The Silverstone International was just that, a truly international gathering of MG enthusiasts and their cars.

It has been estimated that visitors from no fewer than 15 countries attended the 47th MGCC's International Weekend at Silverstone over the weekend 13/14/15 June.

The MG enthusiasts were not put off by the weather one little bit, there was so much going on, the visitors hardly had time to worry about the rain. Most of Saturdays racing, (a full programme of eleven races) was unaffected by the rain which began to fall late Saturday afternoon. In the race programme just about every MG model that had ever raced, was represented.

During the lunch break of Saturdays race meeting, there was an display given by the Rover/MG sponsored Aerobatic Team. The two pilots and their planes gave a stunning display, which had everyone, and I mean everyone looking skyward, they were fantastic!

In the main arena, their were hundreds and hundreds of the finest, & rarest examples of the MG marque, with probably the best collection ever gathered in one place at any one time. One of the rarest examples on show being a 1930 prototype 18/100 Tigress, which was brought over from Germany.

1997 also saw two significant birthdays being celebrated at this years event, firstly by the MGC, 30 years old and secondly the Y-Type which notches up its half century. Both of these cars were well represented.

The membership of the MGCC has swelled recently with the introduction MGF, and well over 200 MGF's were present, along with the cars designer Gerry McGovern, who has become a bit of a celebrity. Many MGF owners seized on the chance to chat with Mr McGovern, and himself only too pleased to meet with owners and answer some of their questions.

A traditional feature for the event (Sunday) is the opportunity for the rank & file membership of the MGCC to take their MG's onto the Silverstone Circuit, for the parade laps.

Another well established feature of the Silverstone International is the California Autotest, which this year was won by the Tyne Tees Centre.

As ever there was a huge presence of traders, selling quality merchandise. The various MG Registers each had their own 'stand' in the main marquee, many selling their own unique 'register memorabilia', and it was very interesting to visit each in turn to see what they had on offer.

Racing Report for Silverstone

Silverstone was this years MG Car Club main event. Other MGCC events are shown here

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