wins in Class B and AB respectively.

Richard Buckley in his Rover 220 Turbo took his fourth win of the season in a dramatic Peter Best Insurance MG Cup opening race, cosponsored by Expert Beauty, and with it got Driver of the Race. Buckley seized the lead from Matthew Simpson’s 220 on the final lap when the latter ran out of fuel, though Simpson still salvaged second. Earlier, Alan Brooke’s Metro had led but had a ten-second penalty applied for an out of place starting position, then he slowed and pulled in having heard a strange noise from his engine at the top end.

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Mike Simpson as at Donington started his Metro from the back – this time due to smelling fuel in his cockpit in qualifying, then being unsure about his wheel bearings, all of which meant he did not set a qualifying time. This time he came through the pack to run third in the race, but then was told to pit by race control as his exhaust was hanging off.

Ian Boulton finished third overall and won in Class B in his ZR 170 – he was locked in a close fight with David Thompson’s fellow 170 which was resolved when Thompson got a fivesecond penalty for track limits late on, though Boulton pipped him home in any case. Darren Harris eased to a dominant Class A win in his ZR 160.

Race two lost both of its front row occupants almost immediately.

Brooke who was due to start second did not want to risk a larger engine failure after his earlier problem so did not take part. Poleman Simpson also had a knock-on impact from his first race issue; his running out of fuel then created a problem with his fuel pump and with little drive at the start of race two pulled off after a few metres.

The race two show was stolen by Williams who once again starting from the back, of 15 runners, had a stunning launch and moved around the outside

Matt Turnbull leads the ZR 170 cars in the Knight Industries MG Trophy race

of turn one to run in second place after a few corners! He then cleared Buckley to lead on lap three after a frenzied battle which including Williams leaving the track briefly.

Buckley was able to stay with Williams for the rest of the way, particularly as Williams’ Metro developed a misfire later on, though Williams held on for his first win since his double triumph at Brands Hatch earlier in the year.

Thompson finished third and claimed the Class B win. He had again been in close battle with Boulton but the latter was eliminated in a dramatic multi-car incident also involving Dave Nixon and Stuart Tranter.

Harris got fifth place overall and took another Class A win which has made his class title this year a matter of when not if. He also was given race two’s Driver of the Race and overall Driver of the Day for his advantage over the rest of his class – in both races he finished over a minute clear of the next home.

Jack Ashton won the sole Drayton Manor Park MG Metro Cup race, aided by the fact that his brother and championship rival, Andrew, started from the back after not setting a

qualifying time as his gearbox dumped its oil during the session. Unusually, neither Ashton took pole, as that was taken by Shamak Glodek, though Jack Ashton took the lead at the start.

Andrew was fourth at the end of lap one and passed Glodek for second, around the outside of Old Hall, with two laps to go. By then Jack was close to ten seconds up the road, though Andrew had the partial consolation of winning Driver of the Race.

Ray Collier continued his domination of the Cockshoot Cup by taking another win in his ZR 190.

Phil Standish took the lead from fifth on the grid after an amazing start in his TF, but Collier – who has already wrapped up this year’s championship – had the lead back by the end of lap one. He triumphed by nine seconds ahead of Standish, who held off Peter Bramble’s Roadster for second.

Mike Peters finished fourth overall in his Midget and with it took a dominant Class B win as well as the Driver of the Race accolade, recovering from terrible problems in the Anglesey round. In addition, Peters had only flown back from Portugal the day before the race.

The TN Racing BCV8 Championship, with Stephen Wells in his MGB GT V8 pursued by a gaggle of Bs www.mgcc.co.uk

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21/09/2018 18:05

RACE TORQUE

RACE TORQUE

By Ron Gammons Photo Dickon Siddall

T

he last but one race meeting of the Club’s 2018 calendar was run at Oulton Park on September 1. On a bright day without rain there were some compelling races with close battles fought through to the end. There were some incidents but thankfully none serious and merely calling for some of the barriers to be repositioned back to where they had been previously! All the usual suspects!

The event was supported by all but two of the Club’s Championships/ Series and the programme also included the inaugural British Motor Heritage North West 100 race, split into two heats of 50 miles.

This latter race caught the imagination of the competitors who took part, with requests for the concept to be run again. What it lacked in numbers it made up for in excitement ,with the result over some 80 minutes of racing in doubt to the very end and the finishing margin of only some 21 seconds between first and second. The two commentators were kept on their toes calculating the effect of the results of the first heat against the positions on the road in the second and advising the sizable crowd of the changing fortunes of each of the cars out on circuit.

With the Club needing to revitalise its programmes and run more one-off races to supplement the reduction in some of our existing grids, this concept clearly needs serious consideration and would warrant maybe a small series of similar races. British Motor Heritage was sufficiently impressed to offer their continued support into 2019 and

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we have to thank John Yea, the Chief Executive, for his generosity.

One point that needs to be made is that at MSV circuits there is a requirement by the contract the Club signs that any bicycles, motor scooters, motor cycles, etc, have to be authorised and that owners and would-be riders need to be able to demonstrate that they have a licence and insurance and that any safety equipment, such as a helmet, will be used. Of course, this is all a result of the litigious society that we live in, but it does not absolve the Club from having to comply with the terms of the contract. So, if you want to use such a conveyance in the paddock or at the circuit get yourself signed on and be prepared to show some documents.

At Oulton Park we have to admire the exceptional efforts made by the marshalling side to attract, enthuse and train younger people as marshals.

Not a meeting goes by without groups of cadets being involved in marshalling duties; no wonder Oulton has a

surfeit of marshals and a truly great atmosphere. Well done to them.

Next year’s dates are in the course of preparation, now rather being affected by the change of the British Grand Prix to a weekend later than this year, just the weekend we had planned for the second of the Morgan/MGCC events at Donington. So watch this space while the calendar goes through its usual shake-up whenever any major event moves – dominoes is the word that comes to mind!

The last event of this year’s six-race meeting calendar is at Snetterton on September 29, on the 300 circuit for our first time. Entries are still coming in and it should be a suitable climax to the Club year. Paddock open and plenty of viewing points around the circuit, why not pay a visit? The circuit tour should take place during the lunch break for members with their MGs to appreciate the circuit demands.

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DUNCAN WOOD DUNCANW@MGS-ON-TRACK.COM WWW.MGS-ON-TRACK.COM

I

MG on track

NORTH WEALD AND BRANDS

n August, an otherwise welcome break in the continuous hot, dry weather unfortunately coincided with MGs on Track’s North Weald Experience Day. Early, weak sunshine made way for some torrential downpours as the day proceeded, although these were not sufficiently heavy to dampen the enjoyment or enthusiasm of the participants. As one of the underlying reasons for the event is to give drivers a chance to explore the limits of their car’s grip and handling in a completely safe environment, spins and some lurid skidding are expected even in the dry, but, on a soaking track, these were guaranteed. I doubt that any avoided at least one pirouette during the day, but the prize for most persistent spinning is shared jointly by Kevin Tollet in his nicely ‘patinated’ MGC, and by Bruce Burrowes in a Midget; my congratulations and admiration to both! It was also good to be joined by Wayne Page in his MG3; these cars are still a rare sight at one of our events so hopefully Wayne will prove to be in the vanguard of this new generation of MGs. Whilst a few at North Weald were regular MGoT members intent on some

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light-hearted fun, most at the event were newcomers to both MGs on Track and to the freedoms of driving without the restrictions of the public roads, so it is hoped that several of them will have enjoyed the experience enough to sample one of our full track days. Heading into the final quarter of the year we still have events available including, in October, Donington Park, Anglesey, and Goodwood. Depending upon how quick a reader you are the first two of these may already have come and gone and, as I write, Goodwood is fully booked.

However, it is always worth contacting the event manager to register your interest as there are often last-minute cancellations.

Our season finale is the early December visit to the Brands Hatch ‘Indy’ circuit, which is named in honour of a one-off visit in 1978 by USAC Champ Car racers rather than any associations with ‘The Temple of Doom’! Arranged across a steep hollow in the landscape, and initially used in an anti-clockwise direction, this short circuit evolved from being a pre-war cycle and motorcycle dirt track, before it was hard surfaced for use by 500cc cars as motor racing re-emerged in the 1950s. Unlike many other UK circuits which developed from

war-time airfields, Brands Hatch was actually a frequent target for enemy bombers rather than a base for friendly ones as it was mainly used as a holding area for military vehicles during the war.

Brands Hatch is an ideal track day circuit for the first-time or novice driver, as its short length means it is easy to learn, if somewhat harder to master.

Paddock Hill Bend may be the corner that lingers longest in the newcomer’s memory; coming at the end of Brabham Straight which is probably the fastest part of the track, the circuit makes a turn to the right whilst at the same time plunging steeply down the hollow. The car will be light and perhaps skittish as it travels over the brow of the dip, but the suspension will then be fully compressed as the track levels very briefly before the climb back up Hailwood’s Hill and into Druids hairpin which is the slowest part of the circuit. The respite is short lived as you again plunge down into the hollow and the rather tricky, off-camber Graham Hill Bend. Followed by Cooper Straight, the Surtees and McLaren bends, Clearways and finally Clark Curve leading back onto the Brabham Straight, most will recognise a ‘Golden Age’ of Formula One reflected in these names.

www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 18:06

MG CAR CLUB SPEED CHAMPIONSHIP MGS ON TRACK – 2018 CALENDAR

JOHN WILMAN, BEECHFIELD, FERN BANK, CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH, HIGH PEAK. SK23 0JJ T E L : 07778 165186 W W W . M G S P E E D . N E T

MGs on Track – 2018 Calendar Please visit www.mgs-on-track.com to register, check availability, or to book a track day.

Registered members will receive regular newsletters and notification of event opening dates.

Donington – October 1 A flowing, historic circuit in the Midlands, featuring the fantastic Craner Curves and Old Hairpin sequence.

Anglesey – October 5 Experience this challenging circuit on a day shared with the Lotus 7 Club. Overlooking the Irish Sea and with views to Snowdonia this track offers something for all.

Goodwood – October 29 The second visit this year in case you missed the first due to popularity!

NEC Classic Car Show – November 9-11 Visit us to say hello, or even to help on the stand for an hour or two if you’re feeling bold; email johnr@mgs-ontrack.com to find out more.

Brands Hatch ‘Indy’ – December 3 Our last event of 2018. Don’t miss the chance to enjoy this undulating circuit including Paddock Hill Bend!!

Shrinking daylight at this time of the year means that the event will close at four in the afternoon rather than the more usual five o’clock, but this slightly reduced duration is reflected in the lower cost of the event. As always, second drivers can be accommodated at a small extra charge and passengers are free. In the unlikely event that we are not blessed with continuous sunshine on the day there are plenty of pit garages available to use at Brands Hatch, and these are also free of charge to our members. Tea, coffee and snacks are available all day from a counter in the paddock area, with more substantial lunches (and warmth) provided in the welcoming Kentagon Restaurant.

MGs on Track believes firmly in the value of instruction, particularly for track day novices, so ARDS instructors are present at all our events. A session with an instructor is not expensive but will greatly increase your enjoyment of the day and enable you to explore your abilities and the potential of your car much more clearly.

Treat yourself to an early Christmas present and join us at Brands!

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It seems incredible, but by the time you read this article the Northern season will be over and there will be only two events left in the South.

At this stage it would seem that we are heading for an exciting and close finish for the overall championship and, depending on the winner, multiple possibilities for the regional trophies. This is how I think it should be, not one person dominating from the word go.

August 25 and 26 saw the circus descend on Loton Park, near Shrewsbury, a really interesting hillclimb run by Hagley & District Car Club. Set in a magnificent deer park, the track has level, downhill and uphill sections and is very challenging. The weekend was a tale of two halves, with the Saturday event being pretty much dry and the Sunday being the exact opposite. This was completely in line with the forecast, so should have come as no surprise to the 16 competitors who attended.

Bearing in mind the conditions, it will come as no surprise that the best times were set on the Saturday. Star performer was Nick Walker in his BGT V8 with a maximum score of 104. Messrs. Bell, Benningfield, Watkinson, Howlett and Withers all set new records with quite a few people coming very close. A good weekend’s sport for everyone, with a bit of variety thrown in.

That same weekend, on Saturday 25, there was an event at Harewood. This was an extra event shoehorned into the calendar to replace an earlier date which had to be cancelled due to the weather. As such, most of our competitors had opted for Loton as it was a long-standing commitment; consequently, there were only four MGs present.

However, in line with the forecast, we picked the best day and competed in ideal sunny, fresh weather. Since our last visit, the track had been resurfaced and the result is a much higher degree of grip than previously. Perversely, however, none of us, all very familiar with the track, managed any particularly good times. Which leads me to think that when something changes, even for the better, it is necessary to adapt your driving style to suit.

Having said that, the final event of the Northern season was our two-day annual visit to Harewood again, on September 15-16. Writing this before then, I am hoping for a dry weekend to take advantage of the new track.

The MGCC Speed Championship have now got a Facebook page for competitors to share hints, tips and images from the events. This can be found by searching MG Car Club Speed Championship on Facebook or going straight to https://www.facebook.com/ groups/1540987639505042/

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21/09/2018 18:06

BTCC CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 8 – KNOCKHILL

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fter the high speeds of Rockingham the Dunlop MSA British Touring car circus packed up and headed across the border to Knockhill for Scotland’s race meeting. Knockhill is the tightest and most congested circuit visited during the season. It has sharp corners and high kerbs and is a place where ‘track limits’ penalties are commonplace.

Knockhill is Rory Butcher’s home track and he has driven many thousands of laps around it. With his MG6 carrying no success ballast he was very optimistic of building on his three top ten finishes at Rockingham.

Also hailing from Scotland, Glynn Geddie had got over the difficult first meeting and was looking forward to employing circuit knowledge as well.

The weather is always very variable at the location and elevation of the circuit, so car setting up can be difficult. As ever, two 40-minute sessions were allocated to the drivers to familiarise themselves with the peculiarities of the track. These would be held on Saturday 25 to be followed by qualifying to fix the grid for the first race.

The weather was fine for qualifying. The very short lap gives lots of opportunity for fitting in plenty of laps in the 30 minutes, but everybody expected that luck in finding a clear track would play a part. The early part

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By Paul Goodman. Photo: Dickon Siddall

of the session was spoilt by oil on the track, but times began to tumble.

Rory put in some good times but had a couple of lap times removed for exceeding track limits, eventually finishing 23rd. This was only half a second away from pole man Dan Cammish’s Honda. The BMWs of Stephen Jelly and Andy Jordan were second and third quickest. Glynn is still learning about the MG6 but was able to achieve 27th on the grid.

The weather forecast for Sunday proved to be accurate with rain arriving early in the day. The track had been resurfaced over the winter and with no wet track running, all the car settings and best racing lines would be guesswork. After two green flag laps the 30 cars headed off for race one in a ball of spray. Dan Cammish got a great start but it was the defending champion Ash Sutton who was flying and came through in the Subaru to win from Colin Turkington’s BMW and Cammish. Almost invisible in the rain, Rory was scything through the field and crossed the line in 10th place. Also going well was Glynn who stayed out of trouble to cross the line 20th. These would be their starting positions for the second race.

