Eastside breakfast - Sunday 5th February

Bass Hills drive - Saturday 11th February

Hi all, it’s time for another Saturday Morning Run.

The plan is to meet at Tooradin on the service road (entry just after the bridge on the side leaving Melbourne) at 8.30 for a 9.00 departure, coffee at the bakery across the road.

After an easy 20 minute run from Tooradin, the fun begins.
We turn left into the Bass hills which are beautiful, but more importantly have roads built purposely for our clubmans (bonus 100km/h speed limit). We will stop a couple of times to stretch the legs and check out the other runners' grinning faces.

After roughly 100kms of exhilarating driving, the plan is to finish the fun where we started, then an easy run back to Tooradin for lunch and refreshments, then head back home.

As navigating these roads is tricky if you haven’t been there before, the plan is to all regroup at any turn off to allow everyone to enjoy the full run without getting lost.

This will be a long run, however, as with other bodily pleasures, the longer you do it, the more fun it is. I’m sure you will find it a blast and almost certainly want more of it.

If you are interested please, send a text, with your name so I can keep runners in the loop if there are any changes due to bad weather and also to book numbers for lunch (0417582236)

If you need more detail, please call me.

Safe driving - Arie

Here are some happy drivers at the end of last month's Peninsula run in Flinders:

 

Westside breakfast - Sunday 19th January

Usual spot: The Nook in Sunbury.
Usual time: 8am onwards.
Usual bunch of car nuts.

Last month's westside get together:

Yesterday’s 38 degree day quickly became a blur as we drove to Sunbury in cold drizzling rain  But the weather was not enough to dampen the enthusiasm of 12 hearty souls intent on having a relaxing chat over coffee and a big breakfast.  All the regulars turned up as usual but we were very pleased to finally meet Sally Banister and her family. As you may have already read, Sally became a member of VCBG after her Dad (Don Lewis) decided she could drive his clubbie as well as him. 

- Les Bone
 

Club visit to Rob Roy?

This is a great chance for lots of us to compete at Rob Roy. For those who haven't competed, it's a good chance to have a not-too threatening blat! Cost is usually about $110.

The Interclub Challenge Rules for 16/4, 25/6 and 1 October are not clear to me. I spoke with Wayne Rushton who said it depended on a club wanting to run something. But those three rounds are an opportunity for us to compete, individually and as a club against other clubs. I'm assuming it would require something like 3 or 4 cars per club. 

In any case, we could run our own internal competition, I'd suggest, as well as fastest being a winner, having a winner based on the nearest to their nominated time (like Regularity) or something related to engine capacity v time.

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The other suggestion I have is that now that the Rob Roy facilities are great with undercover rotundas etc.,  perhaps we could go there one first Sunday of the month for a club breakfast of egg and bacon rolls with money going to the MGCC. I'm sure Wayne would do the catering, if there is something in it for the MGCC.

Alternatively, close by at Watson's Creek is the Dark Horse Cafe, which is a beauty. Great breakfast and you ought to see the Vanilla Slices!!

- Rob Nethercote
 

Wodonga Track

Ian awarded honours

Forget the Australia Day awards - our old mate Ian Rusch was recognised by the MSCA at the end of last year for his ongoing contributions to the association.

To quote MSCA secretary Petrina Astbury:

I am delighted to let you know that you have been awarded the 2022 MSCA Official of the Year award. This is in recognition of your outstanding commitment and contribution to the MSCA. Over many years, you have helped with check in and dorian collection, often as a competitor, as well as travelling to events to help when you are not competing.
 
Ian, you are a great ambassador for the culture of the MSCA and you are an integral part of our community. On behalf of the MSCA Executive and Committee, thank you for your outstanding volunteering contribution.
 
Kind regards - Petrina

Ian certainly deserves some applause.  He's always there at sparrow's fart each sprint meeting or Come+Try day, helping folk get their timing gear, moving equipment around or anything else that assists.  I've seen the bloke at Phillip Island at 7am when he's not even entered on the day; after helping get the day started, he's then driven home again to Ferntree Gully without any fun on track.   Some commitment.

