Single-track road

A single-track road or one-lane road is a road that permits two-way travel but is not wide enough in most places to allow vehicles to pass one another (although sometimes two compact cars can pass). This kind of road is common in rural areas across the United Kingdom and elsewhere. To accommodate two-way traffic, many single-track roads, especially those officially designated as such, are provided with passing places (United Kingdom) or pullouts or turnouts (United States), or simply wide spots in the road, which may be scarcely longer than a typical car using the road. The distance between passing places varies considerably, depending on the terrain and the volume of traffic on the road. The railway analog for passing places are passing loops.
In Scotland.
The term is widely used in Scotland, particularly the Highlands, to describe such roads. Passing places are generally marked with a diamond-shaped white sign with the words "passing place" on it. New signs tend to be square rather than diamond-shaped, as diamond signs are also used for instructions to tram drivers in cities. On some roads, especially in Argyll and Bute, passing places are marked with black-and-white-striped posts. Signs remind drivers of slower vehicles to pull over into a passing place (or opposite it, if it is on the opposite side of the road) to let following vehicles pass, and most drivers oblige. The same system is found very occasionally in rural England and Wales, as well as Sai Kung District in the New Territories. Sometimes two small vehicles can pass one another at a place other than a designated passing place.
Some A-class and B-class roads in the Highlands are still single-track, although many sections have been widened for the sake of faster travel. In 2009, the A830 "Road to the Isles" and A851 on the Isle of Skye have had their single-track sections replaced with higher-quality single-carriageway road.
In mountains.
In remote backcountry areas around the world, particularly in mountains, many roads are single-track and unmarked. These include many U.S. Forest Service and logging roads in the United States. In Peru, the second of two overland transportation routes between Cuzco and Madre de Dios Region, a 300 km heavy-truck route, is a single-track road of gravel and dirt.
When practical, it is usually considered better for the vehicle going downhill to yield the right of way by stopping at a wide spot. The reason seems to be that it may be harder for the vehicle going up to get started again. At least in California, it is also the vehicle going downhill that must back up, if it is too late to stop at a wide spot.
Types.
Chicanes.
Chicanes are often placed on residential streets as a more aesthetic means to slow down cars.
One-lane passages.
Sometimes, for budget reasons, and where traffic is fairly low, bridges exist as single-track corridors. Tunnels in remote areas can also be one lane when the tunnel is short and traffic is low, when building a hill or blasting away the mountain is too cost-prohibitive.
One-way single-track roads.
Single-track roads also exist as one-way stretches. Exit and entrance ramps for freeways and motorways are among common examples of one-way single-track roads.
Private single-track roads.
The most common example of private single-track roads are long driveways of rural properties such as country houses and farm property.
Ice roads.
The mountain passes on the Dalton Highway in Alaska have a rule where goods-carrying northbound truck traffic has the right of way, while returning southbound traffic has to stop, as mentioned on "Ice Road Truckers". The reason behind this procedure is that traffic going north is in somewhat of a hurry to deliver equipment to Deadhorse, Prudhoe Bay, and the drill site over the frozen Arctic Ocean.
Temporary one-lane restrictions.
When reconstruction is being done on two-lane highways where traffic is moderately heavy, a worker will often stand at each end of the construction zone, holding a sign with "SLOW" or "GO" written on one side and "STOP" on the reverse. The workers, who communicate through yelling, hand gestures, or radio, will periodically reverse their signs to allow time for traffic to flow in each direction. A modification of this for roadways that have heavier traffic volumes is to maintain one direction on the existing roadway, and detour the other, thus not requiring the use of flaggers. An example of this is the M-89 reconstruction project in Plainwell, MI, where westbound traffic is detoured via county roads around town.
User etiquette.
If lines of sight are long, and both drivers are familiar with the road, vehicles heading towards each other can adjust their speed so as to arrive at a wide spot at the same time and pass slowly, avoiding the need for either vehicle to stop.
When two vehicles meet head-on, generally the drivers confer to decide in which direction lies the closest wide spot, and together they travel there, the lead vehicle necessarily in reverse gear.
In Scotland, and places like the Isle of Man most drivers are accustomed to single-track roads. When opposing traffic is encountered, the first driver to reach the nearest passing place pulls over, no matter which side, and flashes the headlights to signal the other car to proceed forward. It is customary for both drivers to then acknowledge each other with a wave as they pass. At night, both drivers acknowledge each other by flashing their headlights as they pass.
Usually when there is a brief one-lane bottleneck of a two-lane road, traffic will usually yield to oncoming traffic already in the bottleneck. One-lane single-track roads usually have no conflict.
In the United States, if the situation permits, both vehicles will pull off the road slightly and pass in this manner. Although saving time, this process can cause ruts and erosion along the edge of the road. For this reason, single track roads are generally used in places with very low traffic volumes, though one-lane stop-gap measures will have a STOP and YIELD on a sign construction workers flip.
If there are no passing places or wide parts of the road then the start of the road is considered as the passing place.


ABC motorcycles

ABC motorcycles was a British motorcycle manufacturer established in 1914 by Ronald Charteris in London. Several British motorcycle firms started up with the name "ABC", including Sopwith. The All British Engine Company Ltd. of London was founded in 1912 and later changed to ABC Motors Ltd.
With chief engineer Granville Bradshaw, Charteris built a range of engines throughout the First World War. From 1913 ABC produced motorcycle engines.
In 1918, ABC made a motorcycle with a 400 cc flat-twin engine mounted with its cylinders across the frame, several years before BMW adapted the design. Bradshaw challenged BMW's use of his patented design in 1926. In 1919 ABC also produced the Scootamota – an early motor scooter. The company stopped producing motorcycles after 1923 because of competition from cheaper manufacturers.
Development.
ABC had always had a close association with the Sopwith aircraft company. They were both at Brooklands and in 1912 a Sopwith with an ABC engine flown by Harry Hawker had won the Michelin Endurance Prize. In December 1918 it was announced that ABC had transferred the rights for manufacturing and selling motor cycles to Sopwith Aviation Co Ltd, allowing Granville Bradshaw of ABC Motors to focus on design. In 1919 they jointly exhibited the Sopwith 390 cc horizontally opposed twin-cylinder overhead valve (OHV) machine at the annual Motor Cycle show. It aroused a lot of interest with innovative front and rear leaf springs and "expanding" brakes, wet sump lubrication, and a four-speed gearbox. It was also one of the first motorcycles with a duplex cradle frame. One thing it did not have, however, was any form of starting mechanism; the rider had to "paddle" or bump start to get the engine going.
The ABC 400 was made under licence by the Sopwith Aviation & Engineering Co in Kingston-upon-Thames and 2,200 were produced. Later models had improved valve gear, speedometers, and electric lighting. Sidecar outfits were also produced as optional extras.
In 1920 a new company, ABC Motors (1920) Ltd was formed to make aircraft engines, light cars, and motorcycles, all with a flat-twin engine designed by Bradshaw.
Models.
ABC 400 cc.
Produced between 1919 and 1925, the ABC 400 had a 398 cc horizontally opposed twin-cylinder overhead-valve four-stroke engine, four-speed gearbox with an H-gate and was fitted with an advanced (for the time) carburettor from Claudel-Hobsob to give a top speed of .
ABC 500 cc.
French manufacturer Gnome & Rhone produced an improved 493 cc version of this machine under licence until 1925.
Between 1920 and 1924 they produced over 3,000 of the 'French' ABC but relatively few have survived.
ABC Skootamota.
The Bradshaw-designed Skootamota was an early scooter built by Gilbert Campling Ltd. and sold as the ABC Skootamota.
The Skootamota handled well and was very stable despite small wheels. The single-cylinder 123 cc engine was located above the rear wheel and drove it by chain. Early Skootamotas had exhaust over intake (EOI) engines but later versions had OHV engines. The Skootamota had external contracting band brakes on both wheels. The saddle and spacious footboard provided rider comfort. The Skootamota, quickly imitated by competitors, had a top speed of just . It ceased production in 1922.
Demise.
The shift from producing aircraft to making motorcycles was more difficult than ABC expected, and their costs – and prices – were higher than the new competitors emerging after 1920. They stopped producing motorcycles after 1923, although some production continued in Germany until 1925. Another company called ABC, unconnected to Charteris or Bradshaw, produced 247 cc and 269 cc motorcycles with Villiers engines in Birmingham between 1922 and 1924.


