The online forms sent in by members provide space which enables them to express their views and give us feedback on what they feel about the present Safety Fast! arrangements and the Club's website. Further members' comments will be added as they come in.

Back to Council briefing and Safety Fast! Online Survey form

Further members' comments (12.10.06)
Comments: If MG.C do not serve notice on Octane to sever agreement and revert to Safety Fast being produced in-house I SHALL NOT BE RENEWING MY MEMBERSHIP NEXT YEAR. I have already written to Octane asking if I could just receive Safety Fast on it's own and not their amateurish and inaccurate MG Enthusiast which after about an hour's reading I throw in the bin in disgust!

Comments on password access: Very Difficult for no obvious reason. Comments: The old executive committee have a lot to answer for, we do seem to be making progress in the right direction now, but 'Safety Fast ' will take some sorting out !!!

Comments on password access: For overseas members the password access is difficult as it takes a while for our magazines to arrive.

Further members' comments (10.10.06)
Comments on password access: Too vulgar to put into print. Comments: It would appear that the Club has been running recently for the benefit of the directors and committee members of some registers. It has to be run democratically and openly for all members of the MG Car Club as they ARE the Club and are probably, without exception, in it for fun and not power or politics and without them the members and their membership fees, the rest are redundant.

Further members' comments (9.10.06)
Comments on password access: it seems a bit hard to find new information on an old topic on the Club bulletin board. If you miss the current discussion by a few days, a aprticular discussin drops off the radar. I'd like to see new additions to discussions re-apear at the top of the bulletin board. Have a look at themultihull.com/ forum, it seems a lot easier to use, but then I guess it's what you get used to. Comments: The V8 bulletin board and the notes are my main means of support here in Japan. Keep up the good work. I'm not sure as a newbie, what is happening with the Club. While I understand some of the arguments, does the new club rooms offer an opportunity for overseas visitors to view MG memorabilia? I need more information on this topic.

Further members' comments (5.10.06)
Comments on password access: Having never been able to get past the pass-word hurdle so don't know what lies beyond it. I had never realised that the MG Car Club was a secret society. Does the fact that I cannot access the secure information mean that I have failed some form of personal security vetting despite the fact that I was on intelligence work in the army then went through full vetting when I worked on guided missile design? Comments: A good club magazine is, in my view, the glue that holds a motor club together particularly when its membership is spread throughout the whole World. If I look at back issues of 20 - 30 years I can see that the "mission statement" was achieved and that the Club's magazine properly represented the quirky character of our cars and their owners. The present bland conjoining of Safety Fast! and MG Enthusiast singularly fails in what I personally define as the mission statement for a motor club's magazine.

Further members' comments (4.10.06)
Comments on password access: I think the practice of publishing a new general username and password each month is a bit of a pain. I'd like to be able to have my own username and password that I will be able to remember. If this is not possible, at least set a cookie and save me the hassle! Comments: We should restore Safety Fast to its former glory. I would personally be quite happy to pay more subs for it if it had the old content themes in. My view is that Safety Fast should have all the articles that are in MGE. It would mean a separate print run but at least they will know the exact number they require for members. Or, just can MGE and sell Safety Fast to the public.

Comments on password access: Password access seems unnecessary. Comments: I am not a V8 owner but I access the V8 Website / V8BB on a regular basis.

Further members' comments (3.10.06)
Comments on password access: Extremely frustrating! Comments: I cannot for the life of me understand why the MG Car Club does not have its own proper Club magazine. There are far smaller clubs with very good club magazines e.g. The Riley RM Club.

Comments on password access: Nothing there when you get there! It is not secure, so what's the point of the password? Response times to queries from the Club webmaster are very poor. Still haven't got to XPower MGCC Forum area - was told there were problems. Didn't get ANY reply to queries from owner of XPower Forum. Any website has to have rapidly updated content in order to keep the traffic and attention of members. Comments: If the main MGCC website is anything to go by, then the Club hasn't a chance of producing a decent magazine. Financial report shows that income from the MGE tie-up is ahead of budget, whereas membership subscriptions are way down. So therefore attention should be paid to increasing members, not to the magazine issue. It is a red herring probably based on nostalgia!

