Winter is now here, although I have to say that Autumn was much kinder weather for driving a Triumph than I’d normally expect. The weekender had great weather for a trip over to the Copper Coast region of Yorke Peninsula, and Mallala track days have not seen any rain as yet. Regardless of rain, cold or not, I still enjoy getting in my car and going on a Club run or to a Club event throughout winter. I believe it is good for my windscreen wipers which otherwise would seize up!

My TR7 will be having a short stint off the track as I undertake a gearbox removal to fix a 3rd gear synchro problem that resulted in my completing many laps of Mallala in 3rd gear only. I am certainly impressed by the way those 5 speed boxes can handle some hard labour behind not only the TR7 4 cyl, but the Rover V8. Of course, eventually something had to wear out or break, I do my best to ensure the longevity of the parts (too dear to replace them too often) but I surely take my hat off to the team at the Leyland Motor works back in the 70’s for developing and fitting a great gearbox. I still drove the TR7 home and took it on the weekender, occasionally forgetting to be at the right speed or revs to change into 3rd. Ouch….

I really love telling new people how my Spitfire gearbox has overdrive (albeit not currently working), again, another credit to someone from many years ago. Despite it’s lack of synchros, oil changes and age, it still lives on and manages to survive, as do so many parts fitted to these old triumphs. I have no fear in jumping into an old Triumph and driving it anywhere.

One thing that has not lasted as long though, is our Club’s constitution. Next year is our clubs 50th Birthday (Yay!) and the constitution was originally written in 1965, before TR7’s or Stag’s were even dreamt of. Despite an update since, it is now time again for an overhaul to accommodate the parts and pieces of our Club that we now all love and enjoy. The aims will be the same, of ensuring the Triumph marque lives on for many, many years to come, and that as a community we support anyone who loves Triumph cars and their passion for historic motoring but with some timely updates to ensure it is politically correct and reflects how we have historically seemed to operate to ensure that we look after the members and the marque, and how we believe we will need to operate over the coming years.

t is not an easy task, and thank you to Roger Lange for agreeing to take over as the Club’s Public Officer, and to Mike Temby for all the research and development he is putting into it. There is consultation with other groups and departments to be had but we expect to have a draft out to you all soon. Perhaps removing a gearbox is not that hard a task at all in comparison?

Duane Kaak

The MSCA 6-Hour event was held at Mallala on Sunday 4th May enjoying surprisingly fine weather for the whole day.

25 Teams of a minimum of 4 cars / maximum of 6 cars competed for bragging rights at the conclusion of 6 hours track competition – the biggest field of entries since the event started many years ago.

TSOA SA fielded a team of 6 car / driver combinations – Andy Ansell (TR7) Rod Carey (AMI Spitfire) Duane Kaak (TR7V8) Roger Lange (GT6) David Lindsay (GT6) and Neil Martin (TR7V8).

The on track team were well supported by an experienced pit crew, updated communications, and ever reliable catering. The prime aim of Team Triumph was to compete as best we can, but mostly to have fun. Objectives achieved!

At the end of competition, Team Triumph gained a podium finish with Third Place trophies – great effort everyone!

Thanks to all who supported the TSOA entry . . .

Roger Lange

March run to Murray Bridge was well enjoyed as we travelled along the back routes avoiding the Freeway. Lunch on the riverfront was good and the bird display was excellent. Thanks to Ian and Raelene Rigby for organising the day.

April Run we travelled from St Agnes to Gawler for morning tea via One Tree Hill enjoying magnificent scenery. We then travelled onto the Northern Expressway to St Kilda Tramway Museum for club sponsored Gourmet Sausage Sizzle.  Lunch and Museum enjoyed by all. Thanks to Bob and Lorraine Cini for a great run.

May sees two of my favorite events on the annual calendar – the 6 hour regularity at Mallala on the 6th followed by the Annual Weekender to the Copper Coast on the 17th and 18th. Please wear name tags to the Weekender – about 40 people attending, so I am sure we will have a great time.

June is our Pasta Night on the 27th – bookings essential – please pay at the next meeting.

Again a busy calendar to enjoy and get the best out of our Triumphs….

Till we meet again

Bill Berlemon.

Well I hope everyone had a great Easter Break and Anzac Long Weekend. The weather is changing so now is the time to check your heating and ensure it is safe for the winter months.

Please note our Ladies lunches we have changed the location to The Place Next Door – at Burnside. (Corner of Glynburn road and Greenhill Road) next Lunch is June 3rd at 12.00noon.

Hope to see you all at the Weekender – it promises to be a great weekend!

Margie Berlemon AM

Three club members competed at Mallalla at the Easter Historics meeting.

Rod Carey –AMI Spitfire in Group S

Andy Ansell –TR7

Neil Martin TR7 V8 Both in Regularity.

Saturday.

Everyone had practice in the morning and two events in the afternoon. Rod’s first race resulted in a very noisy diff and decided that he would fit a replacement. So he raced home to collect all the bits needed to do the job while Andy and I did our Regularity events. Andy placed 4th and 3rd while I managed 13th and 1st. this left Andy on 2nd overall for the day and me 3rd. Rod turned up with his diff so we all helped fit it during the afternoon with the car mobile again by dark.

Sunday.

Three events were on the programme for the day. Rod completed his first race without problem and with a lap time two tenths outside his old lap record. During his second race, he bettered his record so was very pleased with himself and the car with its new diff. Andy struggled with the traffic in his first event to get eleventh. His second result was 5th but Chocwedge was overheating due to a faulty radiator fan so missed the last event. I had more luck with the track traffic and my car had got rid of the gremlins from last year so went well. I placed 3rd, 2nd and 3rd resulting in 1st place for the weekend!

