Welcome to the MGB Register Newsletter

published in the November 2019 Safety Fast

Rally Day at Castle Combe

The Register was invited to display the Marathon MGB on the “ British Women Racing Drivers’ Club” stand at the Castle Combe Rally Day held on September 21. The BWRDC was formed in 1962 and the connection between the car and the club is Jean Denton who was one of its early members. Jean, of course, was the owner of the Marathon MGB which she drove on the London to Sydney Marathon in 1968. The car was also used for racing before being entered on the Marathon.
The club was founded to promote the interest of women racing drivers because it was felt that they had been treated in a rather derisory manner. The object of the club was “ Prestige” i.e. initially only drivers with full FIA International Licences could join.
There was great interest in the car throughout the day from all ages. It’s very eye-catching and stood out from the majority of Escorts, Subarus, etc on display. Some younger visitors had not heard of the Marathon and were amazed that such a car could compete and finish in such a gruelling event. Without doubt the car helped to promote the club.

MGB Register Weekend

Upholding personal tradition on MG events, Kate and I arrived last at the Ufford Park Woodbridge Hotel, Suffolk on Friday evening for this year’s MGB Register Weekend September 13-16.

After changing in record time we joined the others in the restaurant, just in time for a ribbing from Roger Boys followed by John Watson’s brief but important presentation on the horrors of Sepsis.

This was followed by a brief presentation by George on the weekend’s routes, a longish 90 miles around South Suffolk’s rural landscape on Saturday, with a shorter coastal route for Sunday. Both days had fantastic recommended stopping places, of which more later. George personally assured me that no one should get lost.

Saturday morning brought more glorious weather, and most of the MGs had left our dedicated grassy car park by 10.00am, leaving the ‘Speckled Hen’ and ourselves as the rear guard. We managed to recover from a premature left turn on the second stage and progress to Earl Soham. The route through rural Suffolk rural scenery was lovely. The houses and cottages were quite distracting. After Earl Soham things went to Hades in a Hand Basket in the navigation department. After a brief exchange with Speckled Hen, we declared ourselves mutually confused, and pressed on guided by Google Maps. Irrespective, the roads and scenery were first class.
We caught up with most of the group at the spectacular village of Lavenham. Prospering from the wool trade in the 15th and 16th centuries, it was reputed to be the fourth richest town in the country.

The early architecture was preserved by the townspeople falling on hard times, as their textile market was lost to others. They could not afford to upgrade or rebuild their properties. That is to our benefit today. The Guildhall, now in the hands of the National Trust, was our personal favorite.

Continuing our journey through Kersey, which provided the obligatory Register Weekend ford, then Hadleigh, we eventually arrived at Flatford Mills. Those who enjoy John Constable’s work will find this a fascinating place, with the Mill itself and the 15th Century Valley Farm. The cottages and scenery here are famously captured in Constable’s paintings.
Returning to Ufford Park, we congregated in the bar to swap navigation disaster stories before John gave a briefing on the background and restoration progress with the Jean Denton London to Sydney Rally MGB. Following dinner the raffle was held to raise further restoration funds, (the pot is nearly dry!). There were many prizes donated by Register members on offer, including a pair of Petrolhead MG socks, apparently reserved for me. I am very much enjoying them. An unusual prize went to our good friends and regular attendees from Germany, Thomas and Ulrike, tea cups with MG motifs!

Sunday dawned with a bright blue sky. The group set off to cover the short distance – using a number of novel routes – to Bentwaters Cold War Museum on the old RAF/USAF base. The restored ‘hardened’ command post contains a war operations room and ‘Battle cabin’ as well as many exhibits explaining the history of the base. During the Cold War it was used by the USAF to provide A10 ‘Tankbusters’ to NATO as part of the West’s initial response to armoured incursion from the Eastern bloc. Retired Master Sergeant Bob Hale, who was part of the War Room team at the time, offered a detailed description of how this was achieved. A retired A10 along with a Phantom and a Harrier where on display outside the museum.

Two hours passed quickly and we decided to make haste to Sutton Hoo. Others followed the full coastal route north to Aldeburgh and Snape Maltings, a leading centre of music founded by Suffolk composer Benjamin Britten. Aldeburgh was once a thriving fishing and boat building community, before storms eroded the east coast. By 1790 many of streets had gone. However the tourist trade revived the town in the 1800s.

Sutton Hoo, the final stop, is the site of 6th and 7th century Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. This site is famous for the discovery of the undisturbed ship-burial and many important artefacts. The new exhibition hall, cafe and the restored Tranmere Hall make this a very worthwhile place to visit. Fascinating to think that the discovery of the long boat in mound 1 during 1939 was the result of the Hall owner, widow Edith Pretty, commissioning a local archeologist Basil Brown on a spiritual hunch.
Back at the hotel a good crowd assembled for drinks and dinner to discuss the day’s adventures. The MGB Register weekend had delivered great company, excellent weather, great roads, fantastic places to visit and a few navigation challenges to keep us on our toes. Kate and I even found time to try the driving range…
Many thanks to John and his team for another fantastic MGB Register Weekend.
See you next year in the Scottish borders,I hope!
Malcolm Dunn

North Coast 500 Route in the Boneshaker

Derbyshire was our first stop for the night during this adventure, and with slightly overcast conditions we set off from Newbury. Our plan was to meet up each evening with our friends, Ian and Sue Deverall, at the hotels rather than travel in convoy. This worked well during the holiday. It was amazing how many times we “bumped” into each other throughout the trip, either in garages or at coffee stops or most important the call of nature! The first hotel was absolutely brilliant, The Lamb at Chinley, near Buxton. When we arrived, Ian and Sue were sat outside in the sunshine taking in the rays with an aperitif. Only three rooms but excellent; well done, Hotels.com Sadly this was to be almost the last of the sunshine that we were to see on our June holiday. It was generally on the cool side 11-12C or just simply cold 7C and damp. Nicky acquired the nickname of “five coats” in an attempt to keep warm. Yes, we did have rain but at a guess we had the roof off for 70% of the driving time.

When we set out the following morning from The Lamb it was raining. We were optimistic that as we progressed to just north of Newcastle we would find some better conditions. It was going to be an eventful day! When Nicky and I were travelling through the heavy traffic of Keighley in Yorkshire, the Boneshaker, our 1964 MGB, who had not been performing too well, finally gave up the ghost and stopped at very busy set of traffic lights and refused to restart. We managed to push it to the side of the road. As we were looking under the bonnet there were huge trucks, coaches and cars speeding by. I decided to check for a spark with my checking tool, after making sure there was fuel in the fuel filter bowl. I turned the starter over and was amazed when suddenly the engine fired up. “Right, let’s move,” shouted Nicky over the noise of the traffic. We struggled through the traffic, fighting to keep the engine running. It was very apparent that the car was not happy running at slow speeds. We stopped in the first layby we came to and Nicky checked on the internet and found that there was an MG specialist in Harrogate, some 16 miles away, so we rang and were told to come over. Thank goodness we did, as the diagnosis was a failing 20-year-old electronic ignition system, which was replaced. So, four hours later and a tidy sum of money gone from our holiday spending fund, we were on our way again. Peter Norman of Snowdens of Harrogate had saved our holiday, as there was no way that we would have been able to travel all those miles and complete the NC500 without him. Our problem, however, was not completely over for the day as when we checked with “Doris the satnav” we found that we had some 92 miles to travel to our hotel north of Newcastle, and it was pouring with rain. Fortunately she found the way to the A19 and we were on our way to the Tyne Tunnel. It took just over two hours to complete the nightmare journey but we made it to the hotel to be greeted by a relieved Ian and Sue. We slept well that night!

