Sunday 7th April at Donington Park saw the first rounds of the 2013 MGCC Racing Championships. The MG Trophy Championship season seemed to start where it left off last year. Thankfully dry track conditions enabled the ZR190 racers to extract every ounce of grip from their slicks. The first race front row had a familiar look to it, with one yellow car and one blue car, but with a difference. Reigning champion Chris Bray was in pole position but as announced last autumn Paul Luti had exchanged his LE500, reportedly on its way down under, for a ZR creating an all ZR field in both races. The different set up of the cars meant that each was quickest on different parts of the circuit. There was nothing to choose between Chris, Paul and Doug Cole restored from his roll at Snetterton last autumn. Ross Makar wasn’t far behind, making up the foursome. The lead changed hands several times in both races with less than a second between first and third position. The finishing positions for both races were Cole/Luti/Bray and Luti/Cole/Bray respectively. Watch out for Andrew Ashton who changed from a Metro to a ZR over the winter, and gained maximum points in the 160 class, a challenger in the making for the championship. ZRs weren’t the only Zeds on the program; Ashley Woodward’s ZS180 achieved third position in the Cockshoot Cup. A brilliant days racing, bring on Brands!

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Over to Brooklands in Surrey for the annual MG Era Day and, despite the appalling weather experienced by some of us in the days leading up to the 7th April, the day itself was quite warm and bright. This year the Register was in a new location on site and our the gazebo and Register flag were erected and by midday we were surrounded by a respectable number of Zeds. As usual there were a good number of MGs of all ages present. Entry to the event also included the museum that covers a vast wealth of motor racing and aviation history at this historic site including Concorde and the new London Bus Museum. People began to drift away after lunch, but a 3.30pm the test hill was opened and some memorable assents were made, including a number of Zeds.

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The MG Show & Spares Day took place at Stoneleigh on 17th February and has become the traditional opening event of the year. We were fortunate to have similar size plot to last year allowing us to have our gazebo up and three Mk2 Zeds on display. This time it was Monogram shades all the way. Many thanks to Jeff Patterson with his ZS 180 in Spectre, Steve White with his ZT 260 in Twilight, and to Justin Smith with his ZT-T 135 CDTi in Shot Silk. A very eye-catching display they made too. The show was very busy and it was good to see so many familiar faces, and assist some of you with your questions and queries. During our meeting we took the opportunity to plan for our three events next month and for the season ahead. Some of you might have already seen on our Facebook page that the date for this year’s MG Saloon Day has now been confirmed. If you haven’t then it will be taking place on Sunday 7th July at the Imperial War Museum Duxford. The event is again being organised jointly by the Zed Register and the MG ‘M’ Group. The show will open from 10am to 5pm and will feature the following: Club & Forum displays, MG ZT V8 10th Anniversary line-up, Maestro 30th Anniversary Line-up, Pride of Ownership, Register Regalia, Traders & Auto jumble. You will be informed in further updates as details of this event are confirmed. Finally we would like welcome two new members on to the committee. Firstly to Justin Smith who joins us in the position of ZT Representative, and to ZS 180 owner Iain Turner. Welcome aboard.

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The Classic Motor Show was held at the NEC over the weekend of 16/17/18th November. This popular show has always ensured that our year ends on a high, and this time was no exception. This year we shared a stand with the MGF Register where Monogram cars were the theme. Our display car was provided by John Newey of Summit Garage in Dudley. His unique super-charged ZT V8 in striking ‘Shot Silk’ was certainly a crowd-puller over the three days. John joined us on the stand for the weekend, and we’d like to thank him for showing his car. The show was very busy throughout the weekend. There was a lot of interest being shown in the world of the modern MG. A number of Zed owners came to visit us; we hope you enjoyed the show too. We also took the opportunity on the Saturday to hold our final committee meeting of the year to discuss our plans for 2013.

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The two day race meeting at Snetterton over the weekend of 13th & 14th October brought another successful MGCC racing season to a close. Going into the last round Chris Bray and Paul Savage were both potential Trophy champions. It was the first race that saw most of the close action. Chris established an early lead before the Safety Car closed up the field. Doug Cole had managed to put his ZR on its side! Undaunted however, and with some new windows provided by a fellow competitor, he was back out in the second race finishing in forth position. Back in the first race meanwhile, Paul Luti was a close third, but it was Paul Streather who brought the race alive. Paul made up a huge amount of ground in the closing laps, just failing by 0.089 seconds to overall Chris Bray. In the second race Chris Bray finished with a two second margin over Paul Luti, with Paul Streather in third place, confirming Chris as the 2012 Trophy Championship Winner. Ross Makar took both 160 class wins. On the Sunday, despite the rain, twenty six teams competed in the British Motor Heritage relay.

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