September Auckland Car Club s. Monthly Magazine. Race, Rally, Clubsport & MORE

Transcription

1 September 2011 Auckland Car Club s Monthly Magazine Race, Rally, Clubsport & MORE

2 P O Box 27063, Mt Roskill, Auckland, New Zealand 1440 Phone: (09) Facsimile: (09) President Bob White president@aucklandcarclub.co.nz Vice Presidents Nigel Smith Vicepresident1@aucklandcarclub.co.nz Mark Sheehan Vicepresident2@aucklandcarclub.co.nz Secretary/Treasurer Craig Holmes secretary@aucklandcarclub.co.nz Membership Secretary Peter Baten membership@aucklandcarclub.co.nz Clubsport John Riddell clubsport@aucklandcarclub.co.nz Race Nigel Smith race@aucklandcarclub.co.nz Chief Scrutineer Mark Sheehan scrutineer@aucklandcarclub.co.nz Club Rooms Hire Steve Morris clubrooms@aucklandcarclub.co.nz Committee Members Mike Dias mandm@xtra.co.nz William Yu db3pa121@hotmail.com Ross Henderson rawjam@vodafone.co.nz Gavin Boyne g.boyne@aspec.co.nz Alana McIsaac Clubnews@aucklandcarclub.co.nz Brett Davy Bathroomsytems@ihug.co.nz Ted Jarvis tedjarvis@xtra.co.nz Gary Raiti Markson.direct@xtra.co.nz Motorsport New Zealand Licence Examiners Bob White Peter Borman Bob Friend Ted Jarvis Note: All calls to the above numbers are to be BEFORE 9:00pm The Club thanks the following for their support. Club News Advertising Rates Single 12 Issues 12 Issues Issue Paid Monthly Paid in Advance Quarter Page $50.00 $37.50 $ Half Page $ $75.00 $ Full Page $ $ $1, Rates include display on the club s website. Contact clubnews@aucklandcarclub.co.nz for further details.

3 Date Event Club Location 10 September Rally Gisborne Rally New Zealand Gisborne 11 September Winter Series Round 4 Auckland / Historic Hampton Downs September Race Meeting HRC Hampton Downs 25 September Spring Race Meeting Northern Sports Pukekohe 1 October James Allan Memorial Rallysprint South Auckland Maramarua 9 October Rallysprint Pukekohe Tuakau 15 October Rally of the North Northern Sports Northland October Targa (Main Event) Targa North Island 24 October Ardmore Autocross Sports Car Club Ardmore Airport 29 October Summer Series Round One Auckland Pukekohe 29 October Daybreaker Rally Manawatu Manfield 4-6 November Premier Race Championship Round MSNZ Pukekohe 1 11 November Summer Series Round Two Auckland Pukekohe 26 November Bright Road Hillclimb Pukekohe Bright Road Clubrooms 44 Stoddard Road, Mt Roskill, Auckland Licensed Bar, Lounge, Large Screen TV Regular Club Night The club rooms are open every Thursday night from 7:30pm until 10:30pm. License examiners are usually available to assist new Members with license exams. Several members of the Executive Committee are usually available to discuss any issues or provide assistance. Club Rooms Hire Rates The Members Lounge and the larger hall upstairs are available for hire for special events such as birthday or anniversary parties, meetings, bingo/housie, quiz nights, training courses, etc. The Members Lounge has a fully equipped bar and the upstairs hall has a complete kitchen available for both venues. Special hire rates are available for Club Members. Commercial organisations and community groups receive discounts for multiple events or long-term commitments. Please direct enquiries to Steve Morris /(09) /clubrooms@aucklandcarclub.org.nz