Incredibly, the weather was even worse for race two. There was debate about delaying it, but the red light went out and the race started on time.

There were two lengthy safety car

periods and an early end with a red flag. Rory diced on the edge of the top ten, finishing ninth with Glynn also moving up to finish 17th. The race winner was again Ash Sutton who stayed in front for all the race.

Behind him at the end was Tom Ingram who managed to thread his Toyota through the pack. Andrew Jordan’s BMW completed the podium in third place. Drama followed at post-race scrutineering when the first two were disqualified for being too close to the ground. This promoted Jordan to the race win from Josh Cook and Dan Cammish, with Rory going to seventh and Glynn 15th.

It was slightly less wet for the third race. Tom Chilton got a good start which he converted into a race win for Ford. Colin Turkington settled for second place which gave him a very substantial lead in the championship.

Andrew Jordan drove into third place to complete a very good weekend for the BMW team. Rory made up places early in the race and he, and the MG6, were right in the mix. A place lost near the end resulted in seventh at the flag.

Glynn was also surrounded by other cars and came home 18th.

So, Rory achieved three top ten finishes to back up his achievements at Rockingham. He is now third in the Jack Sears Trophy, but with only six races left, will find it difficult to catch the leader Dan Cammish.

www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 18:06

BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP

BTCC CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 9 – SILVERSTONE

T

he Sixtieth Anniversary Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship teams arrived at Silverstone on September 15 for the penultimate meeting of the season. As has become traditional, the three races would be held on the shortest of the available configurations. This involves a dash from the start line, through Copse, Maggots and Becketts corners with a sharp turn onto the Wellington Straight and finally the complex of corners leading back to the finish.

It had looked as if the Championship would be finely poised heading into the last six races, but the disqualification of Ash Sutton’s Subaru and Tom Ingram’s Toyota from the second race at Knockhill for ride height violations, had given a big lead to the BMW of Colin Turkington.

Scottish driver, Rory Butcher, would have another new team mate in the MG6s. Josh Caygill from Yorkshire would be driving the second team car.

Josh started his career motorbike racing but has recently been competing in a Bentley in international sports car championships. The MG Car Club stand and many enthusiastic members were there to cheer on the cars prepared

by AmDTuning.com and sponsored

by RCIB Insurance and AutoAid. The attractive orange and blue merchandise was proving to be very popular. Rory

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By Paul Goodman. Photo: Dickon Siddall

was keen to keep a hold on his third place in the Jack Sears Trophy.

The Saturday running would be to the usual format with two 40-minute sessions in the morning to test and set up the cars, followed by qualifying in the afternoon to set the grid positions for the first of Sunday’s races.

Qualifying was rather strange, with most of the quickest times being set early on. The track got dirty, and with a red flag stoppage as well it was hard to improve. Former MG6 driver, Sam Tordoff, blasted his pink Ford to pole position with young Ricky Collard grabbing second in his BMW. Just third was Tom Chilton in another Ford. Rory struggled to find a clear track and managed to lap within a second of pole but only securing 24th spot. Josh continued his learning curve to take 30th grid slot.

The three races were scheduled for Sunday with a forecast of dry weather. At the start of race one, Sam Tordoff got a flying start and was never headed despite the close attention that he was getting from the second Ford Focus RS of Tom Chilton. After falling back at the start, young Ricky Collard achieved his first-ever BTCC podium by finishing third. Rory drove another exciting race, threading his way through the mid-field pack to finish 12th. Josh also had a good race, moving forward to take 23rd spot.

There were no serious incidents in the first race, so all 31 drivers lined up for race two. The star this time was Tom Ingram, with no success ballast and the softer of the two tyres. He rocketed the Toyota through the field from 15th place to take a comfortable win and keep his championship hopes alive.

Second place went to Adam Morgan’s Mercedes, with Sam Tordoff third. Rory had selected this race to use the harder tyre and so got involved in a very dusty and close battle a short way behind the leaders to finish 16th. Josh encountered problems and did not finish the race.

The final race of the day was interrupted by a safety car period during which Rory was forced to visit the pits leading to a non-finish, with Josh suffering the same fate. The race was won by Aiden Moffat in his Mercedes, with the podium being completed by Tom Ingram and Colin Turkington. This result meant that the championship would be decided at the final Brands Hatch event between Colin Turkington and Tom Ingram.

Rory left Silverstone in third place in the Jack Sears Trophy for drivers who had not finished on a BTCC podium before the start of the season. Dan Cammish had scored enough points to win the trophy, but Chris Smiley and Matt Simpson would be duelling with Rory for the second and third places in the final three races at Brands Hatch.

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OVERSEAS NEWS

EUROPEAN EVENT – A PERSONAL ACCOUNT

By Howard Quayle

T

his year’s event, held in Flims in Switzerland’s Graubünden Canton between August 8-12, was limited to 166 cars, with participants needing to book in September 2017 to secure a place. UK vehicles at the event eventually reached 40, second only to the 52 Swiss cars.

A modern TF160 provided relatively swift transport across Europe, but we decided to take three days for the 820 miles from our Suffolk home to the Alps, stopping at Chalonsen-Champagne and Colmar (both in France) and at Morgarten, on the quiet Agerisee in Switzerland. The Swiss motorway permit is not cheap, at 40 CHF (£32), and we made full use of this to reach Flims via the St Gotthard motorway, taking first the road tunnel (10.5 miles) before exiting very sharply at its southern end to double back, in pouring rain and dodging Porsches, over the Gotthard Pass (6,909ft) to Andermatt. Mountain climbing continued with the ascent of the Oberalppass (6,706ft), in close proximity to the rack-operated FurkaOberalp Railway, followed by a less steep descent to Disentis (with its huge Benedictine abbey), the Vorderrhein Valley and (eventually) Flims village.

Two MGs (a TD and an MGA), parked outside the Information Centre, did not make it clear that Check-In was in the building on the opposite side of the street, but this was quickly sorted out, after which we booked into our hotel for the four-night stay. A glorious summer’s evening and the backdrop of 10,000ft high mountains provided a perfect setting for the evening

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The long, lonely, and winding road to the head of the Hinterrhein, Switzerland. Photo: Howard Quayle

champagne reception on the Hotel Waldhaus’s terrace, with several MGs displayed on the lawn. The day ended with an excellent barbecue, all of us seated German-style at very long tables – good for making new friendships!

The three days all followed the same format, allowing participants the choice of an “easy” or a “challenging” drive (the latter involving mountain

passes), followed by an evening gettogether. Because our travel plans to and from EEOTY2018 involved some of the scheduled routes, we struck out on our own, with Thursday spent following the Hinterrhein and the Val Ferrera up to Juf – at 6,975ft, the highest inhabited village in Europe, although 24 inhabitants in about 12 houses makes it more of a hamlet.

www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 18:06

OF THE YEAR2018

Mixing it in good company and lethal weather: Gotthard Pass, Switzerland. Photo: Howard Quayle Noting the old Swiss-Italian customs house at Innerferrera, we returned via Tiefencastel and the Lenzerheidepass (a “baby” at 5,082ft) to Chur, the bustling capital of the Graubünden region. In the early evening, we were all transferred by bus (interesting driving!) to a farmhouse in Fidaz, high above Flims, for dinner and Alpenhorn accompaniment.

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Tickford-bodied elegance2018 outside the Hotel OCTOBER SAFETY FAST! 65 Schweitzerhof, Flims. Photo: Howard Quayle

21/09/2018 18:06

Alpenhorns serenading classic MGs, Flims, Switzerland. Photo: Lynne Quayle Friday dawned wet, allowing me an opportunity to find a local garage to look at a malfunctioning window regulator on the TF. Bad news – the regulator had failed – but good news – Carrosserie Coray AG (helpful, recommended) in neighbouring Laax helped to secure the failed window in the closed position, thus keeping

the interior dry. By late morning, the weather was clearing, allowing us to visit nearby Reichenau and the confluence of the two Rhine tributaries, becoming the Alpine Rhine, before making the short trip to Landquart (the Swiss equivalent of Bicester Village!) further down the Rhine Valley.

Ascending the northern ramp of the St Bernard Pass.

Photo: Howard Quayle

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The evening was to prove problematical for some MG owners.

A cavalcade through Flims village, headed by the local police, provided a spectacle for holidaymakers and locals, before heading for Laax village and the single-track, hairpin bend road to Alp Nagens and its restaurant (6,890ft).

The climb, through mist, meant several starts and stops for over 100 MGs (of all vintages). Consequently, there were several breakdowns, and with poor visibility causing additional problems, a number of owners questioned the wisdom of night-driving on mountain roads for so many cars.

The final full day was the most rewarding for us. Glorious sunshine and an early start for the ascent of the San Bernardino Pass, connecting the German-speaking Graubünden with the Italian-speaking Ticino cantons, meant that we could enjoy the “old” pass (6,778ft) rather than use the tunnel, although numerous bikers and cyclists meant competition for road space! The top of the pass marks the source of both the Rhine, draining into the North Sea, and the Po, eventually reaching the Mediterranean. The drive down from the summit got the adrenaline pumping, using the old road into Bellinzona (almost Italy) and some very decent food at the railway station restaurant. Heading north once more, we turned off the Gotthard motorway at Biasca for the ascent of the Passo del Lucomagno. This was less challenging than the San Bernardino, with the summit in a tunnel at 6,435ft, where poorly lit roadworks and a stripped road surface caused a skid, fortunately without damage.

160 miles on this run was followed almost immediately by a transfer to Laax and the cable-car to Crap Sogn Gion and its restaurant (7,241 ft).

Drinks on the mountain-top terrace in clear evening light were followed

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21/09/2018 18:06

Classic MG line-up outside Cite de l’Automobile, Mulhouse, France. Photo: Howard Quayle by an excellent dinner in the circular restaurant (shades of Piz Gloria and James Bond!) – a fitting finale to three excellent days, with sincere thanks being made to the Swiss organising committee and others involved in managing the event.

Sunday saw the start of the return home, routing via Liechtenstein, the Bodensee, and the Black Forest for an overnight stay in the old university city of Tubingen, on the River Neckar. A long haul, mainly on Autobahnen, took us north to Cochem, in the beautiful Mosel Valley, with a visit the following day to the Nürburgring complex, before traversing the minor roads of the high Ardennes to Dinant, the River Meuse, and the Castel de Pont-à-Lesse (apparently used for MG Car Club events in Belgium). The E42 (did you know about the International E-Road network?) provided the quickest route back to Dunkirk, Calais, and Suffolk.

And that was it – the TF160 had provided 2,128 miles of virtually trouble-free motoring through seven countries, and EEOTY2018 was a great opportunity to drive the high Alpine passes in the manner for which any sports car is designed. Here’s to the next MG visit to Europe…

Dinner in the Farmhouse

A scenic lunch stop on the Klausenpass – Hotel Klausenpasshöhe

www.mgcc.co.uk

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OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 67

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21/09/2018 18:07

MGs gathering before the party George Herschell and family

MG CAR CLUB WESTERN NEW YORK CENTRE 60TH ANNIVERSARY

O

n Sunday August 12 2018 I attended this Anniversary celebration at the Lake Shore Country Club, Rochester, New York State, on Lake Ontario. I had been asked in January to be present to represent the MG Car Club UK by Richard Powers who was Chairman of the celebration committee. We were then in discussions until June regarding the feasibility of me attending, but with the help of John Burrows, MGCC Toronto, and Air Transat, it all fell into place as our budget became clearer.

The Western New York Centre (WNYC) was affiliated in 1958 and is one of the earliest MG Car Clubs in North America and the Club name is held in high respect both by the Mother Club in the UK, and around the rest of the MG world. Their charity work and connections with the Vintage Racers and the Collier Cup at Watkins Glen are well documented. Indeed, I count myself very lucky to have attended when MG was the featured Marque at Watkins Glen in September 2014 as a guest of the Centre.

They had deservedly also been awarded the Nuffield Trophy and that was very much in evidence for the whole weekend.

I find it very difficult to write this article without mentioning my old “Sparring

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By Brian G Woodhams

Partner” George Herschell, who was present with his family and two of his cars at this celebration. He has been around forever and been involved with the Centre in many positions. It was George who invited me – no, that’s not right – demanded my presence at the celebration of the 45th Anniversary in 2003 at Steamboat Landing on Lake Canandaigua! Then in 2008 whilst still Overseas Director, I was present at the 50th Anniversary at Genesee Country Village – happy memories of a great Club!

The MGCC UK would like to congratulate the Western New York Centre on your outstanding 60 years of being a Centre of the MG Car Club.

Your accomplishments are many, including winning the Nuffield Trophy four times, and were recognised at the celebration evening where a collection of items showing the history of the Centre was on display. Four members of the MGCC Toronto were present at the evening – John Burrows, Jim Sweeney, Peter Mittler and Bert Berry, their current President who made a presentation to Mike Robinson, the President of the WNYC. Indeed in the past, these two Centres have had quite a lot of contact as they are neighbours, even if they are in different countries on the opposite side of Lake Ontario – I can only hope that the contacts will resume as a result

Anniversary celebration cakes

of my visit. I also made a presentation to Mike Robinson on behalf of the MGCC UK and congratulated the organising Committee – Richard Powers was very persuasive!!

I have to thank many people from both the WNYC and MGCC Toronto for helping to make my attendance possible, and to stay within our budget – in particular John Burrows for hosting me in his home in Toronto and driving me into the USA, and then back to Toronto; Mike and Maggie Robinson for hosting me in their home with the reception party on Saturday afternoon; Jake North for picking me up on the US side and driving me to Rochester; and Air Transat for their reasonable air fares to Toronto.

The true spirit of MG and the MG Car Club is exemplified by the Western New York Centre. Long live the Western New York Centre and here’s to the next 60 years!!

OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 69

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21/09/2018 18:07

CENTRES

ABINGDON WORKS

BRIAN BROOM sfscribe@mgabingdon.org.uk www.mgabingdon.co.uk Where has the year gone; the wet start, the excessive temperatures of summer and the reducing day light hours of autumn just around the corner?

Looking on the events calendar, I see that MGCC Belgium is holding their Zoute Rally on October 5. I recently had the pleasure of seeing a group of 30-plus MGs from Belgium and the Netherlands arrive at the BMM Gaydon, tempting me to use my very rusty Dutch language, last spoken 40 years ago. We soon started speaking English!

It is great to see our Marque of Friendship working in practice. Small world, you meet us everywhere!

The North Oxfordshire Natter MG, “NONG”, is moving to a new day and venue for their monthly meeting. As from September, it will now be on the first Monday of each month from 7.30pm at The Saye and Sele Arms, Main Road, Broughton, near Banbury, OX15 5ED. On an international note, some five years ago whilst I was observing a very nice-looking MGB GT in Aldi car park in Banbury, and I’m sure, or hope, she won’t mind me saying, an older lady asked if I was interested in joining a local MG group? Mmm, a good chat-up line, I thought! It started my association with NONG and

ANGLIA

ROB MUIR 01206 862619 scribe@mgccanglia.com www.mgcc.co.uk/anglia-centre

Anglia Centre Committee Following the Anglia Centre AGM held this weekend I would like to introduce you to the changes to the committee as elected for the coming year.

