Our March newsletter featuring the following articles: Crankhandling picnic, Dream mile, Austin-Healey visit, Charabancs, Knysna show looking good, Century Run cancelled, Exhaust blips
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CRANKHANDLING PICNIC

As the car show season draws to a close, in early March some of the many enthusiastic members of the Crankhandle Club headed out to FMM for a Sunday picnic on the museum’s lawns. A variety of cars left the club’s Wynberg base in Cape Town and headed out to the Franschhoek Valley in warm sunny weather.
 
Lined up on display outside Hall D were a pair of stately Rolls-Royces, a rare Armstrong Siddeley, a little and a large Austin, a smooth Bentley, a boxy Ford, an MG saloon, a duo-green Plymouth, a Riley, a stylish Studebaker Avanti and two Chevrolets – a roadster and saloon. Owners and fellow Crankhandlers enjoyed a lunchtime picnic – either from their own hampers or ones prepared at the museum’s deli – under umbrellas on the lawns edging FMM’s quadrant, the weather being partially overcast but warm. Compliments all round were the order of the day by those who took part.   
 
The interesting mix of cars was a bonus display for the many visitors on the day tasting the excellent L’Ormarins wines and admiring the various other vehicles on view in the halls. Current exhibits include ‘reds’ (a colour-themed presentation), single-seater race cars and examples of some unique South African vehicles (Dart, Flamingo, Protea, Capri Perana, Alfa Romeo GTV6 3,0). MM

DREAM MILE

In a tribute to Roger Bannister conquering the mile in less than four minutes – the ‘dream mile’ – 50 years ago, the museum was invited to parade a few classic cars at the Street Mile Festival held in Stellenbosch on March 12. Hosted by the gents hostel Dagbreek, a mile-long course down Victoria Street was marked out and five of FMM’s classics – a 1927 Chevrolet pick-up, 1934 Ford V8 roadster, 1938 Buick DHC, 1954 Citroën Light 15 and a 1965 Ford Mustang had to run the same course. (No problem and they weren’t even out of breath!). It was a fun outing and something totally different to experience on the local front. Incidentally, the first South African to run a sub-four-minute mile was De Villiers Lamprecht on 13 November 1964, also in the town of Stellenbosch.  WH


AUSTIN-HEALEY VISIT

Image from http://4c.alfaromeo.com/
FMM was honoured to have Austin-Healey Club of South Africa stop by for lunch during the month. Models ranging from a little ‘Frog Eye’ Sprite to the mighty six-cylinder 3000 were all enjoying a tour around the Cape. After lunch they quiet afternoon was shattered by the big Healeys firing up and heading off to Langebaan for an evening stopover. WH

CHARABANCS

Image from http://4c.alfaromeo.com/
Combined with L’Ormarins wine tasting and FMM visits, visitors are now able to take courtesy drives from the museum around the estate in a bespoke charabanc, the 15-20 minute drive taking in areas that previously were not open to the public. The charabancs were built by A&D Engineering and are based on an Isuzu light-truck chassis.

KNYSNA SHOW LOOKING GOOD

Preparations are well under way for this year’s annual Knysna Car Show to be held at the High School Fields in Waterfront Drive on Sunday 11 May. There will be a select display of classic, performance, specialty and featured one-make vehicles and motorcycles, with the emphasis of quality rather than quantity. Over 150 MGs taking part in the marque’s national Indaba being held in Knysna over the car show weekend will be on display together with 50-year celebrations of the Mini’s first win in the Monte Carlo, the birth of the V8-powered Sunbeam Tiger, and the introduction of the Ford Mustang.
Classic & Performance Car Africa is once again sponsoring two concours d’elegance competition trophies, and a new Style et Luxe floating trophy will be awarded to the most elegant and luxurious car on view. Proceeds from the show are donated to local charities. For further details, contact Peter Pretorius on 082 321 4724 or e-mail peterp@epweb.co.za. Additional information can also be found on the website www.grmc.co.za.