The following morning the rain had turned biblical but with optimism in our hearts we set off to Peebles where we were due to join the rest of the party, ready for the main tour. The rain did stop and the roof came off for some of the trip. The evening was fun as we found our fellow travellers, introduced ourselves and had a drink before enjoying dinner together in a room set aside for our group, two Triumph GT6s, a BMW MINI convertible and a Mazda MX5. We were expecting a Porsche which we found out was due to join us the following day.
Saturday we were due to travel up to Inverness to start the actual NC500 route the following morning. The NC500 is a clever marketing idea to promote Scotland in general by focussing on the wonderful coastal drive. This runs for 500 miles from Inverness to Inverness, via Dornoch and Wick, using the A9 which hugs the east coast virtually all the way to John O’Groats then along the north coast to Thurso in Caithness, the northernmost town on the British mainland, and then down the west side of Scotland, passing Lochinver, Ullapool and Gairloch with the islands on the right. Then comes the jewel in the crown, Bealach na Ba meaning “pass of the cattle” , featuring the spectacular road to Applecross, before climbing up and then descending Scotland’s most spectacular road down from its highest point of 2,053ft down to sea level close to Fort William before turning back across country to Inverness. The route is a shade over 500 miles of glorious coastal driving, narrow roads with passing places almost all of the way when you pass John O’Groats, brilliant views ,lovely coastal areas, interesting villages – great fun in any car but wonderful in an open top MGB.

There were lots of great memories but one stands out. It occurred as we were making our way towards Braemar. We were driving on the A9 through some glorious open scenery at a steady 50 miles per hour in fifth gear, the roof was down, we were on holiday enjoying ourselves, when suddenly I felt that the car was beginning to play up again. It was slowing down even though we were going downhill. I didn’t dare tell Nicky! I changed down into fourth and the engine was still struggling so I went down again into third and the revs immediately picked up. It was then that the penny dropped: we were in fact climbing. It was the most amazing illusion; I had been convinced that we were going downhill! In the evening I spoke to Ian and he related exactly the same experience. I have subsequently found out that it’s a well-known fact that open, expansive scenery without a clear horizon can produce this effect.

Our route home was via Carlisle and the Peak District. During the whole of our trip we had a fabulous time with an excellent group of people. We laughed a lot, saw some wonderful scenery, drove on some brilliant roads, all the cars including the Boneshaker performed well, despite the initial problems. It was a well-organised event using some excellent hotels, lots of food, and above all leaving us with some great shared memories. Nicky and I thoroughly enjoyed the 12 days that we were away. We completed 1,750 miles at a shade over 30mpg and Ian did a few more miles, 1,890 at an excellent 34mpg.
Add the North Coast 500 to your bucket list, you will not regret it.
Roger and Nicky Boys