Peter Skipper, who took over as Chairman three years ago, following on from Dave Tynan who stepped down from the role to take his position as a Director of the MG Car Club, has done a fantastic job in keeping our

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Centre to the forefront and will be greatly missed, but with his many other commitments has decided it is time to move on.

Peter, who previously held the post as an MGCC Director hosts the East Suffolk Club Meet at The Shadingfield Fox. He will be replaced by William Ball as the new Chairman.

William was also an MGCC Director in previous years and hosts the very popular Mid Norfolk Club Meet at The White Horse, Longham.

Mike Pelling, our Competitions Secretary, is stepping down as he is moving north of the border to Scotland.

Mike will also be missed but we wish him well in his new home.

later my encouragement onto the AWC Committee, and a very, very slow rebuild of my 1972 MGB GT. The NONG Natter was set up by Mike and Jan Gething, also on the AWC Committee, who were very active members of the Victoria (Australia) MG Club, and decided to start a natter meeting in the northern part of Oxfordshire for MG owners.

Well, after many years of running

Kimbers Ark B&B in Banbury, with all the rooms named after car marques, being hosts to many international visitors to car events in the area, they have sold up and will be returning to Australia for six months to look after MGs left in store. We wish them well and look forward to seeing them back again next year.

We welcome all new members of the Club and hope to see you at events held in our area.

MGs at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon

Centre Events Also discussed at the committee meeting was the contribution that our members make to the Centre with events such as the Queen Vic Classic car show, now in its 41st year, and organised in 2018 by our Events Coordinator, Tony Batson.

The free-to-enter show and concours always raises money

for charity, this year raising over £165 for SNAP, a local charity that supports children with special needs.

The Queen Vic has its own dedicated website queenvic@ angliacentre.org and you can also follow it on Facebook I have chosen two photos, a ZT and an MGA to remind us of the Summer Shows.

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CENTRES

CALEDONIAN

BOB MACGILLIVRAY 07870 407111 mgcarsscotland@gmail.com www.mgcaledonian.com

We have just returned from Bo’ness where the weather was kind and we had an excellent weekend. For the first time several of our members took part in the Saturday run and enjoyed that, but of course while the hill is in action all weekend the actual Bo’ness Classic show is on Sunday. On the hill there were many Midgets, at least two MGBs and the supercharged TC of Keith Beningfield… he did rather well! Our own Colin McLachlan has temporarily forsaken his PA in favour of a single-seater Austin 7 special which looked very neat. We had 38 cars on the stand with an excellent turnout of V8s. The

standard of displays here rises every year, with Jaguar Drivers Club setting the pace previously.

We took a leaf out of their book this year with grass cutting(!) on the Thursday and other features over the weekend and I’m pleased to say we got the Best Car Club Stand award. Next year we will be asked to judge, not compete, but we will still need to keep up the standard!

The show season is virtually finished now and with a Best Stand Award both at Thirlestane and Bo’ness we have done well. And more importantly our members have enjoyed their day at all the shows we attended. Now we need to think about 2019!

DEVON & CORNWALL YOUNG JANNER II bobslatter@hotmail.com www.mgcc.co.uk/devon-cornwall-centre/ As mentioned last month, Devon Day organised by Barry and Fiona Smith and Colin and Carolyn Bird, was to be a little different this year, but due to inclement weather prior to the event, the field we were to have used was out of bounds. Despite this an enjoyable day out was had by one and all, culminating in the ‘Jazz in the Park’ organised by Terry Bolt and Jeff Hearn. This succeeded in raising £1,000 towards Macmillan Cancer Support.

The ‘Tamar Old Bridges Run’ organised by Alan and Verona Davis saw a maximum entry of 60 vehicles make 20 crossings of the River Tamar, only the ‘modern’ Tamar Bridge and

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Torpoint Ferry in Plymouth were omitted from the route. It was interesting to see the river grow in size as we crossed each bridge from an initial small stream, hardly noticeable, to the mighty river leading on to Plymouth.

Thank you for organising a very interesting run and an excellent Cream Tea at Harrowbarrow Village Hall where the prize giving took place. The photo alongside is of the awards presented.

As a lot of members know, Terry and Jeff are once again partaking in the Cape to Cape Run next year in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support in Terry’s trusty MG TD. The start next year is at Cape Trafalgar in Spain and

You still have time to enter the one-day run on October 7 which starts from New Lanark.

This will be an excellent day with a canal cruise at the end. Check the website for details.

Don’t forget about the lunch on November 25. It’s a relaxed affair in comfortable surroundings. Check the website and come and join us.

And further ahead, the Chilly Willy Lunch is on January 1.

Again, check the website.

The committee is now planning events for 2019. If you have any suggestions regarding shows or runs then let me know.

And Christmas is not so far away, so don’t forget to buy some stocking fillers from our range of regalia.

We expect to hold a Film

Night in January. Anyone got any old MG motor sport-related or Scottish Centre-related films that haven’t been seen for years?

Offers welcome!

And can I also continue my request for email addresses please…?

finishing at Cape Cornwall. To add to their fund-raising coffers, they were presented with a cheque from the above run.

The West Cornwall Natter run by John Harvey (email: west. cornwall@mgccdc.org) has moved to the Punch Bowl and Ladle at Penelewey, Feock, TR3 6QY on the first Friday of the month. They have a regular side room reserved each month from 6.30pm onwards, if eating, and from 8.00pm for the normal gathering. The pub has a great

atmosphere, reasonable prices and benefits from a large car park. They are looking forward a bit, and are holding a Christmas Group meal on Friday December 7, so make a note in your diary.

The Tamar Classic Trial on Sunday October 21 needs marshals to help run it satisfactorily. Please contact Bernard Curren on chairman@ mgccdc.org or Vic Share on competition.secretary@mgccdc. org if you can spare a few hours to help, please.

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CENTRES

LINCOLNSHIRE

IAN MACKENZIE 01529 497849 MaccaV8@aol.com www.mgcclincolnshire.co.uk

October Natters: Wolds Wednesday 3: Abbey Lodge Monday 8; Wishing Well Wednesday 10; Three Horseshoes Thursday 18; Lincoln Tuesday 23; Red Cow Inn Thursday 25.

Luncheon Club: Wednesday 17.

October Event: Jubilee Trophy Naviscat Rally 7; Gordon Smith Memorial Run 14.

They came, they saw, they competed. Almost 100 cars attended the Poacher Concours at Doddington Hall on August 19.

Blessed with fine weather and a somewhat delayed flypast from a local BBMF Hawker Hurricane, we were treated to a great selection of cars, not all MGs. The judges chose Peter Newman’s damask red MGB GT V8 as car of

the day. Thank you to everyone who attended, and to Geoff and Vicki Edge and their team for organising another successful event. Here’s to next year.

During August, the final two rounds of the Landlords Choice series of pride of ownership events took place at the Wolds Natter (Cross Keys, Grasby) and Dyke Natter (The Wishing Well, Dyke). The overall winner will be presented with the Halls Garage Rosebowl at the Annual Dinner on Saturday February 2 2019 at

DAVID RUSSELL d.a.russell@btinternet.com

David Russell’s 1978 MGB

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of an RAF theme for this year’s Jubilee Trophy Naviscat Rally.

Starting from Wymondham Windmill near Melton Mowbray (admittedly, just over the border in Leicestershire), the event will run on OS map numbers 130 and 121, finishing at the International Bomber Command Centre, Canwick Hill, Lincoln. For more information, please contact the organiser, Paul Smith, at: paul. smith2000@talktalk.net This year’s Gordon Smith Memorial Run will be to Whitby for fish and chips and will take place on Sunday October 14. For information, please contact the organiser, Keith Robinson, on 01472 602949.

signs of corrosion’. Looking underneath the car on the hydraulic ramp the evidence was there, but in my checking underneath at home in the garage I had missed it. Needless to say, I have replaced the pipe and changed all the brake fluid.

Although this could have been the MG’s last year for an MOT (as it is now 40 years old) my car will be taken every year for its annual MOT. For members near Sutton Coldfield ,something a little different to look out for in 2019 are the Classic Car Events held at the Fig and Olive, Middleton B78 2BU. Held on a Tuesday evening from 6.00pm monthly April to September, with refreshments available, the evenings attract all makes of classics and sports cars. No pre-booking is needed.

A couple of times this summer

the Natter has met there for a different evening to the regular pub meet normally held at The Holly Bush and it has been enjoyed by all. More MGs to outnumber the Aston Martin, Fords and McLarens would be good!!

The Midland events for 2018 will be drawing to a close after what hopefully will have been a successful Autumn Trial held at East Lodge Farm, Bromsgrove, for the first time on Sunday September 23. Thanks go to Tony Lake and Brian Osborn for searching out the venue and organising the Trial.

The Midland Centre’s final organised event for 2018 will see MGs joining forces with Morgan Three Wheelers for their annual Holly Run on Sunday December 16. Contact Dave 01384 372307 for more details.

Some of the Poacher Concours entrants

MIDLANDS The perfect MG weather continues as I write these notes in early September. No excuse not to eat into the insurance agreed mileage quota, making the most of MG events as the autumn approaches.

This very welcome increased use puts more demands on our

the Bentley Hotel, Lincoln.

The weekend of August 4-5 was quite busy for many of our Centre members – Saturday saw many looking to the skies at the East Kirkby air show at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, followed locally on the Sunday by a display of cars at Revesby Country Fair.

On the first weekend of September, the Centre attended the very enjoyable Boston Steam Fair at Hubberts Bridge with a display of cars.

In view of this year being the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Royal Air Force, and as Lincolnshire is known as ‘Bomber County’, we have a bit

MGs and therefore maintenance also needs to be increased.

This was brought home to me from my own experience this year, running my 1978 MGB Roadster. I have owned the MG for 33 years it is well maintained and has a high agreed value for insurance purposes. It has run faultlessly all summer and shown no signs of any problems.

However, the time for the annual MOT arrived and after a thorough check I took the MG with confidence to my regular garage. (The garage that has undertaken every MOT since I bought the car!). I was very surprised to be informed that there was an advisory – ‘front to rear brake pipe is showing

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CENTRES

NORTH WEST PAUL GOODMAN 01625 876300

It is time to give you full details of the Annual Dinner Dance and Awards Presentation. This will be on Saturday December 1 at the Deanwater Hotel, Woodford, Stockport, Cheshire. The move by one week from the traditional date has enabled us to negotiate a full Christmas package with the hotel.

There will also be some special seasonal surprises! The meal will start at 7.30pm with the awards presented afterwards. There will then be plenty of time for chatting in the bar with the cars or dancing in the second room. The event is not restricted to those members and their family and friends who take part in competition. We would like to see as many of our members as possible celebrating another great year for the Centre.

We arrange the room in round tables and so it is possible for you to book a whole table. Tickets are £37.50 each and the hotel has special rates for bed and breakfast.

All the details and the application form for tickets can be found on the Centre web pages or you can email David Rainsbury at david@rainsbury.com This month we have three social events. The new venue in West Cheshire is working well, so please join us at The Shrewsbury Arms on Tuesday October 9.

One week later we will be in the conservatory at the Plough and Flail on Tuesday October 16.

Finally, the lunchtime gathering will be on Wednesday October 31 at The Red Lion, Park Lane, Pickmere, WA16 0JX.

SOUTH EAST JO RUFFELS joruffels@gmail.com www.mgccse.co.uk

After an amazing summer the cool days of October have arrived, but there is still plenty to occupy MGCC SE members including events, local Natters and monthly mid-week wanderers’ runs and lunches. See the SE web page for full details on: www.mgccse.co.uk/calendar/ Our penultimate event of the year is the Autumn Naviscat taking place in the area south of Crowborough and Ashdown Forest on October 7 2018. This year the start is at Barnsgate Manor, TN22 4DB, just south of Crowborough on the A26, where entrants can sign on from 10.00am and be given

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the final instructions; novices are always very welcome. The usual breakfast rolls, tea and coffee will be available. Clues will be handed out at 11.00am, with 3 1/2 hours to collect the answers, before finishing back at Barnsgate Manor for lunch.

A two-course lunch for £18.50 per head has been organised and menus will be sent out in advance for pre-ordering.

This event is being combined with a round of the Inter Register Club’s championship, which will see entries from pre-war Riley, Alvis, Austin, Humber and Sunbeam to add a bit of interest to the proceedings.

Ray Collier, Mike Peters, Brian Butler and Ian Wright, Vicky Peters Trophy Winners.

Photo: Mark Baulch

The Cockshoot drivers who went to race at the Anglesey Circuit in August experienced all the seasons in one weekend. Dry, pleasant weather on Saturday and heavy rain on Sunday. Ray Collier finished both races scoring a first and second place which was enough for him to become Cockshoot Cup Champion. Mark Bellamy won Class B in both races and so secured the class championship.

The drivers were out again

We look forward to meeting old friends and newcomers alike, with a special award for novices.

For further information contact Peter Lamb on 01892 661969 or email peterlamb27@talktalk.net For the final event, Derek Edwards is organising an autumn leaves run on Sunday 14 October, driving through the Surrey countryside, a trip of around 35 miles. This will start at The Pheasant, Buckland (RH3 7BG) at 11.00 am, finishing up at The Plough, Leigh, near Reigate (RH2 8NJ) for lunch. If you wish to attend please contact Derek 01737 765891.

Roger Dudding Collection – You probably still just have time to sign up to visit the amazing collection, which the Fairmile group is once again organising on Saturday October 13 (Potters

at the Club race meeting at Oulton Park on September 1. Lots of members were present on a beautiful day with more than 30 cars in the lunchtime parade. Ray Collier was a race winner again with Mike Peters, Ian Wright, and Brian Butler picking up the class wins and the Vicky Peters Trophies.

Finally, from time to time we can help the buying and selling of cars within the Centre. If you are wishing to sell or buy then please get in touch.

Members gather at the Natter BBQ

Bar area). The entry form is available on the web page: www. mgccse.co.uk/2018/07/27/rogerdudding-collection-visit/ or you can contact Jon Glover on 07802 318950 This year’s AGM is scheduled for Saturday November 17 12.00-15.00 at St Nicholas Youth Centre, Godstone. If you wish to attend please contact Philip Bayne-Powell 01483 811428.

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CENTRES

SOUTH WEST

JIM LOTT email chairman@mgccsw.com Website www.mgccsw.com/ Facebook www.facebook.com/MGCCSW Twitter @mgccsw I am writing these notes having just returned from marshalling at the SW Centre’s annual Wiscombe Hill Climb event and feeling quite tired due to having to get up early to arrive at the venue on time. There was a time (when I was younger) that I would camp

overnight on the Friday ready for the fray on Saturday, but dodgy knees and old age mean that I find it difficult to sleep in a tent.

However, enough of my problems!

The event, as usual, was superbly organised by Bruce Weston as Clerk of the Course,

TYNE TEES

TONY WOOD anthony@scrutonvillage.co.uk

August is a busy month for the classic enthusiast and so it proved in Tyne Tees. Our Southern area Treasure Hunt attracted six crews to tackle the scenic route from Stokesley to Scruton, seeking answers to occasionally devious questions followed by an excellent meal at the Coore Arms. Results duly collated revealed John and Sarah Pinkney to be the winners in their TA, proving that the fastest car is not always an advantage.

Car displays featured in a Bank Holiday weekend of contrasts. Saturday saw members in Darlington Town Centre where in the sunshine our friend from Abingdon Works, John Watson, took class honours in his immaculate Iris

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Blue MGB. Sunday saw our annual pilgrimage to Hamsterley Hoppings where rain was the order of the day, disappointing for all concerned with the organisation of this lovely village event, so special thanks to Dennis Hope and other brave souls who stoically took all the weather could throw at them.

Our Breakfast meetings are proving ever more popular (check the website for details as we move around). The Southern meet was held for the first time at the Aviator Café on Fishburn Airfield, a super venue with the added attraction of being shown round some of the hangars with such delights as a 3/4 scale Spitfire replica and a Hawker Fury replica, both fully functioning, as well as

ably abetted by Jon Pittard as Deputy CoC and chief Marshal.

128 competitors signed on out of the 131 pre-entered and the morning’s two practice runs went without a hitch. (I have never seen the track so dry, even in the trees.) Lunch break was held at 12.20pm with the restart programmed for 1.30pm.

Black clouds looked ominous at lunch time but the rain held off all afternoon and the two timed runs were held with only minor incidents holding up the proceedings. The sight of a Mk1 Escort, having clipped the wooden barrier at Wis Corner and then careering across the grass on slick tyres and ending up at the gate, was a sight to behold, I am told.

At the end of the event, the trophies were handed out by yours truly in my capacity as

Chairman. The fastest time of the day was awarded to Ben Wheeler driving an Empire EVO 2 singleseater racing car. The Cider Apple Trophy for the best MG T Type was once again won by Keith Beningfield in his supercharged MG TC and the photograph shows him receiving his trophy.

The whole event was well attended and the weather, although overcast most of the day, was not too cold. I for one enjoyed being a marshal, as you get to see the track action at very close (but safe) quarters, and I look forward to the event happening again next year.

Our final event of 2018 will be the Kimber Car Trial to be held once again at Pagans Hill Farm on Sunday October 14. Regs and entry form are available on the SW Centre website.

modern aerobatic machines.

Looking ahead, the Autumn Leaves run in its unique form for this year is fully booked and eagerly anticipated by those of us on the list, but it now behoves me to mention the D word. Yes, December is coming and with it our annual Dinner and Prize Presentation which will be held on December 1 at the Gibside Hotel, Whickham, just off the A1. A great fun night with an excellent four-course dinner,

presentation of the annual awards and the stupendous raffle, a chance to get your glad rags on for only £24 per person.

Contact Noel (noel.lindford@ btinternet.com) for tickets.

Finally, a quick congratulations to Maurice and Christine Standish who successfully took part in the European Event of the Year in Switzerland, returning their unique Keller -bodied WA tourer to its homeland.

Display in Darlington Town Centre

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CENTRES

YORKSHIRE

DAVID COPEMAN 07920 064585 www.mgccyorkshire.co.uk North – Nick Mann Our August Natter took the form of a talk by Robin Askew about his and Ann’s recent tour of the Williams F1 factory. It was much enjoyed by everyone who was present. The month of August also saw a number of our members attend the Croft nostalgia, and the Burley Classic car show.

South – Geoff Norcliffe Members returning from the EEotY gave their accounts of the great times that they had in Switzerland and the journeys to and from; all enjoyed the experience and their cars more or less remained reliable! Over

20 from our Natter took part in the excellent Dales run. We made a full weekend of it and on the journey home stopped at the National Coal Mining Museum at Caphouse Colliery where we had a guided underground tour.

East – Brian Rylance Still drying out from the Dales run! Great route, though, and organisation. We held a new afternoon social run on Sunday September 23, heading up to the Yorkshire Moors and returning to Brandesburton, covering approximately 115 miles. The Natters are at the Half Moon, Elloughton, on the second Thursday of the month at 7.30pm.

ULSTER

CAROL WILLIS Tel: 07831 345560 www.mgcculstercentre.co.uk carol.mgulster@hotmail.co.uk

Mike Dowey organised an excellent visit to Whitehead Railway Museum on Sunday, August 25. We had 15 members and friends meet up at Newtownabbey for a brief run to Whitehead where we were treated to an escorted Museum tour with refreshments. We viewed the steam and diesel locomotive exhibits along with assorted carriages and memorabilia. They looked to be in good shape and ever-expanding under the good auspices of the volunteers of the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland. Their skills in bringing the old engines and rolling stock back to life are amazing. One locomotive was out on duty that

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day, pulling the Portrush ‘Flyer’ to the north coast.

From Whitehead, Mike had drafted a Tulip Run to the wilds of Buckna and back again taking in Slemish and Gleno waterfall.

With MGA, Bs, TF, an MG3 plus Robert Holmes’ recently acquired rare and pristine MG Metro; there was quite a cross-section of MGs. The route took in some great driving roads so the cars were well exercised. We ended the run with a splendid carvery at Whitehead Golf Club. Thanks again to Mike for his efforts in putting together a grand day out.

We ran a hastily arranged PCT on August 24 evening at Erwin’s Potato Farm near

West – David Copeman A quiz on Natter night in which everyone scored maximum points but were reluctant to admit.

Maybe I shouldn’t have said the winner can set the next quiz until after the final results?

August, another month when you had multiple choices of MG events to attend: Croft Nostalgia, Hebden Bridge, Pateley Bridge, Burley in Wharfedale, EEOTY, The Dales Run, MGCC Racing, plus the local charity events that members support – sufficient to keep the MGs running throughout August.

Tiger – Pete Welbourn The August luncheon run was well received. Organised by Derek and Chris, it ticked all the boxes – good weather and a good pub at the end of a scenic run through the Wolds.

Newtownards. Although we had only a small entry, there were MGs old and new competing, with Mike Armstrong and new member, grandson Zak, in their MG TD and Bailie Thompson in his wife’s blue MG3. Bailie nearly won the event, only to be pipped in a final run-off by Mark Lemon in his Midget. The real fun bit followed – two runs of a grass slalom followed the PCT and this time Bailie pulled out all the stops to bring home the MG3 in first place, a first for a modern MG in an Ulster Centre competitive event. Bailie, I hope you have given Barbara’s car a good clean!

We had a terrific day assisting the MGOC NI host MG Day in Carrickfergus, raising over £2,230 for the RVH Liver Support Group on Sunday September 2.

We thank and congratulate all concerned for helping out and making the day so successful.

The September run, organised by Bill and Janet, ass a change to the norm. We met at The Old Tile Works on the south bank and driving to the new Bomber Command Memorial near Lincoln for lunch and a tour of the museum.

Vale of York – Ken Cothliff Plans are together for an ‘end of season’ event in October.

This will be a run around all the famous battle sites in our area around York, on our Natter meeting day on October 18.

Although this is a Natter event, we would be happy if other MGCC members wanted to join us. If you fancy it, contact me – kencothliff@hotmail.co.uk We also set the date for our Christmas ‘MG Bash’ on December 20.

Bailie Thompson with MG3 on the PCT

Dates for your diary: October 6 PCT – venue to be confirmed October 9 Nosh ‘n Natter from 12.30pm in Poacher’s Pocket, Lisbane October 20 Autotest at Delamont November 3 AutoSOLO at TTS December 11 Mince Pie Natter from 7.30pm at Shandon Park Golf Club January 1 New Year’s Day Treasure Hunt – start and finish venues tbc

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REGISTERS

SVW

PAUL CAMPBELL svw.safety.fast@gmail.com www.svwregister.co.uk

Firstly, we have to tell you that Jeff Gibson sadly died at the beginning of August. You can read a tribute to Jeff in the News section in this edition.

New Facebook Group The SVW Register has recently launched a new Facebook group, which is intended to be a meeting point for anyone interested in SVW cars. You don’t need to be a member of the SVW Register to join, although you’re likely to be reading this because you are a member! Members of the group can share their news, photos, restorations and thoughts and perhaps get an answer to a sticky question. Not everyone is on Facebook, of course, but if you

are then simply search for ‘SVW Register’, click on ‘join’ and we will add you. This supplements the ways in which we can communicate: our monthly Safety Fast! column, the annual SVW Review and the MG SVW Yahoo group for day-to-day technical queries, etc.

Many SVW owners have been writing in recently and I have lots of photos to share (if only I had the space!). Colin Magness owns VA Tourer 1355 that has been in the family since 1969, bought by his late father for £50. Colin says: “One of my earliest childhood memories was when father first collected the car. I remember looking out the back window of mother’s car and

T TYPE

JOHN WARD 01621 773606 johnw.ward@yahoo.co.uk www.mgcc.co.uk/t-register The 2018 T Register Autumn Tour Friday 7 to Monday September 10 2018 The Surrey Hills Once more this year the T Types set off on their annual foray into the English countryside in bright summer weather which lasted the whole weekend, almost unheard of…

This time to the Home Counties in the Surrey Hills, where 34 Ts assembled at The Hog’s Back Hotel on the A31, near Farnham. Following the reception on Friday evening, which outlined the itinerary for the runs on Saturday and Sunday, we all adjourned to the dining room for an excellent carvery.

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Saturday dawned bright and sunny and soon the car park was a bustle of activity, today driving south along country lanes and byways towards Hampshire and the first coffee stop at Ropley station on the Watercress Line.

Also known as The Mid Hants Railway, this is a preserved railway. Following its closure in 1963 under the Beeching Plan, it was purchased by a preservation society and now runs for 10 miles from Alresford to Alton.

There was an eager gathering to join the guided tours around the engine workshops and then see the tremendous work being carried out on the complete refurbishment of steam locos and carriages. Such workmanship,

watching father driving behind in the VA, down the A12 dual carriageway with no hood or seats (I think he used a small box to sit on!)”. The VA starts and drives, but is now undergoing a full restoration in Essex, expected to take two years.

David Walker has purchased Barbara Dark’s VA Tourer 0314 that we featured previously. The car has moved from Suffolk to Norfolk where David is planning its restoration. Barbara eventually

hopes to get to ride in it again, as she did as a child.

Manreet Sarkaria in Chandigarh, India, restored VA Tickford 1813 some time ago, fabricating all missing or unusable parts locally.

It looks stunning and is a prizewinner – I have photos and a video to prove it!

Correction: last month I said “…there should be 1/4” toein across the axle (VA)” – this should be 1/8” as per Service Information Sheet 64 (1938).

The Magness wedding cars in 1988

and even now they are training apprentices to take on those fastdisappearing trades and skills.

The afternoon run took us another 35 miles around all the lanes, taking in the best of the countryside, edging into Sussex before turning northwards into Surrey and the hotel for the night. Saturday night and we all indulged in the traditional gala night supper with its usual format: some speeches, an ode from the President and the announcement of the awards for the prestigious trophies by the Secretary, Sally Silcock.

On to Sunday morning, and an early coffee stop at Polesden Lacey, the country retreat of Margaret Greville, a popular and powerful socialite in the early 1900s, then on to Box Hill and the tremendous views attainable across the whole of the Surrey landscape. This was part of the 2012 Olympic cycle race and we had been warned of the popularity of this hill climb. It did not disappoint and hundreds of bikes were swarming up the hill, even overtaking the odd T type, some of which were by now in first on the sharp bends!

Ongoing work in the railway engine sheds

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REGISTERS

Y TYPE

JERRY BIRKBECK jerrybirkbeck@btinternet.com www.mgccyregister.co.uk Tel: 01926 258691 Mob: 07855 566325 ANDREW COULSON (May 12 1953-August 15 2018) Many of our fellow `Y’ owners will have met Andrew Coulson over the years, who sadly died in August. Andrew remained in good humour and strong to the end.

Andrew and his wife Arlene, who were both vets, relocated from Kent to Yorkshire in 1995. This allowed Andrew to eventually fulfill a passion of owning an historic car. From having no garage in their home in Ashdown Forest, they now had a double garage in Sharow, Ripon. His dream was of a Lagonda but Arlene, who held a teenage love of an MGB GT, came first. There was probably

cunning logic in buying the little red sports car, as Andrew now decided the family needed a four-door saloon for the three of them! The hunt was on for a MG YA and surprisingly there was one for sale on their doorstep. So there she was, a two-tone green 1951 MG YA (Y6852) parked in a little Harrogate garage and they were sold on her!

As those of you who followed Andrew driving his YA will well remember, he didn’t hang around and Arlene confirms this with the following memory: “Many wonderful adventures were had in the MG YA and Andrew astonished other drivers by bombing along the ‘A’ and ‘M’

MAGNETTE

STEPHEN TICKELL 01737 760330 stephen.tickell@gmail.com www.magnette.org

There’s a European flavour to the news this month. From Denmark, Alice and Kjeld HolmNielsen are the proud owners of a 1957 Varitone which won the Concours d’Elegance first prize at the Egeskov Castle Classic Car Day. Although you might think this would be a small event, in

Concours winner at Egeskov Castle

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fact the Magnette was in the company of exotic Daimlers, Rolls, Bentleys, Jaguars (including an XK120) and Austin-Healeys – around 200 entrants – making Alice and Kjeld’s victory all the more notable and unexpected.

Also good to report that Barrie and Sheila Hope enjoyed their trip

roads at 70 mph! The first big adventure was in 1998 when I left him ill in bed and returned to find he had entered us in the 1999 historic Brooklands to Monte Carlo Rally! This was in the January and snow closed rally roads with the ‘Nav’ – me – handling rerouting. Of course Andrew was not happy with just the saloon; he needed the rarer MG YT to match. The stable was complete when a converted MG YB pickup was added in 2006.”

They both used their shared passion and knowledge of Yorkshire to organise two memorable events. In 2004 Register members were fortunate enough to experience their Tour of the Dales – ‘Herriot’ countryside – memories of Tristan in his MG TC. They followed this in 2009 with a visit to the North York Moors where

Andrew Coulson (left) in conversation during a Y Register event

to the Club EEOTY in Switzerland, along with Gunter and other European Magnette owners. The Hopes even added on some extra touring afterwards and clocked up around 2,000 trouble-free miles in all (despite temperatures up to 38°C) including a climb of several thousand feet to the Alp Nagens, and a visit to the Heidihof. You can read a fuller account on www.magnette.org.

For UK owners, we’ve still got our last Register event of the

season to look forward to, the Lou Shorten Tribute weekend in Norwich (October 6-7). You’ll be very welcome to just turn up at John Shorten’s on Saturday, where you can enjoy a talk by Mike Lafflin in the afternoon as well as the usual good company. If you’re also intending to be at the dinner and prize-giving on Saturday evening or the visit to the Bure Valley Railway on Sunday, please contact John Harris in advance (01604 642662).

‘Heartbeat’ was based and the series characterised by PC Nick Rowan’s TA. It was during these occasions and on trips to France that we were introduced to their fiendishly difficult quizzes, which I am sure that many of you will recall!

Our love and thoughts go out to Arlene and we, too, will all miss Andrew very much.

Jerry Birkbeck

Magnettes at the Heidihof on the EEOTY

OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 83

21/09/2018 18:08

REGISTERS

MGA

EDWARD VANDYK 01488 608810 mgascribe@vandyk.co.uk MGA Register Committee Meeting Your Register needs you!

Interested in joining the MGA Register Committee? Come and have a preview of what is involved at the next meeting to be held at the Thornley Suite, Kimber House, from 10.00am (for 10.30am) on November 10. All Register members are welcome.

