Safety Fast! September 2018

THE MARQUE OF FRIENDSHIP

September 2018 Volume 62 Number 09 £3.95

THE

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Inside this issue 7

Club Matters and Kimber House News 8 News 12 Postbag 56 Out and About 59 Race Torque 60 MGs on Track

61 71 82 92 98

MGCC Speed Championship Centre Updates Register Updates Classifieds Looking Back

Features 16

3: Still the magic number?

Adam Sloman tests the new 2018 MG3

22

Event Reports

Oselli open day and the Prince Bishops and St. Cuthbert’s Run

26

An MGA Twin Cam at the Le Mans Classic 2018 The story of Bob Olthoff’s YRX 310 at this years Le Mans Classic

31

MGA Twin Cam 60th Anniversary Report on the 60th Anniversary re-enactment of the 1958 Press Demonstration Launch held at Chobham, Surrey

62

BTCC Championship

A round-up from Snetterton and Rockingham

65

Overseas News The North American MGA Register’s GT43 and news from MG Club de France

24

Newsletters 38

SVW Newsletter SVW Register News, Braking Bad! and SVW Event July 10-12

45

T Type Newsletter Event Reports, Racing TDs of the 50s and a tale of the Marque of Friendship

50

MGC Newsletter How to improve you MGC

26

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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Published by: Hine Marketing, Hill Farm Studios, Wainlodes Lane, Bishops Norton Glos, GL2 9LN. Tel: 01452 730770

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www.mgcc.co.uk

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Welcome

The new 2018 MG3 photographed at Ivy House Farm, Warwickshire during the recent MG press launch. Photo: Adam Sloman

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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’ve been blessed this Summer in the UK with the most glorious weather, with wall to wall sunshine that went on for weeks. I honestly can’t remember a summer like it. It’s been ideal for top down motoring, although dare I say it, sometimes too hot. Speaking to a few members at the various events, they’d manage to clock up their entire year’s mileage allowance in the matter of months and have had to talk to their insurance companies nicely about increasing their allowance.

I’ve been trying to get to quite a few events this summer, and the wonderful thing about the Club is that there is something for everyone with such varied events, from the Saloon Day gathering at Donington Park which as well as attracting a good spread of 1980s – 2018s tin top MGs, also featured T Types on their annual picnic and the local branch of the MGF Register, all enjoying the atmosphere and taking in the excellent racing the MGCC always puts on. As well as the various road runs dotted up and down the county, to traders opening their premises for members to peruse and purchase their wares. One such event I was able to attend was hosted by David and Paul Eales of the wellrespected Oselli Engineering in Great Horwood.

It was an excellent day where we were made so welcome, and with free rolling road sessions on offer it was wonderful to see MGBs of different states of tunes being put through their paces and the difference in power they all made as their owners looked apprehensively on. The day also raised £155 for Medical Detection Dogs Charity whose offices are on the same site as Oselli.

There’s a brief report elsewhere in this issue on the day.

It’s hard to believe that the MG3 is five years old this year, and this month sees the new MG3 being introduced to the motoring press. Safety Fast! was at the launch and you can read our thoughts on the new MG in this issue.

Until next month, drive safely.

Andy Knott

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CHAIRMANS NOTES

BY IAN QUARRINGTON

Preservation and education. I was fortunate enough to be at the British Motor Heritage Museum in Gaydon in late July with George Wilder to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the 1968 London to Sydney Marathon, where the MGB of the late Jean Denton, rescued a couple of years ago from a scrapyard on the Solent, was seen in all its glory and running very well indeed.

John Watson and the MGB Register have made a splendid job of project managing the restoration of this important and now historic car, and as I drove home with George I asked him what he thought might happen to the car in the future.

The answer both saddened me and yet made me feel positive. In a number of years the car may be sold on, perhaps to a collector (it belongs to the MG Car Club and thus is a valuable asset) or more likely in later years go to a museum such as Gaydon.

In any case I feel confident that it will be preserved. In a way, it would be sad to think of that car being put away in private storage somewhere, but good to imagine it on public view and maybe still used occasionally. One of the purposes of public collections such as that at Gaydon is not just to store a lot of historic and rare British motor vehicles but to educate visitors, especially the younger generations, as to the history and growth of the British Motor Industry.

The motor car was not invented on these shores but it was certainly developed here in its early years more than anywhere else, and Britain for a while was a world leader in the motor industry and the story of that development is well documented in the museum.

It strikes me, seeing that MGB and indeed all the other MGs at Gaydon from Old Number one to the EX-E prototype, that preservation and

education are key parts to the long-term future of the MG marque along with the current models being produced

by SAIC. We can all contribute to the education by sharing our love of the MG marque with anyone we see at any time when we are driving our cars. A lot of famous automotive manufacturers are no longer in production and we can all list a few, if not a host of them.

Keeping the MG name in the limelight in Britain and all over the world falls not only to MG Motor UK and SAIC in China and India but to us as the current custodians of what we know is one of the most famous badges in automotive history. We as individuals and indeed all the other Clubs and groups associated with the MG name in my view are the lucky ones to be owning and running an MG, whether we are into motor sport or showing them at car shows or even running them as our daily drivers.

Stop Press: Ron Gammons has resigned as Chairman of the MG Car Club Race Sub Committee. More information will be published in next month’s Safety Fast!

Ian Quarrington

KIMBER HOUSE NEWS Events at Kimber House this month included the Midget Register open day.

There was plenty to interest the 40-plus visitors who came along during the day, with a selection of special Midgets on display. These included the ex- Rauno Aaltonen MG Midget that Aaltonen raced at Bridgehampton in 1965, a fully prepared Class A racing Midget, a sprint car prepared by Geoff Clarke of MG Development fame and Roy Locock’s well-travelled ‘Bridget the Midget’. One MG enthusiast from America, who was visiting Abingdon, only found out by chance about the open day after his son had searched social media. He told Midget Chairman, Mike Parker, that he had owned MGs for many years and it was such a privilege to be able

www.mgcc.co.uk

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to visit the MG Car Club and see such interesting cars.

On hand to show people round were members of Kimber House staff: Ineke, Cherina and Adam. With the archive and the shop open, together with the many show cases full of memorabilia, there was much to interest the many visitors.

The day ended around 4.40pm and all agreed it had been a very successful day.

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NEWS

Richard Harry Budd obituary Richard Harry Budd passed away peacefully at Warwick Hospital, aged 81 years.

Richard was Chairman and a Committee member of the Midland Centre for many years in the late sixties and seventies when I was Secretary and later Chairman.

Richard loved and participated in all types of activities with the Club, but his passion was for racing and speed events and together we arranged several sprints and hill climbs all over the Midlands. We first worked together at one of our regular venues, RAF Gaydon when it was still an operational airfield.

RAF Gaydon has since been massively developed into the base for the Jaguar and Land Rover businesses and Aston Martin manufacturing facility. In those days the Midland Centre was very keen to provide different experiences for its members and our next venue was the Loton Park Hill Climb. The Hagley and District Light Car Club held the lease but very kindly allowed us to promote our own events there. Our final and most spectacular achievement was to gain permission for a sprint course at Long Marston Airfield, just south of Stratford upon Avon. Richard had very good connections with Warwickshire County Council; we determined a course, held the track licence and ran several events there. I’m not sure quite what

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we started, as in later years the venue was (in)famous for the Bulldog Bash motorcycle events!

But Richard was a very kind and generous man, and fellow racer James Thacker recalls his first encounter when his brother Edward broke a half-shaft en route from Southam to Silverstone.

They were towed to the circuit behind a Triumph Herald and on arrival Richard asked what the problem was. Forsaking his own practice opportunity, Richard drove the guys to the BMC dealer in Northampton where they acquired a new half shaft. A few years later James recalls racing alongside Richard who was driving his special alloy bodied Donald Healey prototype Le Mans car at a particular MG Car Club race meeting in 1972, racing side by side in controlled drifts around Becketts. A level of trust existed that is not perhaps witnessed these days in either touring cars or F1!

In later life, Richard greatly enjoyed golf and was very accomplished, playing off a good handicap. He was Captain of the Seniors section at Leamington Spa. He lived and worked in this area for many years before he and his family moved to a rural home just south of the Royal Borough.

We pass sincere condolences to his wife Corinne, his children Neil, Kirin (deceased) and Charles, and grandchildren Zoe, Harry, Matthew and Stuart.

David Whale

www.mgcc.co.uk

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NEWS

PERSONALISED TOURS & EVENTS

MG HS Hot on the heels of the X-Motion concept, MG’s new SUV, the HS, has been unveiled to the Chinese media.

The HS is the latest MG to adopt the new family face as seen on the ZS, China-market MG6 and the soon-to-be-facelifted MG3.

Big on tech and features, the HS follows the trend set by the MG6 and features a 10” central screen for the car’s infotainment, with a second digital display replacing the traditional speedo and rev-counter. The stereo system features components from American audio specialists Bose, while the HS also employs MG’s ‘MG Pilot’ system that includes safety features such as adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning and blindsport warning.

Top-spec ‘Trophy’ models feature sports seats, with leather/alcantara trim. Power comes from a 2.0 petrol engine with 225bhp and 226ft lb of torque, with four-wheel drive.

HS is not yet confirmed for the UK, though MG Motor UK have previously indicated that the GS will be replaced by a new model in 2019.

ANGLIA CENTRE AGM Venue: The Limes Hotel, 99 High Street, Needham Market, IP6 8DQ Date: September 15 2018 Time: 2.00pm, Lounge 2 Room AGENDA 1. Present 2. Apologies for absence 3. Approval of the Minutes of the last AGM held September 23 2017 4. Matters arising 5. Chairman’s Report 6. Secretary’s Report 7. Treasurer’s Report and adoption of accounts for year ending December 31 2017 8. Election of officers 9. Election of Committee 10. Any other business All MGCC Anglia Centre members are cordially invited to attend the AGM. Please do come along and make known your thoughts and views. New Committee Members are welcome. If you are interested please contact Roger Moran, Secretary, MGCC Anglia Centre or any other Committee member. It is kindly requested that any apologies for absence be notified to Roger Moran, Secretary, MGCC Anglia Centre

by September 13. Telephone: 01502 722122 / 07920 054422. Email: secretary@mgccanglia.com

www.mgcc.co.uk

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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.

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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

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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 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_September18_Front.indd 10

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A POSTBAG

MG HISTORY I recently filled in a V888 form, section A as outlined in a recent Safety Fast! article to identify past owners of my father’s MGC GT OVH 527G, which I found advertised by MG Mecca in the June issue of Safety Fast! and subsequently purchased.

Recently I received this application back saying they could not provide the info I requested. When I rang the DVLA, who I always find very helpful, they advised that since September 2017 they no longer provide the info we have historically been able to access as part of our endeavours to collate a vehicle history.

The reason apparently is that relatives, wives etc of the deceased owners have been distressed to receive letters requesting info about a car they once owned.

This is I suppose fair enough, but it’s bad news for people like us who want to generate a history file. I’m particularly keen to do this for my father’s MGC. I, and I’m sure other MG owners, would be very grateful if through the good offices of the Club a form of redacted info could still be released by the DVLA. If for instance, names, postcodes and first lines of addresses were redacted along with perhaps a signed declaration by the applicant that no attempt would be made to contact previous owners, one would hope that this would assure the DVLA of deceased relatives’ concerns.

For what it is worth, the previous owner of my dad’s car from 2001 was thrilled to hear from me and I promised I would send him a copy of the article on my dad’s car and my own (now owned for 46 years) that I submitted, when the MGC Register publishes it.

Regards John Denton

MGLIVE! My notes at the beginning of June, with regard to MGLive!, were an attempt to provoke some discussion as to the format, content and location of the Club’s annual event. It would appear that members are generally happy with the event, given the almost total lack of any written response.

Ron Gammons laid out a spirited and well-constructed defence of the status quo even though he questioned my ability to grasp the financial aspects, something I hadn’t even raised. Having been responsible in a past life for a £70M expenditure budget, I think I should be able to grasp some of the finer detail if it wasn’t clouded in total secrecy, even from the Centres.

However, my criticisms of MGLive! may have been premature? Certainly, the format of this year’s MGLive! was different and appears to have had the desired effect, arresting the declining numbers of attendees. I believe overall the numbers were on a par with last year. I am therefore encouraged that with the final changes that are due to happen this year (year three of the three-year plan) we should see numbers start to increase once more and members will stop saying, “It’s the same year after year”. Hopefully, the Traders, who have supported the Club so generously in past years but whose numbers have started to decline, will return and find it worthwhile. I look forward to seeing Brown and Gammons back at Silverstone.

I now accept that members generally must be content with the current event as there were few other written responses, for or against, the suggestion of change. I shall express my support for the Club by re-registering my availability as a volunteer.

ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER We recently attended the Ulster Centre Jubilee Tour, and having enjoyed some fine driving around Ireland we took the ferry home from Belfast to Cairnryan.

Our 1973 MGB Roadster had performed faultlessly until just outside Dumfries, when the engine died and luckily we coasted into a layby. We checked fuel and electrics and soon diagnosed that the electronic distributor was at fault.

The breakdown company was summoned and after much scratching of head, as the mechanic was more familiar with modern cars, he went off to obtain a replacement distributor cap, although I thought the problem was more likely to be the electronics.

Whilst waiting, a TD which had been on the Tour also coasted into the layby having run out of fuel! We therefore siphoned off some of my fuel to get them to the next petrol station. They soon returned replenished with fuel and refreshments and sweets for us.

Needless to say the new cap was not the root cause of our problems and we were just getting ready to be transported back to Rochdale when another MGB stopped in the layby. A lovely couple called Graham and Ann who live in Stranraer (who had not been on the Tour) were travelling back from Dumfries in the opposite direction and had spotted our car with its bonnet up and a breakdown van in attendance. They had circled back, and came to see if they could be of assistance.

What a stroke of luck, Graham had a spare mechanical distributor in his boot which he even assisted in fitting as our mechanic friend didn’t know where to start! We were soon on our way home with the promise of returning his distributor in the post.

MG truly is the marque of friendship and we would once again like to thank Graham and Ann for their help.

Graham and Irene Prosser

Roy Locock

12 SAFETY FAST! SEPTEMBER 2018

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www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 15:04

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13/08/2018 09:44:01 24/08/2018 15:04

POSTBAG

MGLIVE!

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Richard Colston, Club Treasurer 2010–18

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In 2019 we will see the third year of the MG Live Development Plan that commenced in 2017. It has therefore been interesting to see the debate initiated by our Chairman, and expanded upon by Roy Locock and Ron Gammons.

Whilst MGLive! continues as the Club’s premier event, it does carry significant risk to the Club, and it is therefore important that it responds to the interests of as many of our members as possible. By careful management this has produced an event that has successfully run close to break-even in recent years, and therefore that risk has been well managed.

However, if it is to succeed in the future it must respond to the wishes of the membership as a whole, and this places considerable pressure on the whole team to innovate and develop new ideas, approaches and activities. Within this decision-making process a balance is also very important, not only in ensuring we respond to the diverse interests of our members, but also to ensure that the funding is allocated on an equitable basis. The feedback on initiatives taken by Kimber House over the first two years of the Plan has been

positive, but the challenge ahead of us is to build on this if MGLive! is to continue as our key event.

As the Plan enters its final year, and more change and innovation is being sought, debate can move to wider options and the splitting of the event to satisfy these aspirations. Let’s be quite clear that, if there is to be a similar event at Silverstone to embrace racing, then it requires the Club as a whole to commit to that event to be financially viable. Many other options are available for debate, but it is essential that we consult the Executive Committee in respect of the risk to the Club, and also our Finance Officer on the financial viability before these go forward as proposals for wider discussion.

The message is therefore to consider innovation, risk, balance and financial viability as we move forward with our ideas.

TH

E

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 15:04

8” colour touchscreen*

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MG3 fuel consumption: URBAN 38.9 mpg | 7.3 l/100km, EXTRA URBAN 53.8 mpg | 5.3 l/100km, COMBINED 47.1 mpg | 6.0 l/100km, CO2 Emissions: 140 g/km.

All MPG and CO2 figures quoted are sourced from official EU regulated laboratory test results. These vehicles are WLTP (Worldwide Harmonised Light-Duty Vehicles Test Procedure) type approved vehicles. However, in-line with Government guidance, to facilitate direct comparison between different models from different manufacturers and to accommodate the full transition to this new testing regime, we have displayed the NEDC figures. These NEDC figures are the values for this vehicle used in all registration and taxation until further notice from the UK authorities. Fuel consumption and efficiency figures are provided for comparative purposes only and may not reflect “real world” driving results.

Model shown: MG3 Exclusive with Hello Yellow paint at £12,795 on the road (OTR). OTR prices include VAT where applicable, vehicle first registration fee, delivery, number plates and 12 months’ Vehicle Excise Duty. “From” price is based on OTR price of £9,495 for MG3 Explore. Prices are correct at time of being published and are subject to change without notice. Please see your local dealer or visit MG.CO.UK for details. * Not available on Explore.

Safety Fast_September18_Front.indd 15

24/08/2018 15:04

3: STILL THE MAGIC NUMBER? Words: Adam Sloman Pictures: Colin Grant and Adam Sloman

With MG Motor continuing to enjoy impressive year-on-year growth, its supermini offering needs to remain at the top of its game – does the new MG3 have enough to give an edge over its rivals?

W

hen the MG3 launched in 2013 it had a lot to live up to, following on from the hugely popular ZR, it’s fair to say expectations for the 3 were high.

The 3 quickly became a strong seller for MG: loads of personalisation options, a great selection of colours coupled with a low price meant that plenty of customers headed to their local dealer to opt for the ‘mini MG’.

Five years is a long time in the automotive market – even more so in the ultra-competitive B segment, where the MG3 rubs shoulders with the likes of the MINI, Ford Fiesta and VW Polo.

So the MG3 is back, fresh-faced for 2018 and beyond. But what’s it like?

The devil’s in the detail Upfront, the most obvious change is to the 3’s front and rear. The 3 now 16 SAFETY FAST! SEPTEMBER 2018

Safety Fast_September18_Front.indd 16

features the same family grille first shown on the ZS, bringing it in line with the E-Motion concept, the Chinamarket MG6 and the recently launched HS SUV. In photos, the front perhaps looks a little awkward, almost as if the headlights (which now incorporate daytime running lights) are too large for the car, but in the metal it works – the new lamps, combined with the fresh grille and large MG octagon, really bring the car together and make it feel like a much more premium proposition.

At the back, a larger MG badge replaces the old item, while the boot handle has been moved down, allowing the panel to be smoothed off, leaving something reminiscent of the Skoda Fabia. The rear lamp clusters have been redesigned, with the reverse lamps being moved lower down in the unit. Similarly the rear spoiler has been www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 15:04

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Front.indd 17

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 17

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2018 MG3 Exclusive Engine: 1498cc DOHC VTi-Tech Transmission: 5 Speed manual 0-60:10.4 seconds Top Speed: 108mph Insurance Group: 7E Price as tested £12,745

updated, and the lower bumper has been widened to incorporate the rear reflectors and foglamps. The squaredoff exhaust pipe has been deleted altogether, with the pipe now hidden from the rear view.

Top-spec models, like the one tested here, come with 16” diamond cut wheels, while options include an all gloss-black wheel, also in 16”.

Are you sitting comfortably?

Like the rest of the MG range, the 3 is now offered in ‘Explore’, ‘Excite’ and ‘Exclusive’ trim options. Explore, the

18 SAFETY FAST! SEPTEMBER 2018

Safety Fast_September18_Front.indd 18

base model, starts at an impressive £9,495, while the Exclusive, which MG says will be the best-seller, comes in at £12,795, with finance options on the 3 starting from £149 a month. Since the brand’s relaunch in 2007, MG have leaned heavily on the value offered by their cars and with such keen pricing and impressive levels of kit, the new 3 looks set to continue that tradition. MG haven’t stopped there though again, following the precedent set by the ZS, the MG3 now also comes with a sevenyear, 80,000 mile warranty. A warranty that Sales and Marketing Manager

Daniel Gregorious was keen to point out, is fully transferable with the car.

There’s a choice of six colours, with Hello Yellow, White and Silver carried over. New to the range are Spiced Orange (as seen on the ZS and GS), with Laser Blue and Ruby Red being new. As you’d expect with the 3 there are plenty of personalisation options, with new designs including the standout ‘Houndstooth’ stripes and the new MG logo roof.

Inside, the improvements continue, as MG have done away with almost everything from the previous 3.

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 15:04

At first glance, the only hang-over from the 2013 3 is the instrument cluster – everything else is new. So what does that mean? Well the most obvious addition is the new eightinch touchscreen. It looks similar, if not identical to the unit found in the ZS and incorporates DAB radio, reversing camera (with rear parking sensors) and, in another first for MG, Apple Carplay. For those of you not familiar, Apple Carplay is the system that allows you access to items such as music, navigation and messaging apps. It’s largely controllable with the

www.mgcc.co.uk

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voice assistant Siri, meaning there’s no need to fumble with buttons to make a call, or select navigation destinations.

Cleverly, text messages can also be responded to vocally as well. For those of you without an Apple device, the system supports Bluetooth audio, meaning that your phone is safely and legally connected, and you can stream music from your phone without any need for cables. Like an increasing majority of cars, the MG3 does without a CD player.

There are also new heater controls, again seemingly lifted from the ZS.

Another item that’s made the move from MG’s compact SUV is the steering wheel, which is trimmed in leather, and as fashion dictates, is flat-bottomed.

The seats offer considerably more lumbar support that the old items, and it’s easy to get comfortable behind the wheel. The controls are intuitive and the layout is clutter free. The touchscreen is straightforward to use and you can quickly get to grips with it. Comparing the new 3 to previous generations of MG shows just how quickly the design and quality of the cars is improving. All of the switchgear

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 19

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has been improved in appearance and quality. Some will point at the hard plastics that top the dash or doorcards but surely the main talking points should be about the way the car drives, and most importantly, does it live up to the likes of the MG1300, Metro and ZR that have gone before it?

On the road So far this roadtest has been able to focus on what’s new in the 3, but as we move to head out on the road, things become much more familiar.

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Just like the previous model, the 3 is a decent companion across the twisting B road on the route MG provided for our road test. Snaking around the outskirts of Coventry, we encounter pretty much every kind of road the 3 is likely to tackle in the UK. And it remains genuinely engaging to drive – the steering is responsive and the car feels well planted through the bends. It can feel a tad harsh over rougher surfaces but it’s never unpleasant and as an overall package, the 3 is good fun.

Under the bonnet, the same 1.5 litre engine from the previous model remains, albeit uprated to comply with the latest emissions regulations. It’s mated to a fivespeed manual, so existing MG3 drivers will know exactly what to expect.

It’s somewhat surprising that the 1.0, 3 cylinder turbo from the ZS hasn’t been offered in the 3, especially as many of MGs rivals are already offering threepot power options in their superminis.

There’s no option of an automatic gearbox either, so customers who prefer an auto will have to look elsewhere in MGs range.

The 1.5 is willing enough, however and encourages the driver to get involved with the car and work to build up the power and then maintain it between the corners – it’s honest and engaging, something that can’t often be said of considerably more expensive rivals. In that respect it’s reminiscent of the MG Metro, keep the 3 on song and in its

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 15:04

FEATURE

powerband and you’ll be appropriately rewarded.

Is it worth it?

The MG3 has always been a compelling package and the revised car only adds to its appeal. It looks great, has stacks of kit and offers tremendous value for money – value that is only increased by the addition of that fantastic seven-year, 80,000 mile warranty – a warranty that should inspire confidence in

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Front.indd 21

customers, but also improve the car’s second hand-value.

