WIXLIB

Bulletin Cover October 2017 No 554:Bulletin Cover28/9/1715:11Page 1OCTAGONCar Club‘The’ Club for pre 1956 MGsISSN 0263 3663 2.00 - Free to MembersOctober 2017 No 554

Bulletin Cover October 2017 No 554:Bulletin Cover28/9/1715:11Page 2“Jenks and I did a recce of the whole 1000 mile Mille Miglia course in 1955 and committedcommitted it to the “bog roll.”From this, Jenks gave me hand signals enabling me to take blind bends and steep hills often without lifting.A mere 7 minutes and 48 seconds quicker and we would have averaged 100mph for the entire journey!”Insurance for a lifetime.Your Classic Cars Your Everyday Cars Your Bikes Your House Your Business Your EverythingLet Stewart Miller & Peter James provide for all your insurance needs.Then you can rest easy.Stewart Miller Insurance founded 40 years ago, has been built onWe are proud of our close working relationship with thethe finest traditions of expertise and personal service, ensuring weMG Octagon Car Club which has enabled us to providecan advise you on the best cover for all your Commercial, Personalunrivalled insurance expertise and the most beneficial ratesand Household requirements.for all MG Club members.Peter James Insurance is the UK’s leading Specialist Vehicle and“As a member of the MG Octagon Car Club,Multi Vehicle Insurance Broker. After 40 years of serving the classicmay I suggest that you take my advice and talkvehicle movement, we know precisely how to provide completeto the experts today about all your insuranceprotection for all your precious vehicles.needs and your next quotation.”We are the enthusiasts’ Insurance Brokerand we look forward to being of service0121 422 22820121 506 6040Stewart Miller Insurance is the trading name of Stewart Miller McCulloch and Co Limited;Peter James Insurance is the trading name of Peter D James Limited; both are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.170517-MG-Octagon-A5.indd 117/05/2017 14:55

Bulletin Text October 2017 No 554:Bulletin Text28/9/1713:43Page 1Chairman:- Brian Rainbowbrian@brianjrainbow.free-online.co.ukVice Chairman:- Roy Millerroymill@waitrose.comSecretary:- Peter Mooreinfo@mgoctagoncarclub.comTreasurer:- Roger Jacksonroger.jackson@metronet.co.ukEditor:-Roger Muirmgocceditor@btinternet.comClub Administrator:- Jenny Johnsonadmin@mgoctagoncarclub.comDVLA Rep:- John Jamesttt2@ttypes.orgCommittee members:Jerry Birkbeck:- 01926 258691jerrybirkbeck@btinternet.comGeorge Moorheadc.g.moorhead@btinternet.comSyd Showell:- 07539253251showellsyd@sky .comGraham Smithgrahamsmith99@talktalk.netGraham Walkergraham47tc@btinternet.comIn this months IssueOctober 2017 No 554EditorialChairmans’ ChatSecretary’s NotesSpares - or back in stockWelcome to New MembersWhat’s OnThe 2017 TTT2 Tour of SussexTwo Thousand Miles in a YTMG TD Windscreen Wiper UpgradeTF Driving Position‘MG Clubs’ Coast to Coast 2018Centre Spread photo:John Dignan and his wife Pauline onthe Hero 1000 Mile trial in 2014Technical Advice and SupportCars For SaleMembers Private AdsNatter NewsFront Cover:- Peter Vielvoye’s YTparked outside the Coventry MotorMuseum at the 2017 MGOCC AGM.MG Octagon Car Club Ltd. Registration number 03836919.Registered office:- MG Octagon Car Club Ltd, Sparkenhoe Business Centre,Southfield Road, Hinckley, LE10 1UB website www.mgoctagoncarclub.comSpares:- 01455 611746 e-mail: info@mgoctagoncarclub.comSpares Telephone Hours Monday 4pm to 6pm, Tuesday to Friday 10am to 3pmAdmin & General:- 01455 617961 e-mail: admin@mgoctagoncarclub.comAdmin Telephone Hours Tuesday and Friday 9am to 4pmMembership subs due - Renewal form inside.MG Octagon Car Club Ltd.The Octagon Bulletin040506060810111321252728323739433

