Competition Report – March 2008
Monday, March 24th, 20082008 is off to a flying start competition wise, with some excellent events already held, and much more to come.
Feb 10th saw the commencement of the Austin 7 Club’s Regularity series at Mallala – unfortunately clashing with the MSCA picnic presentation day at Tanunda. Peter Nelson (TR8) was TSOA’s only representative, posting very consistent times around 1:29 during the day finishing second in the last session.
Tom Hutchinson (TR8) competed in Round 1 of the Victorian Motor Racing Series held at Sandown on Sunday March 2nd placing consistently in the top section of the field, with a best result of 5th in the final race. Tom enjoyed a stellar season in 2007, placing 2nd in the championship, and with consistency during 2008, should place well again. Good luck Tom!
The 2nd March also saw Round 1 of the MSCA Sprint Series get under way at Mallala, but sadly, only one Triumph on the track, that being Neil Martin in his TR7 Sprint. Neil has been busy over the summer break installing a new 16 valve head sprint motor in his wedge, the pay back being his first venture under 1:40 with a best time for the day of 1:39.03. Well done Neil.
The traditional Easter weekend historic race and hill climb events have also concluded, with several TSOA members competing. The race meeting at Mallala saw Keith Williamson in his Farrell clubman compete in his historic racing class, Laurie Cousin in his TR2 having a go in Regularity, and two TR’s from Victoria competing in both the Group S historic Sports races and the Regularity event. Keith and son Alistair Ondarchie ran Keith’s TR4, (Keith in the Group S races, and Alistair in the Regularity) and Barry Pritchett and Ursula Weidenmuller shared Barry’s TR6 in a similar fashion.
Good to see some TR’s out there having a go! . . . and some great results as well! Out of the five Regularity runs for the weekend (separate sections for open and closed cars), Alistair produced two 1st places and a 2nd, Laurie scored two 1st and two 3rd places, and Ursula a 1st as well. One could be forgiven for suggesting that Triumphs ruled the Regularity events for the weekend! Well done drivers!
Our Victorian friends were the only entrants in their Group Sb Historic racing section (1961-69) with Barry Pritchett winning out over Keith in all races. Barry also won the first Group S handicap race, holding off the entire field for a well deserved result and placed second in the final event. I believe that all Triumph drivers went home with smiles and satisfaction for a great weekend of friendly motor sport.
Neil Martin entered the new Regularity section of the Collingrove Historic Hill Climb event on Easter Monday, and we look forward to hearing of Neil’s experience in due course.
If you are interested in seeing what hill climbing is all about, the Sporting Car Club is once again holding a “come-and-try” day at their Collingrove facility on April 5th. If you are interested, have a look at the Sporting Car Club website for entry details (refer to the “links” section of the TSOA site).
Also held over the Easter weekend was the Festival of Sporting Cars meeting held at Mount Panorama, Bathurst. This was the first event of its kind, and attracted an enormous level of entrants resulting in large fields of cars for each race category. Our own Tom Hutchinson travelled over to experience the Bathurst circuit at speed, and from the results on the Natsoft website, it looks like he enjoyed it, placing 4th in Race 1 and 3rd in the main feature race for Marque and Production Sports Cars. Tom’s best time for the weekend looked to be 1:34.41 – not too bad for an old Trumpy!
The MSCA is looking at new ways to gain the support of flag marshals for the sprint season, and has allocated that responsibility to each affiliated club (TSOA being one of these) to man the bunkers for just one day for the year. Our allocated day is the next sprint to be held on 13th April. Several members have nominated to attend, but I need some more. If you commit to a full day on duty, your reward will include lunch, drinks, a $25 MSCA redeemable voucher, parade laps around the Mallala circuit during the lunch break, and the sincere thanks of all competitors. So if you can help out, call Roger Lange and put your name forward.
This year’s MSCA 6-Hour Regularity Relay is being held on Sunday June 1st so if you are an experienced regularity competitor or sprinter and would be keen to join a TSOA team, contact Roger and register your interest.
For all upcoming events, refer to the full Competition Calendar contained on this site.
That’s enough from me . . . see you trackside!
Roger