The new interior brings the car bang up to date and makes the inside of the 3 a pleasant place to be, and support for the likes of Apple Carplay means that gadget geeks will feel at home straight away as will keen drivers, likely reassured by the 3’s decent handling and competent road manners.

The only sticking point is the lack of options in terms of powertrain. The 1.0 from the ZS, and its automatic gearbox,

would have made a very welcome addition to the range, and widened the 3’s potential customer base considerably.

That said there’s so much for the 3 to be commended for – be it value, level of kit, personalisation and the way it drives.

It’s cheaper than the likes of Vauxhall’s Corsa, more stylish that the Dacia Sandero and more fun to drive than both.

It seems then, that 3 is still very much the magic number.

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 21

24/08/2018 15:04

OSELLI T Type on the rollers

Everything from a T Type to ZS attended

OPEN DAY

F

A good selection of MGs at the Oselli open day

rom its humble beginnings back in 1962 Oxford Engine Services (OES), now Oselli, have grown to be one of the most recognised names in engine specialists within the BMC world, winning numerous races with their engines and having a multitude of happy customers whose road cars have been improved with the Oselli touch. Over their illustrious 56-year

history, Oselli as a company have grown substantially, not without ups and downs, and will be the subject of a separate article in next month’s Safety Fast!

On August 4 Oselli opened their doors to members of the MG Car Club and invited them to come and view their impressive premises in Great Horwood, as well as partake in a rolling road session, which as well

Aston Martins in the workshop

giving you the bhp of your MG also gave a power and torque curve which the knowledgeable Paul Eales was able to decipher and let you know where improvements could be made and how.

With the Open Day publicity published over social media platforms as well as in Safety Fast! and locally, thanks to David Storer the local Natter leader, MGs started arriving bright and early, greeted by David and Paul Eales.

Soon the area around Oselli was filled with MGs, everything from a 1933 MG L2 to a 2017 MG ZS, as well as a smattering of other exotic machinery such as Aston Martins and Porsches.

Paul Eales was kept busy all day looking after the rolling road as the various MGs were put through their paces in front of their owners and the onlooking crowds, whilst others were given a tour of the premises by David whilst enjoying a drink or something to eat.

With old acquaintances being renewed and new ones being made, the day went by really quickly and by 3.00pm people started drifting away, enjoying the top down motoring weather we were blessed with.

Oselli, D2 & 3 Greenway Business Park, Great Horwood, MK17 0NY Phone: 01993 849610 www.oselli.com Email: david.eales@oselli.com

Mike Hemsley picking up his ‘new’ MGB from Oselli 22 SAFETY FAST! SEPTEMBER 2018

Safety Fast_September18_Front.indd 22

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 15:04

MERCHANDISE

NEW FROM THE MGCC ARCHIVE

New cards with envelopes, blank for your own message selected from the MG Car Club archives.

Only £2 each, plus P&P. To order please call Ineke 01235 849737 or order online at https://shop.mgcc.co.uk 1960s Midget

MGB GT at the Plough Inn, Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire 1965

MG Parade, Brands Hatch circuit 1970s

MG N-Type, driven by Mr M. Toulmin, 1930 s

Doreen Evans in MG Q-Type

MG TD 1950

Doreen Evans in MG P-Type Le Mans 1934

NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT

The MG Car Club shop is now offering a range of custom MG-themed clocks.

Cleverly designed to represent the speedo of the likes of the MGA, MGB, GT, Midget, MG F, TF, ZS and ZT. Each clock measure approx. 10’ x 10’ (24cm x 24cm) and is framed under glass in a stained wood frame. The clock faces are printed individually using a fine art print process onto matte heavyweight archival paper. Based on the speedometers of the MG’s they are all created as original artwork. A great gift for any MG fan, they’re available from just £32.50 + P&P. To order, please call Ineke 01235 849737 or order online www.mgcc.co.uk

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Front.indd 23

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 23

24/08/2018 15:04

Nick Owens’ MG TC on the St. Cuthbert’s Run. Photo: Trevor Grugan

Cars arriving in Durham City.

Photo: Trevor Grugan

Duncan McEwan (left) receives the Trophy from Tony Wood. Photo: Noel Lindford

Ron Benson’s MG TB starting the Prince Bishops Run. Photo: Noel Lindford

PRINCE BISHOPS AND ST. CUTHBERT’S RUN

T

his year was the 30th anniversary of the Prince Bishops Run, a rather unique event devised by Tony Wood back in 1988, as a northern rival to the southern Regency Run. That first event attracted an entry of about 100 MGs, and ran for 100 miles from York to County Hall in Durham, as it did for many years. The Prince Bishops Run still starts in North Yorkshire, and to attract entries from right across our Centre we now have the concurrent St. Cuthbert’s Run starting from a Northumberland venue, with both runs coming together at the finish on Palace Green in front of magnificent Durham Cathedral.

The Prince Bishops Run 2018 started from the splendid Lordstones Country Park, high up in the Cleveland Hills at Carlton Bank, with stunning views that made the climb to get there all the more worthwhile.

The 99-mile route took the cars west across North Yorkshire, passing through many picturesque villages

24 SAFETY FAST! SEPTEMBER 2018

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By Noel Lindford

to Northallerton, then to the original crossing of the River Tees near Croft, before arriving in Darlington for the lunch halt. Here we had reserved parking at the Horse Market, and a nearby local café opened especially for us. Darlington was once owned by the medieval Prince Bishops, and our cars were parked a stone’s throw from St. Cuthbert’s Church.

The afternoon section took the cars out via Walworth Castle to Bishop Auckland, passing Auckland Castle, once home of the Bishop of Durham.

The run then featured a stunning drive up the side of Hamsterley Forest and then descended into Wolsingham, crossing the River Wear. The cars then joined the St. Cuthbert’s Run route into Durham.

Meanwhile, this year’s St. Cuthbert’s Run started from the splendid Maritime Centre Café at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, where 25 cars entered the event. The superb route was planned by David Alexander, but as he was at Classic Le Mans, Ian and

Justine Graham kindly organised the event.

The 95-mile route, starting on the coastal plain in the industrial coal field of south east Northumberland, headed due west to the valleys in the foothills of the Pennines before heading south, crossing the Tyne Valley to the moors of County Durham, and along Weardale towards Durham City.

Both runs joined up in Wolsingham for the final 33 miles, via Tow Law and Brancepeth, into Durham City. It was highly appropriate that Tony Wood should be our guest judge on this occasion and the cars he chose were as follows: the Prince Bishops Trophy went to Duncan McEwan for his very nice MGA Roadster, and the Prebends Trophy went to Trevor Leighton for his MG TF 85th Anniversary. I had organiser’s prerogative to award the Spirit of the Event award to Rob and Jane Parry (and their early MGF ‘Snowdrop’), having travelling up from the West Midlands.

I hope this event continues for the next 30 years!

A F

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 15:04

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24/08/2018 15:04

The Bob Olthoff MGA Twin Cam at Le Mans Classic 2018. Photo: Colin Murrell

AN MGA TWIN CAM AT THE LE MANS CLASSIC 2018

H

aving campaigned Bob Olthoff’s YRX 310 for a couple of years in the UK at such events as MGLive!, the Tourist Trophy at the Silverstone Classic and the 2017 Three Hour Relay, as well as a number of shorter races, I had come to the conclusion that, whilst the car could be further developed to become more competitive, it was better suited to the

YRX 310 ahead of a Porsche 356. Photo: Colin Murrell 26 SAFETY FAST! SEPTEMBER 2018

By Edward Vandyk

longer events and required more talent behind the wheel than I could provide.

Accordingly, in late 2017 I floated the idea of making an entry into the 2018 Le Mans Classic with Mark Ellis, a successful Twin Cam developer and driver, and Chris Wilks, a Formula Junior racer who had driven YRX 310 with me.

We made an entry in the specification the car had run at the Nürburgring in 1962 with little anticipation of

acceptance as the connection between Le Mans and the MGA in period was not strong. The EX182 MGA prototypes had raced there in 1955 and the Twin Cam SRX 210 had raced in standard roadster form in 1959 at 1588cc and, with a special coupe body at 1762cc, in 1960 and 1961. 1959 and 1961 were DNFs but in 1960 the car won its class.

Entries to the Le Mans Classic are difficult to come by and, whilst the car had no connection to Le Mans, Bob Olthoff, who owned YRX 310 in period, did have a connection in that he was Ted Lund’s co-driver for the 1961 entry in SRX 210, where unfortunately its 1762cc engine expired after only two hours.

There are three acceptance windows for entries: December, January and February. We learnt we had an entry in the second batch of acceptances in January 2018. We then began to realise the enormity of the commitment we had made. There was no point in going unless we took this seriously and set ourselves an objective – which was simply to finish!

www.mgcc.co.uk

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24/08/2018 15:04

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Waiting for the night race

The event consists of five outings in a 48-hour period. A 50-minute qualifying session, a 35-minute night practice session and three races of at least 43 minutes duration. One race in the afternoon, one at night and one in the morning. Preparing for one race can be challenging enough. Something was bound to go wrong, and it did.

Because we recognised that we needed more than one mechanic for this operation we asked Mark Daniell, who had fettled and driven the car before, if he would join the party. His enthusiastic agreement meant we not only got his services but also those of his father, Roger Daniell, as well as the use of his historic transporter, ex-Graham Hill, which could hold two cars. Mark races historic Formula 1 cars and is very quick, so we made him our reserve driver and in addition Mark, as now the owner of the Dick Jacobs cars 1 MTW and 2 MTW after his father, and Roger have many years of Twin Cam competition experience behind them.

Now we had the potential to take two cars, the solution to the problem of what spares to take to an event like this, especially where you are cut off from your normal suppliers, became obvious. Luckily I had built a replica of YRX 310 before I was able to acquire the

28 SAFETY FAST! SEPTEMBER 2018

Safety Fast_September18_Front.indd 28

real thing, so if we took the replica, YRX 800, as well we should have every part we needed! The only difference in the cars being the number of splines on the half shafts and on the gearbox but we worked on the premise that we would likely change the whole rear axle or the engine gearbox complete if needed.

Olthoff had modified his car to facilitate a speedy engine and gearbox change and we had replicated this in making YRX 800.

By now we had somehow got up to six vehicles and 13 people! The logistics were pretty straightforward; we booked ferries and hired a 7 bedroomed house.

With the logistics box ticked we turned our attention to the car(s). How would we configure them? We resolved to modify and configure YRX 800 exactly as we did YRX 310. So the first question was what differential ratio. Now this was not wholly our choice because differential ratios form part of the Historical Technical Passport so we were limited at 3.9 even though 3.7 is now available. We needed this gearing to cope with the high top speeds down the Mulsanne straight. We then pondered whether to use a close ratio or standard gearbox. The close ratio box has a big gap between first and second and we wondered if the second gear ratio in the standard box may be more helpful at Le Mans. There seemed no way of knowing

other than testing, so we decided to set up one car with each type of gearbox and test them side by side at Silverstone.

Another advantage of having two cars.

Peter Wood stripped and rebuilt the engines and gearboxes. We had modified the cooling system of both cars in 2017 at MGLive! at Silverstone where the temperatures reached 30°C and where we, along with other Twin Cams, overheated in practice. We did this by removing the electric fans and fitting enhanced radiators and a standard fan and we thought we would stick with this configuration for Le Mans which we anticipated being equally hot.

Testing resulted in our going with close ratio box.

There are six Grids, or Plateaus, at the Le Mans Classic, essentially delineated by the age of the car. These generally follow the FIA classification but your car’s category can be modified by the organisers. Our car had an HTP at 1588cc in Period E, up to and including 1961, and 1762cc in Period F, from 1962, but was a 1959 build car.

Our entry was at 1762cc but we ended up as a 1959 entry in Plateau three, (1957 – 1961). Each Plateau consists of about 90 cars, including reserves, and covers the whole spectrum of competition cars in that date range.

In our plateau were Ferraris, including the 250GT ‘Breadvan’, lightweight E types, Aston Martins, big Healeys and the like, as well as Porsche 356s and

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Running repairs

Lotus Elites with which we could be more competitive but which very much had the edge over the MGA Twin Cam in period.

Arriving at the circuit we queued for some hours to get into the Houx parking and then fought to find a pitch, luckily adjacent to the Navette (VW Campers!) station which ferried us up to the paddocks, a good half hour walk otherwise.

Registration was easy, once we had found out when and where, and scrutineering rigorous; they actually read our HTP and checked the car against it. A good job we had the original 4” steel wheels!

Practice was straightforward with no incidents other than an unsoldered oil pressure gauge pipe and we managed to qualify all three drivers, only one lap being required to qualify, and ended up 48th out of 79 and on row 24 of the grid. Night practice was a challenge as the session was firstly reduced by 10 minutes and then abandoned after 13 minutes running because of an incident.

Saturday saw the first of the three races for our grid, which was preceded by a Le Mans start only to see the grid

Driver change at night

reformed just out of sight of the stands.

We finished 40th on the track. The first race concluded we retired to the Drivers Club and were delighted with the cars we had managed to stay ahead of, including Lotus Elites and Porsche 356.

However we went into shock when we were handed the Index of Performance result as we were first in that category!

We tried to work out what the Index of Performance actually comprised, something I am not sure we ever did achieve. Suffice it to say it is Le Mans’ way of handicapping different cars in the same race.

The night race, however, was our undoing because by misfortune and sheer chance we crossed the finish line two seconds ahead of the lead car; in other words we had not been lapped. However the lead car inevitably overtook us on the start finish straight because it was travelling that much faster than us and it was then marshalled into the paddock. We were by now behind it and were marshalled in as well, thereby losing a lap and ending with a maximum 57 minute time (the timing system assumed that we had not completed our final lap – ie we were given the same time

that would be allocated to a DNF).

We still finished 27th in the Index of Performance in the second race.

The car was by now beginning to suffer in the heat. We had needed to change the spark plugs after every race as they were arcing out and we had not brought that many sets. Luckily there was one vendor on site with a stock of ‘8s. We also had a leaking brake piston but the answer was easy: we took the calliper from the spare car.

The third race saw us manage a sub six-minute lap (five minutes 59.548 seconds) and we finished 36th and second in the Index of Performance, which gave us an overall position of 35th and fourth in the Index of Performance. Given our target was simply to finish, this was a great result but the thoughts of what might have been linger. Apparently the situation we found ourselves in after the night race is not that uncommon.

We managed a top speed of 120.36mph at an indicated 7,100rpm, which was probably a true 6,400rpm, when we backed off.

A truly memorable event, the scale of which I had not anticipated.

Attendance figures were 135,000!

The MGA Twin Cam at speed

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Classic and Sportscar Magazine Photoshoot

MGA TWIN CAM 60th ANNIVERSARY

By Colin Manley

The 60th Anniversary re-enactment of the 1958 Press Demonstration Launch held at Chobham, Surrey, on July 14 2018.

S

ome three years ago, the UK Twin Cam Group Committee gave some thought about what we might do to celebrate the 60th year of the Twin Cam in 2018. When it was glibly suggested we hire the Chobham test track, and re-enact the 1958 Press Day demonstration, it was initially laughed off with comments like “You can’t do it”, “It’ll cost a fortune” or “It’s closed isn’t it?”. However, once we had made initial enquiries, it started to seem quite a realistic idea.

Yes, it would take some organising – far more than anything else we had

July 14 1958

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ever tackled, and yes, it would be expensive. We are a small volunteer Committee, but we felt we could do it.

So, we set about it.

This was the key event of the 60th Anniversary activities. A gathering like this will never (well, extremely unlikely) be repeated. On July 14 2018, 53 Twin Cams, the largest ever gathering of the Marque around the world, came together at the old Chobham Test Track, (now known as the Longcross Proving Ground) first used on the exact same date in 1958 for the Press Demonstration of the Twin Cam.

July 14 2018

With over 100 attendees, participants came from all points of the compass including Australia, Germany, Norway and Wigan! Many of the original July 1958 Press Launch cars were on display here and parked in, as close as could be determined, the same position as of 60 years ago. Some owners went to huge personal effort and cost to get these cars to the event.

Volunteer marshals dressed in brown coats adorned with BMC rosettes hustled the drivers into the ‘Briefing Room’, while others wore period white mechanics overalls along with “Mechanic” armbands. The early morning arrangements were firstly centred on getting drivers registered and giving them their briefing for the laps on the track. This was not a Track Day, the intent being to try to recreate the event of 1958, but without some of the purported mishaps!

Once Mark Hester had opened the event ‘Head Marshal’ Dave Pearce explained all aspects of the ‘Rules’ that applied to the track event. Drivers and passengers were given colour-coded wristbands at registration, to denote their particular group, which would also help marshalling of the cars.

Whilst this was a means of managing

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Geoffrey Iley (L) and David Kno wles (R)

the groups, it was also trying to follow the principle of the 1958 Day where groups had coloured button holes.

All the participating Twin Cams were marshalled in groups: four lanes A, B, C and D. After the registration and briefing were completed, the drivers and passengers gave their cars a final once-over before getting onto the Test Track for their laps, with each lane doing their laps one group at a time.

A Course Car led each group on the first lap to demonstrate the line to take around the bends, then pulled into the ‘Pits’ to let the cars enjoy the first session of their laps.

Whilst waiting for their respective ‘lane’ to take their ‘laps’ turn, drivers, passengers and spectators were musically entertained. Unlike 1958 with a brass band in attendance, in 2018 we had solo saxophonist

bb Saxophonist Bob We

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Bob Webb, playing Five in a row throughout the morning’s proceedings and entertaining the spectators and drivers between their various track lap sessions. Bob is the regular saxophone player who can usually be heard playing at the Clubhouse Balcony at the Brooklands MG Era event, so the sounds were very ‘in period’ and the soft saxophone tones could be heard drifting across the pit area.

At 11.00 well-known MG author and enthusiast David Knowles gave a very enlightening speech, from the deck of Steve Kirby’s 1960s Berkshire Breweries Morris Pick Up, reflecting on this date, 60 years ago. David started by adjusting the day’s cost backwards for 60 years of inflation – ‘£5 eight shillings and eight pence halfpenny’ – well worth it!

He then said how fortunate we were to have with us today the

gentleman who organised the original 1958 event – Geoffrey Iley, whom we also had the pleasure of listening to.

In April 2018, due to an incredible stroke of luck, one of the Twin Cam Group Committee met Geoffrey Iley.

This encounter led to finding out more information about the Press Demonstration day in 1958 and Geoffrey was able to come to the 60th Anniversary event and gave a speech to the participants.

Geoffrey was John Thornley’s Deputy from 1955 to July 1958, when he moved to Cowley to be involved in Mini production. At MG his responsibility was production orientated and he wrote one of the relevant articles about the Twin Cam in Motoring, the Nuffield Organisation magazine.

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EVENT

Geoffrey organised the Chobham Press Demonstration in John Thornley’s absence in the USA. John Thornley was absent because he was ostensibly visiting MGCC US branches, but it was actually his 25th wedding anniversary ‘jolly’. John Thornley was then approaching his silver wedding anniversary and with the connivance of many of the MG Car Club’s North American Centres, it was arranged that John and his wife, Joanne, would be serenaded by over a dozen of those Centres across Canada and the USA, criss-crossing the continent.

Their trip culminated with a big dinner in New York on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary – and that was July 15 1958. In his speech, John pointed out that when the prewar overhead cam engine cars had been discontinued, many of his MG colleagues thought that ‘the end of the world had come’ and they had sworn to one day produce another racing overhead cam MG engine. He was able to spill the beans about the new twin cam MG. When Geoffrey started work at Abingdon in 1955, John Thornley said: “Your job is to get cars out of the door – I’ll deal with publicity, design, development, the press, the MG Car Club, BMC, the politics and everything else”. While Geoffrey was not involved

in those areas on a day-to-day basis, he couldn’t help knowing what was going on because of the daily lunch table gossip with Syd Enever, Reg Jackson, Cecil Cousins and Marcus Chambers.

So, it wasn’t difficult for Geoffrey to fill John Thornley’s shoes for a day and with the launch of the Twin Cam, Geoffrey found himself being thrust right into the limelight. The international reputations of MG and Abingdon were in Geoffrey’s hands, while his boss would be incommunicado in America! What could possibly go wrong?

Geoffrey’s first task was to make sure there would be a good show at the FVRDE, and for that to be assured he needed a perfect synergy of staff, hospitality, entertainment and, of course, the cars themselves.

The task of making the 1958 event happen did not run smoothly. A handful of Twin Cam roadsters were identified – unfortunately there wouldn’t be any Twin Cam Coupés ready for the launch – and assessment began. There were headaches from the start.

Geoffrey found, to his horror, that when they ran the cars in, about half of them developed terrible engine vibrations at higher speeds, when the cars were running at around 100mph. So, he had a problem even before the launch!

Geoffrey’s solution was to rent an airfield at Grove – which nowadays is the

home of Williams F1. Geoffrey and the team had those cars being driven in shifts by mechanics around the clock, 24/7, to select the best, and enough, cars for the actual launch at Chobham. In Geoffrey’s words “weed out the sheep from the goats”. It transpired that Engines Branch at Coventry couldn’t balance the engine crankshaft, clutch and flywheel as a unit - so they were balancing these components in isolation, then putting them together and hoping for the best!

No wonder that when the final call came for cars for the press to try, there appeared to be a shortage.

Just as Geoffrey was trying to get enough twin cams to show the press, in the background, the good people at Nuffield Organisation’s press and publicity office at Cowley were beavering away with their grand plans for the big day.

Then, somebody in the BMC hierarchy had one of those brainwaves that only people in ivory towers seem able to conceive …

“Why don’t we make it an event to celebrate all of our Nuffield products with a sporting pedigree?” somebody evidently thought.

Now, don’t forget that even though this was six years after the Austin– Nuffield merger, the two sides operated from a sales and marketing perspective virtually as market rivals – it was a case of ‘never the twain shall meet’.

Lined up - ready to go

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On the track The speeches, with Mark Hester in full flow

So, even though, for Abingdon and British sports car fans alike, the Austin-Healey 3000 and its brand-new baby sister, the Sprite, were incredibly important, because they were part of the ‘Austin’ family, neither of them would be allowed to appear at Chobham!

Instead, the press would be able to enjoy the pleasures of the MGA 1500 – in both roadster and coupé forms – along with a ZB Magnette, a Riley One-PointFive, and a Riley Two-Point-Six – with a demonstration lap by the methanolfuelled ‘Roaring Raindrop’ as a bonus.

The 1500 Coupé would serve double-duty because there were not going to be any Twin Cam Coupés ready for July 14.

The range of facilities on offer at Chobham – a two-mile high-speed track, a so-called ‘snake’ course, and a series of sharply inclined test slopes were not obvious for a highspeed sports car, but had the benefit of novelty, and the potential to accommodate a large party of around a hundred invited journalists. We are not far short of that number of attendees today.

In the end, just three suitable home-market specification production MGA Twin Cams with adequate engine balance could be made available from the factory that were deemed to be good enough for the press to drive. Luckily a fourth demonstrator was sourced from MG’s London dealer and distributor, University Motors, and Managing Director, Mike Bradstock, was at the event.

Guests were divided into three parties – Red, Yellow, and White. The idea was that each party would try the Twin Cams on roster and the other cars in the meantime. Posters were put up to keep the slower cars out of the way of

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the very fast Twin Cams. In support of these notices, and to back up the course’s traffic-light systems, there were marshals on hand, just as there are today!

There were 42 Nuffield staff allocated to three car depots, teams of mechanics - many from MG - refuelling teams, and, for any guests who preferred to be driven, a driving team.

Today I think there’s about half that number – a still impressive total which goes to show what is involved in running such an event!

The advance set-up team arrived here on Saturday July 12 1958 and put up two main hospitality and marketing marquees, placed the various traffic signs and decorative red and yellow MG flags.

