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HIGHLANDER V The May Bank Holiday weekend saw a group of intrepid F'ers head north of the border for, what has become an annual event, the Highlander run. Once again organised by Martin Woods although it's doubtful he'll arrange another as he has now sold his MGF and turned up on this occasion in a Ford Puma. The weekend began at the Wallace monument in Stirling and took in a dramatic route through the surrounding glens and lochs. One F'er, Glen Hiorns, had a small disaster when he managed to get two rear punctures at Glen Quaich and it was only thanks to MG Guru Mike Satur and his spare wheel that he managed to get rolling again. The following day was a further installment of the scenic run followed by an evening dinner, quiz and Ceilidh to round it all off.
Full story can be found at the Central Scotland MGF group website :- http://www.csmgf.dsl.pipex.com/ HEART of ENGLAND RUN The 13th April saw the MGF register's Spring run take place in Leicestershire. A fair spattering of F's and TF's headed for the "Heart of England" to be joined by some more MG interlopers in the form of a midget , some B roadsters and GT's. In typical MGF tradition the run started with a liquid lunch at a country pub followed by a brief stop to admire Foxton Locks before winding it's way through the Leicestershire countryside to it's final resting place at Rutland water.
F's in the pub car park and at rest by Rutland Water (click for larger image) Thanks to Neil Sutton for the Photos ._________________________________ It's OFFICIAL - THE TF IS BEAUTIFUL ....well according to "L’Automobile più Bella del Mondo" in Milan that is. Thirteen judges , designers from outside the motor industry, decided that thet TF was the World's most beautiful cabriolet saying that they gave the win "for blending great originality and typical elements of MG tradition, with a strong casual and dynamic character". This is an established award now in it's tenth year and judges included art critic Bruno Alfieri and art-photographer Gianni Berengo Gardin. This is not the first time MGR have won an award here - in 1999 the Rover 75 won the best High Class saloon award. _________________________________
SCARLET FEVER CRASH That Icon of MGF motoring Scarlet Fever looks ominously as though it may be on it's way to scrapyard heaven. Owner Andrew Phillips was driving down the new A130 by pass near Rettenden when distracted by cars on the hard shoulder he was confronted by a Nova within it's nose pressed into the Armco. Swerving to avoid this Scarlet went into a spin and ended up first hitting the barrier on the front nearside and then spinning around to hit rear nearside.
Considerable damage resulted but luckily Andrew was unhurt. Unfortunately the two young occupants of the Nova left the scene without giving any details and it seems the Nova may have been on false plates. There is currently a huge amount of interest on the bulletin boards regarding a campaign to "Save Our Scarlet" with many generous offers to donate cash and parts. However we must wait to see if the car is written off first and if it is a category C write off allowing it to be purchased back again. Meantime it looks like Andy is joining the ranks of the Zeds with a new ZS. Latest News - Assessors declare Scarlet is NOT a "Write off" after examining photos and a list of modifications. Full details at ...... _____________________________ MG EXPRESS VAN
MGR have announced that they are to enter the commercial market with the introduction of two vans. The first CDV is based on the Rover 25 and will be the base model whilst the MG Express is based on the ZR and will be marketed as a sporty van with top speed of some 130mph !. Just the thing for white van man !. (Acknowledgment www.mg-rover.org for pic) __________________________ MGR TATA DEAL SIGNED In MGR's ever increasing search for worldwide "partners" they have now signed a distribution deal with the Indian company Tata. The car division, Telco, produces the Indicar and Rover would distribute it's new models in the UK with a Rover badge. They would also distribute the Sumo and Safari cars under the Tata brand.
This is the current Telco Indicar The Rover branded Indicar, we understand, would undergo certain Rover "modifications" to make it suitable for the UK market but it would still be produced at Telco's Pune plant in India. The car is a metro sized small hatchback and, although not decided yet, could be branded as a Rover "15". Understandably unions at MGR's Longbridge plant are expressing concern at the decision to make the car in India and import it to the UK. At this stage MGR assure staff they will not suffer as a result of this deal. _____________________________
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FRENCH RIVIERA RUN The privately organised trip to the French Riviera has now finished without too many mishaps. One set of keys locked in a boot but thankfully released by the arrival of F expert Deiter. On a more serious note Mike from Switzerland managed to have an accident in his TF whilst overtaking a camper van. Luckily no injuries but the poor TF had to be trailered back home. Other than these mishaps the trip seems to have been enjoyed by the 25 or so F'ers who took part and got their tops off in the sun.