Comments: I was a member of the Club for quite a few years, until last year it became quite apparent that the Club management did not consider the members very important - this was epitomised by the New Kimber House proposals, and the lack of opportunity for ordinary members to have their views heard. The way that Safety Fast! was negotiated into a mere shadow of what it ought to be, and the lack of transparency in the details of the financial arrangements for the Safety Fast!/MG Enthusiast tie-up finally convinced me that the Club was making changes which were not in the interest of the membership at large - I therefore did not renew my membership last February.

Comments: I am still absolutely disgusted with the old guard members behaviour over the Kimber Palace fiasco.

Comments: I did not renew my subscription to the MGCC in April 2006 following the Club Office and Safety Fast! debacles after 14 years continous membership and 26 years MG ownership (TC and V8). Interestingly, I was not contacted by anyone interested in why I did not review. This is the first occasion I have been able to give the reason. The Main Club has taken the membership as fools, and discussing the use made by the main committee of efforts by the T Register to submit motions to the AGM, they continue to do so. I would consider rejoining if the present board resigned.

Comments: I am very disappointed with the Kimber House affair closely followed by this unwelcome tie-up with Octane Media. We need to return to a club magazine. I am also a member of the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club and their magazine is a good example of how things should be done. Good luck!

Comments on password access: I have not used it but cannot see why a sign-in procedure would be necessary. Comments: I am very disappointed with the Kimber House affair closely followed by this unwelcome tie-up with Octane Media. We need to return to a club magazine. I am also a member of the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club and their magazine is a good example of how things should be done.

Comments: I cannot answer yes to the first part of Q2 as the 2004/05 Safety Fast! was a shadow of past offerings. The current combination is better but not as good as Safety Fast! once was.

Further members' comments (2.10.06)
Comments: I have recently decided not to renew my membership of the MGCC and I shall not renew it until the Octane magazine arrangement is resolved by which I mean ceases to be in operation. Secondly , I shall only renew once I have confirmation that the members of the Board who chose to stand down (rather than face a vote of no confidence) last year have actually actually done so and I would like there to be some additional clause in the Articles with the effect of preventing them ever being able to stand for office again.

Comments: Grateful the V8 Register has done the online survey - at least members have a chance to say what they think. Many thanks!

Comment with regards to Safety Fast: I wonder if Martyn Wise, as the "former" editor of MG Enthusiast, would be interested in getting involved in the revival of a proper MGCC Safety Fast?

Comments on password access: I do manage to get into the T Register webpage and find that excellent. The T Register magazine is also very very good.

Comment: Suggest editor might be found amongst the retired members of the Club, rather than someone still in employment/self-employment ?

Comments: I was thinking of going down from 3 magazines (SF, MGE, Enjoying MG) to 2 before the Safety Fast/MG Enthusiast combination. I now find the compromise a good one and as a bonus MGE is much improved, it was in danger of running out of steam. But in Safety Fast! - why racing, trials, MG on Track - why not more about Road Runs which are probably what most of the members do most - e.g. Arden Run, Atlantic Coast, Regency, Welsh Rallye, etc. Also why not have a survey such as this before things happen in the Club rather than afterwards, when it just looks like the V8 Register having a go at Club office again. Finally what about regalia - every year at Silverstone and the Classic Car Show I look at the regalia and think it is not good value for money. Maybe more money could be made for the Club by sorting out pricing so that more is sold at a lower margin or better quality.

Comments: I hear a couple of people have said this online survey is worthless - can we see their views and names please as I would like to know what is wrong with Club members having an opportunity to give their views. I am pleased this survey has beenmade available and the results published openly too.

Comments on password access: to input the user name and password each time is a nuisance as the detail keeps changing and you have to go and find the latest magazine.

Comments on password access: Why when starting a thread does it come up with "non member"?? Could better instructions be issued on accessing the web site so members are aware of its full potential.

Further members' comments (1.10.06)
Comments on password access: Have got passed the access barrier but only intermittently - I assume that development of this is still to be completed. I understood Peter Best to say recently that one of the new directors was working on this.

