Wrapping Up the 2019 Sydney All British Day

mgcarclubsydney
9 October, 2019

The 2019 Sydney All British Day was held in near-perfect conditions at The Kings School in Parramatta, and featured a stunning display by the MG Car Club Sydney.

Read on for a report on the day with thanks to Allen Gower and David Noble accommodated by photos thanks to Ingo Weinberger and Seth Reinhardt.

The 2019 Sydney All British Day

The day was perfectly sunny, which brought out 65 MGs from our Sydney club. The cars were marshalled and placed in a fine display by All British stalwarts John Mangnall, Debra & Ian Ross, Len D Arcy, Peter Moxham and Susie Hong.

They were all on hand from before 6.30am, with John also having spent Saturday afternoon assisting in setting out the paddock areas for the 56 other clubs and Trader lots. Stuart and Sally Ratcliffe were early risers too, bringing the club’s marquees along, in which Granville Harris and Hilary Wren set up the regalia display and PR desk. Many other helpers stepped forward to help and made the day a great success.

Dressed for the MGs at the 2019 All British Day – Photo thanks to Alan Heritage

Although we had a wide variety of MG models, there were at least another dozen sprinkled about in other club displays. A detailed break-down of the models present was as follows:

MG TC – 3
MG TD – 4
MG TF – 2
MGA – 9
MGB Roadsters – 25
MGB GT – 9
RV8 – 3
MGF Moderns – 1
MG ZT – 1
MG ZR – 1
MG6 – 1
MG3 – 1
MG ZS – 1

Again this year the team arranged a special display, this time of competition MGs, set up in a Le Mans style starting grid. The cars chosen for this competition display were:

MGB Sebring Replica driven by Steve Perry
MGB GT Sebring Replica driven by Zig Bluzmunis
MG RV8 driven by Alan Heritage
MGC GT Sebring Replica driven by John Boss
Elva Courier (MGA engined) driven by Bruce Smith

The competition cars drew much interest, so we spoke to some of the drivers.

The white MGB GT Sebring is owned by Zig Bluzmunis and he was happy to share some of its story.

“My GT Sebring project car was built on the basis of duplicating a road-going version of the classic historic 1965 lightweight GT Sebring, of which only 3 were built.

The objective was to establish a similar power to weight ratio of the original car and this involved significant weight reduction in my car:

Alloy materials used wherever possible e.g petrol tank, engine components, gear box etc
Power increase was obtained by significant engine development in a standard 4 cylinder MGB motor This incorporated super charging and methanol injection which achieved approximately 180 horse power
Performance and safety components were also incorporated such as AP front brake systems, modified suspension components linked to a very rare Supra W58 light-weight 5 speed gearbox
LSD modified differential added
To improve driving precision a power steering system was incorporated

In summary, this car is now a delight to drive – similar to a relative modern car having the power, performance and driveability”.

Next to Zig’s Sebring is the Green RV8 owned by Shirley and Alan Heritage. Alan’s story begins with having the opportunity to drive a TD special at Mount Panorama some years ago. While driving on the mountain the clutch burnt out, so Alan thought an RV8 would be ideal to manage The Mountain.

He started looking for a V8 and found that two were available on the Central Coast. They had been imported from Japan, and one had already been modified by Stuart Ratcliffe to meet Australian design rules, so it was purchased.

Other tasks have included dismantling the fuel system and thoroughly cleaning it and replacing the brake hydraulics. A roll bar was designed and produced in limited numbers specifically for RV8s and fits neatly under the erected hood.

He then met Alastair Lee who also had a V8 and knew Graeme Cooper in St.Peters, who dynotuned Rover V8 engines. He fitted a new engine management system to the car, dyno-tuned it and really made it sing – it was a transformation.

Alan has enjoyed success driving it at the last few national meetings in both the speed events and motorkanas and now hopes to do some regularity events next year.

The third competition car driver is John Boss who owns the Green MGC GT Sebring replica. John’s passion for this car is immediately obvious, and here are some highlights.

In 2017, John bought the car in NSW as a partially-completed project. The body was already complete and painted and the engine installed. However, much still needed to be done to the interior, the instrumentation, power steering and many other refinements.

John’s skills in completing this Sebring Replica are clearly on display. The car is a replica of the factory Sebring number BMO6994 numbered 35 and known as ‘Romeo’. The car is used primarily in rallies such as the MG Classic and attends many other MG events.

A number of anniversaries in the British car world fall in 2019, including the 110th year of the first Morgan, and 100th year of the first Bentley and of course the 70th year of MG TD which was launched in 1949.

This reminds us that we missed Richard Hyde’s TD and his giant Union Jack flag – which helped us win the BMC Trophy last year. This year the BMC Trophy, for the best Club display, was won by the Truimph Sportscar Owners Association, despite our display being improved with a presentation from Ryde MG.

As in previous years, most of the proceeds of the tickets will be presented to three charities – Prostrate Cancer Research, Arthritis Association and Marine Rescue.

Thank you again to the ABD team and the many MGCC members who brought their good fellowship, their cars and their helping hands.

Thank you also go to Granville Harris and Hilary Wren who ably manned the MG tent and promoted our regalia. Many stories were told, old friendships renewed and new ones made. What a special day!

David Noble and Allen Gower

Thanks to Seth Reinhardt