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MGCC

SILVERSTONE

INTERNATIONAL

22nd June 2003

JayPeG in the MGF POO	Demonstrating the International flavour with this Swedish M Type in the Concours	A Danish TF in the Concours with show badges.
Giving the Midget another final polish before the judging commences.	A couple of colourful Danish B's	Line up of Midgets in the register parking.
A slightly sad picture - one of the these red MGC's was stolen on sunday afternoon.	MGB with a Costello V8 conversion.	One of the pricier MG's at the show - Brown & Gammons were selling this ex works GTS for £47,500.
Silverstone itself got in on the act with this MG Metro Pick Up colecting the rubbish.	A "New" TF heavily "Saturised".	They managed to squeeze a 1.6 K series engine into this Midget somehow.
Not all cars were in pristine condition . A US import Roadster - the price on the windscreen said £2150 !	...Still there plenty of bits for sale to reapir it - a collection of B rear lights	Various panels in various conditions
Interesting attention grabber.	F Hardtops reflecting the clouds on the MGF Centre stand. (Victoria was hiding)	The T series were celebrating 40 years of the T register. This trophy laden model was in their exhibition.
The X-Power grey SV Prototype.	The T register parking was on the remaining grass area to save the elderly tyres.	A collection of Trophy blue cars - a ZS, TF and ZR.
X Power time - the rally cars and the F	A slightly crumpled TF - actually it's one of the NCAP safety test cars proving the F is one of the safest sports cars around.	The Front row of rain spotted F's in the register parking.
This vintage MG was a winner	The Mayflower MG Trophy Round 6 gets underway.	A Display of XPAG race cars
A line up of A's in the POO	Interesting modifictaion on this car - Is it a Bar B F ?	It was just all too much for some people.

Another fantastic Car Club International fades into the thunder storms racking the skyline above the grandstands. Sadly we could only make it on the sunday but I gather the previous two days were warm and sunny with festivities in the camping grounds stretching long in to the early hours of the morning with much gentle (and not so gentle) lubrication. The only thing flaming on sunday morning as I drove the car out of the garage was my language as the first spots of rain immediately appeared and the rolls of thunder sounded ominously overhead. With so many days of glorious sunshine surely it couldn't rain today - it did. Fixing my grin we set off for the drive to Silverstone up the M40 trying to stay ahead of the showers. In fact it did brighten up and as we pulled up at the Silverstone gates the day was looking a little more promising. Having purchased our Programme from Doug Bush (The MGCC South East Chairman proving he is more than willing to muck in with "lads") we drove over the newly built bridge into the central area to find acres of grey asphalt where the old grass used to be. Part of the much needed improvements if Silverstone is going to keep the Formula 1 Grand Prix. We finally found the POO and Concours area and settled in to place to begin a couple of hours of polishing before the competition.

The register parking was mainly on these car parks - with the A's, B's, C's and Midgets all lined up pristinely in the main car park with the F's and Z's across the road in another car park. The Vintage cars and T Register managed to find some grass around the other side of the main marquee to rest their weary wheels on.

This year the T register were celebrating their 40th anniversary with a marquee display of T series cars along with the V8 register celebrating 25 years. The oldest display this year were the M Types celebrating their 75th anniversary. Over in the paddock the XPAG race cars were once again on show along with all the competitors for the numerous races held over the weekend.

A huge Traders area sold everything from rusty old wings to complete cars. Brown & Gammons probably had the most expensive car on display - an Ex Works MGB GTS race car- yours for a mere £47,500. All the models had their own stalls whether you needed the odd nut and bolt for your B or shiny aluminum heater controls for your F . You could even buy yourself an ancient tricycle if (God forbid) you'd had enough of all those motors.

You could spend sublime hours just wandering around the register parking areas looking at all the machinery or wile away some time sipping a glass of beer in the hospitality area, Old Speckled Hen of course. Then, after you'd spent all your money buying those useful items on the stalls, you could wander over to the grandstands and enjoy an afternoon of MG racing with a full race card including rounds of the Mayflower Trophy.

On a slightly sour note , you may have noticed tightened security as you left the site on sunday this was due to an MGC roadster being stolen from the register parking area right under the noses of the thousands of genuine MG enthusiasts. These thieves certainly have some audacity. Let's hope that it's recovered before too long .

We enjoyed a picnic beside the car right until the point when the heavens suddenly opened with no warning and drenched both us and the car - which was fully opened and on display. Salad went flying in all directions as we vainly tried to get bonnet down and hood up before it was completely sodden. Luckily there was a warm wind and we were soon blown dry and managed to finish our damp bread rolls just a few minutes later. Luckily that was the only really heavy shower and apart from a few spots there was nothing more to worry about until the end of the afternoon when the skies darkened and lightning rent the skyline again.

Once again this was a truly international event with visitors and competitors from most European countries - we spotted cars from Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Luxemburg in the parking areas - I'm quite sure there were some from further afield as well.

Thanks to the MGCC for another great weekend of MGing.

Words and Pics Tim Morris