Further members' commnets (30.9.06)
Comments from a member of both the T and Y Registers. Which are both excellent. All the activities of the registers and centres make the work done by the Car Club just a means of collecting subscriptions. The only activity that I am aware of that the Club arrange for all the members is the Regency Run which is shared with the Owners Club. A very small percentage of the membership are involved with racing. Bearing in mind the number of European Events that the Club has links with - especially MG European Event of the Year - what does the Car Club do for its members. This year I had to pay the costs of money transfers to pay MG France, as every one else did. The Club could have arranged this and so helped entrants paying an unnecessary £40 in admin costs. A simple arrangement between the Club Office and MG France could have avoided this. It might also help if the CarClub paid the Register's 50% of the income received from subscriptions. This could encourage members to remain with the MGCC as well as their Registers.

Comments: As an overseas member, I find Safety Fast! rather a waste of time even before the new format. Makes no difference either way in my opinion. However, having said that, it was my link with the outside world for a time before MGE and I suppose I need to acknowledge that. MGE, GREAT magazine, find it difficult to put down once received. Great magazine even before Octane Media took it over when Martyn Wise was at the helm - good man is Martyn Wise, thorough gentleman. Safety Fast! way back 30-40 years ago was good and had substance. I have full sets going back to early 60's.

Comments: As a longstanding Club member (over 25 years) I want to put on record my disappointment with the present style of Safety Fast! magazine. I used to enjoy flicking through the magazine and would look at if not read all pages and would always find something of interest. I have subscribed to MGE for many years and always enjoyed it -- and still do! However there is now nothing of interest in Safety Fast! other than the reports on my local Centre (Caledonian) and from the Registers to which I belong (V8 & Midget). I think the magazine now lacks 'soul' and should revert back to its previous style as soon as! May I also express my disappointment with the club website. It too is dull & lifeless & the need to log on to the members section is cumbersome & unnecessary. We should also have section for adverts for cars/parts for sale. As examples of 'How to do it' look at the V8 website & also the Caledonian site. The Club projects a staid impression. Its time to lift her skirts & let her get a move on! Robert MacGillivray

Further members' comments (29.9.06)
Comments on password access: Why do we need to restrict access? Fed up with head office politics, Kimber Towers proposals etc.

Comments on password access: Managed to access members' area only once (and then only with help from V8BB - the office took 3 days to reply to email requesting help). Content so disappointing that I haven't bothered to visit again. The V8 Register and V8BB are run perfectly without password access; the content of the BB especially is so much the richer because of no password access (given the efficient monitoring by the V8 Registrar). In brief, the Club as a whole should remodel itself on the basis of the V8 Register's way of operation and retake it's vow of the marque of friendship - to everybody, not just current members. In general, I would imagine that the individual Registers' websites are, at present, much more used by and useful to both members and potential members than the main Club website. Should not the main Club website be the site which encourages potential new members, with a wealth of content but also incentives to join? As it is, the individual Registers are doing all the good work - hope they get a corresponding share of the resources!

Comments on password access: on numerous occasions have had to resort to asking for help to gain access. Password is ridiculously difficult to find and is it really necessary anyway? Additional comments: I think the current arrangement with Octane Media works very well and has the added benefit of giving the Club a much wider audience than it would otherwise get. I also think a lot of the resistance to the new arrangement is down to people not liking change of any kind, but if we kept on like that all our MG's would be being pulled by horses!!!

Comments just as they appeared on the forms (28.9.06)
Comment on password access: It was as hard as it could possibly be. I can't see how they could realistically have made it more difficult. I cannot see any reason why this should be, and I feel it reflects very badly on the Club. What have they got to hide, and why the secrecy? How come, for a club so old, it still hasn't got a successful and widely used forum for club members to discuss the Club and wider MG issues? I do feel it reflects a complete lack of understanding on how these websites should work, and I feel very much that it shows that the Car Club, for all its committees, is out of touch. Perhaps the average age of committee members is too high? Have the website and the BBS open to all comers, with certain areas and facilities open to members only - placing adverts, etc.

Comments on password access: Extremely frustrating! Make it open to all.

Comments on password access: Very frustrating and utterly impossible. Glad someone is trying to allow Club members to express their views.

