The weekend of 16th July 1999 was Mog99. For the benefit of our cyber pals who I know like to hear of Morgan related exploits a fair number of UK Morgans will have been out and about as follows (but clearly with some variations)...

Thursday 15th July

I set off from home at about 8:30. Later than I wanted but there were so many last minute items. HUY was in a real state as I had not managed to find the time to clean him, (what's that about anthropomorphism?) but I had at least managed to get to the oil, water and the front end greasing. The aim was to get to Carlisle where I had booked an overnight stay. The weather was OK not wet, but not sunny either, so I was travelling with side screens on to reduce the buffetting at speed.

I got to Oxford and to Birmingham after the worst of the morning traffic and so I was able to stop at the Motorway services for a coffee and to fill up with Fuel. The good progress continued and I felt that a stop after 2 further hours for lunch would be a good plan. As I approached Lancaster I saw the first Morgans of the day. 2 2 seaters, clearly travelling in convoy at about 10mph below my speed. I fell in behind for about five minutes and then the right foot got heavy again.

By then it was time to stop so I looked for the Lancaster Service station. Then the rain started. Rather than stop and get wet I figured that, although the sky was black for as far as I could see, I would drive the 18 miles to the next services and stop there. Fortune shone (though not the sun) and I stopped in the dry. This is where I saw the only other Morgan of the day. A red Plus 8 that did a quick turn through the car park and then went on.

To my surprise, as I had expected more traffic, I was already within 50 miles of Carlisle and it was only just after 1pm. So I took a detour through the Lake District, up Hardnott and Wrynose passes and had a great time. The road maintainers had decided the passes needed resurfacing with loose gravel which made 1in3 hairpins interesting to say the least. HUY got to the top of Hardnott with the temperature gauge at 100 (C) and the fan off (it came on just after). An almost new Ford Escort just behind me had had its fan running most of the way up, but then, being front wheel drive, they also had a lot more trouble with the gravel.

I got to Carlisle at about 6 after a rapid run through the Lake district main roads and a brief stop to deal with a faulty plug lead. 360 miles in the day.

Friday 16th July

Today the Forestburn "Funday" was scheduled. HUY was parked in the street and it had been raining. There was no letup while I loaded the suitcase in the back seat, so I just put my coat on and pointed his nose north. The Journey to Forestburn was alternately wet and dry and the Motorway section up the now uprated A74(M) was grim where it could have been really nice. I turned off up the A73 and had a dry run the rest of the way. The A73 is a road with reasonable straight bits and nice sweeping bends allowing 70 or so to Lanark where it closes in and becomes more urban. I got to Forestburn at about 10am and registered number 8.

Forestburn was really good. Well organised and with lots of people out to have fun. It is a speed hillclimb course. It is quite a tight course with a couple of hairpins and a sharpish off camber bend. There was no real opportunity to walk the course as people were already on it, so I took HUY to the start for an exploratory run. At this stage it was wet, but it dried out later. Each person had four runs, entrants were mostly standard road use vehicles, but varied from a Flat rad plus 4 which drifted very spectacularly to near new Plus Eights. My four runs went like this

Run 1 wet track car loaded 74 seconds Run 2 Ditto 69 seconds Run 3 dry track no suitcase 62 seconds Run 4 Ditto 64 seconds

On the first 2 runs I did not get out of second gear. On the last run I was trying too hard and messed up the first hairpin. Not bad for a first time. (Can't use that excuse again)

Plus Eights seemed to be doing around 60 to 62 seconds. Roger Bluff managed 67 on one of his runs in his 4/4. We told him it was down to his extensive experience, the light weight of the 4/4 and the Yokohama rubber he uses. A few people had a "hairy moment" on the last hairpin just under where people were watching, but there was no contact with the scenery. One person found the gravel trap at the other hairpin, but no damage done. One run was made in a much modified 4/4 that got the time down to 56 seconds.

