Cambridge Austin 7

& Vintage Car Club

Winter Newsletter

January 2016

2

Austin Seven & Vintage Car Club

A member of the Austin Seven Clubs’ Association Meetings held on the first Wednesday of each month at the Plough & Fleece,

in Horningsea - unless otherwise stated on the calendar of events.

President Mary Walker

Vice Presidents Gerald Walker Robert Leigh

Secretary Paul Lawrence

Editor Gill Davis

Treasurer Fenella Leigh

Committee Members

Alan Martin Jonathan McKeggie

Newsletter Printing of Newsletter - with thanks to Mike and Jean Johnson and their Staff at PRINT-OUT, High Street, Histon.

Contributions For next edition by Sunday 27th March 2016 please

Website Facebook

www.ca7vcc.co.uk Cambridge Austin 7 & VCC

The views expressed in this Newsletter are not necessarily those of the Club or Editor.

Cover Photograph

Robert Leigh’s Chummy on the Oily Rag Run Photograph reproduced by kind permission of Peter McFadyen

3

AUSTIN SEVEN &VINTAGE CAR CLUB

NEWSLETTER – January 2016

Contents…..

From the Secretary….

The tail end of last year saw us having some great fun at events such as the AGM

and the touchy feely bag night organised by Gill Davis. I hope you enjoyed these

and the other activities that were organised throughout the year.

At the AGM in October both Basil Jaques and Jonathon McKeggie stood down

from the committee and I would like to thank them both for their invaluable

contributions to the smooth running of the club over the last few years. The

lovely Michelle Lawrence was voted onto the committee and she says she is

looking forward to ‘knocking you all into shape’.

Many of you have been out with your cars (or indeed buses Mick Ward!) already

this year at New Year’s Day events, notably the gatherings at Barrington and

Hawkedon but of course there is much more to come throughout the year so

please do keep a close eye on the Calendar of Events and support the activities

wherever and whenever you can.

Well done and thank you to Fenella for doing such a great job organising this

year’s Annual Dinner and getting so many people to attend. I think she has

New Year’s Day 5 A7CA Archive Project 15

Motoring in France –Pt 2 8 For Sale 17

Oily Rag Run 12 Train Running Day 18

Photo Competition 13 Calendar of Events 19

A7’s Back to the Track 14

4

achieved the highest attendance in many years which is in no small part down

to her enthusiasm and dogged determination.

It’s been great to see the Club Nights being such vibrant and well attended

events over the last year so if you haven’t managed to make it along recently I

would strongly recommend that you try to come along sometime soon. They are

a great opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones and I’m sure

you won’t regret it.

Hope to see you at a club event soon,

Paul

From the Editor:

Let me start by wishing everyone a Happy New Year (I hope I am not too late!) and by apologising for the late production of this issue. They say if you want something doing then give it to a busy woman …. but there are limits to busy-ness!

There is quite a lot in this edition with a photo montage of New Year’s Day events and the Club Annual Dinner, the second part of Robert Leigh’s report on the Leigh’s adventures ‘en France’ plus his report on the Automobile Oily Rag Run, a report from Hugh Barnes on the Austin 7 Club’s Association mammoth archive project together two invitations for members. One is an invitation to take your Austin on the track at Curborough Sprint Track near Lichfield and the other is to join Roger and Melba Burton on their Train Running Day in their back garden.

This year the 750 MC’s Summer Festival will not be at Silverstone in August but at Rockingham Raceway, near Corby on the weekend of September 10/11th - an opportunity for you to spend the weekend watching some 750 Trophy cars racing plus a full calendar of other classes, with the opportunity to take your Austin round the circuit during the Sunday lunchbreak.

Hope to see you at an event soon.

Gill Davis

PS: I have my car trailer up for sale – see the advert on p 17. It might be just what you are looking for!!

5

New Year’s Day Around the county with club members.

Here are 2 photographs of member’s cars out and about on New Year’s Day. Paul & Michele Lawrence visited Barrington and I visited Hawkedon and met up with Tony Dron, Robert & Fenella Leigh and Liz Heyer with Martin Hunter. It was a nice bright day (at the beginning!!) and it was nice to see so many “old” cars out and about.

