NEWSLETTER - October 2007 We Meet Monthly - on the Fourth Tuesday of the Month - See Note Overleaf 8Pm at the VHRR Club Rooms 30-32 Lexton Rd Box Hill
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PO Box 3485 MELBOURNE VIC 3001 Website: www.vhrr.com Reg. No. 57/001 NEWSLETTER - October 2007 We meet Monthly - on the Fourth Tuesday of the Month - see note overleaf 8pm at the VHRR Club rooms 30-32 Lexton Rd Box Hill. Wednesday Lunch Group - every Wednesday except Christmas Holidays. COMING EVENTS October 7th Bathurst Sunday at the Clubrooms ...........BYO October 12th -14th Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix October 20th Mt Tarrengower Historic Hillclimb ..............03 5476 2007 October 20th - 21st ‘Como’ open day - Olinda ........................03 9439 5464 October 23rd MGM & Auction Night - Noel ....................0402 224 133 November 9th -11th Historic Sandown (CCE) Noel Robson ..............................................0402 224 133 November 22nd Social MGM ...............................................New! November 25th 16th Historic & Classic Rob Roy David White ...............................................03 9850 4795 December 8th Christmas & Awards Night David Palstra .............................................03 9890 2485 March 2008 7th - 9th Phillip Island Classic (CCE) .......................03 9877 2317 March 2008 11th Rob Roy mid week Hillclimb......................03 9850 4795 August 2008 20th Heathcote (CCE) .......................................03 9890 3833 CLUB LIBRARY HOURS Wednesdays 11.30-2.00 Club Nights 6.30-7.30 Club Permit Scheme Lloyd Shaw ................................................0415 351 164 (Red Plate) PO Box 828 Glen Waverley 3150 *CCE = Club Championship Event All the above club activities including the Wednesday Lunch are designated Red Plate activities. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed within this newsletter are not necessarily those of the VHRR Inc. or its Committee and/or its Newsletter Editor. Whilst all care has been taken, neither the club or its officers accept responsibility for the accuracy of information printed and the quality of any items or services advertised or mentioned in this publication. Incorporated association Number A 0007117C. The Editor reserves the right to edit contributions submitted for publication. “Share the Passion” The VHRR gratefully acknowledges the support of our major sponsors IMPORTANT NOTICES • Historic Sandown 9th - 11th November Entries Close Friday 12th October See the website - www.vhrr.com/forms - for a last minute entry form, or call Noel Robson, 0402 224 133 or Simon Rogers AH 9807 6429, 0419 504 102 Email: [email protected] • October 7th Bathurst Sunday at the Clubrooms from 8.00am - No Catering, bring your own everything. • October MGM Auction Night - Don’t forget to find some stuff for Noel to Auction at the next MGM on Tuesday 23rd October - 8.00 pm at the clubrooms. Give Noel a call on 0402 224 133 or email him on [email protected] if you want to capitalise on those treasures. • Effective Immediately - Traditionally the VHRR have only met bi-monthly on the fourth Tuesday of even months, i.e. February, April, June, August & October with our annual awards night celebrated in December. Following the Annual Auction Night on October 23rd and commencing in November the club will now meet every month on the fourth Tuesday (except December). Clubrooms will open by 6.00pm and the odd month meetings will have no formal structure, but rather allow members to get together socially. By opening by 6.00pm members may elect to have a BYO meal at the Clubrooms rather than going home first. Initially there will be no catering, other than tea & coffee, or supper etc., because of the uncertainty of attendance numbers. More information on Auction Night October 23rd. • Perpetual Awards Were you the recipient of a Club Perpetual Award at Awards night during the past three years? The club records have been misplaced and the committee are anxious to retain the historical record. If so, please let a committee member have the details or ring Lloyd Shaw - 0415 351 164 • Something for the Whole family - Spring Open Days COMO Gardens George and Pat Hetrel will open their property “Como Gardens” on Saturday and Sunday October 20th and 21st. with all proceeds to the St. John Ambulance and the SES. For 10 years George and Pat have conducted these open days each spring and autumn in aid of charity and also allow motoring organisations to conduct their annual picnics at other times in aid of charity. The whole family can enjoy the 15 acres of magnificent gardens; kids of all ages can enjoy a ride on the steam train around the property; and Dad can enjoy the motor museum which includes the great 540K Mercedes, T35c Bugatti, 1896 Benz, “Brocky’s” GTR XU1 and many more. There will be radio controlled yachts and motor boats on the lake and catering is available. You can also BYO and picnic on the lawns and under the trees. Entry $7.50 per person with children under 14 free. Let’s all get behind George and Pat in their great work. You’ll enjoy it. • Adelaide Easter Historic Racing Festival 21-24 March The Promoters will run a special race for Formula Ford Cars if 10 cars are entered • 75 years Great Ocean Road Celebration Tour The VACC Presents this 4 day tour re-creating the Official Opening of the World’s Largest War Memorial on 26 November, 1932. 