ALL TRIUMPH CHALLENGE

In the last few years the number of drivers competing in the Annual All Triumph Race has been getting less and less.  It got to the point where NSW had to cancel the event because there were not enough competitors.  The Victorians developed a new format called All Triumph Challenge.  This was designed to enable more cars and drivers to compete on an equal footing.

What is it?  It’s a cross between Regularity and a Supersprint, and is exclusively for TRIUMPHS.

This will be held at Wakefield Park on 19^th September 2021.  On the day before (Saturday 18^th September) there is a Supersprint which is being run by TSOA NSW.  This means competitors can have two days of fun at the one track.

As well as competing there is a social side to the day.  Some NSW cars will be travelling down from Sydney and there is a dinner for everyone on the Saturday night.  On the Sunday there will be display of all Triumphs present.  There will be lunch, and a coffee and cake station provided.  There also could be a parade lap of Triumphs if time permits.

Kaye and I are going.  We will leave on Thursday 16^th September and arrive in Goulburn on Friday 17^th.  We will be going in convoy with the South Australian competitors (Duane and Neil).  If you would like to join us for a fun filled few days, please call me on 0407 286 194.

If you would like to see a similar event, the Victorians are running an All Triumph Challenge at Winton on 14^th and 15^th August.

Lawrie Placing

June

Sunday June 20^th Brunch run to Virginia Nursery

Sunday June 27th MSCA Super Sprint, Mallala

July

Sunday 18^th         Mid-Year Christmas and Presentation of Trophies from All Triumph Day

Tuesday 20^th    General Meeting – Sporting Car Club, King William Road, Hyde Park 8.00pm

Christmas in July
TSOA (SA) July Run and
Trophy Presentation Lunch
18th July 2021

Meet at Victoria Hotel, O’Halloran Hill
9.15am for 9.30am start

Come and celebrate an early Christmas with TSOA.

Prizes for best decorated vehicle and best Christmas outfit.
Day of Triumph trophies will be presented at the lunch.

Lunch will be at The Yankalilla Hotel, 105 Main Road,
with a $20.00 subsidy per member (full meal cost) from the Club.
Details:
Alex Smithson – 0412 823 789 alex.m.smithson@outlook.com
Sue Smithson – 0409 675 343 scsmithson@hotmail.com

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – May 2021 

Well who would have thought that we could go away on a Weekender at this time of year and not catch a drop of rain!   We even missed the dust storm that enveloped the mid North late last weekend.  Apart from everything else, Bill and Margie Berlemon organised some sensational weather for us, although the well prepared and seeded paddocks could have done with a good drenching.

Highlights and surprises for me from the Weekender were as follows:

• Before leaving Adelaide, the Vice President’s wife missed a freeway turn on the way to Bolivar. Guided by an expert navigator she took all the right turns from then on & made it safely (?) through the weekend.  Well done, Raelene!
• On the drive to Pt Wakefield 2 Stags were wedged between 2 Wedges
• My first finger bun for 3-5 years at the Pt Wakefield bakery. Heavenly!!
• The growth and community pride in the townships of Kadina, Wallaroo and Pt Broughton since I was last there 10-15 years ago
• At Wallaroo we were privileged to be briefed on the vital volunteer activities of the Sea Rescue Squadroneers. 50 years ago, they used tinnies for rescue and tin cans for communication.  Now you should see their equipment!  Top class vehicles for towing, the latest in communication equipment and 7.5m rescue vessels that are navy class!

• Duane learnt a new joke at the BBQ tea provided by PADARC (Pirie & Districts Automotive Restorers Club). So, book in early for our next meeting when Duane might just retell it.

To the left was the spectacular sunset on our first night in Pt Pirie

• The RSL Military Museum at Pt Pirie featuring memorabilia from all conflicts Aussies have been engaged in since the Boer War and a fully restored troop-carrying chopper used in Vietnam Opened in 2009 and a brilliant display!
• A delicious pasty at the Jamestown bakery. I should have had another one!
• A visit to Jack’s shed at Jamestown where he displays, with great joy, an incredible collection of minitiarised and motorised tractors, tanks, ferris wheels and belt driven apparatus as well as an impressive array of scaled outback dunnies with authentic redback spiders. All built and operated expertly by Jack himself.  And unlike many Triumphs all exhibits started first go!!
• Apart from our visit to the Gaol in Gladstone, the Smithson’s discovered a classy family restoration of the Booyoolee Hotel. Check it out for tea coffee, food, arts and craft, a relax or tour if you are anywhere near Gladstone.  This was the first time we’d been into the main township and it was well worth the visit.
• Damper and billy tea at Gulnare (do you know where that is?), prepared by Sandy and Harry Osborn of central Australian tourism fame. The Kaak family were stranded here momentarily but, with the help of the only local mechanic, were soon on their way to pizzas at the Olive Bus in Clare.