DAVID BROADHURST
newsletter-editor@mgb-register.org

WELCOME TO THE MGB REGISTER NEWSLETTER 

PUBLISHED IN THE September 2019 SAFETY FAST

Further to my missive last month about the nearside quarterlight bracket breaking, I have had a devil of a time finding a replacement as, apparently, they have not been seen since 2014. I spent a while trawling through various companies in search of this part and, eventually found a used one with Andy Jennings (01489 790611) in Southampton. However, serviceable as this one is, I continued looking. Mike Rolls in Dorset put me onto the prize. EB Engineering in Malvern, Worcestershire (01684 577564) supply fully renovated quarterlights, windscreens and SU Carburettors. Eddie Biddle has sent two of the brackets direct to Tim Kelly so this fiddly repair can be done.
“ Boys Day Out” at Shelsley Walsh
The Classic Nostalgia event was held over a June weekend with the Register organised meet on the Saturday. The Register has previously visited Shelsley for MGB 50 in 2012 when we drove the hill and for MGB GT 50 in 2015. For those who have not visited Shelsley, obviously it is set on a hill surrounded by stunning countryside and first opened in 1905.
I was joined on the day by fellow committee members Andrew, who had organised things, and Chris together with his son James. As we all live a good drive from Shelsley we stopped in a local hotel on the Friday night, and got there early to set up the Register parking. The day started dry with blue sky but there was the threat of heavy rain.
First job on arrival, park the Bs then put up the Register Banners and plan the parking. Second job, and possibly the most important of the day, breakfast. In fact, full English in the excellent restaurant.
What immediately hits you is how relaxed everything is, but there is a great atmosphere and a very British feel to things. It feels like nothing has changed there for years. All the competitors are very friendly and most are happy to talk about their cars, so you don’t get the feeling you are intruding. The smell of the place is wonderful with the racing fuels and the smell of the cars. You can walk around the paddock getting right up to the cars and stand right with the cars as they form up to drive the hill.
The format of the day is practice runs in the morning with two competition runs in the afternoon after the lunch break – all very civilised. Being the Classic Nostalgia Event the range of cars was fantastic, from Austin 7s to Formula 2 cars with everything imaginable in between, including a nice mix of MG types.
Once the action starts things move quickly with a car driving the hill about every 90 seconds, so there is little time to get bored. There is excellent viewing for the majority of the hill with a footpath following the line of the track with seating areas along its length. The seating areas are great for viewing and resting the legs whilst
enjoying the mandatory afternoon Ice Cream!
The track is 1,000 yards and the hill record is 22.58 seconds. The times we saw were in the 30 to 40 seconds range but still very enjoyable to watch. It’s amazing how quick the times are when you consider how narrow the hill is and the tightness of some bends.
So, if you want a great day out and enjoy competitive non-commercial motorsport with a great relaxed atmosphere then Shelsley is well worth a visit, and with the discounted Register ticket price great value.
Thanks, Andrew, for organising a great day.
Neil Hyett

DAVID BROADHURST
newsletter-editor@mgb-register.org

MGB Register August 2019 eNewsletter

WELCOME TO THE MGB REGISTER NEWSLETTER

PUBLISHED IN THE June 2019 SAFETY FAST

I am writing these notes mid May, having NOT just MOT tested my MGB GT. It was scheduled for 7.00am. As I went to start my car the starter motor made a rattling noise… nothing more. How, in the name of all that is good and beautiful, has it got a flat battery? It has a smart charger almost permanently attached, certainly all winter though not for the past couple of weeks. In that time it has been driven, perhaps, 40 miles. This goes to prove the old adage. They do need driving and I have been sadly remiss in that department and have been caught out. I checked the car out at the end of last week; everything worked fine except the screen washer. Investigation proved that the washer bottle had cracked and the jet spout on the back of the hand pump had snapped off! How? They reside in almost total darkness and were merely 52 years old! Tim Kelly provided both components and a length of new hose and after much contortion on my back in the nearside foot well (I’m getting too old to do that) the system sprang to life. It produces enough of a sample to prove its claim to fame and, therefore, enough to satisfy the examiner. Which thought brings me to my conclusion. The current MOT expires on May 10. I cannot get it examined now before the 14th. It is taxed, from May 1 for 12 months (£0), insured and no longer requires an MOT, being the age it is. What is my legal position? Can I just drive it willy-nilly? Personally, I am confident that it is perfectly sound and fit for purpose but I would still like the reassurance of an inspection to a known standard by a competent motor engineer. John Watson, our esteemed Chairman, considers that an MOT, to whatever the standard is or will be, for older vehicles is the sensible option and I agree.

Just before going to press, my MGB GT passed it’s MOT with no advisories.

Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb The MGB Register will be at Shelsley Walsh on June 15 with a reserved parking area and discounted entry of £18 per ticket. All MG Car Club members are welcome. For full details and to book your tickets direct with the organisers, visit www.classicnostalgia.co.uk

Bicester Super Scramble Sunday June 23 Bigger, better and more action-packed than the well-established tri-annual open days, the Super Scramble will see the beautiful former RAF Technical Site filled with a specially curated collection of historic vehicles, the test track brought to life with cars demonstrating for the crowds and visiting aircraft on the historic airfield.

