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MG in Gloucestershire

COTSWOLD_ROAD_RUN

Mobile Phone Data

E Petition

Ethanol in petrol

MG in Gloucestershire

Did you know that we have a direct link with one of MG’s most famous designers with a Gloucestershire business that’s doing business today???

Well neither did I until I received a Christmas present, a book entitled

“ MG from A to Z” written by Jonathan Wood.

Hubert Noel Charles(1893-1982) was the talented engineer who had overall responsibility for the design of all MG road and racing cars produced between 1930 and 1938. He met Cecil Kimber in 1925 and at evenings and weekends Charles worked on the early Oxford built 14/28, 14/40, M type and 18/80 models, very often at Kimber’s home.

In 1930 he was appointed chief engineer at Abingdon and ran the drawing office there until it was closed in 1935. One of his protégé’s was a certain Syd Enever. The last MG racer designed by Charles was the 1935 R type with it’s Y shaped chassis and all-independent torsion bar suspension.

He then returned to Cowley and oversaw the design of the SA, TA&B and VA models.

He conducted a number of engineering studies/experiments, the results of which were developed by Alec Isigonis when he joined Cowley in 1936 that went into production in 1948 in the new Morris Minor. Charles stayed at Cowley for just 3 years and then moved to Gloucestershire where he was appointed chief engineer of Rotol Airscrews.

Mean anything to you yet??

This company was founded in 1937 jointly by Rolls Royce and the Bristol Aircraft Co. and became Dowty Rotol in 1960.

Today the company is called Dowty Propellers, owned by Smiths Aerospace and is where I am sometimes usefully employed as Operations Director!!

In Bruce Stait’s book “Rotol the history of an Airscrew company 1937-1960”, H N Charles  was appointed as Chief Engineer having previously been with the MG Car Company, responsible for racing and record breaking. Charles  left in 1941 to join Austin as a development engineer to work on the 1.2 litre engine for the 1947 Austin A40 which in later years became the B series engine we all know, used to power the MGA and MGB. He clashed with Leonard Lord in 1946 and left Austin to work for Cam Gears and Norton motorcycles before retiring from an experimental business in Eynsham. He died in 1982 aged 88.

Steve Powers

                   This first run of the summer season, held on Sunday 1st April, yes April Fool’s Day---the only fools were those who did not participate. It was a glorious sunny day but with a cold wind, which with an early start from the house at 8 o’clock, I kept my hood UP. Some brave souls, also from our Club kept their hood DOWN, all day. 

                   The run started and finished from Milletts Farm Centre near Abingdon and consisted of a 60 or 40 mile route taken in any order or one after the other. After the 60 mile run we had  coffee at the Farm Centre followed by a Picnic in the sunshine. The run was a nice leisurely one, allowing the cars to recover from  winter storage. We criss-crossed many rivers and streams and skirted round several lakes—an enjoyable couple of hours.  Also noted were several good-looking pubs on the riverside that definitely need further exploration.

                   After lunch and after I  lowered the hood, we embarked on  the 40 mile run and this took us up White Horse Hill; this must be the only hill in the area and reminded us of back in the Cotswolds.  On the way down, a certain member, who shall remain nameless, failed to drive past a Visitors Centre where an ice-cream van was parked. Me, thinking he would be lonely, succumbed and joined him !!!!

                   If you like Garden Centres, you won’t find a bigger one or one with the quality of goods on sale than this Millets Farm Centre on the A415 Witney to Abingdon Road : but take a full wallet.  A very enjoyable day out----now I am ready for Trevor and Sue’s evening run on April 24th.

John Child  

Mobile Phone Sundries

FIRST                                     Emergency

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out  of the  coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial  112  and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the  emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be  dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND                         Have you locked your keys in the car?

Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their mobile phone from your cell  phone.

Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the  person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile  phone  on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car,  you can unlock the doors (or the  trunk). Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a mobile phone!'

THIRD                              

Hidden Battery Power Imagine  your mobile battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your mobile will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your mobile next time.

FOURTH                     How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

To  check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on  your phone: * # 0 6 #

A  15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code.  They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing  mobile phones.

E Petitions

We have received an email from Peter Fenichel   Motor Racing Legends   +44 (0)7710 349915   +44 (0)20 7352 5909
www.motorracinglegends.com.

It tells of an idea from the Government to remove all cars over 10 years old from the road. Personally I cannot believe that there is such a move afoot. However, I have checked out the site and the Home Office admits the team does exist. I have emailed them to no avail - they have not replied. I have therefore placed the link below as requested for you individually to decide whether you sign or not. We as a club have not been able to prove the validity of the petition.

"If you want to continue to drive your classic car or you wish to preserve other's rights to
do so, please see the following.

All vehicles over 10 years old are at risk from the environmentalist zealots
who fail to grasp that removing an old vehicle from the roads and replacing
it with a new vehicle will cause more environmental damage than if it was
continued in use for the remainder for it's useful life. Many, probably
most, of these vehicles are used for occasional hobby purposes only.

Several EU proposals across the years have been a threat to the classic car
movement. One that has been under consideration is to ban the use of cars
older than 10 years.Similarly, Edinburgh City Council is considering the banning of cars
over 15years old from the town centre. These, and similar proposals directly
threaten the classic car movement, and encourage the manufacture of new
cars, with the attendant environmental issues of sourcing raw materials,
manufacturing, distributing and scrapping the spiralling supply of new
vehicles.

I invite you to sign the E-petition, now with nearly 15,000 signatures already!!

Just click on the following web address, or failing that just paste it into
your Google (or other search engine), and it should give you access to
the Petition site.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/classic-cars       http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/classic-cars> "