Please let Colin Manley know in advance for catering numbers colinmanley99@gmail.com Membership of the Committee is determined at the meeting scheduled for April 6 2019.

My Final Memorable Journey The following is a précis of Gwilym Owen’s note to me of

his ‘goodbye’ to his MGA 1600 Coupe in Iris Blue which he has owned since 1988. He originally decided to sell her a couple of years ago but a minor bump in Caen returning from the 2016 Le Mans Classic put paid to that. The 2016 trip had involved a Le Mans circuit drive but he had a dash cam failure and thus no record. He was keen to repeat and, this time, record the experience.

The car has been to every Le Mans Classic and the proposed sale was scheduled for 2018 to allow one final ‘Classic’ trip. In deciding to auction the car on August 9 2018, his birthday, Gwilym also noted that it would be the 30th anniversary of his buying the car.

Preparation for the trip began in September 2017 and having navigated the Peter Auto website to register as a ‘club’, with one member, he purchased the allimportant circuit drive.

He set off on July 4 in very high temperatures. The cockpit of the Coupe gets hot anyway and in that weather he had to have the heater full on to provide extra engine cooling …

An early ferry on the Thursday and more hot running in France nearly came to a messy end as fuel started vaporising and a 40-foot artic came round the roundabout but it all ended well!

The circuit drive was at 9.00am on Friday and his was the first car to arrive. It was allowed to go first behind the pace car. Staying close behind the pace car there was no room for anyone to overtake until after exiting the first chicane. The

MGA was one of the oldest cars in that session and being overhauled by the Ferraris and McLarens was an experience in itself.

Approaching the first chicane for the second time he saw 4500 rpm, suggesting about 90mph.

On the third and final lap and in clear air he could enjoy driving through the sweeping curves. It was a very happy boy who left the circuit!

Oil and water were all fine so it was off to the paddocks to see the cars that were racing and then the Classic itself.

Then the drive home, the Final Journey, and to the auction house. In the event, and despite the great auguries, the car did not reach its reserve at the August auction so it is advertised in this edition of Safety Fast!

Saying ‘goodbye’ was never easy!

The photo above is from John Watson who entered the very popular Snowden Run in

August. This is when 200 MGs met up with 200 Ford Escorts on a mountain top.

MGB

DAVID BROADHURST 01209 614704 newsletter-editor@mgb-register.org www.mgb-register.org mgbforum.mgb-register.org When you read these notes the Register will have been to Ironbridge for the autumn weekend, and the lecture at Radley College about the Marathon Rally from London to Sydney will have happened. Writeups with lots of photographs in our bumper November issue.

Thinking ahead to November, your MGCC-owned Marathon MGB will be at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, in Hall 8-360 on the Historic Marathon Rally Group stand. This is part of the Classic Car Show on Friday November 9-Sunday November 11. The MGCC will also have its own stand at this event in Hall 3-370. Come and say hello.

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Looking much further ahead, please put Sunday April 7 2019 in your diaries as it is too early for the new, W.I., kitchen calendar. This is the date for the MGB Spring Run starting from Millett’s Garden Centre, close to Abingdon Further details to follow in Safety Fast! and on our website www.mgb-register.org Our webmaster, Paul, has been busy updating our MGB Photo Library section of the website – have you sent us a photo of your MGB? Also, have we added your MGB to our 20,000 registered MGBs? To view the results please go to the website at www.mgbregister.org/photos-2/

www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 18:09

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Safety Fast_October18_Back.indd 85

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OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 85

21/09/2018 18:09

REGISTERS

MIDGET

MIKE PARKER mikeparker78@talktalk.net www.midgetregister.com/ The Register has one more event this year, the annual Aldon Shoot Out on October 27 2018, which as normal is held on the last Saturday of the month. For more details and to book a place please contact Dennis Wharf on 01296 714232 or email him on dennis@ loisweedon.net

Thank you to all of you who took part in the Register Road Run this year. It all went very well, and judging by the feedback was enjoyed by all. It was Peter Chaundy’s first time running an event like this, so I think he did very well. We were all made very welcome at the start by the newly wed Steve

Clark, and on finishing at Stow House by Peter who was there to park us up, saying he will never do this again and looking forward to a good night’s sleep, but by the Wednesday after the event he was thinking maybe!

There will be a write-up of the event in a forthcoming issue of Safety Fast!

As I write these notes there are only two more rounds of the Robin Lackford Midget and Sprite 2018 Challenge to go. They are both at

Snetterton on September 29, with Class D Edward Easton just in the lead on points from Class A leader, Steve Collier, and just a bit further back Class E Paul Campfield and Pippa Cow, so we should have a good race to finish the season off!

We had a great race meeting at Castle Combe at the end of August, with some great racing and a new lap record for Stephen Watkins, before going off to cut the grass not in one race but in race two as well in the same place!

dynamometer. Two interesting points emerged: one RV8 had a noticeably noisy engine when the bonnet was opened, it sounded like tappets, but its owner said the noise was from the injectors.

He had replaced them with set of aftermarket parts and the truth emerged when the dyno indicated a measly 144bhp.

He is going to get the old injectors refurbished.

“More surprising was my RV8. It produced 187bhp from a standard engine with an Optimax chip but the dyno man said he thought it was woolly at the top end. After checking the timing he discovered that the distributor was not advancing the spark as the speed increased, so he suggested a trial, adding about 2 deg more static advance – and lo and behold, nearly 192bhp. A distributor overhaul underway!”

A full report is on our ‘More’ web page.

Cars line up at Stow House at the end of the Register Road Run. Photos: Iwan Jones

V8

VICTOR SMITH 0208 392 9434 victorsmith@v8register.net www.v8register.net V8 Dyno Day at Aldon Nic Houslip reports: “The V8 Register’s dyno day on Saturday September 8 at Aldon

Automotive in Brierley Hill was well attended. We had a line-up of RV8s and a single B GT V8 and everyone got a run on the

4.6 Litre RV8 belonging to Peter Jung at the V8 Dyno Day

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V8 Launch Anniversary at the Bo’ness Revival Classic The Caledonian Centre’s display at the Bo’ness Revival Classic event in September celebrated the 2018 Launch Anniversary – 45 years since the launch of the MGB GT V8 in August 1973. They also included the 25th for the RV8 and 15th for the MG ZTT 260.

The V8 on display was Citron 0798 which was the car that was on a dramatic ramp on the BL stand for the launch at the Earls Court motor show in 1973. The Caledonian Centre won the award for the best stand among stiff competition!

A full photo report is on our ‘More’ web page www. v8register.net/more.htm

www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 18:09

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OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 87

21/09/2018 18:09

REGISTERS

MGC

MIKE HAUGHTON mgc_mike@btinternet.com

Fresh back from the MGC Day’s 50 Swiss event and mission accomplished! Out of all the cars on the run the only ‘challenges’ encountered were a failed servo, a split fuel pipe and a few exhaust downpipe nuts which had shaken loose. Not bad for seven 50-yearold cars, each covering well over 2,000 miles and in such soaring temperatures.

A massive thank you needs to go out to Marcus Brundler and his lovely wife, Ursula, for organising the MGC Day’s 50 Swiss event. Such is their dedication to the ‘C’ that they celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary on the last day of the event. Congratulations to you both.

We also need to acknowledge the contribution made by Heinz Muller of Classic Car Garage, Oftringen, Switzerland, whose expert help and support enabled us to keep the cars in full operational condition. Thank you, Heinz.

Christmas is a-comin’ so please book your place for the C Register Christmas dinner.

The event is at Salford Hall, near Evesham, on Saturday November 24. Rooms are available for anyone wishing to stay and the booking form can be found on the MGC microsite or alternatively contact Mike Haughton for booking details.

Work continues on the combined Downton and Jersey

FWD

BEN HATTON ben2692@hotmail.co.uk www.mgcc.co.uk/fwd-register/

The weekend of September 15-16 saw two cars from the MGCC FWD Register attend the Manchester Classic Car Show. This year we shared a stand with the Maestro & and Montego Owners Club and the MINI Y Register.

The cars that attended were the stunning Maestro Turbo owned

by Ricky O’Hara, and owing to a last minute change my MG Metro 1300. I would like to say that the event went without any problems; however this was not the case!

Upon arriving in Manchester my Metro developed an intermittent clunk on the front suspension. Upon investigation, I found that the retaining washer on the front driver’s shock absorber had pulled through the bush, so as

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a result the shock was no longer attached at the bottom end! I always carry a small tool kit with me but nothing of any use for this!

So, on the Saturday morning, Tanya asked around to see if anyone had a socket set, whilst I went off around the auto jumble to find some better replacement washers.

This was like looking for a needle in a haystack but an hour later I’d found what I needed. Meanwhile, someone had left a socket set by my car so I set to work.

By this time the show had really filled up with the public looking round the cars. Seeing a car jacked up with its wheel off was something of a crowd-puller, with lots of people watching what I was doing whilst a few asked

Congratulations to Ursula and Marcus on their 10th wedding anniversary – celebrating MGC style!

event and we are hoping to stay in the same hotel as the Owners Club in order to keep all the MGs together. The Downton weekend will be May 4-5 2019, with a plan to spend the following Monday and Tuesday near the south coast and then take the ferry to Jersey on the Wednesday in time for the Liberation day on the Thursday.

Just a short report from our roving reporter at Oulton Park on September 1. Andy Young achieved a third and first in class in his MGC GT race car,

which sets him up well for a shot at the Championship.

Shaun Holmes, on his first visit to Oulton, managed a third in class – but instead of his MGC, he was in his ‘eBay special’ MG ZR, and only his second race in it! We say get back in the ‘C’, Shaun!

Finally, the email address for Vic Young in September’s MGC Newsletter was incorrect and should be vjyoung@btconnect.com Happy C Motoring.

Colin Howes

questions which I rather enjoyed.

One person commented: “This isn’t the restoration show,” which caused a bit of a laugh for all who heard it. Half an hour later the problem was fixed, but as a belt and braces measure I decided to do the same on the passenger side.

Although it looked ok, I thought it best to alter it, just in case.

As the show drew to a close it was clear that the favourite car of the weekend was Ricky’s Maestro Turbo. Although not 100% original, it is a stunning car that really stands out, and as many people commented: “How many of these do you see now?”

With that show over, this year’s events are coming to an end.

Our next event for our cars will be the BMC/BL Autumn rally in Milton Keynes on September 30. Although a smaller show, it is a nice close

to the show season in a pleasant setting with a nice atmosphere amongst those who attend, so we hope to see you there.

Running repairs on the MG Metro at the Manchester Classic Car Show

www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 18:10

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Safety Fast_October18_Back.indd 89

OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 89

21/09/2018 18:10

REGISTERS

MGF

where we are under-represented, so if you are from northern England and fancy running a Register Region then please get in touch with Chairman Nigel at chair@mgfregister.org There will be more details on that event in the next issue of Safety Fast!.

The Bicester Scramble is growing in popularity and our TV Region has been regularly supporting the event. The next one is not far away on Sunday October 7 and we are going again, along with the Midget and MGB Registers. Email Worzel for details of how you can get half-price tickets – he has the secret Promo Code – events@ mgfregister.org The end of the summer season saw plenty more shows and runs taking place, including Thames Valley at the Chearsley Classic Car Show, Anglia at Swaffham

and Central at Middleton Hall. It’s not just the cars with our social groups – the South East have been battling dinosaurs in Adventure Golf in New Malden and sitting on the beach at Hayling Island eating fish and chips.

Rob Bell’s ‘Project Shed’ has been spotted in action at the Wiscombe Hill Climb. Regular readers of our quarterly journal FasTForward will know all about Rob’s efforts to shed weight and add lightness to his MGF – a project that has been going for too many years that I care to remember! Each edition brings more grammes shaved off the lightweight hill climb and sprint car and new, often homemade, innovations to make it go that little bit faster! How did he fare at Wiscombe? We’ll have to wait until the winter edition of FTF to find out!

Championships will conclude at Snetterton on September 29.

JOHN THOMPSON Tel: 07854 275541 johnt5@btinternet.com www.mgcc.co.uk/zedregister There will be a full report from there in the next Register update. the Trophy Championship, while Events and shows Upcoming events Ian Boulton and David Thomas The penultimate rounds of this Please note that we have been both in ZR 170s had class wins year’s Racing Championships informed that booking for the in the Peter Best Cup. Register took place on September 1 at Lancing Motor Show which takes Treasurer, Peter Burchill, took Oulton Park. Ray Collier in his place on October 14 has closed two third-place positions in class ZR 190 took another win in the due to the show being fully in his ZS 180. With everything Cockshoot Cup, Jason Burgess booked. to play for, the 2018 Racing took first place in both rounds of

Later this month, Super Car Saturday returns at the Castle Combe Circuit on October 27 for the 26th year. This charity event will once again be supported by Register Treasurer, Peter Burchill, and the Vulcan Racing Team. This is your opportunity to take a ride around the circuit in one of many stunning racing cars with an experienced racing driver. All monies raised are donated to the Stroke Association.

TIM MORRIS 01932 882467 scribe@mgfregister.org www.mgfregister.org We are entering the cold season now and already looking forward to our Christmas events locally within our regions and nationally for the second of our revived MGF Register ‘Does Christmas’ events at Cricklade House Hotel in Wiltshire. It takes place on the weekend of December 8-9 with the dinner and disco on the Saturday evening. It is a relaxing weekend with no road runs, just time for socialising and banter – and a slap-up Xmas dinner, of course.

Enjoy a winter weekend in a country house hotel; most of the rooms have been booked but there are still a handful left if you would like to join us. Contact Worzel at events@mgfregister.

org for more information, prices and availability.

If you are a regular at one of our Regional groups then I’m sure they will be sorting out their own events around now so, again, make sure you get your name down. If you are not a regular but fancy meeting up with other Club members then there are regional meetings across the country. Just head to our website at www.mgfregister. org to find out where your closest group is – they will be more than pleased to see you.

I hear news of a Register National Event returning in 2019 – it takes place in September 2019 and will be in the northern part of the country. It is an area

ZR/ZS/ZT

The busy Oulton MG Trophy grid. Photo: Dickon Siddall 90 SAFETY FAST! OCTOBER 2018

Safety Fast_October18_Back.indd 90

Peter Burchill in his MG ZS 180 www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 18:10

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Viewing is by appointment only please 01932 241843 or 07836 281493 sales@churchsquareautos.com.

VIEWING BY APPOINTMENT PLEASE

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_October18_Back.indd 91

This is just a small selection from our stock

www.churchsquareautos.com OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 91

21/09/2018 18:10

CL ASSIFIEDS How to Advertise EST’D

1989 MG GEARBOX AXLE DIFFERENTIAL OVERDRIVE SPECIALISTS OVERHAUL – REPAIR – EXCHANGE UNITS

FULL WORKSHOP FITTING SERVICE AVAILABLE

All work carried out by time-served BMC/BL engineers

Worldwide Mail Order Service Visit our eBay Shop and Website for products and details Unit 20c (Rear of 20/22) T 020 8577 1505 Hanworth Road, Hounslow E heathrowtransmissions@gmail.com Greater London TW3 1UA w heathrowtransmissions.co.uk DONHOODS-SFAug07.QXD:Layout 1 23/9/09 16:22 Page

Members can advertise their cars free of charge in Safety Fast. The advert will also be posted on the Club website in due course. This is for one insertion only. To place an advert or for additional insertions email colingrant@mgcc.co.uk with details of your car, around 60 words, together with an attached picture, your contact information, price of your car, the area where you live, and membership number.

