This just in:

Well here we are in November! Who would have thunk it – I’m not exactly sure where this year has gone, but it does seem to have flashed by a bit faster even than the last few.

I’ll blame Covid. And that’s the last mention, I promise.

This is late as I was away all weekend at the delayed HSRCA Spring Festival at Wakefield. What a great turnout of varied and unusual cars – I am constantly surprised that there are so many hidden gems, and better yet that they are brought out to play. I’ll try to scribble some notes elsewhere to go with Seth’s awesome photography.

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Image thanks to Gino Valdes

Hello everyone,

Spring is certainly here and with fine weather starting to encourage more thoughts for trips slightly further afield, I hope everyone has at least one car that is fully functional!

Thank you to everyone who braved the technology challenges for our first ever virtual AGM on September 15th. And thank you once again to your wonderful committee, all of whom have agreed to continue on in either existing or slightly altered capacity.

Our fearless VP Anne has taken on the daunting task of updating our Constitution (last updated probably sometime in the 1980s!) In order to confirm the updates and alterations, we need 75% of the current membership to affirm their acceptance, so we will be in contact once it is in as close to final draft as we can manage for your thoughts and feedback. Once that process is complete, we will be back in touch for your vote of acceptance.

We have started work on the possibility of a trip around regional NSW to replace the L2021 trip to Tassie. At this point, the trip is planned for late April or early May next year. Thinking is to be three nights, four days, over a weekend (so for those still working it’ll mean taking a Friday and Monday as leave most probably).

We also had an excellent suggestion from the ever-resourceful Ed Holly to try an additional Tyre Kick and Coffee location. THIS SUNDAY (11th) we will meet at the By the Bay Cafe in Blakehurst (see calendar invite for full details) kicking off a bit earlier than the Rhodes meeting, as this location becomes fairly busy by 9.30, so we are trying an 8.30 start.

We hope this may attract more of the southern contingent. If it works, we can work on a similar approach for the Northerners. Just to be clear, this is an experiment, and is not replacing the existing location at Kokoda Cafe in Rhodes.

In other news, I’m truly delighted to see that the motorsport calendar is starting to regain some momentum. We had the Triumph round of the CSCA a couple of weeks back, which I am very pleased to report was oversubscribed, such that yours truly only got in by dint of someone having to pull out at the last minute. Good times, with lots of familiar faces out having fun. Not a particularly fast day for some reason, but apart from an early and spectacularly generous oil spill, generally the day ran smoothly.

Simply Sports Cars has instituted a series of SMSP-based track days which have been well received by those able to get time off during the week.

The HSRCA has announced that not only is the Spring Festival now going ahead at the end of October (31st Oct – 1st Nov) but also the Summer Festival (planned to be at the end of November) is to be held in honour of the late and great Ron Taurenac at SMSP. Planning is underway for the largest possible gathering of Brabham and RALT cars in the great man’s honour. So if you have, or know someone with either marque, please get in touch with Wayne Wilson through the HSRCA. Most likely the number of supporters will still be limited to one per participant, so if you’d like to be there (as pit crew), let me or any of the regular participants know and we’ll see if we can make it work.

We are still contemplating the possibility of a Christmas Party on Sunday 6th December. Under current regs, the maximum number at a corporate event is 300, which we are unlikely to challenge, and provided we have 4 square metres of space per participant, and have completed an approved Covid Safety Plan, we should (I think) be OK. Then just have to find a location that’ll have us!

This will be a self-catered event (i.e. you bring your own food and drink) as there is simply too much complexity involved in getting a caterer involved. And of course you have to want it to go ahead, so please let us know if you would like to come and would like us to continue planning this by dropping an email to [email protected] – if there is not enough interest, we will pull the pin!

So, as we rush headlong towards the Christmas period, I hope you and your families are well and starting to see the light at the end of the Covid tunnel, and I hope you all have started planning for a good break over the Christmas period.

Meanwhile, keep safe, upright and mostly on the blackstuff,

Pip pip
Ashton