MG Y-Sommertreff 2008, Why not?

20-22 June 2008

by Willem van der Veer

One taketh a century old hotel run by a friendly MG Y-owning couple and add several likeminded Y-owners. Feed them well, being careful that they don't dry out, preferably using good quality wine and beer. Let this mixture loose on rural roads, that can only be found with local knowledge and the result is a brilliant not to be missed gathering.

On 20-21-22 June above ingredients were skilfully mixed by Kalle Borchers and Manfred Noll for their MG Y-Sommertreff 2008 in Remscheid, Germany, situated in the scenic Bergische Land.

Friday night was used to get to know each other better. The Germans call this "Benzingespräch", best translated with "petrol talk". YT adepts will be pleased to know that for ones, with an amazing three YT's, they were in the majority. The other types were evenly spread with two YBs and two YAs.

On Saturday the 90 mile rally took us through beautiful scenery on above mentioned rural roads. That these roads are not without danger was proven by the fact that we were stopped by three marauding nights. They forced us to do a tilting competition, letting the navigator lean out of the Y. It goes without saying that the YT owners had an unfair advantage but the saloon-owners' entirely justified protests were stilled with an ironclad knights' hand. Much heads were scratched in the Y-parts-identifying-competition run by Kalle, dressed as a Bobby... At the rally's finish we were greeted by guides dressed in the style of the Middle Ages for a tour on foot of the "Lenneper Altstadt".

Saturday night was spent well with wholesome German food with complimentary wine and beer. Even with (or because of?) the Dutch football team messing up against Russia, spirits were high.

The prizes given were especially worthy of mentioning because, instead of the usual "tasteful" metalwork, the trophies consisted of a base in the form of an MG Maestro hubcap (a circle with four evenly spaced octagons on the edge) on which a piece of original "Bergisches" rock was attached. Very labour intensive indeed!

On Sunday several attendants joined to visit a castle before returning home.

All in all a brilliant Y-exclusive gathering for which Kalle and Manfred cannot be thanked enough. Those who wanted to go but couldn't, really missed something. Let's hope that a 2009 or 2010 edition follows and that even more Dutch, Belgian and maybe even British join this band of German Ynthusiasts!

To enlarge the pictures, double click on them.