The MG Car Club of Toronto and the North American MGB Register are excited to invite you to Peterborough, gateway to the scenic Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario next June 19-23 for MG2022. Peterborough is located roughly half way between Toronto and Ottawa and the area boasts some fantastic MG driving roads in Central Ontario’s idyllic cottage country. Peterborough is a vibrant small city that is home to some excellent local attractions. We are thrilled to be heading back to Peterborough after hosting the very first annual convention of the North American MGB Register there back in 1992.
Peterborough really hasn’t changed all that much in 30 years. It is a small city of roughly 80,000 residents. Located in Ontario’s Kawartha Lakes Region, Peterborough is approximately a 90 minute drive from Toronto, 3 hours from Ottawa and 5 from Montreal. The city lies on the Otonabee River and the Trent Canal and it’s famous Lift Lock lies just to the east of the city centre.
The host hotels are located a short distance from downtown Peterborough and the town is easy to get around. The city is home to Trent University and Fleming College, both located on the outskirts. Sites of interest include the aforementioned Lift Lock, the Canadian Canoe Museum, Riverview Zoo, Art Gallery of Peterborough and Peterborough Museum. Further afield but within the region, visitors will enjoy Petroglyphs Provincial Park, Lang Pioneer Village and Craftworks and Antiques at the Barn.
Some of these sites will feature in some of the activities you will find at MG2022 – The Next Generation presented by Hagerty.
Prior to MG2022, the MG Vintage Racers will be having their 2022 Focus Event at the VARAC Vintage Grand Prix. The theme will be MG Against The World. Running from June 17-19 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park aka Mosport, located a short half hour drive from Peterborough. This promises to be a fantastic few days of vintage racing and when combined with MG2022 would provide an MG vacation for the ages.
MG2022 officially begins on Sunday, June 19 when we open registration. Sunday evening we have the NAMGBR Meet & Greet where you will be able to meet the officers and registrars of the register.
Monday will provide a full schedule of activities. We will have numerous tech sessions taking place at the Holiday Inn. There will also be a local rallye and a funkhana taking place at Fleming College. Attendance at these is included as part of your MG2022 registration fee. In addition to the tech sessions, rallye and funkhana, we will have a guided tour of Petroglyphs Provincial Park and a Lift Lock Lunch Cruise. These events will require tickets to be purchased at an additional cost. For Monday evening we are planning a Parking Lot Party at the Holiday Inn where we will have a DJ to play some tunes and an outdoor barbecue provided by the hotel.
Tuesday is another full day of programming. We continue with the tech sessions, including John Twist’s famous “rolling” tech session where the man himself will give your car the once over and diagnose whatever ailments he can find. Come and have your MG inspected by one of the world’s foremost experts on these cars. You will not be disappointed if you do.
We are excited to be debuting the Hagerty Driving Experience at a NAMGBR convention. If you have children or grandchildren, we really hope you consider inviting them to MG2022. Hagerty, our title sponsor, will be providing training on how to drive a manual transmission car. Come and learn to drive a stick shift! We can’t think of a better way to embrace the spirit of our Next Generation theme.
There will be another Lift Lock cruise on Tuesday for those who didn’t get to go on Monday. There will also be tours of the charming town of Bobcaygeon as well as the Hutchinson House Museum for an afternoon Scottish Tea.
After our daytime activities wrap up on Tuesday we will be having an off-site group dinner at Lang Pioneer Village. Guided tours of the village will be included with the purchase of your dinner ticket. We will have food provided by local butcher shop Franz’s and we promise you will not go home hungry. That being said we hope you save some room after dinner for a pint as once we finish up at Lang, we head over to a local brewpub in downtown Peterborough for Pub Night where I understand we will be having an MG themed trivia contest.
Hopefully you’ll have enjoyed the pub night but not too much as Wednesday morning is the highlight of the convention, the MG2022 car show, to be held at Nichols Oval Park. Not only is it the 30th anniversary of the NAMGBR convention but also the 60th anniversary of the legendary MGB. Nichols Oval was the site of the car show at the first convention in 1992 and was a huge hit back then for all of the shade it provided. We are happy to report that the trees are still there and will provide us with ample shade under what we are hoping are clear June skies. In the case of inclement weather we have the park’s pavilion reserved for us which can provide shelter. We will have popular voting in all the usual NAMGBR classes plus classes for non NAMGBR MGs such as T-Series and MGA amongst others. There will be a DJ playing British Invasion music, vendors selling MG related items, food trucks providing refreshments, MG Olympics, valve cover races, and hundreds of gorgeous MGs to feast your eyes on. For those who want to take a break from the car show, there will be another afternoon Scottish Tea at the Hutchinson House.
Wednesday evening brings us the awards banquet featuring our special guest speaker, Dr. Ian Pogson who will be joining us with his wife Sharon from the UK. Ian’s professional involvement with MG spans four decades from the 1980s through to the 2010s. Ian was involved with the RV8, MGF and finally the MG TF program where he wound up as Chief Engineer. Ian promises to be a very entertaining guest speaker. In addition, NAMGBR founding member Keith Holdsworth will be our MC for the evening, reprising the same role he held at the first convention in 1992. As part of his duties, he will provide us with a brief history of the founding of the register and how the very first convention came to be. Awards will be presented to the car show and other competition winners and we will have remarks from NAMGBR and MG Car Club of Toronto speakers.
On Thursday morning we are doing our very best to arrange a Calgary style pancake breakfast to promote the following year’s NAMGBR convention, MG2023 in Calgary. Details haven’t quite been firmed up at this time so there is a chance this activity will not make the final schedule.
Registration will open on December 1, 2021 at 12:01 am. You must register for the event to be able to book a room at the Holiday Inn or Best Western’s MG2022 discounted rates. NAMGBR members will receive a discount on the convention’s registration fee. The host hotels are likely to fill up fast so we encourage you to register as soon as possible.
Here’s a little ditty hosted on SoundCloud which we hope will help whet your interest: MG2022 Thirty Years on When the Fun First Begun
