“Dripfeed” NEWSLETTER OF THE BANKS PENINSULA BRANCH OF THE VINTAGE CAR CLUB OF New Zealand (INC) VOLUME 44, No 5 june 2021. 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 10th of June • We look forward to seeing you there. Supper is provided.
From the Editor: Another AGM has come and gone, and the same group of highly skilled professionals were returned to office without any drama or attempts at a palace coup. The “Use not Abuse” trophy, donated by Bruce Pidgeon many years ago, was awarded to Mark Cummings, who had entered his Mazda MX5 in a wide variety of events over the last year without blowing it up, thus proving he had not abused it. The trophy itself, a splendid piece of kit, is probably the most expensive trophy in the vintage car world, as it’s made up of surplus broken bits of Bugatti, Fiat, etc that were either in Bruce’s garage or at Auto Restorations, and all enclosed in a glass bubble. When the trophy was ready to be collected, James Palmer, who was secretary at the time, collected it, put it on the back seat of his car, and drove off. At the first corner the trophy fell of the seat and smashed into smithereens. It was rebuilt at considerable expense. The scurrilous rumour that James did this on purpose so that he could sell some of the Bugatti bits to an overseas collector who then built an original car around them is entirely without foundation. Tom Cloudsley, one of the original BP branch founders, died recently. Tom was an ardent Packard enthusiast with some lovely cars, and more recently raced a Lotus 23B replica. He was a keen branch member who was very involved with most events. The branch extends its sympathy to his family. We welcome a number of new members to our ranks this month. Dean Mooney has a 1972 Saab 99, and more importantly, a 1972 Citroen D Super. Magnifique. Joe Elder should really be Joe Younger, as he’s 16, and son of Neale. He has a 1912 Douglas motorbike which may well go one day. Gregor
Kaiser has Triumph GT6, a Triumph 2000 and a boxed Morgan. John and Cindy Chamberlain are our other new members, and many of you will wonder about this. John normally pays his sub just before Irishman, but because there wasn’t one last year, decided to save the money. Times are pretty tough at Hadstock, (John’s down to his last 3 E types), but he managed to save up and pay his sub this year. If I had a spare two pages, I’d list the cars that he owns. Irishman Creek is also over for another year, and although it’s a Canterbury branch event, lots of BP members take part. Vaughan Morrison, BP member, was the Saturday organiser this year, and he made a splendid job of it. It started in Alexandra, which was meant to discourage some, but there were165 entrants. The Saturday run was eight hours motoring, basically over Dansey’s Pass, and then Meyers Pass, coming out near Waimate, and then onto Backline Road. Garry Moore’s hotrod Chrysler lost some rear wheel bearings near Naseby and will to be trucked home. Paul Cameron, his long time riding mechanic, offered this skilled diagnosis: “I think a GM part has rejected a Ford part”. Sad but true. Michael Midgley, who ought to know better, powered his Model A, sponsored by that well known law firm Grabbit and Leggitt, into the first river crossing, and then stopped. The appreciative crowd was treated to the thrilling sight of his green long johns as he rolled up his trousers and descended into the icy depths to attach the tow rope. Brad Govan’s A7 Hawke started making expensive noises, and remarkably, he didn’t press on and destroy it completely. Old dogs, new tricks etc. All other BP members completed the run. The Sunday run went from Fairlie, down the Haldon Road and then over the Black Forest road to the Benmore dam and then to a wonderful property near Oamarama for the Shand’s Patch driving tests, won yet again by Allan Wyllie. Another brilliant day of superb motoring over a very demanding road, which is what Irishman is all about. Well done to Vaughan and Harry. The lucky winner was Andrew Mehrtens, the runner up was Bob Scott, both Canterbury branch members.
Future Events: Saturday 19th of June. Night Trial. Starts at Northwood Supa Centa, 7.30. Always a lot of fun, especially to see Vaughan Morrison and extended family in the Model A with enough LED’s to illuminate most of Canterbury. Please come along and support the efforts that the committee makes to provide you with enjoyable motoring. Bring a torch....
The Balcairn Trial, Sunday 25th of July. It has indeed rained, so all is well for a nice sticky time.
VCC 75th AGM, 13th, 14th, 15th of August. Rydges Hotel Christchurch. There is a full programme of events planned and a special function to mark this milestone in our club history. If you’re interested, register online at www.vcc.org.nz or katryna.shaw@pacificrediology.com
August Mid Year Lunch, Sunday, 29th of August Once again this popular event will held be at the Tai Tapu Hotel. Meet at 12.30, with the meal at 1.00pm. Fifty year badges will be presented to George Henry and John Reynolds. Payment details later.
September 26th, Opening Run. National Veteran Rally, 29th – 31st October, Cromwell. Contact rally director John Martin at martin_jw@xtra.co.nz 021 1091309 for details.
Past Events. Hadstock Driving Tests. A firm surface on the ancestral acres at Hadstock and a good entry, with some new competitors, augured well for a pleasant day of motorsport, but alas, we have become victims of our own success. Because of the tremendous prestige that has become attached to the winning of this important motorsport event, a taint of scandal was evident before a wheel had turned. It saddens me to report that three members, John Foster, Neale Elder and Jason Roberts, thought they could bribe the judges with gifts of wine, and in John’s case, a slice of apple cake at lunchtime. John even put Citroen chevrons on his headlamp. Surprisingly, (and correctly), they thought I was the organiser most likely to be corruptible, and although I pleaded with my fellow timekeepers to take a few seconds off the times of the three, I was outvoted by the other morally pure timekeepers. I expect that Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley faced this sort of pressure too. Last year’s winner, John Foster, on his lovely Triumph 500 Rickman Matisse was far too good for the cars, so in true BP style we decided that he wasn’t allowed to put his foot down as he cornered. John accepted this handicap graciously, to atone for his earlier sins I suppose. New competitors this year included Dean Mooney in a Saab 99, Brendon Cook in a Peugeot 504, Kevin Mercer in a Morris 8 Raceabout and Joe Elder in the family Morris. Malcolm McGibbon, with works driver Colin Hey were driving a custom made Honda off road racing thing, complete with independent rear brakes, Avon Hyde and Brad Govan were looking confident, and the French fwd equipe were already sneering at the rosbifs. There were five events this year, three of the horribly complicated cambelt type, ever decreasing circles, and the traditional slalom. You were allowed two attempts at the first four, with the fastest time counting towards your final score. As is traditional, consistency is the key at Hadstock, and of course some courses suit some cars more than others. Avon Hyde is the perfect example of consistency, and many of us watched the lines that he took before our own attempts. Surprisingly, Brad Govan, normally known for sliding sideways through the finishing cones, swearing loudly, was a model of calm consistency, and his final placing of 3rd reflected this new approach. The other surprise was the Pontiac raceabout of the Dawber brothers. This Spartan creation normally runs on 4 or 5 cylinders, but this year all 6 were firing, and some very skilled driving was shown by Harry and Will, as they threw the great beast round the cones with considerable skill. The same could be said for Craig Keenan in the Jag XJ as he produced some enormous fishtails. Kevin Mercer in his Morry 8 raceabout was looking quite impressive, given the lack of power, until various ailments ended his day early. Giles Gill won a stage in his Morgan 4/4 (i.e has 4 wheels), but got wonderfully and creatively lost in most others, as did Andrew Roxburgh in his Citroen L12.Ross Butler in a lhd MG TD managed to get consistently lost without winning a stage and of course blamed the steering wheel for being in the wrong place. The Pidgeon Bugatti looked and sounded wonderful as Michael gave it a thorough workout. So consistency really was the winner on the day, and Colin Hey, driving the Honda thing was first, with 232 points, Avon Hyde a very close second on 233 points, and Brad Govan third, with 236
points. Proving yet again that fwd is good on grass, the editorial Citroen wallowed into 4th place with 239 points just ahead of the MX5 of Mark Cummings. The Ethics committee had a quick meeting down at the pub afterwards, and decided not to prosecute the three miscreants, so the day ended happily for all. Will there be more bribery next year? Some of the organiser hope so. Will a vehicle with independent rear brakes be allowed to compete? Wait and see.
Mark and his trophy
The Younger Elder
The Brilliant Blue Bugatti
Le Traction Avant
The wallowing whale
Grace, space, pace?
Giles searches for a cone
Ponitac power
The immortal Cynthia