A pit stop at Ramateulle
Mike's Crashed F after the encounter with the Camper van - click for bigger pic. There are a huge amount of other pics opn the web to be found at :- http://www.mgfcar.de/french_riviera/pix/index.html http://uk.briefcase.yahoo.com/mikejnunn http://www.bodi.net/mg/cote03/index.html http://membres.lycos.fr/mgfdoni/jphot2/browser.php?directory=frriviera03 Photo Acknowledgements Dieter K & Mike B ____________________________________________ NEW COOL BLUE TF This year's special edition TF is the "Cool Blue". In a similar way to last years Sprint this car features a higher spec than ordinary models for a reasonable price. The TF 115 is available at £16,995 and the TF135 at £18,495. The cars features a blue hood and alcantara interior with bright pack grilles and fog lights. MGR have enlisted Tracy Shaw, currently touring in "The Blue Room" play to promote the vehicle. The cars will be limited to a run of just 600. See Specials for more details
_________________________________ TF TOP DOWN UNDER A few months after the reintroduction of MG to the New Zealand market the TF has won a prestigious award down under. Driver magazine has voted it the "performance car of the year" at the Annual Motoring Industry Car of the Year Awards. The TF was chosen for it's "truly sporting chassis and brisk performance" and that it was "both fun and a serious performer"
______________________________________ TF RECALL Recall notices have been issued by MGR to all owners of TF's from about March 2002 up to three months ago. It seems that there is a problem with isolated instances of "torque relaxation" on the bolt used to attach the damper to the upper suspension arm. In severe cases this could lead to the bolt fracturing. Owners are urged to return their cars to the dealer to be thoroughly checked. ____________________ FANCY YOUR F IN A MAG. . . The good people at Rover-torque (MG X-tra) web sites
are putting together the latest issue of their magazine (yes it's
something you can actually pick up and read but you have to be a
club member). They are currently asking for people to submit details of
their car with a piccy for possible publication - if you fancy it
then contact .... ian@mcps.freeserve.co.uk ______________________________ A NEW MIDGET ?
Mock up of a potential MG Midget (care of www.autoscoops.tk ) Of more interest to the F owner and MG enthusiast is another car in the Telco stable, the Aria, a small sports car - could this possibly be a midget for the 21st century ? Well...stranger things have happened. After some weeks of speculation since the Tata deal was signed other sites and pundits have picked up on this potential midget including Autoexpress ,who recently published an article on it. A Dutch site has even created a mock up of what it may look like (using bits of the TF !) as in the picture above. There have even been rumours that the car will be on the street by 2005 and will cost in the region of £10,000 .However MGR stand firm in their denial that the Aria could be a re badged midget and refuse to comment on this speculation although if they hadn't thought of it already this must be giving them food to do so ! The actual Aria car at the moment looks like the below picture and is not a million miles away from MG Sports car lines as it stands.
The Telco Aria _______________________________ SITE MOVES Paul Lathwells "Dotcomoff" website has been moved to a new address with his migration to NTL. This is the home of the F'ers gallery where you can view some very dubious people with their pride and joys. New URL is :- http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dotcomoff/ _____________________________
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TF SALES INCREASE Sales of the TF have reached an all time high - March 2003 saw the highest monthly sales since the F was introduced in 1995. This has prompted MGR to increase production from 130 per week to a huge 430. John Sampson, MGR sales and marketing director, said "The TF has proved to be another great success for MG. With the special offer in our spring campaign ‘Bring us any genuine offer and we’ll beat it’, there has never been a better time to buy one of these superb sports cars." No doubt the approaching summer and the recent Safety test results and design awards have helped sales as well. It's good to see the (T)F is still going strong. MCGOVERN RETURNS Curly haired MGF designer Gerry McGovern has given ups his sojurn in the states to return to the UK. Sadly not to MGR though but to work for his current employers, Ford. After designing the F he moved over to Land Rover where he designed the successful Freelander. He was then snapped up by Ford and whisked off to the states to work for Lincoln where he designed the Navigator, Aviator and Mark 9 Coupe. He will take over as Chief Designer at Ford's London design studio, Ingeni replacing Henrik Fisker, (Chief Designer for Aston Martin) who swaps places and goes to California to head up the "Advanced Brands" studio for Ford. TF IS SAFE !
