“Dripfeed” NEWSLETTER OF THE BANKS PENINSULA BRANCH OF THE VINTAGE CAR CLUB OF New Zealand (INC) VOLUME 39, No 8 september 2017 Editor: Michael Williams 10 Selwyn Parade Lyttelton Ph 328 8043, email mimiandmichael@yahoo.co.nz
Chairman: Secretary:
Club Officers: Craig Keenan 332 1066 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 Road / Main North Road) Thursday 14th of September. We look forward to seeing you there. Supper is provided.
From the Editor: Tony Julian was awarded his 60 year badge last month, but was unable to attend our annual dinner. I spoke to him later and he told me he didn’t want any fuss, but I think that 60 years deserves a mention. When Tony joined the club in 1957 he owned a Citroen Light 15, and motored it extensively. He was so impressed that he bought another one some years later that is still in his family. He also owned a Peugeot 404,which “took enormous punishment and always came back for more!”. He did admit to owning a Rolls Royce 20 in his early years, but felt ”it wasn’t a very good model, the Sunbeams of the day were much better cars”. Our congratulations go to Tony for achieving this milestone. I had a stern email from Craig Cowie, rebuking me for implying that the Greg May Chrysler did not have the original engine. It does, and I apologise unreservedly. Greg did mention that from the firewall back it is a complete hotrod, with Triumph transmission bits and lots of fibreglass, so it’s nice to know that one bit is original.
Mention of the ex Michael Haggitt Riley now owned by Johnny Moore drew some reaction too, from Garry Moore. The reason it’s so long is that Michael H wanted it to have the same wheelbase as a Bentley, so duly put in some extra metal. Good for the Pom I suppose. And George Calder sent in the lovely photo of the good Mr Haggitt at the 1983 Pom. In the foreground is Jim Phillips in the Invicta, next to Bruce Pidgeon in the Fiat 501. The Croft legs are, alas on show, and I presume that Peter is still wearing the same pair of shorts. Michael H mercifully has raised the tone by wearing a tie, so in his memory, I think that Johnny should do the same every time he drives the Riley.
Speaking of legs, and thus by association Ramon Farmer, he actually had on long pants at the annual dinner, with matching jacket too, a suit in fact, made of sturdy tweed, no doubt by honest weavers in the Outer Hebrides in 1955. A froth blowers tie with pretentious heraldic shields completed the ensemble, and Trish for once wasn’t ashamed to be seen in public with him. Had another stern email, this time from Citroen and RR/ Bentley expert Bruce McIlroy. Two issues ago I rashly said that the Donald Wright Bentley was made in Crewe, so Bruce sent me a mercifully brief history of where and when the fast lorries were assembled. The Wright car was built in Cricklewood, which sounds like a suburb of Hobbiton, but is in London. From 1931-39, after RR graciously took over production, they were built in Derby, and only started in Crewe after the war when, to quote Bruce, “the magnificent Mark 6 began”. Bruce wins the Pedant of the Month award. And talking yet again of Bentleys, something I am normally loath to do, welcome to new members Tom and Hilary King, who have a Bentley T series. Tom edits the RR /Bentley mag (and George Calder edits the Riley mag) so I shall have to make sure standards do not slip or they will probably send Biggles round to give me a damm good thrashing. A reminder from Julie at Head Office. If you are paying your sub by direct credit, can you please make sure you include your membership number as reference, as some haven’t.
Coming Events: Hororata Swap Meet; Saturday 16th of September, Hororata Domain from 7.00am. A mechanical swap meet with no bric a brac! Opening Run; 24th of September. Meet at the Tai Tapu Store at 9.30am for a 10.00am start. Two hours or so of relaxed motoring finishing at a stately home somewhere in Canterbury, hosted by the local squire. Bring your lunch.
Westland Car Club 50th Anniversary Hillclimb 30th of September. Nigel Barclay has asked me to invite people to this sealed sprint at Aorangi Reserve Rd at the back of Greymouth/Paroa. In true Coast style, very relaxed, just come and have a go, be as competitive as you feel like. For further details ring Nigel on 0275693540.
Top of the South Annual rally, 13th – 15th of October, in Nelson. Details from Jim Wareing Nelson VCC jimnkyra@xtra.co.nz. Entries close 2nd October.
Ratec Hillclimbs; 14th October Duvauchelle, 15th October Kinloch. Contact Ron for details and entry forms.
The Peninsula Run Sunday 5th of November. Meet at the Tai Tapu store at 9.30 for a 10.00am start. Bring your lunch and a thermos as it will be a full days motoring with two routes for those who don’t want to travel on shingle. i.e. MG owners.
Hawkeswood Sprint; 12th of November. Yes it’s on again, so contact Ron for details and entry forms.
Oldtimers Event, Ruapuna 26th of November. There is a VCC class so once again, see the all knowing Ron for details.
Selwyn Motor Fest and Family Fun Day 26th of November. Selwyn car guys have banded together to hold an outdoor car, truck motorcycle and farm equipment show at a central location opposite the new Rolleston College. A bit of a contrast to the event at Ruapuna.
Past Events: Garage Raid.
Figure 3Drooling over the 1927 Delage
Figure 2Birthday Boy Harry Dawber explaining large engines to John Foster ( Hispano Suiza H6 B)
We started at Auto Restorations, where Michael Pidgeon gave us a guided tour of some quite remarkable cars, so many that it’s hard to know where to start. Perhaps a partial list of the current occupants of the workshops gives a general idea. In no particular order: Delahaye, Ferrari, Amilcar, Delage, Iso Rivolta, Iso Bubblecar, Jaguar C type (real), Riley Merlin, Volvo P1800, Stag, Lagonda, Alfa Romeo, Ford V8 coupe, Fiat Balila, Hispano Suiza........ the list goes on. For many of us the 1926 Delage 1500 GP car was a real highlight. This is the ex Richard Seaman, Rob Walker car with a long and distinguished racing history. A glorious example of French engineering. At the other end of the scale was an enormous 1938 Lagonda Rapide, which is being Figure 1Fiat Balilla 1934, Australian owner, Mille prepared for Pebble Beach. A huge car, wonderfully over Miglia entrant. engineered with superb details. In true British fashion, it leaked oil, even when new, so much so that they were banned in Germany! Really. Would of messed up the autobahns I suppose. Many of the cars have fascinating histories, or are very rare. Michael’s knowledge of each car was very detailed, and we were fascinated.
We then drove to Rolleston to see the collection of John Winchester. John has collected an example of every Zephyr and Zodiac ever built, and many are very low mileage original examples. Some other old Fords, all immaculate, and various vintage tractors were also on display in his custom built shed, which was the envy of many. We stayed in Rolleston and next visited the eclectic collection of Richard Daglish. Once again, in no particular order, Rolls Royce Phantom (ex hearse), RR Silver Shadow, Studebaker Golden Hawk Coupe, Fiat 500, E type coupe, and lots of interesting old motorbikes. Just as interesting were the many shelves of assorted parts that had many visitors fascinated. Richard is a delirious enthusiast who does not limit himself to one marquee, and there is a strong possibility that one or two of his collection may get finished one day. So, a Garage Raid of contrasts, which is exactly how it should be, and as a bonus, we raised $300 for Cancer research.
Balcairn. Finally, it happened. We were worried that the ground would still be too wet, but the Flemings farm has sponge like qualities, and it was surprisingly dry, given the amount of rain that had fallen. Because of the date change, entries were down, as many of the Nelson contingent were not able to come. So it was a quality not quantity field that duly assembled at the field of battle, with a classy looking new entrant, a Bugwog. Owner/constructor John Screen had taken a Morris Minor, wisely thrown away the body, and constructed a very convincing Bugatti type37 body. It looked superb, as all French cars do, and by next year John will have made it go as well as well as it looks, as teething troubles prevented it from unleashing its full potential. Typical French car really. Lindsay and Andrew Painter were in a very smart looking A7 Special, complete with yellow number plates, and like the Bugwog, it will no doubt unleash its full potential when they do something about the turning circle etc etc. Typical A7 really. Talking of unleashing full potential, Johnny Moore had thrown caution to the winds and doubled the value of the family A7 by recklessly spending $65 on new sparkplugs, oil and oil filter. Mike Ludecke and the Owens were flying the Ford flag and the Dawber boys were in the vast Pontiac. Phil and Clarke Mauger brought out the Bimotore Special. which tends to be crowd favourite, and Avon Hyde and Damon Rose, topgun A7 pilots and contenders for the South Island Championship, were looking grim and focused. Because of the smaller field, six stages were on the agenda. Stage one is the hardest and 40 points are on offer. Phil Mauger got out to an early lead with 34, with the other top guns on 32. Johnny Moore scored 11, proving that new spark plugs are no substitute for skill, and George Kear, normally very competitive, scored 3. Pressure and sponsors expectations at this top level of Motorsport I suppose.
Figure 4 Anticipation......
(photo John McDonald)
Stage Two, Jelfs Shelf, is often the graveyard of expectation, and so it was that Avon Hyde zigged instead of zagged at a marker, thus losing vital points, with the other topguns getting 20. Craig Cowie, having a works drive in the Moore A7, was looking promising, as distinct from the owner, and Greg May another A7 works driver was looking good in the Paul Cameron A7. Stage three was just too easy, in spite of looking tricky and once you got through the bog at the start, most got to the top and earned 20 easy points. However it was becoming obvious that starting early was a huge advantage, as the later starters got stuck in the ruts, usually created by the Dawber Pontiac as it attempted to move forward. The Painter A7 was a victim of this, disappearing ignominiously into Pontiac sized ruts. Search parties eventually located car and driver.
Stage four, Newell’s Nemisis, is usually very tricky, but the organisers had been too kind and taken out a nasty little bend that usually defeats many. As a consequence of this, virtually everyone got 20, except for the Pontiac which proved that size does matter by not being able to get round a tight corner. The organisers felt confident that stage 5, which involves a nasty Stop Start on a steep bit of gravel track, would both expose the inherent frailty of vintage handbrakes, and the inherent inability of vintage drivers to operate them. How wrong they were! Both men and machines responded to challenge, to everyone’s surprise, and far too many scored an effortless 20. Crucially, Damon Rose failed the stop start and lost vital points, and Avon Hyde was seen to smile. The Moore/Cowie A7 Figure 5 Less is more, or Moore was less ? (photo John McDonald)
pilots were not confident that the clutch and handbrake of their finely honed machine would cope with the rigours of a stop start, and depending on your point of view, either descended to a new low of cunning rules manipulation, or showed lateral thinking skills to overcome a seemingly insurmountable problem. As they approached the stop start line, Craig, who was sitting in the back seat of the tourer was holding a large piece of wood. (Craig is about 2 metres tall and has arms that would make a Figure 7 The very rare Cameron Steam Car gorilla jealous). As the car shuddered to a (photo John McDonald) stop, he leaned out and placed the bit of wood under a back wheel (see photo). But in spite of this cunning plan, the A7 failed to proceed forward, and with the delicate smell of burning clutch, and clouds of blue smoke, rolled back down the hill. The phrase “cheats never prosper” does come to mind, and one has to sympathise about the desperate lengths that A7 owners are forced to go to. Another theory was that the piece of wood was a piece of bodywork/chassis that had come off and was simply being re-attached. And so on to Stage 6 which was mud mud, glorious mud, as Flanders and Swann put it. The early starters got 20 if they were light and nimble, so Phil Mauger really did have the luck of the draw and scored 20, as did Mike Ludecke in the Ford Special. Damon Rose in his very light A7 also got 20 and Avon Hyde, who didn’t, was seen to scowl. The ruts got deeper, the cars sank deeper, and even the Landrovers that were on towing duty struggled to move some of the cars. Great fun to Figure 6 Wood it or wood it not (photo Mark Dawber)
watch of course, and a great leveller in terms of points scored. Most got 6 or 7, especially those down the draw. So a fitting and hilarious end to another great day at the Fleming farm at Balcairn. We’ve been going there for 23 years, and every year there are new entrants with new cars, which keeps the veterans on their toes. Yet again, the coveted Old Boot Trophy went to Phil Mauger in the Bi Motore hotrod. He’s won far too many times, so you can be sure there are cunning plans afoot to unseat him. Next year could be the year of the Bugwog!
Figure 8 Bi-motore forges on – Bellisimo! (photo John McDonald)
Figure 9 Over there............ (photo John McDonald)
:
Figure 10 Plugs 7 & 8 oiling up again - fraiment?
(photo John McDonald)
Balcairn 2017 Results Overall Rank
Number
Name
Make
Short/Long Class Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6 Total
1 2
Phil Mauger Harry Dawber
Austin Special Pontiac
Short Long
C D
34 30
20 17
20 11
20 6
20 17
20 8
134 89
1 12
3
Geoff Owen
Ford 10 Special
Short
C
31
17
16
20
20
6
110
5
4 5 6
John Screen George Kear Johnny Moore
Bugwog Special Austin 7 Austin 7
Short Short Short
C A A
10 3 11
15 17 17
10 12 12
19 20 20
20 20 17
5 8 6
79 80 83
18 16 14
7 8 9
Lindsay Painter Paul Cameron Avon Hyde
Austin 7 Austin 7 Austin Special
Short Short Short
C C C
30 31 32
10 16 7
2 12 20
20 7 20
20 17 20
0 6 7
82 89 106
15 12 7
10
Damon Rose
Austin 7
Short
C
32
20
15
20
17
20
124
3
12
Shaughn Knox
Austin 10
Short
C
24
12
13
6
20
5
80
16
13 14
Clark Mauger William Dawber
Austin Special Pontiac
Short Long
C D
32 30
20 17
20 12
20 10
20 17
20 9
132 95
2 9
15
David Owen
Ford 10 Special
Short
C
31
17
20
20
20
6
114
4
16 17 18
Evan Kear Craig Cowie
Austin 7 Austin 7
Short Short
A A
30 30
12 17
8 8
20 20
18 17
7 6
95 98
9 8
19 20
Andrew Painter Greg May
Austin 7 Austin 7
Short Short
C C
29 30
2 17
6 14
20 20
20 20
2 9
79 110
18 5
Michael Ludecke
M L Special
Short
C
15
10
13
12
20
20
90
11
11
21 22 23