July 2013 Northants MG wins at MG Live!
Shirts, Jackets etc. With Northants MGOC Logo Fleece Jackets Sizes: S, M, L, XL, XXL Full Fleece 27.00 Colours: See Catalogue for colour choices Gillett Fleece 26.00 Gillett Sport 30.00 Northants MGOC Umbrellas 12.00 Short Sleeve Shirts 24.00 Other items Clothing Baseball Caps 9.00 Tee shirts 14.00 Polo shirts Polo Shirts 100% Cotton 18.00 20.00 Sweatshirts 19.00 Rugby shirts 26.00 Beanie Hat (Woolly Hat) 7.50 Rally Plaques 5.00 Key Fobs (while stocks lasts) Rose of the Shires 2009(trolley disc key ring) WNAA Northants MGOC (leather) Clocks.. (while stocks last) As below 2.00 1.50 1.00 4.50 Colour photographs of the range can be found on our website, www.mgnorthants.org To purchase or order any items or for any other enquiries regarding our exclusive regalia, please see Ed Scott at the next meeting or call him on 01604 882472 (Email: regalia@mgnorthants.org) 2
Northants MG Owners Club Club Secretary: Stuart Simons 9 Jacklin Court, Wellingborough, Northants. NN8 5XP E-Mail: mail@mgnorthants.org Telephone: 01933 674655 Cellphone: 07834 631080 Committee contacts: Web: www.mgnorthants.org Club Secretary Stuart Simons 01933 674655 secretary@mgnorthants.org Treasurer Michael Port 01933 224019 treasurer@mgnorthants.org Online Magazine Stuart Simons 01933 674655 secretary@mgnorthants.org More Graffiti Editor Catharine Young 01933 624157 newsletter@mgnorthants.org Membership Michael Port 01933 224019 membership@mgnorthants.org Regalia Edward Scott 01604 882472 07770 817017 regalia@mgnorthants.org Advertising/ Sponsorship Roy Brawn 01933 353669 eventsupport@mgnorthants.org Events (Blue Book) Chris Brawn 01933 353669 bluebook@mgnorthants.org Member Ade Lunn 01933 676478 Member Sallie Lunn 01933 676478 Deadline for the next issue: All submissions for the next issue should reach the editor (Email as above) by 18th of each month. Whilst every effort will be made to include all articles received in More Graffiti, they may not appear straight away or, if space is limited, may only be published in the online version of More Graffiti. We are always pleased to accept members photographs for publication. Front Cover: Peter Newman holding his trophy for the best MGB GT at MG Live Back Cover: MG Live Images All online submissions should be sent to newsletter@mgnorthants.org 3
What s on? Here s a list of what s happening over the next months that may be of interest to Northants MGOC members. Please don t forget to check the Blue Book at club meetings for details and if you re interested in an upcoming event or wish to propose your own, please get in touch with Chris Brawn. Please read Newslink for up to date details such as convoy starts, etc. if not given below. July 2013 onwards 6/7 July Hollowell Steam & Heavy Horse Show Contact Ed Scott or See the Blue Book 6/7 July Retro Show Santa Pod Contact Stu Simons www.retroshow.co.uk 10 July Club night with BBQ 19th Hole Clubhouse, Collingtree Golf Club - 7.30pm 13/14 July 14th July 27th July 8th Sept MGOC 40th Event MGOC HQ Swavesey Sporting Bears Kimbolton Wansford Transport Weekend Northants MGOC road run in aid of the Ataxia Society Contact Stu Simons www.mgownersclub.co.uk See Blue Book Contact Chris Brawn or see the Blue Book Contact Barbara Trafford See advert on page 7 Remember Club meetings are on the 2nd Wednesday evening of each month at Collingtree and the last Sunday lunch each month at Sywell LOTTERY NEWS The double rollover lottery was won by former member and MGB owner, Steve Lovatt. (Seen here receiving his winnings from Stuart Simons) 4
Newslink - July It s July and we are now into the busiest period in our calendar. With invitations to so many events, it is not surprising that we are now getting clashes. Added to that, one-off specials make choosing which events to actively support as a club very difficult. A typical example being the 40th birthday celebrations of our parent club, the National MGOC and the ever-popular Sporting Bears event at Kimbolton School. Fortunately, a number of members have decided that Saturday at Swavesey and Sunday and Kimbolton is a fair and do -able compromise! Having received the site plan for MGOC40, it would appear that we are one of the few area groups attending so the desire to have a good show of cars is high. Hearty congratulations go out to Peter Newman who has been shown to have the best MGB GT in the country when he won the top award at the recent MG Live event at Silverstone. This month, all members will receive a mailing - those who receive More Graffiti on line will receive a covering leaflet whilst the same leaflet is included in the envelope for postal recipients. Included is a new membership card and also a complimentary windscreen sticker. Please carry you membership card as you will be asked for sight of this when, for example, you buy your lottery number. Additional windscreen stickers will be available at a cost of 1.00 each so you can show you belong whether you have one MG or half a dozen - or even when driving your company eurobox! Please remember that, although there was not a Rose of the Shires run this year, we are planning to run the event in 2014 and, if you are interested in helping to organise it, please speak to one of your committee. Whilst on the subject of charity runs, there are still spaces available on the charity road run being organised by Steve and Barbara Trafford on 8th September. Booking forms are available in the Blue Book and can be downloaded from the club website. Finally, a very warm welcome to new members Susan Hynes and Alan Beal Happy motoring! Stu Simons 5