The caterer’s contractors erected the main marquee, the latter a not inconsiderable size at 80 by 40 feet (24 by 12 metres).

Unfortunately for all concerned, on Sunday July 13 1958 there was a severe storm with gale force winds.

Apparently, 60 years ago, the crisis came just after lunch; the caterer appeared, shouting: “my kitchen has collapsed” and the heavy bollards holding down the marquee were lifted in the wind.

As someone said at the time, ‘the Big Top’ came down with a rush. Indeed, Geoffrey said that the whole affair was a bit of a circus!

By now it was five in the afternoon on the Sunday, and the event was due to start in the morning. The weather forecast predicted the winds were calming down, but the camp must have looked like a war zone.

Calls went out for help and everyone rallied around. Thankfully, on Monday July 14 1958 the day dawned warm and still. The main marquee was up by 9.00am, as were all the other tents. All traffic signs and decorations were made fast once more, and the caterer went into action, producing welcome coffee at 10.00am. Somehow, he also concocted a superb sit-down cold meat and salad lunch at midday. The battle had been won; by 10.00am all the cars had been fuelled by a dedicated tender and were in position for the first guests.

The guests were welcomed at 11.00am, Morris Motors Band trumpeters played a smart fanfare, EX 181 rolled out three laps. The Show was on. Everyone had a smile on their face and the weather still smiled, too.

While all the “oomphaaing’ was going on, the motoring press were refreshed in the beer tent. In those days the motoring press ran on alcohol rather than methanol and that day was no exception. The morning passed off well enough and lunch was enjoyed with more ale and alcohol flowing liberally down the throats of the motoring press.

The whole event was programmed to last until 4.00pm. So, at this point, we are talking about the situation here as it was precisely 60 years ago. That’s quite a poignant thought.

The first casualty was a mechanical one, due to a broken dynamo bracket, and by a process of subterfuge it seems highly likely that ORX 885 was brought out and the number plates swapped over, and it was hoped that

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The Half Moon Car Park looking like Abingdon’s dispatch area

nobody would notice. Not until Mark Hester nearly 60 years later, at least...

We are also pretty sure that Mark’s preproduction black car, PJB 147, was also at Chobham, even if only as a static display. Some press reports talk about four cars, some about six, but don’t forget there were a couple of MGA 1500s at the event as well.

Now in 2018 we’re very serious about health and safety – as demonstrated by the event instructions and briefing – and not least about the perils of mixing alcohol and motor cars, other than via the fuel tank.

Geoffrey continues: ”In the afternoon, things started well enough, but some bright journalist suggested it would be more fun if there was a competition for the fastest lap of the day. Things then got serious. John Bolster, Bill Boddy, Gregor Grant and all the others were there, and they all went out in turns to speed round the Chobham circuit – fuelled by gin and tonics – and this developed into an unofficial ‘fastest of the day’ contest.

I remember that at the end, first place was taken by Paul Frère, in second position was John Bolster (who was best known for hill-climbing his special ‘Bloody Mary’ – basically a coffin with wheels at each corner, John Bolster on one side and two air-cooled engines on the other!), in third place was me, and Bill Boddy was a distant last. We all had a very good time – and lots of alcohol was consumed”.

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At the end of the day, it was time to sweep up the beer bottles, collect what remained of the gin and tonic; but there was a problem. According to Geoffrey: “When we came to count them up at the end, we found we were one short! So, we went out around the circuit and we discovered that one of the cars was rammed into a concrete bollard. It turned out that a cornet player from the Morris Motors Band had persuaded a young mechanic to take him out for a spin, and they had come a cropper. The passenger (ie the cornet player) had suffered a broken pelvis, and afterwards we had terrible trouble with the Musicians’ Union, one of the more interesting industrial relations problems that I ever had to deal with”. Unsurprisingly, that particular story didn’t make it into the article in Nuffield Motoring!

So, the day was over. What did everyone think? The motoring press were typically enthusiastic; the journalists present were not just the familiar heroes of the car comics, but also the local and national newspaper correspondents, and various people who contributed to what we might liken to ‘lifestyle’ publications – magazines like Country Life, The Lady and so on.

Geoffrey closed the speeches by acknowledging a great sense of pride in seeing so many people today, preserving these incredible cars and “maintaining the breed” and long may it continue to carry what is best in the spirit of sports

car competition and the people who make it all happen.

Being at Chobham, 60 years to the day later, and seeing Geoffrey as part of the party, has been a neat way to bring the Twin Cam chapter virtually full circle, and all of us are now part of the history of this great sports car.

After the speeches, the track laps then recommenced for the final session for each of the four groups and towards the end of the session some cars were detailed off for a photoshoot with Classic and Sport Car magazine on the ‘Snake’ circuit often used for film and TV programmes. This will be featured in the October issue, on sale early September.

After the track event, some of the participating cars and passengers departed and headed off for lunch, to the classic car-friendly “Half Moon” free house in Windlesham, where the car parking areas resembled what MG’s Abingdon Dispatch area may have looked like many years ago!

An auction was held, selling some of the material from the track event, and, after the lunch, the day ended with an AGM. This entire event took a lot of organising and “to-ing and fro-ing” by just a few people. Our thanks go to Mark Hester, Colin Manley, Edward Vandyk, Mike Maze, Dave Pearce, Adrian Malthouse, Ian Warner and all the volunteer ‘marshals’ and ‘mechanics’ who helped on the day itself. It was a fitting and splendid tribute to the 60th

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EVENT

Anniversary. It will be remembered by many, for many years.

We are pleased to advise that images of this event have now been uploaded to a website to preview and purchase. There are some super photos; they are competitively priced and the Twin Cam Group is not earning any fee or commission from the sales. Go towww.heliview.co.uk then click on “Stock Image Library”.

Then select “Twin Cam Group”. The displayed top Left Folder shows general photos throughout the day, whilst other folders are by vehicle registration number. Select the folder you want; this brings up the images in that folder.

The images may appear low resolution and will have a watermark on them.

The actual printed photographs will be high resolution and have no watermark.

Select an image; this brings up a larger image. If you want to buy this image,

YEARBOOK To mark this 60th Anniversary year, the Twin Cam Group has produced a “60th Anniversary Yearbook”. It is a ‘one-off’ and a fantastic visual and pictorial celebration of our cars. It covers some background, then goes through the timeline of 2018 (with almost 40 pages covering the July 14 2018 event) with masses of photos and has an “Owners – Out and About in 2018” section.

The Yearbook is 130 pages in full colour. Only 60 copies, numbered 1 to 60, of a “First Edition” will be printed, followed by a “Second Edition” of 40 unnumbered copies. So, a total print run of just 100 will not flood the market and ensures that those buying it will have a treasured memento. The Yearbook will be available after October 2018 and is priced at £25 plus p&p of £4 UK, £8 Europe, £10 USA and £11 Aust/NZ. The yearbook will be sold on a strictly first come - first serve basis. Copies can be ordered by contacting Adrian Malthouse on adrian.malthouse@btconnect click “Buy Print”. This takes you to a screen to choose the size of image you want; 9” x 6” or 12” x 8”. Click “Add to Cart” of the size you want. At this point, you can “View cart” and then pay, or “Continue Shopping”. When you have added all your images to your

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SVW NEWSLET TER Paul Campbell svw.safety.fast@gmail.com www.svwregister.co.uk

WELCOME TO THE SVW NEWSLETTER

Photoshoot outside our hotel on the last morning

SVW EVENT JULY 10-12 Writing this at the end of July, the ‘Jane Austen, Bristol, Bath and Brunel’ SVW event is still ringing in our ears. The Tortworth Court Hotel, near Wotton-under-Edge, was an excellent base with all 15 SVWs assembled in the Courtyard Car Park.

It’s always good to see new faces. Andrew Wadland and his friend David attended in Andrew’s recently acquired VA Tourer ELX 384. Andrew and David only stayed for the first evening, long enough to meet quite a few of us and to make a list of things he’d like to do to ELX. Tim and Anne Riley had not been to our events before and it was great to see their super SA Charlesworth CFS 204; in fact they were rewarded with the Ratcliffe Cup when we gathered for a photoshoot at the front of the hotel on the last day.

It’s always a pleasure to welcome our friends from Holland – on this occasion Rene Pas and Ineke, Bert and Els van der Linden and Rob and Jeanne Woud. Rene will be helping to organise the 2019 event in Holland.

Our Chairman, John Dutton, has achieved a rather good arrangement of selling his WA Tickford then borrowing it

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back for events such as this. New owner, Christopher Rowe, is obviously very trusting, in addition to which he’s opted to join the SVW Committee. John talks more about the AGM in his section.

We had a few casualties! Jim and Sue Boldry with their friends Philip Mindenhall and Brenda Britton made their usual grand entrance, this time on the back of an RAC transporter!

The water pump on their SA Saloon had failed and they’d lost much of the coolant. As it happened, I had a spare for my VA in the boot (which fits the SA but not vice versa); Gobby Reeves and helpers managed to fit this on the Tuesday evening by torchlight, so Jim and everyone were able to enjoy the road trips and get home without further problems. Mike Greasby had head gasket problems, but did all the trips and fitted a new one in the hotel car park before heading home.

The trip to the SS Great Britain in Bristol, boat trip around the floating harbour and Lacock Abbey and village were all very memorable. For many, the highlight was the Gala evening on Wednesday where I was joined by my daughter, Jenni, who lives some 25 miles from the venue.

In my own case, I was relieved that my VA Tourer was going very well after having had new king pins and track rod

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Cars arrayed below our bedroom window

ends fitted, plus replacing a failed rear axle oil seal and the clean-up required. Once the tracking was eventually sorted it appeared all was fine and I covered the next 311 miles of enjoyable motoring with Gobby as co-driver. It was not to last as, 70 miles from home near Andover, I had total brake failure when approaching a roundabout, fortunately on a quiet road with no other cars in sight. The saga that

unfolded with the AA is another story; only to say that I called them at 17.40 and they started to transport me home at 21.30. You can read more on my VA brakes below.

The 2018 edition of The SVW Review was issued at the event, a full 52 pages of very interesting content. Our thanks go to our editor, Charlie Plain-Jones. All members of The SVW Register should by now have received their copy; if not, please get in touch. Non-members can purchase a copy for £10.

Paul Campbell and daughter Jenni

Tim and Anne Riley receive The Ratcliffe Cup for their SA Charlesworth

Jim Boldry dressed up good and proper for the gala evening

YORKSHIRE POLICE VAs Peter Ratcliffe sent in a photo that his partner, Alison, came across online with the caption ‘Two West Riding Constabulary MG VA Tourers about to go out as courtesy cars in a safety first drive. Wakefield police headquarters, February 28 1939’. This constabulary acquired six VA Tourers, all black, registrations CWW 337 to 342 inclusive.

West Riding of Yorkshire Constabulary VA Tourers

www.mgcc.co.uk

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SVW NEWSLET TER

SVW REGISTER NEWS

Colin Fitzgerald’s VA Tickford in Vancouver

Tim Phelps hands over his VA Tourer to Steve Curtis

Several of ‘our cars’ have changed hands recently. Close to me, Tim Phelps sold his lovely VA Tourer to Steve Curtis. Andrew Wadland has acquired the VA Tourer previously owned by the late Trevor Lewis of Heen Castle. David Walker has acquired the VA Tourer that was owned by Barbara Dark’s father, a car that we featured a few months ago.

If you buy or sell an SVW car, please do get in touch with us, as the process of being informed by main Club (in the case of UK MG Car Club members) may take some time. New members especially may be amazed at how much the Register is able to tell you

SA Tourer goes under the hammer for £20,000 40 SAFETY FAST! SEPTEMBER 2018

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about your car. The SVW website now includes a list of 449 chassis numbers for which Jim Andrews has extracted details from The Sports Car magazines (published from 1935 to 1939), including adverts, photos and articles.

Changes of ownership often result in new owners wanting to find out more about the cars and one way to do this is to buy a full set of all 27 editions of The SVW Review, which provides a wonderful insight into the history and maintenance of the full range of SVW cars, plus memories, photos and stories from past and present. At £75 for the set this is excellent value, bearing in mind that

the current issue alone costs £10 to non-members (free to members).

There has been a surge in purchases of SVW Regalia from The MG Car Club Clothing Shop, run by Topsigns (see SVW Regalia on the SVW website).

Both new and long-term owners should keep an eye on the agreed value they have on their insurance policy. Values are up and down and some feared that the market for prewar cars may be moving on to the 1950s and 60s, which may well be partly true. In spite of this, prices seem to be on the increase with nice VA Tourers changing hands for around £35,000 and some models double this.

The SVW Register provides valuations for this purpose, often free of charge to members, or for expenses only if significant travel is involved.

Talking of values, our Registrar, Gary Perry, attended an auction back in May with an interest in a Type 1 SA Tourer that hadn’t turned a wheel since 1969. Amazingly, it sold for a little under £20,000 including commission.

Colin Fitzgerald of Vancouver wrote in saying how much he appreciates The SVW Review in hard copy (as have almost all respondents - Ed). Between him and his wife they have six MGs ranging from 1936 to 1959, their 1938 VA Tickford being their favorite. Colin heads up the local pre-1956 MG Car Club which has 40+ active members.

There are four SVW cars in Vancouver, but their Tickford is the only active one.

It was restored over a period of 10 years and won Best of Show at the Vancouver All British Field Meet (600+ cars). Colin says their main interest is driving the car not collecting silver pots, though!

www.mgcc.co.uk

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SVW NEWSLET TER

BRAKING BAD! My experience of total brake failure on my way home from the SVW event remains somewhat of a mystery. Such problems are usually heralded by longer travel at the pedal or a spongy feel. Perhaps I simply didn’t notice. I had just stopped in a storm to put in the side screens. I would have usually done some under-bonnet checks but the rain prevented this. Having the pedal hit the floor with no effect when approaching a roundabout is interesting to say the least, but it was a minor road with few cars around and I brought the VA to a safe stop in a lay-by using the handbrake.

The AA eventually got me home at 11.30pm and the excellent AA man had a cup of coffee in my garage before leaving me at midnight. I installed the VA at the back of the garage and took off the n/s/r wheel, where all the evidence of leakage was, to clean off the brake fluid before getting to bed at 1.30am.

I’d had the king pins and track rod ends replaced in preparation for the event. The same wheel had received attention as there was also a leaking rear axle oil seal.

Handling afterwards was disappointing with a skittish drive and the occasional lurch. I think the loose handling that I had got used to was absorbing many of the road imperfections and I was now getting a direct feel at the steering wheel. Back to the garage to have the tracking corrected to 1/8” toe-in

across the axle and it seemed much better.

Stripping down the brake, I found little to identify the cause of the failure. The union behind the back plate was fine and the bleed nipple was tight; all fluid had escaped inside the drum. The cup seals seemed fine too, although the sprung Clamping the wheel cylinder to device on to which they fit pressure test had its teeth more or less at 90 degrees, so these were bent out evenly to provide the intended pressure on the seals. I wanted to replace the seals but the usual source of our SVW spares wanted £48 for a repair kit, which included £18 postage, obtainable elsewhere for less than £10. However, the old ones seemed perfect and were in fact quite new.

Assistance from the SVW community is legendary and one excellent piece of advice was to use a G-clamp to hold the wheel cylinder pistons in place, so any leaks could be detected before full assembly. We bled the brakes then checked everything was fine at full pressure at the brake pedal. There were no leaks, so it was reassembled and ready for its 80th birthday celebrations on July 30.

REGISTER CHAIRMAN’S JOTTINGS We’ve just returned from the SVW annual event held in the Cotswolds. It was a great success thanks to the organisers, Charlie and Jeanine Plain-Jones. I hope they are now enjoying a well-earned rest.

At the event, the Marque of Friendship award was given to Jim Andrews for his superb support over many years, not just for the Register, but also for the Club generally through his work at MGLive! and on the Club’s constitution.

Charlie and Jeanine Plain-Jones received the Francis Adam award for their great support for the Register in recent years.

The David Washbourne Award went to John Venables for his fascinating article on the air crash in the 1950s, which destroyed an SA. And the Ratcliffe Cup was awarded to new member Tim Riley, for his superb SA Tourer.

The Register AGM is always held at the annual event to ensure maximum attendance. This year, there were some changes to the committee. John Bates is standing down and our thanks go to him for looking after the regalia, as well as offering sound advice on many issues.

Charlie Plain-Jones is standing down as Editor of The SVW

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Review, a job he has held for the last four editions. He has done a superb job and will be staying on the committee “without portfolio”. The new Editor will be Malcolm Robertson, based in Oz but with contacts throughout the SVW world. As a non-member, he will not be on the committee. John Bannister has transformed the sums we receive from advertisers in the Review, but is stepping down from the task, though again will remain “without portfolio”. As yet, we do not have a replacement.

Christopher Rowe is joining the committee in the role of Social Media Representative and his initial task will be to set up a Facebook site for the Register.

Other members of the committee remain in their present roles: Jim Andrews is Secretary and Council Member, Paul Campbell continues as Safety Fast! Scribe, Mike Greasby as Webmaster and Librarian, and Gary Perry as Registrar. JI remain as Chairman, Treasurer and Regalia man, but I will be standing down as Chairman no later than the 2019 AGM, ideally earlier if a successor can be found.

I hope you are all enjoying using our super cars in this hot weather, which shows no sign of easing.

Happy motoring!

John Dutton

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 15:04

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T T YPE NEWSLET TER John Ward Tel: 01621 773606 johnw.ward@yahoo.co.uk • www.mgcc.co.uk/t-register

WELCOME TO THE T TYPE NEWSLETTER Usually in the UK we lament the hot and sunny climes of our Californian and antipodean members languishing in the sunshine and doing ‘barbies’ whilst we dodge the rain and even gales at Silverstone, but not this year. Would you believe, not a spot of rain from MGLive! at Silverstone to the T Party at Donington; four events without a drop of rain. However I suspect it was too much for some T Types: the car overheats, the petrol evaporates, (the AC does not work!) so best stay at home in the cool of the garage! The T Register organised three great events this summer for us after Silverstone.

THE BICESTER HERITAGE OR FLYWHEEL EVENT SUNDAY JUNE 23 The sun shone all day for this classic car event which has now become a major attraction, and crowds turned out in force, which always has its problems with waiting to get in and XPAG engines running and overheating. Nevertheless over 30 T Types enjoyed a spectacular day amongst hundreds of other classics, and this year the organisers staged numerous displays including 50 years of British Leyland and a display of historic rally cars, and final grand finale of a flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

THE CHATEAU IMPNEY HILL CLIMB SUNDAY JULY 8 Once again there was a return to Chateau Impney near Droitwich where we held the T Party last year. This is a 1,000

A pair of TDs at the Flywheel event

yard hill climb for classic sports and racing cars built before 1968 with a number of pre-war cars in competition. There was, as before, an open paddock and a concours competition.

A few T Types elected to go on the Saturday but most turned up on the Sunday again in glorious sunshine.

THE T PARTY AT DONINGTON PARK RACE MEETING SUNDAY JULY 15

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A few of the T Types at Donington

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T Types and Morgans basking in the Donington sun

TF racer concentrating in the Iconic 50s race. Photo: Colin Murrell

T Type glistening in the sun on the Donington track. Photo: Colin Murrell

Perhaps it was the heat or maybe the succession of events close to each other, but few T Types attended this prestigious racing event in the MGCC calendar. Once again the weather was glorious and the racing as ever was spectacular.

Only one event left for this year, the Autumn tour based in the Guilford area on the Hogs Back on Friday September 7 to Monday 10; let us hope that the summer weather holds out for this annual event which has now been in existence for some 30 years.

RACING TDS OF THE 50S It is now some while ago that I came across the story of the racing exploits of the first TDs in 1950 and the particular cars involved in competition that year. Three very keen MG enthusiasts, George Phillips, Dick Jacobs and Ted Lund, had very successfully campaigned TCs in the 1949 Daily Express Silverstone One Hour Production Car Race, and the following year they again persuaded the then General Manager at MG, John Thornley, to compete again as a team in the newly announced TD with the three cars prepared

by Abingdon to a Stage Two tune.

The cars finished second, third and fourth in their class, and later in that year they contested the 1950 Tourist Trophy at Dundrod and on a very wet day they finished one, two and three in class.

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The team of TDs of Jacobs, Phillips and Lund in the Production Car Race at Silverstone in 1950 www.mgcc.co.uk

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The TDs of George Philips (50) and Ted Lund (48) sandwich an HRG in the Ulster TT held at Dundrod.

The factory however decided not to compete in 1951 and the three TD MkIIs were sold to their respective drivers. The registration numbers of these cars were FRX 941, FRX 942 and FRX 943.

FRX 941 was the car belonging to Dick Jacobs, and it has been kept in the family and fully restored and seen at Silverstone a few years ago.

The George Phillips car, FRX 942, was sold on and was eventually bought by an enthusiast in 1956 where

it has again remained in the family for all these years, and now resides in the Romford area.

I am now in regular contact with the son of the guy who bought the car and am very pleased to report that finally the car is in the process of a full restoration to return it back to its glory days of racing in the 50s. More on this as the rebuild progresses.

Footnote: We seem to have lost contact with FRX 943 but who knows

FRX 942

it may be out there somewhere; rumour has it that it went Australia!

A TALE OF THE MARQUE OF FRIENDSHIP In February this year I received a call from a long standing MG colleague namely David Saunders, who at one time also held this illustrious position as being your T Register Year Book Editor for a number of years.

He advised that he had been a graduate trainee at Marconi in Chelmsford in the late 60s and had teamed up with a chum called Bryan who was of the same ilk. David already had a TC and I guess by talking about such things his friend had become interested, so the story can now begin…

The reason for the call was very typically one of some distress. Over the years David and Bryan had continued to keep in touch and met regularly until a few years ago. David had just received a call from Bryan’s daughter telling him that her father had died and mother was leaving the family

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Safety Fast_September18_Front.indd 47

home, and the problem was that there was his TF in the garage. What was it worth? Where could they sell it? How can they move it?

David now lives away from the area in Dorset and since I reside not too far from Chelmsford, he asked me if could go along to give some guidance and advice to the daughter and family. What I was not prepared for will now unfold and the story really begins…

MG TF – 867 CMG TF chassis number 6402 began life on the assembly line at Abingdon in August 1954 and, having been subsequently married to XPAG engine number 36238, upon completion was allocated the registration number 867 CMG, and a build date of August 11 1954 was duly recorded.

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Moving swiftly on 12 years and a succession of five owners brings us to the end of 1966, and it appears that the car had seen plenty of action but was now in a sorry state of repair, particularly engine-wise and drive train.

As was the recognised thing in those days, young college boys looked for cars that were a little more exciting than a Ford Pop or an Austin Devon, and MG had a proven track record for providing that something extra, and what is more they were not expensive in comparison.

Fitting nicely into this category was a young electronic engineer working for Marconi in Chelmsford, the birthplace of radio! Whatever the owner had told him, Bryan was suitably impressed with the car, and the price was right at £325, and the purchase was completed on January 17 1967.

Within a very short space of time he realised that there were serious problems and in those days there were no warranties or guarantees to rely upon, so the decision was made to strip down the car and rebuild it with particular emphasis on the engine.

Over the next few months the engine parts, including a new crankshaft, con rods, valve guides, flywheel, shells, tappets, rockers, were meticulously tracked down and purchased for the pending rebuild which was to occupy his time throughout the summer of 1967. At the same time the clutch and braking system was refurbished and finally in January the engine was completed and tried and tested by none other than Dick Jacobs of MG racing fame at his Mill Garage in North London. (The same Dick Jacobs referred to above.)

In the interim all other parts were being sourced either new or second-hand and refurbished as necessary to a very high standard, such was the dedication of this new owner. In this manner five Healey wheels were obtained and repaired, rewired, shot blasted and repainted, new tyres and new suspension units were ordered and by the end of 1969 the car was substantially complete, now sitting back on the chassis with all engine and transmission in place. It was now early 1970.

Over the next two years, with the help of a close friend and various local car body restorers, the body was total rebuilt, all defective ash framing replaced. Each panel, wing and component was systematically checked and inspected, every dent, blemish and scratch was recorded, the area marked on the metal before being dispatched to the panel beaters for repair before priming and final coating. At the same time work began on the electrical wiring and the ignition system, new starter, dynamo and battery; all these parts were tracked down from regular suppliers, all of which were still very active in those days. Lucas meant Lucas then!

New lamps, chromeware was also collected and finally all the badges were sent away for re-enamelling to their original condition… then something strange happened.

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It is now the spring of 1973. The car had not been finally completed or road tested, it had not been out of the garage since 1967. From all the copious notes and records found, there is now no further evidence of anything further happening to the car. It was well and truly mothballed.

Everything was carefully wrapped and covered, new parts were kept in boxes in larger boxes and stored away, the wheels, doors, bumpers, all chrome work, the hood frames and windows are moved to the loft and covered over with blankets. The car in the garage is covered with layer upon layer of blankets and duvets etc and the cobwebs and brambles were manifest everywhere.

For no apparent reason known to the family, Bryan completely abandoned all work and interest in the car and it languished in this state until he died. Only when the garage doors were forced open this year did the true picture emerge.

The car as uncovered earlier this year after removing the duvets, cobwebs and brambles

The happy ending Like all good fairy tales, there has to be a happy ending.

At MG Era Day at Brooklands in April this year, the day after I had first seen the TF, I was describing to some assembled T Types at lunch what I had discovered. This was picked up by a Brooklands Society member who happened to be there in his TA. Listening carefully and intently and after another cup of tea, he suddenly said, “I will buy it!”

Some weeks later and upon further investigation and establishing the true nature of the find, I am very glad to report that the TF has now found a new location both to the complete satisfaction of the owner’s daughter and its new owner. More importantly, I am certain that Brian would have been more than happy to know that his efforts to rebuild and preserve this TF have been well rewarded and that the car has found a perfect new home.

PS I am promised the said car will be at Brooklands next year!

John Ward

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 15:04

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MGC NEWSLET TER Mike Haughton mgc_mike@btinternet.com

WELCOME TO THE MGC NEWSLETTER Well, what a summer! Perfect MGC weather for those of us in Europe. As promised last month, here are details of prize winners at MGC Day 51 held in the grounds at the splendid Fawley Hill.

MGC Concours – Steve Adams Most admired MGC of the show – Mike Rowan Pride of Ownership – Mark Britton Furthest travelled MGC – Rebeca Ricketts A total of 65 MGCs and one steam locomotive attended the event. The Jaguar Drivers Club also attended the meeting which created further interest.

For anyone who missed the link in last month’s write-up, lots of photos of MGC Day 51 can be found at https://flic. kr/s/aHsmnzvLG5 A new date for your diary is the MGC Christmas dinner to be held at the Salford Hall Hotel, near Evesham. This will be on November 24. A limited number of rooms are available to stay at the hotel on the evening and these will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis. More details can be found on the MGC Register micro-website

together with a booking form.

Literally whilst I am writing this, a number of C Register members are embarking on the MGC Days 50 Swiss event.

A total of seven Cs, an RV8 and an MGB V8 have made the journey over from England to partake in a week of fun and entertaining driving through some breathtaking countryside.

Marcus Brundler with his wife, Ursula, has been extremely busy organising the event, with incredible runs being staged every day. We took on the formidable Klausen Pass and were privileged to be given a guided tour of the timekeepers hut and some of its rich motoring history. We will report further in the next edition of the C Register notes in Safety Fast!

Our very own C Register technical guru, Vic Young, has kindly provided us with a second series of guidance notes for anyone wanting to improve the performance of their car.

This is the second series of notes which is intended to follow up on the first article, published in the January edition of Safety Fast! this year.

Happy C Motoring.

Colin Howes Guidance and Help Available for all C Register Members

Coffee-time stop in the Swiss Alps

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www.mgcc.co.uk

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MGC NEWSLET TER

First stop – Chez Marcus to see his wonderful collection of MG Memorabilia

Excitement builds as we’re ready for the off on day one of MGC Days Swiss event

The Fawley Mountaineer with valuable cargo of C Register members

A sea of Cs

www.mgcc.co.uk

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The convoy of Cs embarking on the Klausen Pass

MGC IMPROVEMENTS GENERAL Engine torque and power, notice torque first.

Leave the engine alone for all early stages of tuning, as the most important improvement items are with respect to breathing. Get the gases in and out with maximum efficiency. Making sure you have a good spark in between.

Going to triple carbs by just adding the third carb will give a large increase in torque and low-down power with extra top end of course this will be more than a mild head and cam.

All Cs now need a retimed distributor, reset for modern fuels and is further helped with some form of electronic ignition. The original C ignition advance timing is for five-star fuels and can be considerably improved on.

My opinion is that every MGC needs to have a remapped ignition system, rose jointed front or urethane anti roll links; Nylatron/nylon front anti roll bar mounts and good shocks all round.

Engine set-ups – All have a retimed distributor with either points driving a standard or sports coil. Alternatively use magnetic trigger driving a sports or constant energy coil.

STANDARD Engine Twin two-inch SU, using either the standard inlet manifold or an American inlet manifold. Using the original cast exhaust manifold, this should give 500 to 1,000 more revs pulling hard.

Triple one and ¾ inch SU – triple manifolds are available and I can advise / supply linkage set ups.

Add six-branch exhaust manifold.

Single rear box system Large bore single rear system two 1/2 inch.

If using a twin pipe front to rear, fit a balance pipe H-piece in the pipe run.

This smooths out the low speed running and pick up.

Triple 40mm / 45mm / 48mm with six-branch exhaust

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 53

PERFORMANCE Engine setup.

Always balance if stripped.

Reworked head.

731, 544 or 649 all BMC, Leyland Rover cam profiles are available.

The block may need to be undercut for valve clearances (I have the tooling to do this).

Far too many people have fitted re-profiled cams with more lift and increased timing duration and end up not being happy with the resulting loss of low down torque and poor pick up. The same can be said of reworked heads. Improving the breathing at the loss of performance below 3000 revs is not what most people want.

Extra bits you might need to safeguard your engine.

15 or 19 row oil cooler fitted in the standard location, or move to a central location under the front cross member.

Radiator – high efficiency, large core, or four inch deeper.

Oil thermostat in oil cooler feed pipes.

Oil temperature gauge pickup fitted in bottom of oil filter housing. Modified housing available on an exchange basis.

Deep sump on overdrive unit, greater oil capacity. Available as a special order.

Use a 15lbs cap on expansion tank – Change the C cap to one from an RV8.

The following table compares

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MGC NEWSLET TER

HANDLING Ensure good shocks are fitted all round, fit ‘uprated’ valves in the rear lever arms (15% uprated gives standard MGB unit specification the correct spec for MGC standard) 25% a nice increase.

Increase rear spring rates. To lower the suspension fit top leaves with mounting eyes turned upside down.

Front, locate front anti-roll bar on nylon blocks and replace anti-roll drop

links with rose jointed or urethane jointed ones. NYLATRON front and rear or NYLATRON rear urethane front.

We have had a lot of trouble with urethane bushes in the front suspension allowing too much movement under race conditions. Be aware!

These along with good tyres.

Taking the rim width to 5.5 inch or 6 inch is a good move. Using Jaguar wheels in steel or alloy at 6 inch or 6.5 inch width gives a cheap wheel change. You can also add a knock-on adapter to either size. This should give most people a well-balanced car.

Any further changes need to be along the lines of: what is the handling/performance problem and how to resolve it.

Essential – Anti roll bar drop links, rose-jointed or urethane-jointed

ones. Fitted to all our road and race cars.

Essential – Anti roll bar mounts, either Nylatron or nylon 66, fitted to all our road and race cars.

Uprated torsion bars. Fitted to our race cars only.

Negative displacement front suspension. Available to order.

Quick rack and pinion. Fitted to our race cars only. Using a Nylatron housing bush and new pinion bronze bush.

Uprated front anti-roll bar. 3/4 inch, 7/8 inch and one inch. Most people will not need to increase the size of the anti-roll bar, just fit nylon blocks and drop links.

Tie bars, rose-jointed or urethanejointed, at chassis pick up point.

Fitted to all our road and race cars.

INFORMATION: I have spares and tools, which would be available on loan, FREE against LARGE returnable deposit, as I want them back or replaced.

Essential for long life B, C, V8, four Bearing mod to lay gear and modified lay shafts to suit, ie extra oil ways (shaft free exchange). Gears can be ground cost direct to grinding company.

Essential distributor reset for modern fuels with points driving standard or sports coil, giving more power lower down and smoother pick up. Electronic module can be added, either normal or high power coils.

Kingpin swivel assembly reamed – MGB and MGC. Rocker spacers bronze, and rocker bushes – MGB, MGC. Rockers re-bushed and matched to shaft – MGB and MGC. Tool to under-cut block for valve clearances, can be done whilst the block is in car.

Rear anti-tramp bars – rose jointed.

Rear shock absorber drop links adjustable. Rose jointed or urethane bushed jointed.

Modified water pump housing for electric water pump conversion.

Exchange basis only.

Steering Rack O/H, high ratio conversion.

Ten-ton hydraulic press.

Flow meters for carb balancing, Exhaust gas analyser.

Vacuum gauge for setting IDA Webbers.

Steering alignment gauges for tracking, camber, k.p.i. caster and, corner weight gauges.

Cam bearings removal and insertion tool set for MGB and MGC. Torsion bar height setting tool. MGC. Girling and Lockheed servos bench mounted tester, ie vacuum pump and hydraulic cylinder and brake cylinderhoning tool. Lockheed servo assembly clamp tool.

Rear axle stretching tool to replace diff carriers. MGB/ MGC/ V8.

Slide hammer with adapters to remove half shafts, wire wheel hubs, and first motion shaft. and main bearing caps.

Two engine trolleys, low and high – they will accept engine and gear box.

Trolley to take complete body.

Puller to remove rear gearbox extension on manual B and C gearboxes.

Steering rack/column alignment tools, MGB/ MGC/ V8.

Spigot bearing removal tool, MGB/ MGC. Complete car rotator for MG will take C GT. Five-foot straight lift. Hydraulically lifted. Easily adapted to other cars.

Gantry for lifting engine and gearbox with half-ton chain hoist (available to any member).

Engine, Lifting bar “A” “B” and “C” engines.

I keep all of the following parts for my own use; these would be available in an emergency. Alternator – late type, Steering Rack, Starter Motor, Radiator, Servo, All seals in Braking System, Master Cylinders o/h, Slave Cylinders o/h, Rear Cylinders o/h, Hoses, Fan Belts, Disc pads STD and competition, Rear shoes. Water pumps with ceramic seal and bearings.

Email vic.young.young@btinternet. com - Mobile 07831 701028.

Any questions please get in touch. I am here to help, all comments welcome.

water temp versus pressures. As a guide 1lb = 3°F increase.

Pressure increase (lbs)

Temp Increase (°F)

7

233

10 13 15 20

242 251 257 272

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www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 14:41

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24/08/2018 14:41

OUT&ABOUT

d to ta ke his G TF 1500 which wa s use wedding for Ste ve Arthu r’s 1954 MM ’s Ch urch, Fet cha m, her da ug hte r, Av ril, to St Aaryperfect ca r for a sle nd er bri de an d her (to Ad a m) on M ay 26.da y fat her on a beautifu l

and, Willi a m Opie ’s dau ghte r, Kati e, and her new husb use!

Simo n, putti ng an N type to good Phot o: Willi a m Opie

cours e, this TF is Spotted in Spai n by the La Ma nga golf car from new the ht boug had owned by a lady golfe r who n it down to drive had s year of le coup a after in 2002 and . tered regis ish Span day Spai n, where it stay s to this r mme Plu Phot o: Paul 56 SAFETY FAST! SEPTEMBER 2018

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 56

Yo rks hire Ce ntre sta lwa Ste ve Pount ne y an d Wen dy lea vin g All Sa int s Ch urcrts Tom lin son h, So M Gs aft er the ir wedding uth Ca ve, in one of the ir ma ny ea rlie r thi s yea r

Celebratio n of the 1948 Motor Show at RR EC me etin g at Bu rghley House, Sta mfo rd, sho win and bla ck Y A belong ing Sim g the sple ndi d 1948 ma roon on and Jan e Ba rrett from Oxford shire and Litt le Ge m,to bel ong Gra fha m, sta ndi ng behind wit ing to Pau l and M agg ie h Bu rghley House as the backdr Ph oto: Pau l Gra fha m op.

Rea lisation of a drea m. Tony Mile s in ‘Gree n God’ , the MG PA he desig ned

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www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 14:41

RACE TORQUE

RACE TORQUE

B

y the time that these words are in print the last but one race meeting for 2018 for MGCC at Oulton Park will have been completed. As this is written entries are still coming in and it looks as though the inaugural North West 100, sponsored by our long-time supporters British Motor Heritage, should have a grid into the teens. In truth we had hoped for more, maybe more publicity would have helped. In order to encourage entries we have split the event into two races of 50 miles each so that driver change and importantly refuelling can take place in the paddock between the races. We will let you know next month how it went.

The Club’s last race meeting of 2018 is at Snetterton on September 29, and for the first time the Club will be utilising the longer 300 Circuit, so although a number of Championships have already had experience of that there will be the opportunity for some to establish new MGCC records. In addition to our own Championships we have our old friends the Morgans with us, this year for two races, one a 30 minute sprint and the second a 40 minute pit stop race. These should provide some exciting viewing!

Our own Championships, a number of which have been asking for the more expensive 300 circuit to be used, will have their chance to demonstrate their support for the initiative by producing their best grids of the season!

As mentioned earlier we have another meeting prior to Snetterton.

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 59

By Ron Gammons

There is every chance that some of our Championships will go down to the wire at the last race at Snetterton since all have a double header to finish with at the last meeting, and some have double headers at Oulton as well. See the attached panel for current Championship positions.

It’s sad that the Club has had to take the decision to ‘rest’ the BMH Classic Relay at Snetterton for this year due to a paucity of entries in 2017, however with sufficient publicity there is always the hope that it can be resurrected next year.

That has caused us to reduce the normal two-day event to a one day.

Speaking of which, next year that is, we have some preliminary dates, but out of the blue it would appear that the British Grand Prix has moved to one week later than this year if the recent announcement by Silverstone is correct. What is this to do with us, you ask? Well in terms of dates, as soon as a major event moves the whole calendar is shaken up, and in real terms, while major to us, MGLive! is not a major player when it comes to dates.

Since in order to help fill our grids I have stuck as far as is possible to the need for four weeks or more between race meetings, generally none in August (because we have struggled to fill grids during the majority of that month) and with a race season which is basically April through to the end of September, six months at best and with the need for six race meetings per year, the need for some clever juggling becomes obvious.

MG Trophy Standard Power Position

Driver

Points

1

John Booth

117

2

Tylor Ballard

111

3

John Gil

108

4

Joe Dalgarno

104

5

David Heasman

103

MG Trophy Enhanced Power Position

Driver

Points

1

Graham Ross

132

2

Paul Luti

129

3

Jason Burgess

115

4

Ryan Firth

113

5

Matt Turnbull

104

MG Midget and Sprite Challenge Position

Driver

Points

1

Ed Easton

139

2

Steve Collier

126

3

Paul Campfield

115

4=

Ian Burgin

96

4=

Pippa Cow

96

MG Metro Cup Position

Driver

Points

1

Andrew Ashton

130

2

Jack Ashton

127

3

Przemek Glodek

88

4

Mark Eales

83

5

Richard Garrad

75

PBIS MG CUP Position

Driver

Points

1

Darren Harris

112

2

Ian Boulton

98

3

Nick Arden

95

4

Peter Burchill

77

5

Matt Simpson

76

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 59

24/08/2018 14:41

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

T

MG on track

BLYTON PARK

he long, hot summer continued through July and into August, at least for those of us in the southern half of the UK, and July’s visit to Lincolnshire’s Blyton Park was held in high temperatures and on a perfectly dry surface. This was an event exclusively for MGs on Track with a limited number of places but, strangely, did not sell out completely; whether this was due to the venue not being a ‘classic’ motor racing circuit or it was perceived to be too far to journey I am not clear. However, I can assure those of you who haven’t tried it that the layout is a great deal of fun to drive and, for those not based in the Midlands, has some welcoming local hotels in which to meet fellow participants for a meal and a chat on the night before. So, this should definitely be one for your diary next year.

Upon arrival at Blyton we were greeted by the original creator of the driving centre, Richard Usher, who continues to manage the facility on behalf of the new owners, Ginetta Cars.

After a relaxed and entertaining safety briefing Richard led us around the circuit on the initial sighting laps from behind the wheel of his own MGB Roadster.

Later, he proudly showed photos of a Triumph Toledo that he had just bought at auction, admitted (without

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a suggestion of remorse or even irony) to owning several Austin Allegros, and hinted at a planned project glorifying the cars of 70s Britain which would seem to perfectly encapsulate the current mood of the nation!

As last year at Blyton, our instructor for the day was Mark Hales who, despite the disadvantage of a fractured arm, yet again dispensed well-targeted tuition both in car and in the paddock.

He is very approachable and was happy to advise on any aspect of driving or car set-up to anyone who asked, and he clearly has a real understanding of all the factors governing a car’s road holding and handling. His explanations of the interdependent effects of spring rates, shock absorbers, and tyres were clearly those of a man who not only can drive fast but needs to understand from where that speed is coming or can be lost. Despite associations with more exotic machinery, Mark obviously also has a real affinity for MGs and was often to be found poking around under a bonnet or asking questions of his own. Our thanks to both Mark and Richard for a great day.

First-timer David Martschenko joined us at Blyton in his silver TF, and his thoughts about the day may be useful encouragement to those yet to try an MGoT event:

“I chose Blyton for my first event because I thought it might be a smaller, more intimate group and perhaps less formal than, say, Donington or Silverstone which are the big two in the UK everyone has heard of, and I think this was a wise choice.

With it being my first track day I was rather nervous, in part because of the high-speed driving and risk factor, but also because of the unknown. I didn’t know how a track day worked, if I was properly prepared or if I would get things right. The pre-event information was useful, and whilst I understand its purpose it was written in a formal way that added to the worry; there are a lot of rules and much to remember – I found myself trying to memorise flag colours!

However, I got talking to the MGs on Track team and the other participants straight away which helped massively with the nerves. If I had a question someone would be happy to help, and everyone was friendly.

The tutor Mark Hales was great, really relaxed and forgiving. In fact, I can still remember him laughing and saying ‘what are you doing’ when I got a corner completely wrong, but by the end of the day my driving was 100% better than when I started.

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 14:41

MG CAR CLUB SPEED CHAMPIONSHIP MGS ON TRACK – 2018 CALENDAR 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

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.

Castle Combe – September 10 A second opportunity to enjoy the thrills of this everpopular track which includes a couple of chicanes and technical corners!

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!

The driving experience, tuition and the friendly atmosphere created by the MGs on Track team and my fellow participants made for an enjoyable track day. I had a great day; thank you.”

We will always try to make newcomers feel welcome and relaxed and are happy to answer any questions about our events either in advance or on the day, and normally first-timers will be allocated a more experienced member as a mentor to offer both guidance and encouragement. As David says, you will find us to be a friendly and helpful group, keen that everyone gets the most fun out of our events and always in a safe and controlled environment. There are still plenty of opportunities to get on track this year, so visit our website and book yourself a day of guaranteed enjoyment!

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 61

August is a fairly quiet month for the Championship with a big gap in the middle and then it all kicks off again for the final quarter of the season. Further on you will see a report from David Coulthard on the Three Sisters Sprint on July 29.

As you will see, the weather was non-typical of this summer.

August 5 we had our second visit of the year to Curborough. The event is run by MGCC Midlands and traditionally suffers from being held in a prime holiday period, as well as having competing events on the same weekend. Despite this, the entry was 50 cars, the majority of which were MGs. I think it was amongst the hottest of hot days this year and I can attest that locked in the closed cockpit of an MGB GT wearing all the gear is quite unpleasant. After lunch the tyres began to suffer and many people put in progressively slower times. Coming up, Wiscombe/Gurston weekend September 8-9 and Harewood September 15-16.

Three Sisters Sprint The long, hot summer of 2018 broke with some vengeance at the Three Sisters Kart Track at the end of July, as torrential rain greeted the seven hardy Speed Championship competitors.

With only 60 competitors in total present, organisers Longton and DMC were able to offer two practice and five timed runs, and still we finished by 4.00pm.

Practice got under way at 10.00am, on a pretty much flooded circuit. The best of any available grip was to be found in the centre of the track, with the edges of the track out of bounds, due to the deep puddles which caused aquaplaning.

Fortunately, the rain eased and became intermittent for the timed runs, allowing the track to drain a little.

The Standard cars formed the largest group. Helen Waddington in the ZR 160 chopped over three seconds off her times across the day, but was just beaten by Nick Walker in the V8 BGT, thanks to a 61.90 final run. Newcomer Ross Woodhouse and myself, both driving ZR 160s, traded times across the day. After a gung-ho final run, I just slipped (quite literally!) past Ross, to take second in class by 3/10th of a second on a 59.20. Ian ‘Harry’ Howlett, in the MGF, was never headed and eventually took the class win by nearly three quarters of a second (58.48). Who said MGFs were no good in the wet!

Chris England, in the TF, was the sole Group 2 runner, setting a best time of 58.89 and netting a good haul of Championship points. The Group 4 Midget of young Jake Wolf was the fastest MG on the day, with a best time of 57.52.

Guess what! The sun came out on the way home…

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 61

24/08/2018 14:41

BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP

BTCC CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 6 – SNETTERTON

A

fter the completion of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races at Croft, it was announced that Tom Boardman would no longer be driving an MG6. The next outing for the cars was the Snetterton test session. Rory Butcher drove his normal car, but several other drivers made ‘guest’ appearances, including Jake Hill who has left Team Hard. After much speculation it was announced that Ant Whorton-Eales would be piloting the second MG. Ant drove for the team in 2017 in one of their Audi cars and has been racing in 2018 in the BMW Mini Challenge. As a new driver, Ant would have to carry 45kg of ballast in qualifying and race one of the day.

Snetterton is another race circuit built around a former airfield. It has been modified over the years with additional track looping through the infield to make the “three hundred” circuit.

At the start of the season, it was announced that this meeting would have a unique format to celebrate 60 years of the championship. There would be two qualifying sessions, the first to determine the grid for race one and the second, with no success ballast, for race three.

This would be a 40-minute race with

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By Paul Goodman. Photos: BTCC Media double championship points awarded and all drivers using the same tyre type.

Race two would be started using the finishing positions from race one.

The first qualifying session would determine the grid positions for race one. Jack Goff carried his form forward, snatching pole position from Dan Cammish in what proved to be Honda domination. A lot of drivers struggled to get a clear lap with Rory ending up in 18th place. Ant struggled with the extra ballast and an unfamiliar car and would start in 30th place. Second qualifying with no success ballast would be for starting places for the 40-minute third race of the weekend. Rory finished in 21st place with Ant down in 30th. Once again, former MG driver, Jack Goff, secured pole position in his Honda.

After weeks of dry weather, the heavens opened on Sunday morning.

The teams had no experience of the conditions and so guessed the settings.