CENTURY RUN CANCELLED

The organisers of the 8th Century Run have had to cancel the event, which was scheduled for 30 March. The first seven Century Runs were run by the Cape Vintage Motorcycle Club (CVMC) which is affiliated to SAVVA (South Africa Veteran and Vintage Association) for administration and insurance purposes. SAVVA in turn through the Historic and Classic Car Commission is affiliated to Motorsport South Africa – the controlling body for all motor sport in South Africa.

At the SAVVA AGM in 2013 a motion was passed that all vehicles taking part in a recognized SAVVA event would need to have insurance on their vehicles or take out insurance on the day, under the SAVVA scheme. The levy for this would be R50. Representations have been made to both SAVVA and the Motorsport Council member to have the Century Run excluded from the ruling as the levy went against the concept of the Run, namely that there would be no cost to the entrants. The only stipulation was that all entrants had signed indemnities either through a SAVVA affiliated club or granted for the event under the auspices of the CVMC.
 
After considerable discussion within the CVMC, the decision was taken not to go with the event this year.

EXHAUST BLIPS


A reminder about the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb taking place in Knysna on May 16-18. Only 50 cars will be accepted for Classic Car Friday and entries close on March 31. Cars eligible for the Classic Car Friday event will fall into six classes: pre-war cars will compete in Class H1, pre-1966 road cars in H2 and pre-1975 road cars in H3. Pre-’66 and ’75 pukka racing machinery will be in classes H4 and H5 repectively. Re-created cars, often mistakenly called ‘replicas’, will fill Class H6. An online entry facility can be found at www.speedfestival.co.za. For more information on the event please go to www.speedfestival.co.za or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KnysnaSpeedFestival 
 
On March 1, Volkswagen Group South Africa’s (VWSA) popular heritage centre, the AutoPavilion, celebrated 10 years of operation. The facility takes visitors through a journey of VW’s history in South Africa and features a collection of unique vehicles, high-tech prototypes and record breaking cars. AutoPavilion also offers factory tours of the VW plant twice a day, and is a popular attraction for motoring enthusiasts visiting Nelson Mandela Bay.

DATES TO DIARISE:

March 21-22: Inland racing championships and festival, Zwartkops
March 22: Circuit racing, East London
March 22-23: OD Inggs Memorial Run, Port Alfred www.avcmc.co.za
March 23: Vintage Obs Day, Cape Town hazel@starstruckautos.co.za
March 29: Super Series circuit racing, Killarney www.wpmc.co.za
April 6: Angela’s Picnic, Delta Park, Johannesburg www.samca.co.za
April 12: Historic racing, Zwartkops
April 12-21: Stars of Sandstone steam heritage festival, Ficksberg babitan@sandstone.co.za
May 4: Buick Cadillac Oldsmobile Concours d’Elegance, Country Club Auckland Park, Johannesburg info@rcpalk.co.za
May 7-11: SAVVA Edwardian-Veteran Run, Hillcrest info@savva.org.za
May 10-11: Landy Festival, Soetdoring Vakansieplaas, Vereeniging  www.landyfestival.co.za
May 11: Knysna Motor Show peterp@epweb.co.za
May 16-18: Jaguar Simola Hillclimb, Knysna www.speedfestival.co.za
May 18: Cars in the Park, Alexander Park, Pietermaritzburg www.carsinthepark.co.za
April 13: Mustang 50th anniversary meet, Castle of Good Hope lindsay@vivaline.co.za


(Clubs are invited to send details of upcoming events to mike4m@telkomsa.net for inclusion in Exhaust Blips.)

WHERE, WHAT TIMES
AND HOW MUCH

The Franschhoek Motor Museum is situated on the L’Ormarins Estate along the R45 in the Franschhoek Valley in the Western Cape.

The opening hours are Monday to Friday 10h00 to 17h00 (last admittance 16h00), Saturday and Sunday 10h00 to 16h00 (last admittance 15h00), and the museum is open on most public holidays

Admission prices are R60 adults, R50 pensioners, R30 children. An on-site delicatessen offers refreshments and and A Rupert Wines can be enjoyed.
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Newsletter text by Mike Monk.

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