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This
new event was tacked on to the marvellous Stoneleigh MG Show and
Spares Day, making it a two day rally in other words. Around twenty
five MGFs and TFs parked up outside the Crick Holiday Inn for rally
route instructions early Saturday. The hoods were down. Chat,
coffee, go, go, go!. (We know this hotel as the UK Scimitar Club
held Christmas parties here for several years, and we were members.)
The
rally took us through forty miles of lovely English countryside and
villages, the highlight of which was the unintended side trip to the
hallowed ground of the
Cromwellian King Charles’ battlefield at Naseby. Fifteen cars
followed each other down a narrow muddy lane, totally lost at this
point. A horse float brought up the rear and we turned into its path
to regain the right road spraying mud and debris all over our nice
clean cars and paintwork, not to mention each other.
You
may know the history of Naseby. Parliament’s New Model Army had
thirteen thousand troops, King Charles, many more. On 14th and 15th
June, 1645, a bloody battle was fought hand to hand, the outcome of
which was the beginning of the end of Royal decree and the start of
Parliamentary democracy. Standing there in the brisk morning air
gazing over the insignificant fields, one can almost hear the battle
cries traversing the centuries. Sobering…
By
now, fifty MGFs and TFs had joined the fun run and duly arrived to
park in a semi-circle in front of the Coventry Transport Museum. The
café was the meeting point, Toasted Paninis, good coffee and a slice
of home made cake set everyone up for the following three hour walk
around what is one of the best transport museums in the world. Too
many exhibits to detail here but outstanding for me was the floor to
ceiling photo of Morris Marinas on an assembly line and alongside
several actual cars in a mock up of an assembly line (See the
gallery). Very
imaginative. The second exhibit of note is the wall of honour
detailing over two hundred manufacturers situated in Coventry over
the past century or so. First bicycles, then motorbikes and finally
motor vehicles. Many names I recognised but now sadly defunct.
You
will know also of Richard Nobles’ land speed record breaking run,
the statistics of which are hard to accept. In 1997, piloted by Wing
Commander Andy Green, Thrust SSC achieved the world record land
speed of 1228 km/h (763.03 mph) on Nevada’s Black Rock Dessert. Two
Rolls Royce Spey F4 Phantom fighter jet engines consumed 4 gallons
of aviation fuel a second (that’s 0.4 miles per gallon) to push
Trust to the record. Thrust resides now in this
wonderful museum and a simulator gives an idea of the experience
Andy encountered. The simulator literally takes your breath away and
is worth the usual long wait to climb aboard. Incidentally, the
sound barrier was broken on the run!
The
‘weekenders’ stayed in two comfortable inexpensive hotels on the
Saturday and in the evening a special buffet was arranged for us,
the tables set out in a hollow square. Drinks before and after, bed
around twelve. A very pleasant evening.
Stoneleigh... What can one say? A Mecca for anyone building,
refurbishing, enhancing or just plain wallowing in the MG marque.
Two huge halls of pure MG parts, accessories and show cars. The
Oselli special MGA was for me the outstanding exhibit. Having owned
a couple of MGAs I can appreciate how the upgrading to modern
running of this fine car would be the ultimate for Continental rally
participation, reliability being the key.
MGs
get special honours at the show and park undercover in a huge cattle
exhibit barn. I had a short list of broken, worn out trim from our
‘F and managed to track it all down. A very enjoyable and successful
day. Don’t miss this annual pilgrimage next year. I recommend it.
Dave & Carole Walker |
