V8 25th Anniversary Dinner at the BRDC Clubhouse The V8 Dinner was held in the stunning new BRDC Clubhouse at Silverstone overlooking the Complex and Goodwood Corner. It was a wonderfully convivial evening with 88 V8 members and their guests and friends. The evening followed the format of the earlier V8 Dinners at the Thatched House at Sulgrave which were very popular in the 80s and early 90s with the traditional eight toasts in response to the "instant death" slips distributed to the unsuspecting speakers in the bar beforehand. These slips produces a series of very amusing but brief speeches which give the evening a momentum, variety and pleasure - rather like the V8 in many ways! Howard Gosling proposed the Loyal Toast and set the tone for the evening with an amusing tale of how his two hard working MGV8s still "come up from Somerset" to be serviced at B&G at Baldock, Peter Buckles, the outgoing V8 Chairman and Club Treasurer, proposed a toast to our hosts the BRDC with whom our Club has had close supportive relations for well over 45 years, and Roger Lane-Knott, Secretary of the BRDC, proposed a toast to the MG Car Club and welcomed the V8 Register back next year! Bill Wallis, Club President and member of the V8 Register for over twenty years with two V8s in that time, proposed a toast to the V8 Register and warmly congratulated the V8 team for producing amazing technical materials over the last 25 years and showing how registers can be run. At this stage Mike Maude-Roxby, a former V8 Scribe and organiser of many V8 Dinners at Sulgrave rose to propose a toast to the Ladies, a task he clearly enjoys in a thoroughly disarming way. Ulf and Ulla Lindquist from Sweden came over with their V8 for the V8 25th Anniversary week of events and enjoyed the V8 Dinner. They went on to tour Scotland enjoying continued good weather. (Photo: Victor Smith) The next toast to the MGBGTV8 was proposed by Ron Gammons, a Club Vice President and V8 Register member for many years, but it was preceded by an uncharacteristically brief speech - unlike the invoices one often sees from B&G as Geoff Allen, the V8 Historian & Archivist, was a very welcome sight at the V8 Dinner - Jean Allen is to his left and behind is Roger Lane-Knott (BRDC) and beyond him, Phyllida and Mike Maude-Roxby. (Photo: Gavin Bailey) some jester noted to the evident amusement of most members including Valery Gammons! Then Peter Buckles rose again to propose a toast to the MG RV8 and to the two guests present, David Bishop and John Yea, who played such a major part in making the project to create a modern MG classic. Victor Smith then toasted the back axle - a most important part - and to the valuable work Ron Gammons and Clive Wheatley played in resourcing the crown wheel and pinion without which the continued running of many V8s could have been a different story. Finally absent friends were not forgotten as John Targett, a longstanding V8 Register member who has lived in the USA for over 20 years, proposed a toast mentioning some notable absent V8 characters not least Alan Kingwell and David Franklin! The Chris Dodds Award, a trophy remembering an enthusiastic Australian member who made an extraordinary contribution to the establishment of the V8 Register downunder and sadly died at a young age, is presented to the member making a major contribution in the previous year. This year it was awarded by Peter Buckles to Victor Smith together with a wonderful picture prepared by an automotive artist, David Purvis, acknowledging his contribution as founder and registrar over the 25 years and since 2002 maintaining the V8 website. From left: John Targett, Victor Smith, Peter Buckles and Roger Lane-Knott (BRDC). (Photo: Dana Moreland) Banner at top of the page: From left, Ian Polley a founding member of the V8 Register and former BRSCC Prodsports competitor in the 1970s, Victor Smith and Peter Beadle, a founder of the V8 Register and organiser of the V8 Cotswold Tour in 2002, who was the V8 Spares expert for many years.