06/11/2008 08:32:41 Tim Guy Forecasts are not looking too special. Dance like you've never danced before. See you all there :)

06/11/2008 12:05:26 Stu [quote=Balrog]Forecasts are not looking too special. Dance like you've never danced before. See you all there :)[/quote] O ye of little faith ! :D Don't forget to give your car a good check over this weekend guys n gals prior to our day of fun:p See you all bright and early Monday Stu

06/11/2008 13:36:11 Martin C [quote=Balrog]Dance like you've never danced before.[/quote] Woa Tim, don't go there, have you seen Stu in a mini skirt and dancing pumps !!! :p Seriously though the Met. Office has been showing rain for Southampton all week, but so far we have only had rain yesterday evening. But there is fair amount of moisture in the air so I think we will be certain to start with a damp track. See you guys, Monday :)

06/11/2008 17:36:13 Bigfoot MGF yes been looking forward to this for ages . Damp track:eek:

07/11/2008 10:05:21 Stu In the wet even Lewis occasionally gets it wrong at Goodwood :eek: [URL="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dF5v1O5TdMw"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dF5v1O5TdMw[/URL] So take it easy out there on Monday should the predicted forecast stay with us. I've put my dancing shoes on but I think they need re-soleing:confused: Stu:D

07/11/2008 21:40:37 Trevor Leighton [b]Dancing in the Streets[/b] :rolleyes: Didn't realise you could re-sole WELLIES. ??? Hope you all have a good day and wish I was there too. Cheers Trevor. :)

09/11/2008 00:04:23 Gary&BVZ The weather in Eastbourne has been terrible today and the forecast does not look much better .. Nothing but heavy rain and strong winds...:mad: Stu will have to dance like the proverbial Dervisher to change the current situation .. But after his pampering session at Donni he should be able to dance till his shoes start to burn and then a little faster... Please do your dance for us Stu .We need a dry track ...:)

10/11/2008 16:18:32 Tim Guy I've somehow lost my faith. Can someone show me the path to belief in the wellingtons and tutu

10/11/2008 16:43:22 Stu I found a dry line !!:p It was down the centre of my back where the rain didn't manage to penetrate to !!:eek: Stu:)

10/11/2008 17:22:00 Richard Wale The sodden A27/M27 on the way back to Oxford seemed quite benign by comparison to Goodwood. Did you get much rain, asked Sally when we got back, we've had the odd spot here today!! Very disappointing, especially after looking forward to it for so long, but still many thanks to all the organisers and here's hoping that next year will be bright and dry - we are coming to Goodwood next year, aren't we??

10/11/2008 18:39:12 Tim Guy [quote=Richard Wale]T....we are coming to Goodwood next year, aren't we??[/quote] Yes, indeed, it takes more than a drop of light drizzle and a touch of breeze to keep MGoT-ers off track;) Subject to the dealings of Steve -hard man- Hill negotiating us a good price, Goodwood is firmly on the 2009 calendar wish list.

10/11/2008 18:49:04 Richard Wale Great, but please, please, please any date but the 5th in November!

11/11/2008 08:42:48 Paul Hennessy I can't belive the weather here in Chichester this morning - I cannot see a cloud anywhere in the sky, still wet on the ground from yesterdays downpour, but a great clear driving day. It was really good to meet yesterday as my first time out on track, I think that all the right decisions were made in the interest of driver ,passenger and car safety, and I look forward to meeting up again at some point in the near future on hopefully a less water logged day! thanks All Paul

11/11/2008 09:10:17 gavinsmith Yes, it's galling to be waking up this morning to blue skies and a blustery wind that would dry the track very nicely. I hope Steve can get a VERY good price for next year, given that some of us only managed one 'solo' session yesterday and we all behaved ourselves so well;) ! Thanks to everyone involved in the organisation and to the marshals for turning out when I'm sure they'd rather have been at home, and doing their best to keep everything going in trying circumstances. I don't know what the 'form' is for such things, but given that the weather forecast was so bad both in the run up and on the day, at what point can trackdays be re-scheduled, or have all the costs been incurred by the time the circuit officials have turned up? The question wasn't posed (presumably because it [I]wasn't[/I] an option) but if I'd been given the choice at 08:30 to go home and come back again another day, I think I'd have taken it. Anyway, you win some... I'll just go and see if my shoes have dried out yet!