Cost for non-members to advertise is £20. All adverts should be submitted by the 10th of the month for the following months issue.

1

DON HOODS UNBEATABLE QUALITY – UNBEATABLE VALUE! DIRECT FROM THE MAKERS – WITH OVER 40 YEARS EXPERIENCE

Choice of heavy duty PVC, ICI Vynide, Everflex, Duc k and Mohair

•BETTER THAN ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT QUALITY •STITCHED AND WELDED FOR MAXIMUM LIFE •WIDEST CHOICE OF COLOURS AVAILABLE •ALL FASTENERS & FITTINGS INCLUDED D PRICE FOR LEAFLET AN LIST CONTACT Ltd Don Trimming Co.

AL MAKES & L incl: MG, MODELS Tr Escort, Giumph, olf etc.

ingham B23 7JJ Hampton Road, Birm

13 Tel: 0121 373 13ICE OFF SOUTHERN SALES

00 Tel: 01202 7422

CARPET SETS FOR MOST MODELS

www.donhoods.com

1964 MGB.

Stabled for 10 years, making this a good old barn find, cobwebs and mushrooms included. Pull handle model. RHD, overdrive, 3 synchro gearbox, 5 bearing engine. £2100 or £1800 for under 35s ono. Buyer collect, just across the pond in Holland. Perfect base for an FIA spec racer or a straight forward road car. Contact 0031 174 212608. info@mgworkshop.nl

2003 MG TF 135

In Trophy Blue with part grey leather interior trim, fitted with much sort after 16 inch multi-spoke alloy wheels with red 4 pot racing calipers and larger disks. It also has the ‘Lexus’ style rear lights, which match the front lights. The soft-top is blue, with updated rear window. A black hard-top is also available for purchase separately. Owned since April 2012, whilst employed by the MGCC as Competition Secretary, it has had 3 former keepers and some previous history is available. When purchased the car bore a pair of black self adhesive stripes as seen in the photo. Currently the boot-lid ones are missing. These could easily be replaced, or the front one’s removed, depending on taste!

63,377 Miles. £1,750 ono. Contact Steve on 07779156801 or 01296 655101. (Bucks)

2002 ZT-T 2.5 V6 190

1995 MGRV8

www.classicmg.co.uk MGB V8 Supersports Roadster, Heritage shell. This bespoke, ultimate MGB was hand built by the MG Owners club workshop and magazine featured during the build, Grey leather interior with mohair hood.

2001-2002. 4.6 litre engine with R380, 5 Speed gearbox. Too many details to list, please call for specification. £29,500

MGR V8 in Oxford Blue, 25,500 miles Repatriated in 2004 and fully maintained regardless of cost. Rare colour, air conditioning.

No.1134 with R380 gearbox. £23,500

30 MGS FOR SALE

MGS URGENTLY WANTED TO PURCHASE

92 SAFETY FAST! OCTOBER 2018

Safety Fast_October18_Back.indd 92

British Racing Green, UK build, 29,000 Miles. Cherished in heated garage, dry use only. Original spec, new parts supplied by Clive Wheatley. New tyres, water pump, spax shocks, nylon bushes and pins, carbon fibre radiator cowl, full set of silicon hoses, new HT leads plus other MG new parts. Original toolkit and workshop manual; full service history. Excellent condition. £22,000. Contact: richardremnant@gmail.com; 07702 632051; (South Cambs)

2011 MG6 Turbo SE 1800

Low mileage (11,000), One owner since new. Sat nav, Leather seats, petrol, recent MOT. c£6,000 Tel: 01737 215 662 (Surrey)

Manual. Reluctant sale. LHD. Engine needs work. Either repairable or use as a rolling spares department.

Some paint scratches on left. £900 ono. Buyer collect, just across the pond in Holland. Contact info@mgworkshop.nl or 0031 174 212608

1958 MGA Co

Just finished compl body off no e restoration. Orig Mineral Blue mat Substantial history plete photograp restoration. All n completely origin Fresh MOT and re run in. Very rare a £27,950 ONO 07973 427175 (lea kevinskuce@btcon

1971 MG MIDG

Ex standard class Challenge car. So months MOT, new wings, & bonnet, Tahiti blue paint always been garage weather. Would m day car, fast road, o Modifications to in polished & ported roll bar, & lowe £4,500. Contact M 082842 (South De

MGA

1977 MG Midget 1500

Very Low Mileage 27,000+.Rubber bumper model, Manual Transmission. Engine in good condition. Quality boot rack. Sport steering. Service journal and original owners workshop manuals available. 6 owners. Quick sale due to lack of parking space. Needs body work, but with rare advantage of original structure never been mended. Needs MOT and road tax.

Car worth a lot more after. Price: £2,000 (Offers will be considered) To arrange a closer look please call Dotun on 07958 352718 (Private Sale) (London SE18)

Imported from US with a 3 bearing engine and all histo to a full nut and bo 2015 when purch owner. The engine to 1840 cc and fi road camshaft wit since. Electronic interior, hood Excellent driving Contact Frank on 0 frank.burry587@ (Berkshire)

SELLING YO

As a member of the MG C

your car in Safety Fast for

details,max 60 words,togeth

to Colin Grant at colin

www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 18:10

Non membe

CL ASSIFIEDS

www.mgmecca.co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 1953 717618 Fax: (0) 1953 717850

135

with part grey trim, fitted with 6 inch multi-spoke red 4 pot racing r disks. It also has rear lights, which ights. The soft-top ed rear window. A also available for ely. Owned since employed by the etition Secretary, it keepers and some is available. When ar bore a pair of e stripes as seen in ently the boot-lid These could easily the front one’s nding on taste!

750 ono. Contact 156801 or 01296

1958 MGA Coupe 1500

Just finished complete nut and bolt body off no expense spared restoration. Original UK RHD Mineral Blue matching numbers.

Substantial history file and complete photographic record of restoration. All new interior to completely original specification.

Fresh MOT and rebuilt engine now run in. Very rare and desirable car. £27,950 ONO Contact Kevin 07973 427175 (leave a message) or kevinskuce@btconnect.com

sale. LHD. Engine her repairable or pares department. ches on left. £900 ct, just across the olland. Contact op.nl or 0031 174

get 1500

UK car (Leeds), Current owner for 30 years. 1588cc, 4 speed, positive earth. In regular use, the car has recently returned from another trip to the Le Mans Classic. Some spares are available. £24,000 ono g@gowen.co.uk or 07900187659, (Cheshire)

1955 MG TF 1500

1971 MG MIDGET.

V6 190

1959 MGA FHC 1600

Ex standard class Halfords Midget Challenge car. Solid car with 12 months MOT, new tyres, GRP front wings, & bonnet, with very good Tahiti blue paint finish. Car has always been garaged & driven in dry weather. Would make good track day car, fast road, or hill climb car.

Modifications to include, Longman polished & ported head, Rally cam, roll bar, & lowered suspension. £4,500. Contact Mark on 07999 082842 (South Devon)

Original right hand drive car.

Excellent condition. Formerly owned and rebuilt by Tony Brier as his personal car. Well looked after by current owner for 19 years.

Almond green metallic (the original colour and much admired). Many extras including 5 speed Hi-Gear box, brake servo, easy-reach brake fluid reservoir. Working clock. £35,000 ono. Call for more details.

01582 715972 or email ke i t h d o h e r t y @ t t y p e r. c o. u k .

(Harpenden Hertfordshire)

e 27,000+.Rubber odel, Manual gine in good conboot rack. Sport ournal and original op manuals availQuick sale due to pace. Needs body rare advantage of re never been MOT and road tax. more after. Price: ll be considered) er look please call 352718 (Private 18)

Imported from USA in 1988 fitted with a 3 bearing 1800 cc MGB engine and all history since. Subject to a full nut and bolt restoration in 2015 when purchased by current owner. The engine has been bored to 1840 cc and fitted with a fast road camshaft with very few miles since. Electronic ignition, all new interior, hood and tonneau.

Excellent driving car. £34000.

Contact Frank on 01784-483383 or frank.burry587@btinternet.com.

(Berkshire)

SELLING YOUR CAR? As a member of the MG Car Club you can advertise your car in Safety Fast for free.Just email your car details,max 60 words,together with a JPEG picture

to Colin Grant at colingrant@mgcc.co.uk.

Non member fee is £20

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_October18_Back.indd 93

1978 MGB ROADSTER, Flame Red, Black/red Leather trim. Power steering, this makes the car very light to park and drive. O/drive. Sports leather seats, w/wheels (new) s/s boot rack, K&N filters, Revotech cooling, s/s exhaust. Body in superb order, very tidy engine bay, boot carpets, tonneau, a super car ready for summer fun. £9,995

1959 MGA 1600 BRG, black trim. L/H/D. Original European car not USA. Chrome wires, boot rack, 1800cc engine. Tonneau. Drives really well, used for continental touring many times. Great looking car, nice usable condition £19,995

1973 MGB GT V8 RACER BRG, full race spec car, but road legal, ideal for race/track day/sprint or just fantastic fun on the road. 3.9l race spec engine. Extinguisher system. Race tyres. Full cage. Superbly prepped car and fantastic value @ £18,995

1957 MGA 1500 Old English White, red trim, w/w. Absolutely lovely car, restored very well a few years ago. Tonneau cover. Lovely panel fit. Reliable. Lady owner last 15 years. Used for many tours, loads of history. A superb car. £24,995

enquiries@mgsforsale.com

01707 876089

1995 MGF Very early car, chassis no. 1494.

MGA

1972 MGB ROADSTER, teal blue , ochre 1974 MIDGET 1275 RWA Blaze, Autumn Leaf trim. trim. W/w, o/drive. A superbly original car, best Restored car, totally solid, home restoration. Drives example of very rare ochre trim i`ve ever seen. superbly. Weber carb. Great little car. £5,995 Genuine 80,000 from new with full history.

Excellent body, nice engine bay, drives superbly, nice original patina, cars like this come avaliable very rarely. £12,995

Recent head gasket, cam belt etc.

Runs well, good appearance, distinctive reg. no., MoT November, some issues requiring attention. MoT November. Carlisle area. £600.

07776491393

WANTED MGB GT

Original chrome bumpered B GT wanted. I am looking for a car in good restored condition (particularly the bodywork as I can deal with anything mechanical). An earlier series I or II car would be of particular interest, but any chrome bumpered car would fit the bill as condition is the most important factor. 01765 689997 or Email: piersleigh@hotmail.co.uk If you would like to contact me by phone, my number is 01765 689997.

www.mgsforsale.com

07831 556666

MGB Roadster 1967 Older Restoration (MUB211F), 3 synchro model with overdrive, first registered in Leeds in 1968, chrome bumpers, chrome wire wheels, original steering wheel, double duck hood, older early 90’s bare tub restoration by Colour Developments of Bradford-on Avon in Tartan Red with Black leather interior trim, restoration included complete power train, only two owners in last 27 years, heavy history file with photographic and documentary evidence, invoices from MGOC, B Hive etc. etc. drives nicely, just arrived. £14,950.00 MGB Roadster Mk1 Pull Door Handle (GPJ896C), three former keepers since Feb 1965, British Racing Green Coachwork, nicely mellowed Black leather interior trim, original period steering wheel, Mohair hood, chrome wire wheels, overdrive, older restoration on original shell with good structure, paintwork not perfect but still much admired, more recent works have included new correct period petrol tank, new brake calipers, electronic ignition, carburettor overhaul & carpeted boot, previously sold by ourselves, available now £12,495.00.

URGENTLY WANTED ANY MG ANY YEAR, ANY CONDITION SEE OUR WEBSITE FOR A COMPLETE LISTING OF OUR STOCK

www.mgsforsale.com

Do not confuse the above vehicles with cheaper inferior quality models offered elsewhere. Part exchange any make of Motor Car with generous allowances. Discounted cash purchases. Viewing by appointment only please (available evenings & weekends) no obligation to purchase. All our vehicles carry a warranty, have an MOT and are fully serviced prior to collection/delivery.

OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 93

21/09/2018 18:11

CL ASSIFIEDS

1972 MG Midget 1257cc.

80,000 miles. Round wheel arch.

Fully restored and resprayed in flame red. Roll bar, mini lite wheels.

Mint condition inside and out. Tax and MOT exempt. Can MOT on sale. £10,250ono. Tel: 07836628134 (Newcastle upon Tyne)

1960 MGA Mk1 1600

1950 MGYT

1977 MGB Roadster

1969 MG Midg

Coupe. Original RHD export model re-imported UK 1997. Full body re-spray and mechanical overhauls in recent years with considerable detailed history file. Heritage Certificate. Nicely original with additional chrome w/w’s electric fan, oil cooler, fog and spot lights, luggage rack. All in lovely condition.

Owned 9 years, garaged, dry use only. Price £20,850. Tel: 01628 477637. (S. Bucks)

Right hand drive. quite a rare car th Singapore but th years in the USA. good condition w top & seats that bished. It require some minor atten together with mor provided if you are consider the b £20,000. Tel 01 vlea1938@gmail.co

1933 MG J2

MG registration, original numbers for chassis, engine and body. Not concourse but a good usable car.

Present owner for 44 years, kept as original as possible with a long list of work carried out, contact. Email dkeithjeffreys@gmail.com Tel no 01629813376 for details and more photos. (Derbyshire)

Goodwood Green, black leather piped green, historic vehicle status (no road tax) not concourse but stunning condition, over £18,000 spent on car since 1993 and only covered 5600 miles during that time. Stage 2 Road race engine, new electronic ignition & rolling road tune by Aldon Automotive, 15” minilites with new tyres, stainless exhaust. £8995.00 Contact Angus 07812113036. (West Midlands.)

1973 MGB Roa

1956 MGA Roadster

1500cc. Owned by me since 1984, it has just had a bare metal re-spray , Comes with new bumpers, wheel cylinders, master cylinder and brakes, hood, lights, tonneau and carpets. The car has a stainless steel exhaust, copper brake pipes and four point harnesses. Many spares included in the in the asking price.

Including a set of 60 spoke wire wheels. £24,000. Tel Garry on 07544660257. (Essex)

1971 MGB GT

1800cc. Overdrive gearbox. Glacier white with black vinyl upholstery.

Rostyles. Large history file including details of all previous owners and photographic record of complete restoration in 1997/98. Current owner 11 years. Lovely condition inside and out. £6750. Email: hammondmatthew3@gmail.com or tel: 07986682193 (London/Surrey)

94 SAFETY FAST! OCTOBER 2018

Safety Fast_October18_Back.indd 94

13000 miles since vinyl interior. 11 Recently recomm 07703 532507 (Mi

MGB and MGTD

I am selling my MG’s to purchase another. The ‘B' is a ’76 chromebumper conversion, sound and very presentable, with the engine bored to 1950cc and tuned by Oselli to Stage 2, fast road spec. Lots of history and bills. The TD is a RHD 1953 car. It runs well and is used regularly, but could use a little TLC - nothing major. £25,000 the pair, or will separate. Call Geoff on 01225 811099 0r 07802757685 or e-mail gf@ipw.eu.com. (Wiltshire)

SELLING YOUR CAR? As a member of the MG Car Club you can advertise your car in Safety Fast for free.Just email your car details,max 60 words,together with a JPEG picture

to Colin Grant at colingrant@mgcc.co.uk.

