Congratulations to Naomi and Darren on the birth of baby Lily.  Naomi, Darren and Lily joined us for the Technical Lunch which was great to welcome our newest member into the club!

Congratulations also to Pete and Nat Berlemon on the very early arrival of their baby son Samuel at 29 weeks, (grandparents Bill and Margie very excited) and I am pleased to report Samuel is doing very well although still in hospital.

Also Peter & Julie Davidge who became grandparents to a little boy.

The Ladies lunch tried out the new venue of Adeline’s Café at Burnside and it worked well with a varied menu, good facilities and more members attended.  We even had a couple of men join us which was great, and yes we did talk about cars!

Thanks to the ladies who have put their name on the Supper Roster – we still have a couple of spaces, so if you can help us out, please let Sue/Margie know.

Thought for the Month: The best vitamin to be a happy person is B1.  ~Author Unknown

Margie Berlemon.

Firstly, thank you to all for your well wishes, encouragement and support as I step into the role of President of this amazing Club. I know with the support of these great people around me, I will be able to draw on many numerous years of experience, and inject a new energy into the committee, keeping the TSOA alive, vibrant and a great club to be a part of for many years to come.
Secondly, a big congratulations to Mike Temby for taking on board the Vice President role. We now have a full committee again, and I know that Mike is very enthusiastic about the year we have ahead also.
Would we have the lowest combined age of an executive committee since the clubs inception?
The months are flying by already, and there are many events coming up on the TSOA calendar, both social and competition. I am personally excited about getting my TR7 V8 back on the race track again, the break between MSCA events seems like an eternity. But I am also as keen to keep the Spitfire cruising and discovering new coffee stops and spending great time with TSOA friends on the social runs.
I truly enjoy the general meetings also, meeting new members, the focus on a couple of cars on stage and a delicious supper afterwards. I think we have a great regular routine, and I sincerely hope to just make each of these just a but more fresh and interesting as time goes by with the new committee.
As always, the committee welcomes any ideas and feedback from the members, we represent you.
Hope to see you all at an event soon . . . .
Duane Kaak

I trust everyone has had a terrific Christmas and New Year break. The weather has been wonderful, and the general public seem to be in great spirits throughout this time of year.

The club has held several events throughout this period, the annual Christmas dinner, the “after Christmas” mid week run and the annual Ice Cream run which all were a great time to get out and about in your triumph with other club members.

We had a good crowd to the January informal meeting, and I’m sure we will again have a full group at our first formal meeting this month. Remember we will have an election this month for a new president, and any other vacant positions, so please take another moment to consider a chance to join the committee and to contribute to our club.

The year ahead looks like another full calendar of social and competition events, and I’m keen to see what amazing vehicles we can get on the stage for display. Even though we have all thoroughly enjoyed some other Marques recently, if you have a Triumph we haven’t seen on stage, done some major work to your Triumph, or have a new purchase, we’d love to see it, so please contact John from the details inside the cover. I know several members have plans for rewiring and minor rebuilds, so we’d love to see and hear your story.

The committee also has plans to review the constitution this year also, to keep up with the times, and will have a small sub committee work on this over the coming months. If you have any strong thoughts in this area, I encourage you to express this, in writing only, for consideration.

I’m starting to hear a bit of chatter about the Queensland National Rally already, and it is exciting to hear that many are already getting cars ready for the journey and booking holidays, I’m sure it will be a wonderful event.

The All British Day is also here again, and I’d like to ask all members to make themselves ambassadors for the club on this day that we are on display. This day, and the Day of Triumph seem to both be days that we attract new members, and I’m hoping to have a simple handout available to be distributed on the day. Hope to see you soon, Duane

This is how TRak was produced in the early 1990s.  It seems incredible to me that was half the lifetime of
TSOA ago.

This was before the era of the internet, universal mobile phones, texting etc. Younger readers should ask
their grandparents how we survived.This was also a period when TSOA was transitioning from the boozy
Old Boys culture of the 1960s and 1970s to the more inclusive, responsible and Politically Correct club of
today. (Did someone say “boring”?)

