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V8 Column for March 2002 published in Safety Fast!

This month we have more registrations from new members, a reminder of the V8 Curry Evening on Saturday 16th March, and a report from Al Barnett on his successful year with the RV8 in European rallies.
New registrations. Details of Abingdon built GTV8s have come in from Robert Morgan (Damask 0636) from Buckinghamshire, Raymond Ward (Black 1030) from London SW, Richard Claydon (Damask 1325) from Cambridgeshire and John Clements (Citron 1493) from Wiltshire with a low mileage example he has owned for over 25 years. Registrations of BGTV8 conversions have come from James Roberts (Green 3035) from South Yorkshire and Brian Nicholas (Tartan Red 3095) from Lancashire. Stephen Oyston (Flame Red 0875) from Warwickshire has registered his RV8.

The annual V8 Curry Evening will be on Saturday 16th March at 7pm in Beaconsfield, just off the M40 near Junction 2 so will be easy to find and convenient for members from the Midlands, the west of England and the Home Counties. It is always a popular event at the start the year and of course all Club members are very welcome. For further information of the restaurant location and bookings, contact the organiser who lives nearby, David Biddle at dwbiddle@cs.com or on 01753 892714. All cheques payable to "V8 Register - MG Car Club" please.

Volume 5 of the V8 Workshop Notes series is now available as an email attachment. It was originally published in 1991 as a spiral bound, layflat A5 sized book but has now been updated and reprocessed in Word97 format. Last month we reported that Volume 6, the latest volume taking the series to Note 240, is available. Copies of both volumes can be supplied as email attachments for £5.00. Printed and bound copies are only available to UK members at £11.00 including postage. All cheques payable to V8 Register MG Car Club please. Orders to victorsmith@v8register.net or by telephone on 0208 392 9434.

The V8 Calendar of events is now maintained on a rolling basis covering 24 months and is available by email with regular updates. If you want this service, just send your email address to Victor Smith and he will put you on the emailing list. The present V8 Calendar extends to 2003, the V8 Register 25th Anniversary for which a number of events are being planned as part of the celebrations.

Al Barnett (BRG 1839) in Luxembourg reports a very good year rallying his RV8. "The RV8 finished 6th out of 50 in the Prix des Alpes and 15th out of 45 in the Carrera d'Espagna. For the event in Spain, temperatures were up to 45C near Seville and the event, though enjoyable, was tough with rough roads and some very high powered machinery as competitors - three Ferraris, five Porches, three E Types including a genuine lightweight, plus all sorts of others ranging from a V12 Lagonda two seater to a genuine Cobra. Winner was club racer John Dignan in the MGB he bought new in 1966. We were third in class and won the runners up team award, thanks to John's performance. The route started in Toledo south of Madrid and went almost to Gibraltar before turning north. Much of the Spanish interior seemed wild, deserted and some of the roads could be taken very quickly.

The Prix des Alpes, organised by our Club Competitions Secretary Peter Browning and his wife Sharon, is a more friendly affair with greater MG representation. This year the weather was superb and the route through the French Alps was spectacular. The last two days were in and around Monte Carlo and included several traditional Monte sections. Things went very well for us and we won the V8 class and were part of the runners up team, missing victory by only 0.5 points in 1,600! My wife's navigation made all the difference on the last day when we were one of the few crews who took the right route and thus moved up ten places in the results. The prize giving dinner was in the Café de Paris overlooking Casino Square and was an experience to be remembered. The RV8 is very well suited to this type of event with long hard climbs over high mountain passes, some close to 10,000 ft in altitude. In spite of the heat on both events, the water temperature never moved from the 12 o'clock position and nothing fell off. After some 30,000 miles the engine is now freer and going better than ever. For the 2001 event we had three RV8s (ours plus two Dutch machines) and two V8 conversions. Next year the event will be from 23rd to 28th June and it would be nice to see some V8 representation or support from the UK."

Next month we have the four page V8 Newsletter which will include a report from David Franklin (Blaze 2177) of how he snatched fastest time of the day in his "shopping V8" at a hillclimb in Switzerland last Summer.