122KBI wish to begin this article by thanking the Wellington Chapter of the MG Car Club, for inviting us to their driving training day. Also Grant for organising such a great day.
I nearly died when I was told what time I had to be at the Plimmerton weight station. 8:30am on my day off, you have to be joking!!!!!!!! On arriving, late as usual, I found 10 MR2’s waiting, and none were willing to give me a chance to stop and talk. I wasn’t the last person, Neil had to catch us up on the road. I don’t know when he caught the rest of us up, but he was at the end of the line when we arrived at Manfield.
At Manfield we found Jason and several other club members from Palmerston North awaiting our arrival. When we finally got around to counting the cars we were very pleasantly surprised. The number of MR2’s present was 19, beating our largest previous turnout by 1 car.
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Once all the formalities were out of the way and the rules were laid out, the fun could begin. The first ones out on to the track were the track virgins (I fell in to this category). Regarding the track, I can only speak for myself, Manfield is a beautiful track and opening up an MR2 on it is great fun. However I believe that the smiles that everyone was wearing all day means that they will agree with my comment.
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To say that the day was not eventful would be to lie. All you need to do is ask Nick how he won the P’O’D award. I heard that it has something to do with traveling backwards through a corner after suffering brake fade. I can not give any further details, because I was on the track at the time and didn’t see his brilliant effort. Before you start to worry, there was no damage done to the car and Nick was able to drive home that night. This was the only unplanned maneuver that an MR2 member participated in during the day.
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So Nick, how does it feel to be famous, or is that infamous? : )
The day was a total success, with everyone who went on the track able to drive home. I must add that some members did look a little ridiculous, picture it, a nice sports car and the driver is wearing the biggest grin you have ever seen. It reminded me of a scene out of the Stephen King movie ‘Christen’.
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Anyway, thanks to all who turned up, I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you on the next run. In addition to the earlier thank-you’s, Tony keep up the good work.
Damon Smith