Comments: I did not renew my membership after approx 25 years due to the appalling changes to Safety Fast! which were closely followed by a subscription increase. This was on top of the New Kimber House debacle. I am (was) a long standing member who has contributed to the B Register, Midget Register, FWD Register and V8 Register. I have had many articles featured in SF over the years and stood as technical rep on the V8 Register Committee for about 12 years. I have judged Concours at Silverstone, and been a class winner at Silverstone with my V8. I will not rejoin until and unless sanity is restored to SF.

Comments on password access: Utterly impossible and quite unnecessary.

Comments on password access: How do you do it?????

Comments on password access: It is too difficult at present and needs to be on the same open access basis as the V8 site.

Comments: In addition to the V8 also have '47 MG TC. The T Register "Totally T Type" Magazine is excellent. Enjoy that more than the recent Safety Fast. Informal, but technical and some of the articles are amusing to read. Although as a family we have: '47 TC, '64 Midget and of course the '69 BGT V8 conversion, I would prefer to allocate at least 50% of subs to T Register just because the register magazine is very good and at very minimal cost, thanks to John James. Together with events that are very T related well organised and are Just good fun! V8 Idle Moments: excellent, has been know to have me crying (with laughter).

Comments on password access: After three separate attempts gave up - and I am deemed to be quite competent with computers and their systems. I have emailed Andy Knott and told him of the problem - a solution was promised but nothing happened. I have assumed therefore "they" don't want me to be able to access the members' area.

Comments: The club must re-think why we have an Abingdon office. It should provide a SERVICE to the members, and not just be a head office for directors and management.

Comments on password access: In the present format with ridiculous access controls its a complete waste of time. I have only been able to access it once and since then have been unable to locate the username and password in Safety Fast!

Comments: the present arangements work well and provide two magazines for my annual subscription.

Comments on password access: Not worth the effort as very few have got through, and there are even fewer postings. The Club urgently needs to run an opinion survey of current and recently lapsed members to find out what they really want out of the club, and then implement those desires.

Comments: Safety Fast in its current form is almost a waste of time. There should be one magazine produced in-house, which should contain technical and review articles concerned with all MG cars old and modern. I suspect that owners of modern MG's believe that the MG Car Club is for older cars. At the Caledonian Centre we get very few MGF's of MGTF's turning up.

Comments on password access: Access could be controlled by membership number and user defined password. Printing a sign in procedure in the magazine assumes all members will read the magazine in time to find out where it is and what it is. Membership number based access means all members always have access and if their membership is not renewed then access is immediately denied.

Comments from an AWC member: I think the present format, having both Safety Fast and MGE is better than we were having with just Safety Fast, but that does not mean there is not room for improvement.

Comments on password access: The changing username and password is very inconvenient and totally unnecessary. The whole setup is so cumbersome and awkward to use I can't be bothered - and I'm not the only one. Comments: It appears that to access the MGCC forum you must first register on the XPower Forums - I don't want to register on the XPower Forums, whoever they might be, so I don't have access to the MGCC forum despite being a member and having the current username and password. Access to the club website could be by members name (username) and membership number (password).

Comments: I am not a member of the V8 register but interested as a general member in all aspects of potential benefits of club membership. No point in having 2 magazines if one repeats similar articles in the other. This means however there is very little substance in Safety Fast other than news items for club members. Technical articles are often poorly written and not very helpful or practical to the average reader. We need well documented articles on rebulids/mods of older models or services/mods of current models i.e good practical info.to help all 'amateur' mechanics. The Club should negotiate with suppliers to get discount on parts. This would help all members with both old and newer models. The MGOC are more active in this area.

Comments: Sick to the back teeth of the internal disputes within the leadership of the club which seems to be intent on spending money we havent got and not dealing with the real issues of the day which if not addressed could result in a fragmentation of the Club which wiil not be reversible. Take note of the Labour party it already gave Scotland its own parliament. Perhaps its time for its own MG car club next run for the members and not the officials own ambitions.

Comments on password access: I would do away with the Members Only Area and allow access to all interested parties. This simple adjustment will encourage people to join MG Car Club.

Comments on password access: Is this not an example of an over estimation of the importance of the business of a members' car club? What is there to hide? The V8 Register manages without ridiculous passwords. If the current magazine arrangements are sapping Club funds, then they should be stopped at the earliest opportunity. This is surely intended to be a club for enthusiasts, not an organisation where officers play at running a business using members' subscriptions.