I think I can claim responsibility for TRak becoming a regular monthly.  Previously it would appear
irregularly, maybe 6 or 8 times a year. I became the Editor of TRak in 1990 or about then.This was before
the appearance of small shopfront printers like Kwik-Print. Commercial printers were not interested in small
jobs and were quite expensive.

TSOA owned a second-hand Konica photocopier which arrived into my Summertown shed shortly after the
AGM.  This machine was used to produce the magazine.  Typically it would be 15-20 A4 sheets printed both
sides, with a print run of about 80 copies (today’s print run is about 250 copies.)After a while Konica would
no longer service the old photocopier, so we upgraded to a newer (still secondhand) photocopier, leased
from Konica with a service contract.

This technical marvel could print double sided from single side originals, and also collate up to 10 complete
documents.  I could load 20 originals then come back after several minutes to find 10 complete 20-page
magazines ready to staple.  At least that was the theory.Unfortunately the cold damp climate of
Summertown in winter meant the stored paper was never perfectly dry, so misfeeds and paper jams were
frequent.  Other breakdowns meant I became quite friendly with the Konica service guy.Sometimes the
machine would be out of action for a few days and I would discreetly do a few hundred photocopies early
in the morning when no supervisors were around in the offices where I worked.

Each month some of the TSOA committee members would come to my home to help with final collating
and stapling the magazine.  It was then folded into a pre-addresses wrapper and fastened with sticky
tape.These evenings were quite enjoyable and also served as informal TSOA Committee meetings.  The
late Tony Esau and the late Eddie Knight would always come to help and many others too during those
years.

Finally the 80 copies were sorted by postcode and bundled, then into a large box for delivery by me to
Adelaide GPO next morning.  We got a hefty discount for pre-sorting, and I think we even got a discount
for delivery to the GPO before 8.00am.  I would pay cash at the counter and claim it back at the next
TSOA meeting.

Apart from regular monthly issues, I introduced a different cover picture each month, usually my own
photo of a member’s car, sometimes in colour (wow.)  I think Richard Sutherland is reproducing some of
these old photos this year.  Also I did away with reproducing old test reports and articles from commercial
magazines, in favour of original content from members.  It’s pleasing to see this continues today.
Finally I congratulate Richard on today’s TRak magazine; still very much at the heart of all that TSOA
does.The technology and production methods have changed greatly since 1990, but I bet Richard still
spends many hours each month to produce such a high quality magazine.Long may it continue!

Tom Long

Welcome to 2013!

The January informal meeting was held and the girls headed off for gelato and coffee and a chin wag….guess what we talked about? Cars! . . . . wow! What will happen next? It was great to have Barb Sampson with us for the evening but we were sorry Lorraine was not able to join us.

The Ice Cream run was great with many families joining in and the weather was kind to us.

The next ladies technical Lunch will be on Tuesday 12th February at Adelina’s Café at the Library, rear of Burnside Civic Centre at 12.00noon. (In the car park where we meet for Sunday runs)

Quote for the month: Don’t let anyone EVER dull your Sparkle!

Margie Berlemon

We finished off 2012 with a fabulous Christmas Dinner at the Royal Adelaide Golf Club. A great night of club fellowship and Trophies presented to their worthy recipients but best of all was the venue, the food and the service. The Royal Adelaide Gold Club knows how to host a great evening. Which brings me to the question of where do we hold our Christmas dinner this year? I surveyed about 20 people during and after the event and all but 1 strongly recommend we stay there. In the words of Life Member Tom Long, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!’  Thanks must go to Sue Gibson for organising such a great night.

The New Year started with our January casual meeting which was a good chance for the fellows to have a good chat and a beer, and the girls likewise had a natter with their gelato and coffee at CIBO’s.

Which brought us to last night’s Annual Ice Cream run to Noonies Café at Semaphore.  About 50 members, friends, and family enjoyed a great evening run finishing along the coast line timed perfectly for the sun set. The Café provided us with reasonable food and of course lots of ice cream! A good night was had by all.

February brings the All British Day with a very strong club representation of what promises to be a great event at our new venue – the Echunga Oval.

The annual MSCA Presentation Picnic will this year be held at the Mylor Oval on the 17th February.  Mylor Oval is a very picturesque setting in our beautiful Adelaide Hills so should provide for a great club display.  This is a BYO event. Look for details in advert from Rick in this Trak.