6

Just a flavour of some of the cars that visited Hawkedon – if you didn’t venture out on New Year’s Day then you missed a great showing of cars to welcome in 2016!

7

……. and from our annual Dinner at Cambridge Regional College –

8

MOTORING IN FRANCE DURING MAY & JUNE

2015 Part 2

By Robert Leigh

Following our return from the Fougères Rally we stayed at Auxi until the Friday,

when we collected the trailer from our friends’ house locally, loaded the Special

again, and set out for the Ardennes and the Grand Prix Retro d’Yvois at Carignan

on the Belgian border. With the temperature around 30 degrees we were very

glad of the air conditioning in the BMW! Having found our hotel a few miles

away we went to Carignan to see what the town street course might be like, and

have a cooling beer, where we bumped into the O’Sullivans who had driven from

the Channel in their A7 Beaufort Special. There are no hotels in Carignan but

they had chosen to stay with locals, in their case the main organiser and his wife.

A quick chat with Barry confirmed that parts of the course are very bumpy, but

we were there and there was nothing we could do about it!

On the following day, Saturday, there was a tour of about 150km around the

local area, with a picnic lunch provided at a leisure park where we were able to

sit out of the sun, before watching some falconry. There were various wildlife

enclosures, one in particular containing wolves. In the evening there was a

lavish dinner some way from Carignan, at a catering college. We decided to go

in our own car rather than the coach provided, so that we could get away when

we were ready and go straight to our hotel. This proved wise because the dinner

carried on very late, and we were expected at Carignan by 9 am next morning –

we abandoned ship before dessert had been served! The O’Sullivans were

staying in a house on the course, and were awakened around 5 am by tractors

deploying straw bales! The paddock was the main square by the Town Hall, and

we walked across the road to a local school for signing on with a free T-shirt each

and cup of coffee. It was confirmed at the briefing that passengers were not

allowed, which was a disappointment for Fenella.

For the event itself we were grouped into four classes, based loosely on engine

size. For the first heat we were led round the course on the first lap, before

9

being allowed to go as fast as we dared in relation to other cars and the state of

the road at the various parts of the course. The main straight was uphill from

the start, with a straw bale chicane to keep speed down (this was the smoothest

part), followed by enough straight to overtake if you were lucky, then two left

corners onto very bumpy downhill, then left and right, more bumps, right and

left with two unmodified speed bumps, left, left, right, left in quick succession

round the Town Hall, another straight, then left, right, left, left, and right again

onto the main straight. The corners on this part of the course were all tight right

angles in very quick succession: it kept you on your toes even without the other

cars! It did prove possible to overtake on the main downhill if the other driver

was going slowly enough, and on one occasion I overtook on the inside a

Rosengart sports on the very short bit behind the Town Hall; I had followed him

for two laps and was sure he would not expect it there! Apart from that I passed

some other cars including an MG or two, and generally managed to stay with

the Dutch Reliant-powered Ulsteroids. It was fun, but a great change from

Montlhéry where the road surface did not limit my speed. One nice touch was

that we were asked to give local children a ride round the course at gentle speed,

in the late afternoon.

We returned home without the Austin once more before returning to France to

participate in the Chanteloup hill climb. This involved a different route for our

usual drive in the Austin from Auxi to Lyons-la-Forêt on the Friday, and we dined

at a restaurant in the town for a change, with two other regulars. The hotel

where we stay is the Saturday headquarters, where we sign on and go to a local

hill by the Church to ‘play’ during the morning, followed by an aperitif and a big

lunch before setting off in the afternoon on a prescribed route to the

Chanteloup area where we meet for yet another drink, go to our hotel to freshen

up, then set off for another large dinner, followed by the inevitable late

retirement before being required to rise early next morning for the main event!

Susan and Barry O’Sullivan were driving straight to the Chanteloup part of the

event, and had the misfortune of the nut coming off the drive end of the dynamo

very near the end of the journey. A kind Frenchman took the car in and delivered

10

them to the hotel.

On the Sunday I

gave Susan a ride in

our car on one trip

up the hill.

