There is not much to report on this month results wise, as there has been little happening for our TSOA competition drivers since the last issue of TRak. I will report separately on the Queensland Nationals in next month’s issue.

That only leaves us looking forward – and there is still plenty of action coming up over the next few months.

Why not set off for Lobethal over the weekend of 11th and 12th October for the Historic Demonstration being held there to commemorate past motor racing action that occurred in many of our country towns way back in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Who can remember the Australian Grand Prix of 1936 in Victor Harbor, 1939 in Lobethal, and 1950 in Nuriootpa? Port Wakefield saw a young Jack Brabham win in 1955 and Lex Davison scored a win at Mallala in 1961.

Lobethal is getting ready for the 70th anniversary of the 1939 event to be celebrated next year. “Black Bess” is running, so why not go and have a look.

The SA Hill Climb Championship is being conducted over the following weekend of the 18th / 19th October – always a great event with a wide variety of vehicles competing.

The Austin Seven Club is hosting a round of their Modern Regularity event in conjunction with the SA SuperKarts on October 19th at Mallala and the MSCA hosts Round 4 of the Super Sprint Series (the final event for 2008) on Sunday October 26th also at Mallala.

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

It was All British time at Wakefield Park near Goulburn NSW over the weekend of 28th – 29th June with a Super Sprint hosted by the Austin Healey Owners club of NSW held on the Saturday, and an All British race meeting held on the Sunday.The Sprint was a round of the CSCA for all participating NSW clubs, but with the All British race day following, it was an opportunity for all competitors to enjoy two days at the track.

Trevor Lindsay (GT6), Rod Carey (AMI Spitfire) and Roger Lange (GT6) travelled from SA to compete with their support crew, pit garage heater and coffee machine. Richard Sutherland and his brother Don travelled in Richard’s TR4A to experience the sights and sounds of Wakefield Park as well.Saturday was a chance to practice this beautiful and fun circuit – weather was fine (some would say warm compared to past years!) and it was great to see and hear some wonderful machinery going fast.

Apart from the Triumphs, Jaguars seen included an awesome E Type race car, a brand new “C” type replica, there were lots of lovely Healeys, Mini’s, and a gaggle of other marques. Trevor posted FTD with an impressive performance that set the scene for race day on Sunday. Roger sorted out some handling issues to finish the day without a spin and looking forward to Sunday, as was Rod Carey, with the new motor in his Spitfire going well.

Qualifying for the All Triumph events saw Trevor on Pole, Roger in P4 and Rod some way further down the field amongst Triumphs of similar performance. Race 1 results were pretty much as we started, and this set the grid for the All Triumph Trophy race – an 8 lap affair. At the drop of the flag, Trevor took off like a startled rabbit and was never headed, taking a convincing win. Roger hounded the Wards TR7V8 and Morsillo Dolly Sprint Turbo for a lap or two, but just couldn’t keep up, and settled for fourth. Rod enjoyed some spirited dicing with a couple of other Triumphs, and had a good result down the order.

Vibrations in the drive train saw Roger withdraw his GT6 from further competition in the All Marque races, after qualifying in P6. Trevor took Pole in the Division 1 group, and once again showed the combined field a clean pair of heals to win both races. Rod started his first Division 2 group race down the order, but by the end of the 6 lap Trophy Race, and after passing a Jaguar XJS race car in the process, pulled off an amazing second place. You just couldn’t wipe the smile off his face! And to top off a great weekend for Triumphs at Wakefield Park, Andy Ansell from Victoria (TR7) took the Regularity event from a combined field.

Thanks to Rod Chivas (NSW) for his enthusiasm in encouraging people to enter these events and for chasing up sponsors, and also to those sponsors for their support – Noel Anderson from Sports Car Spares in Sydney, and Pitstop Bookshop, Perth.Have a look at Richard Sutherland’s photos that have been posted on the TSOA website.

Neil Martin has been active representing TSOA and Triumph in the Austin 7 Club Regularity series at Mallala, posting some credible results in the process. In a large field of some 20+ cars, Neil placed 2nd, 10th, 4th and 5th over the four runs held on June 29th, and based on the limited information contained on the Natsoft website, enjoyed a 4th and a 1st for the two early runs on July 20th.

