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17th November 2006

Adventures in California's Wine Country - MG 2007, A Great Vintage
NAMGBR Annual Meet, July 16-20, 2007
Co-starring: Redwoods, Coast, Mountains and San Francisco

The nation's premier Wine Country, the Sonoma and Napa Valleys just north of San Francisco, offers a fantastic blend of scenery, climate, quiet winding roads, hills and mountainsides, coastline and coastal mountains, redwood forests and historic sites. With a large and beautiful hotel placed in a location central to all this wonder, NAMGBR and the MG Owners Club are excited to offer you the next great MG adventure, set for July of 2007.

Your destination is northern California, forty-five miles north of San Francisco. Home base is the DoubleTree Hotel located in the city of Rohnert Park. This mission style hotel with 245 guest rooms has been recently renovated. Outdoor function space is particularly impressive. This hotel has hosted numerous national car club gatherings including the BMW club. It is home for the major NASCAR teams for their race at the nearby Infineon Raceway (Sears Point). The hotel is in a scenic setting between two golf courses. We are getting a great room rate for this area in prime tourist season. (US$115 per night base rate)

Since the MG 2007 event will be in July, we have located our event home in western Sonoma County, nearer the ocean. Northern California weather varies greatly depending on proximity to the ocean and the San Francisco Bay. Morning and evening weather near the coast in July can be quite chilly. The weather in Rohnert Park in July normally starts overcast - coastal fog until 10 a.m. or so - which keeps the temperatures down. Afternoon highs typically reach a dry 85 degrees. The site has the added advantage of having a direct route to the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco via the multi-lane Highway 101. Rohnert Park is strategically located with lightly traveled back roads to the coast, to the redwood forests and to the Sonoma and Napa wine country. The event organizers are arranging many special tours and events tied into the uniqueness of the Sonoma Wine Country. One of the group banquets will be at the historic Union Hotel in the tiny coastal town of Occidental. Driving tours will take in many of the sights along "sports car country" roads. The major theme event is a day-long tour to the north coast and the town of Mendocino with stops at historic spots, small coastal towns and the redwoods. (There is a small additional fee to cover the costs of this event including a special rally plate.) A unique wine country experience will be available to those who wish - a cooking class at Ramekins, the internationally-known culinary school. There will also be the car show with optional concours judging, a funkhana with a wine country theme, plus event awards, raffle prizes and a fun auction. Wine tasting is being arranged as well.

Dates and Schedules*

Monday. The event officially begins on Monday, July 16, 2007, with an afternoon and evening welcoming party and registration. A mid-week schedule was chosen to get better room rates, to avoid the weekend tourist traffic and to provide the adjoining weekends for travel. The hotel has extended the room rate to the days immediately preceding and following the event for those of you who want to enjoy the area longer. For you who arrive early, we will provide self-guided tour and restaurant information. We'll have a chat place where you can link up with others who want to jump start the event.

Tuesday will be the car show. This means that you can clean your car when you arrive from your travels and not have to worry about keeping it spotless the rest of the event. It will allow you to meet people and see all the cars right away. Tech Sessions are scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at the hotel. Driving tours will be available. The off-site banquet at the Union Hotel will be Tuesday evening. You'll be able to tour over at your leisure, individually or with the group, for the fun and special activities at the dinner.

Wednesday is the day for the Mille de Mendocino, the optional tour that will take us to the coast and north along the Pacific Coast Highway to the Victorian town of Mendocino. This beautiful seaside village is known to many as Cabot Cove, in the Murder She Wrote television series. Coming back, we'll visit the redwood forests. For those who don't want to drive so far or be gone all day, shorter tours are scheduled to the coast and Mt. Tamalpais, to the town of Sausalito across from San Francisco, and through the wine the wine country. The Charles M. Schultz museum is also located a short distance from the hotel. A pool party is planned for Wednesday evening.

For those interested, Wednesday will also be the day for the alternative event at the well-known Ramekins Culinary School. Participants get the opportunity to learn great cooking tips and further their Wine Country experience. (This event will cost US$95 per person.) A short version of the Mille de Mendocino is planned for those who want to mnake it back in time for the culinary experience.

Thursday will again feature nearby driving tours and also events at the hotel. More Tech Sessions will be held at the hotel. Another driving event will take place at low speed in the hotel parking lot. This is the funkhana, or gymkhana, which will feature unique driving tests with a wine country theme. The awards banquet is Thursday evening. Raffle prizes will be awarded at the banquet. A silent auction will be held prior to the banquet and a few special items will be auctioned live during the award festivities.

Friday morning we will gather for breakfast and farewells. The award-winning cars will be on display. Many self-guided activities will yet remain for those who wish to linger. For those who don't need to rush off, we plan to arrange an MG tour to San Francisco on Friday morning, across the Golden Gate Bridge, with small groups through Chinatown and down Lombard Street, the crookedest street.

MG 2007 promises to be a most memorable time with your MG and with the other good folks that are fans of MGs.

Note that the North American MGA Register's 2007 annual meet, GT-32, will be in Whistler, British Columbia, the week following MG 2007, starting on Monday evening. Should you wish to extend your West Coast driving adventure, you will have three to four days to drive from Sonoma up the Pacific Coast or inland through the beautiful Northwest to reach this event. In addition, the Western Washington All-British Meet (Seattle area) will be held the weekend between the events.

* Event details subject to change at time of publication.

The Clubs

The North American MGB Register (NAMGBR) welcomes all MGs to their events, not just the MGB, Midget, 1100/1300, and V8 cars of the MGB Era. The national club was founded in 1990 along the lines of the New England MG T Register and the North American MGA Register. NAMGBR is affiliated with the M.G. Car Club and MG Owners Club of England. From the beginning, the Register included Midgets and MG 1100 and 1300 sports sedans. Their car shows include all MGs and we will have a display area for other classic cars as well.

The MG Owners Club, based in Northern California, began in 1957 so we will celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2007. Its roots date back to the late 1940s as the M.G. Car Club, San Francisco Centre. That club became the present San Francisco Region of the S.C.C.A. and the separate MG Owners Club was formed. In 1958 the Club became the Northern California Centre of the M.G. Car Club on the recommendation of John Thornley. The club is not related to the MG Owners' Club based in England which was founded later. The local club has over 250 members and is a chapter of NAMGBR, NAMGAR and NEMGTR. The club hosts the MGs by the Bay event annually and hosted the large MG Reunion at Laguna Seca Raceway in 2004.

With an MG scene as large and varied as the San Francisco Bay area, other MG clubs are also active and will participate in hosting MG 2007. The Sorry Safari Touring Society is a terrific group of MG owners who are helping to plan the event and who will host some events. The North Bay British Car Club will also host events. In addition, individuals from the Sacramento Valley MG Car Club and other clubs will assist as we welcome guests from across the continent.

Further Info and Registration
The web site for the MG 2007 event is www.MG2007.org. More information and the Registration Form may be found at this site. We will add features to the site over the year, such as caravan information. Other sites:
MG 2007 Email: info@MG2007.org
MG Owners Club: www.MGOC.org
NAMGBR: www.NAMGBR.org, (800) NAMGBR-1
Sonoma County Tourism Bureau: www.SonomaCounty.com (800) 576-6662
Napa Valley Visitors Bureau: www.napavalley.org (707) 226-7459
Marin County Visitors Bureau: www.visitmarin.org (866) 925-2060
San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau: www.onlySF.SFVisitor.org, 800-637-5196
Ramekins Culinary School: www.Ramekins.com (707) 933-0452

Information by Telephone and by Mail:
MG 2007 Info by Telephone: Dan Shockey, (408) 923-3927 (West Coast, U.S.A.)
For additional fliers and registration forms, or any questions:
MG 2007 Registration
320 B Monterey Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94131-3141, USA
DoubleTree Sonoma Wine Country Hotel: (707) 584-5466 www.DTSonoma.com
One Doubletree Dr., Rohnert Park, CA 94928, USA
Reservations: (800) 222-TREE, Mention "MG 2007 Event"

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