Jon in WA

Jon Williams doing a little bit of circle work around the cones in WA after moving over there recently. The “6” looks great Jon!

The sausage sizzle lunch at Thorndon Park on Sunday 19th June saw 38 people enjoy a club sponsored gourmet sausage lunch.  The weather forecast was not good, however there was blue sky and sunshine for the morning and into the early afternoon, before the rain set in later on  The run, organised by Bill Smith, took in some roads not travelled before, departing from The Place Next Door on Greenhill Road and heading into the hills ending up at Thorndon Park at 12.30pm for lunch.  The gourmet sausages were cooked by Bill Berlemon at home and transported to the park in foil lined eskies to keep them hot.  Thanks to Bill and Margie for organising the food, Bill and Lyle for cooking the sausages, Sue T for preparing the bread rolls and Bill Smith for organising the run route.

The mid week run on Wednesday 6th July is meeting at Millies Bakery at Stirling at 10.00am for coffee before heading off at 11.00am destination Grumphy’s at Hahndorf for wood oven pizzas.  Stephen Wade has organised this run.

The run on 24th July is being organised by Ian Rigby and heading to Cafe Y in the Barossa for lunch stopping off at Cudlee Creek for coffee on the way.  Ian and Raelene have put a lot of work into organising this day, so let’s see lots of Triumphs out and about whatever the weather may throw at us.

Sue Gibson

The weather was perfect for the club sponsored sausage sizzle held on Sunday 19th June at Thorndon Park. The Sunday morning run was well attended by about 48 members who met at “The Place Next Door” at Burnside for coffee and then enjoyed a drive to the pleasant park surroundings at Thorndon Park, Adelaide’s first reservoir.

Although I was away for the weekend and could not attend, I understand an enjoyable lunch of Gourmet sausages was provided on the day. Once again my thanks go out to Margie and Bill for organising the day.

For those members who have their cars on Historic Concessional Registration and do not have internet access, we have included later in the magazine, an extract from the “Code of Practice” detailing the eligibility criteria as documented in the code.

Just a reminder that the August meeting is our AGM and all official positions will become available for re-election, so if you are looking for challenge or feel the need to participate in the running of the club in some small way in the coming year then let your thoughts be known.

Many of the current committee and appointed club positions have been held for several years by a same willing people, and some may be interested in having a break, so speak up as one of these positions may be just what you are looking for.

Till we meet again,

John Sampson

Remember July 24th run. Meet at Adelaide oval front gates off King Willianm. Meet at 9.30 run will be through the hills with a morning stop then on to lunch at Y cafe. Cafe has live music with wood fired food on Sundays. Area also has opal shop, Cheese and wine tasting. Car park display of the cars. Info Ian Rigby or Sue. Info in June mag.

Past

May 1 MSCA 6HR  Mallala

Sunday 1st May started out wet and cool for the 2011 running of the MSCA 6 Hour Regularity Relay at Mallala, though conditions were apparently better than in Adelaide. This years “Team Triumph” consisted of 6 drivers and cars. Unfortunately, this number was reduced to 5 when Roger Mannett from Victoria in his Spitfire dropped a cam follower in Saturdays open practice session. It is somewhere in the sump after the neck broke away from the base. Perhaps lightened a little too much.

Saturday saw a wet morning practice and Team Manager Rog (Roger Lange) decided to guess at some nominated times for the drivers based on a dry track. This proved to be the correct call – well done Rog.

‘And then there were 4’

Our first casualty was Geoff Bills in his TR3A. After putting in some good laps, Geoff’s motor decided to tighten up. Upon entering the pits, All attempts to restart the hardy four came to nought. A post race examination has revealed a spun con rod bearing and some very blue heat stressed rods. Another engine is waiting to be installed.

‘And then there were 3’

Our second casualty was the TR7V8 of Robin George whose temperature dial went of the clock. A split heater hose ended up being the culprit. Once fixed, Robin eventually rejoined the effort, though we were potentially down to 2 cars at one stage.

