Bits and Pieces

Pre-War Prescott Garden Party and Hill Climb Day, Saturday 20th July, 2013

Welcome to Pre-War Prescott – a unique motoring event for all pre-war car owners. Enjoy the relaxed atmosphere among old friends and new and experience the unrivalled opportunity and thrill of driving your car up this historic speed hill climb venue in the glorious Cotswolds. Prescott is owned and operated by the Bugatti Owners Club and the event is being hosted by the Vintage Minor Register. Untimed climbs will be available throughout the day for all pre-war cars – saloons included. No racing license, helmets or flameproof overalls required, no scrutineering, and you can even take passengers along for the ride.

Full catering and a licensed bar will be available throughout the day, and feature fine ales from the newly-established Prescott Brewery. Just as the golden age of pre-war motoring was brought to a close by the outbreak of war, so Pre-War Prescott will conclude with a sumptuous forties style BBQ and dancing to stirring and sentimental wartime favourites performed live by Fiona Harrison, Britain’s foremost forties singer and entertainer at the Prescott Clubhouse. We are extremely excited to announce that, for the third year running, Pre- War Prescott has been awarded a flying display by the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

There will be a dedicated area in the Paddock for TAs and TBs, the entry fee for the event is £30 and that includes one run up the hill. Additional runs are available on the day at £5 per run. For those of you with post war cars (TCs, TDs and TFs) why not come along and spectate. You can park in the Orchard with full access on foot to the Paddock and Hill for an incredibly cheap rate of £10 per car. In past years we have had an excellent display of TAs and TBs at Pre-War Prescott, so why not come along and join us?

Full details of the event and an on-line entry form are available on their website, please see prewarprescott.com I am acting as the co-ordinator for MG T-Types, so if you are planning to attend, please drop me an e-mail to: brian(at)brianjrainbow.free-online.co.uk {substitute @ for (at)} so that I will know how many are attending, and can ensure we have enough dedicated space in the Paddock. I hope to see you there on Saturday 20th July 2013.

Ed’s note: The photo is by kind permission of Ian Grace of the Vintage Minor Register.

I am going to book for this event and take my PB (but I hope to be able to park with the TAs and TBs).

The 5th biennial National Weekend Rally of the Pre-war MG Register of Australia

This event takes place from 25 -27 October 2013 in the historic city of Bathurst – 200 kms West of Sydney. With only 350 MGs built before 1940 spread across Australia, which is an area larger than all Europe, the Register is proud that participants with 70+ year old cars make the effort to drive long distances to attend and enjoy the social interaction and camaraderie.

The selection of Bathurst as the venue for the 2013 event is to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the staging of the 1938 Australian Grand Prix (AGP) at the nearby and now famous circuit of Mt Panorama. For this event on unsealed public roads an MG NE (NA0520) was purchased by ex-pat Aussie John Snow in England and shipped to John Barraclough in Australia as they both thought it had a good chance of winning this handicap race. This was despite the formidable entry including three K3s and Peter Whitehead’s B-Type ERA – also specially imported.

Regrettably the NE failed to start but the MG marque’s honour was upheld by the nine other MGs including two TAs which were 3rd and 5th.

This very NE, now residing on the other side of the continent in Perth, will be the star attraction at Bathurst along with many of the surviving racing MGs that competed in Australia before WWII including the two PAs that won the 1935 and 1937 AGPs and a replica of the TA that won the 1939 AGP on handicap. A freshly restored Q-Type will also be in action again.

The weekend will also celebrate the 80th anniversary of the K3’s class win at the 1933 Mille Miglia with one of the team cars present (K3002) and possibly another (K3003) and the ‘recce’ K3 (K3752). The ex-Bira K3 (K3030) will also be attending and possibly two others that reside in Australia. There will be several K3 replicas.

The owners of all these cars and all the other MG sports, tourers and saloons will have the opportunity to drive around the Mt Panorama circuit over the weekend as it is made up of public roads. The weekend see the attendance of some vintage MGs, examples of all of the MMM MGs, as well as some elegant SAs, VAs and WAs.

As the Register embraces all MGs up to 1939 there will be a good selection of TAs and TBs making up an expected total of more than 100 pre- war MGs. The weekend will start with a Friday Greet & Mingle evening at the Bathurst Racing Car Museum. On Saturday there will be car display in the centre of Bathurst and a run to the historic town of Sofala to pan for gold followed by a barbecue evening for story telling – true or otherwise. On Sunday there’s a scenic and historic tour around the region with a relaxing lunch stop and a Grande Finale Presentation Dinner.

International visitors with or without their pre-war MG are most welcome and there are hosting arrangements available with local MG owners.

For further information visit the website prewar.mgcc.info

VISIT TO PETER LANDER’S ROLLING ROAD

Nick Fitzhugh, a relatively new TC owner, took his car to Peter Lander’s premises in Gillingham, Dorset and found the visit well worthwhile…

“I had over 2 hours at Peter’s premises on the rolling road. The timing was checked and found to be OK. The gas analysers showed that there were problems with the carbs and these were investigated. The back carb was sticking when idling while the front one was sticking at high revs. Also the needles had uneven wear along their lengths. The needles were smoothed off and centred to correct the sticking problem. The plugs were also getting oiled and a new softer set put in. Peter thought that the car had been running on 3 cylinders only and that explained the uneven running. I was aware that oil was being burned by blue smoke from the exhaust so that was not a surprise.

The return journey (70 miles) showed a much improved performance with a smoother engine note and a comfortable cruising speed of 65. Towards the end of the journey I had to coast behind a slow moving vehicle down a 1 mile steep hill and the plugs oiled up again.

Peter’s opinion was that the engine had plenty of power and no worrying noises. The oil was probably coming up past the pistons and suggested a rebore might be worthwhile although the car could run in the present condition for years to come.

I think my next course of action is to take off the cylinder head and check for oil leakage past the valves – I understand that this is a common problem.

Overall, the visit was very worthwhile. The carbs are now operating correctly. I had 2 hours of Peter’s time plus 2 hours of one of his engineers and was charged £108.

I would certainly recommend Peter and what was good was being able to see what was being done rather than being kept behind closed doors.”

Sigma Engineering, Brickfield Industrial Estate, GILLINGHAM, Dorset SP8 4LT. Tel: 01747 823270

JDO Instruments, Keighley, West Yorkshire

Following a recommendation from me Nick Fitzhugh used the instrument repair services of JDO Instruments and reported as follows…

“Just to let you know that I have used John Ostick for repairing my car clock and the 30mph indicator in the speedo unit.

I reinstalled both units yesterday and both are now working correctly. Both items were turned round in about 1 week. The clock did have to go back because a screw holding the hair spring in place had worked loose in transit. This was rectified with no quibbles.

John suggested that the clock has a switch installed so that it can be switched off to prevent the electrical contact burning out when the car battery runs down. A useful suggestion which I have followed.” jdo1.com 01535 672125.

SAFETY CHECK FOR PRE-1960 VEHICLES

Tim Whellock, who with his wife, Anne runs Vintage and Sports Car Services in Chard, Somerset, offers a safety check for Pre-1960 vehicles which do not now need to be presented for the annual MOT test. The safety check includes a road test. The safety check list has been reproduced below for your information. The cost of this service is a very reasonable £40 plus VAT. vintageandsportscarservices.co.uk

and finally… nearly forgot the Front Cover!

Bob Grunau started work on TC6073 in 1995 from a bare chassis and finished it as a purpose built race TC. First track outing was June, 1998 at Mosport Park, Ontario. Last race with Bob driving was Mid Ohio, 2007. Bob sold the car in January 2009.