There are just a couple of final events for the year to report on, and then it is a whole new 2008 season to look forward to. A new event for our calendar each year will be the Adelaide Hills Tarmac Sprint – a one day tarmac rally that takes in some of the closed sections used for the Classic Adelaide. It provides a practice opportunity for those entered in the Classic, but also allows other enthusiasts a taste of tarmac rally conditions for just one day at a fraction of the cost of the big event. Ian Wilson did the former in his TR7 V8 tarmac car, finishing 4th overall, and with a class win.

The 2007 TSOA National Rally hosted by Victoria was held from 3rd to 11th November and centred activities on Phillip Island and the south eastern Gippsland area of that State. Competition events comprised a Hillclimb at Morwell and track day at the fabulous Phillip Island circuit. The track day included a Super Sprint, Regularity competition, passenger laps (at about 80% speed) and parade laps – a little bit of something for everyone.

Neil Martin’s TR7 didn’t make it past the Tollgate on the day of departure due to fuel / carburetor problems. Unable to find a quick and permanent fix, Neil parked the TR7 and hitched a ride with John Wood in his GT6. The first day of the Rally is traditionally reserved for the Concours event but judging of the best cars had to be postponed due to heavy rain that fell all day. No complaints though, as everyone needs the rain much more than looking at shiny cars. It did make us a little nervous about the Hillclimb the following day though, as Morwell is not very nice when wet.

Not to worry – Monday turned out to be sunny and dry. There were just three competitors in the Hillclimb event from SA, being Bryan Young in his Vitesse, Rod Carey in the AMI Spitfire, and Roger Lange (that’s me) in the Dolomite Sprint. Morwell is a great little track – not a true Hillclimb in the climbing sense, but a short circuit that goes up and down and around, returning to the starting pad. What this means is that competitors get two runs in succession, which is just great! After an excellent day’s competition, Roger finished equal 4th outright, and winner of the modified saloon class with a time of 39.60, Rod posted a best of 40.98 and Bryan 45.04. Excellent fun! The quickest time of the day went to Brian Falloon (Qld) in his potent TR5 with 37.73

The track day at Phillip Island was also blessed with sunshine but a wind down the main straight would take a bit from potential maximum speeds during the day. This day was also the opportunity that the Concours judges were looking for the complete their job. Many of the cars being judged were also competing in track events, so it was a little unusual to go out for a flog on the track, and then come back to a reception of judges wanting to pore over your car. It all seemed to work though, and the favoured entries took home the silverware. Roger’s Dolly shone again (literally) with a Competition Class win.

Given that the main reason Neil Martin wanted to attend the National Rally was to experience the track events, it seemed such a shame that he would be destined to become a spectator. Roger offered him a drive in the Regularity event in his Dolomite Sprint, and you just couldn’t wipe the smile from Neil’s face! Not only that, but Neil came a close second in the competition! (He was to become a winner later in the Rally though, by taking out the major raffle prize!)

Roger’s Dolomite showed some potential in the Sprint, posting a best lap of 2:10.30 and once again winning the Modified Saloon class. Rod Carey put in lap times not up to where he was a lifetime ago in the same car,  but nevertheless, put in a best lap of 2:14.20. Neil Martin’s times in the borrowed Dolly were consistently around 1:20 and Bryan Young’s Vitesse produced a best of 2:34.40. Of the National Rally entrants (i.e., not recognizing day entrants in the Sprint, just the Rally trophy winners) Brian Falloon was once again the class act to beat, with a best time of 2:00.10, second went to Grant Turnbull in a borrowed TR8 with 2:03.90 and third to Greg Morsillo (TR7 Sprint) with 2:06.80. NSW took home the Competition Cup as overall team winners from both events.

Everyone enjoyed a great day, even Kevin McEnroe who had trailered his TR3 to the event. He and Chris thoroughly enjoyed their parade laps around the track at Phillip Island, as did John Wood in his GT6. Next year we look forward to the Rally being hosted by Queensland, and with their programme already well developed, I am sure that they will get excellent support next September – full details on the web site soon.

The only other event to report on was Round 4 of the SA Race Championships held on Nov. 17 with Ian Wilson (TR7 V8) competing in the Sports Cars races. Ian only qualified 9th with a best of 1:19.95, but improved to finish 3rd in the first race – best lap time was 1:14.12. From then on, gremlins struck, with a no-show for Race 2, and a DNF for Race 3. Keith Williamson (Farrell Clubman) also competed at this meeting in Historic Racing / Sports category.

Then it was time for the Classic Adelaide Rally. I have reported this event elsewhere on this site.

That’s enough from me . . . see you trackside!

Roger

This year’s event came to a close on Sunday 25/11 after four fun filled days for competitors and spectators alike. Unfortunately, luck was not on the side of Ian Wilson and Jahmeil Taylor, with the TR7 V8 sliding off the road on loose gravel during the first stage after lunch on Sunday. The car protected both Ian and Jahmeil from injury, but was destroyed in the rollover that ensued. Ian remains optimistic about the future, and is thankful for a strongly built and engineered car that left them sore but not seriously injured. Ian’s Rally had not gotten off to a great start with a broken shocker mount causing some grief on Day 1. However, after repairs, the TR7 was very competitive, with several fastest section times recorded over the following days. What a pity it had to end the way it did. Comiserations Ian and Jahmeil, and better luck next time.

