V8 Column for February 2004
published in Safety Fast!, the award winning monthly magazine of the MG Car Club

This month we have a reminder of first event in 2004 - the Annual V8 Curry Night - together with details of the V8 Shropshire Tour in September.

The Annual V8 Curry Night is on Saturday 14th February at 7.00pm at the Moghal Tandoori Restaurant, Warwick Road in Beaconsfield. This event was first held in Epsom back in 1979 and has become the traditional start to the V8 Calendar. A useful map with directions is on the V8 Website which will help you find restaurant. It is in Warwick Road on the north side of Beaconsfield near the station with good on-street parking. Should you arrive early, you will find a very pleasant wine bar opposite the curry house where you can relax. Contact David Biddle at davidbiddle@v8register.net or on 01753 892714 or 07803 131007 for reservations and any further information. As it is also Valentines Day, early booking is strongly recommended!

The V8 Shropshire Tour 2004 will be based at the Longmynd Hotel in Church Stretton over the


Church Stretton with the mountains behind

long weekend Friday 24th to 27th September. The organisers, Derek and Ellen Spencer Jones, have reserved 25 rooms at the hotel at £145 per person for the three nights dinner, bed and breakfast. The Spencer Jones say numbers will be restricted as the hotel seems to be booking up well ahead so if you would like to join the V8 Tour, send your booking to them with a £25.00 deposit per room made payable to "V8 Register - MG Car Club" with an SAE so they can send you a booking form. The Spencer Jones can be contacted at 13 Melbourne Way, Newport NP20 3RE or at elder@spencerjones.fsnet.co.uk or on 01633 267251. Further details are on the V8 Website where a booking form can be downloaded.

John Hornabrook (Woodcote Green 1781) from Australia is visiting the UK with his wife Lorraine this year for a six month tour arriving at the end of March. He will be at many MG events including the Club's annual International MG Meeting at Silverstone over the long weekend of 23rd to 25th July and will end his tour at the Goodwood Revival meeting in September which he plans to attend with Tim Hipwell who will be up from Devon that

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Woodcote Green 1781 in the Queensland sunshine. It is owned by John Hornabrook downunder who will be touring the UK for six months this year. (Photo: John Hornabrook)

weekend. John has successfully arranged a series of home exchanges with fellow MG enthusiasts through his advert on the V8 Website. Full details of his itinerary and contacts are on the V8 Website as he would welcome the opportunity of meeting fellow V8 enthusiasts whilst he is in the UK. He will be in Thundersley in Essex, Leeds in Yorkshire, Barnes in SW London, Yate near Bristol, and Farnham in Hampshire - and he plans to pop over to Dublin too. Do feel able to contact him.

Full details of the V8 Events in 2004 are set out in the Rolling V8 Calendar on the V8 Website. Just click the main Rolling V8 Calendar navigation button on the homepage - each event has the location, timing and contacts. Our eight principal events are also published in the annual Club calendar.

New UK Car Tax Rules came into force at the beginning of the year and are a particular concern for classic car enthusiasts who take their cars of the road for a seasonal lay-up and only tax them for part of the year. Now the DVLA is going to be much tougher over the submission of Statutory Off Road Notifications (or SORNs) with the threat of an £80 fine! See the V8 Website for full details or contact Victor Smith via the Club Office for details of the New UK Car Tax Rules.



Clive Wheatley mgv8parts has moved his very successful MGV8 parts and servicing operation from Wolverhampton to freshly refurbished workshops in the Shropshire countryside. The new premises are in specially converted outbuildings adjacent to a country house just 7 miles slightly west of Wolverhampton, near the village of Worfield off the A454. The relocated operation should be fully up and running by the middle of January. The new telephone number is 01746 710810.