You just have to love the look on Dave Widdrington’s face! – Spitfire Mk I 1964

The Mazda MX 5 club was rostered to do flag duty at the 2nd round of the Super Sprint Series at Mallala in June and they turned up in force.

Over 30 MX5 members attended and most had never been to the Mallala circuit before. Needless to say that they had every flag point well and truly covered. Their club made this day an official club run with some stopping for morning tea at Virginia Nurseries and arriving at the track just in time for a club supplied lunch cooked on site in one of the pit garages. All members were invited to do parade laps with passengers around the track at lunchtime. The only time I have seen more cars doing parade laps was at an Easter meeting. The advantage this club had with such an attendance was that they could take turns at flag marshalling and didn’t have to be at the track all day if they didn’t wish.

Feedback I got from the organiser of the MX5 club (Dennis Hawkins . . .can you believe it! Ed) was that their members had a very enjoyable day and enjoyed doing something different.

Perhaps the TSOA may like to do something similar? The weather should fine up late August to have the top down for a run around the track at lunchtime and to have a picnic on the grass. Don’t forget it is the TSOA’s rostered turn to do flag marshalling on Sunday 25th August.

I did notice the TSOA had one spectator at this race meeting who lifted the bonnet of his GT6 to show some interested parties. This member is also an active viewer of the TSOA Website.

On to things competition, we had 75 cars entered for this round. Numbers have been down for the last 2 seasons, something to do with tough economical times I expect. Our two regular TSOA competitors again entered. Neil Martin did his best time of the day in run 3 with a time of 1:27:91. I spoke to Neil at the lunchtime break and he was frustrated that with all the upgrades he had done to his car he couldn’t eclipse his best time, however he did go faster in the afternoon sessions. Duane was frustrated for another reason, being held up by slower cars in the morning sessions. Duane’s best time of the day was 1:30:47 in run 2.

The next round of the Super Sprint Series could see the return of an orange GT6 that has received a complete engine transplant. Early reports suggests that the new engine is producing some promising results on the dyno. Welcome back Rog.

Until next month.

Cheers, Rick Staehr

Coming Events

13th July           Come & Try Hillclimb Collingrove

14th July           Hillclimb Multiclub RD 2 Collinggrove

21st July            MSCA Super Sprint RD 3

4th August         Modern Regularity Mallala

25th August       MSCA Super Sprint RD 4 TSOA rostered for flag marshalling

The ETSA Playford Museum was a fantastic morning – the volunteers proudly showed us around the Museum, and it was fascinating…wow what a morning…thanks to Rory Gibson for organising this for us and Sue for organising the tea/coffee for us. Unfortunately only 14 members and 1 grandchild attended which was a embarrassment to the Club as we had advised that there would be 30 members present and volunteer staff were rostered to cater for the numbers. We finished off at Vili’s Café for Pie, Chips and Gravy and a good chin wag to finish off the morning.

Next event is the morning run across the northern freeways, highways and byways to be set by Bob and Lorraine Cini ….this will be their first run…..to the Slug and Lettuce Pub for a traditional English Lunch.  We have booked for the usual 30 however when we went last time about 50 people attended and had a great time! We will amend the final numbers on the morning.

Our social calendar for the rest of the year has now been decided upon in principal and full details will be provided as dates draw nearer. Anyone wanting to put a run together please contact me.

Till we meet again

Bill Berlemon

The 1st Sunday of May marked this year’s running of the MSCA 6 hour team regularity event at Mallala. 18 teams were fielded this year with the TSOA providing one team made up from a mix of South Australian and Victorian Drivers. Roger Lange again was team manager and was assisted by an enthusiastic and capable pit crew. Roger had set the team an objective at the team meeting which was “to have fun”.

Bill Berlemon and John Tuohy volunteered as the batten runners— we made sure we had the youngest and fittest members for this important role. Dean Berlemon was in charge of the pit board, complete with a new set of magnetic numbers that didn’t fall off over the pit wall. Last year we had to try to retrieve numbers that had fallen off over the pit wall which lead to some inventive provisions to retrieve them. Arrand Ellery, Rod Carey and Rick Staehr were allocated timekeeping duties and Phil Bagust scribed the times. The pit crew worked like a well oiled machine. Cherri Lange provided the team with her great homemade muffins –delicious! – and delivered the lunch orders. Meranie Vermeer was our official photographer on the day.

