Oily Hand's Life with MGs |
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I've just had an email with the results from Sunday's event and due to an admin error (somebody can't add up) the results given on the day were wrong. We actually won the event. Whoopeee. The day turned out to be even better!!
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Today saw us pointing the MGB GT northwards for the 60 mile trip to South Bradford Farm for the second running of this fun event. We didn't make last year and we missed a lot of fun. It was a cool windy day but, apart from a short sharp shower, the rain held off for us. We had a variety of seemingly easy tasks which in reality turned out to be anything but easy. We were doing well, and in the lead at the halfway mark, but our errors combined with others doing better pushed us out of the top three at the end of the day. Despite not winning the Old Speckled Hen beer, we had a great time, topped off with a bring your own grub barbeque. I can blacken sausages with the best of them. I didn't take many pictures, but managed to get enough video footage to produce this which give a good idea what the day was like. All in all a super day and we were sad to see it over. A big thank you to all who made it possible.
When I dragged myself out of bed it was cloudy but dry. By the time I'd eaten breakfast it was raining so it was with some trepidation that I loaded Numbum, our faithful old MG TA for the short run to the start at Stokeley. Thankfully the rain stopped before we set off and held off all day. It was cool in the morning but really warm on the Palace Green at the finish. That place is a real sun trap. We got set up for signing on duties and met all the crews of the 40 cars making the run. What a great fellow Dennis is. He had some over ordered bacon butty tickets that he kindly donated to us. Thanks, Dennis, they were most welcome. The morning section was a good mix of interesting roads leading us 40 miles to the lunch stop at Hardwick Park. During the course of convivial conversation one driver mentioned having trouble with the route. It was navigational error, the navigator tried to start the run from page 5 of the route book. I'll spare their blushes by not naming them. Duly fed & watered we set off for the afternoon section of 35 miles in improving weather. On the way was a chance to stop at Auckland Castle, once the home of the Bishop of Durham. The driver of the big Healey with side pipes on the passenger side set off a load of car alarms as he passed by. The superb resonance of those pipes must just have been right. After a brief stop, it was onwards to Durham and the beautiful setting of the Palace Green. We were very honoured to have this location for our finish point. It was good to see cars spanning 70 years from our 1937 TA to a 2010 MG TF 135. Over the course of the afternoon we noticed some cars approaching junctions from different directions from us. Obviously some navigator problems. Indeed the driver mentioned above had problems in the afternoon too as the navigator attempted to do the afternoon section from the wrong pages. DOH!!! Whilst there were a lot of familiar faces there were also some who hadn't done the run before, including one couple from Derbyshire and one from Lincolnshire. Both had decided to make a weekend of it. I hope you all enjoyed our neck of the woods and had a safe journey home. Once again, thank you to Noel Lindford and his team of willing marshalls for another great day. Numbum ran well all day, in fact the best it's been this year. Another 150 miles on the clock. To celebrate this birthday, a willing team of helpers, led by Vice Chairman Noel Lindford organised a great day at Beamish Living Museum. The Tyne Tees Centre came into being in 1963 as a sub centre of the North East Centre which was based in Leeds. It soon became an active sporting centre with autotests, sprints, and twelve car rallies being the main staple events. More information can be found in the link. Our day started off fine, and bright but a bit chilly as we set off in Numbum to help with the signing on. With 90 cars attending we were kept pretty busy between 9 and 11 o clock which is when we started to convoy down to the showfield. Just after we arrived on the showfield, the rain, which wasn't forecast until fourish, arrived early and put a bit of a dampener on things. Thankfully it cleared before the photo op in the museum street and it stayed dry for our drive home. There were some very wet cars about. While it was raining, we did what many others did and took some shelter in various parts of the museum. The garage The tram & train ride. During the day there was a series of videos running showing past events from the centre but as it was wet the place was crammed full so we didn't stay there long. What we saw was great! Once the last tram had run we were allowed into the main street for photographs. This was a rare occasion and one not to be missed. Many thought the same way. I had hoped to have more video than this but I was having a hard time keeping the camera dry. It was great to meet up with some folks we hadn't seen for years and we also met some fellow participants in the forthcoming Coast to Coast Run. All in all a great day and our thanks go to all who put in the months of planning that go into an event like this.
We took the ZR for a quick 60 mile blast up the A1 to meet other, slightly crazy, enthusiasts to try out the art of production car trials at South Bradford Farm. For those not familiar with PCTs, the idea is quite simple. You are presented with a slope in a field. This slope has a start marker and numbered markers going up it. The highest number is at the start and the lowest at the top. All you have to do is drive up the hill and score as few points as possible. Dead easy, isn't it? Well, er.... no it's not. We had great fun and at the end of the day we were the strongest team. Sat firmly at the bottom of the table we were supporting all the rest. The lack of low down torque and wide tyres were our downfall with the ZR. By the time I had enough revs on to get it to move, the wheels were already spinning like crazy and traction was poor to say the least. The Vauxhall Nova which won the front wheel drive class was brilliant. Skinny tyres helped a lot. An MGB GT was the best overall on the day. Despite the low temperature and brisk breeze we had great fun. A big thank you to John Brown for allowing us to rip up parts of his field, and to David Alexander and his band of helpers for setting it all up Thanks also to Lynda Alexander for these great shots of our ZR, which also show how steep some of the sections were. Saturday and Sunday were two days of automotive bliss at the Croft Nostalgia Weekend. Classic motor racing, displays of cars, buses, commercial vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, military vehicles and some flying displays were all there to satisfy every petrol heads dreams. For the ladies and those not interested in things motoring, there were fashion shows, stalls selling 1940s fashion and a George Formby impersonator. This year the weather couldn't have been better with bright warm sunshine until late afternoon on both days when there was some rain. The event must have been blessed because areas not far away had torrential rain and flash floods. We travelled the massive distance of 10 miles in the MG TA and parked up close to the Tyne Tees Centre of the MG Car Club and the Tees Valley MG Owners Club. As we are members of both clubs we had plenty of people to chat to. One of the features of this event is the number of people in period dress. With so many people to chat to and a the full race calendar running on both days, I didn't get many pictures taken, but here they are. The racing was superb. The parade lap on Sunday morning was great. We had a blast and they must have been feeling generous becuase we got two laps. Sadly the video cam took this moment to go mamaries skywards, so no video of that. We did take a couple of bus trips round the circuit. There were a couple of flying displays. While wandering around I came across an Austin Healey 3000 which looked a little different from the other highly polished examples, as it looked well travelled. Talking to the owner I found it was indeed well travelled as he was on his way home from Le Mans and called into Croft on the way. Seeing a beautiful car being used as it should be was just superb.
