Safety Fast! Notes for March 2005

Having only received one e-mail throughout the whole of last year, I received a bumper mailbox of two e-mails on the same day (!) identifying Mark Rathbone as the driver of the MG Maestro 2.0i pictured in the Notes last month. One of the messages was from Mark himself, who tells me that he sold the car on with 118,000 miles on the clock. I wonder if it is still alive? We don't see many FWD MG's at SW Centre events, but I reckon a half-decent Metro, Maestro or (at a push - or should that be 'with a push'???) Montego could clean-up in the SW Drivers Championship. The problem is finding one. I often yearn for the return of the hyper-boost Montego Turbo I owned ten years ago, but am usually brought down to earth with a bump when I remember the torque-steer, the tyre wear and the trepidation that I felt when faced with the requirement to stop or go round a corner! I traded it in for a Cavalier and drove away very quickly, having been up into the early hours force-drying the gallons of paint we had used to cover up the rust…

Hopefully, if the wind has been in the right direction, SW members (you are one if you live in the area covered by the SW centre) should find a programme card in this issue of Safety Fast! If not, you will definitely find it in next month's magazine. For those of you who want to get your calendars sorted, or for those from outside of the SW area, please find a summary hereunder. All of the details are on the website for those of you in the computer age. If any of the rest of you cannot wait until next month, then please give me a call (before 9pm please) and I'll point you at the relevant organiser.

1st March: SW Centre AGM, Ring O'Bells at Compton Martin
5th March: Dinner Dance, Limpley Stoke Hotel (near Bath)
10th April: Cheddar Valley Navigational Scatter, Somerset
23rd and 24th April: Kimber Classic Trial, Somerset
2nd May: Wessex Sprint, Colerne Airfield near Bath
22nd May: Wye Valley Social Run, Ross-on-Wye
5th June: Bath Gymkhana, A46 North of Bath
12th or 26th June (date tbc): Oaksey Charity Gymkhana and Flying Day, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire
10th July: Dorset Social Run, Cranborne Chase
17th July: Pucklechurch Gymkhana, North Bristol
23rd July: California Cup Autotests at MGCC Silverstone
30th July: Pegasus MC Track Day at Castle Combe, Wiltshire
7th August: Mendip Production Car Trial, South Bristol
14th August: Road Run to Shelsley Walsh Festival, Worcestershire
21st August: Chew Valley Gymkhana, North Somerset
10th September: Wiscombe Hill Climb, Devon
18th September: Bristol Sunday Lunch Run, North Somerset
25th September: Patchway Autotests, North Bristol
23rd October: Kimber Production Car Trial, Somerset

The Centre AGM is on Tuesday 1st March at the Ring of Bells in Compton Martin on the A368 between Bath and Weston-super-Mare. There's a map on the website, or you can call me for directions. Please come along to show your support or air your views, If you cannot attend yourself but want to make your views known, please call our Chairman Dave Coppock on 01934 834429.

If you still need tickets for the Dinner Dance, then please contact John Bird on 0117 9560175 as soon as possible. He may be able to fit you in, but don't count on it.

Finally, I'm pleased to report that the MG TC of Bruce Weston (our hardworking Secretary) was awarded a 'highly commended' at the Bristol Classic Car Show at the end of January. The photo is courtesy of Bruce Morgan.

Neil Lock
neil@port-z.fsnet.co.uk

01275 817915 (before 9pm please)
SW Centre website: www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgccsw