| Austin
7 |
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The
750 Motor Club offers Austin Seven enthusiasts
a vast variety of events in which to participate
including static rallies, Austin Seven racing,
trials and road
runs. |
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750 Motor Club - 70th Anniversary Year
Special events for our anniversary year – 2009.
2009 sees a significant anniversary in the history of the
750 Motor Club - it is 70 years since the first event organised by the club.
That event was a road run in which about 30 Austin Sevens enjoyed a drive of
about 50 miles though the, then, quiet Surrey lanes starting and finishing at Virginia Water on the 16th of April 1939.
The inaugural 750 M.C. Event. The Brooklands
Centre of the club are organising, as near as possible, a replica of that first
event – assisted by 90 year old founder member, Bill Butler – on the 19th of April. Contact Nigel Coulter at 01428 606753 or coulters.email@btinternet.com.
The other
event is similar to the one held to celebrate the 50th and 60th anniversary and is a 'demonstration run' across the country, Side to Side, Lowestoft
to Land's End. This year's event is to take place at Easter
and is organised principally by the North Herts Centre, assisted by the Norfolk
Centre and the Cornwall Austin Seven Club. We are delighted to embrace the A7CA, who's 40th anniversary
this year is. The timing is flexible and
the route is your choice. A certificate
will be awarded to those who successfully complete the, approximately 450 mile,
drive.
Contact Janet
Edroff at 01438 723779 or janetedroff@ntlworld.com.
Our 47th National Austin Seven Rally at Beaulieu will feature a display of significant cars in the club's 70 year history as
well as the usual massive display of Austin 7s, Austinjumble and Satuday
evening BBQ. Please contact Ian Nelson
at 01932 863073 or ian.s.nelson@btinternet.com.
Finally, the Silverstone Summer Festival on the
22/23rd of August will have an extra push this year where it is hoped to reach 70
Austins – one for each year of the club's history. Contact is Robin Knight at
01379 741641 or 750mc@btconnect.com.
We cordially invite all current and
ex-members, as well as future members to join us in these celebration events.
Austin Seven Year – 2008
2008 was comparatively quiet year, with no
significant anniversaries to give rise to extra special road events. That is not to undermine the 30th anniversary of the Cheshire Group and the 50th anniversary of the
North Herts Centre. However there was plenty
for the active member to enjoy.
Most 750 events, other than circuit racing,
are organised by the club's regional centres or groups but three events are
organised centrally.
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| Two of the Peking three |
The
main one is the National Austin Seven Rally at Beaulieu. Once again the rally was under the
able direction of Ian Nelson and Mike
Griffiths. Entries were back up to the
200+ mark, no doubt helped by the decent weather.
The Saturday BBQ has become a popular feature
of the weekend with plenty of good food and drink. Again it featured some
impromptu music. Camping 'on site' has
also become a welcome facility in recent times.
An experiment with a 'Work in Progress'
display was a little disappointing but it did bring out a rare Dante special
and a Nippy sports. It did create a lot
of interest and will be repeated this year. The presence of two of the Peking
to Paris three
also created a lot of interest. Good to
see the 'Gymkhana' well supported – especially as Alan Martin went sick after
setting it up and Tony Chew, with daughter Penny, had to be called in at short
notice. (Sadly, Tony died in November –
a big blow to the club and his many friends). Once more the, nearly 30, awards
were presented by Lord Montagu.
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| A rare chance to drive the famous circuit. |
A rare opportunity for the club to combine two
of it's main activities, Racing and Austin Sevens, came again on the 24th of August at the Silverstone Summer Festival. Around 30 Sevens turned
up. Those arriving before 10-30 enjoyed 3 full laps of the famous circuit.
There were no less than 8 races to watch including a 750 Trophy/Austin Seven
race. An innovation this year was that
the teenage 'Saxmax' drivers were invited to choose their favourite Seven while the Sevenists chose the best prepared Saxmax car.
Then the usual early morning in Hyde Park in
November for the VCC London to Brighton run. The event isn't organised by the 750 Club but
the large team of marshals at the start are organised by the club's chief
marshal, Peter Harding. There were also
a few 750 members which were actually taking part.
Brooklands Centre Year 2008
 Our year started with various meets on New Years
Day. Unfortunately we tend to
spread out on this day and go to our nearest
venue I think.. Brooklands Museum and the Barley Mow at Horsley probably the
most popular.
Feelie night at our February Club meeting was
the usual giggle with motoring and domestic bits and bobs.
A Brookland's clubnight
On April 5th Nigel and Colin
held the ever popular Easter Egg Hunt. This was a 46 mile navigational rally. Although very cold there was a good entry and great enthusiasm all round. The
Austin 7’s came 3rd in the team competition.
 The
popular Cobham Trial on April
27th had over 30 entrants and again was held in pretty awful
weather. Little were we to know this would be the theme for 2008 generally. It
was held in Cobham Park which is a terrific venue for a trial suiting both,
standard saloons and tourers as well as sports and specials .The runs start
with slopes and zig zags and progresses through the woods to the very tricky
hairpin which got trickier as the ground got more slippery. Competing is
obviously challenging and fun but Cobham is also a great day out for the
spectators. It is so exciting to watch.
Our annual Buttercup Bounce took place in May
.The gymkhana was enjoyed by many. The bucket on the head driving test was as
popular as ever. It’s amazing how many people are prepared to look silly in an
Austin 7 for the sake of fun.
The Brooklands Holiday this year was in
North and South Brittany and was very enjoyable. Lots of driving and relaxing
with friends.
Our June Club night was a low mileage run very
well organised by the Perkins. Despite the cheating it was great fun and we
look forward to the next one.
In July we attended the Ripley Village Day
which is always fun. Brooklands held a gymkhana in the field next door which
was enjoyed by the visiting public.
Our Summer Walk was at Waggoners Wells in
Grayshot. After a pub lunch we walked in the woods followed by tea at the
Theobald’s.
August saw us at Climping for our annual
beach BBQ. Lunch was later that day after lots of blowing and lighting. Never
mind, a smashing day was enjoyed by all.
In September we were pleased to welcome to our
Club Night Richard Wheatland the aviation and motoring artist. What an
interesting talk he gave.
October it was time for another walk, this time
in Saville Gardens in Egham. A beautiful autumn walk was enjoyed - although
cold of course.
Brookland’ s members marshalled again for the
London to Brighton, and we also in November held our film night. We were
staggered to welcome 48 people to this event. This was our biggest attendance
in a long while. We watched film and pictures of our events and antics of 2008
with great laughter and interest.
Our year ended with our Xmas Meal on the 10th December. We have had a great year at Brooklands and look forward to 2009 with
relish. Contact Nigel Coulter at;
01428606753 or coulters.email@btinternet.com.
Norfolk
Centre's Year.
Despite
expectations and rumours to the contrary, the Norfolk Centre is still going.
We are continuing with the theme of being the
‘Interesting Car Club’ with a variety of cars turning up at our summer
meetings. Like the racing section, there are now not so many A7s, but lots of
later cars, although we haven’t gone as far as ‘hot hatches’ yet.
The monthly meetings are regularly supported
by a dozen or so members. They have been rewarded with a diversity of speakers,
subjects and themes;-
January: Peter Brown’s DVD on the ‘History of
the MG up to the end of the (original) T series’.
February: EGM followed by some of Richard
Young’s films. As always, Richard’s films put us all back into ‘a good mood’
after the challenges of the EGM.
March: An enthralling talk by Bernard
Crockford on his building firm which was started by his grandfather and how
they got involved with church repairs.
May: Caroline of Caroline’s Cars. Caroline
runs a car restoration business at Ashwellthorpe and talked about the trials,
tribulations and also the advantages of being “a girl in a man’s world”.
June: Cars in the park. This is arranged by
the Association of Norfolk Car Clubs at the Weston Park Golf Club and was
attended, despite the threat of rain, by a wide variety of cars. Perhaps we
should arrange more meetings like this?
July: Show us yours and we’ll show you ours. Cars in the British Legion
Car park. These were divided into Austin 7s and Others for the Sussams and
Rogerson trophies. Special mention must go to Hamish Alger for his immaculately
restored A35. I’m sure that they didn’t come out of Longbridge that good.
August: Noggin and Natter
September: Charles Levien came to my rescue
with a talk on ‘The Longbow’. Not a transport related topic, as the archers
were foot soldiers, but an extremely interesting talk all the same.
October: ‘The history of Model cars’ by Derek
Barratt and John King -who held our interest until way past bedtime.
As a club and personally, we also attended
lots of events including the following;-
The
'Restoration Show' at the Norfolk Showground in January and this year’s
'Windmill Run', by Ann and Peter Brown, Vicky and Kevin Shortis (a previous
organiser) and Val and Dick Applin.