Personalize your MG3! The May edition of More Graffiti gave details of the new MG3 to be launched in the autumn of this year. Now further details have been announced including colour and trim options. The MG3 is designed to target young buyers, who are attracted by the level of personalisation available on the likes of the Citroen DS3, Fiat 500, and Mini, but who are looking at more affordable models such as the Kia Rio, Skoda Fabia and Suzuki Swift. From launch, MG3 customers will be able to personalise both the exterior and interior. It will be offered with three trim levels, 10 colours and a range of at least 10 graphic packs. No prices were confirmed at the unveiling of the UKspecification model, but entry-level models are mooted to be coming in at less than 10,000. Pictures courtesy of ARONLINE 6
Future Events MGOC 40 Northants MGOC will have their own display area with space for about 30 cars. It is hoped we can display vehicles from the 1930s to the present day. See the Blue Book for full details and booking forms 7
Mille Miglia - 1000 miles 2013 So the Mille Miglia The 1000 mile Race won by Sir Stirling Moss in the 50's averaging 98mph ish, driving on dusty roads, with no crowd control. Cresting a hill a donkey or people could be crossing, so you just swerved around them said Sir S, he went on to say when you are doing over 100mph on old brakes, you would never have stopped in time. So the history and the race goes on. But the history to this jaunt to Italy, goes back to the days to Steve and Barbara. Barbara posted details of a firm running trips to Italy for the event. Having met up with a Rep at the stall at the NEC I felt fairly confident about signing up and going. So May saw us down at Dover docks at the appointed hour, there seemed a slight shortage of Classic Cars about and as we knew that 2 hotels had been booked we wondered whether we had got the date and time wrong, but then we saw the Morgan from Norfolk, and they were in a similar position to us, where are the other cars! So two cars loaded up and travelled together to Troyes in France and then onward to Chamonix for the 2nd night, where we met up with another 6 cars who had travelled via the Tunnel or Hull, before the trip through the Mont Blanc Tunnel at 40 euros, but saving a long drive around. The Mont Blanc tunnel has been open since the 60's and after the major fire has been modernised with safety measures and large fines if you don t obey the rules After leaving the cold of France we exited the tunnel in sunny Italy and drove down to Lake Garda for our Hotel and 5 night stay. The weather had been poor the nearer the Lake we got, the potholes on the Italian and French roads, made us think that UK roads were really smooth, which they are not but we were also paying tolls for using them. After being drowned like water rats for 4 hours, our coach driver turned up early and got us back to the hotel to dry out. The heavy rain continued most days, but the day out to the Ferrari Museum was fairly dry, though the rain filled potholes made it quite scary as to how deep were the potholes, my MGF suffered from the bad road conditions. 8
Mille Miglia - 1000 miles 2013 However the sun shone on a couple of half days and a drive around the Lake was a welcome change for most of us to enjoy a tour out and a pizza or so. Our return leg home was via Switzerland and purchasing the "Vignette" toll road charge for motorways of about 25, was the subject of great debate on the rainy (you get the message, it rained an awful lot) evenings, over dinner. Some thought it expensive and others thought they could do the small green roads over the mountains. Well May is still a tricky time to go the mountains as either they are closed for snow etc or repairs after the winter. The Vingette was the choice for most, and actually with the range of tunnels and good roads that you get, with no additional tolls to pay on top, it was cheaper than the French or Italian Tolls and possibly saved us the cost in extra fuel by being a direct route. 9
Mille Miglia - 1000 miles 2013 The Hotel we stayed in was located in the village of Weggis on Lake Lucerne. It was a Family Hotel, very clean with balcony s overlooking the Lake, the steamer ferries that connect up the towns and villages around the Lake called here, so a posh village, full of hotels - some 5 star, and a good stopover for the 1st leg home. The weather had also been fine until the evening and the loud music from the festival opposite got turned off early, so not all bad news!! Our next leg was h e a d i n g t o Luxembourg and a small village, the Sat Nav worked overtime. Arriving in the heavy rain, we got parked up and unloaded, but upon moving the car to a better parking spot, it would not start - lights etc fine, but nothing. Tried the main 70amp fuse and refitted it and phew all okay - must have been the potholes or wet, but it worked. Flooded roads before we got to the motorway and the last leg home via Calais, now that is a long and boring leg but had to be done. Eventually after passing through French security at Calais we arrive home before nightfall. So would we recommend it to others, yes, as sure it was wet (on the Italian Cycling Race it snowed) but the area is beautiful and welcoming to Tourists and worth the extra miles of driving. Hope you enjoy some of the photos, some affected by the... yes, the rain and cold! Gary and Pam McCarroll 10