There was not much joy for the other Triumph entrants, with the Queensland team of Rochester (TR3A) showing as a DNF and Steve Fisher’s TR7 V8 having to retire after looking and sounding great early on. Good news for our Peter Nelson (TR8) and Peter Jaede who finished 6th in the Regularity section – well done to the two Peter’s.

Unfortunately the forecast of hot weather impacted on the number of TSOA members who attended the punt run on 18 November.  Thankfully the weather was not as hot as forecasted and those who did attend had a very enjoyable time.  We had a total of 6 cars starting from Adelaide and another joining us at Mannum.

After leaving Civic Park opposite Tea Tree Plaza Shopping Centre we headed through the Adelaide Hills to Inglewood, Gumeracha, Birdwood and to Mt Pleasant for our first stop.  What was intended to be only a quick toilet stop at Mt Pleasant ended up being coffee and cake and lots of laughs at the Steam and Whistle Rail Bakery where we rearranged the furniture to accommodate the group.

From there we headed off to Walker Flat for our first punt crossing to meet up again at the lookout on top of the cliffs on the other side of the river for quite a spectacular view.  We drove on to Purnong for our second punt crossing before continuing on to Mannum and meeting up for a picnic lunch on the lawns at the park by the river.  One car left us here and headed home.

It was difficult to leave, as it was so pleasant in the shade of the gums.  However, we ventured on after lunch where we crossed the river on the punt at Mannum and headed to Murray Bridge again crossing the river but this time via the bridge.

From here, two cars headed back to Adelaide while the remaining four cars turned off to Jervois for another punt crossing to Tailem Bend.

From Tailem Bend we headed to Wellington for the final punt crossing and a stop at the Old Court House for a well-deserved ice cream under the shade of the gums overlooking the river.  This was our opportunity to say goodbye before everyone headed off along different routes back home to Adelaide.

It was a great day and we thank those who did support the run.

Geoff & Barb Cugley

Goodwood Festival of Speed by Colin White

Planning or thinking of a trip to the UK in early summer?  Interested in cars and motor sport ?  (Of course you are or you wouldn’t be reading this)!   Well, you really shouldn’t miss the Goodwood Festival of Speed at least once in your life.

Peter Bland and I had both planned to be in the UK in June this year(2007), and so decided to meet up and go to the 3 day event.  It is held on the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex, which is the family seat and home of the Earl of March who must be one of the wealthiest petrol heads in the world!

Despite the weather not being the best (it bucketed down all day on the Sunday) we had a fantastic 3 days and were both absolutely blown away by the scale of the event, the amazing variety of historic and latest cars, bikes, and well known drivers, riders and other motoring celebrities past and present from all around the world.

The Festival caters exclusively for the most significant cars in the history of international motor sport, such as famous Grand Prix cars; successful Le Mans, Indy and CanAm cars; important rally and touring cars; plus some of the world’s most famous competition motorcycles.

The main event is a 1.16 mile hillclimb track in the grounds of Goodwood House. This track is very narrow with some treacherous bends and a high rock wall towards the top.  Imagine Lewis Hamilton in his latest FI car up this track, in the wet, with wheels spinning!

There are a number of grandstands along the track which give superb close views of the action, and public viewing areas which were extremely crowded.  Our entry and grandstand seats for the 3 days cost about 150 pounds, and had to be purchased in advance – no tickets for sale at the gates.

Around the start of the hillclimb are four Paddocks where all 350 of the cars and bikes are based and worked on during the event. There is completely unrestricted access for the public throughout the Paddocks so you can get up close and personal with all the cars, bikes and their drivers and mechanics.  Wandering around these Paddocks we saw so many beautiful and famous cars and bikes – too many to list, but I took some 300 odd photos.  However, be warned it is crowded, particularly on the Sunday.

We watched the main action on the hillclimb from our grandstand seats.  So many, many exciting runs by fantastic cars and bikes along with the stunning smell and noise of the cars and bikes – too many to list them all but  …… particular highlights were :-

Chris Pfeiffer, World Stunt Champion performing amazing stunts on his BMW F800S bike.

Rowan Atkinson driving the John Cobb World Land Speed Record Napier Railton Special
Troy Bayliss World Superbike Champion riding his 999FO7 race bike.
Emerson Fittipaldi in the Gold Leaf Lotus 49B.
Lewis Hamilton wheelspinning his McLaren Mercedes F1 car up the hill in the wet.
Nick Mason (Pink Floyd drummer), in the 1930’s works Auto Union Type D.
Sammy Miller, the world’s greatest trials rider riding a Gilera Quattro.
Stirling Moss driving the Mercedes Benz 300SLR (in which he won the 1955 Mille Miglia) and the 4WD Ferguson-Climax F1 car.
John Surtees riding the Honda RA301.
The Group C Le Mans winning Silk Cut Jaguar XJR6, 9 and 12 endurance racers.
White vans (support vehicles) racing up and down the hill at the end of each event carrying drivers, celebrities and who knows what else…..!
and Mark Webber on a bicycle in the Organic Cycle Race!