Classic Car and MG Summer Picnic Sunday August 4 Millets Farm Centre and Frosts Garden Centre offer various attractions and restaurants, something for everyone.

Who built your MGB? Sunday August 18 Here is a chance to meet the workers who built your MGB. Ex-Factory employees and MGB owners Welcome. Kimber House 10.30am

There are still a couple of places left on the MGBRegister weekend in Woodbridge, Suffolk, Friday 13 to Monday September 16. See the website for details.

DAVID BROADHURST
newsletter-editor@mgb-register.org

WELCOME TO THE MGB REGISTER NEWSLETTER 

PUBLISHED IN THE MAY 2019 SAFETY FAST

You remember from April’s notes that Peter Nixon from Tyne Tees Centre was searching for parts for his hardtop and found a possible contact in the USA. He tells me that he ordered the retaining strip that he needed and that it has now turned up and is a perfect fit! That’s good to know, then.
It would have been nice to get my BGT out this past couple of weeks, but, as my photograph shows, it has been used to store Easter Eggs (nice and cool in the garage and out of the sun). These are prizes for a Great Easter Egg Hunt organised annually on Portreath Beach in Cornwall for under-5s and over-5s…by Camborne/Redruth Lions Club. But how many Eggs are there in the Car? Send me an email with your guess and we will pick out a winner and organise a prize from the Register regalia. Cut off May 15. Last year there were more than 500 children, and even more enthusiastic parents, digging frantically for the buried treasure. The beach looked like a minefield afterwards. Hint…I don’t have all the prizes…

There are still a few places available on the Register weekend in Suffolk in the autumn. See the website for more details and a booking form.

I shan’t comment about losing MGLive! this year, other than reminding everyone that Silverstone is a Motor Racing Circuit, not merely another disused airfield, because of efforts made by the MGCC after the war.

A few tech tips from your new Register Committee member, Mike Barclay

MGB Bonnet: Refitting the bonnet on an MGB after working on the engine can be a bit of a fiddle, trying to line up the height and fit across the front wings. If you look at the bonnet hinges and the corresponding mounting points on the bonnet you will notice 2 x 1/8 inch holes drilled through each. These were used by the factory when refitting the bonnets at the end of the line to ensure the bonnets went back in the same place when removed at the start of assembly. When fitting the bonnet, once the bolts are in, fit a 1/8” piece of
bar (drill bit is ideal) in each hole, adjust and the bonnet should fit correctly.

MGB Rostyle wheel nuts: Using the original wheel brace or a normal socket to remove the wheel nuts on Rostyle wheels usually results in damage to the chrome plating. If you have a socket set with a plug spanner socket use this as it is the correct size for the nuts and fits all the way down the nut preventing damage to the chrome.

Cheap thief deterrent: Unfortunately we are seeing more and more MGBs stolen these days. Because of the era these cars come from there is very little to stop anyone breaking in (particularly the Roadsters) opening the bonnet, “hot wiring” the ignition and the car is gone. All MGBs have an electric fuel pump. Power to the pump is fed from a white wire connected where the front and rear harnesses join in the group of bullet connectors below the fuse box. If you remove this connection and make up a small harness connected to a secret switch (mine is mounted in a hard-to-find place under the dash) you can turn off the pump when you leave the car. If someone tries to take the car it will only run for around 200m before running out of fuel. OK, it will not stop the determined thief but it might just make them abandon their attempt to steal your car.

Bonus wiring: This only works for MGB Roadsters. The front wiring harness for both Roadster and GT is the same. This means on a Roadster the wiring for the rear heated screen is present but not used. This leaves a +12 wire feed (green) and return wire (white/black) that terminates in a bullet connect in the bundle of bullet connectors below the fuse box. This can be useful when wanting to add things like a radiator fan override switch, avoiding having to add extra wiring under the dash and through the bulkhead to the engine compartment.

