“Dripfeed” NEWSLETTER OF THE BANKS PENINSULA BRANCH OF THE VINTAGE CAR CLUB OF New Zealand (INC) VOLUME 43, No 10 november 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 12th of November. We look forward to seeing you there. Supper is provided.
From the Editor: Many members will aware of the recent death of one of the branches founding members John Palmer, and the large number of VCC people at his funeral were a tribute to the contribution he made. The branch extends it’s sympathy to John’s family. The following obituary, written by his son James, is a wonderful summary of a very active motoring life.
Ramon Farmer has bought yet another car. Not a product of Derby or Cricklewood this time, with masses of dead trees, dead cows and dead railway lines, but that rare beast, an innovative British car. Give up? It’s a 1952 Jowett Javelin, in lovely condition, and in it’s own Oop North clog dancing railway tappers and shunters sort of a way, is a very clever car. Perhaps Ramon will enter it in the Pom.
An apology is offered to Peter Jones, owner of the very rare and interesting Dunnelt motorbike that was featured in last month’s Dripfeed. I called Peter Barry, thinking no doubt of Barry John the great Welsh rugby player from the 1970s.
Welcome to new member Brad Govan with the well known Austin 7 Hawke that is subjected to unbelievable torture every Hadstock and Balcairn. You can usually hear Brad coming before you see him , and he can always be relied on to slide sideways through the finishing comes at Hadstock, swearing graphically.
Giles Gill and I tootled over to the Roscoe Trial at Reefton recently. It’s an event run by the West Coast branch, and is essentially just the same as Balcairn, but with different mud, and more of it. Highly entertaining, with the courses this year being of a more technical nature. Mike Ludecke has sold his Ford Special, which was being driven enthusiastically. Overall, after four events, the Grand Winner was Lance Braid, from Hokitika, 2nd was Avon Hyde and 3rd was Michael Braid. Well done Avon.
Avon’s car makes a futile break for freedom.
Avon reinforcing his status as the leader of the pack
Future Events: Peninsula Run, 22nd of November. Meet at Princess Margaret hospital in Cashmere Road from 9.30am, ready for a 10.00am start. Bring your lunch and be ready for an entertaining days’ motoring
Picnic Day at Little River, 1st of January. Pomeroy Trophy, Ruapuna, 16th of January. From 12.00pm. Ron will send out entries, but if you don’t receive one and are keen to enter, get in touch with him. The Pom is one of our signature events, so please enter and support your branch, and make sure a VW doesn’t win. We need lots of helpers on the day, so if you aren’t entering but want to help, once again, get in touch with the indispensible Ron.
Art Deco in Napier 18 – 21 February 2021 The 2021 event will feature Veterans, and is also the 90th anniversary of the Napier earthquake. There are lots of events, go to the HBVCC website, www.hbvcc.orh.nz or stevetrott@xtra.co.nz
Highland Fling, 24th – 26th of April Contact Kaaren Smylie kaaren@smylie.co.nz 021 664341 07 5764180
Past Events. The Hawkswood Sprint was cancelled because of weather conditions Ruapuna Track temperatures were rising as thirteen lucky drivers began their qualifying session on the Saturday morning. A couple of entrants unfortunately didn't make the grid, one being Kevin Anderson in the Cooper as the motor was still being assembled and at the end of the session, Don Ammon from Nelson in his Vanguard 6 single-seater had to retire for the weekend with a not too stable rear wheel bearing. Race one in the afternoon in 28C heat had Russell Greer in the Stanton Corvette on pole position with a 1min 46sec lap but the similar powered Austin Healey of Eric Swinbourn wasn't going to be deterred and he chased home the Stanton with John McDonagh's Mistral a well deserved third and an increasingly rapid Tracey Barrett in the ex-Rob Cope-Williams Lotus 23B Rep fourth. Kent Larsen in the ex-Scott Wiseman E-Type developed fuel problems that would plague him most of the weekend, and Mark Barrett in his Lotus 23B had an urgent repair to do on a cracked header pipe. Sunday race day brought much cooler track temperatures but the racing was getting even hotter with the Stanton and Healey down to just a three second lap time difference and the E-Type now with many pieces of silicone removed from the fuel tank ran third, with Brian Ashworth winding up the Daimler SP250 Dart to claim an excellent fourth place. Russ Haines was certainly starting to warm up his new set of racing rubber and the ex-Crowe MGV8 was now flying. Race three saw an unchanged first and second place, with Tracey Barrett's Lotus 23B putting in a very polished performance to claim third and the MGV8 fourth. The second of the 'team' Barrett cars was also finding rhythm coming up through the field ahead of the SP250, and the Mistrals of
McDonagh and Paul Tayler. At the back-end of the field, Bill Cowie's Spangepali, the Mistral of Don Gerrard and Ramon Farmer's Ransley Riley were having shed loads of fun with even the odd excursion off the black stuff! The last race of the day was a cracker. The Healey Corvette had no Stanton to contend with and Mr Barrett had the Lotus on a mission to cross the line second. A grandstand finish for third and fourth saw Ashworth's Daimler nip ahead of McDonagh's Mistral by half a second, ahead of Mrs Barrett's Lotus just one second behind. Wow!, the Track Commentators were in a frenzy. The drama continued with the Jaguar being black-flagged when 100% Octane was deposited on the grid on take-off from an overfilled tank that continued to spill out around the circuit.- not a happy Kent Larsen. All in all a successful Meeting for the Branch and thanks to all concerned and also those who brought along their examples of 'Old Race Cars' for a display and well-received demonstration around the circuit during lunch hours. Great to see the Zephyr 260M of Mark McFadden leading the pack, still sounding magnificent, with other examples like Jaguar, Buckler, Austin 7 Specials, Kato Special, MG, and the ex-Carlos Neate Nissan Skyline GT circulating the track. Hopefully we have recruited another contender to join our starting grids with Greg Noller and his 1956 MGA making all the right noises. Remember, the big Skope Meeting is only 3 months away!
Rex Carkeek, who in 1972 drove his Citroen Big 15 from North Cape to Bluff in under 24 hours, a record that still stands, sent me this photo of him racing his Citroen ID in the 1959 Macau Grand Prix. Interesting array of competitors.