Upcoming events include

Aug 3               Hillclimb, Multi Club                                         Collingrove      SCCSA

Aug 17             Super Sprint, Round 3                                    Mallala             MSCA

Aug 23-24        SA Race Championships, Rd 3                       Mallala             SCCSA

Aug 31             Hillclimb, Winter Cup Rd 3                              Collingrove       SCCSA

Also coming up is the MSCA Twilight Sprint, scheduled for Saturday Sept 13th. This year, the MSCA has agreed to try something different during the tea break. This period of approx two hours has traditionally seen a fun competition of a four car, one lap relay event between clubs, but support for this has waned over recent years. So this year, the tea break period will provide an opportunity for non-sprinters to have a go – a “come and try” event.

The idea is for small groups of just 4 cars or less to complete laps of the circuit with an experienced sprinter as a coach / guide at no more than 80% speed to provide people who may be interested in seeing what sprinting is all about, but haven’t summoned the courage to enter an event. No special preparation is needed – just a helmet if you have one, or borrow one if not. Full neck to knee clothing of a non flammable type is required, and proper shoes.  If you are interested (places will be limited to the first 20 applicants) contact the MSCA’s Sue Stephenson on 8357 5362 to register your interest.

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

Roger

Tom Hutchinson (TR8) continues his attack on the Victorian State Circuit Racing Championships with consistent placings in Round 3 conducted at Sandown on 26 / 27th July. Tom qualified 4th fastest and then placed 8th, 4th and 6th in the three races for this round. If you are interested, have a look at the Natsoft website and see what Tom’s opposition is – great to see a Triumph amongst this sort of quality field.

We had four TSOA members compete in Round 3 of the MSCA Sprint series held at Mallala on Sunday 17th August. Amongst all of the gloomy weather we have had lately, it was great to have a mostly sunny day to enjoy the track, with a near capacity field of 107 cars taking part.  My GT6 is back to its best with a 1:20.4 recorded. Peter Nelson left his TR8 home in preference to a MX5 – sadly, the Mazda is quicker, with a best for Peter of 1:26.04 recorded on the day. Peter, the Mazda may be quicker, but the Triumph sounds and looks much better! Robin George is still trying to sort out the electrical gremlins that reside within his Westfield Clubman and could only manage 1:31.3 but Neil Martin produced a personal best of 1:38.06 in his TR7.

Upcoming events include :-

Sep 13 (Sat)          Super Sprint (Twilight)                        Mallala                   MSCA

Sep 14                   Modern Regularity (+Superkarts)       Mallala                   A7C

Sep 20    (Sat)       Hillclimb – “Come & Try Day”              Collingrove            SCCSA

Sep 21                   Hillclimb – Multi Club                           Collingrove            SCCSA

Oct 4-5                   Hillclimb – Vintage                              Collingrove            SCCSA

Oct 11-12              Historic Demonstration                        Lobethal

Oct 18-19              SA Hillclimb Championships                 Collingrove            SCCSA

If you are interested in any of the Austin 7 Club or Sporting Car Club events, go to their respective websites for more information and entry forms.

I mentioned the MSCA Twilight Sprint last month, and reiterate that this year, the MSCA has agreed to try something different during the tea break. This period of approx two hours has traditionally seen a fun competition of a four car, one lap relay event between clubs, but support for this has waned over recent years. So this year, the tea break period will provide an opportunity for non-sprinters to have a go – a “come and try” event.

The idea is for small groups of just 4 cars or less to complete laps of the circuit with an experienced sprinter as a coach / guide at no more than 80% speed to provide people who may be interested in seeing what sprinting is all about, but haven’t summoned the courage to enter an event. No special preparation is needed – just a helmet if you have one, or borrow one if not. Full neck to knee clothing of a non flammable type is required, and proper shoes.

If you are interested (places will be limited to the first 20 applicants) contact the MSCA’s Sue Stephenson on 8357 5362 to register your interest. A special Cams licence will be required at a cost of $25 which Sue will arrange.