Well, that wraps up an excellent Weekender.  Credit to Bill and Margie who continue to amaze with what they uncover in regional South Australia. Enjoyed by all!

Jack’s Shed 

Booyooloo Hotel    

Numbers at our last meeting were swelled by members anxious to get their logbooks endorsed.  A smooth operation was conducted by Ian Rigby and Colin White aided by latest subscription information from Treasurer. Alex.  Thanks Ian, Colin, and Alex and Kevin Foster at home, on behalf of the Club, for guiding the process so beneficial to members.  The rest of the meeting was quite lively, with Stephen Wade facing some spirited interventions during his quiz and Tony Rutter talking about his rare black TR7 Spider.  Geoff Ellis won the quiz after he got carried away, expertly answering 2 Rover questions without realising this would qualify him to run the next quiz.  Well done, Geoff!

In the immediate future subs are due, logbooks need endorsing and check the social calendar as outlined below.   Beyond that, the AGM will be coming up in August and I would encourage members to think seriously about nominating for a Committee position.  Each position is well established, current incumbents are well versed in their roles and are more than willing to assist you in anyway if you are interested.  Think about it!  The ongoing strength of the Club relies heavily on members continuing to volunteer their support.

See you at the next meeting.  Kind regards,

Peter Davidge (President)

Socially Speaking for June 2021

The Weekender ran well, with 30 Adults and 1 child attending.  Huge thanks to Lisa and Dean for running Friday for us, as we had to attend a funeral.  I believe the day went well, and the visits to the Sea Squadron, Pt Pirie RSL and PADARC went well. Saturday, we went to Jamestown and visited Jack Flower and his amazing engines, which he made – wow to have the ability to do this, was a place to remember!  Sunday, we had billy tea and damper for morning tea, and then onto the Olive Bus for Lunch. Thanks everyone for a great weekend.

June is a Visit to Virginia Nursery for Brunch, and July is going to be a mid year Christmas and Presentation of Trophies, so watch this space for details!

Bill and Margie

Calendar

June

Tuesday June 15^th   General Meeting – Sporting Car Club, King William Road, Hyde Park 8.00pm

Sunday June 20^th Brunch run to Virginia Nursery . . . see below

July

Sunday 18^th         Mid-Year Christmas and Presentation of Trophies from All Triumph Day info TBA

Tuesday 20^th    General Meeting – Sporting Car Club, King William Road, Hyde Park 8.00pm

Doncho’s   Café Restaurant for Brunch at

Virginia Nursery on June 20^th 2021

Meet   8.20am at Burnside council car park.

For a 8.30am start

We will have a zig zag run to the Café for Brunch arriving approximately   9.30am.

If you would like to meet at the café please

let Peg know phone: 040 90 90 369

Hi all

This white ‘S’ is for sale outside the antique shop at 167 Magill rd.

Looks very straight and has o/d manual.

Call Patrick 0421901075

Phil

Socially Speaking for May 2021

The Observation Run went well with 24 participants Thanks to Dean and Lisa for organising the run – it was a lovely park in Mt Compass where we had lunch. Congratulations to Roger and Cherie Lange for winning – and organising the 2022 run!

The Weekender is next on the agenda, and Bill and I did the routing last weekend – all 650km of it! Looking forward to a great weekend.

The 6-hour regularity is at Mallala on May 2^nd – the club is looking for Marshalls – please contact Duane or Neil if you can assist.  Roger is providing lunch, so a good day’s outing is guaranteed.

June is a Visit to Virginia Nursery for Brunch, and July is going to be a mid-year Christmas and Presentation of Trophies, so watch this space for details!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mother’s

Bill and Margie

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – April 2021

We are now in the depths of Autumn and approaching that time of year when we put our Triumph in the garage, hang up our gardening gloves and start searching Google for quality mulled-wine recipes.  But don’t despair; you can work on your Triumph in the garage and enjoy the various Club activities scheduled over the next few months.

On Sunday 18 April, a number of club members attended the Vintage and Classic Car Parade at McLaren Vale and 24 members wracked their brains on the Observation Run.  The Run took us through the Adelaide Hills and the upper reaches of the Fleurieu Peninsula arriving for a Club BBQ lunch at Mt Compass in perfect weather.  Two highly competitive couples won prizes at each event –

Noel and Cindy Schmidt – Best Dressed at McLaren Vale

Roger and Cherri Lange  – Best Answers at Mt Compass

At our last meeting attendance was down slightly but, nevertheless, the level of conversation/discussion was quite lively.  Duane rounded the meeting off with an interesting quiz focussed on Dolomites.  This was particularly relevant given that 2021 is their 50^th anniversary year.  Despite a large groan for getting one of the questions correct, Stephen Wade agreed to continue the quiz at our May meeting.