Three drivers made the trek from Victoria, regular visitor Andy Ansell in his “Chocwedge” TR7, Ian Cowie GT6 and first timer at Mallala, Ed Ferguson in a TR7V8. South Australia was represented with regulars Neil Martin and Duane Kaak both in TR7V8’s. Robin George who was a late scratching at last year’s event was the final member of the driver line-up in his clubman.

Ian Cowie had a few mechanical issues on Saturday in free practice and thought he had overcome them for Sunday. Practice Sunday morning revealed that he still had some issues that still needed sorting and was pulled over by the officials when he entered pit lane for loosing excessive oil. Unfortunately for Ian his mechanical issues stayed with him and he was unable to fully complete his first run.

The other 5 drivers and cars performed consistent and without incident. Our team was heading for a great result but unfortunately because of Ian’s mechanical problem, we forgot to advise race control that he was a scratching, and we were penalised for one driver and car completing less than 10% of the total laps allocated. A hard way to be taught a lesson. On the bright side we weren’t the only ones to fall foul of this rule and finished 15th.

Did we meet our objective? If the smiles from the drivers and pit crew when the cars return to pits is anything to go on, then we sure did achieve our objective!

Until next month.

Rick Staehr

May was again a very busy month starting with the 6 hour regularity run at Mallala, then the mid week run and the annual weekender.

Mallala was a great day with a full team of Triumph’s and for those of us who don’t go racing a great way to participate in the event in some way.

Mid week run by all reports was a lot of fun and I hope to join in these when I retire!

Margie and I are sitting down writing this report on the Monday morning following the weekender and are very pleased with the results of this annual event. 41 Adults, 2 children and 2 babies made up the numbers and we feel confident everyone had a great time.  Happy to report 13 Triumph cars attended – strangely mostly TR7’s /8!  We self catered for dinner and breakfast which does create a lot of extra work, but we feel sure it creates good camaraderie within the club and again we thank all those who helped in making it a success.  All other meals were well enjoyed as was the final lunch at the Victor Harbor Golf Club offering magnificent views over the fabulous coastline. We covered 300km’s of great southern countryside exploring our scenic Fleurieu Peninsula. Our Studio Apartment accommodation at Victor Harbor Beachfront Caravan Park was first class as were the other cabins books for the weekend – they even supplied the pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast – fully recommend the Park for a holiday in the future!

June’s social activities are: Ladies lunch June 11th, followed by the ETSA Museum on the 16th June .

Please refer the back page of Trak for all future events.

Birthday wishes to:  Alex Smithson, Naomi Siegertsz, Tony Case, Barb Sampson, Dale Temby,                          Mal Jonas, and Kate Berlemon

Till we meet again,

Bill Berlemon

Sunday July 21st run

Meet at Civic Park, Tea Tree Gully at 10.00am

Departing 10.30am to see the new Northern Express Way,  and Wetlands

Lunch at the British Pub – Slug ‘N’ Lettuce 130 Martins Road, Parafield Gardens

lunch menu

salt & pepper squid
lightly dusted in our own seasoning served with chips, salad &
chef’s own tartare sauce                                                  $9.90

bangers & mash
thick pork sausages served on a bed of creamy mash potato
topped with rich gravy                                                      $9.90

roast of the day
see chef’s suggestions board                                         $10.90

beer battered fish
battered hake fillet served with chips, salad & chef’s own tartare
sauce                                                                             $10.90

lamb shank
slow braised in a rich tomato & rosemary sauce served on a bed
of creamy mash potato                                                   $10.90

beef burger
beef pattie, lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese & beetroot relish
served with chips                                                             $10.90

graziers rump 250grams
this classic primal cut is grain finished for 100 days and is full in flavour, aged to our specification with the
supplier guarantee of ultimate flavour and tenderness.
“full of flavour”                                                                 $14.90

Any enquiries: Bob Cini 0419840176

The 2013 All British Day brought out many Triumphs from the TSOA membership including Ian and Raelene
Rigby’s TR6 and John Wood’s Mk 1 GT6

It is with again much sadness this month that we said goodbye to another great TSOA member, John Allnut. He was a great contributor to the club, and I believe there may be an article in this month’s magazine reflecting a bit more on his life. As sad as saying goodbye is, it is also very joyous to see and meet new members at our meetings and on our runs. I would love to meet many more of the unseen members, as I’m sure they have a great Triumph story to tell and I have set myself a challenge on how to do this over the coming years.

