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Register in 2004 With registrations up substantially on 2003, continued growth of thew two popular workshop notes series, a new V8 Bulletin Board for members' tips and technical queries, a new range of V8 Regalia (shirts, fleeces, hats and pens), and continued improvement of the V8 Website, the V8 Register maintains its position as the leading group for MG V8 enthusiasts in the UK and overseas. The continued growth in the V8 Website hit count demonstrates both the awareness of V8 enthusiasts of the website and its popularity. The rankings with the search engines are high too as they can recognise an active, well managed and regularly updated website - just type in MG V8 or RV8 or V8 Register in Google or Yahoo for example and the V8 Website is very near the top website link listed in each case. Registrations up 15.5% year on year
Two popular workshop notes series Both series - the original series V8 Workshop Notes which began in 1978 and the later RV8 Workshop Notes - continue to grow with contributions from V8 enthusiasts in the UK and overseas. At the year end the latest notes added to each series are: 317. How to keep a Lucas distributor going Gordon Hesketh-Jones (Harvest Gold 1904) from Cornwall has covered over 370,000 miles in his V8 and has a serious annual maintenance schedule with periodic major work, so is familiar with worn Lucas distributors. Here he adds some useful tips on maintaining the Lucas unit. (Dec 04) V8NOTE317 This note was a sequel to an earlier note (316) from Chris Armitage (Tundra 2066) from Hampshire on an MGBGTV8 alternative distributor which used and extensively tested as an alternative to the Lucas distributor for the MGBGTV8. The complete listing of the contents of the series is available on the V8 Website at V8 Workshop Notes. 217. Removing a number plate mounting panel from a Japan spec RV8 David Allen David Allen (Oxford Blue 1629) from Cambridgeshire provides a useful note with a step by step guide on how to convert the number plate mounting on a Japan spec RV8 to the UK or European style. (Nov 04) RV8NOTE217 For details of the whole series, see a listing of all the notes at RV8 Workshop Notes. V8 Events and the Rolling V8 Calendar Andy and Lynn Vine have volunteered to organise another V8 Tour which for 2005 will be in Essex. These tours have proved increasingly popular - full details of the V8 Essex Tour 2005 are available. For the other events, see the Rolling V8 Calendar which is updated as new events or additional information becomes available. The V8 Events coordinator is Al Barnett - just click the grey "Contacts" button on the homepage for his telephone number and email address if you would like to get in touch with him. Safety Fast! - the award winning monthly magazine of the MG Car Club The monthly V8 Column and periodic V8 Newsletters in Safety Fast! provide news of V8 Events, workshop notes and interesting features - for example in Deecember 2004 we had a two page feature on V8 enthusiasts in Germany. You can look back over the columns and newsletters on the V8 Website. Just click V8 Columns & Newsletters. |
V8
Website - a popular information source for V8 enthusiasts Hit count passes 4,000 hits/month  Chart covers the period from January 2003 to December 2004 and shows the clear trend of increasing monthly hits. In December 2004 we broke through the 4,000 level. The green line is the trend line, the red the moving average, and the blue the monthly hits. V8 Website continues to grow in popularity The V8 Website is packed with useful information and news of interest to MG V8 enthusiasts - now almost 600 webpages - and its popularity is demonstrated by the growth of monthly hits. In the closing hours of 2004 we passed the 4,000 hits a month level - in fact early in the morning on 31st December 2004. This was despite an understandable dip in the daily hit count over the Festive period. Further information on V8 Website hits V8 Bulletin Board The V8BB has seen some 565 postings over the last 8 months since the new V8BB was launched back in May 2004 following the closure of the previous bulletin board which had been very kindly provided free by AgnesVestris. The quality of the postings has been good with many useful threads with topics ranging from members seeking help on maintenance issues to reports of useful information of interest to MG V8 enthusiasts. The RV8 members have been particularly active. Several website features have been useful Members making regular visits to the V8 Website have found the "Recent Changes" button on the LHS of the homepage particularly convenient as it provides a V8 Website update log listing all the changed or new webpages as links. So in one click members can see what has changed and what is new. The other feature which is increasingly seen as very useful is the Search Box on the RHS of the homepage. By just typing in a key word or words, all the webpages with that topic pop up as links. With just over 600 webpages on the V8 Website, this search facility is becoming more and more useful, particularly for new members. MGV8s & RV8s for Sale webpages Adverts offering MGBGTV8s, V8 Conversions and RV8s for sale have been very popular on the V8 Website over the year with some 24 MGV8s for Sale and 27 RV8s for Sale. This is proving a useful service for both existing and prospective members. MGV8s for Sale and RV8s for Sale New V8 Online Sales system will be launched in January 2005 An improved system using WorldPay as the international payment mechanism will enable members to buy V8 Publications and V8 Regalia online using most leading cards - chargecards, credit or debit cards. WorldPay is part of the UK banking group, the Royal Bank of Scotland which includes NatWest. The existing system we have used for some time is PayPal which has worked well, but it has had the additional step of creating and using a PayPal account. An important change will be the V8 Online Sales system will extend to V8 Regalia as well, and not just workshop notes CDs, books and badges. New range of V8 Regalia launched 
For details see V8 Regalia. Trade advertising for V8 specialists For details of the rollover buttons and separate webpages we can provide for V8 specialists, see Trade adverts. |