- Gavin

Introducing new members

• Custom fibreglass body, tube space frame with glued and riveted aluminium panels
• Ford Duratec 2.0 litre motor fitted with EFI Hardware quad throttle bodies, Haltec Elite 1500 ECU tuned by Melbourne Performance Centre
• Ford Focus 5 speed gearbox, single mass chrome molly lightened weight flywheel heavy duty plate
• Wilwood brake 6 Spot Front, 4 Spot Rear, Wilwood pedal box with brake bias adjuster
• Wilwood uprights at front, custom uprights at the rear, suspension arms made from chrome moly tube with rose joints
• Quaife Quick Steering Rack
• Wheels 17x7 fitted with Yokohama 225/45 17 91W A050 Medium Rear, 215/45 Front
• Weight around 600 Kg, bit on the heavy side :)
• Some spare parts available if required
• Great fun car on the track
• Track car only, unable to register for road use

Which would you rather drive?
 
... or "it's not the size, but what you do with it".



- Arie


Minutes of evening meeting, 22nd January

Apologies 

• Dave Down
• Lenny Wilkinson

The meeting was attended by 18 members and the following items were discussed:

• 30 places have been set aside by Michael ( Bright Caravan Park ) for March
  Those present were reminded of what a great week end the Bright get together is.
  Peter was in Bright and meet Tracy, one the previous owners of the caravan park and thanked her on behalf of the club for all the help given over the years
• Question as to how many actual Lotus 7 are in the club. The consensus was probably only 1, that being John Lim’s series 4.
• New member Joel introduced himself
• Discussion of the recent MSCA event at Phillip Island; Callum, Les and Gavin achieving PBs and Rob’s unfortunate incident with a run away vehicle
• Some light hearted discussion about who and what we should allow in a “clubman builders” group.
• Sandro gave a report that we currently have 45 club permitted vehicles, down from 58
• Richard gave an impromptu financial report, our current bank balance is   $ 9430
• The need to consider a new platform for our website was discussed, with a general agreement that something needed to be done. Arie is looking into this
  Callum put forward the possibility of using a platform called Teamapp.
  Arie is looking into this possibility.
• The idea of possibly having patches for race suit, proper VCBG car badges and decals was floated without any final agreement reached
• Reports from both Westside and Eastside coffee meets 
• Brief report on the peninsula group's first group run
• Some discussion about regular organised runs, as opposed to just meeting for coffee

Event reports

• Paul reported that the Xmas get together at  the Rob Roy Hillclimb venue went really well and was attended by 62 people
  Paul suggested a thank you letter and donation to the MG car club ( Les to facilitate this)
  We should try and rebook this venue , possibly on the 10/12/2023
  Note: Since then, it's been booked for Saturday the 3rd December.  Can't wait - Gavin
  It was suggested we need better signage at the entrance to Rob Roy, however this was possibly by runners who arrive early before the VCBG banner was hung on the entrance fence
• On 25/2 there is a retro rally car display at Kilsyth
• Phillip Island historic meeting from the 9th to 11th of March 
• Ford Four car club driver training on the 11th of June 
• Possibility of a group booking for a meet at Wodonga circuit
  Gavin suggested we pick a week end and do it
  Note: Since then, Paul + Gavin have agreed to aim at November
• John reported on the AOMC meeting he attended on behalf of the club
  It was disappointing as there was no technical discussion and much of the talk was about Greenfleet, a scheme to offset your cars carbon emissions by planting trees. Needless to say this was greeted with little enthusiasm.
• Some discussion of S&M engineering doing emissions testing
• Tassie trip is booked out
• Very few Victorians at the Jindabyne Clubman Nationals
  Victorians to organise 2024 Nationals.

The meeting ended and was followed by small group discussions.
 

Upcoming Events

• Small Ford Sunday -  Sunday 5th February - a collection (about 200 plus) smallish Fords of days gone by from Prefect and Anglia to current Focus, at the Blind Institute, St Kilda Road
• Tassie Not the Nationals - 19th Feb onwards - contact Geoff Ritchie geoffreyritchie@optusnet.com.au 
• Rally Retro Festival - Saturday 25th Feb - METEC Kilsyth
• British and European Motoring Show - Sunday 26th February - Carribean Park
• Rob Roy first hillclimb on new track and new facilities - Sunday 5th March
• VHRR Philip Island Classic - 9th to 12th March - amongst usual cars, six 1970-80 F1 cars
• Bright clubman weekend - 24th to 26th March - https://brightaccommodationpark.com.au/
• 6 Hour Relay Philip Island - 29th/30th July - Last year we ran a team of 6 cars; should we do the same or run 2 teams of 4 cars? If you are interested in running please contact Les Bone
• FFCC Driver Training day at Sandown - Saturday 11th June (Long Weekend) - contact Paul Lechner if interested

Send interesting stuff for the newsletter to:
gavin.eakins@gmail.com