And while on anniversaries, TSOA Victoria celebrated their 60^th anniversary recently with a drive to Ballarat and a book launch on the Anzac Day weekend.  Hopefully, Greg Page our librarian can get a copy of the book to add to the library.  I believe it has more than 300 pages so it should be an interesting read.

Subscriptions for 2021/22 will increase to $50pa from $40pa this year.  Despite this, a deficit is predicted for the year and our overall cash balance will reduce in line with our aims to promote additional member benefits and maintain a lower level of cash reserves.   The $50 compares more than favourably with subscriptions of other car clubs and is still significantly lower than the level that existed before Covid restrictions were imposed.   Notifications will be sent out in the next few weeks.

In previous Reports I have signalled why I chose my TR6 (because I liked the colour green!) and indicated that I would provide further details later.  Well, that time has arrived.   What follows is an abbreviated version of my ownership of TRSIX6 for just under 20 years and my subsequent purchase of TR8080 4 years ago.

My TR6 &TR8

My first involvement with motorized transport was at Uni when I thrashed around in my mother’s Ford Prefect.  I then purchased a Vespa 150 GS when I was about 19/20 years old.  This was followed by a Toyota Corona when I was 23 and after that I had a random set of vehicles rarely tinkering with any of them or even looking under the bonnet to see what was there.  In my 50’s I thought I might like to restore an old sports car and at an All British Day at Uraidla in the 1990’s I fell in love with a midnight blue TR6, on display with TSOA.

In 2016, much to the amazement of fellow TSOA friends and myself I sold our beloved TR6.  We purchased the car in pieces from a deceased estate in 1996 and I must thank Ron Corso for assisting with the sale.  Somehow, I got the silent vehicle home and into our garage.  It had been converted to RH drive, was mostly complete, rust free and came with a few boxes of miscellaneous spares.

A builder friend lent me some scaffolding which enabled me (and him) to remove the body and suspend it close to the garage ceiling and above the chassis.  This was pretty scary stuff, as I soon realized how much the body flexed when it was not attached to the chassis.  The car was now ready to work on.

At this stage I could put my lack of automotive skills to good use.  Over a period, I was able to remove the wiring loom, engine, differential, gear box, fuel tank, starter motor and other major/minor items from the chassis and their housings, as well as refurbish items such as nuts and bolts and make up a new veneer dash.  In between, I hand rubbed down to bare metal the body, doors, bonnet, and boot (ably assisted by Dave Wilson), removing 2 layers of blue paintwork and having the car resprayed in the original emerald-green.   The interior trim was also beautifully jazzed up by Alan Smith on Regency Road. Some tears on the chassis (where the diff. is fixed) required welding and the chassis was then sent off for respraying.

The engine and diff. were thoroughly reconditioned by Bob and Vin Anderson respectively (thanks guys).  Somehow, I had arrived at a point where I could attempt to reassemble all my gleaming components.  I was convinced it could look like a TR6 again, but this required a range of skills that I was well short of.  So the pieces sat in the garage for a further 2 years.

The hero in this story is another TSOA member Rory Gibson, who was a power station engineer, a good friend and a TR6 owner who had a lot of experience in the intricacies of what went where and why things worked.  Rory joined me at home every Wednesday for about 2 years and finally in 2002 a brilliant emerald-green TR6 was cleared by the Regency Park Vehicle Inspectors.  Subsequently I won 9 National and 6 State awards with the car.  And then I sold it (it is now in chilly Norway), replacing it with a genuinely nice TR8 (green again) which we still have.

I tell this abbreviated story to inspire others as I started with no intricate knowledge of cars and no specific knowledge of TR6’s but an overriding confidence in the support I could get from being a member of TSOA.  Dreams can come true but not necessarily on time and on budget!

Well I hope you enjoyed this story.  FasTRak is a great avenue for members to tell their own individual stories and for us all to get to know each other a little better.  I’m sure there are plenty of interesting stories out there and so I will be calling for volunteers in the near future.

PS Congratulations to Kaye and Laurie Placing on getting SA plates for their Stag.

Kind regards,

Peter Davidge (President)

After months of planning and a cancelled event last year, we were finally able to run the TSOA Display day. Traditionally this event runs towards the end of the year but it was decided by the committee to run it during the autumn months. This is good for me regarding the trophies as I typically only get a few weeks to sort that part of the process out. Less stress this year on A-Class.

With the current global issue, most councils were not permitting the use of their grounds but thankfully, an 11^th hour call back to the Modbury council gave us the go ahead to use the grounds.