The TF has been granted the status of leading it's class in the Euro NCAP Safety Tests . Results were pretty impressive with a four star rating in the area of occupant safety and a three star pedestrian safety result in which ALL other sports cars only gained a paltry one star. This is largely thanks to the lack of a hard engine in the front of the car and consequent excellent crumple zones. The actual ratings were as follows :-
Well done MG - good to see they are still living up to the "Safety Fast" reputation. Photo acknowledgement www.euroncap.com _____________________________ F Around the Mags The June issue of MG World which is now MONTHLY has some articles on F/TF rear windscreen, Scarlet Fever, TF Success. Andrew Phillips explains how to replace an F steering wheel. May Enjoying MG has...not only the same picture of a rabbit in an F as last month with some amusing captions but also....a four page pull out section giving the history of the F and how to adjust the window stop and prevent that water dribbling in ! In a bumper month there's also a bit about F racing and a 3 page article by Mike Healey on a year with a TF. May Safety fast has a small piece on the "Cool Blue". A piece about a track day at Silverstone with mostly F's and Z's but it was April last year ! Martin Woods column has a pic of some F's at this years Silverstone Track Day- reminders of the Highlander and Golf weekends and a run down on the new committee - Martin, himself has stood down following the sale of his F, thanks for the sterling service over the years Martin. ________________________________ NEW SHOW FOR THE CALENDER MG-Rover.org and the Rover Performance Club are organising a "Show and Shine" day on the 25th May at the Bentley Wildlfowl and Motor Museum. It is open to any modern MG from the RV8 onwards and any Rover from the 100 onwards. If you display your car on the day you can gain reduced admission to the museum itself. This could become a regular event independent of the main clubs if successful. full details on www.mg-rover.org or from :- mailto:richardrover@hotmail.com ______________________________ TREFFEN 2003 Ted Newman is once again organising a "Treffen" but possibly for the last time. This year the tour will run from 6th - 14th September and take in Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and France and will also include a spin around the Nurburgring ! Cost will be in the region of £1194 for two people and car including accomodation and ferries. All details can be found at :- http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/krt_plc/2003-1.htm _______________________________ UPCOMING MGF EVENTS MG-Rover Show 25th May- Bentley Wildlife & Motor Museum - full details at www.MG-Rover.org Denbies Vineyard Run Dorking Surrey - 8th June - MGF Register event - contact JandPGrinham@aol.com MGF Golf Day 6 - 7th July 2003 MGF Register members at Wokefield Park, Mortimer (near Reading),. A night at the hotel, couple of rounds of golf and full English breakfast for £79.80 per person. First 20 MGCC members only - contact martin.woods@virgin.net Donnington Track Day - 24th August - fancy a spina around Donnington ? Not just F's but MX5's and Lotus's as well !. Contact :- dave.livingstone@btinternet.com Treffen 2003 -6th to 14th September - Independent tour of Northern Europe including a day at the Nurburgring. Organised by Ted Newman - e-mail ted@krt.co.uk Autumn Cotswold Run - 5th October - MGF Register autumnal run - contact jan.wardmg@btinternet.com Christmas Natter - Rose Revived, Newbridge Oxon - annual Xmas cheer - Margaret Terry 01865 821702 For a listing of ALL MG related events, runs and shows click here ....
___________________________ F IN NEWS Archive For older articles and the previous incarnation of F in News please click here. __________________________ CONTRIBUTIONS or COMMENTS Please-MAIL me if you have any F related news or comments Any opinions expressed are those of the author. This site is in no way connected with MG Rover and is purely an MG enthusiast site. ________________________________ |
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