‘And then there were 2?’

The next to develop an issue was Andy Ansell from Victoria in a borrowed TR7V8. Andy blew a head gasket in his TR7 during the preceding historic Easter event at Mallala. Andy’s new problem was suspected warped front discs that produced severe shudder under braking and progressively worsened as the temperature increased. Andy persevered with the wounded TR in true team spirit and with Robin George rejoining the fold, we were back to 4 runners.

‘Back to 4’

Ian Cowie’s GT6 performed faultlessly, as did Ian.

And what can we say about Neil Martin. Neil and the TR7V8 were, as usual, totally reliable and dependable, as we all knew would be the case.

The pit crew, timers, runners and mechanics all did a great and well appreciated job and looked like they enjoyed the day as much as the drivers. They consisted of (in no particular order)  Rod Carey, Rick and Maree Staehr, Phil Bagust, Arrand Ellery, Peter Davidge, Bryan Young, Tom Bills, Cherri Lange (lunch girl) Rog and myself. Life and founding member Tony Case also made an appearance and buzzed around offering encouragement.

Great job guys and a great result of 3rd outright. The first 3 teams were extremely close – incredibly close.  2012 watch out.

May 29 Collingrove Hillclimb

Bryan Young competed up the hill in his Vitesse at this event and the times are falling – now 45.15. Bryan is our sole climber and is thoroughly enjoying the challenge.
June 5 & 6 Mallala

Rod Carey and myself entered Round 2 of the SA State Racing Series. Both of us had new tyres to scrub in on our GT6’s before the All British Wakefield Park event later in June. Unfortunately, Rods head improvements and new tyres didn’t seem to result in any lap time improvements.  Rod also lost oil pressure in race 3 due to a broken oil pump pickup and the engine now needs a total rebuild. Due to time restrictions, the Spitfire will be pulled out for Wakefield Park and will get a shakedown at Mallala in private practice on 11 June.

My weekend was mixed. I was not at all happy with the new tyres and handling early Saturday. However as the event progressed I fine tuned settings to get the car to a point where it is more predictable and closer to previous performance, though still 3 seconds off my best times. Race 3 was the only one I didn’t have a problem in, starting 12th and finishing 5th. Race 4 on Sunday resulted in the loss of 1 – 4 and reverse gears around lap 6 of 10. I was able to limp home in 5th.

Both Rod and myself have some work to do before Wakefield Park.

Upcoming

June 25 & 26 All Triumph Race & Sprint Wakefield Park

Bryan Young with his Vitesse and Robin George (TR7V8) are joining Neil Martin (TR7V8) this year in the sprints and regularity at Wakefield Park. Rod Carey, Roger Lange and myself  will also be competing in the All Triumph Races. We will be leaving Thursday 23rd and returning Tuesday 28th. If you want to know more about this event or wish to tag along, give me a call.

July 3 MSCA Supersprint Rd2 at Mallala

Our Club has been rostered to assist with flag duties at this round. Please let me know if you will be able to assist. This is a great opportunity to get up close to the racing. Lunch and refreshments are supplied. We need a minimum of 4 and preferably 6 volunteers to be paired into groups of 2.

Other

Tom Hutchinson has joined Ian Wilson  in ditching TR’s for TVR’s. That extra letter makes all the difference. Looks like the competition Trophy may end up in someone else’s home this year?

Cheers,
Trevor Lindsay

What a TRiumphant weekender 40 plus members enjoyed on the 21st and 22nd of May in the Clare valley, lower Flinders rangers, Pt Pirie and Bute. There will be a report later in the magazine so I will not go into any details here, but it would be remiss of me not to give a huge vote of thanks to Margie and Bill for planning a pleasant scenic drive, interesting stops and a great evening on Saturday night, not to mention a BUTE day on Sunday. (sorry, I resisted but in the end I could not stop myself from saying it)

Some members went back to the motel early on Saturday night and missed an exciting new range of talent that was exposed to the population of Pt Pirie at the karaoke night held at the Broken Hill Club, I have had it on good authority that the talent scouts have been alerted and are waiting in the wings for next year’s weekender so they can see them and sign them up.

