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V8 Column for November 2002 published in Safety Fast!

This month we have had another surge of new registrations, most of which have come through the online registration form on the V8 website which is proving to be a convenient way for new members to join the V8 Register - clearly the leading group for V8 enthusiasts!

New registrations
Details of Abingdon built MGBGTV8s have come in from David Hill (Damask 0155) from Suffolk with an early car, Arthur Mitchell (Glacier White 0703) from Essex with an automatic transmission in a car which he used to use for daily commuting before his retirement, Andrew Yates (Aconite 1172) from Merseyside with the car formerly owned by David Rothwell in Cheshire, Richard Smallwood (Bracken 1473) from Nottinghamshire, Geoffery Barnes (Damask 2198) from Essex, Richard Harlock (Damask Number) from Cambridgeshire, and Nicholas Kyri from London N with an Abingdon produced GTV8. Richard Smallwood is clearly enjoying his new V8 from his comment that "it's the first V8 I have owned and I am thoroughly enjoying the experience!".

Glacier White 0703, a good looking V8 owned by Arthur Mitchell in Essex. It had an automatic gearbox fitted when Arthur got the car but this was changed to a Ford 5 speed gearbox in 1999. It was used for daily commuting to Docklands until his retirement. (Photo: Arthur Mitchell)

Registrations of MGBV8 conversions have come from David Duquette (Teal Blue 3068) in the USA with a GTV8 conversion which looks stunning (photos and a technical description are on the V8 Photo Gallery on the website), Richard Porter (BRG 3069) also from the USA, Mike Harrington (BRG 4228) from Hertfordshire with a V8 Roadster conversion which was originally a CGT, Richard Turner (Old English White 4232) from Somerset, Stan Aleksandrowicz (Damask 4236) from the West Midlands, Henk-Jan Vonk (BRG 4237) from Holland with a V8 Roadster under construction, Howard Wassall (BRG 4238) from Hertfordshire, and Andrew Harrison (Tartan Red 4239) from South Yorkshire. Alistair Rew (Black 6026) from Northamptonshire has registered his Costello V8 Roadster.

Teal Blue 3068, a very good looking MGBGTV8 conversion, owned by David Duquette in NJ USA. (Photo: David Duquette)

RV8 registrations have come from Nicholas Kyri (Woodcote Green 0257) from London N, Colin MacDonald (BRG 0332) from Hertfordshire, Mike Gutersohn (BRG 0355) from Staffordshire, Joseph Gibson (BRG 0442) from Gwynedd, Ashok Vadgama (Woodcote Green 0506) from London NW, Sven Stenquist (Woodcote Green 0509) from Sweden, Jorg Wagner (Oxford Blue 0756) from Germany with an immaculate example, John Adams (Woodcote Green 0757) from Oxfordshire, Chris Starr (White Gold 1025) from Nottinghamshire, David

Front wheel arch flares are the subject of research being carried out by Jim Dolbel. He is trying to determine at which point they were no longer fitted to Japan spec cars. See the current update on the RV8 flares research.

Bonniface (Oxford Blue 1589) from Tokyo, Brian Perry (Woodcote Green 1938) from Staffordshire with the car formerly registered by Mike Hamlyn, Heath Downes (Woodcote Green 2095) from Lancashire, Peter Wallis (Nightfire Red 2178) from Hampshire with a car supplied by Cleevewood Garage at Downend near Bristol, and Tim Stretch (Woodcote Green 2217) from Hampshire with a car he first spotted on the "RV8s for Sale" page on the V8 Register website. In addition we have received details of ten RV8s in Australia. It is clear the flow of RV8s from Japan to Australia is considerable.

Chris Watkins, who runs the leading RV8 reimporter HS Imports down in Somerset. Chris lived in Japan for many years and makes regular visits to attend auctions and keep intouch with the RV8 market. The single feature of reports from members buying their RV8s through HS Imports is they find Chris "good to deal with" or "a very pleasant person to buy a car from".

The V8 website at www.v8register.net is proving very popular with members - the bulletin board has been extraordinarily active since the launch at the end of May this year. The search engines have now got us in their systems and new members are finding the website very easily. I checked by making searches using the key words "RV8" and "MGV8" with Google and several other search engines and found the website very easily.

Goodwood Revival weekend
The weather was kind again over the Goodwood Revival weekend in early September with sunshine. A reasonable cloud base throughout the weekend enabled the Spritfires, Hurricanes, Mustangs and a Kittyhawk to put on spectacular air displays on all days. The action on the track was wonderful and breathtaking at times. A group of MGV8 enthusiasts met up including Howard Gosling (Vermillion 4001), Ken Willis (Tartan Red 3062) from Middlesex, Bryan Ditchman (Caribbean Blue 0265) from Hampshire, John Targett (BRG 1022) from Ohio and Mike Maude-Roxby. A report and photos are on the V8 website - see the Goodwood Revival report.

Start line for the St Mary's Trophy at Goodwood, an 18 lap two-driver race for production saloon cars of a type that raced between 1951 and 1959. (Photo: Victor Smith)

Finally just a reminder that 2003 is the V8 Register 25th Anniversary Year with the focus of the celebrations on a programme of events in the week before the Club's annual International MG Weekend meeting at Silverstone. With the advance notice we very much hope we shall see many of our overseas friends and by the time this column is published the Club should have had its Silverstone dates confirmed! See the Rolling V8 Calendar on the website for full details of the programme of our events in 2003.

Next month we have the next four page V8 Newsletter.

Note this copy of the V8 Column for November 2002 is slightly longer and includes photographs which you will not see when the column is published in Safety Fast!, the MG Car Club's monthly magazine, because the monthly columns from the registers have a 750 word space limit.