All in all this was a stunning weekend and I fully appreciate all the work that goes into making it a success. With the start being at Stokesley, just a short drive from home, it was a relaxed start to our day compared to other runs. We arrived in plenty of time to set up for signing on in the warm and dry thanks to Graham Howard for the use of his cafe in College Square. Being inside meant we didn't notice that it had started raining but only slightly. Once on the road we ran into fog as we climbed over the hills to Carlton. Thankfully it was clear once we dropped down to a lower altitude and it remained fairly dry till later in the day. 54 out of the 55 entries made the start of this annual run organised by the Tyne Tees Centre of the MG Car Club. Unfortunately three didn't make the finish. I know two were from the same family who withdrew when the V8 MGB GT lost power and they had to head home for a trailer. The lunch stop was at Hardwick Park near Sedgefield. The cars made a fine sight. The undoubted star of the day was the superb 1929 MG 18/80 Mk1 belonging to John & Janet Day. They had driven up from the Bedford area yesterday, a distance of some 210 miles and would be travelling back the same distance on Monday. With its 2468cc long stroke overhead cam engine this car is very happy at 60mph and eats up the miles easily. Despite the cart springs, it's a very comfortable ride. Even though this car is in stunning condition it's no trailer queen having covered some 45o,000 ( yes, nearly half a million) miles and has been to most European contries, some of them more than once or twice. The 99 miles driven today, even over some challenging roads, were obviously no problem. John is the fourth owner and knows the history of the car from new. The first owner used to commute 60 miles each way to & from work. That's quite a feat when you consider what the roads must have been like in 1929. There are no known records of this model being sold this far North, so it's quite likely that this was the first sighting of one in this area, and certainly the first time one would have been on The Palace Green at Durham. Thanks to John & Janet for bringing it for us all to see. The route then took us to Auckland Castle before winding across the countryside to the finish at The Palace Green in Durham There was another surprise on The Palace Green which made Pam & I very happy. A friend of ours, whom I've known since the 1960s owned a TC back in those days. Sadly he had to part with it and has always missed it. The new owner, also a friend of ours, happens to be a member of the Tyne Tees Centre and was on the run with the car. The original owner didn't know this run was taking place but happened to be in Durham and noticed all the MGs. He followed them and found us all on the Green where he spotted his old car and got to sit behind the wheel for the first time in over 40 years. The smile says it all. Just to prove we made it to the finish. One more of John & Janets 18/80 on The Palace Green As usual we had the video camera running most of the day and here's a short clip. The great day was organised by Noel & Carole Lindford, assisted by Barrie & Sheila Hope and marshalls. Margaret, Bill & Dennis were the ones I noticed but If I've missed anybody, I'm sorry. They all should give themselves a huge pat on the back Thank you all.
Our signing on duties meant an early start to the day and it was cool but dry as we set off. We had a good run to Brockbushes Farm near Corbridge and arrived with enough time to get set up for the entrants to sign in. A nice warm location inside the coffee shop, and a good cup of coffee was a good start. The run took us over some great roads, all kinds of surfaces, some even organic as we ran through farmyards. A few gated roads meant that Pam was kept active. Beautiful scenery when the sun was out, which did happen a couple of times. We also saw rain and hail across the hilltops. The first part of the run was 39 miles to tea rooms where quite a few stopped for a cuppa and bit to eat. The last part took us 50 miles back to Brockbushes, where we had a cream scone and a cuppa and a chance to have a chat to others on the run. It was a great run and even the changeable weather couldn't dampen our spirits. We set off for the 61 mile run home in heavy rain, which cleared later and all was going well until about halfway home there was a tremendous clattering from the engine room. A quick stop was in order and luckily we found a safe spot. Investigation revealed nothing amiss externally, so it was obvious that Numbum wasn't going to make it home under it's own steam. Gutted is an understatement. Thanks to those who stopped to offer help while we were waiting. You know who you are and we're thankful for your offers. A call to the RAC produced a flatbed about two hours after we first called them and we arrived home later than expected, tired cold and hungry. Once Numbum was safely locked away, I popped round to the takeaway for supper. Further investigation of the knocking will have to wait. Despite the problems, we had a great day, and our thanks go to Lyn & Peter Ebdon for the planning of the route, and all those who helped the day go so well. As you can tell from this video, the car was running really well all day with no indication that problems were lurking. |
AuthorHi, I'm Owen and I've been having fun with MGs since 1970, starting with my 1937 MGTA. Since then I've had three Y types and a couple of Z Magnettes. I now have a 1971 MGB GT along with the TA and my wife and I are still having fun Archives
September 2020
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