MG Motoring 2016 | Page 24

HOW DID MG NATIONAL MEETINGS GET STARTED One of the main interests of the MG Car Club of SA after its formation in 1956, was Competition, which mainly involved Trials (navigation rallies) and Motorkhanas In the early years of the Club, Geoff O’Halloran Giles,(who at first owned an MG TC, then graduated to an MGA, and later became our Patron) owned a property ‘Lanacoona’ at Mt Compass in SA and it became the venue for many dirt motorkhanas. Towards the latter part of the 50’s another Mt Compass local, Kelly Arthur, together with Geoff, Steve Tillett, Malcolm Caire and others of the Committee, conceived the idea of building a dirt Sprint Circuit on Geoff’s property, and hence ‘Lanac Park’ was born With another venue for competition, members of the MG Car Club of Victoria were invited to come to Adelaide over Easter in 1961, to take part in an Easter Meeting, which consisted of social activities, a sprint at Lanac Park, a motorkhana and a concours. The South Australian members then started visiting the Victorian Centre for the June long weekend – and so the interchange between the Centres began. The competition between the States was very strong, but at the same time, many good friendships were formed, and still exist today. This interchange continued, and in 1969 a proposal was put forward that we start a National Meeting, to be held each year and involving all the MG Car Clubs. National Meeting 2010 Concours at Elder Park on the banks of the River Torrens 2