Here it is! The 2017 Driving Season kicks off on Saturday, April 22 with the Spring Tune-up, followed by the Spring Brunch, the Chicken Run, the Spring Tour, and the Miata Auto cross (session 1).

I hope that your MG is ready and that you have blocked the dates on your calendars. Speaking of dates, the entire 2017 calendar of driving events was published last month and you should be able to plan your MG driving summer well in advance. Our newsletter editorsGreg Hoeft and Victor L’Heureux will continue to publish the detailed information and upcoming events in each issue so please keep an eye open when the printed versions of the Vintage Viewpoint and the Driveline are delivered to your mailbox.

Upcoming events are also discussed at our monthly meetings. Those of you who are connected to the digital world have a few more options to keep up to date on the driving events. Here they are, in no particular order.
1) The digital version of the VMGCC and CMGC newsletters, which usually arrives in your email inbox about a week before the printed version.
2) A weekly email from David Novak (please add him to your contacts so that his email always lands in our inbox) with the subject line Upcoming Events. New this year is that it now shows the next five driving events clearly at the top of his email.
3) Our webmasters Barney Gaylord and Brian Dubin also maintain calendars on our club websites: 
www.chicagolandmgclub.com
www.vintagemgchicago.com 
Most information on our websites, including the driving events, are accessible to all visitors. Actually, since only very little if the website content is in a members-only section, it may just be interesting to browse through the websites of both clubs.
4) The Chicagoland MG Club is also present on Facebook. Although there is no complete calendar listing, organizers post their events and members post their plans to attend events quite often. As it is with social media, everybody can post and sometimes there is also information for spontaneous get-togethers or local events like cruise nights etc.

The events on the calendar are all events of the MG Clubs of Chicago. That means that we like to see all models of MG at all our spring events. The Spring Tune-up has several lifts and there is capacity to have a few T-Series cars do their oil change or other maintenance activities. Although the organizers are not necessarily T-Series experts, the basics of a spring tune-up are mostly the same for all MG models (probably even for most vintage cars).

Every roadworthy MG can easily complete the short tour through the North Suburbs to a restaurant to enjoy the Spring Brunch. Although the Spring Chicken Run may be a little bit longer and has a bit more driving and competition, T-Series MGs have done very well in previous editions.

The Spring Tour to Oshkosh, WI includes a Saturday visit to the Experimental Aircraft Museum and dinner at a local craft beer brewery restaurant. Both activities that are equally interesting for drivers of T-Series MGs as well as the “modern’ A’s and B’s and Midgets. I hope to see you at many of these events. 

There is one more event, one that I personally like very much although it is not a points-paying club driving event. That is Car Care Safety Clinic of the Naperville & Lisle Townships TRIAD organization. Club members help with a 30+ point safety inspection of the vehicles of the local senior citizens. It is just a very good thing to help a good cause with our expertise and knowledge of cars. I really hope that you’ll consider this community event. It only takes half a day on Saturday, May 13. Information is available in this newsletter and club member Jim Vondran will be happy to answer any questions at 630 234 7102.

In next month’s issue, we’ll talk about the June events, but I’d just like to give you an early heads-up of the return of the Land’s End Rally on Sunday, June 4 on your list. Dean and Kerry Hickenlooper are bringing back the oldest rally of the CMGCC, after a hiatus of a year. Google the 1925 Land’s End Trail and MG and you’ll see why this is such a landmark event in the history of MG. 

Further out, the calendar still shows a few gaps. July 8 or 9 would be the perfect date a rally. Whether it is a Sunday rally, or a Saturday late afternoon event, it would be great to have a Lucas (Memorial Night) Rally again in 2017. And it would also be very nice to have another local Fall Tour on Sunday, October 8.  Please let me know if you’d like to organize any of these.

You can reach me at reinoutvogt@gmail.com or 847 342 9804 if you are thinking about organizing one of these events or with any questions or suggestions. I look forward to hearing from you.

"The more you think about driving, the more you smile

-- Reinout Vogt

CMGC Regalia The new window stickers are in!! Contact George Phariss to get yours today! Regalia@ChicagolandMGClub.com