Back

V8 Column for July 2002 published in Safety Fast!

This month we have more registrations from fourteen new members, news of the V8 Tour of the Cotswolds and a final reminder that the month for the Club's annual meeting at Silverstone has changed for 2002 - it's 19th to 21st July this year and not June!

New registrations of Abingdon built GTV8s have come in from Mark Walker (Grey 0291) from Bedfordshire, Roger Parr (Glacier White 0749) from Cheshire with the car previously owned by Edwin Atkinson, David Page (Damask 1525) from Surrey, Tony Head (Flame Red 1495) from Devon and Stephen Mason (Black 2431) Oxfordshire with his order for a copy of Volume 6 of the V8 Workshop Notes series. Registrations of MGBV8 conversions have come from Nick McCormack (Red 4213) from Wiltshire and Nick Edwards (Black 3064) from Nottinghamshire. RV8s have been registered by Bill Dawson (Woodcote Green 0540) from Queensland with a car which has spent much of its life outside Japan in Sydney Australia, Bruce Webster (Woodcote Green 0722) from Sydney Australia, Tony Merrygold (Woodcote Green 0551) from Warwickshire, Michael Hunter (Woodcote Green 0591) from West Yorkshire, Alexander Burtt (Woodcote Green 1038) from London SW, Tim Gibson (Woodcote Green 1486) from Wellington New Zealand and Michael Greetham (Nightfire Red NNNN) from Staffordshire. Details of the VIN of the last registration are still awaited.

The plans for the V8 Tour of the Cotswolds over the weekend of Friday 11th to Monday 14th October 2002 are well underway. The event will be based at the Stratton House Hotel, a lovely, quiet, old hotel five minutes from Cirencester, where a special rate has been negotiated for the three night stay to include dinner, bed and breakfast. The organisers Sue and Peter Beadle promise an enjoyable weekend touring around the Cotswolds, taking in a few of the many places of interest. So if you are interested in joining fellow enthusiasts and catching up with old friends and new, please send an SAE to the Beadles at The Fields, 124 Tuffley Avenue, Gloucester GL1 5NS. Don't leave it to the last minute as previous V8 Tours have often been oversubscribed - 25 to 30 cars maximum.

A V8 Tour for the V8 25th Anniversary Year is already being planned for the week before the Club's International MG Weekend meeting at Silverstone in 2003 so overseas visitors will be able to join. All we need is for the F1 moguls to settle the motor racing calendar and we will then know what dates the Club has for that weekend meeting!

Now a reminder of the changed dates for the Club's annual International MG Meeting at Silverstone where by tradition the V8 Register has its principal V8 Gathering. This year the three day event will run from Friday 19th to Sunday 21st July. The V8 Register has a large marquee on a dedicated grass parking area inside the track from around noon on Friday through to Sunday afternoon. Usually upwards of eighty V8s are parked there each day and it is a good opportunity to meet up with fellow V8 enthusiasts and talk with our spares guru Clive Wheatley, the editor of the RV8 Workshop Notes series Bryan Ditchman, and the V8 Historian Geoff Allen. The weekend starts with an informal supper on the Friday evening in the Star in Sulgrave, a village to the west of Silverstone the other side of the A43, a V8 Gathering on the Saturday in the all V8 parking area adjacent to the V8 Marquee on Saturday, a full race programme during Saturday, a V8 Table at the Club dinner in the Main Marquee at Silverstone on Saturday evening, another V8 Gathering on the Sunday with a range of racing, autotests and concours displays on the Sunday. Places at the Club dinner do need to be booked in advance, so do call Gill Watson at Club Office to make your booking and explain you would like to join the V8 Table. Please note, overseas members do need to book in advance to ensure they have a place. V8 enthusiast Linda Thomas (Black 2121) handles the table arrangements so you will need to make contact with her as you go into the Club Marquee on the Saturday evening. For members not familiar with the layout and arrangements for the Club's International MG Weekend meeting at Silverstone, just contact Victor Smith who will email, fax or snailmail you a briefing note with a layout diagram so you will know what is on and how to get there.

Finally a reminder that the V8 Register AGM will be held at the V8 Marquee on Sunday 21st July 2002 at 12.30pm and all V8 members of the MG Car Club are eligible to stand for election and to vote.