Chicagoland MG Club: Driveline June 2015


New Directions
Monthly Column of Driving Events

The 2015 Driving Events of your MG Clubs of Chicago has officially started and we have already three events in the history books: the Spring Brunch with 16 cars (11 MG’s, 2 other British cars, and 3 OM’s or Other Makes), the Spring Tune-up with 26 cars (24 MG’s and 1 other British car, and 1 OM) and the Spring Tour with 8 cars (5 MG’s and 3 OM’s).

If all is working out as planned you should find reports on these three events in this issue. And the Driving Events Calendar just continues with many events in June and July. Invitations and information about the upcoming events can be found in this issue and on websites of our clubs. We even have the first interim points standing for the year-end championships. Rich Meservey and Sundy Mead took of where they ended last year and lead the chart with 5 points because they participated in all 3 events. Second is Ric and Nancy Maitzen, also with 5 points but from 2 events only. Tied in third/fourth with 4 points each are Gerry Risner and Phil Law. Brian Dubin and Bob Lee are 5th/6th with 3 points each. Please note that there are 5 T-Types and only 1 MGB in this Top 6. A great start for the members of the VMGCC. Further down there are 27 more teams with 2 or 1 point. The competition is on!

Sometimes, I like to highlight an upcoming event in this column to give it a little bit of extra attention. This time, I am in trouble because there are three June events that I want to present to you. First, there are Autocrosses. We like to call our cars, sports-cars, because they were designed to be driven competitively. We hardly do that anymore these days, unless you are into vintage racing; or, unless you are into autocross. Autocross is probably the safest form of racing because it is at low speed (2nd gear for our MG’s) and because you are alone on the course so that there can’t be any unintended collisions. The course is marked with traffic cones on a large

 

parking lot. Because of these characteristics, it is also easily accessible: the entry fee is affordable and other than a seat belt and a helmet (loaner helmets are available if you don’t own one), there are no special safety requirements. I used to do a lot of Autocross myself, before I parked my MGC more than 10 years ago for a quick restoration that is still going on, and I have very good memories about it. Jim Compton has stepped-up as the club Autocross coordinator and we would really like to see this program revived this season.

Second, there is the Land’s End Rally. Unfortunately there was no announcement in the May newsletter so it may have escaped your attention. The Land’s End Rally is the oldest rally in our clubs and has seen several different formats over the years. The 2015 version is organized by Gary Maves and Dino Perez. Gary won the very first Land’s End Rally back in the early 80’s and decided to be rally master this year, along with Dino. The rally will take us from Wasco/St. Charles to East Dundee, along nice and quiet driving roads. I know from my own experience that one of the biggest concerns for an organizer, specifically if it is your first time, is that there will be a low turn-out. Let’s make sure that that is not going to happen for Gary and Dino. How can we make sure? Well, that’s easy; show up, with or without your MG, and participate.

Lastly, and third, we have the Secrets of Jo Daviess Tour. Because Dan Herman isn’t able to organize it this year, Ray and Sue Hansen and Dan and Mary Kerkman have volunteered to keep the momentum going and be first-time tour leaders. And just as for the Land’s End Rally, the best way to show how much we appreciate the time and effort that goes into organizing a club event is to show up, with or without MG, and participate.

We always hope that the upcoming season will see more and better driving events with more participants than the previous season. With that, 2015 is of course no exception. But maybe it is a little bit different. This is the third year that the Vintage MG Car Club of Chicago (VMGCC) and the Chicagoland MG Club<\i> (CMGC) join forces and combine their driving events. Maybe the time has come that all active members of one club come to all events of the other club and

(Continued on page 6)


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