Eight Canadian racers participated in this event which boasted entries in an all MG race that had never been seen before and would probably never be seen again -- I'm not sure about that claim as attrition (more on this to follow) pared the actual starting field down to 59 cars from the original high 70's.
 
We left east Toronto last Wednesday morning at the crack of dawn (6ish) but not early enough apparently as we crawled in spots along the 401 in heavy rush hour traffic and it was a good two hour run to the border. Customs was a breeze both there and back. A cursory look at our passports and a check of our licence plates was all. On the return, there wasn't a single car at any of the booths and we were through in 5 minutes.
 
The first day got us to Staunton, VA, so it was a relatively relaxing 3 and 1/2 hr drive the following morning to the track. Weather was perfect, in the low 80's without a cloud in the sky. The paddock is huge and was unusually quiet given a test day was underway so we had no problem finding a nice spot. Electrical boxes abound in the paddock so everyone gets a hookup. Tech was in a comfortably airy drive through building and was managed quickly and efficiently.
 
Virginia is a lovely state and the track is set in beautiful countryside with all the amenities including self serve gas pumps, a hose to wash your car, a race shop selling all the gear and nice restaurant and functional facilities.
 
We spotted Joe and Cheryl Lightfoot already there with dog Bandit who rarely ventured out of their van all weekend. The trickle of arrivals turned to a flood later in the day -- aside from Joe, we had Richard Navin, Bob Grunau, Frank Mount, Ron Watson, Brian Evans, Jim Holody and myself. Friday started out as perfect weather-wise as Thursday -- in fact it got almost too hot in the p.m. Our first "A Group" practice was very busy -- nothing like what we're used to on a Vintage regional grid or even in a Festival grid -- at least 50 cars. The track is about a mile longer than Mosport but not as technically challenging. There is a nasty hairpin around an oak tree that proved the undoing of poor Dr. Watson. Ron had gone into the corner in the very early going of the first practice with a little too much speed on -- the corner is very tricky -- went into a bit of a spin and when the car hit the red sand which was quite dense from the heavy rains they've had all spring down there, the tires just dug in hard and the Midget did a complete rollover. Ron was thankfully unhurt but the car suffered some serious body damage and was trailered for the rest of the weekend. In the process of digging up the back 40, the Midge somehow unearthed a fossilized peanut which Ron discovered on the floor when he got back to the paddock. So he's hanging on to the diminutive nut as a keepsake of a rather bad weekend.
 
I was the next to go. In the second practice, my car started losing oil pressure and rather than risk serious engine damage, I pitted and that was it for me. When we cut open the oil filter, we discovered flecks of bearing in the oil so I will be using a backup engine for the Festival. Gidget stayed in the trailer for the rest of the weekend -- what a bummer. The only upside was having a chance to watch someone else race for a change so we joined the mini fan club for the rest of the guys.
 
Brian Evans managed to coax the Merlyn around Friday and Saturday with gearbox problems but by the end of day Saturday he'd had enough so he and Catherine left for home Sunday morning.
 
On Friday evening they had an outdoor B B Q on the grounds with a 50's theme D-Jay and dancing. The food was great, the beer was free -- they had a locally prepared brew called Off Camber Amber -- and the weather (the last we would see the sun) was glorious.
 
Bob and Frank did very well in the "T's". Frank won first in class in the MG race, Bob was second, then in the Sunday afternoon feature race, they reversed the order with Bob winning. Bob battled with a misfire during Saturday's race but it turned out to be a problem with the air cleaner and an easy fix. Joe and Richard each had a couple of minor off road excursions in the rain but their B's held up -- Richard's engine was only delivered to him the night before he set out so it was a miracle he and Brenda made it at all. And speaking of the weather, Saturday was dreadful and Sunday marginally better. The all MG race went off in heavy rain which turned into a torrential downpour during the last couple of laps making it almost impossible to see. But there were no mishaps and this huge field of MGs was quite a sight to see starting up on the mock grid and pulling away behind the pace car. The start was awful as the pace car was moving far too fast and with that many cars, racers were strung out along half the length of the track when the front runners got the green. Very sloppy but in hindsight, perhaps the best thing given the lousy conditions.
 
Jim did not start the race because of defective alloy wheels on his MGA twin cam but on Sunday he went with steel rims and he and Bob had a great dice in the feature race with Jim winning by just a few feet. Saturday evening's banquet was well run with good food and about 250 people attended in the covered Pavilion with it raining buckets outside. A rainbow eventually broke through the murk which provided a nice interruption from the speeches.
 
Sunday dawned grey and overcast with occasional fine misty rain but we were fortunate to have both the morning warm-up and the afternoon A and C group races happening in dry track conditions. Things got a little hairy and expensive for Group A when someone dropped a load of oil from a blown engine going into Turn 1 causing a considerable pile-up of cars which prompted a red flag and there went the race.
 
Everyone was packed up and away home by 4 on Sunday. MGVR has a pile of pics on the web. We took some too so I'll forward a few of these on to Ron for our site.
 
The Festival awaits.
 
Nick....