37th (Morgan & MG & Triumph) Highland Games (Part 2 – the event)

TL;DR summary: I had a great weekend on an event I was a bit uncertain about at first. And sometimes there is a lot more to gain in competitive Games like the first price.

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Even though the event startet at 3pm last Friday – work kept me busy and I did not arrive before 8pm. There was a lot of traffic and I opted for a detour through Bergisch Gladbach and Odenwald to avoid a jam on the A3. The only good thing about starting late was that I only had a little bit of rain – it poured in the afternoon. Thomas arrived a bit earlier in his car and we were friendly greeted by Simone – Franz’s wife and part of the Orga team. We didn’t really know anyone in the room. Well, except for Michael from Trier. He was the friendly soul that emailed me last year and asked if I would attend. That being said – it is also at least 25 years ago that I saw him last, and I could not find him right away.

No matter how old you are – I guess most of us will confirm that it can be awkward to get into a room with approx. eighty strangers for a weekend event. And us being late, the other participants had a bit of a head start to quench their thirst. So, like any newbie, we did not really to place ourselves at first and how the evening will turn out. After dinner the Highland Games start with a nomination/election process. The owners of a Morgan, MG or Triumph “clan” pick a fellow owner as new “clan-chief”. Shortly after this – three men in kilts appeared and we found out that Frank is our new “MG-clan-chief”.

Right after a few “indoor-games” like Mikado with XL jackstraws made everyone gather around a small table. This was great because it mixed up the groups and helped getting into conversations and to get to know a few participants. Franz – the organizer – had a long chat with us. While doing some last preparation for the event on Friday morning, he had an accident on this bike and broke his right lower arm. And to make things worse – it required surgery and metal plates. He came out of the hospital a few hours before the event. His energy and passion to ensure a great weekend for all participants is amazing.

Thankfully for Franz, the Orga team was completed by Gerd (a passionate Morgan Threewheeler owner as we found out) and Gerd’s wife (I unfortunately did not catch her name). I cannot recall which team won the most points on this first evening but the anxiety I had in the beginning was gone. Saturday started a bit earlier with a driver briefing for the Rallye after breakfast. We received our roadbook – which was super easy to follow compared the more competitive Rallye in Cuxhaven two weeks ago.

I haven’t been to this part of Germany before – always just passed the region on the Autobahn. Thomas and I were amazed by the number of castle’s – and Nordkirchen blew us away. We did not know about it nor expected something like this on the trip. A few more incredible castles came up all the way to Haltern am See. The bit of rain stopped just before we arrived at the LakeSide Inn – a US style restaurant – our lunch location.

When a black-tulip colored MGB GT V8 pulled up, I had to have a closer look at the car. There aren’t many MGB GTs without the chrome strips on the sides. This is something I am considering for Mildred. We had a nice lunch chat with the owners and a few fellow MG, Morgan and Triumph drivers. The roadbook and trip back to the hotel was really easy – we didn’t need an hour for the approx. 50km. By this time not only Maggie’s noise level has increased – we could also clearly smell exhaust gas. The problem is not entirely new. For the long trip last year, I already replaced the exhaust gasket. Since then, I have done this a couple times and usually carry a spare gasket.

As it is a quick change, I decided to do this before Sunday’s slalom event and my drive back home. This solved Maggie’s backfire issue that got started last week. There are a few options to address the issue – more on this soon. While I was fiddling along all teams arrived slowly back at the hotel. Just after I finished it was already time to move on to the “Highland Games activities”.

Tug-of-war between Morgan, MG and Triumph. At that point I was not sure why the MG clan-chief selected me. Do I look strong or are there other reasons? Later I found out that Frank is a talented engineer. So, I am quite sure that his brain told him W=mg and estimated close to 1000N when adding me to the team. With Frank, Gerry, Max and Lutz as anchorman – team the male MG won the tug-of-war quite easily. The MG clan female team did not win due to mass. They turned out to be fighters. Even after a fall and losing a bit of ground, they managed to come back and win.

Right after dinner some more elaborate games followed. German’s love combining words to create novel words that usually have a meaning that does not translate well. “Staffeltrinken” is one of those – “relay drinking” just sounds stupid. If there is any good English translation for it – please leave it in the comments. This was clearly not my type of competition, but the MG team was again extraordinarily strong in this discipline. Mainly because we had an international team with premier league players 🙂

This also played out in our favor for the last game – a story made up out of six random words and presented as a theater act. Rumour has it that MG clan human creativity even beats OpenGPT assisted opponents. Well, without wanting to give it a negative touch – I believe MG drivers are also more creative when it comes to fixing up our cars 🙂
The evening was really a blast – with a long and enjoyable conversation. We left the restaurant well after midnight – some had more stamina. We heard that the bar was closed at 4am in the morning.

Sunday breakfast started at 8:30 but it took quite a while for most people to show up. The last part of the Games is the slalom. As Maggie has received some upgrades (Frontline suspension, a bit more powerful engine etc) – I was curious to find out how she handles in this category. And I am quite pleased with the result ending up second. In the first run Gerry from Luxembourg had a time of 14:49sec in the much newer MGF. My first run was 14:50 seconds – but I sent a cone flying which add a few penalty seconds. On the second run I was more cautious resulting in 15:10seconds. Of course, the MGF is quicker, but truth be told – Gerry was better, flew an almost perfect line and won with a time of 14:31 seconds.

Just as we were about to close the slalom a police car pulled up. As I was standing closest to them at the entry to the private parking lot, I asked them if I there was a complaint. There wasn’t – they just saw a few classic cars and wanted to check out what was going on. I said that the best way to find out to do a run. Not three minutes later one of the officers took Maggie to the Start line and managed a 19sec run – without (I assume) ever having driven an MGB – maybe not even (m)any classic cars before. His college got a run in a Morgan Threewheeler. This would be for sure a cool police car – but not practical – as getting in and out clearly showed. There isn’t any statistic on how often the police gets a standing ovation – we were all amazed and excited about the friendly, cool and still professional attitude.

All slalom times were added up for each clan and then divided by the number of drivers. Team MG won here as well. Then Gerd explained – that all results will be processed by something called mathematics – and this magically made Team Triumph the winner. The Highland Games are all about having fun. Nothing is taken too seriously and the winner will organize the next event. I was not sure what to await about this weekend. Now I cannot wait for the weekend at the 38th Highland Games in or around Hannover next year.

Some impressions: