2 minute read
Club Captain’s Report
By Paul Anderson
THE CAPTAINS LOG…….
We have just arrived back from the Safari Rally to Wanganui as I sit down to write these notes, and what a great weekend it was. We are indebted to Trevor and Lyn Charman who organised the weekend - everything arranged to the last detail and they always manage to find the most interesting sheds and venues to visit (more on this in the Safari Rally Report). We took our 1936 Chevy Coupe to Wanganui. Eighty five years young and the oldest car to do the complete trip (no skites here). We were returning home on the Monday - the car on the open road bowling along like a “Bondi Tram”, the weather magnificent, arm out the window, aircon on full (vent up) and Janine was talking incessantly, enjoying the fact that there was no radio to turn on to drown her out - when I had an epiphany. As the scenery sped by, I realised how lucky we are to drive these cars from another era. I almost got misty eyed - forgetting about the lack of power steering, ABS brakes and synchronised gearbox……….. Seriously I did think that all things considered, there was nothing much else that we would rather be doing on that day.
MONTHLY RUN
With the Club reopening after the easing of level 4 lockdown, it was felt the we needed to organise an event to get the cars out of the garage, as we had been starved of the ability to drive them and socialise. But there was still a great veil of uncertainty over how events could be run, so it was decided to go for a pure country run, in this case on an unscheduled day due to the Safari rally later in the month. Twenty four cars assembled at Roosters Brewery, and we set of on a run of approximately 60 km through fully sealed country roads in the Crownthorpe area. We set off as tail end Charlie and I could not understand how the road was clear in front of us except for one car. This was explained when we came to a tee intersection and a good number of vehicles approached from entirely the wrong direction. I am assuming one car made a navigation error and the rest followed on instead of following the directions. These cars missed what I termed “the driver’s section” of the run. The day was beneficial to a couple of us who found deficiencies in our cars that required attention before the Safari Rally. It was a lovely drive through great countryside and the one small shower we encountered did not dampen the enthusiasm. A few cars stopped at the De La Terre Winery along the way, and I am told that despite the uncertainty of what covid restrictions were in place, most managed to find somewhere for refreshments.
