GWENT MG OWNERS CLUB

 Report

Drove down to Silverstone on Friday night, leaving straight from work with a Midget loaded with tent, meths stove, a weekend’s worth of tinned food and the odd bottle of Old Speckled Hen. It was hood down weather and once the boring Motorway bit was out of the way I had a good run along the A48 from Chepstow to Gloucester, the usual wrong turn on the Gloucester bypass and then up the Cotswold ridge and over to Stow, Chipping Norton and the welcome sight of the excellent Chinese chip shop at Deddington. While I was sitting on the bench outside eating my fish and chips another customer walked into my driver’s side mirror and it fell off. He was mortified but not really his fault. I must have knocked it 20 times in the narrow gap in the garage so it was only a matter of time until it fell off. Refuelled with chips, it was back into the Midget and onto the A43 in time to pitch the tent at Silverstone (in the quiet section) and have a beer as the sun set.

After a good night’s sleep it was time to get up, brush my teeth and have breakfast, followed by the short drive to the inside of the track ready to spend all day at the show.

Cars are parked by type, to give one of the biggest collections of MGs you will see anywhere. In addition to acres of the inevitable MGBs, Spridgets and MG(T)Fs there was everything from an early 14/40 (probably) from the late 20’s to a row of MG-SVs, plus every model in between; a row of enormous MG SA saloons from the 30’s, a large selection of square riggers (most of which I failed to identify), modern ZR/ZS/ZT saloons and lots of MGAs. A bit worrying was the relatively small numbers of MG M types, particularly Metros, for which I’ve always had a soft spot. I hope they are being preserved. I had a happy quarter of an hour with a member of the Y-Type register who tried to explain to me the difference between a YA and a YB (different shaped rear wheel arches). Other highlights were a unique soft top ZA Magnette and a tremendous V8-engined Midget.  

That was just the car park. Next it was time to actually look around the show. There were at least three long lines of stalls offering everything from shiny and expensive complete cars to the inevitable odd rusty pieces of metal laid out on plastic sheets. I had a chat with Tim Fenna of Frontline about converting my Midget to a K series engine and then considered the other option of an A series supercharger on sale at Moss stand next door. It was a great opportunity to replace all those odd parts you’ve never got round to (in my case a cracked sidelight glass) and a variety of screws that are looking the worse for wear, such as the ones holding on the back rail of my hood. The great thing is that as the car park was so close to the stalls I could remove the parts from my car, take them round the stalls to get a match and then fit the new parts there and then.

My favourite car in the show was for sale – an MG K3 replica in dark red – but at £70,000 it was a bit beyond my price range. Perhaps I should have haggled. Mind you it had no speedometer, so how do you avoid going too fast through the revenue cameras?

After the stalls it was time to wander inside to see the MGCC display which included the Lola MG that had recently won its class at Le Mans. All the MGCC registers had a stand, so it was a good opportunity to buy a new Z register sticker for the ZS (really must put it on soon). On the Y-Register stand there were reproduction ash trays for the back of the front seats, a part I knew Keith wanted for his YA. At £25 each I thought it prudent to just take the details rather than buying a couple for him on spec. Originals are now impossible to get anywhere.

After a brief visit to the refreshment tent for a burger and a pint, it was time to watch the racing. Highlight for me was the pre-war racing cars, but other races included modern MGs and post-war saloons.

Then it was back to the tent for the evening’s meal cooked on the camping stove followed by my other bottle of beer to bring the day to a close.

Then, on Sunday, I got up to do the whole thing over again. By 12:00 it was time to go to meet friends for lunch in Chipping Campden followed by a great hood down run home through the Cotswolds and along the Severn Valley.

So, who’s going to MGCC Silverstone 2007?