The Sunday had

the now well-

known routine of

breakfast followed

by the drive of a

few miles to

Chanteloup, where

proceedings

started with the motorcycles doing their runs up the hill first with a grouped

return; then the cars were sent off one by one in no particular order, except that

this year we had a veteran steam car which went first, again returning down the

hill in a controlled group. The audience were as enthusiastic as ever, despite the

event being completely non-competitive. By half past twelve we all went to the

usual Moroccan restaurant for lunch of ethnic meat and vegetable casserole

with harissa (very hot!) for those who want it, washed down with wine, and

followed by orange

slices with cinnamon,

and very sweet mint

tea.

Further runs in the

afternoon were

followed by the prize

giving, when everyone

gets something and

champagne and tasty

nibbles are served. My

request for one of the Jack Peppiat in the box – with Robert following behind.

The O’Sullivan’s getting a lift!!

11

specially labelled empty bottles for our collection led to presentation of a full

unopened bottle which was much appreciated. After this we returned to our

hotel and a buffet dinner with the organisers. We drove the Austin back to Auxi

on the Monday, collecting the trailer the following morning for our return to UK.

The Austin had spent nearly two months in France, and Fenella said it sounded

like a bag of nails, so I decided to do something about it when we got it home.

The journey home was not without difficulty, because Calais was out of action

due to strikers and migrants. A call to DFDS got us a booking from Dunkirk, but

when we got there the port approaches were blocked by other traffic which also

could not use Calais. However we finally sailed about three hours behind

schedule.

An enormous Ex-Military 6-wheel drive –

the largest entry in the event!

12

The Automobile Oily Rag Run 2015 By Robert Leigh

Ian Slade of this Club recently bought a very original 1928 Riley 9 Mk I Tourer

with its original fabric body. He entered The Automobile Oily Rag Run, an annual

event for original cars up to 1960. He suggested we enter also and we felt that

the only car we have which might qualify is our 1928 Austin Seven Chummy,

which was accepted on the basis that its original bodywork has not been

repainted for more than 50 years, and I certainly thought it looked far more

original than some other participating cars.

Since the run started at the Normanton Park Hotel beside Rutland Water, we

drove up keeping

to minor roads on

the Saturday and

stayed the night.

Sunday was bright

but slightly

overcast, so we

kept the hood

down for the run

through Rutland

and Leicestershire,

using a Tulip

diagram road book, following rural roads through very pleasant countryside. The

lunch stop was at the Stonehurst Family Farm at Mountsorrel slightly north of

Leicester, where there is a small museum of cars, motorcycles and automobilia.

Most of the cars are Austins (Sevens and Twelves), and it is well worth a visit if

you are nearby. After lunch we continued our rural ramblings, to finish with a

cream tea and prizes for two of the drivers at Barnsdale Lodge Hotel on the

opposite side of Rutland Water from where we started. In all it was a very

relaxed and enjoyable day.

13

I feel that this is an event for which two of our members have very suitable

Austin Sevens, those people being David Prior and Mick Ward. They have both

been careful to preserve the originality of their cars, which is the important

criterion for this event. Perhaps they might consider it in future years.

(Photograph reproduced by kind permission of Peter McFadyen)

Photographic Competition 2016

The title for this year’s competition is “Out and About”

As usual the competition rules allow for no more than 3 entries from any

member of the club and the photograph must be taken by a club member!

The photograph should be taken between 1st September 2015 and 31st

August 2016 and can be submitted to any committee member in any format

(electronic or print).

The competition winner will at announced at the AGM.

14

is back for 2016!

No DeLoreans allowed………….

Entries are rolling in for the Austin 7 Track Day at Curborough Sprint Track near Lichfield on Saturday 19th March 2016 but there are still some places left! It is a non-competitive Track Day so MSA licence and Race suites are not required, just a road legal crash helmet (goggles and gloves are advisable) and is open to all Austin 7 powered cars with novice and seasoned drivers alike. Passengers are allowed, so bring along the family to join in the fun. The use of the track is ‘unlimited’ and you get as many runs as you can fit in! The fee is Per Car regardless of the number of drivers, so Family and Friends are most welcome We guarantee you will not get better value anywhere else – just ask previous entrants! The Curborough on-site Catering will be providing hot meals and the legendary Bacon and Egg Baps! For 2016 we would particularly like to encourage A7 Specials which have not turned a wheel in years, to venture out onto a track once again.