Battery conditioner: MGB batteries are not located in the most convenient place, making the connection/disconnection of a battery charger/conditioner time consuming when wanting to use the car. The cigarette lighter on later cars is permanently connected to 12V. Using a suitable lighter plug connected to your charger output makes disconnection/connection quick and simple. Make sure you get the polarity correct.

MGB REGISTER SPRING RUN

I couldn’t go to the Register-organised Spring Run but did go on the local event organised by John Harvey, leader of the West Cornwall Natter. This was a castle to castle event starting at St Mawes and finishing at Caerhays. Three MGBs, two TFs and a 1937 TA took part. All open top motoring on a bright but chilly day. Good to blow the cobwebs away and give the cars an airing after the winter. The gang up country seemed to enjoy themselves… according to Roger and Nicky Boys…

The MG season has started. The MGB Spring Run for many is the first major event of the year and all owners look forward to taking the opportunity to shake the cobwebs off their MG. There were approximately 74 cars that pitched up at Millets Farm, near Abingdon, for the start. There was quite an MG buzz in the cafe as we all met up with old friends and discussed the modifi cations and work that we had completed during the winter, and naturally there was the opportunity to put the world to rights – Brexit, despite being a taboo subject, got a mention! The warmth and smell of cooking breakfasts and hot coffee made it difficult to get motivated and set out on the route. The weather did its best for us; despite remaining cool and overcast all day, we were fortunate that there was no rain for the whole time we were out in the car, hence the roof remained down, but a warm jacket and woolly hat was required.
The first section of the route was brilliant; it took us deep into the Cotswolds, exploring some beautiful villages built in traditional style featuring the lovely warm Cotswold stone and thatched roofs. The roads were interesting and at times challenging. Goodness knows how much it would cost to fill in all of the potholes and refurbish the roads of this area, let alone the rest of the country. Lots of MGs were seen parked up in delightful places, taking lunch before completing the route to The Classic Motor Hub, Bibury. Great credit here goes to Roger and Joan Cooper for planning the interesting and varied route. Nicky and I made a couple of silly errors due entirely to a lack of concentration which caused us to miss a turning. However, we have resolved to complete it all again during the coming summer when the views will be less shrouded in mist. 

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The Classic Motor Hub, Bibury, is a fascinating place, filled with an interesting array of exotic classic cars, the majority of which are for sale and could be tempting if you have deep pockets. Everybody was very friendly and made us all extremely welcome and we were encouraged to explore. I have to admit that as we did not get there until 2.30pm we did not get an opportunity to look round, just time to grab a coffee before it was time to set off on the second section, which took us back towards the start where we had an opportunity to visit Kingston House at Kingston Bagpuize.

The Classic Motor Hub regularly advertises in Safety Fast! and holds a number of British Coffee and Classics events throughout the year, so keep your eyes open and visit them, you will not regret it. Look at www.classicmotorhub.com for information.
The route back was more direct and gave us all an opportunity to speed up and enjoy the wind-in-the hair motoring. The Kingston House owner was on the gate to welcome us all. Approximately 40 cars made it to the end. We guess the other cars had headed for home. Here we had the opportunity to go into this fascinating house, steeped in history, as well as explore the grounds or simply enjoy afternoon tea while continuing the conversation with friends plus, as a bonus, super homemade cakes, some of which were made by the owner!
Nicky and I completed 140 miles by the time we got back to Newbury and enjoyed the ‘Boneshaker’, our 1964 MGB, during an excellent day out to start the MG year. Thanks go to the MGB Register Committee for organising such a wonderful event. Shall we do it again next year? Yes, please.
Roger and Nicky Boys.

DAVID BROADHURST
newsletter-editor@mgb-register.org