March club run on the 17th will be to Tenafeate Creek Winery at One Tree Hill. We have been to this venue once before and thoroughly enjoyed their food (wood oven pizza, Brushetta) wines and the stunning views.  I still recall Chuck and Dianne Falzon filling the back of the Roadster with cartons of wine!

February Birthday greetings to: Maree Staehr, Frankie Merritt, Joan Bowman, Cameron Elsdon and Neil Martin.

Till next time.

Bill Berlemon.

Happy New Year.

I trust everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing festive season and that our competitors have been refreshing and preparing their machines in readiness for the 2013 motor racing calendar.

Our first motorsport event of the year kicks off with Modern Regularity at Mallala on the 10th of February.The following weekend (17th February) is the annual MSCA presentation day picnic. This year’s event will be held from 11am at the Mylor oval. There is no planned run to the venue this year so just make your own way there. As in previous years there will be an award to the club that has the best display of cars on the day.

A key date to keep in your diaries this year is the 5th of May for the 6 hour regularity event. This is an activity that all club members can be involved with. We will need volunteers for pit crew, timekeepers, lap scorers and various other jobs. If you wish to join in on the fun please contact me.

Another event the club will ask for volunteers is the 25th of August. This is the TSOA’s turn to supply marshals for the MSCA super Sprint round. This is a rewarding day for everyone who wishes to be involved and allows you insight on how a racing event is run with communication directly from race control. Lunch, drinks and morning tea is provided to all helpers.

Until next month.

Cheers

Rick Staehr

MSCA confirmed dates

17 February        Presentation Day at Mylor Oval. Start 11am

24 March            Super Sprint Round

15 May                6 Hour Regularity

16 June             Super Sprint Round 2

21 July               Super Sprint Round 3

25 August           Super Sprint Round 4

20 October         Super Sprint Round 5

Officials required by TSOA             25 August

What a lovely example of the Spitfire! David Widdrington is very proud of his 1964 Mk 1 and so he should
be! (Photo taken at the 2012 Day of Triumph)

There were plenty of bonnets raised at the Day of Triumph on 28th October . . . but only for inspection,
not the usual mainentance. John Tuohy’s “Jaffa” saloon was no exception! Or maybe it is, having taken the
Concours d’Elegance trophy for best in class once again. Congratulations John!

It was with much sadness that I had to share this month the news of John Sampson’s passing, quite suddenly. John was a terrific Club President, and TSOA enthusiast who did so much for the Club, the Marque and the Historic Motoring Community. Much of which went largely unnoticed by many, but John was never a man to blow his TRumpet about his achievements.

Many thanks on behalf of his wife Barbara and their families for the numerous emails, cards, flowers etc received of support and thoughts during the past weeks. John is greatly missed by the club, and I am positive that at the time of writing, his funeral with a display of John’s award winning TR6 and other member’s Triumphs, will have been a fitting farewell to this remarkable man.

The Annual Day of Triumph held in the past month was a great success, over 50 cars on were on display, many entered the judging, and a huge thanks goes to all the volunteers on the day who made the event run so smoothly, and of course, to all the winners. The competition was tight, scores were close.

Due to a recent change of employment, I had to cancel my National Meeting registration. I was pleased to hear so many positive reports come back from our members that attended, especially of the trophies and awards given to the members who displayed their cars and participated. Well done!

MSCA Competition is now over for the year, it was a great year personally for me, achieving a Personal Best almost every round, however I would love to see more Triumphs out there on the TRack. I am open to suggestions as to how we can do this, but am pleased to hear that the 6 Hour Regularity next year should be abundant with Triumphs.

Our next Association meeting is the January Informal meeting. Due to John’s passing, February’s next formal general meeting will now include an election of a new President. This is a great opportunity for someone new to consider joining the committee. It is likely there will be a shuffle of positions, so please come to February meeting with your nomination ready and use the festive period to chat to anyone on the committee if you are considering or would like more information.

The Club has some wonderful events coming up over the next couple of months and into the festive season. I look forward to seeing many of you out in your Triumph over this fun time of year, catching up over coffee’s and ice cream, and at the Christmas Dinner.

Seasons Greetings

Duane Kaak