Entries are already confirmed for David Morgan’s Cooper Special. It will be Clive Danks’ very first outing in his superb TT and Olly Sanders will be bringing along the awesome 1936 Willis Special, created originally by Bill Williams and comes complete with oodles of history! If you know of an A7 Special

gathering dust in a garage somewhere let the owner know about this event. We might even be able to help out with transport if the car is not road legal………

15

Spectating is free so do come along (in your A7 if possible) and join in the fun. Periodic help with the marshalling would also be much appreciated. Please note the entry fee of £ 60.00 per Car is payable in advance: Please post cheques to Charlie Plain-Jones 87 Widney Road Knowle Solihull B93 9EA Or Email for bank transfer details to: cplainjones@gmail.com

The Austin Seven Clubs Association Archive Project

By Hugh Barnes

Background

Many of you will already know about the Association Archive, originally

formed by the Stanley Edge collection of papers, drawings etc. he gifted to the

Association in the 1970s. Since then, the collection has grown with further

donations and acquisitions and today is housed a room 20’ x 10’ that we rent at

the Triumph 6 Sports Car club HQ in Lubenham, Leicestershire.

The Archive made the news in February 2015 when a burst heating pipe

caused a flood in the part of the building where the collection is held.

Fortunately, damage was slight – and none to any of the

precious/irreplaceable material held. As a result of the concerns raised by this,

a small group has been formed with the 3 following missions:

To reorganise, sort and catalogue the collection

To take digital copies of all material and publish these on the

Association web site

16

To secure a more appropriate long term home for the collection – for

example, an Academic Institution or respected Library.

Initial project Team work

The group first met in November 2015 and has met twice more since then.

The initial phase of work is to scope the project and work through a ‘discovery’

phase, to clearly understand what the collection holds and what needs to be

done. The scope element is largely complete and the discovery phase is well in

hand. Since last November, a small working party has met every Thursday at

Lubenham and is making good progress in the organising, sorting and

cataloguing the collection.

The first three months have seen a number of positives outcomes. We have

embarked on the creation of a catalogue, we have sourced quotes for the

digitisation of the first selection of artefacts and have chosen our preferred

contractor for that work. The attendance of 5 members of the team on a

professional digital archiving course has been arranged and photographs of

Trophies have been professionally taken. The photography has been made

possible through the generosity of a team member who freely gave the project

his staff and photography studio time. Other expenses have been funded by an

initial £5000 grant from Association funds. That sum should cover our first

planned work.

Minutes are kept of all meetings and notes produced from each working party

day. These are all published on the Association web site and I would encourage

you to seek them out. If you point your favourite web browser at the

Association Web site at www.a7ca.org – on the right hand side of that home

page, you will find a link ‘Follow our Archive Project updates’ – this will lead

you to all the documents we have released.

The future

The last 3 months or so has seen us start to get a grasp of the collection and

what needs to be done. With that, and our training, we will be in a much better

place to actually start the work needed. In the next few weeks we will publish

the Trophy photographs on www.a7ca.org and will have delivered the first set

of artifacts to our contractors (Hampshire County Council) for digitisation,

this we expect to be complete in June 2016.

17

We will be continuing our work at Lubenham, sorting, reorganising and

continuing to catalogue the collection. It is a small group that meets to do that

so we are very much on the lookout for additional volunteers – particularly if

you have a background in archive or library disciplines. However, everyone is

welcome.

Another topic we will be following up is the possibility of a Heritage Lottery

Grant. National funding is available for projects such as ours and that is to be

pursued. Again, if you have any experience in that area and can spare some

time, we would be delighted to hear from you.

We are trying to fill the gaps in our collection of Handbooks and Parts lists.

The Archive pages of the web site contain a list of all the publications we don’t

yet hold and, if you have one of our missing publications and would be able to

loan us a copy for digitisation or, even better, be prepared to donate a copy,

that would be a wonderful gesture and really help the project.

Finally, I will be writing a small piece like this every quarter in future, and

with the help of your Club magazine Editor, I will continue to give you

highlights of our progress. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in

touch regarding any aspect of the Project.

Hugh Barnes – 1st Feb 2016

archiveproject@a7ca.org

Trailer for Sale! I am selling my car trailer – I need the space!!

It will take Austin 7’s and cars up to Escort size.

It is a 2 wheeled trailer, complete with brakes, winch and lighting board.

It needs some TLC hence the bargain price of £125. Photos available.

Contact Gill Davis – camionette@hotmail.co.uk or tel: 01284 488911

18

Roger Burton would like to announce his Train Running Day in his

garden at 73 High Street, Great Wilbraham.

The format will be the same as usual with the Anglian Section of the

V.M.C.C. using the day for one of their regular Wednesday Runs.

The layout is Gauge ‘O’, so if any members have one of their

childhood treasures tucked away in the attic, this is the chance to give it a

run out!! If anyone has an ‘O-O’ locomotive, then he suggests that you let

him know and he can sort out a small test layout for this gauge in his garage.

Cambridge Car Club members are always welcome – Malcom and

Christina Lawrence taking up the invitation in 2015 in their Arrow. Roger

hopes that more members will take up his kind invitation to enjoy a

nostalgic afternoon accompanied by tea and biscuits on the lawn.

19

Calendar of Events.

Wednesday 3rd February - Club Night at the Plough & Fleece where we will be showing the film Le Mans with Steve McQueen – start at 8pm.

Wednesday 3rd March – Club night at the Plough & Fleece.

Sunday 13th March – Visit to Coventry Transport Museum – an excellent museum that offers free admission. Exhibits include the Land Speed Exhibition which includes Thrust 2 and Thrust SSC in a 4d simulator. This carries an admission fee of £3.50 each for parties of 10 or more. More details closer to the event.

Wednesday 6th April - Club night at the Plough & Fleece.

Sunday 17th April – Treasure Hunt. Liz Heyer and Martin Hunter are arranging this year’s event – country lanes with devious clues followed by lunch …. What could be better? Details to follow.

Wednesday 4th May - Club night at the Plough & Fleece.

Sunday 15th May – Monk’s Eleigh 1940’s Weekend. Watch this space for more details nearer to the date.

Wednesday 1st June - Club night at the Plough & Fleece.

Sunday 3rd July – National Rally of Austin 7’s at Beaulieu. The theme this year is Austin 7 Sports and Racers. The club usually has good representation at the rally, so if you have never been before it is a great weekend with a run through the New Forest on the Saturday, a barbeque on the Saturday evening and the rally and driving test on the Sunday. A great weekend with lots to see and do as your rally ticket gives you free entry to the Palace House and Museum.

Wednesday 6th July - Club night at the Plough & Fleece.

More details of events later in the year will be published in the next edition …. But don’t forget the Car of the Year will be in September and the AGM in October.

20

Other National & Local Events that may be of interest in 2016: Date Event Organiser/Contact

19th March A7’s Back to the Track Track day for Austins

A7CA Contact: Charlie Plain-Jones Details on pages 14/15

10th April April Amble Road Run

750 North Herts Centre Contact: Barry Harvey Tel: 01525 403997

24th April Spring Spree Road Run

750 North Herts Centre Contact: Steve Bradford-Best Tel: 01462 450518

21-22nd April Spring Autojumble Beaulieu Motor Museum

www.beaulieu.co.uk

23-26th June Goodwood Festival of Speed Goodwood

26th June North Herts Rally Static rally at Cottered Village Day.

750 North Herts Centre Contact: Janet Edroff Tel: 01438 723779

29th August Knebworth Rally

Static Rally at Knebworth House and grounds.

750 North Herts Centre Contact: Mike Brigg Tel: 01442 862925

3-4th Sept International Autojumble Beaulieu Motor Museum

www.beaulieu.co.uk

9-11th Sept Goodwood Revival Goodwood

10-11th Sept 750 MC Summer Festival at Rockingham Raceway. 750 Trophy Racing plus Austin Parade Lap on the Sunday

750 HQ Contact: Giles Groombridge Tel: 01332 814548

25th Sept Autumn Ramble. Road Run to Duxford Museum

750 North Herts Centre Contact: Stuart Jenkins Email: jenkins49a@btopenworld.com