Events Reports 2018

Here are all the reports of the T Register’s 2018 Events. They appear in reverse date order so the latest report is at the top of the page.

T Register Autumn Tour to the Surrey Hills

7-10 September 2018

The T Register Autumn Tour went to the Surrey Hills this year, the weather was kind, the cyclists on Box Hill not too great a problem and a great time was had by all.
We had 35 T Types staying at the Tour’s hotel just outside Farnham and the hotel staff looked after us very well, especially as the booking with them was made quite late.
The first day’s tour took us us along empty roads into Hampshire, much to the delight of the locals seeing all those T Types going past, and visited the Watercress Line steam railway at Ropley where the staff gave us an excellent conducted tour around the boiler repair workshops. The engineering there made many comment about how low-key repairing a T Type was in comparison!

At the Gala Dinner in the evening we were regaled by our President Mike Lugg’s amusing rhyming recounterings, and the announcement of the annual T Register trophy winners. The next day’s touring took us up to great views at Newlands Corner, glorious Polesdon Lacey, up Box Hill and around the Surrey Hills.
And we only had one major breakdown …
You can see a full album of photos which include most of the participants on the T Register’s Facebook page and below is a short video of the event.

T Register T Party at the MGCC Donington Park race meeting

15 July 2018

The T Register’s T Party at the MGCC race meeting at Donington Park turned out to be a bit of disappointment in terms of numbers attending. There were only 7 T Types present, but the weather was glorious and the racing was great and

we were pleased to meet Chris Wing there who was very active in T Register racing in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Dave Morris also appeared in the TC he uses for hill climbs and was spotted in the paddock discussing T Type racing with Peter Edney.

One of the highlights of the event was the number of Triple M cars that now go racing and the Donington paddock was full of these fabulous MGs.
We had three T Type participants in the Iconic 50s race plus Alex Quattelbaum’s LECo 2, and Colin Murrell has sent photos of them racing.

Links
Photos of the event on our Facebook page including pictures from the paddock
Photos of the T Types racing, courtesy of Colin Murrell
More photos of the Triple M racers again courtesy of Colin
A full report of all the races on the MGCC’s Donington race report web page.
And there’s a video below of the back section of the circuit showing the T Types racing.

T Register at the Flywheel Classic and Sports Car Show

24 June 2018

There was glorious weather for the Classic and Sports Car Show at Bicester Heritage at the weekend and the crowds turned out in force for this renamed show which was bigger than ever.
There were more than 30 T Types there altogether amongst the usual very large numbers of classic cars, and this time there were numerous displays centring around themes – one of which was 50 years of British Leyland.

There was also a display of historic rally cars including the MGCC MGB Register’s MGB from the 1968 London to Sydney Marathon.
This year for the first time large parts of the technical area was open to the public with many of the companies there opening their doors and

displaying their activities. Including the (well, not quite so technical) micro brewery that’s opened on the site! Which understandably with the hot weather proved to be very popular.
There was also the driving display of historic racing cars round the test track. Although the cars go through the figure of eight configuration individually, the drivers usually go for it and you’re only yards from them separated by straw bales and small fence. It all adds up to a feeling of racing past.

The treat of the day was the flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial flight. They actually did numerous passes both together and individually and the whole place just stood still and watched them.
There is a full album of photos on the T Register’s Facebook page, and you can click the pictures here to enlarge them.

T Register at MG Live

2-3 June 2018

A sea of T Types were present at MG Live and although the mornings were dull, by lunchtime it was sunny and warm – and no Silverstone wind! The T Register stand did an excellent trade in Regalia items and there was a constant stream of technical queries.

The traditional T Register MG Live natter was much improved on last year as it reverted back to the paddock, accompanied by Jonathan Harmer’s TF racing car and by 4pm there was quite a crowd there.

Bill Silcock’s TD MkII was seen everywhere ferrying VIPs here and there and the rumour is that even the Candy Girls were seen in it …

You can see a full album of photos from the event on the T Register’s Facebook page, including faces at the Saturday natter in the new gazebo.
The T Type racing was marred by a bad accident to Stuart Dean’s Dick Jacob’s Special and the race was red flagged. Again there is a report and photos courtesy of Colin Murrell on our Facebook page.
You can click any of the photos above to get a larger view.

T Types to Flanders

14-18 May 2018

Mark Blomfield writes on this event organised by Bill and Sally Silcock earlier in May –

This year’s T Register trip to foreign climes took us all to Flanders. The Hostellerie Saint-Louis in Bollezeele had plenty of parking for the 33 cars although some of the crews had to stay nearby. The food was good and the drink was better.

The French are a bit funny over route books and so we all went our separate ways each day. Some to see the First War trenches a few to see the second war structures and others to the sea. We had no rain but the north wind did blow and many a hat was seen. The cars were generally well behaved, a sticking brake a leaking hub and a wayward condenser but all got back OK.

The President regaled us with his latest ode and all vowed to be in the Champagne region next year.

You can see a full album of photos of the event on the T Register’s Facebook page. Many thanks to Mark Blomfield, David Jones, Ian Linton, John Morgan, Simon Pedrazzini, Bill Silcock and John Wigg for the photos.

T Register Rebuild 2018 at the British Car Museum, Gaydon

14 April 2018

The T Register’s Rebuild event was held at the British Motor Museum on 14 April – a bit later in the spring than usual.
The two main topics on the agenda were Barrie Jones giving us an update on what is available to keep T Type electrics going and what improvements are commercially available. The second was two sessions from Paul Ireland on the results from the Manchester XPAG tests on modern fuel in our T Types.

Barrie Jones gave us a complete run down on what to look for in T Type electrics listing all the components, including the correct colour coding and the logic behind it of the wiring system. He also gave us a complete list of modern replacements for all the major electrical components.

Paul Ireland gave us a highly technical explanation of what happens in our XPAG engines when modern, more volatile fuel is used, and what to do to minimise it’s side effects – especially that increasingly problematic issue of our engines refusing to start during hot weather.

And it seems that after all, the original distributor advance curve is not so bad after all!

You can see more photos of the event on the T Register’s Facebook Page.

T Register at the Stoneleigh MG and Triumph Spares Day

11 February 2018

The format of the MG and Triumph Spares Day was the same as last year, with half of the cowsheds being taken over by a third exhibition hall containing a very large number of club stands – the format including it being as cold as it normally is with some reporting snow outside during the day!
And as ever, the aficionados poured into the exhibition halls of the Stoneleigh Agricultural grounds to buy their spares to ensure things go smoothly for the coming season.

Not quite so many T Types there as previous years, but there were two TCs, a TA Tickford and the supercharged green TD which is often seen in the south midlands area, on the Octagon Car Club stand.
George and Peter Edney had a joint presence, showing both a tuned XPAG engine complete with test stand and George’s own TF 1500 for sale. Brown and Gammons had a LHD TD for sale which they would convert to RHD at an extra price.

Meanwhile one of the eye-catching items was an original MGA Twin Cam head complete with cam boxes for sale at … £3,500.
The T Register stand did a good trade in regalia items and in items for sale from our members – including a Shorrocks supercharger. There is an album of 26 photos from the show on our Facebook Page, and a video of the event below from the T Register’s YouTube Channel.