Jack Goff in his Honda took the lead and looked like being an easy winner until he came under pressure from the Subaru of Ash Sutton, with Jack taking the victory by inches. Rory used his Knockhill wet weather experience to slice through the field but was then sidelined with an alternator problem. Ant also fought

through the field and despite a couple of spins finished 23rd.

For race two, the track was drying and most of the field gambled on the softer slick tyres. Both MG6s got great starts and were soon inside the top 20.

Ant got ahead of Rory who then slowed with more car issues and retired to the pit lane. Ant made a great move on the wet surface to secure 12th place before the safety car was deployed. At the restart, Ash Sutton just held on to win the race in the Subaru from another former MG driver, Josh Cook, in his Vauxhall with Tom Ingram slicing through the whole field to finish third in the Toyota. Ant made up two more places on the last lap to finish a brilliant 10th.

Race three would take the drivers into new territory with the longer distance to be run. Sadly, Rory didn’t run for long being involved in an incident on the first lap. Ant had another competitive race, battling hard in the mid-field and setting competitive lap times. He was passed by several drivers near the end of the race and finished 16th, just out of the points. The winner was Matt Neal in his Honda who passed Jack Goff during a brief rain shower. Tom Ingram drove the Toyota into third and, with the double points on offer, left Snetterton as the championship leader.

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 14:41

BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP

BTCC CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 7 – ROCKINGHAM

T

he race track at Rockingham has always been popular with the teams and their fans. The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car transporters rolled into the paddock for the next instalment of the 60th anniversary year over the weekend of August 11-12.

Sadly, this would be the last visit for a while as uncertainty over the future of the venue meant that it was not part of the 2019 calendar when that was announced in June.

The double points race at Snetterton had shaken up the points table, with Tom Ingram arriving at Rockingham as championship leader driving his Toyota Avensis, a few points ahead of Colin Turkington’s BMW. Mechanical problems had robbed Rory Butcher of championship points in his MG6 at Snetterton but the AmdTuning.com mechanics were sure that everything was now fine. The second car had another new driver in Glynn Geddie. Glynn has been racing for many years in GT racing and is a former British Champion. He has raced previously in the BTCC in a Toyota with some success. His arrival means an all Scottish MG6 team.

Rain was forecast for the weekend so both wet and dry car settings would almost certainly be needed. This put

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 63

By Paul Goodman. Photos: Dickon Siddall

extra stress on the two 40-minute warm up sessions on Saturday morning. These were held in the dry.

Rory spent time adjusting his car whilst Glynn settled himself in with the car having 45k of ‘newcomer’ ballast.

Qualifying was frenetic with most of the field being covered by a single second. Pole was grabbed by Adam Morgan’s Mercedes from Sam Tordoff’s Ford and Dan Cammish in his Honda. Rory ended up in 20th place and Glynn 30th.

Race one was a Morgan benefit with Adam taking the win from Ash Sutton’s Subaru and Tom Chilton’s Ford Focus. As rain began to fall, Rory drove a brilliant race, moving into the top ten and taking the chequered flag in ninth place. Glynn began to get the hang of the MG6, finishing 22nd.

The starting positions for race two were the finishing positions from race one. All the drivers used the dry slick tyres on a track which was still damp.

This time, Ash Sutton took the victory from Adam Morgan with Tom Ingram driving his Toyota from the back of the grid into third. Rory drove well again, surviving a major half-spin, and at the flag secured eighth and another top ten finish. Glynn drove well in a tight group of cars but had to settle for 22nd again.

Race three was delayed slightly by a car failing on the green flag lap. Rory was starting in third place (after the grid draw), and got a good launch and held his own into the hairpin. A brief shower had dampened the circuit and race leader Tom Chilton lost control of his car, promoting Chris Smiley’s Honda to the lead and Rory to second. More incidents resulted in the safety car being deployed.

When racing restarted, Rory had trouble getting heat into his hard tyres and so lost out to Colin Turkington, Matt Simpson, Sam Tordoff and Tom Ingram to finish a creditable sixth. Glynn pushed hard but did not finish the race.

Rory’s three top ten finishes have pushed him back up to fourth place in the Jack Sears Trophy standings.

With nine races remaining in the championship, Colin Turkington left Rockingham with a small advantage over Tom Ingram and defending champion Ash Sutton.

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 63

24/08/2018 14:41

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24/08/2018 14:41

OVERSEAS NEWS

THE NORTH AMERICAN MGA REGISTER’S GT43

T

he North American MGA Register (NAMGAR) held its gathering for 2018 at Richmond, Virginia, from June 13 to 17. This year the organisers were The Central Virginia British Car Club and NAMGAR’s Mid Atlantic Chapter. The Coupé was the featured model. There were nearly 200 entrants, not all with cars and some with more than one.

The hotel used was the Virginia Crossings Hotel. The grounds are in the

By Piers Hubbard

middle of Civil War territory and the site of the Battle of Yellow Tavern.

Famed General Jeb Stuart was killed here. The buildings are in the Federal and Williamsburg styles of the 1700s but were built in 1981. The immediate grounds have the Jefferson Gardens, a charming area of winding brickbuilt paths, shrubs, trees and seasonal perennial flowers. There seemed to be adequate parking although many ended on the grass for convenience.

The surrounding area below the bluff, where the battle was fought, is now a golf course The timetable was filled with Tech Sessions and other distractions such as the Vendors’ Room with spare parts, regalia, etc. The first session was an interesting Civil War presentation called “Attack on Petersburg!” by Jack Bantle, with assistance on the contemporary firearms by Michael Elliott, which not only showed the progress of the fighting but the time-consuming preparation for each shot fired. There was then a drive to a Civil War Museum on the banks of the river where there was the Tredegar iron foundry. This foundry, together with local sources

In front of the main hotel

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 65

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 65

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OVERSEAS NEWS

John Twist in session

Michael Eaton’s Twin Cam Coupé

of coal and iron, made Richmond an important part of the South.

Technical sessions started at the same time. These covered such subjects as Dustless Blasting, Fuel and Oil and Lighting upgrades. All seemed very well attended. The last session for the day was an illustrated talk on the stories and successes of the MGA coupé given by Jonathan Stein and Michael Eaton. This ended with a walkabout tour of Hugh Burrass’ Sebring race car and Michael’s own Twin Cam Sebring car.

The Ladies were welcomed at an ice-cream social by the Chairman, Carol Shamonsky. There was also a Ladies Drive to visit a couple of antique shops, followed by a visit to a private house with an interesting novelty garden with small sections. This did not stop them going to the Tech sessions if they wished. These sessions continued, repeating some of the first day and adding MGA restoration and detailing. The inimitable John Twist started his rolling tech session. There was a long, covered section where

John could work his magic under cover with cars and spectators sheltered, usually from the sun. There was always a long queue.

Friday started with a Tour of Richmond (British cars preferred) with a rally sheet with questions to be answered during the drive. On return, the scene moved to Maymont, a 100-acre American Estate. When James Dooley, a wealthy business leader from the South, married Sarah (Sallie) O. May in 1886 they bought a stretch of farmland along the James River and transformed the property.

They named it after Sallie’s family and the mount upon which it stood. Soon it was recognised as a showplace that rivalled any of the new estates

Some of the featured coupés

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www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 14:41

OVERSEAS NEWS

Sun screens are not uncommon

that were springing up throughout the country. Mrs Dooley was an avid student of horticulture and took an active role in planning Maymont’s gardens and overseeing the planting and upkeep. The house was furnished with treasures from around the world, including many stained glass windows

by Tiffany. The gardens had many ornate additions, including a copy of Canova’s Three Graces by a reflective pool outside the front door. The pair died childless during the 1920s and bequeathed the estate to the City of Richmond and it was opened to the

Hugh Burrass at his car, Michael Eaton behind www.mgcc.co.uk

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public. Today it is a perfect example of the American Golden Age Estate.

The lush green lawns were covered by MGs of many shades and models in a temperature of 89°C, the first time that this sort of display had been allowed.

On return to base the Ladies were invited to bring a bottle of their local wine for others to try. Corkage was charged keep within the law.

The day concluded with the GT43 party night with music from KOS, a 12-piece band, with music which brought many to the floor and stopped many a conversation.

Saturday was the day of the show.

The car wash bay opened at 6.00a.m.

All who were prepared to enter the Concours had been washing and polishing to be ready to stage their cars in the prescribed place on the grass in the garden area in front of the Jefferson building. Most were well loved and highly polished and ranged from David Harrison’s L2 which had raced at Brooklands to the latest MGBs. There were about a dozen classes to cover before the voting finished and counting commenced.

The quality was really high, making judging difficult, so if a bonnet (hood) was closed I felt that I could ignore it. All the awards, up to three in each class, were distributed at the Awards Dinner that night. The winner of the Premier class was Carole Looft with her blue MGA 1600.

Carole Shamonsky closed the meeting in a speech thanking the organisers, especially the Chairman of that group, Bruce Woodson. She introduced four previous holders of the Office which she will relinquish in January 2019. She then asked Scott Dougherty to announce the venue for next year’s meeting. GT44 will be held in Dubuque, Iowa, from July 12 to 14.

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OVERSEAS NEWS

T

MG CLUB DE FRANCE

he success of the MG Club de France is testament to the popularity of MGs of all ages here in France. The club continues to grow and to expand its activities year on year; we now have 1,090 members.

Philippe Aubry has stepped down from the presidency after 12 years of dedicated leadership but remains on the committee. Joël Quénet has been elected president, formerly the club treasurer for many years, Joël will steer the club onwards.

The main talking point here at the moment over the aperitif is the imminent introduction of the new maximum speed limit on departmental roads (that is A and B roads) to 80kmh.

This measure was introduced on July 1 2018 in order to reduce the fatalities on the roads as well as to reduce pollution. Contrary to the reported reductions in the number of speed

cameras in the UK, they are on the increase here and this new limit will be strictly enforced.

Further pollution control measures are in force in many major towns and cities, although foreign classic cars would appear to be exempt for now.

Visitors with their MGs from the UK will continue to receive a warm welcome with many events open to non-members. Our English cousins were invited to join us for the spring meeting in Chaumont-sur-Tharonne in the heart of the Sologne to discover the perfume route. The MG Club de France hosts this year’s annual Entente Cordiale on September 29-30 in Normandie.

The MG Club of France has initiated a new event “The MG Day” which will be held every year. 2018 is

its first year, which has been a huge success with meetings including touristic rallies and exhibitions for members and non-members. The aim is to gather together as many MG people under the sign of the octagon in numerous places once a year. It will be held at the beginning of June. Over 200 MGs were on display in our varied and beautiful regions: Champagne–Ardenne, with a sparkling weekend in the region of Epernay and Reims.

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Ile de France, with a presence at the 10th Heritage Festival at Montlhéry.

Rhône Alpes, where there were MGs at the 19th Uriage Cabriolet Classic.

Maine et Touraine, the château Gaillard at Amboise opened its doors for a grand MG picnic.

Limousin, where a lovely promenade started from the village of Lissac-sur-Couze (near Brive la Gaillarde) in the Corrèze.

Languedoc-Roussillon, the MG Day installed itself at the Pôle Mécanique d’Alès before lunch and a drive around the region.

Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur, the MG Day linked to the Rétro-AutoForum exhibition for the weekend at Fréjus.

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Aquitaine, 30 MGs were the stars at the Bordeaux Classic Day. And Hauts de France, two rallies were programmed for MG Day to include the Côte d’Opale and Le Touquet Paris Plage.

The 2019 event will be held in one place only at La Ferme du Marault at Magny Cours near Nevers (department 58) where we have been fortunate to obtain the availability on the weekend of June 8 and 9. We hope to assemble over 500 MGs of all ages from all over Europe for the biggest gathering ever held in France, to include rare models and racing cars in order to share the conviviality and the passion for MG in France. The provisional programme for the event: Two days of activities on a site dedicated to MG passion.

An MG village.

A concours d’elegance, animations, games, and films.

Touristic rallies.

A track day on the Lurcy Levis circuit.

A grand dinner evening and entertainment with many other surprises.

More information will be found on our website www.mgclubdefrance. com or email mgday@mgclubdefrance. com or Facebook: https://facebook. com/MG-Club-de-France Or, for members of the MG Club de France, in our excellent magazine “Heritage”.

Wendy Packer wendy.packer@mgclubdefrance.com

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 69

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CENTRES

ABINGDON WORKS

RICHARD MARTIN sfscribe@mgabingdon.org.uk www.mgabingdon.co.uk The glorious summer of 2018 continues and there’s been plenty of activity around the Centre, showing that people have been taking advantage of it – some have even been overheard saying it’s too hot!

There were plenty of MGs on show amongst the 200+ cars at the Notcutts Classic Car Show with one of them, a J2, taking an award home to Newbury. MGs were also well represented in the 500+ vehicles at the biennial classic car show in the pretty Oxfordshire village of Churchill and there were also opportunities to get the car out for the Abingdon and Beachampton Natters’ Pride of Ownership

evenings and the B Register’s picnic. On a personal note, we took our TF to the Car Club’s Donington race meeting and the B to the Thames Traditional Boat Festival in Henley where we were generously invited aboard Devon and Cornwall Centre’s Alan and Verona Davis’s steamboat for the parade along the river; Gill was even allowed to steer!

Looking forward, on Sunday September 2 we have the Midget Register’s Road Run which starts from Bibury – only just outside the Centre – Mike Parker 01235 525255 for details. The following weekend, on Saturday September 8, we have again been invited to display our MGs at the Yarnton

ANGLIA

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

Anglia Centre AGM This year’s AGM will be held on Saturday September 15 at The Limes Hotel, Needham Market, and will start at 2.00pm. All Club members are welcome and it will not only give you a chance to have your say regarding the running of the Anglia Centre, it will also give you the chance to meet the committee and hear what is planned for the coming year.

You may even decide that you would like to become more involved within the organisation of your Centre, with a view to putting yourself forward to help in one of the many positions available to you within the Club.

The Limes has good catering facilities and you may like to

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come along early and have lunch and a chat before the AGM proceedings begin.

See the website or contact Secretary, Roger Moran, via email address secretary@mgccanglia.com Festival of Classic and Sports Cars Helmingham Hall again hosted the festival and was supported by a major presence from the Anglia Centre. The event attracts over 7,000 visitors each year and with temperatures of 31 degrees, this year’s event was one of the best yet.

49 MGs were on show in the Anglia Centre section alone, with many more MGs from TCs to MGFs, dotted among the other

Nurseries www.yarntonnurseries. co.uk/whats-on.html Richard Martin 01235 529331 for details, or just turn up between 10.00am and 4.00pm.

A month later, on Sunday October 7, Bicester Heritage have their next ‘Scramble’ and we’ve been invited to join the MGF Register who have arranged infield parking for all MG models.

PLUS, there’s a 50% discount on tickets! Contact Ian Wright on events@mgfregister.org for the promotional code.

Whilst I have your attention, please note that the Abingdon Natter has a new home. As from

August, their last Thursday of the month gatherings will be at the Black Horse, Gozzards Ford, Faringdon Road, Abingdon OX13 6JH www.the-blackhorse.co.uk/ which is on the old factory test routes. Mike Parker is the man for details.

This month’s photo shows Richard and Christa Colston receiving the Charlton Award as this year’s AWC Member(s) of the Year.

Finally, the Committee would like to extend a warm welcome to all our new members whom we look forward to meeting during the coming months.

Welcome to the MG family!

exhibits that totalled almost 900 classic cars in all.

A unique feature of the event allows many of the participants to display their cars by driving them in front of the crowds along the driveway that leads to the hall, giving the visitors not only sight of the cars on the move but also the evocative sound of classic engines and often, with the more sporting classics, the smell of Castrol Racing Oil that lingers in the air as the cars speed past.

The photograph this month shows just one of those cars, a lovely example of an MG TC starting its demonstration run.

The day was also memorable for the live music, the birds of prey flying demonstration, the many craft stalls, plus the chance to explore the wonderful walled gardens of Helmingham Hall and to see the deer feeding in the ancient Deer Park.

A captivating summer’s day that happy memories are made of.

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CENTRES

CALEDONIAN

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

Recent events such as Glamis and the one-day Fife Run have benefited greatly from the unusually good weather. So much so that at Glamis most members stayed around our gazebos rather than walking in the sunshine! A feature of both events has been the appearance of good numbers of new members… long may that continue!

Depending on when you read this you may still have an opportunity to join us at Bo’ness on September 2. Even if you have not entered for our stand, please look us up if you are there on the day. It’s an excellent weekend, not to be missed.

There may still be a place or two available on the Remapping Day for K&N series engined cars.

This is on the 16th, call Tony Smith if you would like to attend.

The Centre will also have a presence at MG Gathering at Doune on September 23. Check the website for details.

Further ahead, we have a one-day run on October 7.

Starting from New Lanark and heading for lunch at Linlithgow, there will be a cruise on the Forth and Clyde Canal following.

An interesting day, book please through our website.

Some members have requested more one-day runs to be included in our calendar

and your committee is working on this for next year. However if there is a place you think is worth a visit or, even better, if you would be prepared to arrange such an event then please get in touch! In fact, if you have suggestions for other events please let us know.

The daughter of a one-time M type owner in the 1930s, mentioned last month, has now met up with the present owner of the M. Hopefully there will be an article on this in this year’s Newsletter. If any of you feel like contributing an article either on your past or present MG or regarding a trip you have been on then contact me for more details.

Could I again make a plea for email addresses? If you are not receiving monthly emails

from me with Centre news then it’s because we do not have your email address or your permission to contact you by email (GDPR Rules OK!). If that’s you, please let me know.

Emergency Pop Up repairs at Glamis

DEVON & CORNWALL YOUNG JANNER II bobslatter@hotmail.com www.mgcc.co.uk/devon-cornwall-centre/ Hopefully, by the time you read this we will have held our revitalised Devon Day organised

by Barry Smith and Colin Bird.

This had reverted back to the old days of a fun event rather than just a scenic drive. Following this was Terry Bolt’s Jazz in the Park which hopefully will have raised a lot of money for Macmillan Cancer Support, a charity very close to Terry’s heart.

This weekend sees a maximum entry take part in Alan and Verona Davis’s “Tamar Old Bridges Run” whereby the route covers all 20 crossings of the River Tamar from its source right up in North Devon down to the mouth in Plymouth. A hearty start

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with bacon butties and coffee followed by a break half way through for lunch at the Lifton Farm Shop and Restaurant and finishing in Harrowbarrow Village Hall for a Cream Tea. You can make your own minds up about which comes first, jam or cream.

A plug now for the Tamar Classic Trial being held on Sunday October 21 which we co-organise with Launceston and North Cornwall Motor Club. As always, marshals are needed to run some of the sections on behalf of the MGCC, so all volunteers are welcome. Contact Colin Bird on info@tamarvalleymotoringcentre if you can lend a hand on the day for a few hours.

And now another plug for an event in 2019, that being the Spring Break starting on Friday May 3 with Majestic Self Drive Holidays, the same company as this year’s event in April. Based at the Shillingford Bridge Hotel, near Oxford on the banks of the Thames, it includes three nights Dinner, Bed and Breakfast for the all-in cost of £129.99 per person.

It has good on-site parking and is approximately 200 miles from Plymouth, as an example. We have 15 rooms reserved for the MG Car Club until the end of September 2018, so it is a firstcome, first-served basis. Booking is to be made directly with Majestic on 01626 770246, but I would advise being fairly quick in booking, as several of the rooms have been already allocated to

members. As per this year, no trips or routes will be organised, you will be free to do whatever you want.

I would like to remind all our members in the West Cornwall region, or anybody in the area, that the Natter at the Norway Inn at Perranarworthal, which was run by Ron Henderson, has been taken over by John Harvey and also, by mutual agreement with the regulars attending, changed to the first Friday of the month now as it clashed with other MG meetings in the area before.

John can be contacted on west. cornwall@mgccdc.org. He has also set up a Facebook page under the heading of MG Car Club West Cornwall for all details and arrangements.

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 73

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CENTRES

LINCOLNSHIRE

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

September Natters: Wolds Wednesday 5: Abbey Lodge Monday 10; Wishing Well Wednesday 12; Three Horseshoes Thursday 20; Lincoln Tuesday 25; Red Cow Inn Thursday 27.

Luncheon Club: Wednesday 19.

And so the heat goes on! July commenced with sun, shade, cars, and a display on the green at Allington, near Grantham, on the 8th. Plus a pleasant surprise: one of our number is a keen member of the performing Morris. An excellent way to spend a pleasant English Sunday afternoon.

Our next opportunity to gather a large display of marvellous cars (and also admire the rather more rugged

features of the Centre’s star attraction, taxiing Avro Lancaster “Just Jane”), was the very successful MG Rover Day at East Kirkby Aviation Heritage Centre on July 14. More than 20 Lincolnshire members brought their cars along, and enjoyed the hospitality of the museum (along with refreshments in the NAAFI).

A Saturday to remember, and not to be missed in 2019. Plus, the cars were informally reviewed by our host, Harold Panton, who then presented the John Noble award for the car of the day to Andy Rake, whose blaze MGB GT V8 caught his eye.

The regular luncheon club attendees met with fellow Yorkshire Centre members at

MIDLANDS

MARTIN PRICE mg.price@btinternet.com www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgccmidlandcentre/

On August 5, we held our traditional Summer Sprint at Curborough and, despite low entry numbers leading up to the event, we eventually started with 44 competitors, who enjoyed two practice and three timed runs throughout the day. The largest class was for roadgoing, unmodified cars up to 2000cc and a brilliant 15 started. A superb run

by Centre member Nick Arnold saw him claim third place and the class honours in the MGCC Speed Championship, driving an MG ZR160. Nick Walker battled hard but finally took Class 1B from the TVR Griffith of Tim Kirkham.

Class 1C is for modified roadgoing cars up to 2000cc and

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this saw a brilliant 11 cars. The class was dominated by some scintillating runs by Richard Withers in his MGB GT; Iain Reynolds, MGF Trophy, was second, ahead of the MGF of Rob Mulcare. Dave Morris was untroubled in his beautiful ex Australian racing MG TC. He took our annual award for the best combined performance in both our sprints. Neil Thomas was rather lonely but very quick in Class 2A in his 1.8 K Series Midget. We always expect some outstanding performances in Class 3A, where we find the racing Midgets, most of which are on slicks. Centre stalwarts Kim Johnson, Robin Nicholson and James Thacker fought it out all day, Kim taking the

the Kings Head, Tealby, in the Lincolnshire Wolds on the 18th for a cross-border get-together.

One of our members from the south of the county commenced the journey twice. Firstly, in the hottest MG of the day. Having had a skirmish with a damaging pothole on the mean streets of Lincolnshire, he then watched the fire brigade extinguish the remains of his blazing TF. Undeterred, John completed the trip in a first reserve.

They must serve an impressive

lunch at the Kings Head. We’re all just relieved that you’re both ok!

The sun has certainly brought out the crowds to the Natters, and the Landlord’s Choice pride of ownership series is now in full swing. It’s also time to polish up those driving skills, as the next competitive Autotest at East Kirkby is just around the corner on September 9. Details are available on the website, or contact David Stonehouse on 01790 754774.

Some of the Red Cow, Fishtoft, Landlord’s Choice entrants

honours from Robin, with James an excellent third. Mention must be made of fourth placed John Hawley, driving his 1964 Midget, which he bought brand new and he has competed in almost all the Midland Centre Curborough Sprints, and this is our 51st season of organising them – well done John, many more years please.

Class 4B is for the big beasts and Andy Walker and Stuart Gilbert enthralled the spectators with some excellent driving, Andy winning the class and the award for Fastest MG in his amazing MGB V8 Roadster, with Stuart’s MGB GT V8 only a shade adrift. Finally, a small amalgamated class of single-seaters saw Glyn Sketchley pilot his Force to the Fastest Time of the Day award.

