“Dripfeed” NEWSLETTER OF THE BANKS PENINSULA BRANCH OF THE VINTAGE CAR CLUB OF New Zealand (INC) VOLUME 43, No 1 February 2020. Editor: Michael Williams 10 Selwyn Parade Lyttelton Ph 328 8043, email mimiandmichael@yahoo.co.nz
Chairman: Secretary:
Club Officers: Craig Keenan 322 1006 Ron Hasell 942 1105
Branch Address: 27 Showgate Ave, ChCh 8042 E-mail: bankspeninsula@vcc.org.nz Noggin & Natter: 2nd Thursday of the Month
Noggin 7.30 pm at the Papanui RSA. Upham Room – enter either from 55 Bellvue Ave or the first entrance on the left on Harewood Road (Papanui / Main North Road) Thursday 9th of February. We look forward to seeing you there. Supper is provided.
From the Editor: Welcome to 2020 and another year of motoring. I spent some of the break reading through the early editions of Dripfeed that Richard Foster has given the club, and it’s impossible not to feel nostalgic, and somewhat regretful that they were indeed the Good Old Days. At the National Veteran Rally of 1982 for example, there were 78 cars, and in that same year John Surtees was at the Classic Motorcycle Registrar’s meeting at Ruapuna. The Ashley Forest Hillclimb had 31 entries. FTD for cars was set by Don Suckling in the GCS Special, with Geoff Owen setting the FTD for Vintage cars in his Bentley. Graham Henry was the fastest overall, on his AJS. Other entrants included Kieft, Riley, Vauxhall, Frazer Nash, Buckler, Fiat, Ace, AJS, Triumph, and Jaguar, Citroen and V8 Specials. The inevitable gaggle of A7s of course, but what a wonderfully diverse field of interesting cars and drivers. It’s hard to imagine Clynt Inns fitting into an A 7 in 1982 let alone driving one. There was a 24 second gap between his slowest and fastest times, so perhaps he got lost. Max Fleming of Flemings Road Balcairn died recently. Max was approached some 26 years ago by Phil Jelfs to see if we could use his farm for a mudplug type event, and of course he agreed. Without his tolerance, kindness and good humour over the years, the event would not exist, and as a club we are very grateful indeed. Because of Max, the Fleming family have continued to allow us to use their property for the Balcairn Trial, and we extend our sympathy to his family.