UPDATE 17th OCTOBER 2006
Please come along and meet like minded MR2 MK1 enthusiasts from 11.30am at
the Church Mouse pub in Durham. Traditionally we all meet up in the car park
between 11.30am - 12.30pm. The pub does great meals and offer very good guest
ales. The pub/lodge is situated on the A167 southbound between Chester le Street
and Durham. Leave the A1M at junction 63 and follow A167 towards Durham.
Proposed Agenda For Meeting Sunday 5th November 2006
Welcome to two new North East area organisers to help run region
Hope to see many local Club members there, please let one of the area
organisers know if you plan to attend or require more information.
michaelsheavills@btinternet.com Michael Sheavills Thanks Mac Sheavills and John Light will both be helping me run the North East
region. Its too big for one person and I work most weekends, the help will be
most welcomed. Therefore officially I can announce that Mac and John will both
become joint North East area organisers. Here are their details:
Mac Sheavills, 07816991136 / 01207 231601 Mac@macsheavills.fsnet.co.uk
John Light, 07904246630 member@jlight.fsnet.co.uk
Pub Meeting Sunday 7th March 2004
We had planned on a MR2 MK1 boot sale followed by a pub lunch, unfortunately
the rather ill timed wintry weather forced us to keep the lids on our boots and
instead we all huddled under brolleys and discussed various topics including
Mike Johnson's forthcoming MR2 Karting challenge.
This is a genuine picture taken at the Church Mouse with the
rainbow in the backdrop.
We had 10 cars turn up on the day and it was great to see some members who
had made quite long journeys to be there and support the club, so thanks to
Gordon and Allison Moffett and Neil Jones from Scotland and Austin Fleminaf who
came all the way from Ireland!!
We had a suprise visit from the local MR2 Drivers Club who decided to crash
the party. It was nice to look at different MR2s including some beautiful MK2s (
I'd had a few pints by then )
Paul Woods Turbo Update
Pauls car is currently off the road and is being painted back to its original
colour in red.
This is the exact moment Paul's MK1 hit the sound barrier, a rare phenomena
known as a sonic boom, you can occasionally hear it throughout the north east!!
Next Meeting Sunday 4th April
Northumberland Coast Run 2004
We plan to leave the Church Mouse at 09.30am and meet at Washington services
northbound at 09.45am. Following this we will meet any members north of
Newcastle at Kingston Park McDonalds at 10.15am to leave at 10.30am. Any members
in Scotland who want to come can meet us at Bamburgh Castle in the car park at
the bottom around 12.30pm for a BBQ.
This is a great run and takes in some superb coastal roads, not to be missed.
I'm expecting a good response for this run. I see we have a few new members
listed in the magazine from the north east, why not get in touch with me to book
your place and make this your first club run?
Let me know asap if you would like to come.
Mike Johnson has organised a superb
karting event for Sunday 25th April, see below for all the details. Please
contact Mike ASAP to book your place which is based on a 1st come 1st serve
basis. There are only 20 places available so act quickly to avoid
disappointment. Lets support Mike who has kindly given up a lot of his time into
planning this event. If you are attending the 'car boot' meeting at the Church
Mouse on Sunday 7th March then we would very much appreciate it if you could pay
for the day then as Mike has paid up front for the whole event - £760.
After the great success of the first Club Karting event held late last year
another event has been booked for Sunday 25th April. As last time I have booked
an Ironman event at Teeside Karting for Twenty twin engined pro karts (Each Kart
has Two engines which are capable of 0-60 in under 6 seconds, 70mph and handle
even better than MK1s.
The circuit is the longest and fastest in the country which is why it is used
as a round of the British Endurance Championships, (The National Pro-Kart
Championship)
The cost is £35+£3 insurance (I guarantee you will not find these Twin engine
karts cheaper anywhere in the country)
The format is, Sign on at 1pm where you will be issued with a kart No (this
is the kart that you will drive so remember it) then up into the kit room where
you will be fitted out with a racing suit (Overalls), gloves and helmet (take
your own if you wish).
1.15 into the briefing room for a safety briefing, you will also be given
tips on the fastest way around the circuit.
1.30 Your kart will be running and warmed up ready, Head off around the
circuit for 10mins practice (it is only practice so do not waste energy that you
will need later) after 10 mins a flag will be waved and you will then have
10mins to get in the quickest lap possible, all karts are fitted with
transponders as per F1 cars which register all times to a central computer which
will give you a starting grid position.
1.48 checkered flag will be waved to end qualifying, continue around and
return to the start where you stay in the kart until you are summoned on to your
grid positions as per F1.
1.50 Go like hell!! but remember it is a 40 minute race and you will already
be tired just from the 10mins qualifying.
2.30 Checkered flag end of race, continue round once more to the pits and
enter very slowly (or very fast and watch the marshals scamper for their lives).
2.35 Roll out of the Kart and up to the kit room to return racing suit. (you
will then find out why the helmet was so wet that you put on one hour previous
yuc yuc).
2.40 Debrief and watch me pick up my trophy!! We will then get a print out
from the computer with all lap times from everybody's kart.
2.45 The track bar should be open so we can head off for much needed
refreshments!! where we can all tell each other how fast we were!! If the bar
isn't open then we can always use the local McDonalds which is just around the
corner.
Some members will be very competitive, Some will be first timers on the
karts, If you are one of the competitive ones then please respect the first
timers who can sometimes find the karts quite intimidating (remember these karts
are not the ones that you find at the seaside)
If you feel your kart is slower than everyone else's then pull back into the
pits straight away, It is not unknown for one or both engines to stall after a
spin, locking of the brakes etc.