A46 road

The A46 is a major A road in England. It starts east of Bath, Somerset and ends in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, but it does not form a continuous route. Large portions of the old road have been lost, bypassed, or replaced by motorway development. Between Leicester and Lincoln the road follows the course of the Roman Fosse Way, but between Bath and Leicester, two cities also linked by the Fosse Way, it follows a more westerly course.
History.
It opened in June 1974.
The original (1923) route of the A46 was from Bath to Laceby, passing through Cheltenham, Broadway, Stratford-on-Avon, Coventry, Leicester, Newark and Lincoln. Unusually for such a long road, no changes were made to its route until the 1970s. In recent years the central sections of the road have been rerouted and renumbered substantially, and there are now two sections where there are gaps of over where the road does not exist at all. The A46 has also been extended from Laceby to Grimsby and Cleethorpes - the road between Laceby and Grimsby was originally part of the A18.
The major realignments have been
Bypasses were also built around Market Rasen, Lincoln and Newark.
Route.
Cleethorpes - A1 (Newark).
The A46 starts at Isaac's Hill roundabout with the A1098 and the A180. It meets the A1031 at a roundabout and passes the King George V Stadium on the right. It meets the B1213 from the right, then crosses the A16 "Peaks Parkway" where it gains primary status. It heads into Grimsby, meeting the A1243 "Bargate" (former A16). It meets the B1444 where the road becomes a dual carriageway. It meets the A18 at a roundabout. This was the old terminus of the A46, and what is now the A46 heading east into Grimsby used to be the A18. The road becomes the single carriageway road once again and runs alongside the north part of the Lincolnshire Wolds. It bypasses Irby upon Humber and enters the East Midlands. It bypasses Swallow to the North. It climbs a hill to meet the B1225, A1173, and A1084 just east of Caistor. The road crosses the Nottingham - Grimsby railway at a level crossing. The road becomes very straight and flat, passing through Middle Rasen Plantation and meets the A1103 from the right. The A631 leaves to the right at a T junction. The road bypasses Dunholme to the south then it passes close to the former RAF Dunholme Lodge. It passes the headquarters for Lincolnshire Police on the left. It meets the A158 (for Skegness) and the B1182 (former route into Lincoln) at a roundabout.
The A46 Lincoln Relief Road is concurrent with the A15. The A15 leaves to the right at a roundabout. The road becomes dual carriageway and traverses the Lincoln Cliff. It meets the A57 at the "Carholme" roundabout and crosses the Lincoln - Gainsborough railway. After bypassing Lincoln, it starts following the route of the old Fosse Way (bar bypasses). The A46 passes the former airfield of RAF Swinderby. The road becomes the boundary of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire for . The road enters Nottinghamshire and the road bypasses Brough. The new section of road finishes at the roundabout with the A1133. The A17 joins from the left at a roundabout.
A1 (Newark) - M1 (Leicester).
The road crosses the A1. Newark is bypassed to the North and West ending on a roundabout with the B6166. The road continues south-west, meeting the A6097 and A52 near Bingham. The single carriageway section between Newark and the Widmerpool A606 junction was replaced by a new dual carriageway road which was completed in April 2012. Heading South from the A606 junction, the existing dual carriageway still following the route of the Fosse Way. The road crosses the A6006 North of Six Hills. Syston is bypassed to the West, and at a roundabout with the A607 the route continues in a Westerly direction onto the Leicester Western Bypass. There are grade separated junctions with the A6, A5630 and A50. This section of the road ends at a junction with the B5380, with the forward route flowing on to the M1. It originally continued towards Coventry until the opening of the M69 motorway in the 1970s, which replaced the A46 as the main route between Leicester and Coventry, with the former A46 being downgraded.
M6 (Coventry) - M5 (Tewkesbury).
The A46 reappears at Coventry at junction 2 of the M6, it follows the boundary between the district of Rugby and the borough of Coventry, always staying inside Warwickshire. At Binley Woods the A428 is crossed at a roundabout. The next roundabout is the signal controlled Tollbar Roundabout, where there are exits for the A45 and Coventry Airport. There is a break in the road here, and it resumes again at Festival Island where it takes the southern exit on to the three-lane Kenilworth bypass. Along the bypass there are exits for Stoneleigh and the University of Warwick, Kenilworth and Leamington Spa (A452). At the Warwick (A429) exit, the bypass drops down to two lanes, closely followed by an exit for the A4177 and Warwick Parkway railway station. The M40 is passed over west of Longbridge roundabout, as a new bypass now brings the mainline carriageway away from Junction 15, the A46 meets a small roundabout, connecting with the B4463 and a link to Junction 15 for northbound A46 traffic to access the M40 and A429 respectively.
The dual carriageway section south of the improved Longbridge island is the only part of the A46 on its original routing between Leicester and Cheltenham. Stratford is bypassed to the north as a single carriageway road, crossing the A3400 and meeting the A422. Between here and Alcester the A46 is concurrent with the A422, with the A46 taking priority. Alcester is bypassed to the south of the town. At a roundabout the A435 leaves to the North for Redditch and Birmingham. The A46 takes a dual carriageway route to the south towards Evesham, meeting the B439 at a roundabout near Bidford on Avon. Almost immediately after the roundabout, the road enters Worcestershire and Wychavon district, then goes back into Warwickshire, before going back into Worcestershire Near Harvington. At the northern end of the Evesham bypass, the A44 joins at a roundabout and becomes concurrent with the A46. The next roundabout on the bypass is the B4035, followed by the A44 (for Oxford), The final roundabout on the bypass is with the A4184 and the A46 continues to head south. The villages of Sedgeberrow (bypassed) and Beckford are on the route. At the Teddington Hands roundabout, the A435 heads south to Cheltenham, while the A46 heads west. It passes Ashchurch close to Ashchurch for Tewkesbury railway station. This section of the A46 ends on the M5 roundabout at junction 9.
Cheltenham - Bath.
After a gap filled in by the A435, the A46 reappears on its original route in the centre of Cheltenham. It then heads through Stroud, through Nailsworth, to the M4 motorway, where since 2003 access to the roundabout has been controlled by traffic lights. From the M4, the A46 heads to Bath, ending at its junction with the A4 to the east of the city.
The £45 million dual-carriageway Batheaston/Swainswick Bypass, opened in summer 1996, contains of the A46. In February 1994, a camp was set up on Solsbury Hill, to protest the Batheaston bypass, however this was ultimately unsuccessful and construction completed by November 1995.
A small section of the A46 between Painswick and Stroud subsided during the floods on Friday 29 July 2007 and was shut for over 6 months, causing quite an impact on the local area. The road re-opened on 15 February 2008.


B4574 road

The B4574 is a road linking the villages of Pont-rhyd-y-groes in Ceredigion, Wales, and Devil's Bridge, east of Aberystwyth, and noted for three bridges built one above each other as well as for its falls and narrow gauge steam railway. The route is long, and has been described by the AA as one of the ten most scenic drives in the world.
The road runs partly along a section of the upper Ystwyth valley, passing the remains of the Cwmystwyth Mines, a monumental arch built to commemorate George III's golden jubilee, and the Hafod Estate.


Ariel Red Hunter

The Ariel Red Hunter was the name used for a range of Ariel single-cylinder and twin-cylinder motorcycles. They were designed by the firm's chief designer Val Page in 1932 around an overhead-valve single-cylinder engine he developed six years earlier. Originally a "sports" version of the Ariel "500", "250" and "350cc" versions were developed and became popular with grass track and trials riders. From 1948, the 500cc twin-cylinder Ariels were produced in De Luxe (KG) and Red Hunter (KH) models.
All Red Hunters had a distinctive dark red petrol and oil tanks which were painted in the former Bournbrook cinema opposite the main Ariel factory in Dawlish Road. The engines were all run for two hours on a test bench to maintain Ariel's record of reliability and quality control.
The Red Hunter was a success and formed the backbone of the company, and made Ariel able to purchase Triumph. On the "500cc", acceleration from 0 to 60 mph could be achieved in 10.9 seconds, while stopping from 25 mph could be made under 24 feet.
Edward Turner developed the design further with added chrome and it became a popular touring road bike. Handling was improved by the addition of rear suspension and telescopic forks and it gained an alloy cylinder head from the 1950s.
Champion Sammy Miller had great success with a "500cc" Red Hunter from 1955.


Motor Carrier

The Motor Carrier was an English automobile built only in 1904. Designed as a 6 hp "pleasure car", it could be converted into a goods vehicle capable of carrying 900 lb (400 kg).
References.
David Burgess Wise, "The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles".


