It’s me again – the SW Centre committee members take turns at writing the Notes, but as there’s only eleven of us and I produce the rota… well, let’s just say that there are less arguments this way!
Have you started your MG this year? We’re just over the first cold-snap as I write (the first week of January!) and I ventured into the garage yesterday to partially dismantle a ‘used’ gearbox that I picked up on Ebay. The seller told me that it was in good condition – no funny noises, leaks, etc. Well, after it had dumped half of the oil (possibly the original 1970s oil by the state of it) onto the garage floor through the rear seal, I thought that I should drain the rest out. With the oil came a few ounces of swarf and at least one geartooth. Now what is it they say about ‘buyer beware’..?
I promised you details of the SW Centre events for 2009, and I’m going to keep that promise. John Delafield, our Competitions Secretary, is the unsung hero of the calendar - bringing everything together in an orderly manner to make sure that events don’t clash with each other or indeed major events such as the Le Mans 24hrs or the Goodwood Festival of Speed wherever possible. I’ve not room to give contact details for the events, but please check the website for further information or call MGCC HQ if you’d prefer. The names of the events give a rough indication of their location; where this is not so then I have given you a pointer.
The MG SW Centre year starts in earnest in February at the Bristol Classic Car Show (held at the Shepton Mallet Showground, a short one hour drive from Bristol…) on the 7th and 8th. Into March, just a few weeks from now, and we have the AGM on the 3rd (more of which later) and the Annual Dinner on the 14th. The Kimber Classic Trial is on the 18th April, with the associated Gymkhana the following day. Things start to hot up in May, with the Wessex Sprint on the 4th, Wye Valley Social Run on the 17th and the Bath Gymkhana on the 31st. There are no SW Centre events in June, but we do have an invite to the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club Autosolo at Chepstow racecourse on the 20th. For July we have the MG Auto/Aero Day at Henstridge on the 5th and MG Live on the weekend of 10th, 11th and 12th; the California Autotests will hopefully take place on the Saturday. We’ve two events in August; the Chew Valley Gymkhana on the 2nd and the Mendip Trial (actually in the Chew Valley) on the 23rd. Wiscombe Hillclimb is on the 12th September, we have another Autosolo invite on the 19th, and a run to Prescot Hillclimb on the 26th. October sees the season end in a flourish with a Treasure Hunt (somewhere south of Bristol) on the 4th, the Pegasus Sprint at Castle Combe on the 17th, Kimber PCT (Chew Valley) on the 18th and a social run to a National Trust property near Monmouth on the 25th. SW Centre members (ie those members who have a home address in the SW Centre area) will get a printed copy of the calendar with their Safety Fast! next month; MGCC members from outside of the area are of course welcome to join us at any event.
If there’s nothing there to tickle your fancy, then you need to get it checked! And as if that’s not enough, there are eleven natters spread throughout the region – details of which, as usual, can be found on the club website or from MGCC HQ.
I’ll close off these notes by going back to the beginning, so to speak, with a plea for attendees for the AGM on March 3rd. It’s at the Ring O’ Bells public House in Compton Martin (on the A371 between Bath and Weston-super-Mare. The contact is Bruce Weston, our Secretary, on 01963 440941. This is your opportunity to give some feedback, provide some direction for the future or even volunteer to help! There are approximately 1200 members registered to the SW region; we see perhaps 100 of you throughout the year and a subset of maybe 20 at the AGM. Why not come along: it’s in a pub (!), there’s normally a film-show and, who knows, you might even enjoy it… See you there?
Neil Lock