It’s off to the Queensland Nationals for competition events at Morgan Park and Mt Cotton – full report next month.

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

Roger

Entries are now open for this year’s “Legends of the Lakes” hill climb event to be held at Mount Gambier over the weekend of 8th / 9th November. Organisers expect a full field, so if you are interested, best to get your entry in pronto!

For information, Supp Regs and download of entry forms, go to www.seacsa.com

Roger

It was All British time at Wakefield Park near Goulburn NSW over the weekend of 28th – 29th June with a Super Sprint hosted by the Austin Healey Owners club of NSW held on the Saturday, and an All British race meeting held on the Sunday.

The Sprint was a round of the CSCA for all participating NSW clubs, but with the All British race day following, it was an opportunity for all competitors to enjoy two days at the track. Trevor Lindsay (GT6), Rod Carey (AMI Spitfire) and Roger Lange (GT6) travelled from SA to compete with their support crew, pit garage heater and coffee machine. Richard Sutherland and his brother Don travelled in Richard’s TR4A to experience the sights and sounds of Wakefield Park as well.

Saturday was a chance to practice this beautiful and fun circuit – weather was fine (some would say warm compared to past years!) and it was great to see and hear some wonderful machinery going fast. Apart from the Triumphs, Jaguars seen included an awesome E Type race car, a brand new “C” type replica, there were lots of lovely Healeys, Mini’s, and a gaggle of other marques. Trevor posted FTD with an impressive performance that set the scene for race day on Sunday. Roger sorted out some handling issues to finish the day without a spin and looking forward to Sunday, as was Rod Carey, with the new motor in his Spitfire going well.

Qualifying for the All Triumph events saw Trevor on Pole, Roger in P4 and Rod some way further down the field amongst Triumphs of similar performance. Race 1 results were pretty much as we started, and this set the grid for the All Triumph Trophy race – an 8 lap affair. At the drop of the flag, Trevor took off like a startled rabbit and was never headed, taking a convincing win. Roger hounded the Wards TR7V8 and Morsillo Dolly Sprint Turbo for a lap or two, but just couldn’t keep up, and settled for fourth. Rod enjoyed some spirited dicing with a couple of other Triumphs, and had a good result down the order.

Vibrations in the drive train saw Roger withdraw his GT6 from further competition in the All Marque races, after qualifying in P6. Trevor took Pole in the Division 1 group, and once again showed the combined field a clean pair of heals to win both races. Rod started his first Division 2 group race down the order, but by the end of the 6 lap Trophy Race, and after passing a Jaguar XJS race car in the process, pulled off an amazing second place. You just couldn’t wipe the smile off his face!

And to top off a great weekend for Triumphs at Wakefield Park, Andy Ansell from Victopria (TR7) took the Regularity event from a combined field.

Thanks to Rod Chivas (NSW) for his enthusiasm in encouraging people to enter these events and for chasing up sponsors, and also to those sponsors for their support – Noel Anderson from Sports Car Spares in Sydney, and Pitstop Bookshop, Perth.

Look out for Richard Sutherland’s photos to be posted on this website soon.

Team Triumph took part in the MSCA 6-Hour Regularity Relay event held at Mallala on Sunday 1st June with drivers Neil Martin (TR7) Peter Nelson (TR8 dhc) Andy Ansell from Victoria (TR7) Colin Gaetjens (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo TR6) Robin George (Westfield Clubman TR4) and Roger Lange (GT6).

Andy Ansell started the event for the Team, and after a few break out laps, settled down to produce a good session. Each driver contributed a 30 minute stint to complete the first rotation, with only Robin George experiencing some electrical gremlins with his car that saw his turn cut short. Roger was last out for the group, but could not contribute further after noticing an oily residue under the car caused by a failed oil seal in the rhs diff flange. Robin’s problems continued, but he was able to enjoy a reasonable time out on the track for the team, and put in some consistent laps whilst there.

Andy, Neil, Colin and Peter all took up the slack for the remainder of the event, all improving on their consistency to the point that after the chequered flag had fallen, were very satisfied with a job well done, and had a fun time doing it. The winners were announced after a dinner function held in the corporate facility at the track, and the team was very pleasantly surprised to have placed third overall – a great result and well done to all involved.