MG Live 2013 The weekend of 15/16 June saw one of the biggest events in the MG calendar - MG Live. Organised by the MG Car Club the event is held at Silverstone and comprises trade stands, fast food outlets, the inevitable autojumble and racing - in fact anything having a link to MG's - no matter how tenuous! It is all run by volunteers and the club uses a large marquee as its base for the weekend with a number of display cars (some unique) under its roof and a desk for each 'register' (variant) of MG from the vintage ones to the very latest. Then there are all the cars which are driven from far and wide to the event. The D u t c h w e r e w e l l represented and there was a contingent from Australia whose cars had only arrived in the UK in a container some 48 hours earlier! Unfortunately, due to the adverse ground conditions, the Silverstone management would not allow us to park on the grass which placed a lot of pressure on the remaining available space. It also made it difficult to "find" individual cars! Fortunately this 'ban' was lifted on the Sunday. Silverstone is one of the windier places on this planet (old airfields have a reputation for being draughty) but it was fortunate that apart from a shower on the Saturday the wind kept the rain away until the judging for the Pride of Ownership and Concours had been completed on the Sunday. It never fails to amaze (and impress) me what lengths the owners will go to to present their car in pristine condition. It is always nice to wander around and inspect the majority of the vehicles present (so you can compare them against your car) but it was not particularly warm on either day and with the arrival of Sunday afternoon we seriously thought about going home. However we decided to stay on to see the presentation of the prizes and were glad we did as we witnessed our own Peter Newman being awarded the cup in the class for the best MGB GT - congratulations Peter. Then it WAS time to go home and prepare for the next event in what promises to be a busy summer. Michael Port 11
JERSEY 2013 On a fine, bright, sunny Wednesday morning we set of from home to rendezvous with Michael & Mary at Towcester services. All tops were down ready for a perfect MG ing day. Michael had prepared a route avoiding the main roads as much as possible, and we meandered in convoy through some lovely little villages such as Croughton, Aynho & Deddington to start with. When we got to Swinford near Eynsham, we had to cross a 242 year old toll bridge over the River Thames. Michael was the first in the convoy and tried to pay for the three cars, at an extortionate rate of 5p per car!! ( the toll collector couldn t do his 5x table, so we ended up paying individually! ) Soon we ended up at Hungerford at our usual lunchtime stop in the Plume of Feathers. After a little refreshment, we headed off again in the direction of Collingbourne Ducis. As we drove through we noticed an old house with the name Sally Lunns on it! It is a grade 2 listed building, but can t seem to find any information about it. We arrived at the travel lodge in Ringwood to find Jane & Roger had got there earlier. We spent an enjoyable evening at a nice pub nearby, the only trouble was we had to cross a busy dual carriagway that resembled Silverstone on formula one day! 12
JERSEY 2013 Thursday morning sun still shining, we headed to Poole Harbour, and once on the ferry met up with the rest of the Northants crew. On arrival in St Helier, we collected our rally packs and headed up to The West View Hotel. We were given a warm welcome by Phil, and soon afterwards were in the bar! The Friday was a free day, until the evening Vin D Honneur & awards at St Helier town hall. Saturday saw us at the new venue for the Concours show, at Weighbridge Square. This seemed better as it was near to the town/shops & harbour, so more people came to express their interest. The usual fancy dress party was good fun, and was also at a new venue The Old Court House in Gorey. On Sunday morning the driving skills at Le Braye was well attended, they are braver than we are!! Another new venue for the prize giving & afternoon tea at St Clements Parish Hall, our thanks go to excellent cake baking skills of the ladies ( & gents?! ) who provided the great hospitality. As we were travelling home on the Monday morning, we unfortunately missed out on a road run & more tea and cakes. Lets hope this wasn t the last Jersey Rally, as Sandra & Jenny have retired from their positions. Adam and Eve (AKA Ian Keeling & Jo Tibbs) 13
Market Place Limited Edition Club Logos Aluminium plaques with self adhesive backing Small (50x40mm) 1.00 Large (50x75mm) 1.50 See Roger Pratten for details: rogerpmgb@aol.com 01604 718285 or 2.00 for the pair Heavy Duty Toggle Switches - 2.50 each For Sale: New 25A Toggle Switches Heavy Duty On/Off metal switches with silver contacts Standard Lucar 25a @ 12v. Terminals (fits 1/2 round hole) Contact Stu Simons 01933 674655 FOR SALE Due to an equipment upgrade, the club is able to offer for sale its colour laser printer. At three years old, the Samsung CLP-310 is in excellent working order, having been meticulously maintained throughout its use with the club. Consumables are still readily available from a variety of sources The printer is ideal for a home office environment and includes all necessary cables and software. The printer is offered at a giveaway price of 15 Contact Stuart Simons on 01933 674655 for more information. 14
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