On a more serious note our club along with all other clubs associated with the Federation of Historic Motor Clubs have received advice from the Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure (DTEI) of impending proposed changes to the concessional Historic Registration scheme, which may impact on those vehicles registered under the scheme.

The proposed changes will be reported in more detail later in this magazine, and over the next couple of months we will pass on more details of the current scheme and include a copy of the “Code of Practice“ applicable to the scheme.

Briefly the proposed changes involve the deletion of the rolling 30 year date for historic vehicles and a retrospective final effective date of the 1st January 1979 introduced, as advised at our last general meeting.

We have sent a letter to DTEI and the Federation of Historic Motor Clubs expressing our concerns in relation to the introduction of the proposed retrospective date, and the significance of the 1981 date to the Triumph marque.
In a conversation I had with a representative of DTEI, I understand that any vehicles of 1979, 1980 and 1981 vintage that are currently registered on the scheme will be able to be on sold and the historic eligibility carried over to the new owner with the appropriate sign off and paperwork as would normally apply.

The second proposal is for a yearly sign off of each concession registered vehicle to ensure the integrity of the historic vehicles, and the alignment of the LHD concessional vehicles from the current date of 1974 to the 1979 proposed date.

It is my understanding that a range of concerns have been registered by various clubs and these will need to be worked through before the legislation is approved, and therefore it won’t be finalised until next year.

This time frame will allow us to discuss internally, plan what we have to do and how we implement the proposed revisions, but it looks as though we will have a couple of days set aside next year to conduct the yearly inspection.

We will keep you informed as the proposed revisions to the scheme are finalised.

At the last General meeting it was decided that the general meeting planned for October will be cancelled as it clashes with the National Rally.

I would like to remind members who have registered for the National rally in October that the next instalment of your entry fee is required by the end of May.

While we are on the subject of dates here are two important club events to put in your diary and plan to attend before other commitments in your activities are locked in.

The 2011 DAY OF TRIUMPH, Pride of Ownership and Concours Day at the TTG Civic park opposite the TTP to be held on Sunday the 11th of September.

The Annual club Christmas dinner and trophy presentation night at the Royal Adelaide Golf Club Seaton to be held on Saturday the 10th of December.

Look forward to catching up soon,

‘Til we meet again
John Sampson

The mid week run in early May ended up at Doncho’s Restaurant at Virginia Nursery.  The meeting place was Endue on Grand Junction Road for coffee and a browse through the shop.  The run took us up through Chain of Ponds to Kersbrook and down towards Gawler before picking up Angle Vale Road and Gawler Road to the Nursery.  Hopefully those people who came along enjoyed the run and their lunch.

The annual weekender was again very successful with 44 people joining in what can only be described as a weekend full of fun, food and a bit of frivolity.  The only disappointment was the lack of Triumphs, probably due to the shocking weather forecast for strong winds and rain, which did catch up with us on Sunday for our trip home.  Once again Bill and Margie put an awful lot of effort into organising the two days and I know they had already done the trip twice before the actual event.  A huge thank you from everyone who attended for what was a great two days.  Where to next year?

The run on Sunday 19th June will end up at Thorndon Park for a club sponsored gourmet sausage sizzle lunch.  There is plenty of under cover area should the weather be inclement, so don’t let the weather deter you from participating.  Just bring chairs, tables and drinks and of course your Triumph.

The next ladies technical session will be on Tuesday 14th June at Cafe Buongiorno Mitcham at 12.00 noon.  As usual if you are free on that day come along and join us for a chat and a bite to eat.

There will be a mid week run on Wednesday July 6th meeting at Millies Bakery in Stirling at 10.00am for 11.00am departure.  The run is ending up at Grumphy’s in Hahndorf for wood fired pizzas for lunch at a cost of $14.90ph.