My concern during set up in the morning was that there were several other car shows being held on the same day and the short notice of our event could possibly have had an impact. It was pleasing to see the turnout of 40 or so cars across the full range of the Marque.

Several notifications for the day.

The judges were a great support to me once again. I had several that had not done this before for us so thank you to all of those that supported this crucial part of the event.

The federation also sponsored us. They allowed my last minute request for a grant, so again, free for the club.

Café Primo also supported with a meal deal and several took advantage of this during the day.

The event also allowed for a more general presentation of the club and I was able to help with three more cars added to the Historical Rego scheme, a TR6 presented on the day for sale. I had a call later that night regarding the car and was informed the day after that it had SOLD. Great result for the owner. We had a few interested people wanting more details on the club and a lot of interest from the public.

So onto the results: We had five cars enter Concours and a further 23 enter Pride of ownership. Several other cars were on display but not entered for judging. Total count 40 cars all up.

Outright winner : Roger Lange with the yellow Dolomite Sprint.

Concours d’Elegance

First place:           Roger Lange                       Dolomite Sprint               and Overall winner.

Second place:      David Stephens:                 TR2

Third place:         Richard Sellers                   TR8

Marque results.

TR2 / 3                  David Stephens               also recipient – Register Trophy

TR4 / 5                  Ian Burman                      also recipient – Michelotti Trophy

TR6                        No Entries

TR7 / 8                  Richard Sellers                also recipient – Harris Mann Trophy

Stag                        No Entries

Saloon:                  Bob Cini

Dolomite:             Roger Lange

Spitfire / GT6      No Entries

Master Class:   2500TC                  John Tuohy

Pride of Ownership

TR2 /3                   Vic Neave

TR4 / 5                 Bob Kretschmer

TR6                        Trevor Hawkins

TR7 / 8                  Bob Farrell

Spitfire / GT6       Nathan Parkes

Stag                         Duane Kaak

Saloon                    Roger Lange

Dolomite                Bob Cini

So for next year.

I am open to submissions of venue and also for any ideas that may be added or changed. It’s a difficult day trying to make sure that all cars are correctly represented and nothing gets missed, as it does on occasions but we always check and try to make sure we get it right. I lay out all of the documents again when I get home and do a double check.

After hosting this event for several years, I’m now wondering if anyone would be willing to take on the challenge and run the event for themselves. Naturally, I would be in full support until you were fully in tune with running the programme.

Regards

Ian Rigby

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – MARCH 2021

 Well, another month is behind us and in that time, we had an excellent March meeting and a great turnout for the Day of Triumph at Civic Park, Ti Tree Gully.

Attendance at the last meeting was as good as it has been all year.  Members were treated to a hot supper and 2 cars on stage, a 1964Van Den Plas ‘Princess’ and a 2004 Clubman (Mazda MX5 essentials) presented respectively by Stephen Wade and Chez Hobbs. Thanks to the presenters and to Duane for organising the cars on stage.   No Triumphs but both cars were of interest.

Other highlights of the night included

• a quiz by Roger Lange, on Spitfires, won by Duane. This looks like being a regular monthly feature
• a regalia fashion parade and auction and
• display of a magnificent quilt made by Natalie Farrell from National Rally regalia and insignias

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the Day of Triumph as I had another commitment at Victor Harbor.  Given the short notice, I was quite concerned that we might be well down on numbers.  However, Ian Rigby, informs me that the day was highly successful, with 40 cars displayed, including those of a number of reasonably new members.  He had great support from all who attended and very much appreciated the Primo breakfast/lunch vouchers supplied by Dino and Lisa Vitesse.

Margie and Bill have a full quota for the Weekender in May.  That is great news and don’t forget the Observation Run coming up shortly on Sunday 18 April.  Details are supplied elsewhere.

And to the left is why I like green.

If you are travelling over Easter, I hope the weather is fine and the roads are safe.  I look forward to seeing you again in April.

Kind regards,

Peter Davidge (President)

The Day of Triumph held at Civic Park was well attended, and it was great to see so many cars. Credit to Ian Rigby and team for a fantastic event.  Lots of new cars and missing some of the favourites but a great day was had by all. Thanks also to Dino and Lisa Vitesse for their vouchers for Primo for Breakfast/Lunch.

Thanks to Peggy and Bill for doing Supper last month, and to Kay and Dean for helping with the raffle, due to my broken wrist.

The Weekender is now full, so if I don’t have your details, sorry you will have to wait till next year!

The Observation run is next, followed by a Club sponsored lunch, so bring along your clipboards, pens, chairs, and drinks – and a sense of humour goes a long way!!

Enjoy your Easter festivities, and don’t eat too much chocolate!

Bill and Margie