11/11/2008 10:08:26 Stu Hi Gavin and the Goodwood tracksters [quote=gavinsmith] I hope Steve can get a VERY good price for next year, given that some of us only managed one 'solo' session yesterday and we all behaved ourselves so well;) ![/quote] Hi matey, I think we were all pretty much in the same boat (excuse the pun!)The majority of us (3 groups) missed the first hours pace sessions which we then had to schedule 1 hour later, and from then on as you know, the weather just seemed to get worse up to the torrent we had soon after the lunch break.. Whilst it was extremely frustrating knowing we'd all paid for the day, we had no choice really it was becoming much too dangerous and the last thing we wanted was a damaged car or worse still an injured participant. ([I]Even the committee members pay full price just in case anyone thinks we get the day as a freebie or at a reduced rate[/I]) [quote=gavinsmith] I don't know what the 'form' is for such things, but given that the weather forecast was so bad both in the run up and on the day, at what point can track days be re-scheduled, or have all the costs been incurred by the time the circuit officials have turned up? The question wasn't posed (presumably because it [I]wasn't[/I] an option) but if I'd been given the choice at 08:30 to go home and come back again another day, I think I'd have taken it.[/quote] This is a really difficult call.. for instance, yesterday morning the forecast for today was still lookin pretty awful but its turned out a lovely day. We've had a few events this year that were forecast wet but ended up being completely dry, generally we have had a good run, our last fully wet day was Silverstone 2007 and even that was just drizzly rain and not the monsoon that hit us yesterday. This is the first day we have ever had to stop in 5 years. We could possibly take our some kind of insurance cover to reimburse people should the event be canceled due to weather but knowing insurance companies and the british climate can you imagine how much the premium would be for just one event let alone a season of a dozen track days. Would you be happy paying possibly 30-50% more for every track day just to cover yourself for the situ we found ourselves in yesterday. I feel very sorry for everyone but especially for all our newbies and first timers on their first track day. Please don't let this put you all off for future events I know we will be talking to Goodwood to see if they can do anything to sweeten yesterdays bitter pill but again they also cannot control the heavens. Once again a [B]big [/B]thank you to all of you for your patience yesterday and your restraint once you all eventually go out on circuit.. Considering the frustration you must have all been feeling you done us proud.. Stu MGOT

11/11/2008 11:14:03 gavinsmith Thanks Stu - it's a tricky issue as you say and I agree completely that the day should've been stopped for obvious safety reasons. It doesn't make sense for anyone to wreck their pride and joy (or worse) and it was pretty hairy out there:eek:! Given that it's the first day to be abandoned in 5 years, you'd have to say that, on the face of it, it doesn't seem worth paying a premium per trackday just to cover ourselves for this seemingly unlikely event and we should just chalk it up to experience. There must have been countless events that were ruined by the less than wonderful summer we've just had. I just wanted to pose the question really and get other people's thoughts too. Let's hope Goodwood are sympathetic - from what you say, and what the staff there were saying yesterday, they haven't experienced weather like that for a very long time, so the conditions do appear to have been somewhat exceptional. I'm sure that a lot of us are regular Revival/FoS attendees as well, so Goodwood probably do alright out of us! Anyway, a big thanks again to everyone involved in organising and running the show over the whole year. I've enjoyed my time on track tremendously and can't wait to get back out on the circuit again soon. Donington last month will stick in the memory for a long time:D.

11/11/2008 22:22:32 Martin C Hi all, Well you came, you saw, it precipitated a [B]lot [/B]and just to finish it off a blew up a gale, while you tippee toed around. :eek: How bad was it? Well Goodwoods noise meter packed up to due to water ingress, closely followed by my camera, I didn't know it could have so many [I]ERROR[/I] messages! [I](But like everything else it is fine now it has dried out)[/I] The pictures I did manage to get are now up, don't really show how bad it was as the camera stopped just as the worst came in. But the quality of the images matches the weather..............awful. Did anybody read the article about the Austin Healey speedboats in "Enjoying MG", one of those would definately been an advantage. It was great to see 3 MG A's out there, just a real shame you along with everybody else couldn't get the best out of the day. Finally I'm changing my name from Forest Boy to..................QUAKERS :p Cheers, Martin.

12/11/2008 08:26:21 Tim Guy [quote=Stu]... our last fully wet day was Silverstone 2007 and even that was just drizzly rain and not the monsoon that hit us yesterday.[/quote] That was a rumour I was shooting out at Goodwood. It was actually Silverstone 2006 that was the wet one - as Fran took great pleasure in telling me later :D Good pics Martin. Think you captured the essence of the day nicely ;) .

12/11/2008 22:47:48 Beaujolais Well done the committee for keeping it all together during what will become an infamous day in MGs on Track folklore! We were there! I agree with the general sentiment that the right decision was made and from the general comments and conversations I did not hear a decenting voice at the track. Like most I only managed two sessions. One behind a pace car which I drove with steamed up glasses that eventually cleared in time for me to see the chequered flag. The other session was taken with caution as I could see how bad the conditions were with clear lenses. I suspect that an insurance policy would have so many caveats that it would probably not provide satisfactory cover and be difficult to administer. I am prepared to continue to book and pay for track sessions with a risk that the session could be curtailed due to poor weather. One stoppage in five years is not such a risk in my opinion. Good to meet new faces and catch up with others. Looking forward to Brands next month. Martin, photos look good. Glad to hear that the camara has recovered to live for another track day. Steve