The weekend was a success and I enjoyed the competition and the company.

Neil Martin

It was a bright sunny morning and 30 or so members gathered at St. Agnes Shopping Centre, most of them in Triumphs plus one “Mini” Triumph.

We headed off through Tea Tree Gully, Inglewood, Kersbrook heading to Gawler where we had a lovely morning tea at Cafe Nova.

We then headed towards the Northern Expressway where drivers could put their foot down and blow some cobwebs away.

At the end of the expressway we  headed for the Tramway Museum at St. Kilda where we enjoyed a club sponsored barbeque of gourmet sausages and freshly baked rolls.  After lunch we were free to look at the Museum and have rides on the trams.

It was a very enjoyable day, with perfect weather and company.

Thanks to Bob and Lorraine Cini for organizing the run and to Bill and Rory for cooking the barbeque and Margie and Sue  for preparing the rolls and condiments.

Cheers,

Lorraine P.

Peter Davidge had fun at the skid pan event near Gympie Qld as part of the 2013 Qld Nationals. The day was a hoot! Best fun ever!

This month is the first time the Committee is sending an electronic newsletter via email. Maybe you prefer to get it in paper, that is still possible and over the coming months naturally there will be lots of changes as we set this up, alter it, add things, take things out, update email addresses and tune it up, all in the name of keeping you up to date about the important things you want to know, or need to know in a timely manner. If you have access to email, then it will be fast, hence our initial thought of naming it FastTrak.

I like the name, not just because it describes how quick you can get the condensed Trak, but also I think because I like to go Fast on the Track and after fitting and rebuilding my brakes, I will be happy to report my results again soon. This year I am hoping there will be a few other Triumphs, or TSOA members joining me, Geoff Burdon has sorted out some issues in his TR7, Bryan Young continues to amaze all with his sleepy looking Vitesse, and I know Robin George is rebuilding an engine, hopefully in time for the 6 hr Relay. A new member Richard is also keen to get his Datsun out at Mallala. But be it participating in Motorsport, or on a Social Run, I hope to see you all and your Triumph soon.

Duane

Ian Rigby at the start line for a lap of the Bathurst race circuit.

For a look at the history of Triumphs racing at Bathurst (yes, they did . . . early Saloons and later on, Dolomites) and other competition history, go to the Shannons website using http://www.motorsportretro.com/2014/03/triumph-20002-5pi-from-mount-panorama-to-mexico-city/ and register as a member – you can then have a look at some wonderful stuff, including a photo of a Mt Panorama start that seems to have two Mk 1 Saloons dragging a V8 Studebaker Hawk! Who would have thought!!

We had our first formal meeting for the year earlier this week and it was again great to see all the usual faces and even more great to see a few new members again that have recently bought a Triumph. 3 new faces and wonderful new members, enthusiastic about their new pride and joy. They likely won’t believe it, but I think the regular members all know that that pride and joy somehow never leaves you when you own and drive a Triumph and are involved and participate in this club. Hopefully in many years to come they will know this to be true! It seems “Stu” already has got lost on a Club run, so his initiation is complete and he has learned who and who not to follow. It will be great to see many more new members in their Triumph on a run, or even longer term (was going to say old but didn’t want to be misread…) members that have finally completed restorations or rejuvenations or simply just blown off the dust.

I always encourage you all to also display your Triumph on stage, in any condition at an upcoming meeting. Sure we have had some absolutely amazing examples of Triumphs on stage, a few non Triumphs too, and even my humble little Spitfire has graced the stage twice over the past decade. It has rust, scratches, panel gaps and that bootlid… by the way I have another bootlid to go on now, just needs a bit of work and a coat of paint, so it is on what is a rather long list of Triumph tasks & projects, but until then I will still proudly drive it around as is, bruises and all.

It was exciting to see Bill Jones GT40 project this week. I couldn’t have asked for a better example to help nail home my IKEA message about building it yourself and how good it feels to put some effort in and see the reward at the end. I know a build from kit project does require some extra special skills above that of the average home mechanic, I would love to think I could do all that work myself but there are so many things that are best left to the experts. Plus if we did all the work on our Triumphs I’d hate to think of what the quality or knowledge of tradespeople would be like in the future. It is already becoming difficult to find a Mechanic under 25 y.o who knows what Twin SU’s are, let alone how to tune them!

Computers in cars controlling everything are here to stay and becoming more and more popular. So to are computers in our homes. In future, maybe you will be reading these reports on a computer screen as the switch to faster communication continues to creep into our everyday lives. Having just moved house, I now have all of my bills delivered to me ‘online’ or via email. Maybe one day mail boxes will be a historical item. It is impossible to imagine where what life will be like in 10 – 20 years. We have now made a decision to reduce the printed number of Trak magazines to bi monthly, and where possible, it is my intention that we keep you all updated via our Website, or an email of hello and our important upcoming events. I know many of you don’t mind this at all as you are already comfortable with this technology. The Committee welcomes your feedback as to how you all find this, good or bad, as we will review it at the end of this year.

The end of the year is also being filled up with other Triumph events. The WA team are hosting the National Meeting in mid to late October, November is our Day of Triumph, the Observation Run (and a Presidential Wedding…. ) And the Christmas Dinner date is set already.  But well before then I hope to see you all in your Triumph soon.

Duane