Non member fee is £20

48,000 miles from running order. Bar 2012, unblemished brakes all round, e unleaded conver Factory hard top, hubs, roll-over b toneau, new tyres, to April 2019. Doc Spent 8 years in U Tel: 0186534099 0788774632. (Sout

2002 MG TF 1

Owned since 20 Silver with black and blue hood. transmission, Toy recent battery, fro tor, cambelt, tens pump. Quarter ton break. Some sp 23/9/19. Good co Tel 01803 863849

www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 18:11

TEL/FAX: 01258 820337

Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri: 8am-6pm, Wed: 8am-5pm,CLSat:ASSIFIEDS 8am-1pm MIKE ROLLS

2016 201 6

SERVICES FOR MGs Specialising in all MG’s

TRADE MEMBER

TEL/FAX: 01258 820337

Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri: 8am-6pm, Wed: 8am-5pm, Sat: 8am-1pm MG TF 1954, 1250CC

al RHD export ed UK 1997. Full d mechanical overars with considertory file. Heritage ely original with me w/w’s electric g and spot lights, n lovely condition. garaged, dry use 850. Tel: 01628 ks)

1950 MGYT

Right hand drive. YT4123. This is quite a rare car that started life in Singapore but then spent many years in the USA. Generally it is in good condition with a very good top & seats that have been refurbished. It requires a re-spray & some minor attention. Full details together with more pictures can be provided if you are interested. I will consider the best price over £20,000. Tel 01452525079 or vlea1938@gmail.com

1970 MGB Roadster

Owned and cherished for 40 years, now requires a new home to continue adventures. Lead free engine, recent rebuilt gearbox.For more details call Shane 01273579399 (East Sussex)

1969 MG Midget

en, black leather oric vehicle status ot concourse but on, over £18,000 ce 1993 and only miles during that d race engine, new on & rolling road Automotive, 15” ew tyres, stainless 00 Contact Angus West Midlands.)

13000 miles since restoration. Black vinyl interior. 11 Months MOT. Recently recommissioned. £7950 07703 532507 (Midlands)

MG’s to purchase is a ’76 chromeon, sound and very the engine bored uned by Oselli to spec. Lots of hishe TD is a RHD well and is used ld use a little TLC 25,000 the pair, or ll Geoff on 01225 757685 or e-mail Wiltshire)

YOUR CAR?

Car Club you can advertise

or free.Just email your car

ether with a JPEG picture

olingrant@mgcc.co.uk.

Dax 427 Cobra, 1973, Built between 1984 - 1988 using number one of a series two chassis, Jaguar series two front suspension and Jaguar S Type rear suspension and Spax shocks all round, it has a Chevy 5.7ltr engine with a Getrag gearbox. Dark blue with grey interior, MOT’d until May 2019 and comes with good history file with invoices etc. This cobra is now a historic vehicle, tax exempt and built to a high standard. £36,995 MG Midget, 1979 In Inca yellow. This car had a full body/mechanical re-build 2010/11, it comes with a wood rim steering wheel, converted to unleaded, 123 Distributor, Stainless steel exhaust, polybushes all round, period radio/cassette, MOT’d to June 2019. This car is in excellent condition. £5,995

Dark Green, good condition.

Unleaded petrol engine, 5 speed gearbox. Dry stored (garaged). Tax and MOT exempt with receipts and records for work done over the years.

Chrome bumpers.

Reluctant sale. £6000. Must be seen.

Phone for details 07766 707737 (Leicestershire)

MG TD - 1953

MG TD 1953, Finished in British Racing Green with green interior and Tan weather gear. This MG TD had a light restoration in 2009/10 and it is a beautiful car. It has a good history with the original buff log book and drives extremely well. £26,995.

MGB ROADSTER, 1970

Currently undergoing a full restoration using a Californian shell converted to righthand drive, you can have this car built to your own specification, ie, suspension mods, interior colours, engine mods etc, if interested please call to discuss the options.

Units 9/10 Fifehead Business Park, Manor Farm, Fifehead Magdalen, near Gillingham, Dorset SP8 5RR

WANTED WANTED ALL MG MODELS!

1973 MGB Roadster

GTD

DAX 427 COBRA -1973

MG MIDGET - 1979

1973 MGB Roadster

oadster

MG TF 1954, 1250cc, Red with original red interior and black carpets.

This car was originally exported to Switzerland and was always been right hand drive, in 2001 it was re-imported to this country after having a mechanical restoration over there. Genuine car with a great MG number plate, lovely history with black and white pictures of the family that owned it when new, new wire wheels and tyres fitted, good weather gear and heritage certificate. This TF drives beautifully. £26,995

48,000 miles from new. Excellent running order. Bare metal rebuild in 2012, unblemished paintwork. New brakes all round, electronic ignition, unleaded conversion, overdrive.

Factory hard top, wire wheels and hubs, roll-over bar, full and half toneau, new tyres, (voluntary) MOT to April 2019. Documented history.

Spent 8 years in USA. £9,500.

Tel: 01865340999 or mobile 0788774632. (South Oxon)

2002 MG TF 135

Owned since 2010, 67k miles.

Silver with black leather interior and blue hood. 1796cc. Manual transmission, Toyo Proxi tyres, recent battery, front discs, alternator, cambelt, tensioner and water pump. Quarter tonneau cover, wind break. Some spares. MOT to 23/9/19. Good condition £1495.00 Tel 01803 863849 (Devon)

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_October18_Back.indd 95

All conditions wanted, from barn finds to concours. Complete collections purchased. Cash buyer.

Discretion assured.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested in selling your MG and are looking for a prompt hassle free cash buyer! Please feel free to contact me for a no obligation friendly chat.

I am especially interested in the following models: MG TC, MGA, MGB, MGC, MGB V8, Magnette and Midget.

CALL DIRECT ON: 07787 528131

E-mail: mikerolls4mgs@compuserve.com • www.mikerolls.co.uk Mail Order “Friendly Quality Service”

URGENTLY WANTED MGA/MGB/MGC/V8/ MIDGET/SPRITE ETC

Any Condition from non runners to rebuilt cars

Please call Edward 01923 840236 or any time on 07774 484497 Email: ejwhitescars@aol.com Website: www.mgandporsche.com

(Northwood, Middlesex) Kimble-SF_Nov-09.qxd:Kimble MGE 1_8 col 3.3

MIDGETS! WANTED

The Great British

26/10/09

13:0

Steering Wheel

The Brooklands We manufacture the BROOKLANDS

Contact the Midget Specialist MIKE AUTHERS on Abingdon 07703 465 224 CHROME BUMPERED MIDGETS in excellent condition bought up to £8,000. View current stock at

Steering Wheel from the original BLUEMEL tooling. It is not a Far Eastern copy and is made using the original methods and traditional materials. The CENTRE BOSS fixing kit, again from the original tooling, not only fits the MG TC and pre-war MGs, but the TD, TF and MGA. There are boss kits for other makes and kit cars too.

www.mgmidgets.com

Ww14” ENo Nalso in W

NO ABLE Ivo AILry AV

Now also 15½ inch wheel

BROOKLANDS AEROSCREENS are made using laminated glass to original specification to suit all vintage and sports cars.

john@johnkimble.co.uk

EST 1969

Tel:Magdal 01803 Units 9/10 Fifehead Business Park, Manor Farm, Fifehead en, near 835757 Gil ingham, Dorset SP8 5RR KIMBLE Fax: 01803 834567

KE-mail: mikerolls4mgs@compuserve.com • www.mikerolls.co.uk Unit 5, Old Mill Creek, Dartmouth, Devon TQ6 0HN.

Mail Order “Friendly Quality Service”

OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 95

CM02.13/B32/d

k1 1600

ber fee is £20

Specialising in all MG’s

TRADE MEMBER

21/09/2018 18:11

Insurance for all MG’s classic and modern

Colne Classics

SPARES FOR SALE HOW TO ADVERTISE

MG Power Steering and restoration specialists

Members can advertise their spares for sale/wanted free of charge for items up to £250. Over £250, or for non-members to advertise, there is a charge of £20.

To submit your advertisement email Colin Grant at colingrant@mgcc.co.uk. Please remember to include your membership number in all correspondence. All adverts should be submitted by the 10th of the month for the following months issue.

View the website on www.colneclassics.com B1 Seaden Court, Gorse Lane Ind Est, Clacton, Essex.

01255 432693, 07714 675319

NEW MGB Baulk Rings

Books and Magazines

www.bighealey.co.uk

CNC Machined in the UK to our specification Brass 2nd & 3rd/4th £59.95+VAT Steel 4 synchro £49.95+VAT

For the ‘best’ in MG high-performance

Safety Fast, in Binders, from Aug 1975.

MG, MGA 1955 – 1962, Brooklands Books.

MGA, A History and Restoration Guide, Robert P Vitrikas.

MG, Richard Aspen.

MG Collectibles, Michael Ellman Brown.

MG, Johnathan Wood, Shire Library.

Folder containing two dozen magazine articles on the MGA. Offers please. Email; hall.brian@outlook.com Tel; 07805601006 (South Devon)

Parts Hotline: +44(0)1543 472244 E-mail: sales@bighealey.co.uk DENIS WELCH MOTORSPORT, YOXALL, BURTON ON TRENT, STAFFS DE13 8NA, UK

Workshop manual and parts catalogue for Midget Mk 2,3,and 4. As new. £15.00 each plus postage.

MGB workshop manual all years. As new. £15.00 plus postage. Tel: David on 01483480413. (Surrey)

Tel: 01932 568822 OPENING HOURS: 08.30am – 5.00pm Mon – Fri Sat am: By appointment only

MGTC

KEEPING MORRIS & MG ALIVE FOR THE FUTURE Welding to MOT standards Vehicle safety checks undertaken

Mechanical repairs and servicing Bodywork/paintwork

SAVE MONEY WITH US – NO VAT ON LABOUR! Unit 6, Stevens Yard, 113 Fordwater Road, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 8HB www.chertseyminors.co.uk

STEVE McKIE SPORTSCARS CHESTERFIELD

•

DERBYSHIRE

Full tonneau cover slight wear and slightly faded no rips or tares £75.00 ono. Contact Barrington on 01792872615 or Email: barrington.davies@btinternet.com

Suppliers of parts for • MGA • MGB • MGC • Midget • T Type • MGF/TF

www.stevemckiesportscars.co.uk

Brand new unused complete with two Lucas M5 driving lamps which are in good condition but not concours. £60.00+PP. Email thehunts79@virginmedia.com (Hants)

MGF Hood Frame

MGA Chassis requiring de-rusting, repair and replacement of floor rails, sides both inner and outer, battery cradles and diagonal upright to goal post. Collection only please. £250. Tel: 07811 836694 Email: andy.ginter@sky.com (Hertfordshire)

96 SAFETY FAST! OCTOBER 2018 Steve McKie Sports Cars Hi-Res.indd 1

Safety Fast_October18_Back.indd 96

01376 574000

www.classiccarinsurance.co.uk MG SV Brochures

MG XPower V8 SV, 8-page promotional brochure, excellent condition. Top Gear magazine (2004) with MG SV-R review, good conditio. £10 for both, including UK delivery. Contact me for delivery options outside UK. galucas@waitrose.com 07941155317

MGA

1600/1622 Gearbox, prop shaft and clutch friction plate. Good working condition having been removed for a 5-Speed gearbox.

Reconditioned in 2002 with low milage since. Price £420 Buyer to arrange collection. Tel: 01285 706365

MGB

Steel bonnet, very sound condition, mineral blue: £60 Pair of MGB roadster wiper arms, nearly new, chrome, wide fitting: £8 Prefer buyer collects. Contact Graham 01424 882700 or emai: gtwilkins@btinternet.com (East Sussex)

TA/TB/TC

Half-shafts. New old-stock uprated (heat-treated EN40B steel) half-shafts: £200.00 for a pair of shafts. £10.00 for U.K mainland carriage. If you have a broken original or uprated engine power, I recommend that you fit a new pair of these.Email dereksibthorpe@gmail.com

Books

Wheelspin by C.A.N. May who completetd pre-war in a Cream Crackers JB7521 and other MG’s. This edition is a 1954 edition, signed by 7 pre-war drivers, and John Thornley who was team manager, and boss at Abingdon. Also the 3 books by Lyndon being Combat, Grand Prix and Circuit Dust. Offers invited. Contact Steve 01249819683

TF Badge Bar

Hood frame in perfect working order. Hood has a couple of marks, but waterproof Rear window cracked and split. FREE to good home. Collection only from Tony 07882937179. (CT6 Kent)

Specialists in the repair and restoration of MG cars

Tel 01246 454527 • Fax 01246 453681 Albert Street North, Chesterfield, S41 8NP

MG Midget

Call for a quote today

WANTED WANTED

Exchange MG B V8 wire wheel rear axle ratio 3.07 = 14x43 for MG C wire wheel axle ratio 3.03 13x43 in good condition. Tel: 01392 279355 or 07968758580 (South Devon)

WANTED

A pair (one LH / one RH) of original door spears for 1956 MG Magnette ZA. Must be original brass items.Re-chroming no problem. Please contact Iain on 0141 334 5090 Mob: 07824 793459. iainwright3@aol.com

MGA

WANTED

Fuel Tank. Please call Daran on 07841 321118

www.mgcc.co.uk 23/06/2010 13:46

21/09/2018 18:12

RING 19/04/2018 09:35 Page 1

Call for a quote today

B12 - BARRIE CARTER_CLASSIC MOTORING 19/04/2018 09:35 Page 1

01376 574000 CL ASSIFIEDS

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T-type’ – ‘T-type’ – ‘T-type’ ‘X-pag’ – ‘X-pag’ – ‘X-pag’ ‘T-type’ – ‘T-type’ – ‘T-type’ ‘X-pag’ – ‘X-pag’ – ‘X-pag’ 1

types and X-pag engines, gearboxes, trim, paint; and we buy and sell T-types and other We restore and refresh both every T-typesaspect and X-pag engines, gearboxes, trim, paint; everyclassics. aspect and we buy and sell T-types and other classics. but we have some interesting objects toT’s occupy yourself and banishment to the yourself garage.after retirement and banishment to the garage.

Running out of for sale but weafter have retirement some interesting objects to occupy

T-type’ ‘X-pag’ – ‘X-pag’ – ‘X-pag’

Its and lovely.banishment £6,995 g objects to occupy yourselforiginal afterappearance. retirement to the garage.

THIS MY OWN Mk1 MX5. A GT 1964.

This is a very rarevery MK1early MX5 carthat restored by a his wonderful Westland engineer. according to my MoT garageHelicopter has never It must be the only MX with e car to race been welded. It passed with no advisories. unscuffed leather seats.