MG Motor

MG Motor UK Limited (MG Motor) is a British automotive company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and a subsidiary of SAIC Motor UK, which in turn is owned by the Shanghai-based Chinese state-owned automotive SAIC Motor. MG Motor designs, develops and markets cars sold under the MG marque while vehicle manufacturing takes place at its factories in China and Thailand. MG Motor is the largest importer of Chinese made cars into the United Kingdom. The marque returned to competitive motorsport in 2012, and won the 2014 British Touring Car Manufacturers Championship.
History.
Following the collapse of MG Rover in 2005, the Chinese automaker Nanjing Automobile acquired the Longbridge plant and the MG marque for £53 million ($97 million). Nanjing Automobile formally established NAC MG UK Limited as a holding company for the plant and marque on 12 April 2006. In March 2007, Nanjing Automobile unveiled the first MG vehicles manufactured in China, the MG TF, MG 3 and MG 7.
Assembly of cars restarted at Longbridge in August 2007, with production of the MG TF LE500.
In 2007, Nanjing Automobile was acquired by SAIC Motor, and in early 2009 "NAC MG UK Limited" was renamed "MG Motor UK Limited".
The first all-new MG-branded model for 16 years, the MG6, was officially launched on 26 June 2011 during a visit to MG Motor's Longbridge plant by Chinese premier Wen Jiabao.
By March 2012, SAIC had invested a total of £450 million in MG Motor. Sales in the UK totalled 782 vehicles in 2012.
The MG3 went on sale in the United Kingdom in September 2013.
MG Motor was voted third place for the 'Best Manufacturer' category in the "Auto Express" 2014 Driver Power survey. 2014 also saw MG Motor celebrate the MG brand's 90th birthday. They enjoyed further celebrations with a record-breaking year that saw the company lead UK car industry growth in 2014. The brand's sales rose by 361% during 2014 part thanks to the introduction of the MG3 to the product range, with a total of 2,326 cars sold in the UK.
During 2014, MG was the fastest-growing brand in Britain as shown by official figures issued by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Currently, MG Motor has the fastest-growing network of dealers in the UK.
On 23 September 2016 MG Motor announced that all car production had ceased at Longbridge and henceforth MG vehicles would be imported into the UK.
in 2018, SAIC Design opened a new advanced design studio in London, which deals with the advanced design of MG and Roewe vehicles.
In May 2019, the company unveiled a badge engineered version of Baojun 530 SUV as MG Hector.
Operations.
Facilities.
MG Motor continues to operate at the historic Longbridge plant. Formerly home to Austin, British Leyland, Rover Group and, later, the MG Rover Group. While production no longer continues at Longbridge, there is a major research and development facility at the site which employs around 500 people, together with a design studio. MG has a £30 million flagship dealership in the heart of London's Piccadilly, which was opened in July 2015. Its location is 47-48 Piccadilly, opposite the historic Fortnum & Mason store.
MG Motors now has dealers across Australia and New Zealand, including Auckland, Tauranga, Palmerston North, Christchurch and the Hawkes Bay.
Development.
MG vehicles are designed between the Longbridge and Shanghai facilities in the United Kingdom and China, respectively, and are then manufactured in China.
Longbridge has been retained and Research and Development is currently undertaken at the Longbridge Facility, with Longbridge being home to SMTC, which has significant design and engineering input into SAIC products.
In 2018, SAIC Design who are responsible for MG and Roewe's design, opened an Advanced Design Studio in Central London. The studio is based in a newly renovated building in the heart of London on the Marylebone Road. The new creative space is SAIC first facility, to specialise in Advanced Digital Design Technology, and will work in conjunction with the automotive manufacturer's other studios to support future product designs for brands including MG and Roewe. Advanced London is the second SAIC Motor design studio to be established in Europe, following the studio in Longbridge, which opened in 2011. The London Design Studio will focus more on advanced design research projects and creative exploration of conceptual ideas. London makes use of advanced virtual reality technology to design vehicles, which allows for the designers to fully immerse themselves into the design concepts, greatly improving the level of detail at which ideas can be reviewed before they are turned into more costly physical models. Using state-of-the-art functions such as this will allow Advanced London to explore innovative design concepts, broadening design possibilities." Advanced London is managed by SAIC Design European Advanced Design Director, Carl Gotham.
Production.
After MG Rover collapsed, Nanjing Automobile continued production at the Longbridge plant. Nanjing used Longbridge to produce the MG TF, which they mildly redeveloped.
SAIC took ownership of the MG brand, and from 2010 onwards, the newly released MG 6 was produced in China. However, from 13 April 2011, MG Motor produced the MG 6 at Longbridge. From 2013, the MG 3 also saw some limited final assembly at the same factory.
Activity at Longbridge was gradually reduced. It was announced in September 2016, that production at the Longbridge facility was to be stopped in 2016 and moved to China, with Matthew Cheyne, head of sales and marketing at MG Motor UK citing "moving production abroad was a necessary business decision". Twenty-five employees were made redundant as a result of the move and other employees moved to different areas. It marked the end of MG production in the UK. and production was fully moved to China, with a later factory in Thailand.
In 2019, MG Motor is set to open a fourth factory in China, The factory will be in Ningde, Fujian Province. The factory will specialise in producing electric vehicles, with the new all-electric production sports car being produced at the factory. MG and Roewe's upcoming SUV, codenamed IS 32 (MG) and IS 31 (Roewe) are also set to be produced at the factory.
Products.
Current models.
MG 3.
In 2010, MG unveiled the all new MG 3, which was shown in concept car form as the MG Zero. The car was initially launched in China with a choice of 1.3L or 1.5L petrol engines, and underwent a face-lift in 2013, with sales in the UK following in September 2013.
Also introduced with the MG 3 was the Xross model, which similar to the Rover Streetwise and the earlier NAC produced MG3 SW, features chunkier off-road styling, raised suspension and roof bars.
The MG3 was voted the '10th-Best Car To Own' in the "Auto Express" Driver Power survey of 2015.
For the 2016 model year, the MG 3 was upgraded for the UK Market. The existing SMTC developed 1.5L petrol engine was tuned to meet EU 6 Emissions. The engine was upgraded to include the new stop start feature and new two-tone paint schemes were introduced.
in 2018, the MG 3 underwent a full face-lift. The face-lift featured updated exterior styling, which incorporates MG's new design language, an upgraded interior with a 7-inch touchscreen, and a refined engine.
MG 5.
The MG 5 was originally unveiled at the 2011 Shanghai Auto Show as a concept model. It is a Ford Focus-sized hatchback using the same platform as the Roewe 350, It was released for sale in China in 2012 but has never been exported to the UK.
The MG 5 is powered by a 1.5-litre petrol four cylinder "VTi-Tech" engine, producing 80 kW (109 PS; 107 bhp) and 135 N⋅m (100 lb⋅ft). There is a choice of five-speed manual or four speed automatic transmissions. An updated 1.5-litre turbo version was launched in November 2013, producing 95 kW (129 PS; 127 bhp) and 210 N⋅m (155 lb⋅ft). The turbo engine was mated to a six-speed automatic transmission with a claimed top speed of .
The MG 5 was redesigned in 2020 as a compact sedan to rival the Toyota Corolla. The car is 4675mm long, 1842mm wide, and 1480mm tall. It uses either with a 1.5-litre petrol four-cylinder producing 88kW or a turbocharged version producing 127kW. New features include a digital dashboard, leather-lined steering wheel, large multimedia touchscreen, push start ignition and a sunroof.
MG 6 & eMG 6.
In November 2017, the second generation and successor to the previous MG 6, was unveiled at Nanjing Jiangsu Wantrack International circuit. The next generation of MG 6 incorporates MG's new design language "Emotional Dynamism" which was launched with MG's second SUV, the MG ZS in 2016. The new grille which is an important part of MG's new design language is called 'Star Rider'. The second-generation MG 6, is yet to appear in right hand drive model and as a result is yet to appear in the UK and other RHD markets such as Australia, New Zealand and India. Along with the MG 6, a hybrid plug in version of the MG 6 is available. The hybrid system is used with a 1.0L 3-cylinder engine to achieve 229 PS and 722 NM of torque. Battery life of the eMG 6 is 705 km/438 miles.
MG ZS & ZS EV.
Unveiled at the Guangzhou Auto Show in November 2016, It is MG's second SUV and uses the same name as the earlier Rover 45 based MG ZS. The MG ZS was launched in March 2017, for the Chinese market. It is to be announced at the London Motor Show in 2017 and is set to commence production for the UK market afterwards in late 2017. The MG ZS is smaller in size than the MG GS and will be positioned below the MG GS in MG's model range.
There will be two engines available: a new version of the SMTC NSE 1.5L engine called NSE Plus which has 120 hp and 150 Nm with a six-speed automatic or a six-speed manual transmission, and a brand-new 1.0L 3-cylinder turbo based on the joint venture by GM & SAIC in the SGE family of petrol engines. The 3-cylinder engines have 125 hp and 170 nm, with either a 6-speed DCT or a 6-speed manual transmission.
Revealed in the 2018 Guangzhou Motor Show. The ZS EV is MG first production electric car, and is based on the existing MG ZS.
It has a single electric motor driving the front wheels and producing 148 bhp and 350 Nm—enough to take the 4.3-metre-long crossover from 0-31 mph in 3.1 seconds, 0–60 in 8.5 seconds. Battery size is 45kWh with declared WLTP ranges of 163 miles for combined and 231 miles for city. UK versions of the ZS EV have CCS charging (via a charging socket located at the front of the car, behind the MG badge) and reviewers are reporting charging rates of up to 80 kW but this has not been confirmed by MG.
Standard equipment in the ZS EV models includes adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance.
MG HS.
The MG HS is MG's third production Crossover SUV, which officially launched in 2018. The HS replaced the earlier GS. like the previous GS, the MG HS shares the same platform as the Roewe RX5.
MG GT.
The MG GT is a small saloon, also known as the New MG 5 in some markets, which officially debuted in a box on the 2014 Chengdu Auto Show. The MG GT uses the same platform as the earlier MG 5 and subsequently the Roewe 350. Power is provided by 2 different engines: A 1.5L petrol engine producing 105PS & a turbocharged 1.5L petrol engine producing 130PS.
MG Hector
Concept models.
MG E-Motion.
The MG E-Motion is an electric sports car concept that was unveiled at the Shanghai Motor Show 2017.
The E-Motion features eye-catching butterfly doors and has a four-seat layout inside. It uses advanced connectivity systems and touchscreen infotainment for both the front and rear passengers.
The E-Motion uses an all-electric power-train that has been developed in-house by SAIC and is part of SAIC's modular electric system.
It is claimed to be capable of 0-62 mph in less than 4.0 seconds. And also has a range of over 310 miles.
MG X-Motion.
The MG X-Motion is a SUV concept that was unveiled at the Beijing Motor Show 2018. Like the E-Motion, it previews a production model, which for the X-Motion was the new HS.
MG Icon.
MG unveiled the MG Icon concept car at the Beijing Auto Show in 2012.
It is the first SUV concept car from the company and was created by the MG global design team headed by British director Anthony Williams-Kenny. The MG Icon takes inspiration from some of the legendary brand's most famous sports cars including the MGA and MGB GT.
MG CS.
The MG CS is a SUV concept that was unveiled at the Shanghai Motor Show 2013. The CS previews MG's first production SUV. The design team was led by MG's Global Design Director, Anthony Williams-Kenny.
The concept car is designed to slot into the compact SUV sector, one of the fastest-growing areas of the global automotive market where style and sports utility dominate fashion trends.
MG EV.
The MG Dynamo EV concept car was unveiled in 2014 based on the Roewe E50 to celebrate the marque's 90th anniversary. The EV has a claimed acceleration 0–50 km/h—5.3 seconds and 0–100 km/h—14.6 seconds with a top speed—130 km/h.
The LFP battery generates 52 kW and working in conjunction with the regenerative braking system enables a range of over 100 km.
The battery retains more than 80% capacity after 2,000 charging cycles, equivalent to approximately ten years of typical use. The battery takes six hours to fully charge on a standard charge (220–240 V), while a fast charge (380–400 V) takes just 30 minutes.
MG3 Trophy.
MG unveiled the MG3 Trophy Championship concept car at the MG90 event at Silverstone in June 2014.
The MG3 Trophy Championship concept, based on the MG3 production vehicle platform and created to highlight in-house engineering, design and calibration capabilities by SMTC UK at Longbridge, continues the MG tradition of club racing.
The racing concept was created solely by a team of engineers, managed by Vehicle Engineering Specialist Adrian Guyll, and based at SAIC Motor's European Design and Technical Centre (SMTC), located alongside MG Motor UK at the Longbridge site in Birmingham.
Specifications:
204 BHP 152 KW (increased from 106PS)
Torque 250 Nm (increased from 136 NM)
Boost 1.0 Bar
1.5 Vti Tech engine
Full body-lightening programme without compromising on stiffness
Limited slip differential
Fully adjustable Macpherson strut front set up
Bespoke anti-roll bar
Adjustable front splitter
Twin plane adjustable rear spoiler
MG TF.
The MG TF brand was relaunched in Britain during 2007. An updated MG TF model produced in a limited edition of 500, called the TF LE500, was assembled at the Longbridge plant by NAC MG UK. This was followed by a TF 135 model and a further limited-edition TF 85th Anniversary, of which only 50 were produced. Production of the TF at Longbridge was suspended again in October 2009 and finally ended in March 2011. MG have said that they will first concentrate on building passenger cars, and have not given a release date for the TF's successor.
MG3 SW.
The MG3 SW, was based on the Rover Streetwise, and was manufactured and sold in China between 2008 and 2011. The MG3 SW only received minor changes over the original Rover Streetwise.
MG 6.
The MG 6, which is based on the Roewe 550, was announced in April 2009, and also went on sale in Europe in May 2011.
In the UK at launch, the MG 6 GT received generally poor reviews, and the initial single engine choice (1.8-litre petrol) received some criticism. A 1.9-litre diesel engine was added in December 2012. It also had mixed reviews from some in the media as regards the quality of the lower-dash plastics, though some reviewers said the drive and handling made up for it.
A saloon version of the MG6, the MG6 Magnette, named after the earlier MG Magnette of the same name, made its debut in June 2011.
The MG6 won the "What Car?" 2012 Security Award. In the "Auto Express" Driver Power survey in 2014 it won the 'Best Handling Award', and came 6th overall in the 'Best Car to Own' category. In 2016 the MG6 won 3 awards: "Auto Express" Driver Power Best Family Car Bronze Winner, "Auto Express" Driver Power Road Handling Silver Winner, and The Caravan Club Tow Car of the year class winner under £17,500.
The MG6 facelift was launched in 2015, with an exterior, and improved interior design. Enhancements were also made including a reduction in weight to assist in reducing the emissions and improving fuel economy.
The MG6 was withdrawn from sale in the UK in 2016. It is still produced for some markets, however.
MG GS.
The MG GS is MG's first production SUV launched in 2015, with sales in the UK commenced. The MG GS features front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive variants. The MG GS starts at £14,995, with a 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine delivering 166 PS and 250NM torque. The top-of-the-range model also comes with the option of a 7-speed automatic transmission. The MG GS is also available with a 2.0L Turbocharged 4 Cylinder engine, with 220PS. All-wheel-drive and the 2.0L engine is available in the UK along with Android Auto and CarPlay.
Motorsport.
In January 2012, MG Motor announced that it would enter the 2012 British Touring Car Championship through the newly established MG KX Momentum Racing team. In its debut season the team ran two MG6s driven by Jason Plato and Andy Neate. Plato ended the season in third place, with the car yet to find its feet in wet conditions.
The team returned in 2013 with Sam Tordoff driving, who performed well in his debut year having joined through the KX Academy scheme. Plato once again came third, with Tordoff sixth.
In 2014, MG won the Manufacturer's Championship to break Honda's four-year reign. After just three years of competition, the MG6 GT sealed the title by 95 points at the season finale at Brands Hatch.
Drivers Plato and Tordoff racked up seven wins and 20 podiums in the 30-race calendar. Plato finished the Driver's Championship in second place, behind Colin Turkington, while Tordoff finished seventh. The 2014 season also saw a third MG6 GT on the grid, driven by Marc Hynes and also maintained by Triple Eight but in a new livery which did not resemble the other two MG cars. Hynes finished his debut season in 18th.
For the 2015 campaign MG fought to regain the Manufacturers / Constructors title with a new driver lineup. 2013 Champion Andrew Jordan and young gun Jack Goff paired up in the MG6 to fight against Honda, BMW and Infiniti for the title. MG finished second in the Manufacturers / Constructors title challenge, with Andrew and Jack in fifth and ninth position, respectively, in the drivers' standings.
MG announced a new three-year contract extension with Triple Eight Racing for the 2016 BTCC campaign. The team plan was to bring in young and up-and-coming drivers with an intention to grow its own champion over the duration of the contract. Josh Cook, a former 2014 Renault UK Clio Cup Vice-Champion, and BTCC 2015 Jack Sears Trophy winner (award for the top rookie) and Ashley Sutton, graduating to BTCC after leaving the Renault Clio Cup as reigning 2015 champion, were announced as the new line up for MG. After a hard-fought campaign the MG drivers finished in 12th and 13th place, respectively, with Ash picking up the Jack Sears Trophy for the top rookie.