So, another season of Curborough Sprints has come to an end and our thanks go to everyone who made this, and the

April event, both very successful and enjoyable. This includes all the officials, marshals, competitors and spectators. We hope to repeat this again next year. We have seen several new competitors this year and if you would like to know more about taking up sprinting and hillclimbing, you are welcome to contact me and I will be happy to help you.

Our next event is the Autumn Trial on Sunday September 23 and this will be held at East Lodge Farm, Bromsgrove, in Worcestershire, and should be another cracking meeting.

Further details can be obtained form Tony Lake or from the Centre website. Remember, you can use any MG for this event and you do not need overalls, helmet or competition licence. So, why not come along and have a go; it really is great fun.

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Michelham Priory House & Gardens Upper Dicker, Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 3QS

MG Car Club (South East) Autumn Gathering Sunday 23rd September 2018

Venue:

Once again; This year‛s MGCCSE “Autumn Gathering” takes us back to the beautiful

Michelham Priory & Gardens, last visited by us in 2011.

This was a very popular venue, with over 100 MG‛s owners attending on the day, parked-up infront of the house & enjoying their picnics.

This historic property dates back to 1229 & nestles deep in the Sussex countryside offering you history, exhibits, superbly kept gardens, England‛s longest medieval water-filled moat, art exhibitions, wildlife, working watermill, shop, restaurant and a great day out… !

* PLEASE TURN-UP & PAY ON THE DAY !! * Rally site, onto the island, will be open from 10.00 am A discounted £17.00 per CAR* (upto 2 persons / Car) & £12.00 / Car for 1 person *Includes entrance to house, gardens, mill & viewing of all MG‛s + An enjoyable day out!

The house opening is at 10.30 am. Lunches, teas, Shop, toilets, are all on site. Sorry - NO Dogs allowed.

• •

There will be the usual MG “Pride of Ownership” / “Premier PoO” / Concours to enter on the day…

The optional “Pride of Ownership”/ “Premier PoO” / Concours will be £5 to enter/Car + awards given.

Further Details / Any Queries :Andrew Mitchell (MGCCSE Events Committee) - Tel: 07703 138419 - e-mail: andrewmgfvvc@gmail.com

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CENTRES

NORTH WEST PAUL GOODMAN 01625 876300

The leaves are beginning to turn as autumn approaches, but we still have a great range of indoor and outdoor events for you to attend. We have a change in our pub meetings. The second Tuesday gathering has moved and from September 11 will be at The Shrewsbury Arms, Warrington Road, Mickle Trafford, CH2 4EB at 7.30pm. It is still business as usual at the Plough and Flail on Tuesday September 18. Finally, our lunch gathering will be on Wednesday September 26 at The Little Manor Hotel, Bell Lane, Thelwall, Warrington, WA4 2SX. Our stand is taking shape so that you will be able to visit us at The Footman James Classic Car Show at EventCity, near the Trafford Centre, on September

15 and 16. As a member of the MGCC, you qualify for a reduction on the advance entry ticket price.

Please quote “clubs18” when you book online. It is not too late to offer to help on the stand.

Then two weeks later, we have the final race of 2018 for the Cockshoot Cup Championship.

This is at Oulton Park on Saturday September 29 as part of a varied BRSCC race meeting, with saloons and single-seater racing cars taking to the track. The Malimson, Genesis and Entune Trophies will be awarded for the race win and best in the classes. Ray Collier, driving his MG ZR 190, has dominated the early part of the season taking five race wins, including both at the MGCC Donington Park race meeting

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

With the holiday season just finishing, let’s hope for a sunny autumn and plenty of support for the remaining 2018 MG SE events, local Natters and monthly mid-week wanderers meetings.

See the SE web page for full details on: www.mgccse.co.uk/ calendar/ Sunday September 23, Autumn Gathering at Michelham Priory House and Gardens, Hailsham, BN27 3QS. There is an advert on this major event in this issue of Safety Fast! so we are looking for SE members to fully support this “pay on the day” event which includes entry to the house, gardens and working water mill for £17 per

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car (two people). Full details: www.mgccse.co.uk/calendar/ There will be the usual MG Pride of Ownership, Premier PoO and Concours, all available to enter on the day. Contact Andrew Mitchel andrewmgfvvc@gmail.com The Autumn Naviscat is on October 7 2018, and is now being run by Peter Lamb. The spring event was cancelled due to snow and so this has been moved to the autumn event. Full details available from Peter – peterlamb@talktalk.net Novices are always very welcome with help to hand. The Naviscat will be starting from Barnsgate Manor TN22 4DB (A26 south of Crowborough) using Ordnance

in July. This has also given him the lead in Class C. Nobody has dominated Class B, with both Mike Peters and Ian Whitt taking wins in their Midgets, but also suffering mechanical non-finishes.

Meanwhile, consistent driving by Mark Bellamy in his MG ZR170 has given him the class lead after five races.

The Speed Championship is also reaching the end of season climax, with the northern series having the last two events at Harewood in Yorkshire over the weekend of September 15 and 16.

All the awards for the Cockshoot Cup and the Speed Championship will be presented at our special Christmas Dinner Dance at the Deanwater Hotel on December 1. Ticket price and full details will be available at the beginning of October.

Looking further ahead, we are well into event planning for 2019. We have several vacancies on the Centre Committee which takes a central role in organisation. If you are interested in becoming a member, then please get in touch.

First Lap Action at Donington Park, Cockshoot Cup race. Photo: Dickon Siddall

Survey map 188. Signing-on will begin at 10.00am with breakfast rolls available. It is anticipated that entrants will finish back at Barnsgate Manor for a twocourse lunch.

Roger Dudding – The Fairmile group are once again organising a visit to the Roger Dudding Collection (Potters Bar area) on Saturday October 13, which sounds like being an excellent day out. The entry form is available on the web page: www.mgccse.co.uk/2018/07/27/ roger-dudding-collection-visit/ or you can contact Jon Glover on 07802 318950.

Perfect use of an MG

Events Round-up: The summer gathering took place at Hollycombe Steam Museum, Liphook. Due to a lack of preentries the event was run on a

simpler format this year, without marquees, Concours/PoO, but of course with the discounted entrance fee. The 26 MGs that arrived shared a field with the Jaguar Drivers club and enjoyed an excellent Fairground Day. Many stationary and traction engines were running, fairground organs playing and the narrow gauge railway had packed coaches operated by diesel due to the fire risk of steam locomotives!

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 77

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CENTRES

SOUTH WEST

BRUCE WESTON 01963 440941 brucemweston@gmail.com www.mgccsw.com Facebook www.Facebook.com/MGCCSW MGs on Grass Two took place in glorious sunshine at Claverton, south of Bristol, on August 5. A good turnout with 17 entrants who had five attempts at the three demanding tests set out by Dave Coppock.

Peter Jones’s 18/80 was given special dispensation with regard to turning in the box (owing to the 18/80’s wide turning circle) being allowed to drive around the outside (anything to keep the peace).

The T Types of Chris Leverette and Frank Valtier fought for best in the T Type class and seven Midgets, including a Frog Eye newly acquired by Dave

Starr, really entered into the spirit of the event, continually bringing the times down. The MGB GT driven by Neil Lock was co-driven by son Oliver, again continually bringing his times down. Three MGFs fought for best in class and a lone Rover Metro represented the front wheel drive class.

A great introduction to autotesting on a non-damaging surface where all ages can enjoy pitting their wits against each other and the organisers!

Full results on the website.

Wiscombe Hillclimb.

Saturday September 3 This is the SW Centre’s premier

event with 130+ cars of all ages fighting for position in several championships, in addition to the usual MSA classes. A great spectator venue for the whole length of the hill and watching speeds of up to 125mph on a 3.5m-wide piece of tarmac has to been seen, regardless of the weather.

the sections are close together and, wet or fine, skill alone will determine the winners.

Entry forms on the website.

ADVANCE NOTICE The 2019 Kimber Classic Trial will be held on Saturday April 13.

This month’s photos show Chris Leverette in the ex-Charlie Shepstone TD kicking up the dust, and the joint entry of John and Ben Delafield in their Midget with Peter and Victoria Jones, 18/80 in the background.

Autumn Social Run. Sunday September 23 A chance for a more relaxed event with any car, finishing up at the Haynes Motor Museum.

Full details on the website.

Kimber Car Trial. Sunday October 20 This event gives competitors a chance to test their skill at negotiating several uphill sections on non-damaging grass. The venue is a single field,

TYNE TEES

TONY WOOD anthony@scrutonvillage.co.uk

Hey, the gangs all here, or at least a good selection of them, as seen in our photo from the Croft Nostalgia weekend where once again we were present in large numbers to enjoy the classic racing, vintage entertainments, and air displays.

The circuit tours were full of MGs of all vintages and Noel even managed to lose his slightly

www.mgcc.co.uk

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worried expression! It was nice to welcome members from Yorkshire Centre; special thanks go to Ken Cothliff who is the face behind the camera and graced our stand with “Little Red”, his immaculate 1962 Midget. The sun shone, old friends from the past strolled around, can it get better? Make a date in the diary for the 10th anniversary event and see.

Looking backwards, the Prince Bishops and St Cuthbert’s Runs are covered elsewhere, so it only needs me to record that they went like clockwork due to the organising genius of Noel and Co, for whom no problem is insoluble with the application of boundless enthusiasm and midnight oil.

The Fish and Chip Supper Run, organised by Dennis, with chief marshals Macie and Ben, took us round the rural byways of Durham to the Surfside at Seaton Carew where 18 happy people ate, drank, nattered and wondered how he manages to find different ways of getting us there each year. Nice to see new members John and Julia Grant in their immaculate Downton MGC GT, a new acquisition which John

is rapidly de-snagging.

We have another BBQ at the Coulby Manor Natter on September 6 (please let Noel know asap if you are attending) with the Old Speckled Hen Run on Sunday 9. This is run in a road safety trial format with questions on road safety and MG history, with non-timed tests of precision car handling skills added to a scenic 85-mile route. Contact me on 07885 654795 or email anthony@scrutonvillage.co.uk Finally, a “get well soon” message to Tony Coates, timing guru of the California Cup, who has suffered what he refers to as “a minor irritant”, but which would be classed as serious by the rest of us. All your MG friends wish you a speedy recovery.

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21/08/2018 12:57 24/08/2018 14:41

E

:

CENTRES

YORKSHIRE

DAVID COPEMAN 07920 064585 www.mgccyorkshire.co.uk North – Nick Mann In the absence of our Natter leader, Colin, Mike took the helm for the evening which consisted of a delightful walk organised by Jeff and Kate Marsden. Following their exertions, members of the Natter ended their evening back at the Tempest Arms for a wellearned drink.

South – Geoff Norcliffe There was much discussion at our July Natter on our forthcoming European trips. While some of our members are attending the EEOTY, there are others who will be doing the South Yorkshire European Tour in September, taking in Belgium, Germany, France and Luxembourg.

Appropriate regalia has been

ULSTER

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

sis

2018 12:57

ordered for these tours and Natter members will be able to give a full account later in the year. Feverish tinkering is now going on to get the MGs prepared…

East – Brian Rylance Some rain dance! Harry and Jan’s Social Run broke the drought and started with a downpour, thunder and lightning.

Five cars turned up, all tin tops and only a single MG amongst them. Great run and nosh.

Results of East Yorks Pride of Ownership: Class 1 Jill Thornton MGB, Class 2 Keith Dixon Midget, Class 3 Adrian Benson MG TF, Class 4 June Reid MG ZS, Best in Show Steve Pountney MGA.

Following Ulster Centre’s successful sortie to Silverstone in June picking up the California Cup and AutoSOLO and Sprint class wins at MGLive!, the Centre has had a very quiet period regarding competition over what has been an extraordinary summer.

We had a wonderful ‘Nosh ‘n’ Natter’ in July at Daft Eddys attended by 30 members; food, chat and weather were great.

Plans are underway for the annual ‘Night Trial’ – Ulster Classic Trial – on Friday, September 7, moving from Killinchy to Craigantlet, in the Holywood hills area above Belfast. Starting and finishing

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 81

at Spring Cottage Crafts at The Potting Shed outside Comber, we will close the evening with a BBQ for competitors, marshals and land-owners. We hope the good weather continues for what is always a great evening mix of fun and competition for MGs, other classic and older cars as well as some contemporary cars only. PCTs are on the horizon as well but they will depend on harvests and planting – a bit unpredictable with the current weather conditions.

Please contact either Carol or Stephen if you are free to marshal.

Two of the Ulster Centre’s young members and budding

West – David Copeman In the sweltering sunshine at the beginning of July we headed to Thornes Park (Wakefield) for the Fleur-de-Lys classic gathering which was very well attended with hundreds of vehicles represented, 15 members parked on the Club stand organised by Mick Thorpe. In contrast, at the end of July we set off in torrential rain for the Compass Run at the Yorkshire Farming Museum. By lunchtime the rain stopped and we travelled home with hood down.

Tiger – Pete Welbourn Thanks to Richard and Jill for organising a joint luncheon run with MGCC Lincolnshire for our July outing. We assembled at the Old Tile Works, near Barton, for refreshment before we looped south along some very scenic roads to the King’s Head in Tealby.

Mediterranean weather, a good

route and a pub car park packed with MGs, so expecting good food and we were not disappointed.

Vale of York – Ken Cothliff We were blessed again with lovely warm weather for our Pride of Ownership meeting. 13 fabulous MGs dating from the 1930s to the 2000s brought 20 attendees to the Natter.

Following a simple voting system, the awards and prizes went to:First place – Andrew Morton for his superb 1955 MG TF which is the second to last TF built for UK delivery.

Second place went to Bob and Beth Walker for their 1932 F1 Magna.

Third place went to Nigel Wilson for his 1937 VA tourer, in which his first journey was a ride to school in 1951.

Mechanical Engineers, supported by their parents, were back to Silverstone in July representing Queens University at the annual ‘Formula Student’ competitions.

A year-long project involving design of a small single-seater racing car led to the finals at Silverstone when the completed car was to be put through its paces. Katie Lemon designed the livery for the car and Roger Dawson was involved in chassis design and driving in the sprint event. The QUB team came a very creditable 9th overall out of over 80 universities from around the world. The Centre’s representation at ‘Formula Student’ is not new, as young member Jamie McMillan, now working with M-Sport, was QUB Team Leader in 2016. It was also interesting to see the SAIC MGB GT on display at Silverstone and talk to the folk

involved in this outstanding MG restoration project.

Our autotest on September 22 will be held jointly with the ADC, whose Round of the NI Autotest Championship runs on that day, and the Clubman Challenge will also be run as part of our own MG Championship.

If you plan to come along to our Gala Dinner on September 29 please get in touch with Mike Armstrong asap to book your place. Details are on the invitation that was included in last month’s Safety Fast! envelope.

Dates for your Diary: September 1 MG Day at Carrickfergus Sailing Club 10.00am-4.00pm September 7 Ulster Classic Trial September 22 Autotest - venue tba September 29 Gala Dinner

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 81

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REGISTERS

VINTAGE

JOHN VENABLES 01865 862573 johnandtriciav@gmail.com

The usual number of members attended the VSCC Prescott Hillclimb event on August 4th5th, and as usual Geoff Radford and his son Andrew competed in their 18/100 Tigress. A large party was organised by Tony Hartnell at a local hostelry which some of our members attended.

Now, Peter Mace has asked me to organise an event with a lunch on October 7th, but the response has been very poor, so unless I can get at least another six cars I am afraid it will not happen. A Vintage car is not necessary, even a modern will be acceptable. To date I have three entries, so please let me know by email if you wish to come. The event was to be a 25-30 mile run

after meeting for coffee, and a lunch, probably in Burford.

The season is now drawing to the end for 2018. What glorious weather we have had; let’s hope it holds for one of my favourite shows at Shalbourne, near

JEREMY HAWKE +44 (0)1225 863934 mgk3007@btinternet.com www.triple-mregister.org mountings and drives is taking longer than I thought…). Still, I hope to see as many of you there as possible, be it entering, marshalling, or just lurking around the beer tent (yes, they even have one of those – how civilised).

I’m not sure of the significance of the cat on this car recently spotted at the Summer Gathering (now sold and off to the Continent I believe), but could it be a ‘Rat’ catcher perhaps. Photo: Jeremy Hawke

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service, and reminds me of my motor cycle trials riding days as it plonks like a good British four stroke, similar to the old 18/80 engine which has similar characteristics.

Finally, the EMGS are holding an event in Llandrindod Wells from September 10th to 12th, and are still open for entries at this late stage.

Pre-War Prescott: Other commitments meant that I missed Prescott this year, a shame as the weather was glorious. This event, organised from ‘across the pond’ by Ian Grace of the Vintage Minor Register (close relation of the M Type) is now an established part of our social calendar, where members can have a great get together, a number of runs up the famous hillclimb course and the option to stay over for a tour on the Sunday. Space precludes me from going into too much detail, but next month I have four pages to fill; so for now, you’ll have to make do with a picture of Colin Mclachlan and his PA down from Scotland for the occasion.

Colin Mclachlan and PA on the Prescott hill at the Vintage Minor Register event in July.

Photo: Colin Murrell

The 18/100 Tigress being put through its paces

TRIPLE M I spoke too soon last month, as the heavens have now opened.

In fact, it will most likely rain from now until Wiscombe, just to put a damper on Hawke’s return to competition after a couple of years lay off (re-arranging superchargers,

Hungerford, on September 23rd, which really does attract some fabulous vehicles. The day starts from about 11.00am. I hope to be there with the MG 18/80.

As I write these notes the very hot weather has subsided a little but our lawn mowers have been very quiet for some weeks.

My 60 year old Ransomes with a BSA engine still gives excellent

The M Type at 90: The M Type turns 90 next year – not another anniversary, I hear

you say! Well yes, but this one’s a little different. I will wax lyrical next month (those four whole pages again) and apologies in advance to the Vintage devotees amongst you, but we a looking to mark it in a significant way; all thoughts and suggestions will be most welcome. So, please have a little think, and next month I’ll explain just why I think it so significant.

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 14:41

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SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 83

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REGISTERS

Y TYPE

JERRY BIRKBECK jerrybirkbeck@btinternet.com www.mgccyregister.co.uk Tel: 01926 258691 Mob: 07855 566325 After two months of quite unbelievable weather with 30°C plus in the open the norm, we finally had a stark reminder of change. Writing this in early August I attended Warwick Retro, normally a wonderful mass of pre 90 classics with more than a few MGs and also Y Types present. Indeed, as I discovered last year, turning up at 10.00am generally means the `Full Up’ signs are prevalent, I was very lucky to squeeze the YT into probably the last space available.

Moreover, the organisers were able to adopt a strict pre 90s code.

However, that bane of any outdoor event – rain – came back with a vengeance and the numbers were significantly down. It may

have deterred quite a few but it was great to see Bernard Foad’s lovely two tone YA making an important presence in the Market Square.

Re- fitting your front seats Well yes, that part is straightforward! Nonetheless, if you have perhaps replaced the ply floor then merely checking the dimensions and then refixing the runners seems a simple option. The problem is that the runners can distort over the years and fitting the seat back in may create a few problems: in particular, ensuring that the seat bolts fit and the seats are indeed safe and locked in position. I sought advice on the

MAGNETTE

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

Thanks to David and Sandra Griffiths and the other organisers for making us so welcome at the Harrogate MG Club show weekend at Pateley Bridge (August 11-12). Although warm and sunny on Saturday, the weather was a bit damp on the Sunday of the actual show.

But the Dales scenery is always stunning whatever the weather, and the town and agricultural showground in Nidderdale makes an ideal location, with many tourist attractions within easy reach – Anthony and I managed a quick foray to nearby Brimham Rocks, whilst others did the suggested scenic drive.

The Register AGM held at the showground on Saturday

afternoon was fairly brief as usual, with chairman Paul Batho and the committee all re-elected by the 15 or so members present (there were about nine Magnettes, but some owners travelled by other means). Amongst both new and familiar faces, it was nice to see Alan Dakeyne and Ann and Martyn

when you adjust position.

Tony Slattery added to this: check the seat frame itself for parallel and the diagonals – the seat frames are easily distorted when people try to move the seat with their weight and don’t release the locking pin first. The correct slide bolts are available from Octagon Car Club All this arose prior to taking the YT for its MOT and I asked the tester to check over everything prior to putting it through the test. He locked the seat in position and then proceeded with the test. It passed!

Collett, and also Andy and Margo Dear with their well-travelled Schnauzers, who were on their first major Magnette trip from Scotland for a couple of years.

we’ve also welcomed recently Colin Tyrell from Canada and Darshan Sanghvi from Kolkata, India. Although some of the updates are Magnettes changing hands, cars are still appearing which either haven’t been on the Register before, or we’ve not heard of for many years, and Cynthia now has records for a large proportion of the number which DVLA records suggest remain in the UK (taxed and SORN).

New registrations It’s encouraging to note an increasing number of updates to our Magnette database, with nearly 60 in the last year through the website and via Kimber House.

There’s a majority of UK cars, but

Y Types at the Classic Hub near Bibury, Gloucestershire: Tuesday September 8 2018 This event is being organised

by Peter Vielvoye. It’s a very worthwhile place to visit.

Check with Peter by email: petervielvoye@blueyonder.co.uk

Scenic driving in Nidderdale

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Y Register and Octagon MGCC Facebook sites. Peter Vielvoye offered the following excellent advice: first of all, the runners should be screwed to the floor into what Screwfix describe as pronged T nuts or ‘insert nuts’; this means the underside is just about flush. The screws are countersunk or button head into the runners to avoid fouling the seat bolts.

The runners should be parallel but staggered about 20mm to make fitting easier one side at a time. The seat bolts which we sell (Y Register Shop) are cheese head with a nylock lock nut. When you fit them they will rotate so you need to wedge a thin screwdriver under the cheese head to stop it rotating.

The nylock lock nut is then lightly tightened and released a turn to allow movement along the track but not up and down. It’s always a fiddle to get the lift bolt to engage

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 14:41

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REGISTERS

MGA

EDWARD VANDYK 01488 608810 mgascribe@vandyk.co.uk MGA Day – Sunday August 12 2018 Unfortunately the weather forecast was adverse and the forecast always impacts attendance. In the event, MGA Day at Canons Ashby, a National Trust Elizabethan gem, largely escaped the downpours. 27 MGAs turned up, along with three other MG models.

Car of the Day was awarded to Daran Scarlett and his son Charlie for their excellent Old English White 1500. Thanks to Jon Pollard for organising another successful day.

Scottish MGA Day – Sunday July 29 2018 Again the weather! Whilst many of us continued to enjoy – even suffer with – the hot weather, when it does rain it really rains, as those who participated in the Scottish MGA Day on July 28 found out. A touch of the Dunkirk spirit was needed, because after months of planning in glorious Scottish sunshine, the heavens opened on the day. Undeterred by the weather, the nine MGAs

MGB

DAVID BROADHURST 01209 614704 newsletter-editor@mgb-register.org www.mgb-register.org mgbforum.mgb-register.org In July I went to a local MG Natter meet at the Aero Museum at Newquay airport. There is an interesting collection of various decommissioned aircraft, many of which you can get into, ranging from an RAF VC10 tanker to Hawker Hunter and Harriers with a varied collection of smaller aircraft.

The group was photographed in front of a Tornado with the RAF flag flying above, which we thought was apt for the Centenary celebrations. Staying local for the moment, the West Cornwall Natter has moved its meeting night to the first Friday of the month and the venue to the Punch Bowl and Ladle,

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roads I suspect? Every time an MG owner visits Harry and his partner Hengis in Denmark, he takes a photo of the visitor’s MG in front of it. This photo is Harry reversing the situation and just one of a number of photos of their car in front of a variety of telephone boxes whilst in the UK.

hailing from as far afield as Denmark and Devon set off from the Bannockburn Visitor Centre and headed in heavy rain through the Carron Valley to Loch Katrine, where some serious drying out and towel wringing was the order of the day. However, after a pleasant lunch at Inversnaid the return drive on the Trossachs Trail over the Dukes Pass proved much more pleasant, and by the time we finished the sun came out to allow us the usual opportunity for car admiration.

The photo by the red telephone box shows the MGA owned by Harry Lagoni from Denmark. There is however a story behind this, and the telephone box is an essential part of that story! Harry apparently has his very own telephone box, not a common sight on Danish

Lunchtime by Loch Katrine

Penelewey, Feock, just near to King Harry Ferry. Meetings start at 8.00pm, though should you want to eat, meals are available from 6.00pm.

The Register had its Summer Picnic at Millets Farm Centre, near Abingdon, with 50 cars, or their owners, showing an interest.

The last Sunday of July 2018 was a very special day for the MGCC’s London to Sydney Marathon MGB as it was able to drive in the parade at the 50th anniversary of the event under its own power. The event, organised by the Historic Marathon Car Group, displayed 15 cars that participated in the London to Sydney as well as cars from other World Marathon events, and many other rally cars. Also in attendance was the BL Special Tuning Transporter now owned by MGCC member Doug Samuel. Our MGB

received many positive comments as well as praise of the Club for taking on the project. Its next main outing will be at the NEC Classic Car Show in November with other Marathon cars.

It is getting close to the date, September 22, for the Lecture at Radley College and there are still some places available.

Some interesting people will be there: Paddy Hopkirk, Alec Poole, Rosemary Smith and representation from the Competitions department, Peter Browning and Bill Price. Have a look at the events page on the website for full details.

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 14:41

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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.

DAX 427 COBRA -1973 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.

The car is finished in dark blue with grey interior, it is MOT’d until May 2019 and comes with good history file with invoices etc.

This cobra is now a historic vehicle so tax exempt and has been built to a high standard. £36,995

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.

Units 9/10 Fifehead Business Park, Manor Farm, Fifehead Magdalen, near Gillingham, Dorset SP8 5RR

E-mail: mikerolls4mgs@compuserve.com • www.mikerolls.co.uk Mail Order “Friendly Quality Service”

CHISBON CHISBON RESTORATIONS RESTORATIONS CHISBON RESTORATIONS

EST’D

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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

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

ingham B23 Hampton Road, Birm

13 Farm, Fifehead Magdalen, near Gil ingham, Dorset SP8 5RR UnitTe s 9/1l:0 Fi01 fehead21Busi37ness3Park,13Manor OFFICE SOUTHERN SALES

E-mail: mikerolls4mgs@compuserve.com • www.mikerolls.co.uk www.donhoods.com Mail Order “Friendly Quality Service”

00 Tel: 01202 7422

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 87

CARPET SETS FOR MOST MODELS

CM02.13/B32/d

•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. 7JJ

To celebrate Chisbon Restorations being 30 years old in For allevery your major MG requirements, from ainservice to will, a prize 2017, restoration booked this year on Forwinning all your restoration, MG requirements, from a service to avia prize contact Adrian completion receive a free custom made bookPriestley documenting the winning restoration, contact Adrian Priestley via work…all bound in library buckram.

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Tel: 01255 862626 Tel: 01255 862626

or or or or

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 87

24/08/2018 14:42

REGISTERS

MIDGET

Mike Parker mikeparker78@btinternet.com Midget Register Open Day We set up for our fist Open Day at Kimber House in wet and windy conditions, and were therefore apprehensive as to its success. But we needn’t have worried. Members arrived from far and wide, with many having never visited the Club Offices before. On hand to meet and greet them were some of the Register Committee along with the Midget Register Director, Dave Saunders, who told many a tale about his time in racing!

We had a lot of help from the staff at Kimber House during the build up to the event and on the day, so our thanks go to Adam, Cherina and Ineke.

Thanks also must go to the members who kindly lent us

their cars for display and most of all to the 40-odd people who turned up and made it all worth it. But the star of the day was not the cars but Mrs Chaundy’s cakes, which had the latest Midget Register’s sticker on them (see picture). I think they would have won any of the TV bake offs!!

Dates for your diary are the annual Aldon Shoot Out on October 27 2018, which is the last Saturday of the month.

For more details and to book a place, contact Dennis Wharf on 01296 714232 or email dennis@loisweedon.net There may be time still to book a place on the Midget Register Road run on September 2 2018 by ringing me on 01235

525255, or use the email at the top of the notes. I look forward to meeting some of you on the Road Run. Mike Parker

V8

VICTOR SMITH 0208 392 9434 victorsmith@v8register.net www.v8register.net Aldon rolling road day Steve Newton reports bookings of rolling road sessions at Aldon in the West Midlands on Saturday September 8 have proved popular. The event will be of interest to members who want to see rolling road sessions in action, so if you would like to attend as a spectator do contact Steve and let him know you will be coming. Full details are on our ‘More’ webpage. www.v8register.net/more.htm Nearly 1,000 workshop notes Our popular V8NOTES and RV8NOTES series launched in April 1979 and September 1999 are packed with spares and maintenance tips contributed by

fellow members. Currently there is a total of 986 notes so with a further 14 more workshop notes we will reach the milestone of 1,000 notes, hopefully this year, our 40th Anniversary year.

Why not contribute a workshop note sharing a maintenance or spares tip you have found with your ownership of an MGV8?

You can download a template for a workshop note in Word format on our ‘More’ webpage.

Introduction of E10 fuel not good news for classic cars The DfT launched a consultation in July on whether and how it should introduce E10 fuel to the UK market. E10 contains more bioethanol than traditional

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petrol. The consultation closes on September 16 – see our ‘More’ webpage for the GOV.UK link where you can participate in the consultation.

The DfT publicity says E10 “would help reduce carbon emissions from petrol vehicles, helping the UK meet its climate

change targets. But drivers of older vehicles should not be hit hard in the pocket as a result. We have launched this consultation in order to better understand the impact of E10 on the UK market, and to ensure that drivers are protected if any changes come into effect.”

The DfT adds: “The changes to the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RAFT) announced earlier this year require transport fuel suppliers to increase the amount of renewable fuel supplied across the UK up to 2032. To meet these new targets, fuel suppliers could choose to increase the percentage of bioethanol in petrol beyond the current 5% (E5) up to a limit of 10% (E10). According to industry figures, there could be around one million cars within the UK that are unsuitable for use with E10.”

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 14:42

REGISTERS

FWD

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

July saw members of the FWD Register attend the MGCC Saloon day at Donington race circuit. FWD cars were well represented with three MG Metros in both MKI and MKII guise, and two MG Maestro Turbos. How often do you even see even just one of these cars!

All of the cars that attended were a credit to their owners, however one car stood out and rightfully was awarded FWD car of the day.

This was the stunning Maestro

MGF

Turbo in British Racing Green owned by Lynden and Mandy Grant. A car that has a bit of a story to tell.

This Maestro Turbo is number 410 of the 505 produced, and has been owned by Lynden Grant for the last 21 years. In 2001 Lynden and Mandy began a full restoration of the car, finally finishing it in August 2007 just weeks before it was used as their wedding car. It has had a full body / nut and bolt restoration, most

TIM MORRIS 01932 882467 scribe@mgfregister.org www.mgfregister.org We are packing our passports and you are interested in Continental will be off across the Channel this events then please get in touch month for the MGF Register foray with Colin Murrell (international@ into France. We are combining mgfregister.org) who can let you a weekend away with the end know what is happening, or check of commemorations for the First out the International section on our World War and will be visiting internet forum or the International Vimy Ridge memorial amongst column in FasTForward. others, our way of marking the If you’re not going to France sacrifices of the early 20th century and live further north then don’t by enjoying the freedoms hard forget to head over to Eden Camp won for us successive generations. where the Yorkshire Region and We hope to make a further foray John Prewer are organising a to foreign shores next year so Northern gathering on September keep an eye out for that in the 16 (no need to book, just turn up upcoming months. Of course, there in the morning), special entrance are other events on the Continent rate of £7pp on the gate for that are organised by our overseas those attending. friends, and many of our members Over 30 rooms have been join them for some very good booked at Cricklade House Hotel times enjoying their hospitality. If for the second of the Register’s

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 89

panels being replaced, before undergoing a full respray in its original British Racing Green. The running gear has been stripped, sandblasted and coated. The bushes and dampers have been replaced. The engine was brand new from Motorbuild and has had the cylinder head polished and ported. The standard turbo was replaced by a hybrid turbo from Turbo Technics. The engine also has updated head bolts, bigger radiator and intercooler.

The clutch and flywheel both are from a Rover 220 turbo and the front brakes have been replaced with 280mm discs and four pot

calipers. The wheels are 16 inch Montego wheels with road legal track tyres. Power is currently around 230 bhp at 16 psi. With the exception of the bodywork / respray, the rest of the restoration was completed by Lynden and Mandy at home, with only a carport to protect the Maestro and them from the elements.

So as we come to the end of another month the FWD Register is looking forward to the BL day at Milton Keynes as well as being awarded a small stand at the Manchester classic car show.

More details of this will follow in the next Safety Fast!.

new style national Christmas ‘do’ weekends. Although the remaining rooms have been released now, you may still be able to book in and join us for a relaxing weekend in the country – no runs, no MG necessary – just a simple social weekend with dinner and dancing. Contact Worzel at events@mgfregister.org if you would like to join us.

We hear on the grapevine that MG Motor are thinking about a new roadster which is not necessarily an electric vehicle. As such this would be the successor of the MGF/TF and something that we, as roadster owners, would very much like to see. An all new design would be great to add to the plethora of SUVs that are currently being produced and mooted. We will keep an eye on that as, I am sure, will the main Club.

We didn’t win a hat trick of Best Club at the Brooklands Classic

Car Show but we did swap places with the Mercedes Owners Club and were runners-up, so didn’t drop too far from the top of the tree.

We are delighted to announce that Alison Issacson has officially become the ‘Rep’ for Anglia Region. She has effectively been running the group for a while and is involved with the Anglia Centre but now has the MGF Register stamp of approval!

Good luck Alison, and I already see there are plenty of meets and events on the horizon. There is also a whisper of a new East Midlands Rep too, so look out for the re-activation of that Region soon hopefully. Take a look at our internet forum where you’ll see all the current Regions – if there is not one near you and you fancy a go yourself then please get in touch with Chairman Nigel at chair@mgfregister.org.

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 89

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REGISTERS

ZR/ZS/ZT

enthusiast groups. If you are interested in attending, please JOHN THOMPSON Tel: 07854 275541 johnt5@btinternet.com www.mgcc.co.uk/zedregister contact either myself at the email address at the head of these notes the Zeds in the world of classic or Paul Money at paulmoneymg@ Upcoming events cars. We had a great time last gmail.com so we can get an idea With the main events of the year year and we enjoyed flying the of how much space we will need now behind us we can relax a MG Rover flag with the local and how many passes we need to little as we head into the autumn.

The racing championships continue at Oulton Park on 1st September and will literally be on us when these notes are published. They then conclude at Snetterton on Saturday 29th September. Remember, there will lunchtime parade laps at both these race meetings so visit Geoff Hirst in race control if you would like to drive your own car around the circuit.

Moving into October now, we will present again at the Lancing Motor Show on 14th October.

We will be going down there to promote the Club, ourselves and

ask for. We will then send them out in due course. For further information visit the official Lancing Motor Show page.

Initial plans for next year are beginning to take shape already, more about those in the coming months.

MG6.3.5

STEVE HAINES Steve-haines@live.co.uk www.facebook.com/groups/MG635Register https://twitter.com/635register With the glorious summer weather we’ve been blessed with in the UK this year I thought I’d take the opportunity this month

to publish a few photos of our cars in good company with other MG6s, 3s, GS and ZSs at some of the events the Register attended.

An SUV line-up at sunny Silverstone during this year’s MGLive!

Andy Courvoisier Littler receiving his MG6 of the day award at Donington

A line up of 3s at Donington during Saloon Day

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Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 90

Modern MGs, always a popular sight at Kimber House

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 14:42

MARTIN MARTIN SMITH SMITH www.usedmgtfspares.co.uk www.usedmgtfspares.co.uk

Better Response • More Torque More Power • More Economy MORE FUN! Installed in your factory ecu by ex factory engineers!

Official Tune Supplier to MGCC race series as seen at MG Live!

The MG specialists for MGF-MGTF -MG3

MARTIN SMITH Quality new and used spares.

Car trimmers/upholstery.

MG car sales and MG repair service

www.usedmgtfspares.co.uk

Call us to arrange YOUR upgrade

Tel: 07722 175473 Units 1&2, Westlane Farm, Westlane, East Lydford, Somerset TA11 7HD Email: smudgemg@yahoo.co.uk

62B HIGH STREET SHEPPERTON, MIDDLESEX TEL: 01932 241843 / 07836 281493 WWW.CHURCHSQUAREAUTOS.COM EMAIL: MGSALES@CHURCHSQUAREAUTOS.COM

MG TF 135 Style Pack (just 16,540 miles)

MG TF 135 Spark ltd ed (just 28,000 miles)

2010 (10 Reg) Manual Petrol. One of the last 120 made, very low mileage 2011 model year car fitted with the Style Pack and folding door mirrors. Full Black leather sport seats, 16” Twisted pepper alloys, silver interior trim, glass heated rear screen, engine water level censor, soft ride suspension, remote boot opening. Full service history 7 services cambelt serviced at 13,950m. Just 2 owners having covered just 16,540 miles and having spent most it life sunning it on Guernsey and The Isle of Wight. £6,995

2005 (05 Reg) Manual, Petrol, Finished in: Xpower Grey/Black leather grey inserts Superb very low mileage ltd edition Spark having covered just 28,000 miles full documented service history with all old mots and original bill of sale from new. A new headgasket / cambelt / water pump fitted 31/7/18, new set of pektron relay also just replaced by us. Moted to May 2019. Black leather sport seats with grey alcantara inserts and MG Logo, silver console/door trim, sports pack 2 with unmarked 16” 11 spoke alloys, chrome packs, front fog lights, Engine water level censor etc. £4,995

MG 3 STYLE LUX (just 6,300 miles) 2016 (66 Reg), Manual, Petrol, Finished in Ruby Red with Black leather and air conditioning. This is the Top of the range total spec model having covered just 6,300 miles, also fitted with airbags, Cruise control, park sensor, Diamond cut alloy wheels, MG3 overmatts, boot liner, electric windows, remote locking, MG warranty until 28/9/2019. Immaculate totally as new, huge saving (over £4500) on the new price. Cheap insurance and road tax. £6,795

MG TF 135 Sunstorm +H/Top (Just 22,460 miles)

MG TF 135 Immaculate (just 32,000 miles)

2005 (05 Reg), Manual, Petrol, Finished in: Silver/Black leather grey inserts Superb very low mileage Sunstorm ltd edition. Previously supplied by us at 7,000miles in 2007 and now just 22,460 miles, local car in outstanding condition. High spec model with a colour coded removable hardtop, Black soft top, These models are fitted with sports pack 2 with 16” 11 spoke alloys, chrome packs, front fog lights, Full documented service history with old mots (10 services) + New headgasket / water pump / cambelt (Fitted 29/6/18) and new mot. £4,895

2004 (54 Reg), Manual, Petrol, Finished in: Xpower Grey / Black A very low mileage TF135, having covered just 32,000 miles, full service history (11 services). Pre registered and just 2 owners. Fitted with unmarked 16” 6 spoke alloys with new Falken tyres, ABS braking, front fog lights, engine water level censor, Grey fleck hood with a glass heated rear screen etc, Special C.Quartz paint protection hence unmarked paintwork. Supplied with the Original bill of sale plus every bills and all old mots. Immaculate outstanding show condition TF135. £4,795

We are the original MGF/TF specialists. Offering very very low mileage very high specification MGF’s / TF’s including special limited edition models. Continuing to take our MG’s to events / shows and Race meeting with the MGCC ‘MGF’ register.

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

VIEWING BY APPOINTMENT PLEASE

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 91

This is just a small selection from our stock

www.churchsquareautos.com SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 91

24/08/2018 14:42

CL ASSIFIEDS How to Advertise 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.

1936 MG TA

Fully restored TA first reg 15/10/1936 MPJG engine. Rebore + 20th. Oil pressure 55psi hot.

Unleaded head. New s/steel fuel tank. Alfin brakes. New hood with 2 rear windows. 2 box files of records came with the car. Buff log books from 1945. Previous owner 40 years. All instruments JAEGER. Woodwork perfect. Bare metal respray winter 2017. List of work done too great to list. £32000.

Please call for more details on 01395445820 or 07867552334.

Email: ajbeach@hotmail.co.uk (Devon)

1951 MG TD

This LHD UK registered MG TD 1951 is partially restored with parts available to assist with completing the restoration. Green exterior with cream leather interior. Phone: 07906774939 £14,500 neg.

(North London)

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)

1959 MGA Roadster,

Originally 1500. Old English White, 1860 MGB engine (113 bhp at 5,000 rpm), 5 Speed Sierra Type 9 grearbox, overhauled Sep 17, 4 new tyres, genuine EZ electronic power steering, front disc brakes, etc. Grey hood and interior have NOT been refurbished. Real driver’s car, cruises 70 at 3,100rpm, 80 at 3,600rpm, just done 2,000 miles Lake Como via Stelvio Pass. £20,000. Email: jensinehough@hotmail.com (Bucks).

2009 TF 135

1979 MGB GT

In Black. 89,000 miles, standard B series engine; with overdrive gearbox; Two new Michelin tyres; Period Compomotive wheels; new battery; most fuel lines replaced; Braided brake hoses and upgraded discs. Lowered to ‘old’ height with rubber bumpers removed and GRP valances. Re-upholstered seats.

Zebart treated from new. Webasto roof. Has taken us on a number of trips to France and Spain. Fat history file. Will come with new MoT. £5,500. No offers. A box of useful spares included. Email dave.tilbury@me.com

1973 MGBGT Automatic

88.000 miles. Really good condition, excellent runner. Original features.

All bills kept. Used for pleasure .

Second owner from 1978. Garage kept. £5,000. Contact Steve on 01245610046 (Chelmsford Essex)

One of the nicest you will find.

Bought as a ‘keeper’ but due to a change in circumstances am now selling. Radiant Red with matching hard top, black leather interior, Anthracite wheels. 15400 miles, N series engine. S/Steel sports exhaust & air filter, Black roll bars with blue inserts. Too many extras to list here, £6500.

Ring Brian 01226716830 for full details. (South Yorkshire)

1971 MG Midget RWA

Just out of restoration, complete strip down repair replace and total repaint. Engine, machined, rebuilt, new pistons, cam and, lead free head just ran in. Stainless manifold and exhaust. All new brakes and suspension, New carpets, seat covers, door panels etc and new hood. Selling to finance the completion of other projects before I’m too old to enjoy them. Offers in the region of £8000, may consider px, (motor bike or something interesting management will decide (wife)). Please ring after 18.30 on 01362683671. (North Norfolk)

92 SAFETY FAST! SEPTEMBER 2018

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 92

2004 MGTF 80th Anniversary Limited edition 61,000 miles. High spec model, chrome pack stainless exhaust stainless steel water pipes.

Alloys 16”11 and 4 new Bilstein shock absorbers. Full service March 2018, replaced cam belt plus water pump. Chrome roll hoops. Private number plate included . MOT 11 months Lots of paperwork. HPI clear. Superb condition. £3750 ovno. Contact Alan 07702808582 (Devon)

1971 MG MIDGET.

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. £4,750. Contact Mark on 07999 082842 (South Devon)

1973 MGB GT V8

Original factory V8 chrome bumper model in Damask Red . Overdrive 3rd and 4th . Webasto sunroof .

Detailed history file . Heritage Certificate . MOT June 2019 .

Exceptional condition throughout .

Drives beautifully . 27,950 . Contact 01794517892 or email k.stone189@btinternet.com ( South Hampshire )

2003 MG ZS 180 Hatchback Low mileage 50912, 53 plate, MOT 25th July 2019. On sorn. Two previous owners. Full leather interior. X Power Grey, 5 door Hatchback. Air Con. Electric front windows, Offers over £1500. For more info or photo's contact John on 01278323241 or email halemunns@hotmail.co.uk (Somerset)

1959 MGA 1600

UK car, full rebuild 10 years ago. I have fitted electric ignition, seat belts, re-chromed windscreen with safety glass (windscreen clinic) Type 9 Five speed gearbox, clutch etc.

New rad, large core, luggage rack etc. I owned the car for the last 7 years. 30years MGCC member.

Selling for health reasons. £24,500 Tel: Clive on 01297443124.

(Dorset)

1979 MGBGT

In Inca Yellow. Original unmodified.

Sound bodywork, 4 Speed manual with overdrive, MOT in Feb, TAX exempt. Great first classic car or small project. £2200 OIRO. Tel: Marcie 07832484887 (Abingdon)

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 14:42

A37 - Barry Walker_CLASSIC 23/07/2018 10:30 Page 1

CL ASSIFIEDS

BEAULIEU INT. AUTOJUMBLE

THE

SEPTEMBER 1ST & 2ND 2018

STAND IS HERE 65 66

80 79 78 67 77 68 76 69 75 74 70 73 71 72

81 96 82 95 83 84 94 85 93 86 92 87 88 91 89 90

GREEN (B) FIELD

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

GREEN FIELD

28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

6

55c 55b 55a 55 54 53 2

59 84 60 83 61 82 62 81 63 80 64 79 65 78 66 77 67 76 68 75 69 74 70 73 71 72

93 118 94 117 95 96 97 116 98 115 99 114 100 113 101 112 102 111 103 110 104 109 105 108 106 107

130 157 131 156 132 155 133 154 134 153 135 152 136 151 137 150 138 149 139 148 140 147 141 146 142 145 143 144

49 64 50 63 51 52 62 53 61 54 60 55 56 59 57 58

MARQUEES (BLUE)

GR

MARQUEES (BLUE)

33 34

48 47 46 35 45 36 44 37 43 42 38 41 39 40

GREEN FIELD

124 163 125 162 126 161 127 160 128 159 129 158

6 7

17 32 18 31 19 20 30 21 29 22 28 23 24 27 25 26

9 10

170 195 171 194 172 193 173 192 174 191 175 190 176 189 177 188 178 187 179 186 180 185 181 184 182 183

163a 202 164 201 165 200 166 199 167 198 168 197 169 196

PUBLIC ENTRANCE

PUBLIC ENTRANCE

3 4 5

16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8

88 123 89 122 90 121 91 120 92 119

OAK TREE GONE!

BEER

94 93

1 2

87a 56 87 57 86 58 85

57 63 62 58 61 59 60

97 96 95

GREEN (D) FIELD

BANKING

164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 1 173 1 121 152 122 151 123 150 124 149 125 148 126 147 127 146 128 145 129 144 130 143 131 142 82 108 83 107 84 106 85 105 86 104 87 103 88 102 89 101 90 100 91 99 92 98

RED FIELD

69 68 67 66 65 64

139 138 137 136 135 134 133 132

T O I L E T S

33 32

RED (A) FIELD

51 52 53 54 55 56

75 74 73 72 71 70

RED (A) FIELD

25 38b 26 38a 27 38 28 37 29 36 30 35 31 34

115 157 116 117 156 118 155 119 154 120 153

76 114 77 113 78 112 79 111 80 110 81 109

S

19 20 21 22 23 24

15 16 17 18

TO RED & YELLOW FIELD

45 46 47 48 49 50

RED FIELD

44 43 42 41 40 39

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

1 15 16 16 16 163

BE SURE NOT TO MISS IT. STANDS R60-63. RIGHT BY THE ENTRANCE

CAR SALES plus accessories for the models we sell: M, D, F, J, K, L, P, N, TA, TB, TC, TD.

