President’s Report – November 2023
Sunday, November 26th, 2023The 42nd TSOA Nationals were held in the last week of October, and were very successful, despite the less than perfect weather. The week-long event was at Lady Bay Resort, Warrnambool. The “Shipwreck Coast” as this locale is known, is one of the most stunning parts of Australia. TSOA Victoria organised a great week which was thoroughly enjoyed by all those attending.
I have done a full report of the event, and this is available on the TSOASA website. Some noticeable highlights were, however as follows:
Show and Shine winners: 1st– Trevor Norris (Dolomite Sprint) Vic; 2nd – Ron Farrugia (TR5) Vic; 3rd -Dino Vettese (TR6) SA; 4th – Lisa Vettese (Stag) SA; 5th – Geoff Byrne (TR6) NSW; 6th – Alex Smithson (TR5) SA.
Movie watched at Port Fairy’s historic Reardon Picture Theatre – early 1970’s Australian cult classic, “The Cars that Ate Paris”. Reviews mixed.
Ironman Trophy winner – Western Australia. (Controversial as team only comprised two people, Ron and Leigh Marian).
It was a fabulous week of great food, great company, great events, and of course, great Triumphs. There were attendees from all mainland states, with a South Australian contingent of 17 attending. We are now looking forward to Albany next year.
I understand from the WA organisers, that Albany is already fully subscribed, however TSOA members can still place their names on the waiting list. We know, from previous experience, that as the event gets closer, there will be inevitable cancellations and I strongly recommend anyone interested to get their names on the waiting list post-haste, as offers will be made when cancellations occur on a strict order of initial application. Register at: https://tsoa-wa.com/triumph-tsoa-nationals-2024/.
Our Christmas dinner and trophy presentation night was on Saturday at Royal Adelaide Golf Club. Sue Gibson has yet again, done a great job organising this event and the club is greatly indebted to her for her ongoing hard work in making this dinner a real highlight of our club year. Special congratulations to Larie and Kaye Placing for winning the Clubman trophy.
At our November meeting, we also had three cars on stage. Firstly, Peter Bogatec had his TR7V8 displayed. This car is in great condition, and Peter recently ran it is the Adelaide Rally. This was not planned, as he had a race car entered, but was not able to use it due to mechanical problems.
Don Richards had his TR250 on display. Don is in the process of restoring two TR6’s and came across this car when sourcing parts for the TR6. Roger Lange commented that Don got it from under his nose, and that he was next in line if the sale to Don had fallen through.
Finally, our secretary, Duane Kaak had his TR7V8 race car on display. This car has had a new motor relatively recently (out of a Range Rover). Duane has had this car for quite a few years, and it has great sentimental value to him. A spur of the moment decision to advertise for a travelling companion to accompany him and share the costs of driving it back from Melbourne to Adelaide all those years ago resulted in him meeting Meranie, who fell in love with the man and his car.
We do not have a meeting in December, and the January meeting will be an informal gathering at the Sporting Car Club. Trevor Hawkins has suggested that we make this a “swap meet” where members bring any relatively small and easily carried parts along to find potential new homes. I will send out an email to all members before the January meeting as a reminder and confirm more details.
Regards
Alex Smithson