Luke Hedger

Luke Hedger (born 6 December 1995 in Yate, Bristol) is a British motorcycle racer. He was the British Motostar champion in 2012 and the National Superstock 600 champion in 2013. He currently competes in the National Superstock Championship, aboard a Suzuki GSXR1000.


Gordon England (coachbuilder)

Gordon England was a British coachbuilding company based in Putney, South West London and later in the Palace of Industry, Wembley, North London with a showroom at 28 South Molton Street, Mayfair, London W1.
Gordon England.
E. C. Gordon England, after beginning an engineering apprenticeship with Great Northern Railway in Doncaster, changed to aviation and went on to pilot and design both gliders and powered aircraft and was works manager at Bristol Aeroplane Company during World War I. After that war he raced cars and also developed and patented lightweight car bodies.
Lightweight bodies for cars.
After the war his interest turned to motor racing and in 1922 he obtained a chassis version of the new Austin 7 which he tuned and entered successfully at several events. This led him to make and sell a series of cars to the public based on his racers. He believed that car performance was being held back by the heavy coachwork being fitted to many models and set about designing bodies largely of plywood covered with fabric and fixed to the chassis with three rubber mountings. To make these George England (Motor Bodies) Ltd was incorporated in 1925.
Construction.
Gordon England took four years to develop his own construction technique using a solid plywood shell without Weymann's skeletal frame. His seats, and floorboards were mounted directly onto the chassis as was the scuttle and instrument panel. The body was given a hollow box-girder of plywood around its base and attached to the frame at three points. This way the body on its three separate mounting points was able to maintain its shape even over rough roads.
Austin.
The first model to be sold was the "Brooklands" Super-sports Austin 7 and although his racing version had been fabric covered the production version was aluminium panelled. Each one was supplied with a certificate stating that it would attain 80 mph (130 km/h). The "Cup" model followed in 1925 and then a fabric saloon which came out before the official factory version. In 1927 almost 20,000 bodies were supplied for the Austin 7.
Work extended beyond Austin and in 1925 a Rolls-Royce was fitted followed by work on Bentleys, MG, Morris, Standard and Wolseley. The Putney premises were outgrown and in 1927 the company moved to Wembley and exhibited at the London Olympia Motor Show with an Invicta on the stand.
The company was reformed as Gordon England (1929) Ltd and claimed to be making 35 bodies a day. However, the fabric body started to lose out to all-metal types, the company's fortunes declined and in 1930 it closed.
First Road Test.
The weekly magazine "Autocar" claims to have invented the road test. Its very first published test in 1928 was of an Austin 7 (Gordon) England "Sunshine" saloon, Sunshine because it had a very large sunroof.


A200 road

The A200 is an A road in London running from London Bridge to Greenwich. It runs east from the A3 road along Duke Street Hill, then Tooley Street and Jamaica Road, following the River Thames until the junction with Rotherhithe Tunnel when it turns south down Lower Road. It follows the Thames again in Deptford, after passing Surrey Quays and becoming Evelyn Street. At the junction with Deptford Church Street it turns due east along Creek Road, over Deptford Creek to finish by the Cutty Sark at Greenwich Church Street, part of the A206 road.
Cycleway 4 will follow most of the A200 road.
Tooley Street.
The name derives from St Olave's Street, after the Church of St Olave. For much of its history the street has been lined with warehouses, and in 1861 Scovell's warehouse caught fire, resulting in the largest peacetime fire in the Port of London.
Jamaica Road.
Tooley Street becomes Jamaica Road at Shad Thames. A little over halfway down (from the Tower Bridge end) lies Bermondsey Underground station, which is served by the Jubilee line. A thoroughfare of shops follows, and the road continues on until Culling Circus roundabout, where it turns roughly 90 degrees south towards Deptford and becomes Lower Road. Brunel Road and the Rotherhithe Tunnel also meet at this junction. King's Stairs Gardens and Southwark Park lie at the south-eastern end.
Lower Road.
Lower Road runs for roughly , past Surrey Quays shopping centre until it reaches Deptford, where it becomes Evelyn Street. Southwark Park runs the length of Lower Road, to the west.
Evelyn Street.
Named after diarist John Evelyn, the street runs from the Plough Way junction south to the junction with Deptford Church Street. There is both a McDonald's and a KFC along this stretch.
Creek Road.
Creek Road continues over a lifting bridge at Deptford Creek then joins the A206 at the Greenwich one-way system by the Cutty Sark.