… for the very best in vintage MGs … Estd. 1968

www.barrywalker.com email barry@barrywalker.com (we are close to Stratford-on-Avon)

Telephone 01753 644599

Email: martin@runnymede motorcompany.com

MGOC. OCC.

Recommended spares supplier

CM09.18/A37/g

Side and nose mounted superchargers (incl. all fittings), original badges, original tool kits, luggage racks, mascots and manuals.

TEL: 01789 400181/FAX: 400230 MOB: 07836 244103

Mobile (07836) 222111

www.runnymedemotorcompany.com

Aston Martin in the Thames Valley

URGENT PROOF Please check this proof carefully for errors in style, content and layout.

Although every care is exercised in preparing your advert, we cannot hold ourselves responsible for any inaccuracies you may overlook.

SHOULD YOU REQUIRE ANY ALTERATIONS TO THIS PROOF PLEASE TELEPHONE BEFORE _ _ _ _ _ _ _ AND QUOTE ADVERT NO. _ _ _ _ _

1965 MGB roadster finished in California Sage with white “Works” style hard top and prepared for FIA Classic rallying. FIA papers (now expired). The car comes with an enormous file listing all of the various modifications and previous history of the car. Perfect as an Historic Rally car or an ideal subject for development into an FIA historic race car. £22,950 We reserve the right to charge for any alteration to this proof which is a departure from the original copy

Please view our website at www.runnymedemotorcompany.com for further information or contact Martin Brewer on 01753 644 599 www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 93

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 93

24/08/2018 14:42

CL ASSIFIEDS

2003 MG TF 1.8

Full Service History. 79k on the clock. MOT until April 2019.The engine is a 135 so drives nicely.Cam belt and water pump recently replaced. 4 good tyres and very good condition alloy wheels.

Bodywork very good and underneath in good condition. A very nice kenwood radio installed. 2 keys and workshop manual together with all details of mot's and work done. £2250 ono. Please call Sandra on 07563342595 or 01405740049

1997 MGF 1.8

1973 MGB Roadster

Delightful car in Teal Blue with full leather interior and walnut dash.

Full body restoration in 2013 by local marque expert and only 1000 miles since. Unleaded cylinder head , stainless steel exhaust system and overdrive. Body waxoyled. Mohair hood and full tonneau cover with vinyl hood stowage cover. History and all invoices since restoration. £15000. Joy Burry 01784483383 or frank.burry587@btinternet.com.

(Berkshire)

Blue with cream le dition. Heated rea 55,000 miles. F.S.H. Usual maintenan carried out - in cooling pipes, £1,250 ono. Some 01622205087. (Ma

1952 MGTD

2000 MGF 1.8 Wedgwood

Non-VVC SE. 55K miles.

M OT M ay 2 0 1 9 . M a t c h i n g hardtop with bag. Black l ea t h er i n t er i or, a l l oy s , s poi l e r, w i n d s t o p. N e w h e a t e d glass hood with tonneau.

M u d f l a p s . U p g r a d e d b r a ke s a nd s h oc ks , s / s p i p es , r a di a t o r, t h e r m o s t a t , u p r a t e d h ea d g a s ket a nd l ower r a i l , t i mi n g b el t . Good s er v i c e h i s t or y. E xc el l ent c ondi t i on .

Rel u c t a nt s a l e . £2, 50 0.

Tel ep hon e: 0 15 25 75 00 42 or s a g a rdens @ h ot ma i l . c o. u k ( Bedfords hi re)

MGB Roadster 1977

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 Aldun Automotive, 15” minilites with new tyres, stainless exhaust. £8995.00 Contact Angus 07812113036. (West Midlands.)

1972 MGB Roa

1989 MG Maestro 2.0i 1957 MG MAGNETTE ZA

Maroon, 1st registered 28/2/1957, 1489cc. Part restored in 2008 by Shortens in Norwich including engine re-built - over £9000 spent.

Bills are on file together with original registration document and drivers handbook. This car has been kept in its original condition by previous owner who bought the car in 1976. The interior, apart from the carpets, is original as is most of the paintwork, which reflects its age.

Number plate is believed to be worth in the region of £2000.

Last MOT and service June 2017. £9250.00. Tel: 07967338758 (Caterham, Surrey)

94 SAFETY FAST! SEPTEMBER 2018

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 94

Green and green condition. Impor then total rebuild (78k miles). Full Engine rebuilt 200 since. New brakes pump 2018. Wi 90K miles. MOT t Phone 01932248 07740864760, or crichardgardner@ (Surrey)

Flame red/grey interior. Usual specification and totally original except for Turbo wheels and updated headlamps and protectors. Full service history from new, one previous owner, present one for 15 years.

Maintained regardless of cost, a rare car in outstanding condition.

Reluctant sale £7250 ono.

Tel:01526388680 or 07949031818 (Lincolnshire)

1969 MG Midget

Leather interior, s excellent tyres, hal covers, windshield od radio cassette, mentation, olde rebuild, history fil waxoyled, garage only, Heritage Cer serviced, very relia tifully, owned 22 01482632091 (Ea

1998 MGF VVC

In white. Older restoration, 13 000 miles. Silver painted wire wheels with new Michelin tyres. Much recent work. £8750. Tel: 07703 532507

Red 78,689 miles Head gasket, radiat front wings, tyres. plate. Long MOT. £975 ono.

Te (Cambridgeshire)

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 14:42

CL ASSIFIEDS

1997 MGF 1.8 VVC

oadster

Teal Blue with full and walnut dash. ation in 2013 by ert and only 1000 ded cylinder head xhaust system and waxoyled. Mohair nneau cover with ge cover. History since restoration. y 01784483383 or btinternet.com.

MG RV8,

One UK owner. Manufactured in 1995. Re-imported from Japan and registered to the present owner in Dec 2008. Woodcote Green with tan interior. Only 16,000 miles in good condition with service history and recent MOT. Supplied with Laserline immobiliser, half and full tonneau covers. Fitted with A/C this modern classic can be enjoyed immediately. £17500. Contact Terry on 07803908076 or Email: terr y-aquarius@hotmail.co.uk.

(Near Warrington)

1952 MGTD

er 1977

en, black leather oric vehicle status ot concourse but on, over £18,000 ce 1993 and only miles during that d race engine, new n & rolling road Automotive, 15” w tyres, stainless 00 Contact Angus West Midlands.)

Green and green leather. Good condition. Imported from USA, then total rebuild in early 1990s (78k miles). Full pictorial record.

Engine rebuilt 2002, limited mileage since. New brakes 2016, and water pump 2018. Wire wheels. Now 90K miles. MOT to 3/19. £18,000.

Phone 01932248729, mobile 07740864760, or email: crichardgardner@btinternet.com.

(Surrey)

terior. Usual speclly original except and updated headctors. Full service ew, one previous one for 15 years. rdless of cost, a tanding condition. £7250 ono. or 07949031818

Leather interior, stainless exhaust, excellent tyres, half and full tonneau covers, windshield, overdrive, period radio cassette, additional instrumentation, older photographic rebuild, history file, valuable plate, waxoyled, garaged, summer use only, Heritage Certificate, regularly serviced, very reliable, drives beautifully, owned 22 years, £7995, tel.

01482632091 (East Yorkshire)

1954 MG TF.

12,500cc 43,000mls. Black/Tan. Tonneau cover. Stainless steel exhaust. M.O.T. 5 New Tyres. Heater. Chrome frame & lined Basket. Original box & tools, starting handle. MG Plate. Many spares. History, personally loved & known 35yrs. Very Pretty.

Condition 3. Low mileage, genuine, unrestored car in regular use. Very hard to find in this condition.

£26,000.

Telephone: 01635 226433 2004 MG TF 135

Rare Monogram Spectre with Oxford Leather and Bright Pack.

62K miles Head gasket and s/s water pipes in 2017. Refurbed 16in Abingdons with new tyres.

TechnoZen relays. Hood with glass rear window. Recent service/MOT. Looks and drives very well. £3,500.

Tel 01298814798 or email liam.mccarthy@tiscali.co.uk (High Peak)

1972 MGB Roadster

estro 2.0i

get

Blue with cream leather. Good condition. Heated rear window. Under 55,000 miles. F.S.H. MoT April, 2019.

Usual maintenance/replacements carried out - including stainless cooling pipes, Black Hardtop. £1,250 ono. Some spares. Ray on 01622205087. (Maidstone)

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

972 MGB Roadster Old English White, red trim. 1974 MIDGET 1275 RWA Blaze, Autumn Leaf trim.

Totally restored on dry state shell, everything is Restored car, totally solid, home restoration. Drives new/recon. 2L fast road engine. Sports leather superbly. Weber carb. Great little car. £5,995 seats. Everflex red hood. W/Wheels. Drives like a new car, superb, S/S boot rack, sports wheel, painted dash. Hydraulic bonnet struts, K&N filters.

Would cost in excess of £35k to build. £27,995

2000 MGF 1.8 Wedgewood

SE limited edition. 51,000 miles.

Dinitrol rust proofed. Full black leather interior.

Polybushed.

Uprated SPAX shock absorbers.

Stainless steel water pipes. Low coolant warning kit. Stainless steel exhaust. Matching hard top.Tonneau cover. Full service history. MOT June 2019. £3995 o.n.o Tel: 01765 608529 (North Yorkshire)

1960 MGA 1600 COUPE Iris Blue, blue leather trim, arm rest. Fully restored car from bare shell, everything restored or replaced. Fully rechromed, all new trim, bare shell repaint. New wings. Boot carpets, boot rack. Unleaded rebuilt engine. 5 speed gearbox conversion for effortless touring.

Superb car, last owner since 1973! Would cost in excess of £60k to restore £32,500

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

1976 MGB ROADSTER Tartan Red, black trim.

Totally restored car (by ourselves 8 years ago).

All new chrome, detailed engine bay, new trim.

Superb car, lovely panel fit. Tonneau. Immaculate car ready for summer. Tax & MOT exempt. £14,995

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

SELLING YOUR CAR? 1998 MGF VVC

estoration, 13 000 nted wire wheels elin tyres. Much 8750. Tel: 07703

Red 78,689 miles. Much spent.

Head gasket, radiator, clutch, brakes, front wings, tyres. Smart number plate. Long MOT. Little used now. £975 ono.

Tel: 07759434533 (Cambridgeshire)

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 95

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

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 95

24/08/2018 14:42

Insurance for all MG’s classic and modern

SPARES FOR SALE HOW TO ADVERTISE

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.

MGYA

Central jacking system (jacks, pump and can) offside inner wing/bonnet threshold panel, offers.Midget offside quater light assy £20. Rear shelf carpet Mk13 as new £20.Mk1 wheel restored £20. Rear bumper, front and rear hood rails, 3 Sprite hubcaps £12. 1100/1300 bonnet £20. Meastro 2.0EFI set new (boxed) 14in factory wheel trims (part no. NAM7911MV) cost new £60 - £30. Tel: 01526-388689 or 07949-031818

1966 Mk 1 MGB Roadster,

Original Narrow tunnel. Model. 4 Speed 3 syncro gear box c/w Bell housing and chrome gear lever.

Cross member and near new propshaft, Very good condition, worked very well. The original donor car was then fitted with a 5 speed gear box. £250.00 will not split. Phone 01379588374, email, willowwalker4me@hotmail.co.uk (IP21 5QA)

Midget convert to Wire wheels New or Refurbished kit of parts incl. Axle Case, Half Shafts, Back plates and all rear brake parts, incl new Drums. New bearings & seals.

Front Hubs with new bearings and seals & Brake Rotors. 5 original Dunlop Wire Wheels, rebuilt and repainted. All new Yokohamas and inner tubes. Prices dependant on Diff/CWP wanted. 4.2:1 £1,250. 3.9:1 £1,450 or 3.7:1 £1,600.

Contact: keithduncan@talktalk.net (Didcot)

MGF

Exhaust and nearside headlamp.

Buyer collects.Offers or free with car (see classified) Ray 01622 205087. (Maidstone)

MGB Ford Sierra

5 speed type 9 gear box for sale, bought second hand, no guarantees and seems in good working condition. Ideal for 5 speed conversion on the square rigger MGs. I have owned it some time and did not want to convert my MG TD. For sale £60 ono please contact Phil on 01993 704032

MG SA Twin 1 1/4"

Downdraught S.U. Carbs.

Removed from an MG about 50 years ago and unused since.

Thought to have been from a WA but research confirms they are from an MG SA / Wolseley 2.2 litre 6 cyl engine. Designation on body of carbs is DA3 3019.

Offers please. Contact Tony Parsons on 07714 152955 or anthonypar100@aol.com

MGA

Pair of fibreglass rear wings in good condition, no cracks or crazing. £40 the pair. Phone Paul on 01235 851251 or Email: pjsbatho@btinternet.com

MGA 1956 parts

4x wire wheels £140 1x cylinder head with springs £40 1x Motorola radio with chrome face £70.00. I have photos of all the parts if you send me a message my email: cj@casinisystems.co.uk or 07792416321. (Thetford)

Safety Fast Magazines

From the last ten years available as full set. Also some previous copies back to the 1970’s.

For collection free of charge from Derbyshire. For more info email, martin_latimer@hotmail.com

Car cover for outside use. Only used once. £65 collection only.

Tel 02476395185

MGA

Pair of chrome overriders some tiny rust spots, and rears have been painted silver but in overall good condition £30 the pair MG TD & TF Inner steering column. part number 15 on page 25 of Moss T-Type catalogue. No longer available £80.

MGB. Early 3 synchro starter motor as new only used over 3 months. £50. A selection of roadster carpets in black, available due to change in colour, 3 synchro tunnel cover carpet new £40.

Call for details. All free collection, or postage at cost. Telephone jack on 01280848529 (Buckingham)

MGB

Hard top. US made “Snugtop”, good cond, lightweight perspex windows fitted but also have all orig glass. White. £150.

Set of 3-eared spinners, 8TPI, exc cond. £80 2 pairs of twin HS4 carbs. Both complete with manifolds & heatshields. One pair with pancake K&N filters, the other all chromed & with ram tubes. Both taken off good running cars.

Offers.

10 row oil cooler. £10 Sports steering wheel, semidished black flat spokes. With boss adapter, wiring but no cap. £15. Contact Phil 07486978575 (Cornwall)

Registration Number

A12MGX On retention. Offers please Call Toby on 07811 499188

96 SAFETY FAST! SEPTEMBER 2018

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 96

MGA

5 off 60-spoke wire wheels for sale. 15 inch. 4.5J.Good condition but will need some repainting. No broken spokes or dents.

Collection from Bristol. £250.

Contact Warren Marsh on 0117 9426338

Period motoring badges

RAC GB badge, pressed aluminium 1950s / 1960s. - £35.00.

AA beehive radiator badge, No. 6A81019 - £12.00.

Company of Veteran Motorists radiator badge - £15.00 The organisation was formed in 1932 and this is a rare badge. All prices plus £1.99 postage. Contact David email: dr.gjazz1@timetalk.co.uk or Tel: 01403 264548.

Call for a quote today

01376 574000

www.classiccarinsurance.co.uk Fast Forward Magazines

The full colour, F/TF register magazine. Issues 9, 11-14, 16, 19, 24, 25, 32-40 & 41-48 available. £1 + £1 P&P each. If interested in all 26 issues, collection from York.

Sonic Blue MGTF Hardtop,

trolley & bag. Hardtop, headlining & heated rear window all in good condition. Included free: storage trolley & bag. Originally from 2005 TF Spark (RIP). £250. benfuller37@gmail.com Collection from York.

H4 Bulbs

Two H4 compatible LED headlight bulbs, almost new £38. Please phone 01363775672.

MGC Spares

4x15" powder coated wire wheels good condition. Offers.

Moto steering wheel for MGC.original black. Offers Contact: Mike on 07803137109 or Maggie4892@live.co.uk

MGF 1998 Parts

BRG Bonnet, Boot lid, Front wings, Doors with trim, all Open to offers. Black Hardtop ( needs tidying and liner) £125 Collection near Faringdon Paul Hancock 01367870136.

MGA

Tow bar assembly with bumper. needs paint and/or chrome £60 MMM and TA. Sidelaced 19in wheels. Need work £10 each T-Type. Repro petrol cap. It now fits! £40 BSF Sockets 5. 1/4 to 9/16 £8.

Telephone 01344 424258

MGC Radiater

I purchased a radiator for my 1969 MGCGT from MSC parts but never got around to fitting it.

It is now for sale still in it’s bag £75.00 buyer collects or can post at cost. Tel: 07920453529.

(Bedfordshire)

MGB Owners Pack

AKD 1975. Thirteen leaflets, Passport to service, Running In, Accessories etc. Leaflets in excellent condition, envelope tatty. £50.

MGB tool roll completet with all (14off) the original tools. £185.

MG Enthuiast, Vol 1 no.2 Oct/Nov 1983. As new. Issue no.1 currentkly gone AWOL. If it turns up I will post it on to the purchaser. £10. Tel 01386446229

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 0249819683

Toulmin Motor Club badge

No. 488, offers over £150. Please call 07740 306034.

WANTED WANTED

GT tailgate trim, used original, also sump for 1975 V8. Contact Chris on 07500828334.

WANTED

A pair of MG Rv8 seats with head rests any condition considered but must be complete. Pair of sun visors with brackets.

Engine bay plastic fuse box top cover. Door speaker grills. Head light reflector. Spare wheel cover Pair of number plate lights.

Email: Liveman500@yahoo.co.uk or Telephone: 01189-429585

WANTED MGB Roadster, Bermuda

Hardtop for 1971 car. Prefer complete but very willing to restore from even poor condition.

Good price paid. Contact Frank: frankwiseman36@gmail.com

WANTED

Pedal Box (RHD) for MG TF (1955). Please contact John 07979315075 or Email me at: mcdougalljs@btinternet.com

WANTED Moto-lita steering wheel

Boss to fit MGA. Phone Paul on 01235 851251 or Email: pjsbatho@btinternet.com

WANTED

A pair of MG RV8 seats with head rests any condition considered but must be complete Pair of sun visors with brackets Engine bay plastic fuse box top cover. Door speaker grills. Head light reflector. Spare wheel cover.

Pair of number plate lights.

Email: Liveman500@yahoo.co.uk or 01189-429585

www.mgcc.co.uk

24/08/2018 14:42

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

Insurance for all MG’s classic and modern

k

www.classiccarinsurance.co.uk

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.

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.

ww.barriecartermg.com Kimble Engineering Ltd .......................85

Barry Walker .......................................93

iecartermg.com

MIDGETS! WANTED

URGENT PROOF CM04.18/B9/ffr

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

eels are new and it has excellent chrome. Adrian Flux ..........................................58 Kmaps .................................................91 as from a dedicated owner who cared and Autocar-Electrical .................................83 T-Type restorations and XPAG engine rebuildsTyres .................................44 Longstone it. It is in lovely condition with new weather and general MG servicing are the mainstay of our Manor and tonneau, Very nice to drive. £26,950 Barrie Carter .......................................97 business. We welcome your custom.Garge .......................................64

CM06.18/B12/dfff

www.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 4Sight ring.

Lighting Company....................58 ather and it has had an engine refurbishment.

Martin Smith Used MGTF Spares ......91

Contact the Midget Specialist Mech-Mate Ltd ...................................83 MIKE AUTHERS on Abingdon Bespoke Rallies ..................................72 MG Mecca...........................................95 07703 465 224 CHROME style, content and layout.

British Motor Heritage.........................IFCPlease check this proof carefully for errors in MG Motorsport ...................................55 MIDGETS in your advert, we cannot hold Brown and Gammons.........................11Although every care is exercised in preparingBUMPERED MG Sales Centre .................................15 condition bought up to you may overlook.

Bucks Sports and Classic....................85ourselves responsible for any inaccuraciesexcellent Please check this proof carefully for errors in style, content and layout.

Midland Classic Restoration ..................3 £8,000.

View current stock at C.C.H.L ...............................................78SHOULD YOU REQUIRE ANY ALTERATIONS TO THIS PROOF PLEASE Although every care is exercised in preparing your advert, we cannot Mike Authurs hold Classics (MG Midgets) ..97 www.mgmidgets.com Car Cover Shop ..................................70 ourselves responsible for any inaccuracies you may overlook.

TELEPHONE BEFORE _ _ _ _ _ _ _ AND QUOTE ADVERT NO. _ _ _ _ _ Car Service pack .................................43 Mike Rolls ............................................87 Beech Hill Garage................................94

URGENT PROOF

ENT PROOF

Mike Satur ...........................................43 SHOULD YOU REQUIRE ANY TO THIS PROOF PLEASE CaroleALTERATIONS Nash Insurance ........................6 Moss Europe Ltd .................................41

TELEPHONE BEFORE _ _ _Chertsey _ _ _ Minors _ AND.................................85 QUOTE ADVERT NO. _ _ _ _ _

efully for errors in style, content and layout.

Church Square Autos ..........................91 cised in preparing your advert, we cannot hold Classic & Sports Cars (Essex)..............74 ny inaccuracies you may overlook.

College Motors Burford .......................83

ANY ALTERATIONS TO THIS PROOF PLEASE Colne Classics .....................................85

Motor Passion .....................................30

WANTED WANTED ALL MG MODELS!

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

Motor Wheel Services .........................64 NTG Services....................................OBC Oselli Ltd ..............................................55

reserve the right to charge for any alteration to this proof which _ _ _ _ _ AND QUOTE ADVERT NO. _ Cotswold _ _ _ _ Car Storage .........................70WePaul Depper MGs ................................37 Peter Best ..............................IBC, 96, 97

Crown Classic Cars .............................85

Peter James Insurance .......................37

We reserve the right to charge for any alteration to this proof which David Manners ......................................6 Rees Bros ............................................64 is a departure from the original copy Dennis Welch.......................................85 Distributor Doctor.................................37 Don Trimming ......................................87

charge for any alteration to this proof which Duckhams ..........................................25 arture from the original copy EJW Classic and sports.......................97 Fishers Services ..................................55

Retro Sports Cars (Was Retro Lifestyle).8 Rimmer Bros Ltd .................................36 Robin Lackford Motor Engineering .....43 Runnymede.........................................93 Scenic Car Tours ............................9, 13

Footman James ..................................27

Sheila House........................................95

Frontline ..............................................49

SMR ....................................................87

Halls Garage ........................................70

Steve McKie Sports Cars.....................85

Heathrow Transmission .......................87

The Hutson Motor Co Ltd ......................3

Hoyle Suspension ................................41

Torro Sports Cars Ltd...........................97

Just Right Autos Ltd.............................52

Vitesse Global .....................................58

www.mgcc.co.uk

Safety Fast_September18_Back.indd 97

URGENTLY WANTED

is a departure from the original copy

COYS ...................................................80

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)

SEPTEMBER 2018 SAFETY FAST! 97

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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 President: John Day Vice Presidents: Ron Gammons, Don Hayter, Peter Best, Bill Silcock.

Chairman: Ian Quarrington

T

his month we have delved into the Alan Peacock collection and have found a couple of interesting images of Abingdon built cars.

Firstly is this immaculate MGC on display on the MG Car Club stand at what might possibly be the NEC. We need to know what year

Vice Chairman: Dave Tynan Treasurer: Richard Colston

this might have been for our records.

Again we have another superb looking MG in this ‘P’ Type Airline Coupe. Can you tell us where and when this event took place?

Lastly we have this photo by Paul Hipkiss of a T-Type being put through its paces. Does anyone know where and when this event occurred?

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.

98 SAFETY FAST! SEPTEMBER 2018

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8

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