Sunday August 25th is the TSOA’s turn to supply flag marshals for the 4th round of the MSCA SA Super Sprint Series. Volunteers don’t have to be at Mallala for the entire day if we supply enough marshals. Being a flag marshal is a great way to get an understanding of what competitors get out of sprinting. Each flag point is hooked into the event via radio communication so each flaggie gets to know exactly what’s going on during the event.

If you read my previous article you will know that the Mazda MX5 club had a very successful day when it was their turn to flag marshal. Most of their members had never been to Mallala Motorsport Park before and thoroughly enjoyed the day doing something they hadn’t done before. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us later this month which would make for a lovely picnic on the lawns.  Our recent rains have made the country very green and the plains of outer Adelaide look a spectacle.  Please contact me if you are available to assist me on the day. My contact details are in the advertisement for this event in this edition of TRak.

As I write this article there is no results posted on the web for the 3rd round of the Super Sprint Series held on July 21st. A full report of this round will be in month’s edition.

Neil Martin participated in a recent round of the Regularity season at Mallala. It would seem from the results Neil had a mixed day with a couple of DNF’s, a 4th in heat 2 followed by a 10th placing in heat 4.

Cheers,

Rick Staehr

The Mazda MX 5 club was rostered to do flag duty at the 2nd round of the Super Sprint Series at Mallala in June and they turned up in force.

Over 30 MX5 members attended and most had never been to the Mallala circuit before. Needless to say that they had every flag point well and truly covered. Their club made this day an official club run with some stopping for morning tea at Virginia Nurseries and arriving at the track just in time for a club supplied lunch cooked on site in one of the pit garages. All members were invited to do parade laps with passengers around the track at lunchtime. The only time I have seen more cars doing parade laps was at an Easter meeting. The advantage this club had with such an attendance was that they could take turns at flag marshalling and didn’t have to be at the track all day if they didn’t wish.

Feedback I got from the organiser of the MX5 club (Dennis Hawkins . . .can you believe it! Ed) was that their members had a very enjoyable day and enjoyed doing something different.

Perhaps the TSOA may like to do something similar? The weather should fine up late August to have the top down for a run around the track at lunchtime and to have a picnic on the grass. Don’t forget it is the TSOA’s rostered turn to do flag marshalling on Sunday 25th August.

I did notice the TSOA had one spectator at this race meeting who lifted the bonnet of his GT6 to show some interested parties. This member is also an active viewer of the TSOA Website.

On to things competition, we had 75 cars entered for this round. Numbers have been down for the last 2 seasons, something to do with tough economical times I expect. Our two regular TSOA competitors again entered. Neil Martin did his best time of the day in run 3 with a time of 1:27:91. I spoke to Neil at the lunchtime break and he was frustrated that with all the upgrades he had done to his car he couldn’t eclipse his best time, however he did go faster in the afternoon sessions. Duane was frustrated for another reason, being held up by slower cars in the morning sessions. Duane’s best time of the day was 1:30:47 in run 2.

The next round of the Super Sprint Series could see the return of an orange GT6 that has received a complete engine transplant. Early reports suggests that the new engine is producing some promising results on the dyno. Welcome back Rog.

Until next month.

Cheers, Rick Staehr

Coming Events

13th July           Come & Try Hillclimb Collingrove

14th July           Hillclimb Multiclub RD 2 Collinggrove

21st July            MSCA Super Sprint RD 3

4th August         Modern Regularity Mallala

25th August       MSCA Super Sprint RD 4 TSOA rostered for flag marshalling

The 1st Sunday of May marked this year’s running of the MSCA 6 hour team regularity event at Mallala. 18 teams were fielded this year with the TSOA providing one team made up from a mix of South Australian and Victorian Drivers. Roger Lange again was team manager and was assisted by an enthusiastic and capable pit crew. Roger had set the team an objective at the team meeting which was “to have fun”.