A reminder that due to the National Rally being held in Mt Gambier in October there will be NO MEETING that month.

Sue Gibson

2011 MSCA 6-HOUR REGULARITY RELAY RESULTS

A computer glitch has been found to have messed with some of the team results for this year’s 6-Hour event held on 1st May.

This included the teams placed first and second which have now been relegated down the line, which has meant that this year’s winners were in fact the Scuderia Alfa Black Team from SA with 54.68%. Second place went to a mixed Team from Victoria (53.41%, and THIRD PLACE HAS NOW BEEN AWARDED TO TEAM TRIUMPH with 52.86%.

Once again, thanks to all the drivers and volunteer helpers on the day . . .  a great result for TSOA SA and our invited guests from Victoria. Well done all!!

Roger Lange, Team Manager

Just prior to the last general meeting the committee held a short meeting to sanction a few changes we have been working on over the last couple of months, and I thought the general membership should be advised even though it will not affect the day to day running of the club.

First of all Peter Davidge has been reviewing the clubs finances and how the funds are managed, and we have approved his recommendations to continue forward with three accounts that will gain an improved return on our funds and allow the treasurer greater flexibility in running our accounts. We will progressively move to electronic fund transfer and rely less on our old cheque account.

At the same meeting Peter presented, and the committee approved the budget for next year and we are please to advise that the club membership subscriptions will be held at the same level as the last couple of years, while maintaining the level of activities we have come to expect.

The weather has been kind to us on our last couple of runs and the breakfast run to Clarendon and beyond was enjoyed by all who attended, and my thanks go to Lyle and Sue for again organising this event.

The technical meeting held in early April with a practical session on spray painting was well attended with approximately 25 participants and thanks goes to John Tuohy and Richard Sutherland for planning and organising this event.

On Easter Saturday I ventured out to Mallala to watch the National Historic race meeting and again the weather was great and I had an enjoyable day watching the older cars compete in their historic events as well as several club members participating in the modern regularity events, due to another commitment I had to leave before the day was over and I am sure any results achieved on the day will be reported later in this magazine.

On the day it was pleasing to see a TR2, TR3A, TR4, TR4A, 4 x TR6’s, a 2500 estate and a Daimler Dart on display in the designated area, and while 2 of these cars did not belong to our club members the marque was again well represented amongst the 50 or so vehicles on display.

Three of the Triumph display cars took advantage of the lunch time parade and did five or six laps around the circuit under the control of a pace car, and while it was not race conditions it was a bit of a buzz to get a feel of the circuit.

Look forward to catching up soon,
‘Til we meet again

John Sampson

The annual breakfast run was again organised by Lyle & Sue Taylor who were unfortunately unable to attend however Lyle saw all the cars off from the Mitcham Shopping Centre carpark at 8.00am.   The run took us through Blackwood to Clarendon and the picnic area down by the oval.  It was a perfect day weatherwise and thanks to Lyle & Sue for organising.

The ladies Technical lunch on 12th April saw a good number discuss all things technical and enjoy a bite to eat as well.  The next lunch will be on Tuesday 14th June at Cafe Buongiorno Mitcham.

The next mid week run is on Wednesday 4th May heading to Doncho’s Cafe at Virginia Nursery for lunch.  We are meeting at Endue Cnr Grand Junction and Nelson Roads at 10.00am for coffee departing 11.00am.

The annual weekender is fast approaching and full payment should have been made at the April Meeting.  As usual it promises to be an excellent weekend organised by Bill and Margie with plenty of things to do and see on our way to our overnight stop at Pt Pirie and the following day on our return to Adelaide.  The dates are Sat/Sun 21st/22nd May.

The June run on Sunday 19th will be a club sponsored sausage sizzle lunch at Thorndon Park where there is a large under cover area should the weather be inclement.  Meeting at 10.00am at The Place Next Door Cnr Glynburn and Greenhill Rds departing at 11.00am.

Sue Gibson