40 Vintage and Veteran cars will take part in the Tour. All proceeds go to Retina Australia Victoria. Enthusiasts are invited to watch as the cars drive from Melbourne to Portland. Further details phone Charles Rogers on 0407 246 533 or visit web site – www.carsoftheworld.com.au • Richard Longes had a bad car accident during the weekend and is in an induced coma in Royal North Shore Hospital. Richard owns the ex Jack Brabham T51 Cooper Climax. No further details were to hand as this newsletter went to press. We wish him a speedy recovery. • New Pics on the website: Morwell - Goodwood - Shelsley Walsh - Maribrynong. • Editor Grant Campbell - [email protected] 03 9787 3640 Fax 03 9787 9108 • Thanks to the people who responded to my last request for car histories. I’ve had one with three stories, and another taking up our offer to write the story for you. The plan is to run a precis of the story in this Newsletter, then an expanded version to go in the Oily Rag, complete with photos. Then that version can be published on the website. Of course that still leaves about 300 more histories to come, so keep them coming. I am also putting together a Website gallery of all VHRR Member’s cars and I hope to have enough to look sensible pretty soon. However I am using pics from the website, so if your car hasn’t appeared on the site, then I would appreciate it if you could send me one - Email above - Snail Mail 64-66 Claremont St Mt Eliza 3930 SPEED ON TWEED – SEPTEMBER 7 – 9 2007 Once again this great event was enjoyed by all. As you may be aware, the organizers are calling it Australia’s Goodwood. Not having been to Goodwood I cannot comment other than to say it is the best event I’ve been to in Australia. The organization is fantastic, the atmosphere even better and the entire town gets behind the event for the whole week. For those who don’t know the event is a timed, single vehicle sprint over a 1.2 km course through the streets of Murwillumbah, located on the Tweed River (hence the name) in northern NSW. The course can only be described as tight and VERY testing. There are numerous corners (one aptly named JESUS corner, not for obvious reasons, there’s a church there!), the majority of which are 90 degrees or more and off camber. The entire track is lined with Armco or plastic barriers, to protect the crowd, I imagine. Spectators line most of the course, along with residents sitting on their front verandahs drinking stubbies or Bundy and cokes, so there’s plenty of atmosphere. Social events abound over the weekend, culminating in a huge street concert and outdoor dining extravaganza on the Saturday night. The VHRR was very well represented this year. Amongst the competitors were Ian Tate, Ron Townley, Ian McDonald, Graeme Steinfort, Tom Roberts, Peter Gostelow, Ron Brownrigg, Adam Molina (who in his 1st event won his class, a fantastic performance), the Chamberlain (the driver of which I’m unsure of) and of course the three musketeers representing the air cooled fraternity, David Reid, Graeme Noonan and yours truly. Apologies to anyone I’ve missed. 2007 was my 2nd year and it is in my calendar for the future. If you have the opportunity to get there next year or in the future, even as a spectator, don’t miss it. David Palstra A CATEGORY IN TROUBLE – GROUP Sa It’s interesting to pick up a VHRR Race Program from the late 90’s and look at the Group S race fields. Sa had a great list of not only Healeys, TR’s and MGA’s but also a Daimler SP250, Porsche 356, Sunbeam Alpine, Corvette and an XK150. Look at a current program and you’ll see only a half dozen or less Sa cars – fields have more than halved. To discover why so many drivers have dropped out I’ve spoken to several. Many say they are sick of trundling around at the very back of very fast Sb/Sc fields. Others raised the safety issue and mentioned the closing speeds on the straights. Three different things have happened to the cars. Some were sold e.g. Terry Sully and his Sunbeam Alpine, some are on the market e.g. Peter Kent and his 100/4 Healey and some have been put on blocks e.g. Bill Hemming and the XK Jag. One way to re-vitalize Sa is to allow them to run in fields with compatible lap times e.g.