PAST

Phillip Island 26/27 Sept

Wild and variable conditions hosted Round 4 of the Victorian Motor Racing Championships. Whilst leading the pack in Race 1 and full of confidence in wet conditions, Tom Hutchinson (TR8) spun off the track at Lukey Heights into the gravel trap assisted by oil dropped by a fellow competitor. After this it was a matter of wrong tyre choice in the constantly changing wet/dry conditions and Tom was continually caught out so elected not to continue. Lyn Punshon, a fellow South Australian in a Cobra, destroyed his wet tyres and as there were no more available elected to race on slicks in the last race – a wet start. However the conditions changed to dry and he won that race. Such was the gamble on tyre choice over the whole weekend. See ‘www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi’

Mallala  MSCA Sprint Rd4 25 Oct     Rod Carey, Roger Lange and myself took our GT6’s out for the last time this year. There was a full field of entries that varied from the older historics to every day drivers and modern race cars. None of us had any problems and all did respectable times. I am still out on whether my change from a 4.1:1 diff to a 3.7:1 diff was an improvement as my 2+ year old tyres have now lost their edge. My best time of 1:18.04 was 1.5 secs of my best. However, I didn’t run out of revs this time.

FUTURE

Mallala Racing 14 Nov       This is Round 4 and the final round of this years State Race Championships. It is a Saturday twilight meeting that generally starts around midday and extends into the evening. Come up for a look.

Classic Adelaide 18 – 22 Nov       There are still only two confirmed Triumph entries so far this year being Stephen & Ginetta Rochester in their TR3A and Steve Fisher in a TR7. See ‘www.classicadelaide.com.au/ca09/index.asp’

MSCA Tentative Calendar For 2010

Skills Enhancement Day:                      Sunday 21st February

Round 1:                                               Sunday 28th March

6 hour:                                                  Sunday 30th May

Round 2:                                               Sunday 4th July

Round 3:                                               Sunday 8th August

Advanced Driver Training:                   Sunday 19th September

Round 4:                                               Sunday 24th October

OTHER

Strathalbyn Swap Meet       A note to myself. Next year get there well before midday or the show will have been and gone.

the-roadster-factory      My parts arrived safely and I am particularly impressed with the quality of the rubber products. Much better than I have previously received from the UK.

World Championships       Hopefully Casey Stoner (Aus) has come third in the MotoGP bike championship after missing a number of races with a mystery illness. Mark Webber (Aus) has secured 4th position in the F1 world championship. Not bad results for a small populace.

Car Movements            Following the exodus of the ex Dennis Hawkins GT6 racer to Queensland a little while ago, Tom Hutchinson’s Mk11 GT6 race car has followed suit. (And then there were three!). However, a fellow work mate has just acquired a yellow Mk1 Spitfire from Queensland. Hope to see him as a new club member soon.

Presidential Rumblings            It would appear one of our fold has caused a stir amongst our MG brethren by recent remarks published in this magazine. The offender was seen pushing an MG to try jump starting it at the October MSCA meet – perhaps somewhat tongue in cheek. Another racing year has drawn to a close. It would be nice to see some new faces from our fold on the track next year. If you think you may be interested, please give me a call and I will allay your concerns.

Cheers,

Trevor Lindsay