Shankill Road

The Shankill Road () is one of the main roads leading through west Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It runs through the working-class, predominantly loyalist, area known as the Shankill.
The road stretches westwards for about from central Belfast and is lined, to an extent, by shops. The residents live in the many streets which branch off the main road. The area along the Shankill Road forms part of the Court district electoral area.
In Ulster-Scots it is known as either "Auld Kirk Gate" ("Old Church Way"), or as "Auld Kirk Raa" ("Old Church Road"). In Irish, it is known as "".
History.
The first Shankill residents lived at the bottom of what is now known as Glencairn: a small settlement of ancient people inhabited a ring fort, built where the Ballygomartin and Forth rivers meet.
A settlement around the point at which the Shankill Road becomes the Woodvale Road, at the junction with Cambrai Street, was known as Shankill from the Irish "Seanchill" meaning "old church". Believed to date back to 455 AD, it was known as the "Church of St Patrick of the White Ford" and in time had six smaller churches, known as "alterages", attached to it across the west bank of the River Lagan. The church was an important site of pilgrimage and it is likely that the ford of the River Farset, which later became the core of Belfast, was important because of its site on the pilgrimage route. It was in ruins by the 17th century and had disappeared entirely by the 19th, leaving only its graveyard. Its font, an ancient bullaun stone, resides at St Matthew's on Woodvale Road, and is said to hold the power to heal warts.
As a paved road the Shankill dates back to around the sixteenth century as at the time it was part of the main road to Antrim, a role now filled by the A6. The lower sections of the Shankill Road were in former times the edge of Belfast with both Boundary Street on the lower Shankill and Townsend Street in the middle Shankill taking their names from the fact that at the time they were built they marked the approximate end of Belfast.
The area expanded greatly in the mid to late 19th century with the growth of the linen industry. Many of the streets in the Shankill area, such as Leopold Street, Cambrai Street and Brussels Street, were named after places and people connected with Belgium or Flanders, where the flax from which the linen was woven was grown. The linen industry, along with others that had previously been successful in the area, declined in the mid-20th century leading to high unemployment levels, which remain at the present time. The Harland and Wolff shipyard, although on the other side of Belfast, was also a traditional employer for the area, and it too has seen its workforce numbers decline in recent years.
The area was also a regular scene of rioting in the nineteenth century, often of a sectarian nature after Irish Catholic areas on the Falls Road and Ardoyne emerged along with the city's prosperity. One such riot occurred on 9 June 1886 following the defeat of the Government of Ireland Bill 1886 when a crowd of around 2,000 locals clashed with Royal Irish Constabulary police attempting to stop the mob from looting a liquor store. Local law enforcement officers had to barricade themselves in Bower's Hill barracks where a long siege followed. Bower's Hill was a name applied to the area of the road between Agnes Street and Crimea Street.
The West Belfast Division of the original Ulster Volunteer Force organised on the Shankill and drilled in Glencairn and some of its members saw service in the First World War with the 36th (Ulster) Division. A garden of remembrance beside the Shankill Graveyard and a mural on Conway Street commemorate those who fought in the war. Recruitment was also high during the Second World War and that conflict saw damage occur to the Shankill Road as part of the Belfast Blitz when a Luftwaffe bomb hit a shelter on Percy Street, killing many people. The site of the destruction was visited by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester soon after the attack.
The Troubles.
During the Troubles, the Shankill was a centre of loyalist activity. The modern Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) had its genesis on the Shankill and its first attack occurred on the road on 7 May 1966 when a group of UVF men led by Gusty Spence petrol bombed a Catholic-owned pub. Fire also engulfed the house next door, killing seventy-seven-year-old Protestant widow, Matilda Gould, who lived there. This was followed on 27 May by the murder of John Scullion, a Catholic, as he walked home from a pub. On 26 June a Catholic civilian, Peter Ward, a native of the Republic of Ireland, was killed and two others wounded as they left a pub on the Shankill's Malvern Street. Shortly after this attack, Spence and three others were arrested and later convicted. The UVF continued to be active on the Shankill throughout the Troubles, most notoriously with the Shankill Butchers led by Lenny Murphy, as well as the likes of William Marchant and Frankie Curry, the latter a member of the Red Hand Commando.
Similarly, the Ulster Defence Association, established in September 1971, began on the Shankill when vigilante groups such John McKeague's Shankill Defence Association and the Woodvale Defence Association merged into a larger structure. Under the leadership of Charles Harding Smith and Andy Tyrie, the Shankill Road became the centre of UDA activity, with the movement establishing its headquarters on the road. Leading members such as James Craig, Davy Payne and Tommy Lyttle made their homes in the area. The Shankill was covered by the West Belfast Battalion of the UDA, which was divided into three companies: A (Glencairn and Highfield), B (middle Shankill), and C (lower Shankill). During the 1990s, C Company under Johnny Adair became one of the most active units in the UDA, with gunmen such as Stephen McKeag responsible for several murders. C Company would later feud with both the UVF and the rest of the UDA until 2003 when they were forced out. Following the exile of Adair and his supporters, as well as the murder of some such as Alan McCullough, the lower Shankill UDA was once again brought into line with the rest of the movement under former Adair supporter Mo Courtney.
The Greater Shankill and its residents were also subjected to a number of bombings and shootings by Irish republican paramilitary forces. During 1971 two pub bombings took place on the Shankill, one in May at the Mountainview Tavern, at which several people were injured, and a second at the Four Step Inn in September, which resulted in two deaths. A further bomb exploded at the Balmoral Furnishing Company on 11 December that same year, resulting in four deaths, including two infants. Another pub attack followed on 13 August 1975 when the IRA opened fire on patrons outside the Bayardo Bar and then left a bomb inside the crowded bar area, killing four civilians and one UVF member. Brendan McFarlane was given a life sentence for his part in the attack.
The Shankill Road bombing occurred on 23 October 1993. A bomb exploded in Frizzell's Fish Shop, below the UDA's Shankill headquarters. The bomb exploded prematurely as it was being planted. Nine people were killed in addition to one of the bombers, Thomas Begley. None of the loyalist paramilitaries targeted were hurt, as they had postponed a planned meeting. Begley's accomplice, Sean Kelly, survived and was imprisoned.
Areas of the Shankill Road.
Lower Shankill.
The Shankill Road begins at Peter's Hill, a road that flows from North Street in Belfast city centre and quickly merges into the Shankill itself at the Westlink. Peter's Hill is adjacent to the Unity Flats/Carrick Hill, a small nationalist area to the north of the city centre. The area of housing on the lower Shankill around Agnes Street was known colloquially as "The Hammer", one of a number of nicknames applied to districts that included "the Nick". The Hammer name is recalled in the Hammer Sports Complex, the home ground of amateur football side Shankill United F.C. The Lower Shankill has been redeveloped in recent years although during the 1960s the housing was ranked as the worst in Belfast. A Lower Shankill Community Association is active in the area whilst the Shankill Leisure Centre is also located here. The Shankill Women's Centre, a women's educational initiative established by May Blood (now Baroness Blood) in 1987, is also located on the lower Shankill. George McWhirter, a writer and first Poet Laureate of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, also came from the area originally.
Several streets link the Shankill Road to the neighbouring Crumlin Road with the area around North Boundary Street formerly the stronghold of Johnny Adair's C Company. Several members of C Company who have died are commemorated on murals around the area, notably Stephen McKeag, William "Bucky" McCullough, who was killed by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) in 1981 as part of a series of tit for tat murders between that group and the UDA and Jackie Coulter, killed by the UVF during a loyalist feud in 2000. The Shankill theoretically links to the neighbouring Falls Road at a few locations although most of these exits are blocked by peace lines. The entrance at Northumberland Street is sometimes open although it has lockable gates at the midpoint.
The Lower Shankill is home to many loyalist pubs, the most notable being the "Royal Bar", associated with the UVF, and the "Diamond Jubilee" – a UDA haunt which became notorious as the main meeting place of "C Company" during the early 1990s. The "Long Bar" and the "Windsor Bar", both frequented by the UVF in the 1970s, have since vanished. According to investigative journalist Martin Dillon, the latter was used a centre of operations for a UVF platoon led by Anthony "Chuck" Berry.
Middle and upper Shankill.
Although there is no precise dividing line between the Lower, Middle and Upper Shankill locally it is usually said that the lower Shankill ends at Agnes Street. The area was redeveloped some time before the lower Shankill leading to feelings locally that those in the upper part of the road were better off compared to the "Apaches" of the lower Shankill as they were colloquially known. A number of Protestant churches are situated in this area including the West Kirk Presbyterian Church, the Shankill Methodist church and the independent Church of God.
The West Belfast Orange Hall is located near the top of the road. This building, which houses the No. 9 District Orange Lodge, has been revamped by Belfast City Council. The same is true of the nearby Shankill Cemetery, a small graveyard that has received burials for around 1000 years. The graveyard is noted for a statue of Queen Victoria as well as the adjacent memorial to the members of the 36th Ulster Division who died at the Battle of the Somme. Amongst those buried in the Shankill Graveyard is Rev Isaac Nelson, a Presbyterian minister who was also active in nationalist politics. Nelson lived at Sugarfield House on the Shankill, which has since given its name to Sugarfield Street. Also buried here is 2nd Private W.A. Sterling on 5 November 1918 at the age of 14.
The area includes Lanark Way, one of the few direct links to the neighbouring nationalist areas, which leads directly to the Springfield Road (although the street is gated close to the Springfield Road end and these are locked at night). A regular route for UDA gunmen seeking access to the Falls during the Troubles, it was dubbed the "Yellow Brick Road" by Stephen McKeag and his men.
A number of pubs frequented by UVF members were located in the area. These included the "Berlin Arms" at the Shankill and Berlin Street junction, and the "Bayardo", which was situated on the corner of Shankill and Aberdeen Street. The pub was close to "The Eagle" where the UVF "Brigade Staff" had their headquarters in rooms above a chip shop bearing the same name at the Shankill and Spiers Place junction. The "Brown Bear" pub which loyalist Lenny Murphy used as his headquarters to direct his notorious murder gang – the Shankill Butchers – was located on the corner of the Upper Shankill and Mountjoy Street. The pub, which went out of business, has since been demolished. Another drinking den in the area used by Murphy and his gang was the "Lawnbrook Social Club" in Centurion Street. The "Rex Bar" on the middle Shankill is one of the oldest pubs on the Shankill Road and frequented by members of the UVF. This bar was attacked by members of the UDA's C Company in 2000 to launch a loyalist feud between the two groups.
Greater Shankill.
The term, "Greater Shankill", is used by a number of groups active in the area, most notably the Greater Shankill Partnership, to refer to both the Shankill Road and the unionist/loyalist areas that surround it. The main areas identified within this area are Woodvale, Glencairn, and Highfield. The Greater Shankill as a whole has a population of around 22,000.
Woodvale.
The Woodvale area begins after Lanark Way, when the road changes from Shankill Road to Woodvale Road. As well as extensive housing the Woodvale area contains the Woodvale Presbyterian Church, which building on the corner of the Woodvale and Ballygomartin Roads dates back to 1899. The area takes its name from Woodvale Park, a public gardens and sports area that was opened in 1888.
Also found locally is St. Matthew's Church of Ireland, which was rebuilt in 1872 and is named after the original church which had sat in the grounds of the Shankill graveyard. The architecture of this church is called trefoil, which means it is built in the shape of a shamrock. The oldest stone in the Shankill graveyard was known locally as the "Bullaun Stone" and was traditionally said to cure warts if the affected area were rubbed on the stone. It was removed to the grounds of St Matthews in 1911.
Glencairn.
Glencairn is an area based around the Ballygomartin Road, which runs off the Woodvale Road, as well the Forthriver Road. It is bordered by the Crumlin Road. As well as a large housing estate the area also includes Glencairn Park, a large woodland area at the bottom of Divis Mountain. Previously the estate of the Cunningham family the area was open to the public in 1962. The park features Fernhill House, the ancestral family home, which was not only used by Edward Carson to drill his Ulster Volunteers but was also the setting for the announcement of the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) ceasefire on 13 October 1994. It subsequently became a museum but closed down in late 2010-early 2011. A further area of housing, known as the Lyndhurst area after a number of local streets, lies to the west of Glencairn Park (with the Glencairn estate to the east of the woodland area). The Lyndhurst area hit the headlines in 2003 when two leading loyalists, Jim Spence of the UDA and Jackie Mahood of the Loyalist Volunteer Force, were reported as brawling in the streets of the Lyndhurst area where they both lived. The Ballygomartin Road extends as far as the nationalist Upper Whiterock Road although after Springmartin the area is mainly countryside.
The estate was the scene of the killings of two prominent loyalists. In 1982 Lenny Murphy was shot and killed by the Provisional IRA close to his girlfriend's house on the estate. In 2001 William Stobie was killed by members of the UDA, a group to which Stobie had formerly belonged, after intimating that he would testify at a public inquiry into the death of Pat Finucane. Stobie's killing, which occurred near his home on Forthriver Road, was publicly claimed by the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used by various loyalist groups on ceasefire.
Highfield.
Highfield is a housing estate situated around the West Circular and Springmartin Roads, both of which run off the Ballygomartin Road. Highfield comes close to the nationalist Springfield Road and there is limited access between the two areas through West Circular and Springmartin. Due to its location parts of the area are sometimes known as the Springmartin estate. Highfield is seen as an enclave and has been the scene of frequent sectarian tension. As a consequence the Springmartin Road is home to an peace line that runs for the length of the road from the junction with the Springfield Road until near that with the Ballygomartin Road. In May 1972 the area was the scene of a two-day gun battle between republican and loyalist paramilitaries and the British Army, although a combination of the peace lines and demographic changes meant that such open conflict was not repeated later in the Troubles.
Politics.
The Shankill has been traditionally unionist and loyalist, albeit with some strength also held by the labour movement. Belfast Shankill, covering the north-west part of the Shankill Road, was established as a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland in 1929 and existed until the body was abolished in 1973. During that time the seat was held by three men, Tommy Henderson (1929–1953), Henry Holmes (1953–1960) and Desmond Boal (1960–1973). Of these only Holmes belonged to the mainstream Ulster Unionist Party for the entirety of his career with Boal a sometime member who also designated as both independent Unionist and Democratic Unionist Party and Henderson always an independent who for a time was part of the Independent Unionist Association. Henderson was a native of Dundee Street on the Shankill.
A Belfast Shankill constituency also returned a member to the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918–1922, with Labour Unionist Samuel McGuffin holding the seat. The areas south of the road were covered by the Belfast Woodvale seat at Westminster and a seat of the same name at Stormont. Robert John Lynn of the Irish Unionist Alliance represented the seat at Westminster for the entirety of its existence (1918–1922). The Stormont seat was held by John William Nixon (independent Unionist) from 1929 to 1950, Ulster Unionists Robert Harcourt (1950–1955) and Neville Martin (1955–1958), Billy Boyd of the Northern Ireland Labour Party until 1965 then finally John McQuade, who was variously Ulster Unionist, independent Unionist and Democratic Unionist until the seat was abolished in 1972.
The Shankill is currently part of the Belfast West constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and Westminster. At the Assembly the Shankill is represented by four Sinn Féin MLAs and one each from the Social Democratic and Labour Party and the People Before Profit Alliance. At Westminster, since 1966, when the seat was lost by the last sitting unionist member Jim Kilfedder, it has also always had a nationalist or republican MP. The abstentionist policy of Sinn Féin MP Gerry Adams, who was West Belfast's MP until his resignation in 2011, led to an attempted legal challenge by local councillor Frank McCoubrey who argued that Shankill residents were being denied their right to representation. The case was not a success.
On Belfast City Council the Greater Shankill area is covered by the Court electoral area. At the 2011 election the five councillors elected were William Humphrey, Naomi Thompson and Brian Kingston of the Democratic Unionist Party, the independent Frank McCoubrey (who is a member of the Ulster Political Research Group) and the Progressive Unionist Party's Hugh Smyth.
Robert McCartney, who led his own UK Unionist Party and represented North Down at Westminster, is also originally from the Shankill.
Education.
Secondary schools serving the Shankill area include the Belfast Boys' Model School and Belfast Model School for Girls due to their location in the Ballysillan area of the neighbouring Crumlin Road. Pupils from the area also attend Hazelwood College or Malone College which are both integrated schools, as well as Victoria College and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution both of which are grammar schools. Prior to its closure, and before several changes of name, Cairnmartin Secondary School also served the greater Shankill area. Famous pupils include footballer Norman Whiteside and boxer Wayne McCullough. The school, by then known as Mount Gilbert Community College, closed permanently in 2007 after a fall in pupil numbers.
Primary schools in the greater Shankill area included Forth River Primary School on the Ballygomartin Road. Established in 1841, the original building was cramped and inspection reports over the years commented on the high standard of teaching despite the inadequacy of the building. During the 1980s and 1990s, closure and amalgamation were both suggested and vehemently opposed by everyone connected with the school. Ultimately a new £1.4m state-of-the-art school was announced as a replacement for the old building and this new school, which is on the adjacent Cairnmartin Road, was officially opened by Prince Andrew, Duke of York in 2005. Others primary schools in the area include three on the Shankill Road itself in Glenwood Primary School, established in 1981, Edenbrooke Primary School on Tennent Street and Malvern Primary School as well as Black Mountain Primary School and Springhill Primary School on Springmartin Road.
Sport.
Wayne McCullough, a gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games and a world champion in the Bantamweight division and an olympic silver medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics representing Ireland is a native of the Shankill. He is one of a number of boxers from the area to be featured on a mural on Gardiner Street celebrating the area's strong heritage in boxing. The image has since been moved to Hopewell Crescent. McCullough trained in the Albert Foundry boxing club, located in the Highfield estate where he grew up. Other locals to make an impact in the sport have included Jimmy Warnock, a boxer from the 1930s who beat world champion Benny Lynch twice, and his brother Billy.
Football is also a popular sport in the area with local teams including Shankill United, Albert Foundry, who play on the West Circular Road, Lower Shankill, who share the Hammer ground with United and Woodvale who won the Junior Cup in 2011. All four clubs are members of the Northern Amateur Football League. The main club in the area however is Linfield with a Linfield superstore trading on the Shankill Road despite the club being based on the Lisburn Road in south Belfast. A Linfield Supporters and Social Club is situated on Crimea Street. An Ulster Rangers social club is also open on the road, with the Glasgow team widely supported amongst Northern Irish Protestants. Norman Whiteside, the ex-Northern Ireland and Manchester United midfielder, lived on the Shankill. Whiteside also lends his name to the Norman Whiteside Sports Facility, a community sports area used by Woodvale F.C. The facility is located on Sydney Street West between the Shankill and the neighbouring Crumlin Road. George O'Boyle, who had a long career in Scottish football, is also a Shankill native.
The Ballygomartin Road is also home to a cricket ground of the same name which in 2005 hosted a List-A match between Canada and Namibia in the 2005 ICC Trophy. The ground is the home of Woodvale Cricket Club, established in 1887.
Transport.
Although the Shankill Road initially grew as part of the main road to Antrim it is no longer part of any wider network linking Belfast to neighbouring towns with its peripheral roads all either terminating in the mountains or linking to the Springfield Road. Belfast was served by a network of trams in the first half of the 20th century and the Shankill was the last part of the city to see this service removed in the 1950s. Public transport is now provided by the Metro arm of Translink with the Shankill forming the eleventh of the company's twelve corridors. Buses link Belfast City Centre to the estates at the top of the Shankill as well as the Ballysillan area of the Crumlin Road. Routes 11A/B and C follow each other up the Shankill Road and Woodvale Road as far as Woodvale Park. 11A continues straight on through Ardoyne, Crumlin Road, Bilston Road, Ballysillan Road and terminating at Silverstream (Ballysillan Park). 11B and C turn right onto Ballygomartin Road with 11B continuing to Springmartin and 11C turning right at Forthriver Road up to terminus at Glencairn which is at the top of the hill.
Shankill graveyard.
The Shankill Graveyard is one of the oldest cemeteries in the Great Belfast Area.
It has been used for active burials for more than 1,000 years. At present, Shankill Graveyard is no longer an active burial site. George McAuley who died in 1685 is one of oldest legible heads stones in existence.
Ambrose Stirling and North Belfast boy, was laid to rest is in the Shankill Graveyard. Ambrose had been refused entry into the army at age 14, however he enlisted into Royal Flying Corps in 1918. While serving in France Ambrose died due to the flu.
References.
Notes
Bibliography