This month at the meetings we introduced a new Concierge service, thanks to Bob Farrell for taking the lead on this. Too often at meetings we are busy catching up with our regular friends, and I’d hate for any new attendees to be missed or too feel uncomfortable in such a large group. Thank you to all of those that have expressed an interest, in being the face of the TSOA at our future meetings.

Our membership secretary Natalie Farrell supplied with more numbers of interest which I hope will also be published in the next TRak magazine, of the total number of members cars in each make and model. I love reading these numbers but I wonder more, are these non historically registered cars running, registered fully, under restoration? Please let us know where each of your Triumphs are at so we can compile some great and interesting facts about triumph cars in SA.

Hopefully in the June TRak are also some photos from the 6 hour regularity competition event. A HUGE thank you to the volunteers who assisted on the day. Those that were there know I had a blast when I achieved my nominated lap time, pumping the air and I could see these antics also put a smile on the face of those behind pit wall also.

The committee is meeting soon to discuss the budget for next year. A small membership increase is proposed to keep income and expenses steady, and we had a passionate discussion about the cost and the production of the Trak magazine, being a major cost to the club. I see the magazine as more than just something to read and discard, for me it is a great way or marketing our club to new members and keeping in touch with those that aren’t up to speed with internet. Maybe in the future, near or far, it could be an electronic newsletter, but to have any decent magazine in print or on-line, we need members to submit articles of interest, photos etc. Many like to read it, are passionate about it, in any form, but only a few seem to submit articles. So please, put Pen to Paper, or fire up your computer and type something, tell us all your story about your repair, restoration, or Triumph Spotting and travels, online or in print, it will be a much greater read for all those involved.

I look forward to seeing you all on the road or at the next event soon!

Duane Kaak

It is with great sadness that I report the death of long standing TSOA member and Triumph enthusiast John Allnutt on 2nd May following a short illness.

John has been an active member of TSOA for well over 20 years, with his main Triumph interest being his pristine yellow TR7 fhc. John also owned and cherished a silver TR8 dhc during the 1990’s before selling that car to Roger Lange to renew his acquaintance with his TR7 that he regretted selling – fortunately he was able to convince the then owner to sell it back to him.

During his involvement with TSOA, John has served as Club Treasurer and on National Meeting committees, and has been a regular attendee at General Meetings. He has been rewarded on many occasions over the years with Concours trophies for his Triumphs, and always enjoyed presenting his Triumphs for inspection. John has made many friends within the club and will be sadly missed.

A funeral service for relatives and friends of John was held at Charles Berry Funeral Home, 198 – 204 Magill Road, Norwood on Monday 6th May.

The TSOA Community joins with Helen and family in mourning the sudden loss of John – a true gentleman and a highly respected and loved man.

Duane Kaak, President

Welcome to another month of Sporting Triumphs.  As I write this report the running of the 1st round of the MSCA sprint series is occurring.  Both our Le Présidente – Duane Kaak and Mr. Regularity – Neil Martin has entered their TR7 V8’s for this event.Neil has also entered his Triumph in regularity at the Easter Historic race meeting at Mallala.The next Club race meeting is the 6 hour regularity at Mallala on Sunday the 5th of May. I am still looking for volunteers to be pit crew for this event. If you are interested in helping out, please contact me on 0419 514 517.

Until Next Month

Cheers.

Rick Staehr

Upcoming events –

6th& 7th April Hillclimb Mt. Alma Mile

14th April Modern Regularity

19th -21st April Shannon’s Nationals Mallala

20th April Hillclimb Come & Try

21st April Hillclimb Wintercup Round 1

5th May MSCA 6 Hour Regularity

18th May SA State Circuit Racing Championship Twilight Round 2

19th May Modern Regularity Mallala