Please check out the "Teeside Karting" website http://www.teessidekarting.co.uk/
If you would like to attend please let me know as soon as possible, There are
only Twenty places available but all must be filled, If necessary I will ask
other car clubs to attend just to fill the places.
Please support "YOUR" club events, However large or small the event they all
take a lot of planning.
Mike Johnson mikeandviv@hotmail.com
22nd January 2004
Firstly let me begin by congratulating our Classic Show events manager Andrew
Hudson on the announcement of his marriage to Claire who will both tie the knot
on Saturday July 10th. Andrew has kindly asked me to be his best man to which I
am very honoured.
I first met Andrew in my very early days of MR2 ownership back in 1999 when
we were both members of the MR2 Drivers Club, at the time we weren't aware of
our club, well that's my excuse. Andrew had and still has one of the finest
examples of a MK1 that you will find, his enthusiasm and love for the car and
club has led him into perusing a more challenging and leadership role within the
north east region. In early 2003 Andrew kindly agreed to step in as regional
classic car show manager and went on to organise some superb classic shows
throughout the region, not only in the pursuit of promoting the club and cars
but in promoting and raising funds for great causes such as cancer research. Let
us all wish the both of them a very happy future together.
Summer and the longer lighter nights are just around the corner but let us
reflect on what has been going on during the dark, winter months. We held our
second regional Christmas party at the Eden Arms hotel on Saturday 13th December
with the added bonus this year of making a weekend of it. We had such a good
response from local members and I'm sure you will agree it was a great night.
During December I had the opportunity to purchase another Supercharger. After
gathering together all the information I was very impressed with the
specification of the car. The car had only done 39K miles and I have to say it
was immaculate in every way. The engine has had an oversized Nevo Supercharger
pulley fitted and the air bypass mod had been done as well. To compliment that
there is a performance Ramair filter and a Magnex stainless exhaust system
complete with cat bypass modification. I had to collect the car from Cornwall
and decided the best method was to get the train down and drive the 445 miles
back. I left York station at 10.45am and arrived back in Durham at 4am the next
day. A long and exhausting trip but well worth it. After going right through the
car I have to say I cannot fault it in any way, bodywork or mechanical, the cars
performance is roughly 185bhp. If anyone is interested I will be selling the car
shortly, get in touch with me to discuss.
There are two major events this year and I feel a little plugging is needed
in order to further whet the appetite. Firstly our annual trip/holiday to Le
Mans will be held on 11th - 13th June. There is good interest from the North
West region some of whom have confirmed attendance, it would be nice if we could
gather a little support from the North East. As you already know its a superb
event and worth experiencing at least once. We will be camping at a French
chateau which boasts facilities such as a bar, restaurant, lake and swimming
pool.
The other BIG event of 2004 will be JAE at Billing Aquadrome in Northampton
during July. Many of the longer standing members will know all about this event,
this plug is aimed at the newer members who haven't yet experienced the Japanese
Auto Extravaganza. Last year we traveled down from the north east in a huge
convoy and met up with the north west members en route. The event itself is a
weekend gathering of all the Jap car clubs from around the UK and is not to be
missed, plugs over!
Track Car update. Firstly thanks to Steve and Jo Austin who very kindly
offered to store the north east track car on their property. The problem we had
was the place where we originally had the car stored belonged to a local garage
who kindly let us store the car there for free as long as we did a spot of
advertising on the car. With the car not being used and sort of in the way we
were asked to remove the car from the property rather quickly. Unfortunately we
struggled at the time to find a suitable local venue to safely store the car and
were presented with the threat of the car being sent to the crushers if it
wasn't removed immediately. A rather hasty phone call to a local transporters
meant we could avoid the car been reduced to a bean tin and it now sits on Mac
Sheavills driveway which is starting to attract a lot of unwanted attention.
Thanks Mac for bailing us out!! Once again another plea to keep a lookout for a
suitable trailer to transport the car to the track, I really would like to
kick-start the track car back into action this summer.
Some of our national members have expressed an interest in visiting our
events and shows in the North East, well why not. Here is a short list of
suitable accommodation within the region. If unsure give me a call and I'll be
happy to advise.
Innkeeperslodge - Church Mouse 0191 3892628 ( Book online - http://www.innkeeperslodge.com/ )
This is our venue for our monthly pub meetings and comes highly recommended.
Located just off the A1M junction 63.
Innkeeperslodge - Newcastle 0191 2140877 Located on the A1M.
Express Holiday Inn - Newcastle 01207 541100 ( email
newcastle-metrocentreoriel-leisure.co.uk ) Right next to the famous Metro
Shopping Centre.
Lastly, I feel its going to be a great year, we have some superb events lined
up, I'm hoping more of you will take on a little responsibility this year with
the aim of you organising the odd event yourself, don't worry the challenge is
more than rewarding. Remember it's your club, you get out of it what you put in,
I'm just here to advise and guide. For those of you with access to email I'll
continue to keep you posted with regular updates on club news and events. If you
are a north east member with email please send me your address as I will be able
to add it to the group list and you will have the bonus of receiving important,
sometimes last minute news. If you don't have a PC then I'm always on the end of
the telephone. Here's to a good year.
Michael Sheavills
Christmas social get together
Events 2007
Regional flyers and
promoting the club regionally
Technical issues with MR2
Fast Road
Automobiles / Woodsport - local MR2 specialists
Mac@macsheavills.fsnet.co.ukMac
Sheavills
member@jlight.fsnet.co.ukJohn LIght
Michael Sheavills