A3066 road


Johnny Lockett

Johnny Lockett was a British professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who competed in the 1940s and 1950s.
He competed in the 1949 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season riding on a 500cc Norton bike and finished seventh overall with 13 points, 17 points behind fellow British rider and teammate Harold Daniell.


A73 road

The A73 is a former trunk route in Scotland, that connects the M74 at Abington, Jct. 13 to the M80 motorway at Cumbernauld. Running for approximately , it passes through the towns of Lanark, Carluke, Newmains, Chapelhall and Airdrie. Formerly a main route connecting the north of Scotland to England it has less importance these days, and is now merely a local feeder to the two motorways with which it connects.
The sections between Abington & Carluke and Cumbernauld & Newhouse were the first sections to be downgraded from a trunk route to a secondary route, following the construction of the shorter M73 further west, which connected the M74 at Jct. 4. This motorway removed the need for vehicles from the north to use the A73 to reach England.
Following this downgrading, the remaining section of A73 between Carluke and Newhouse remained a trunk route for vehicles travelling between Glasgow and Peebles. For this reason, two new sections of dual carriageway were built between Bellside & Newmains and Bogside & Law, as well as a new bypass for the town centre of Carluke, where the trunk route continues as the A721.
Eventually though, the M74 was completed and it became easier for vehicles travelling from Peebles to Glasgow, to use the A702 trunk route instead, which also joins the M74 at Abington.
For this reason, the entire length of the A73 was downgraded to a secondary route, although it is still heavily trafficked, especially between Lanark and the M8 at Newhouse.


A49 road

The A49 is an A road in western England, which traverses the Welsh Marches region. It runs north from Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire via Hereford, Leominster, Ludlow, Shrewsbury and Whitchurch, then continues through central Cheshire to Warrington and Wigan before terminating at its junction with the A6 road just south of Bamber Bridge, near the junction of the M6, M65 and M61 motorways.
The stretch between Ross-on-Wye and the A5 at Shrewsbury is a trunk road, maintained by Highways England.
Lancashire.
From the A6 at Bamber Bridge, south of Preston, the road runs parallel to the M6 motorway, through Leyland towards Wigan. Through Ashton in Makerfield and Newton-le-Willows, reaching Warrington via Winwick. In June 2020, a new section of the A49 opened forming part of a link between Wigan town centre and junction 26 on the M6.
Cheshire.
From junction 9 of the M62, there is a dual-carriageway through Warrington, as far as Loushers Lane (With the exception of a brief stretch northbound after meeting the A57 and another northbound before meeting the A5060 which has one lane reserved for buses during peak hours.). During this section, it passes under the Liverpool to Manchester Line railway (southern route), then has the "Cockhedge Green" roundabout with the A57 and passes to the east and south of the town centre of Warrington. (Its original north–south route through the town centre is now partly pedestrianised.)
It passes over a roundabout with the A5061 situated on the River Mersey, then goes past Priestley College. It passes over the Manchester Ship Canal, Cheshire Ring Canal Walk and Bridgewater Canal. At Pewterspear there is the "Owens Corner" roundabout. The road has crossroads with the B5356 at Stretton and meets the A559 at junction 10 of the M56. The road enters Cheshire West And Chester. There is crossroads with the A533 and the road crosses the Cheshire Ring Canal Walk and Trent & Mersey Canal before crossing the Acton swing bridge over the Weaver Navigation.
The three-mile £6m Weaverham Diversion (near Northwich) opened in September 1992. The old route is now the B5144, passing near Weaverham High School. The road passes over the West Coast Main Line railway after the "Weaverham Roundabout". The section from Weaverham to Cuddington is a new much-straightened section. At Bryn, north of Cuddington, it passes the former site of Lactalis-Nestlé that made Ski and Munch Bunch yoghurts, closing in 2007 with production moving to central Europe, having made yoghurt since 1968. In Cuddington it crosses the Mid-Cheshire Line near Cuddington railway station. There is the "Oakmere Crossroads" with the A556 (a Roman road) south of Cuddington, before the road crosses the Whitegate Way. It then crosses the A54 near Abbots Moss Hall, and the road passes through Cotebrook, near Little Budworth Country Park.
The two-mile £3.8m Tarporley Bypass opened in September 1986. The A51 overlaps the A49. Tarporley Community High School is near here. The road leaves the A51 to the west at "Four Lane Ends" near the "Red Fox". The road travels over the Shropshire Union Canal and under the Welsh Marches Line railway (to Hereford) south of Tiverton. It crosses over the River Gowy north of Bunbury next to the "Beeston Castle" (named after the real Beeston Castle to the west).
The road briefly overlaps the A534 "Wrexham Road" from the junction at Ridley and crosses over the River Weaver. At Cholmondeley there is Cholmondeley Castle. At the crossroads of "Bickerton Road" (for the castle) and "Wrenbury Road", there is the "Cholmondeley Arms". Moving from the parishes of Cholmondeley to Bickley east of Moss Wood, it also moves back into Cheshire West and Chester. It crosses the Shropshire Union Canal (Llangollen Canal) again at Tushingham cum Grindley, where it crosses into Marbury cum Quoisley and back into Cheshire East. The road enters into Shropshire and is crossed by the South Cheshire Way near Hinton.
Shropshire.
The Whitchurch bypass begins with a roundabout with the B5476, the old route through the town. The three-mile £13.7m Whitchurch Bypass (also part of the A41) opened in July 1992. It passes near Sir John Talbot's Technology College (on the A525), then crosses over the railway and also overlaps the A525 (Newcastle under Lyme to Rhyl). At the end of the bypass, the road overlaps as a dual-carriageway for a few miles with the A41, then leaves the A41 at a roundabout near Prees Heath, near the former RAF Tilstock airfield. It follows a Roman road southwards.
The two-mile £1.3m Prees Bypass opened in August 1988. There is a staggered crossroads with the B5065, then the road passes over the River Roden. RAF Shawbury is a couple of miles to the east, then the road passes over the Shropshire Way and through Hadnall, passing the "New Inn". The Welsh Marches Line follows to the west. The Shrewsbury bypass starts at the "Battlefield Roundabout" (near scene of Battle of Shrewsbury) with the A53 and A5124, near a Travelodge. There is a roundabout with the B5062. The bypass travels over the River Severn and under the railway and overlaps the A5 from the "Preston Island" roundabout. Shrewsbury was bypassed when the £64m east-west A5 bypass was built in August 1992.
The route leaves the A5 at the "Bayston Hill Roundabout" on the south of the bypass, with the A5112 heading into Shrewsbury. It goes through Bayston Hill, passing the "Compasses Inn". It passes near Lyth Hill Country Park, following the Welsh Marches Line (until Woofferton). It crosses the Cound Brook near the "Bridge Inn"before passing through Dorrington, with "The Horsehoes" and over the railway. Through Leebotwood it passes "The Pound".
The road passes through the Stretton Gap on an alignment that was constructed in the late 1930s. Several stretches of the road follow the route of the Roman Road: Watling Street. The upgraded route bypasses All Stretton, Church Stretton and Little Stretton. The original route is the B5477 (former B4370) to the west. At a crossroads near Church Stretton railway station, the road meets the B4371. Further south it meets the B4370 (west) at Marshbrook. At Upper Affcot it passes the "White House". The road meets the A489 at Wistanstow. At Craven Arms, there is the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, and it meets the east-west B4368. At Onibury, there is a level crossing, one of only a few on trunk roads in England. The section from Shrewsbury to Ludlow is prone to crashes.
At Bromfield, the road meets the A4113, and crosses the River Onny. Near the B4365 junction the road is crossed by the Shropshire Way. The three-mile £4m Ludlow Bypass opened in the summer of 1979. The bypass passes over then under the railway, then over the River Teme. The former route of the A49 is the B4361. After the bypass, the road passes over the railway. At Woofferton, there is a T-junction with the A456, and a staggered junction with the B4362. Woofferton has a large radio transmitting station (the Woofferton transmitting station) with a Mediumwave transmitter for BBC Hereford and Worcester.
Herefordshire.
The road enters Herefordshire. The one-mile £1.4m Brimfield Bypass opened in March 1983. South of Ashton the road passes through the Capability Brown parkland of Berrington Hall. The four-mile £9m Leominster Bypass opened in November 1988. At the southern end of the Leominster Bypass the A49 passes the Cadbury's Marlbrook chocolate factory. Shortly after, the A417 route to Gloucester begins at a junction shortly before the A49 makes its way up Dinmore hill past Queenswood Country Park. The south bound carriageway is 2-lane up the hill and the north bound carriageway is 2-lane heading up the other side of the hill. This can be a common section for accidents and skid-offs.
The road then swings towards Wellington with a short section of dual-carriageway. The A49 then reaches Hereford, the only major destination on the road without a bypass. The road passes right through the city centre, causing serious congestion on both the north and south sides of the River Wye. The dual-carriageway Greyfrairs bridge over the Wye opened in 1967. The A49 meets the A438 at the "Edgar Street Roundabout". The road then swings south-eastwards out of Hereford, meeting the A465 at the "Belmont Roundabout". At Ross-on-Wye the road ends, joining the A40 and B4260 at the "Wilton Roundabout".
History of the road number.
The original (1923) route of the A49 was Ross-on-Wye to Bamber Bridge (near Preston), but there have been some changes in its course. The A49 used to start on the A40 at Old Pike, a few miles west of Ross, as the original route of the A40 was through Skenfrith. When the A40 was rerouted via Monmouth in 1935, the A49 was extended to Ross.
At a later date, the A49 was rerouted between Shrewsbury and Whitchurch. The 1923 route was via Wem, but the road now passes close to Prees. Much of the current route was originally the B5064.