Other events or attractions that were going on at the same time that we managed to see  were:-

The Rally Special Stage, which is a 2.5-kilometre loose-surface rally stage, cut into the wooded area close to the hillclimb finish line.  Around 30 historic and current rally cars gave a thrilling demonstration of sideways driving throughout the stage.  We saw Paddy Hopkirk in a Monte Carlo Rally Cooper S (rolled it!), Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson in works WRC Imprezas, Colin McRae in his own design McRae R4 rally car, Stig Blomqvist in the famous Pikes Peak Audi Quattro, and many others.
The  Cartier Style et Luxe, a concours event featuring some of the most beautiful and exotic cars ever built – this year featuring 5 stunning Bugatti Royales out of only 6 ever built (the last one sold for 5.5 million pounds in 1987!), and many other fabulous original restored cars.  Others I fell in love with were a beautiful 1935 Triumph Dolomite 8C and a 1936 Jaguar SS100.
The cricket ground which had been converted into a recreation of the Bonneville Salt Flats with a stationary collection of 12 famous land speed record breakers including the rocket powered Blue Flame, the Spirit of ’76, and MG’s EX181.
The FOS-TECH pavilion which featured future design and technology in a number of concept performance cars of the future, and a robot!
A huge area of trade stands featuring most of the performance and supercar manufacturers right down to individual accessory and souvenir sellers.

Things that we didn’t get to because we didn’t want to miss the action on the hillclimb were a display of Ferraris in the courtyard of Goodwood House marking their 60th anniversary, the Bonham’s auction which was actually held on the Thursday before the event started, the Porsche SUV and LandRover driving experience where you could drive yourself off road, and the Sunday Times Supercar paddock featuring about 20 of the latest supercars in the world. Most disappointing of all, we didn’t get an invitation to the big celebrity party held by Lord March in Goodwood House on the Saturday night – apparently quite a rave-up!  We just had to console ourselves with the thought that the lack of our company was their loss!

Peter and I pre-booked our tickets on the net through the Goodwood website www.goodwood.co.uk which is well worth having a look at anyway.  We also arranged B & B accommodation in Petersfield, which was about 15 miles from Goodwood, about 20 minutes drive via back roads.  Parking at Goodwood was free, in fields on the estate, and very well organised with temporary road boards laid so that exit even on the very muddy Sunday afternoon was no real problem.

The biggest problem with the weather on the Sunday was that the public areas became a quagmire of slippery mud. Unfortunately for me when I was leaving the grandstand at the end of the day I slipped and fell flat on my face in 6 inches of mud and was covered from head to toe! I managed to clean most of it off my face, specs and jacket, but had to drive 3 hours home to Stratford in my sister’s car with my shoes and trousers covered in mud! She was not impressed with the state of her car!

To wrap up, I reckon the next event to go to is the Goodwood Revival meeting of historic racers which is held on the Goodwood Motor Racing circuit which is separate to the hillclimb (there is a horse racing circuit as well!). However I’ll need to do some sweet talking indoors for that!

Colin White

Fish & Chips and Ice Cream Run

Saturday 26 January 2008

15th Annual Event!

Meet 7.00pm Beaumont Road (Off Greenhill Road)South Parklands, Adelaide

This very popular annual event takes us from the Adelaide Parklands to Glenelg, then a “sunset road cruise” to the foreshore at Semaphore

First Stop:  Barnacle Bills, Anzac Highway, Plympton – for Fish & Chips ·

Plenty of off-street parking·
Eat-in or outside·
Special price Fish & Chips for TSOA, or choose from the menu·
Plenty of alternatives, including healthy options & salads

Final Destination: Noonie’s At The Beach, Semaphore Park ·

Off-street parking adjacent to the Kiosk·
Extensive range of ice cream treats·
Milk shakes, Soft drinks·
Hot fresh Donuts·
Great coffee too!

Bring the kids, bring your grand-kids, and even bring your grandma!

“I scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream”

Enquiries:  Tom Long – 8390 1973

2007 Classic Adelaide (21- 25 November)

There are a number of Triumphs entered in this year’s Classic, plus TSOA Life Member Geoff “Bum Biter” Bills, so if you have an interest in this event (and you must, mustn’t you!) then keep an eye out for the following:-

Thoroughbred Touring
#1      SA – Geoff Bills (driving for Sir Jack Brabham) : Mercedes SLK 350
#93    SA – Grant Trotter / John Veale : Triumph TR7 V8
#114  SA – John Nelson : Triumph TR8

Regularity
#175  SA – Peter Nelson / Peter Jaede : Triumph TR8

Competition
#206  Qld – Stephen & Ginetta Rochester : Triumph TR3A
#617  SA – Ian Wilson / Jahmeil Taylor : Triumph TR7 V8
#661  SA – Steve Fisher / Michael Twycross : Triumph TR7 V8

We hope these entrants have an enjoyable, trouble free run . . . . . and keep it on the black stuff people!