It me. Built by It is the rare V spec,has with unmarked a twin stainlessleather exhaust, non in 1964 to interior, Brace bar, coil overs overs, alloy uprated brakes, adjustable shocks, new hood et al.

It handles drives superbly.

Alloy wheels, electric windows, full original tool kit, andand appears to be rust . It is fitted wheels propel it. These cars embody the ultimate 60s sports free I had a new hood fitted last year.theIt problems. is fitted with a has very£1000 expensive 98 Screamer. experience without It also worth of and DVD player, whatever one of thoseclassic is, I bought it for stereo/cd player.

Yesterday's panache withmyself today'sand presented and prepared. Eligible forradio many reliability.

I love itit…a quickly appreciating exhilarating used all last summer, but now needs a new appreciator.

A rare MK1 ybe even Goodwood. Be unique and callit for bolide…and only £3,995. Put a Lotus badge on…then its 40k. and sought after...

I hope... £5,250 ils. £27,950

FRENCH POIRIET 125cc.

Very unusual and rare FIAT 124 COUPE 1975 RHD. cycle A French Poiriet Superb interior with dashcar. protector, 125cc and 200 miles mini-lite rep wheels.

Unmarked indicatedIndelightfully paintwork, lovely chrome. lovely different and original, 2 un-welded condition, you will never find seats and 3 gears and one like this. Beautiful inside andoffout. £12,995 you won’t fall and we have another one! This has

My corner of Faded Splendour I seem to have acquired a corner of dormant but redeemable MGs. “So eyes down looking”, as the bingo caller said.

2 TD’s. Both from the I.O.M. and both in awaiting redemption mood.

Not rusty old heaps. Just driven into storage and left, as the elderly owner could no longer drive. Both are RHD and have been in long term ownership.

No 1 is red and very solid, and I’ll get it running. Good interior and chrome, and has had an historical rebuild.

No 2 is old English white has had a body off rebuild at some point, it will be running shortly. They both need recommissioning are very sound and not rust heaps. Both are £16,250.00 Also, the time warp TC which I sold some years ago. It is a running car that after a fettling exercise can be used as is. Delightfully scruffy with GF wings, it has had one owner for over

50 years. It would be lovely with cycle wings. £17,950.00 And to cap that then this Pinto Engined Roller Skate has come from the same Manx collection and is registered as a Lotus 7 - which it may be… I’m no expert in these things, but I reckon its a cracker! Totally complete and running, with that identity I think it’s worth £7,000.00. Try me.

Ruby is not so much a faded Queen, but a 2 owner pretender to the throne. £6,250.00.

And then we have this twice ex championship TC highly prized and known in MG TC racing circles. I bought it to use on the road as a hooligan, but my aging limbs make ingress and egress a little difficult. Full race 1350 engine.

LSD telescopics, anti tramp bars… and much more. A thoroughly well sorted race wining TC with a rather scruffy disposition and so cheap at £22,500.

MG16 - BUCKS SPORTS CLASSICS_BUCKS SPORTS CLASSICS 26/09/2012 14:24 Page 1 T-Type restorations and XPAG engine rebuilds and general MG servicing are the mainstay of our business. We welcome your custom.

done a colossal 600 miles! Both unrestored and nice £4,500 each.

CM06.18/B12/dfff

AUSTIN RUBY RUBY 1936. 1936.

AUSTIN thisthis lovely, original, andand Remarkably Remarkably lovely, original, unspoiled Ruby has had only TWO unspoiled had only TWO owners from Ruby new! has Its second owner owners new! Its owner bought it asfrom a student in second 1964 and used it asday a student in he 1964 it asbought an every car until putand it in used it as an every day car until he his fathers garage. It was brought out put in it inand hishad fathers garage. Itengine was brought 2003 a complete rebuild out in 2003 Itand a complete

by Austineers. washad cared for and engine left rebuild

by Austineers. was and caredhas forcovered and left little in its mileage original and in its original and lovableItform since.

Its speedometer reads highly believable 86,000.It is in such a lovable form and hasa covered little mileage since. Its speedometer lovely unrestored condition that I doubt there another reads a highly believable 86,000.It is in suchisanot lovely unrestored unrestored it. Its there an instant woe betide anyone conditioncar thatlike I doubt is not runner anotherand unrestored car like it. Its itswe lovely original appearance.

Its lovely. £6,995 andestroys instant runner and woe betide who destroys its lovely rboxes, trim, paint; everywho aspect and buy and sellanyone T-types and other classics.

CM06.18/B12/dfff

www.barriecartermg.com

ww.barriecartermg.com

FIAT 124 COUPE 1975 RHD. A beautiful unrestored 48. This has been subject to a body off rebuild Australian car, 1 owner for s ago and little used since. The interior is all 25 years, soon here, please Aldon ...................................................70 ather and it has had an engine refurbishment. ring.

Hoyle Suspension ................................85

Barrie Carter .......................................97

Longstone Tyres .................................75

Beech Hill Garage................................94

Manor Garage .....................................87

iecartermg.com

Bucks Sports & Classic Car Centre

Specialist in MGA, B, C, V8, URGENT PROOF CM04.18/B9/ffr

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

eels are new and it has excellent chrome. 4Sight Lighting Company....................69 Just Right Autos Ltd.............................55 as from a dedicated owner who cared and Adrian Flux ..........................................69 T-Type restorations and XPAG engine rebuilds Kimble Engineering Ltd .......................95 it. It is in lovely condition with new weather and general MG servicing are the mainstay of our Kmaps .................................................91 and tonneau, Very nice to drive. £26,950 Autoseal...............................................65 business. We welcome your custom.

URGENT PROOF

RV8, Midgets, and MGF. Also specialists in Please check this proof carefully for errors in style, content and layout.

YOU REQUIRE ANY ALTERATIONS TO THIS PROOF PLEASE early Minis Although every care is exercised in preparing your advert,SHOULD we cannot hold Bespoke Rallies ..................................42

Martin Smith Used MGTF Spares ......91

checkLtdthis proof carefully for British Motor Heritage.........................IFCPlease Mech-Mate ...................................26

errors in style, content and layout. preparing your advert, we cannot hold responsible for any inaccuracies you may overlook.

Bucks Sports and Classic....................97ourselves MG Sales Centre .................................41 every care is exercised in Brown and Gammons.........................13Although MG Mecca ...........................................93 C.C.H.L ...............................................81 Carole Nash Insurance .........................6

Midland Classic Restoration ..................3

ENT PROOF

Car Cover Shop ..................................71

Mike Rolls ............................................95

SHOULD YOU REQUIRE ANY ALTERATIONS TO THIS PROOF PLEASE Car Service Pack .................................79

Mike Satur ...........................................54

TELEPHONE BEFORE _ _ _Chertsey _ _ _ Minors _ AND.................................96 QUOTE ADVERTMoss NOEurope . _ _ _Ltd_.................................26 _

efully for errors in style, content and layout.

Chisbon Restorations...........................58 cised in preparing your advert, we cannot hold Church Square Autos ..........................91 ny inaccuracies you may overlook.

Classic & Sports Cars (Essex)..............77

ANY ALTERATIONS TO THIS PROOF PLEASE Clive Wheatley .....................................87

Motor Passions....................................48 NTG Services....................................OBC

For friendly advice contact Pete Giles on Tel: 01296 433550 or Mob: 07831 404968 www.mgsonthenet.co.uk www.mgsonthenet.co.uk email: peter.giles@mgsonthenet.co.uk 10STREET Rabans Aylesbury.

HP19 BUCKS 8RS HP20 1EB UNIT 18, PARK IND Close, ESTATE, OSIER WAY, AYLESBURY,

CC10.12/MG16/p

Mike Authurs Classics (MG Midgets) ourselves responsible for any inaccuracies you may overlook.

TELEPHONE BEFORE _ _ _ _..95 _ _ _ AND QUOTE ADVERT NO. _ _ _ _ _

Oselli Ltd ..............................................54

Peter Best Insurance .............IBC, 96, 97 _ _ _ _ _ AND QUOTE ADVERT NO. _ College _ _ _ _Motors Burford .......................89We reserve the right to charge for any alteration to this proof which Colne Classics .....................................96 Cotswold Car Storage..........................46

Peter James Insurance is a.......................59 departure from Rally Preparation Services ...................26

Reesproof Bros ............................................59 We reserve the right to charge for Cars any.............................89 alteration to this which Crown Classic is a departure from......................................6 the original copy Retro Sports Cars ...............................11 David Manners Dennis Welch.......................................96 Distributor Doctor.................................85

charge for any alteration to this proof which Don Trimming ......................................92 arture from the original copy

theSPECIALISTS original copy

IN CAR SHIPPING AND TRANSPORTATION

Worldwide export and import services

Rimmer Bros Ltd .................................36

RJJ Car Shipping & Transportation ...97 Robin Lackford Motor Engineering .....54

Duckhams ..........................................22

Scenic Car Tours ......................9, 17, 25

EJW Classic and Sports ......................95

Skiptune...............................................89

Fishers Services ..................................87

SMR ....................................................93

Footman James ..................................47

Steve McKie Sports Cars.....................96

Former Glory........................................92

Sussex Classic Car Parts.....................79

Frontline ..............................................72

The Hutson Motor Co Ltd ......................3

• Customs clearance • UK & European collection & delivery • SAFE • SECURE • COMPETITIVE

Halls Garage ........................................89

Torro Sports Cars Ltd...........................95

t: 01394 695566 f: 01394 673031

Heathrow Transmission .......................92

Vitesse Global Ltd ...............................71

kevin.lewis@rjjfreight.co.uk

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_October18_Back.indd 97

chinita@rjjfreight.co.uk

www.rjjfreight.co.uk

OCTOBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 97

21/09/2018 18:12

LOOKING BACK IF YOU CAN TELL US MORE ABOUT ANY OF THESE CARS OR THE EVENTS, WE ARE ALWAYS KEEN TO HEAR FROM YOU AT KIMBER HOUSE; CONTACT THE MGCC ARCHIVIST PETE NEAL ON PETERNEAL@MGCC.CO.UK.

The official publication of The MG Car Club Incorporating ‘The M.G. Magazine’, ‘The Sports Car’ and ‘Brooklands Track and Air’, Safety Fast!

Copyright MG Car Club 2018 Editor: Andy Knott 01235 849730 / 01235 555552 andyknott@mgcc.co.uk Deputy Editor: Colin Grant 01235 849733 colingrant@mgcc.co.uk Editorial Committee: William Ball, Andy Knott, Colin Grant, Adam Sloman PR and Communications: Lauran Gallacher 01235 849735 Advertising: Hine Marketing 01452 730770 Published by: Hine Marketing, Hill Farm Studios, Wainlodes Lane, Bishops Norton Glos, GL2 9LN. Tel: 01452 730770 Distributed by: Air Business. Merlin Centre, 4 The, Acrewood Way, St Albans AL4 0JY Tel: 01727 890600

O

ur first picture this month is of an MG Special. The placard proudly proclaims that this car won the 100 Mile Road Race at Paarden Eiland, Cape Town, South Africa, in what we think is 1949. We can find no details of the driver who is presumably the gentleman seated in the car. Can you help with any information about this MG? Perhaps this iconic photo of an MG parked below the leaded bay window of Cecil Kimber’s office in the old admin block in Cemetery Road, just yards from Kimber House, may bring back happy memories for the owner of the T Type in the foreground. If you recognise the car or remember the occasion please let us know.

This atmospheric photograph of an MG 1100 (or is it a 1300?) makes us yearn for the days when one of these Issigonis-inspired cars could be purchased for around £700 with the option of leather seats for an extra £12! Does this car still survive?

A statement from the Club Chairman MGCC Race Chairman, Ron Gammons has decided to resign from the Race Sub-committee and will step down at the end of the 2018 Race season.

Ron has been involved with the MGCC since the 1960s and has served in many roles within the Club – twice as Chairman and including the establishment of the Club’s HQ at Kimber House, however he is best known for his tireless commitment to MGCC Motorsport.

Ron has led the Club’s race programme for many years, and under his leadership the annual six event season has always made a positive contribution to the clubs’ finances and provided the venue for MGLive! The reasons for Ron’s resignation are many fold, but include a disagreement with the Club Treasurer over the running of the MG Car Club.

There will be information to follow in an upcoming CRB bulletin. There is nothing further to add at this time.

98 SAFETY FAST! OCTOBER 2018

Safety Fast_October18_Back.indd 98

President: John Day Vice Presidents: Ron Gammons, Don Hayter, Peter Best, Bill Silcock.

Chairman: Ian Quarrington Vice Chairman: Dave Tynan Treasurer: Richard Colston Directors: Dave Saunders, Paul Plummer, Peter Opie, George Wilder, Dave Tynan and Peter Cook Company Secretary: Colin Grant Staff Members: Adam Sloman (General Manager 01235 849732), John Hutchison (Competitions Secretary 01235 849738), Andy Knott (01235 849730), Liz Allsworth (Membership Secretary 01235 849734), Colin Grant (01235 849733), Lauran Gallacher (01235 849735), Cherina Scarrott (Finance Officer 01235 849736) and Ineke Sherman (Merchandise 01235 849737) Honorary Members: Michael Allison, Ron Gammons, Peter Best, Don Hayter, John Quenby, Sir Stirling Moss, Paddy Hopkirk, Norman Ewing, Piers Hubbard, Rob Oldaker, Steve Hanegan, Gerry McGovern, June Wallis, Ann Hawke, John Dutton, John Day, Julian White, Bill Silcock.

Company limited by guarantee The Club, as a corporate body established as the MG Car Club Limited, is a company limited by guarantee. Every member of the Club undertakes to contribute to the assets of the Club in the event of its being wound up while he is a member, or within one year after he ceases to be a member, for payment of the debts and liabilities of the Club contracted before he ceases to be a member, and the costs, charges and expenses of winding up, and for the adjustment of the rights of the contributors among themselves, such amount as may be required, not exceeding one pound.

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information at the time of going to press, neither The Publisher (herein referred to as Hine Marketing), the Editor, nor the MG Car Club can accept any responsibility or loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any material in the publication.

The opinions of authors are their own and Hine Marketing, the Editor and the MG Car Club are not bound to agree with opinions expressed herein. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Safety Fast! and The MG Car Club badge are protected through trademark registration in the UK and in the foreign countries where Safety Fast! circulates. Readers are warned that if they attempt any mechanical or other modifications or methods referred to herein, they do so at their own risk and no liability will attach to the MG Car Club, the Editor nor Hine Marketing. Neither shall the MG Car Club, the Editor nor Hine Marketing have any responsibility for the accuracy of the content of the editorial, neither the content of any advertisement published in Safety Fast!

It should be noted that neither Hine Marketing, the Editor, nor the MG Car Club make any recommendation in respect of any goods and/ or services advertised or featured in this issue. It is the responsibility of readers to satisfy themselves that the goods or services offered or referred to are bona fide and in no instance shall Hine Marketing, the Editor or the MG Car Club be held responsible for the quality or suitability of any such items.

www.mgcc.co.uk

21/09/2018 18:12

8

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Our ‘Abingdon’ policy covers classic use for MG’s 3 years and older. The policy includes free agreed value, roadside assistance and recovery within UK/EU, limited mileage options and discounts for multiple car ownership.

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21/09/2018 16:44