The week of V8 25th Anniversary Events starts with a talk by David Bishop and John Yea on the "RV8 - concept, development and production" on Sunday 15th June 2003. The programme for the week, set out in the table alongside, runs through to Friday at the start of the weekend when the MG Car Club has its annual International MG Meeting. We hope that by having the programme of events focused on week of activities before the Club's long weekend meeting at Silverstone and a V8 25th Dinner on the Friday evening, it will encourage many of our overseas V8 friends to come over and join us for some or all of the events - you can join at any stage or on the days that suit you! But do reserve places in good time as some of the guided tours have a limit on the size of the group.

The V8 Dinner on the Friday 20th June 2003 (7.15 for 8.15pm) will be held in the new BRDC Clubhouse at Silverstone. The evening will be an occasion like those enjoyable annual V8 dinners many members remember at the Thatched House Hotel in Sulgrave during the first 15 years of the V8 Register. Since the preliminary announcement of these V8 25th Anniversary plans, many current and former members of the V8 Register have already indicated they will be coming! Do reserve your place early as the BRDC Clubhouse is limited to only 120 diners.

How do I get to Silverstone and where can I find the V8 Register?
A guide to finding Silverstone Circuit and your way round once inside the Circuit is available on this website. It shows you how to find Silverstone by road and then, once through the ticket control point at the entrance, how you can find the dedicated V8 parking area, the V8 Marquee and the BRDC Clubhouse. For members who have not been to Silverstone for several years, there is now an A43 bypass round Silverstone village - you come off at a new flyover onto the Dadford Road which is then quite close to the main entrance of the Circuit.

How can I find accommodation in the Silverstone area?
There are two useful sources of information:

Guide to accommodation in the Silverstone area can be found in the tourism section of an excellent website at www.southnorthants.gov.uk run by the South Northamptonshire local authority which has detailed information on each farmhouse and guest house offering bed and breakfast, together with the small hotels and major hotels in the Silverstone area. At the South Northants website, just click the "Tourism" button, then the "Accommodation" link and then the particular link for the type of accommodation you prefer (B&B, guest house or hotel) to see the lists of that type of accommodation. You then click the link for each place to see the details of the accommodation on offer.

Local Tourist Information Office in Brackely (a small town near Silverstone, just to the west off the A43) which is run by some of the most pleasant and helpful people you could wish to speak with. Call them on 01280 700111.

So with these two useful sources of information even our overseas members will be able to check out the choice of available accommodation online and then book ahead.

Gordon & Ingra Rhodes from Lancashire enjoyed the conviviality of the V8 Marquee and the very full programme at Silverstone last year and are sure to be back - they are certainly V8 enthusiasts with both an RV8 and MGBGTV8!

For many V8 enthusiasts the opportunity of driving their V8s on the track at Silverstone is a welcome dream - well for the V8 25th Anniversary 2003 you can! We have a V8 Track Laps session at 11.40am on Sunday 22nd June - it is likely to be a very popular event, so an early reservation of a ticket will be essential! See V8 Track Laps for further details.

What is the V8 25th Anniversary Week of Events and where can I get more information?

There is a special V8 Pass which covers most of the events and is both good value and convenient
See V8 Pass for full details of what the package covers and how to book. At only £35.00 each including VAT, the V8 Pass package of benefits represents very good value - including admission to Silverstone Circuit for each of the three days. The V8 Pass comes on a blue cord lanyard so will also identify fellow V8 members during the week of V8 25th Anniversary 2003 Events and over the long weekend at Silverstone.

Base Hotel for the V8 25th Anniversary Week is the Beales Hotel in Buckingham. Some V8 members will stay there but many have longstanding arrangements with farmhouses and guesthouses in the area - particularly in the direction of Sulgrave, Helmdon and Brackley. For a guide to finding accommodation in the Silverstone area, see the panel alongside.

Contacts
Where possible you will need to contact the V8 Register member shown as the principal contact for each individual event on both the webpages reached from the individual links in the table of events above or in the Rolling V8 Calendar, but general information or assistance is available from Peter Beadle, the V8 Events Coordinator

Peter Beadle
Tel: 01452 412844
Mob: 07977 629258
arb.parts@btinternet.com

The dedicated V8 parking area attracts upwards of 90 V8s each day - for the V8 25th Anniversary 2003 far more are anticipated!

The V8 Marquee is a welcome meeting place for V8 enthusiasts with real ale and Stilton and supplies of workshop notes on CD, V8 regalia and V8 spares

We are looking forward to seeing many overseas V8 enthusiasts at the V8 25th Anniversary 2003 including Frank Morand based in Thailand who keeps his MGBGTV8 at home back in France for an easy hop across the Channel, Al Barnett from Luxembourg, and the regular party of German V8 enthusiasts with Walter Kallenberg in the advance party!