Matchless G80

The Matchless G80 is a single cylinder 500 cc British motorcycle built by Associated Motorcycles (AMC) between 1946 and 1966. During the 1950s and 1960s, the main export product for AMC was the AJS/Matchless range – the road bikes were very similar, often with only the badges distinguishing one marque from the other; the equivalent AJS being the Model 18.
Development.
In the early 1950s, the most popular British four-strokes were still pushrod singles. The Matchless G80 is typical of this era. The earliest G80 is sometimes referred to as a G80L, the L signifying "Teledraulic" forks, rather than girder forks.
The magneto on an AJS was in front of the cylinder, and the Matchless magneto was behind.
A design originating in the 1930s, the Matchless was updated with a spring frame (swingarm) rear suspension in 1949, becoming the G80S. The suspension was a vast improvement on the bouncy rigid rear end but wheel travel was limited.
AMC had adopted Velocette's twin-shock swingarm rear suspension design for its top models. Vertical shock absorber units were introduced in 1949. The initial "Candlestick" shocks held only 50 cc of SAE 20 weight oil. Leak prone, they were replaced by the "Jampot" shocks in 1951, and by Girling shocks in 1956. In 1957, AMC switched from Burman gearboxes to their own make.
The leaky pressed-steel primary chain-case first appeared on AMC machines in the 1930s. In 1958 an alloy cover primary chain-case became available.
Engine.
The engine was released with a compression ratio of 5.9:1, because of the poor quality fuel available in the United Kingdom immediately after the Second World War. In 1949 the hairpin valve springs were back, after the use of conventional coil valve springs in wartime engines. By 1951 the G80 had an alloy cylinder head and the barrel fins now went all the way to the base on competition models. The compression ratio was increased to 7.3:1 in 1956.
Low compression meant that it was easy to kick-start and was more flexible at low revs. The earlier long stroke version might not quite reach , but it could trundle along at less than in top gear. It also gave good fuel economy.
Model variations.
The 500 cc "long stroke" G80CS was produced from 1951 through 1955. In 1956 it was replaced by the shorter stroke, larger bore models that used the same numeric codes. The bore of these early G80CS's was 82.5 mm (3.25"), while the 1956 through 1966 "short stroke" (final version) models had a bore of 86 mm. The C is for Competition (Scrambles) and the S for Suspension (not a rigid rear frame).
Matchless also made a 600cc version of the G80 called Typhoon from 1959 to 1962. The engine prefix code was TCS on these bikes. The bore was increased to 89mm while the stroke was increased from 85.5mm to a whopping 96mm. Based on the number of currently known TCS's on the Typhoon register kept by Rick Mann it is now estimated that 225 to 300 were made by the factory over a four year period and almost all of them were sold in the US. The rarest of these is the single down tube framed version, the 1959 G80TCS, and its even rarer identical sister the 1959 AJS 18TCS. This one year only variant with a slightly smaller cylinder capacity, had a frame that when thrashed was less robust than the models that followed. Nevertheless, it is often favored over the duplex framed TCS models (1960 to 1962) because of its lighter weight and easier maneuverability. There was a road model with lights and a competition model without lights.
Engine numbers usually start with the year of production, followed by model designation, and completed with the production number of the motorcycle.
Les Harris Matchless G80.
Launched in 1987 by motorcycle spares businessman, Les Harris, and designed by Brian Jones, a new "Matchless G80" single was released powered by an Austrian Rotax 4-stroke, single over-head cam (SOHC), 500cc engine. Components from Italy such as front and rear Paioli suspension, Dellorto carburretor, Lafranconi silencers and Brembo disc brakes were used whilst, harking back to his licence-built Triumph Bonneville T140s, the frame doubled up as the oil tank. German components included the Varta battery and Magura switchgear. The model was offered in colours of silver, black or metallic burgundy. Although electric start and twin disc brakes were options, priced at £2700 (£500 more than a Yamaha motorcycle of similar specification), this was not a successful machine and production ended by 1990.


Leading Edge Sports Car Company

Leading Edge Sports Car Company was a British car company based in Dereham, Norfolk established in June 2002. The company was dissolved in September 2005. It outsourced the manufacture of its cars to fellow Dereham company Breckland Technologies.
Leading Edge 190 RT.
Leading Edge was established in 2002 by Paul Mickleburgh to market its first new car, the 190 and 240 RT in Europe and the US. The car was a lightly updated version of the Tommykaira ZZ, a popular car in Japan, but made in Norfolk, and it suffered from the Japanese recession and the company became bankrupt. The receivers sold the tooling and inventory to neighbouring Breckland Technology Ltd, run by ex-Lotus engineer Mark Easton, who continued to manufacture the cars and sold them on to Leading Edge to distribute from the summer of July 2002 at a price of around £26,500.
The car featured a mid-mounted Nissan 2.0 L twin cam engine (1998cc), producing at 6900 rpm and torque of at 4900 rpm. Top speed was claimed to reach and accelerate 0-60 mph in 4.8 seconds. Its open-top body was glassfibre, with an extruded aluminium central tub topped and tailed by tubular metal subframes and weighed only .
Leading Edge 240 RT.
The 240 RT was also launched in 2002 as a high-powered version of the previous Tommy Kaira ZZ. The 240 shared the same Nissan 2.0 L engined as the 190 RT, but with a higher output of , producing an acceleration time of 4.4 seconds to 60mph. With the addition of a hard top roof in 2004, the weight increased to 809kg.


E. D. Abbott Ltd

Abbott of Farnham, E D Abbott Limited was a British coachbuilding business based in Farnham, Surrey, trading under that name from 1929. A major part of their output was under sub-contract to motor vehicle manufacturers. Their business closed in 1972.
Origin.
Edward Dixon Abbott (1898- ) had been employed in the design department of Wolseley Motors before he joined coachbuilders 'Page and Hunt' who had started operations in 1920. Abbott became their London Sales Manager and when Page and Hunt's business failed in 1929 he took over their Farnham works forming a new company using his own name.
Many of the early orders were for commercial vehicles which kept the business afloat during the worst of the depression but some car body making continued. From 1931 Abbott took a stand each year at the London Motor Show. Cars fitted with bodies included the Austin 7, Daimlers and Talbots.
Sailplanes.
Abbott built a glider called the Farnham Sailplane and in 1931 the company established a subsidiary Abbott-Baynes Sailplanes Ltd to build more sailplanes. The parent company continued to sell and advertise the sailplanes.
Lagonda.
In 1934 Abbott won a major contract from Lagonda to provide all the bodies for the new small Rapier and work from Frazer-Nash for coachwork on imported BMW chassis.
During the second world war the company manufactured experimental radar aerials for the Royal Aircraft Establishment.
Postwar.
After World War 2 the company restarted its coachbuilding activities building production runs of coupés for Sunbeam-Talbot and Healey, as well as some special bodies for Jowett, Bentley and Lanchester.
Large orders came from Ford for estate car versions of their Consul and Zephyr models which kept the firm in business during the late 1950s and early 1960s, after which Ford estate production (aside from the Corsair) was done by Ford themselves as the level of demand had shown mass production was viable.
The days of the special coachbuilding industry were numbered and orders declined through the 1960s and the company finally closed in 1972.


A36 road

The A36 is a trunk road and primary route in southwest England that links the port city of Southampton to the city of Bath. At Bath, the A36 connects with the A4 road to Bristol, thus providing a road link between the major ports of Southampton and Bristol. It also provides a link between Bristol and London via the A303. Originally, the A36 continued to Avonmouth, but this section was renumbered to the A4. Within Bath the A36 acts as a ring road on the southern side of the river from the junction with the A4 at Newbridge to the west, with another link to the A4 on the eastern side at Cleveland Bridge, which also provides a route to the A46 and M4 motorway and is highly congested. Plans to alleviate this by bypassing Bathampton have long been proposed and several properties have remained derelict for many decades due to indecision. Part of the proposal bypassing Batheaston between the A4 and A46 was built at enormous expense, but despite crossing to the south side of the river it was never linked to the A36 on either side of Bathampton, therefore defeating much of its intended purposes.
On its way south from Bath, the A36 encounters difficult terrain at Limpley Stoke before passing a number of towns and a city, including Frome, Warminster, Wilton and Salisbury in Wiltshire, and Totton in Hampshire, on the western outskirts of Southampton, where it joins the A35.
Standard of route.
The majority of the A36 is built to single carriageway standard, but parts of it have been upgraded to dual carriageway. The A36 is dual carriageway for its 1 mile (1.6 km) bypass of the village of Beckington, 3 miles (5 km), briefly combined with the A361 north of Frome. It shares part of Warminster bypass with the A350. It is also dualled for approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) near its grade separated junction with the A303 road, 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Wilton. The A36 in Salisbury acts as the city's ring road, bypassing the city centre to dual carriageway standard. Just south-east of Salisbury the largest dualled section runs for about 4 miles (6 km), bypassing the village of Alderbury. Then, the road is briefly dualled from its roundabout with the A3090 to the M27 motorway (junction 2) – this part of the road is erroneously thought by some to have been previously known as the A36(M); prior to the opening of the Totton Western Bypass on the other side of the junction, it was named as a spur of the M27, and hence is built to motorway standards. The A36 reverts to single carriageway standard through Totton until it terminates.


Mini Scamp

The Mini Scamp is a Mini based kit car manufactured by Andrew MacLean and the Scamp Motor Company in West Sussex. The Mk1 Mini Scamp was built in 1969. Shortly after, BMC Mini Moke production stopped in Longbridge.
The first Mark 1 kits, which were styled similarly to the Mini Moke, were produced by Robert Mandry in Ottershaw, Surrey, England. Parts from a Classic Mini were used with all its running gear and both front and rear sub-frames.
The Scamp body/chassis is made from a steel, square-tube, box section frame fitted with aluminum panels. Options included a van, estate, or pick-up body, four or six wheel chassis, and short or long wheelbase. Power units range from 850cc to 1400cc with a multitude of modifications. Nearly every Scamp is different, as most of the car is left up to the owner to complete.
The Mark 2 version was launched in 1978, which had a squarer body and stronger chassis, not using the mini rear subframe. In 1987 Scamp manufacturing and ownership was taken over by Scamp enthusiast Andrew MacLean, a retained firefighter from Turners Hill. A factory was set up in East Grinstead, Sussex but was moved to Rowfant, Crawley, Sussex.
The Mark 3 version started production in 1988 with demonstrator appearing in Kit Car and Mini magazines. The Scamp Mk3 GT Scamp appeared in "Top Gear" magazine. This was followed by a version built on either a Suzuki SJ chassis or the Daihatsu F50/F55. In 2011 the Scamp Motor Company acquired the manufacturing rights to the RTV, the Rough Terrain Vehicle, also based on the Classic Mini running gear.