Club History

Our club is located in the port city of Newcastle which is approximately 130km north of Sydney. Newcastle is the gateway to the fertile Hunter River Valley, with its world renowned vineyards and champion thoroughbred studs.

From a simple gathering of a few motorsport fans in 1955 the club grew rapidly.

In 1966, with Abingdon’s blessing we were granted full MG Centre status. By this time many of the younger members had moved on to MGA & MGB models though tenacious T Type owners were still numerous and our first  ‘T’ Register was started in that period.

Competitive motorsport in other marques held sway for several years before the increasing interest in historic motorsport and restoration of older cars saw the club’s MG ownership restored to dominance in the 1980s.

1985 saw us hosting a highly competitive Australian National Meeting where the long tradition of our club’s good performance in National Meetings was demonstrated when we outscored  one or more of the big three Australian Clubs, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. The club is now mainly orientated toward the later models from MGA onward, with a strong racing and competitive inclination. We have many associate members who have a wide variety of other marques. Monthly social ‘natter’ nights and picnic or breakfast runs are held in addition to the more competitive motorkhanas, circuit sprints and hill climbs.

In 1998, under the astute leadership of club President Dennis Tynan, Secretary Judith Rae and Treasurer Alan Beatty, we purchased a former Boy Scouts Hall and renovated it into excellent permanent clubrooms. In addition to our monthly social events and committee meetings, most club runs are started from this venue. A separate library, kitchen and storerooms provide a very functional facility, and an appropriate atmosphere is created with motoring posters, mementos and our trophy shelf, which has proudly held “The Nuffield Trophy” for Oceania, won at the 1998 National Meeting. This victory, and our hosting of the very successful 1985 and 2000 MG National Meetings, are just a few of the high points in our club’s 53 year history. The Clubrooms are located opposite 7 Cobby Street, Birmingham Gardens within the Newcastle area.

In 2000, Australia’s Olympic Year, we hosted the wonderfully successful 2000 MG National Meeting. The careful planning, under the leadership of Chair-person Fran Hodgson, certainly paid off as it was the friendliest MG National Meeting yet held in Australia. We were delighted to welcome over 450 MG enthusiasts from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, America and Britain. Many of the visitors enjoyed competitive runs up the King Edward Park Hillclimb course. Newcastle MG Car Club attracts a broad associate membership of race and rally enthusiasts and we stage State Championship events annually in Hillclimb, Rallycross and Navigation Rallying. We welcome your membership inquiries.

In 2011, the Club ran the MG National Meeting again based around the Newcastle Foreshore for the Concours, Ringwood Motorsport Complex for the Speed event and McDonald Jones stadium for the Motorkhana. The club finished 2nd in the John Wratten Memorial Trophy and 1st in the Nuffield Oceania Trophy.

In Nov 2014, the Club ran the Australian National Hillclimb Championship at the vastly upgraded Ringwood Park Complex. This event was judged to the best event run in NSW for 2014. Dean Tighe set a new outright record time for Track A2 of 32.86 seconds.

In 2022, the club ran the MG National Meeting based around Club Macquarie, Speers Point Park, Ringwood Motorsport Complex and Catalina Park Rathmines. The club finished 3rd in the John Wratten Memorial Trophy and equal 2nd in the Nuffield Oceania Trophy.

In Oct 2023, the Club ran the Australian National Hillclimb Championship for the 2nd time at the Ringwood Motorsport Complex, where Dean Amos created a new outright record for Track A2 with a time of 32.66 seconds.