Bulletin Text October 2017 No 554:Bulletin TextEditorialAs I sit typing this it’s rainingoutside. Doesn’t entice one to get out anddrive your MG! Still hopefully theweather will pick up and we are all ableto have a good day out in our cars, ormaybe get the car out and do that jobyou’ve been meaning to do for sometime.I don’t think Jerry and JoBirkbeck had much problem stayingwarm on their 2000 mile trip in their YTacross Spain and Portugal this summer.His article is an inspiration to travelacross Europe and Jerry highlights theplanning of such a journey. A very goodread from page 13 on.Meanwhile Brian has been outand about firstly with the MGOCC’sgood friends. John James and TTT2 onthe ‘Tour of Sussex’ and then Brian andRosie took the ‘high road’ and followedthe ‘North Coast 500’ route in Scotland,I’ve done all of the route but some yearsago before it was ‘packaged’ as a touristattraction. I can well recommend the westcoast sections. All this after having donethe Beaulieu Autojumble.We have varioustechnical articles this month, for which Iam very greatfull to the contributors.Talking of technical subjects our team of‘marque’ specialists are always on handto help out with your queries. I know inthis day and age a lot of answers arefound on the internet but not all of ourmembers want to gather the informationthis way. So even if you do seek out ananswer this way perhaps you could stillshare it with our technical team?4 The Octagon Bulletin28/9/1713:43Page 2Graham Smith as usual collatedfeedback from the Natter groups.Amazing the things you get up too! AlsoNorman Verona not content with runningthe ‘Great Annual Whitby Fish and ChipRun’ (inaugurated 2017) is organising acoast to coast run in August 2018.Back in the office Pete and Sydhaving been working hard on the spareside and this is a very succesful elementof the Club. We had a compliment shownin the October issue of TTT2 by ChrisEdwards and his TC restoration:- ‘I foundthat one of the best sources for parts wasthe Octagon Club. There have beennumerous complaints about quality fromsome of the larger suppliers but Pete atthe Octagon Club supplies a good rangeof parts with a good quality and at areasonable price.’Pete is working hard to sourcean ever greater range of parts for our cars,notably this month is camshafts for theXPAG and the same was mentionedpossibly for the MPJG engine. My handshot up for one of them!Lastly over the last 12 months Ihave received many excellentphotographs. Where they have not beenpart of an article and when the format,‘portrait style, allows I have tried to usethem as cover illustrations. Looking backat those I haven’t used I thought I wouldfeature them as ‘photo of the month’ so tospeak. John Dignan and his wife Paulineon the Hero 1000 mile trial in 2014feature this month in the centre spread. Ican’t promise a two page spread everymonth however.Happy days. Roger

Bulletin Text October 2017 No 554:Bulletin TextChairman’s ChatNow that Beaulieu is over we can perhapsget back to normal. For a small club likeours attending the Beaulieu InternationalAuto-jumble is a real challenge. We haveto decide what stock we will take to theshow and pack it up in large containers,then hire a van and load everything intoit, including our 12 x 4 metre marquee.When we arrive at Beaulieu on Fridaylunchtime the marquee has to be erectedall the banners and tables put in place andthen the stock laid out. Saturday is ourmain selling day and this year we had avery good day. Sadly Sunday was awashout, it rained most of the day! Theorganisers decided to close the show anhour earlier, then when Pete got the vaninto the showground we had to get all thestock into the van without getting it wet!Last thing was to take down the wetmarquee and load that into the van andset off home. It is debatable whether it isworth the effort financially, we have toclose the office from Thursday untilTuesday while we load and unload thevan. Then all the stock has to be put backon the shelves and the sales put into ourSage accounting system. It is atremendous load on Pete, but he seems toenjoy it! Without the support of some ofour members it would not be possible toundertake this, so I would like to thankGraham Hogg, Peter Cole, Steve Bakerand Martyn Lister for helping us out, withPete, Graham Smith and myself inattendance. We did have a successfulsales campaign, we met many of ourmembers and recruited a few more newones. More importantly we were one of28/9/1713:43Page 3the very few pre’56 MG traders presentthis year now that Barry Walker no longersells spares and Andy King did notattend.Almost straight after Beaulieu Rosie andI went up to Scotland in my modern MGTF to do the North Coast 500. I havewanted to do this for a while, but did nothave the time. We took two days to drivethe 500 miles up to Inverness, the startpoint for the run. We decided to go up thewest coast first so headed off forLochcarron and on to Applecross, wheremost of the roads are tortuous narrowsingle track roads with passing places.The scenery on the West Coast wasfantastic, as it was along the top ofScotland. The East Coast was lessdramatic and more agricultural. Wecovered the 500 miles in 5 days, taking itleisurely, stopping to admire the viewsregularly and visiting places of interest.We finished the run in Aviemore, beforereturning home via an overnight stop inthe Lake District. If you have never heardof the North Coast 500 have a look attheir website www.northcoat500.com . Itis well worth doing, and is an idealtouring holiday for MG motoring,fantastic scenery, great beaches, goodhotels and fabulous food.Now after a short rest it is back intoplanning mode for the ‘LancasterInsurance Classic Motor Show’ at theNEC on 10/12th November. I lookforward to seeing a lot of you there!Finally a plea from me, please renewyour club subscription as soon aspossible.Happy motoring, BrianThe Octagon Bulletin 5

Bulletin Text October 2017 No 554:Bulletin TextSecretary’s NotesHello everyoneWe had a good weekend at Beaulieu,even though it rained most of the day onSunday. On the Saturday, we had a steadystream of visitors all day and sales ofparts was good. Due to the rain onSunday it was a lot quieter but as we wereshorthanded on Sunday, it was a goodthing we were reasonably quiet. We coulddo with a few more helpers next year.Because of the weather the organisersclosed the event early, and after loadingthe van I had a good run home and gotback home at 8pm. We unloaded the vanon Monday and got most of the stockback in place on Tuesday, so we couldstart selling spares again on Wednesday.Our next Show is The LancasterInsurance Classic Motor Show on 10th12th November at the NEC Birmingham.We won’t be selling spares there but ifyou want to pre order parts we can bringthem to the show. If you would like tohelp man the stand to help promote theclub, please let me know as we could do28/9/1713:43Page 4with a couple more volunteers for eachday. Don’t forget you can bookdiscounted tickets for the show.On Sunday 24th September. I was at theHinckley Classic Car Show, with my TD,which is held in the town centre. Therewere well over 600 vehicles on display allparked around the town centre and theevent gets bigger every year. As well asmy TD there were two other Pre ’56 MGsJohn Bates’ VA Tourer and TonyMobray’s TC in attendance.Happy MotoringPeteSpares - New or back in stock.Please Note prices are now inclusive of VAT (Exclusive of carriage) Members Prices.SAX022DCotter pin & nut for king pin [original] pattern TA/TB/TCSBE003BCamshaft XPAG Fast Road [A Cam based on the AEG 122profile with 0.025" increase in cam lift. Twin SU carbs must be used] It isrecommended that SBE001B Steel Cam Followers are used with this camSBR033BBrake pipe set TC copperSBR072CMaster cylinder heat shield TA/TB/TCSBR137Brake Drum for TD/TF with wire wheelsSCC003Handbrake cable - TA/TB/TC6 The Octagon Bulletin 13.20 258.00 82.00 85.00 60.00 51.60

Bulletin Text October 2017 No 554:Bulletin Text28/9/1713:43Page 5