Bill Berlemon and John Tuohy volunteered as the batten runners— we made sure we had the youngest and fittest members for this important role. Dean Berlemon was in charge of the pit board, complete with a new set of magnetic numbers that didn’t fall off over the pit wall. Last year we had to try to retrieve numbers that had fallen off over the pit wall which lead to some inventive provisions to retrieve them. Arrand Ellery, Rod Carey and Rick Staehr were allocated timekeeping duties and Phil Bagust scribed the times. The pit crew worked like a well oiled machine. Cherri Lange provided the team with her great homemade muffins –delicious! – and delivered the lunch orders. Meranie Vermeer was our official photographer on the day.

Three drivers made the trek from Victoria, regular visitor Andy Ansell in his “Chocwedge” TR7, Ian Cowie GT6 and first timer at Mallala, Ed Ferguson in a TR7V8. South Australia was represented with regulars Neil Martin and Duane Kaak both in TR7V8’s. Robin George who was a late scratching at last year’s event was the final member of the driver line-up in his clubman.

Ian Cowie had a few mechanical issues on Saturday in free practice and thought he had overcome them for Sunday. Practice Sunday morning revealed that he still had some issues that still needed sorting and was pulled over by the officials when he entered pit lane for loosing excessive oil. Unfortunately for Ian his mechanical issues stayed with him and he was unable to fully complete his first run.

The other 5 drivers and cars performed consistent and without incident. Our team was heading for a great result but unfortunately because of Ian’s mechanical problem, we forgot to advise race control that he was a scratching, and we were penalised for one driver and car completing less than 10% of the total laps allocated. A hard way to be taught a lesson. On the bright side we weren’t the only ones to fall foul of this rule and finished 15th.

Did we meet our objective? If the smiles from the drivers and pit crew when the cars return to pits is anything to go on, then we sure did achieve our objective!

Until next month.

Rick Staehr

Welcome to another month of Sporting Triumphs.  As I write this report the running of the 1st round of the MSCA sprint series is occurring.  Both our Le Présidente – Duane Kaak and Mr. Regularity – Neil Martin has entered their TR7 V8’s for this event.Neil has also entered his Triumph in regularity at the Easter Historic race meeting at Mallala.The next Club race meeting is the 6 hour regularity at Mallala on Sunday the 5th of May. I am still looking for volunteers to be pit crew for this event. If you are interested in helping out, please contact me on 0419 514 517.

Until Next Month

Cheers.

Rick Staehr

Upcoming events –

6th& 7th April Hillclimb Mt. Alma Mile

14th April Modern Regularity

19th -21st April Shannon’s Nationals Mallala

20th April Hillclimb Come & Try

21st April Hillclimb Wintercup Round 1

5th May MSCA 6 Hour Regularity

18th May SA State Circuit Racing Championship Twilight Round 2

19th May Modern Regularity Mallala

The first round of the 2013 MSCA Super Sprint was held on the 24th of March at Mallala. Neil Martin and Duane Kaak entered their TR7V8’s for this event. The event proceedings were slightly delayed due to a technical problem with the timing durians. This problem couldn’t be fixed on the day so the officials needed to resort to manual timing. Roger Lange worked as the dummy grid marshal and controlled proceedings in the pits. Some drivers had become a bit rusty over the summer break and couldn’t remember their grid positions after they left the dummy grid. This lead to some sloppy form ups at the start line in the first round.

Neil had fitted some new bigger and more effective brakes over the off season and found that he had to set himself some new braking marks. Brake bias was a problem and he needed to do some work after the meeting to get more braking to the rear.

Duane didn’t have a very good day when he discovered a hole in his water pump after the 1st round. Some epoxy putty was found and put over the hole. His next task was to wait until the putty had hardened and then very slowly try to drive home. Easter Historics at Mallala were held in fine but cold conditions.

Andy Ansell made the trek over from Victoria and Neil Martin was the local TSOA entrant. Both Andy and Neil were entered in the super sprint events for Saturday but on Sunday their events changed to modern regularity. Confusion ran supreme on Saturday when the commentators clearly didn’t understand what the difference was between sprinting and regularity events. Complaints came from some of the competitors on Saturday which is probably why on Sunday the event was changed to modern regularity.