The support team consisted of John Touhy, Rod Carey, Frank Lewell, Stephanie George, Lindsay Coleman, Bill Berlemon, and with catering taken care of by Cherri Lange. A great team effort! Thanks to all involved.

Other news on the competition front include the sale of Ian Wilson’s awesome TR7V8 race car to a buyer in New Zealand – I am not sure if the guy knows exactly what he has purchased, but hope he has plenty of fresh underwear when he takes it out for his first experience with the car! Tom Hutchinson’s most recent round of the Victorian series ended in disappointment with a broken diff in his TR8 racer. This happened in open practice, so Tom’s event came to an early conclusion.

As far as events coming up are concerned, refer to the Competition Calendar at www.tsoasa.com

TSOA(SA) will be represented at the All British Race Meeting at Wakefield Park near Goulburn NSW by Trevor Lindsay (GT6) Rod Carey (AMI Spitfire) and Roger Lange (GT6) with pit and spectator support from Trevor’s wife Stephanie, Roger’s friend Hans, Rod’s wife Jen plus son who lives in Canberra, and our own TRak editor extraordinaire Richard Sutherland (TR4A) with his brother as passenger for the trip. Report and photos in a future issue of TRak.

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

Roger

Team Triumph took part in the MSCA 6-Hour Regularity Relay event held at Mallala on Sunday 1st June with drivers Neil Martin (TR7) Peter Nelson (TR8 dhc) Andy Ansell from Victoria (TR7) Colin Gaetjens (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo TR6) Robin George (Westfield Clubman TR4) and Roger Lange (GT6).

Andy Ansell started the event for the Team, and after a few break out laps, settled down to produce a good session.Each driver contributed a 30 minute stint to complete the first rotation, with only Robin George experiencing some electrical gremlins with his car that saw his turn cut short. Roger was last out for the group, but could not contribute further after noticing an oily residue under the car caused by a failed oil seal in the rhs diff flange. Robin’s problems continued, but he was able to enjoy a reasonable time out on the track for the team, and put in some consistent laps whilst there.

Andy, Neil, Colin and Peter all took up the slack for the remainder of the event, all improving on their consistency to the point that after the chequered flag had fallen, were very satisfied with a job well done, and had a fun time doing it.

The winners were anounced after a dinner function held in the corporate facility at the track, and the team was very pleasantly surprised to have placed third overall – a great result and well done to all involved.

The support team consisted of John Touhy, Rod Carey, Frank Lewell, Stephanie George, Lindsay Coleman, Bill Berlemon, and with catering taken care of by Cherri Lange. A great team effort! Thanks to all involved.

Roger

There is not a lot to report on since the last issue of TRak, the only event involving our members being the Hill Climb at Collingrove on May 25th. Neil Martin (TR7 Sprint) held the Triumph flag high recording a best time of 44.08 seconds for the run up the hill. Good on ya Neil – it is good to see someone at least having a go!

By the time you read this, the annual MSCA 6-Hour Regularity Relay will have been run and won and we hope that the TSOA team did well. I will report on this next month. Upcoming events include :-

June 29           Modern Regularity (and Superkarts)               Mallala             A7C

June 29           Adelaide Hills Tarmac Sprint                           Adel. Hills        SDCC

June 29           All British Race Meeting, Wakefield Park        Goulburn         AHOC

July 13             Hill Climb, Winter Cup Rd 2                            Collingrove      SCCSA

July 20             Modern Regularity (and Superkarts)               Mallala             A7C

TSOA(SA) will be represented at the All British Race Meeting at Wakefield Park near Goulburn NSW by Trevor Lindsay (GT6) Rod Carey (AMI Spitfire) and Roger Lange (GT6) with pit and spectator support from Trevor’s wife Stephanie, Roger’s friend Hans, Rod’s wife Jen plus son who lives in Canberra, and our own TRak editor extraordinaire Richard Sutherland (TR4A) and his brother as passenger for the trip. Report and photos in a future issue of TRak.

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

Roger

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!