President’s Report – October 2023
The Day of Triumph (DOT) on Sunday 15th October was a great success, despite the rather ordinary weather forecast. We were threatened with showers through the day, and although it rained first thing, we had a reasonably dry day, and unlike the All British Day, also no serious wind issues. We had, however, tied down our new gazebos to vehicles and trees, so we were ready for any weather event.
We had 33 vehicles on display and around 25 submitted for judging. Congratulations to all winners, and in particular, the overall Concours winner, Trevor Hawkins and his magnificently restored TR4A. Roger Lange was second with his TR7V8, and Dino and Lisa Vitesse came third with their Stag. Our new DOT convenor, Dean Berlemon did a great job in organising the day, although as Dean said, he relied heavily on Ian Rigby, our previous DOT convenor who provided great on-the-job training to Dean and also worked extra hard on the day. Dean was also ably supported by his wife Lisa on the gate, Dean and Marg Bogisch who tallied the results and a plethora of others who helped with judging.
Quite a few of our members took advantage of the $10 breakfast/lunch at Café Primo Tea Tree Plaza. Thanks again to Dino and Lisa Vettese for their ongoing generous support of our club.
We looked resplendent in our new hi-vis vests with TSOA logos which we have purchased as part of the SA Car Club Program (SACCP) government grant received in June.
At our October meeting, we also had two cars on stage. Firstly, Steve Ferguson had his TR7V8 hardtop. Steve also has a TR7V8 convertible, and both cars are in mint condition. Steve was previously a member of TSOA SA until about 10 years ago when he moved to Queensland and joined TSOA Qld. He has returned to Adelaide recently and rejoined us. Steve has restored the cars over 15 or so years.
We also had Trevor Hawkins show us his TR4A, fresh from his win at the Day of Triumph. Trevor told us that he bought the car essentially as a “wreck” and took on the restoration as a retirement project. He had previously restored his TR6 and had learned a lot with this first project. Trevor did most of the work on the car himself, and his skills were very much on display at the Day of Triumph.
Social secretary Natalie has a lot of great events planned in the next few months, and we really hope club members take full advantage of their club membership and attend these upcoming functions. The Christmas Dinner is on Saturday 25th November at Royal Adelaide Golf Club, Seaton. This is a club sponsored event with the cost being only $50 per head for members and $70/head for non-members. We keep going back to the RAG because there is always excellent quality food and great surroundings. Pre-dinner drinks are provided by our club, and DOT trophies will be presented on the night. I urge all members to attend if they can, and contact Sue Gibson on 0428 735 960 as soon as possible to book in.
A group of 17 members and partners are about to head off to the TSOA National Meeting in Warrnambool, and I will report on this event at the next club meeting.
Regards
Alex Smithson