Andy had mechanical problems after his first run on Saturday. Luckily he was able to fix the problem for Sunday and placed 9th in his 1st run, improved to 6th in the second and finished 1st in the final run. Neil also improved in each run placed 11th in his first run, 10th in the second and 6th in the final run.

The 5th of May is the next event with the running of the team’s 6 hour regularity event. We have a full team of Triumphs entered with 3 of the entries coming from Victoria. Andy Ansell has again entered his “Choc-wedge” TR7 and he is joined by fellow Victorians Ed Ferguson in his TR7V8 and Ian Cowie in a GT6. This year’s event looks to be bigger than last year with larger numbers of entries expected.

Historic Winton is on 24th -26th of May and this year will feature the 60th anniversary of the Triumph TR2. Standard Motor Cars are celebrated with their110 year anniversary. This race meeting is one of the premier historic motor races in Australia featuring both cars and motorcycles and is a real celebration of not only motorsport but general motoring. I know a few of our club members make the journey to this event each year and thoroughly enjoy it. A worthwhile weekend away. Visit www.historicwinton.org for more details.

Until next month.

Cheers, Rick Staehr

Coming Events

5th May              6 Hour Team Regularity Mallala

18th May             SA State Road Racing Championships – Twilight Meeting Mallala

19th May             Modern Regularity Mallala

26th May             Hillclimb Multi Club Rd 1 Collingrove

24th -26th May      Historic Winton Benalla Vic

Hi and welcome to another month of Sporting Triumphs.

Our Triumph sporting calendar commences with the MSCA Supersprint series on Sunday 24th of March. I wish all of our Triumph competitors good fortune for the coming season.

The MSCA picnic presentation day was held in extremely hot conditions. Combined with the fact that the All British Day was held the week earlier possibly explains the poor attendance by our club. Hopefully next year with some extra notice and some pleasant weather we can again have a display of Triumphs at next year’s event.

The Sporting Car Club is hosting the National Historic race meeting over Easter. Saturday and Sunday is circuit racing at Mallala. Clubs are welcome to participate in a display day on Saturday to be held on the lawns behind the control tower with parade laps around the circuit during the lunch break. If you wish to display your car you can find details and entry forms on the Sporting Club website . . .  http://www.sportingcarclubsa.org.au/documents/2013%20Mallala%20Events%20Calendar.doc

Easter Monday hillclimb at Collingrove    great day to have a picnic.

Until Next Month,

Rick Staehr

Coming Events

9th -10th        March          National Historics Phillip Island Vic

14th – 17th March     Australian F1 Grand Prix

24th –  March MSCA Supersprint Rd 1 Mallala

30th March – 1st April National Historic Races – Mallala

6th & 7th April  – Mt. Alma Mile Mt. Alma

Happy New Year.

I trust everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing festive season and that our competitors have been refreshing and preparing their machines in readiness for the 2013 motor racing calendar.

Our first motorsport event of the year kicks off with Modern Regularity at Mallala on the 10th of February.The following weekend (17th February) is the annual MSCA presentation day picnic. This year’s event will be held from 11am at the Mylor oval. There is no planned run to the venue this year so just make your own way there. As in previous years there will be an award to the club that has the best display of cars on the day.

A key date to keep in your diaries this year is the 5th of May for the 6 hour regularity event. This is an activity that all club members can be involved with. We will need volunteers for pit crew, timekeepers, lap scorers and various other jobs. If you wish to join in on the fun please contact me.

Another event the club will ask for volunteers is the 25th of August. This is the TSOA’s turn to supply marshals for the MSCA super Sprint round. This is a rewarding day for everyone who wishes to be involved and allows you insight on how a racing event is run with communication directly from race control. Lunch, drinks and morning tea is provided to all helpers.

Until next month.

Cheers

Rick Staehr

MSCA confirmed dates

17 February        Presentation Day at Mylor Oval. Start 11am

24 March            Super Sprint Round

15 May                6 Hour Regularity

16 June             Super Sprint Round 2

21 July               Super Sprint Round 3

25 August           Super Sprint Round 4

20 October         Super Sprint Round 5

Officials required by TSOA             25 August

Sporting Triumphs

Triumph Triumphant in Targa Adelaide! South Australian Craig Haysman and navigator Neil Branum have won the outright Classic category at the 2012 Targa Adelaide in their 1981 Triumph TR7V8. The pair won by 1 minute 15 seconds over 2nd placed rivals Nick Streckeisen and Mike Dale in a 1985 Porsche 944 turbo. Haysman and Branum lead every leg of the competition “The car’s been great”, Haysman said “its total different to the car I drove last year. It’s a lot easier to drive in the wet, has just more power and more balance.”

Three Triumphs entered this year’s event. Jon Williams, former TSOASA member, entered a Mk1 PI Triumph Saloon and finished the event in 30th position in outright classic and was placed 11th in early classic handicap. Stephen Fisher and David Ainsworth finished in 18th position in outright classic in their Triumph TR7V8.

In other sporting Triumph news, it was our club’s turn to supply flag marshals for the 4th round of the Super Sprint series at Mallala. Whilst we initially had 4 volunteers, other commitments and sickness meant that we had only one club member and his son performed flag marshal duties on the day. Thank you to Trevor Lindsay and his son, David, for their help on the day. Thankfully the Austin Healey club had 10 volunteers and saved the day. Daune Kaak was our sole Triumph competitor for this event. Neil Martin had work commitments and our other regular competitors still have their engines in bits.

Trevor Lindsay believes he has finally tracked down some new valves and should have his engine back together ready for next season. Duane had a mixed day. In the first run he had a spin going into the northern hairpin. I think he could have been waving to Trevor at the time. Need both hands on the wheel Duane! Run 2 Duane equalled his best personal best time. In the third run Duane had barely completed a lap when he noticed the brakes fade. By the end of the lap he had no brakes and a mist of smoke was evident coming from the rear of the car. The problem was a leaking rear wheel cylinder. Duane retired from the event but then had a bigger problem. How was he to get home? Thankfully John Wood had arrived at the circuit as a spectator and assisted Duane enabling him to arrive home safely.

The next round of the Super Sprint Series is 21st of October.

Cheers

Rick Staehr

Coming Events

8th September Come &Try Hillclimb Collingrove

9th September Modern Regularity Mallala

29th/30th September 60th Anniversary Collingrove Hillclimb

21st October Round 5 Super Sprint Series Mallala

The sporting calendar has been full of activity this month starting with the All British Day at Wakefield Park and finished with Modern Regularity at Mallala on the 29th.
As I mentioned in last month’s edition, Neil Martin was our sole representative at the All British Race Meeting. Duane Kaak accompanied Neil to Wakefield Park and took on duties as Team Manager, sole pit crew member, head mechanic, time keeper, dishwasher and general roustabout.
The trip to Goulburn seemed to be without drama that is until Neil and Duane arrived at the track only to find that the tow vehicle had thrown up a stone and punched the radiator of the TR7. This required a trip to the local auto parts shop for some radiator stop leak. Scrutineering found some play in the front wheel bearing which needed attending to before Neil could compete in his regularity event. Neil had set a time in practice of 1:20:76. His best run for the weekend was round 4 which he placed 3rd. Overall both Neil and Duane had a good trip away and we thank them for representing SA.
Racing four weekends in row proved a little too much for even a keen competitor such as Neil, who decided to sit out round 3 of the Super Sprint Series at Mallala held on the 8th of July. Roger Lange’s GT6 engine is still in pieces but he entered again in his mate’s quick Datsun 240Z. The double entry proved too much for this car’s brakes which were fading badly. This must have made for some interesting times heading into the northern hairpin Roger!
Duane Kaak was also entered and had a consistent run in his TR7V8. Competitor numbers were down for this meeting suggesting harder economic times maybe having an effect on some competitor’s pastime. This meant the three runs were completed ahead of schedule and gave everyone the opportunity to compete in an extra 2 runs for the day – Good value for money.
The 12th of August is the next round for the Sprint Series and is our club’s turn to perform flag duty. Flag marshals are imperative to any motor sport event and the last event had difficulties starting due to the lack of flag marshals. It also proved embarrassing to the rostered clubs who didn’t provide the necessary volunteers. I’m certain that the TSOA members who have volunteered to help out will have a fun and rewarding day. The time to meet is 8.30am at the Scrutineering Shed. Did I mention that lunch and morning tea is provided?
Until Next Month
Cheers
Rick Staehr
Coming Events
5th August Hillclimb Wintercup Round 4 Collingrove
11th Rover Scout Tailem Bend Tarmac Challenge Cup Rd 2
12th August MSCA Super Sprint Series Rd 4 Mallala
18th & 19th August SA State Road Racing Rd 3 Championship Mallala
19th August Willunga Swap Meet
22nd – 26th August Supaloc Classic Targa Adelaide

Our Sporting Triumphs have had another busy month of motorsport activity. Starting with Modern Regularity on the 20th of May. Both Duane Kaak and Neil Martin competed in this event with Neil finishing 5th outright.

Rod Carey took his Spitfire interstate to the Winton Historic Race Meeting on the weekend of the 26th& 27th of May, which this year celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Triumph Spitfire. Rod entered his car in the Alan Jones Trophy for Sa/Sb/Sc class of cars. He qualified his Spitfire in 29th position with a time of 1:41:46 but improved his times at each run finishing with a time of 1:16:66. The faster pace must have been a little too much for the Spitfire as it DNF’d in its last run.

A number of club members also made the trek to Winton as spectators. This meeting is one of the best historic race meetings in the country with plenty of static displays and other activities over the weekend. Well worth the trip.

Last weekend was Round 2 of the MSCA Supersprint Series. Three club members entered this event, Neil Martin – Triumph TR7V8, Duane Kaak – Triumph TR7V8 and Roger Lange – Datsun 240Z. Roger borrowed/hired the drive as his GT6 engine is still being rebuilt. We’ve been a bit down in numbers at the last few events because other Team Triumph competitor’s cars are in the same position as Roger’s. Hopefully our numbers will increase in coming months.

Both Neil and Duane produced personal best times on the day. Neil recorded a best lap of 1:28:93. Duane continues to improve at each outing recording his best time of 1:34:39. Just when Duane thought he was starting to close the gap between Neil and himself, Neil improves his times. It’s great to see a new competitor pushing established drivers. Roger’s best time in the Datsun was a quick 1:27:41.

Neil is competing in the next round of Modern Regularity as I write this report (24th June) before heading off to Wakefield Park to compete in the All British race meeting. Last year we had six competitors representing the club at this meeting, but due to the fore mentioned car problems of some of our other drivers, Neil is our sole representative.

Round 4 of the MSCA Supersprint Series on the 12th of August is our club’s turn to do flag duty. This could be the last time we are asked to perform this duty as it is my understanding that lights will be installed later this year at each flag point eliminating the need for flag marshals. This is a great day and gives a great insight to how a race meeting is run. It also provides you with the best spots to see all the action. Morning Tea and lunch are provided. Please contact me if you wish to volunteer.

July is looking even busier than June with an event on every weekend as you will see listed in the “coming events”.

Cheers – Rick Staehr

Coming Events

1st July All British Day – Wakefield Park

8th July Round 3 Supersprint Series – Mallala

14th July Come & Try Hillclimb –Collingrove

15th July Round 3 Winter Cup Hillclimb – Collingrove

29th July Modern Regularity – Mallala

29th July All Make Swap Meet – Angle Park