After the "fun" I went to Edinburgh to pick up Ann as she had had to work and travel up later. By the time we got to our accommodation and got ourselves sorted out we were late getting to the Barbeque.

Saturday 17th July

The day dawned wet, and stayed varyingly wet from gentle mist to outright downpour. Ann had the best comment: "It's funny how a trip round a Distillery makes a treasure hunt in an open car in the pouring rain seem like fun". You may note that included in the distillery trip is an opportunity to sample their product. I can attest that the 10 year Malt from Glengoyne is very good. Ann found that if you ask the guide about the relative colour of the 17 year malt then he gives you a sample of that as well; this time just poured from the bottle by hand rather than through an optic. No wonder she was having a good time. (Needless to say we took some home as well, including a bottle of the 17 year "for the millennium"). We have no information on Treasure hunt results at this time.

We had not booked the evening meal for Saturday so we found a pub. We then went to the Ceilidh afterwards where the Thames Valley crew, all 6 of them, had reserved us some seats. This was a very good event. Everyone had a good time. There was a 90 year cake and some free samples of the special Mog99 whiskey, an address from the Mayor and another from "the oldest Morgan Dealer in the World" (and I don't think he meant the age of the company, even though they claim that as well).

Sunday 18th July

Dry (in the morning at least). We went round to the camp site to collect Roger as he had agreed to be the passenger for the Gymkhana. It was a very well organised Gymkhana. As usual (for me) we dropped too much on the "judgement" parts to pick up on the fast parts and came about 7th in class (don't know the overall position). Perhaps someone will post the full set on a web site somewhere??

I looked at the new 4 seater. It is everything I expected from the photographs. The rear hood is a compromise with rather a sharp cutoff, but otherwise it looks very good. You would have to look twice to see the difference; at the back end it is just a bit steeper than the old 4 seater and the spare mounts differently, it is also a little higher I fancy. I am really impressed by the long door and the extent of back seat space. Looks like you can get real people in it!

There was not as many trade stands as usual, but there was a few. Harpers were absent and MORGAN were absent. I bought a flasher sounder from Libra Motive as I have now spent 6 years driving round with my indicator on and it's time I knew about it. They had a demonstration item on their stand, but had left their supplies at home. So I am waiting for the postman (sorry mail man). We also bought a bottle of Mog99 Spirit. Now should we drink it..... or keep it for 2009. The sales patter claimed that a similar bottle from the 1989 meeting (unopened of course) now sells for about £300. I don't think that is a hard decision, 10 years is too long to go thirsty. (Editors Note: It didn't even make the end of August 1999)

In the afternoon they organised a highland games

4 by 100metres Relay race (on foot, no Morgans permitted) Throwing the Wellie; Caber tossing; Rolling the wheel relay (they used a 4/4 wire wheel with standard tyre so it wouldn't stand up on its own) Tug of War

Thames Valley, with help from HopMog for the tug of war, came nowhere.

Afterwards Ann and I set off to see if there really were Hills (or rather views, after all we had found the hills themselves on Saturday) in Scotland. We turned back after half an hour having found only rain.

Ann and I had an independent Italian meal and then joined Roger and some of the others from Thames Valley and HopMog in the Westerton Arms for a beer.

Monday 19th July

Ann and I found some of the Scenery on the way back to the airport as we took a short loop via Gleneagles. I left her at mid day and drove to my intermediate stop at Keswick in time for a walk (in the rain) before I found a pub to eat in. The rest of the story is all rain and roads until 3pm on Tuesday when I got home and finally put HUY through a jetwash.

1200 miles in 6 days, and a thoroughly good time.

Dave Vodden

HUY is a 1992 Plus 4 4 seater in a delicate shade of black with black weather gear and black leather seats etc, although for much of the weekend it was more of a mud grey. He has a 1994cc Rover 4 pot, twin cam engine with Lucas multipoint Fuel injection and a factory standard (and almost original) exhaust. He has brake reaction bars fitted to the front and a telescopic damper conversion on the back. He has now covered almost 44000 miles.