The 'Oily Rag Run' in May. About 15 cars and a number of stationary
engines turned up and had a very enjoyable day with driving tests organised by
Val and Dick Applin and another excellent spread by Barbara and her helpers.
This was followed by the 'June Jaunt' by Charles Levien again I don’t know how
I missed it.
In June, our popular annual 'Austin Allsorts
Rally' was held at Castle Acre. (pic)
This was
organised by Brenda Bissell who with Biz won a cup for the Bedford Doomobile.
Meanwhile, Charles Levien represented the centre with
his Opal at the 750MC National Rally at Beaulieu and the Silverstone Summer
Festival in his Paxton Special.
Several of us attended the 750MC Race Meeting
at Snetterton and had a small display of ‘our’ cars near Race Control. My
thanks to Robin Knight for arranging this and especially to Viv Ayres for her
warm welcome and for driving me round the track in the course car.
And that concludes our year, 2008 and we are
looking forward to 2009 – especially manning the 'Start' of the Lowestoft to
Land's End run.
Biz Bizzell
(Chairman Norfolk Centre) bizbizzell@hotmail.com.
North
Herts Centre's year.
In spite of there
being no major continental run 2008 was another busy year for our centre which
celebrated it's 50th year.
The first outside event was the 'March Meander' which, for a change,
went into the Cambs area. Over 20 cars enjoyed a pleasant drive though some
picturesque villages finishing at Stotfold where we had a nice meal.
The 'Spring Spree' in April had a turnout of 11 Sevens and 12 'classic'
Vauxhalls and a couple of Jeeps. The
strong Vauxhall involvement can be explained by the centre's close proximity to
their Luton home. A damp day didn't stop
those enjoying another pleasant run though, Bedfordshire lanes and villages,
for a change.
At the end of May the N.Herts centre invaded the 'Isle of
Wight'. This event was another organised
by John Novell designed to mark the 50th anniversary of the
Centre. Appropriately there were 7
Sevens (although 50 would have been just as welcome) as well as a handful of
other cars. (pic parking up at the r/way
station) An enjoyable short holiday was
enjoyed in that old world island. Among other things, they had had a trip on
the IoW Steam Railway which was celebrating a Victorian weekend. The route took
our travellers past the home of veteran enthusiast Viv Orchard who assisted
with the organisation of the event. On the Sunday the party took part in the
annual Old Gaffers Rally in Yarmouth where they met up with most of the local
Austin Seven owners.
The 'North Herts Rally' in June was held on a
fine day and around 50 entries parked on the green made for a very nice
site. About half of the entries were
Austin 7s with a wonderful variety of vintage and classic cars making up the
numbers. It was part of the annual Cottered Village Festival and the setting
reminds me of the old Hawkhurst rallies which had a lovely 'garden party'
atmosphere.
At
the end of June many N.Herts members drove down to Beaulieu for the National A7
Rally and had a great time.
Then, at the beginning of August, our big 50th reunion where over 70 members past and present enjoyed a nostalgic afternoon
and evening at Janet and Jeremy's house. (pic). Among those present was the first N. Herts secretary Allan Flavell who
told how the centre was formed and described of some of it's early events and
characters. Some old films and photos
kept people interested and Malcolm Marsh's 'Melody Makers' jazz band set the
scene.
Later in August, was Pat Kimber's
'Shaftesbury House Run' which deserved more support from our club.
After missing a year
– due to pressure of other events – Janet Edroff, assisted by the Tacot Club
Calaisien, organise the 21st Amble d'Autumn in September. There were 15 entries, 10 of which were
Sevens. The rest ranged from a '29
Riley, '82 Chevette, '85 Bentley, '91 Nissan Figaro and an '07 Astra. Once in France we were joined, for at least
part of the weekend, by up to 24 French classics. Our French friends met us off
the 'Skuttle' and led us to Vieille Eglise for a superb buffet lunch in the
village hall. Then it was a lovely cross country route to Ardres where we were
shown round the 14th century bastions including several underground
passages. Then it on to our hotel, Ibis,
in St Omer to prepare for the evening gourmet meal at Le Cygnet. The following
morning we all assembled in the square in from of l'Hotel de Ville. (pic)
There followed a picturesque route over
the Artois hills to Calais. I thought I
knew the area well but here was some quite extraordinary scenery you don't
expect in this part of France. Anyway we
reached our destination and parked up out side the famous Hotel de Ville.
(pic). We were taken to the WW2 museum housed in an old bunker which was very interesting. Then, after a
lunch in a nearby cafe, we were shown the stunning interior of the town
hall. Then we split up – some going off
to the skuttle and home - while the rest made their way back to the hotel in St
Omer. Again we divided, some going home
while a few of us drove on to Ypres where we had a battlefield tour and
attended the moving evening ceremony at the Menin Gate.
This year, 2009, will be the 20th anniversary of our twinning with the Tacot Club and our collaboration with
l'Amble. This will be something special.
The final event of the year was the Autumn Ramble. A fine day helped to bring out no less than
25 cars for a pleasant, relaxing drive round the Beds and Herts lanes. A nice way to end the season.
Having said that I have not mentioned the 6 local shows where we have a
club stand.
Club nights comprised of various interesting talks, film shows, bring you car nights and a
treasure hunt.
In 2009, we are looking forward to the
Lowestoft to Land's End run, The Yorkshire Experience and the many other events
on the calender.
Details from Don Wooldridge on 07930
412034 or DonWool750mc@hotmail.co.uk.
Western Centre's Year.
2008‘s activities started with the
annual dinner held on the last Wednesday in February which is the usual club
night.
The new venue for this very enjoyable
occasion was the Highwayman Inn on the Gloucester to Cirencester road, famous
for having a stagecoach in its car park. The venue proved popular as there was
more space and more people were able to attend.
The
Two sporting trials, The Piccadilly and Bisley trial were both blessed with
fine weather. Winner of the Piccadilly was local driver Ian Rodman while the
Bisley was won by Andy Gowan. Both trials are well thought of and
enthusiastically supported by the trial fraternity.
Unlike last year the weather was kind for the Austin Seven/ Classic Car
Rally held at Newark Park in July. This is popular with local old car
enthusiasts and seven owners from further a-field. Over thirty Austin Sevens
attended and they were joined by an interesting collection of other vintage and
classic cars including a vintage Alvis, several large Austins and a Relient
Rebel. The venue is a National Trust property and we were, as usual, made very
welcome by Michael Claydon, the manager, who kindly distributed the prizes for
the competitions.
Although officially covering a very large part of the country, the
Western Centre is a small, friendly, and quite active group with members living
mainly in the Gloucester/ Cheltenham area. Monthly meetings usually take form of a noggin and natter on the last
Wednesday of the month at The Old Crown, Pagan Hill, Stroud although other
activities are arranged from time to time.
For more information phone the Centre
Secretary, Bill Cole
on 01285 821409
or Gordon Phillips at phillipsfamily27@hotmail.com
Cheshire Sevens Group's
Year.
Dave Gregson writes,
“It was in late March or early April of
1978 that a postcard dropped through the letter box. It was an invitation to
Seven Fifty Motor Club members to attend a gathering at the Railway Inn in
Mobberley, with a view to re-establishing the North West group of the club. I
was delighted and excited as I had been a member for four years eagerly
designing a 750 Formula car and desperately in need of some guidance. Don
Rawson, who with his loyal ‘Tonto’ (Adrian Rivers-Bland) was given a list of
members in the area so they could set up what turned out to be the start of
many very good and long lasting friendships”. That's how the group was born, 30
years ago.”
An early meeting of the Cheshire
Sevens.
“No Motor Club would be complete
without technical evenings and we have had quite a few, often most entertaining
as well as informative. We have been fortunate in that there is a wealth of
knowledge within our own ranks. David Mann has stepped in on many occasions to
impart top class information on Austin Seven matters. Derek Walker is brilliant
at explaining complex suspension issues in ways that even I can understand. We
have had talks on auto electrics, carburation, paint finishes, high tech
riveting etc. etc”.
“The ‘bring your car night’ has also
been a regular event over the years sometimes accompanied by a barbeque.”
One recent highlight was a visit to Don
Rawson's workshop (pic) near Oswestry.
It was unique, like Don himself. The
Austin 7 is everywhere – but in racing form and all the product of one
brilliant engineer’s fertile mind.”
The
anniversary gave the group a chance to brag about their 750f racers with Dave
Rees winning the championship in 1955, Adrian Wontner in 1962 and Geoff Hunt in
1964. Since
then Don Rawson has won the A7 series several times in one of his many specials
and Cheshire Chairman, Dave Gregson took the Austin Seven series in one of his
beautifully built specials in 1983.
From the foregoing, the group has a strong
competition heart but I'm sure any Austin enthusiast will be welcome at their
meetings at Morley Green Social Club, Morley Green, Cheshire on the first
Tuesday in the month.
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