Neil Martin (TR7) and Peter Nelson (TR8 dhc) both participated in the Austin 7 Club Modern Regularity event at Mallala on 6th April with Neil starting strongly but suffering from carbie issues later in the day. Peter on the other hand, went from strength to strength posting a personal best lap time of 1:27.86 in the last session of the day.

The following Sunday 13th April was TSOA’s allocated day for provision of flag marshals for the Super Sprint – my thanks to all of those who took the effort to meet TSOA’s obligations to the MSCA and also those of us who participate in club level motorsport. Our members who served duty during the day included Colin Gaetjens, Lyall Taylor, Rory Gibson, Arrand Ellery, Richard Sutherland, John Tuohy, Geoff Cugley, Bill Berlemon and Peter Williamson. My apologies to anyone who may have turned up but not received a mention here.

Neil Martin (with carbies back to normal) produced a best time for the day of 1:39.19 in his TR7 Sprint and Roger’s GT6 finally got some track time to see how the new rear suspension and other mods performed. Best time for the day was 1:22.75 but keeping in mind that there were some wheel spin problems as well running on old tyres, rusty driver and any other excuse I can find, much better performances are expected in the future. The new suspension felt good, if not a little soft – uprated springs are on order. Once sorted, I believe that the upgrades to the car will produce the goods.

Our next outing will be the 6-hour Regularity Relay event to be held at Mallala on Sunday 1st June. The good news this year is that we will be fielding a TSOA team, with Neil Martin (TR7), Peter Nelson (TR8 dhc) Roger in the GT6, Trevor Lindsay (GT6) Colin Gaetjens (Mitsubishi Evo TR) and all the way from Victoria, Andy Ansell with his TR7.

The TSOA team receives monetary support from the club to offset costs such as garage hire, catering, promotion and incidentals and this support is very much appreciated. However, we also need some people support to fulfill team roles such as time keepers, pit wall notice board attendants, form-up and sash changeover personnel and just general assistance around the garages and cars. So if you want a great day out at the track, and inclusion in the TSOA team at the 6-Hour event, contact Roger Lange to register your interest.

For all upcoming events, refer to the Competition Calendar found elsewhere on this website. Specifically, there is a Hillclimb at Collingrove on May 25th, the 6-Hour on June 1st, and then a number of events on June 29th, these being Modern Regularity at Mallala put on by the Austin 7 Club, the Adelaide Hills Tarmac Sprint in and around the southern hills areas hosted by the SDCC, and the All British Race Day at Wakefield Park, near Goulburn NSW, with Trevor Lindsay (GT6), Roger (GT6) and Rod Carey (AMI Spitfire) are all hoping to compete in the latter.

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

Roger

TSOA will be fielding a team in this year’s MSCA 6-Hour Regularity Relay at Mallala MotorSport Park on 1st June and we need some help. As the name of the event implies, this is a 6 hour team event where drivers do their best to complete a predetermined number of laps as close as possible to a nominated lap time (without breaking that time) with success rewarded to the team that completes the 6 hours with the best overall team result.

TSOA (SA) will field a team of 6 car / driver combinations, but because the drivers will be focussed on their participation, we need some help with other team activities. We have a need for team time keepers, pit wall board attendants, changeover sash mashals, plus a general volunteer assistant to the MSCA for the day.

Those of you who have been part of our previous teams will know that this is a fun day that requires attention to detail and the ability to move quickly with changed conditions.

If you want to be a part of the TSOA assault on this annual event, contact Roger Lange on 8132 1841 or email to rogncher@internode.on.net. – we need your help!

Thanks to everyone for their best wishes over the past couple of months with all our family issues.  Special thanks to Sue Gibson for holding the fort for me in regards to this article and also the supper rosters.

As I write this article today, it is raining – something we haven’t seen for such a long time – the gardens will all be thankful for their natural water supply, but we must spare a thought for the rural areas and trust that the rain falls there as needed.

I spoke to a teacher today from Meningie who said that school enrolments are down by a third this year, as families are moving out of the district due to no rain, and no water in the lake – hence no work for the farmers so people need to move to work and survive – it really is a concern in the Coorong as to how the families are going to survive without water – lets pray that the river Murray is flooded soon and the lakes survive for a little longer.

The Weekender is in the process of being organised, so I look forward to seeing you all along for another great weekend.

Margie Berlemon