4 Hi everyone. We are now getting ready for some changes around the club. The first is in regards to the Clubrooms: we have been lucky to have been able to lease out the top floor for the next 2 years at least to a Samoan Christian Church with the right of renewal, this will help out our cash flow considerably and it is hoped the relationship will be beneficial to both our organizations. Also if we decide to sell they have asked for the first opportunity to purchase the building, only time will tell if that happens so it looks good for us in the future. The deal was thrashed out with Ted Jarvis and Steve Morris who made the Clubs point of view quite plain, and the requests were agreed upon, well done Ted and Steve. The summer series is almost upon us and there have been some changes to the way our events are run as regards classes etc. This will be explained in Nigel s notes to you elsewhere. These will NOT alter the trophies that are up for grabs at the end of the season. It means the results will have to be broken down after the race meeting to ensure that every one is in the correct class or group for them. I will try to get them correct at the start but if I make an error can you all please let me know and it will be sorted. Our Rallysprint early in August turned out to be a good event though borderline with entries. Our Carol Liston was yet again the Giant Killer by winning the event, well done Carol, and Grant of course, the guys that helped thanks for the effort and I think we all learnt a thing or two that day. The winter series of races fizzed out on the 11 th due mainly to the lack of entries, RWC, and possibly the weather forecast, whilst there is some support for these I personally feel the effort that is put into them is wasted as it never seams to have a great deal of support numbers wise: true there has to be something going on but to run events with little or no profit has me concerned, can we use our resources in a better way during the off season. Your thoughts on this would be appreciated. As you may have possibly guessed we are heading toward a couple of big meetings both at PPRW and H/Downs and it will be very interesting to see how the two V8 classes work out, it is going to be certainly the class of the Titans, so to speak over the next season. On a personal note I think there are times when I should say how I feel as regards some issues this is one of them. I have been a member of the Club for some considerable time and have seen so many changes both good and some bad I have been the instigator of some but I have always had the benefit of this club in mind. As I say some worked some did not, but we tried them and we led the way with changes to MotorSport in general. Now there are major problems that we can not ignore. And that is the fact that there are two tracks for a country of 4m both within sighting distance of each other. We as a club have to support both of them one way

5 or another but to make this work there needs to be some co-operation as to the events that are run on the same day. They need to get together and plan the season so that there is only one race meeting per weekend, with the other party having lower level events, the clubs in the region have date setting meetings every 6 months give or take a day, so that the events they run do not conflict with each other. They are aware of the numbers involved with each event, yes they are Clubsport events, and it works, Hillclimb for one motorkhana another, and yes they also use the tracks for sprints etc, so if the Clubs can arrange events that do not cause major problems especially with the man/female power that is needed to make these events happen why can not this be done by coordinating events at the tracks. OK you can me tell I am nuts and I will cop some flack about it, but honestly clubs who are race orientated need to know what they are running against at the other track. Now that can not be to hard can it? It is called cooperation guys, just like you track people we need to make money as well, or we all go bust. Bob White Auckland Car Club President

6 AUCKLAND CAR CLUB RACING SALOON CAR TROPHY In July I had to collect this trophy from the 2010 winner and drop it off to the engravers so they could put the winners name on it before the prize giving. I started to read the names of the past recipients, it is a collection of club members who have battled for this trophy for the past 52 years and there are some well-known names on there. This trophy was first awarded in 1959 to the winner of the Racing Saloon Car Class and has been awarded every year since to members of Auckland Car Club who have won this series. This trophy is part of Auckland Car Club history and the names of the winners are a testament to this. The first winner was I. Dawson followed by G. Souness, G. Harvey, B. Philips, B. McLean, J. Nazer, R. Coppins, D. Halliday, M. Soames (2), R. Sloan, T. McLean (2), B. Platt, G. Addis, W. Grey (2), D. Smyth, B. Manon (3), T. Rutherford (2), G. Lathrope, G. Jones, B. Connell, C. Toms, P. Bradley, K. Foster, A. Ferguson, J. McGechie (2), P. Cook & P. Schubert (14). The winning cars range from Valiants to Camaro's, Escorts, Vauxhall Victors, Viva's, Falcons, Commodores & Mazda's just to name a few. This is the first time I have handled this trophy but alas it was only to drop it off to the engravers to have P. Schubert's name added for the 14th time, I have been bridesmaid to this trophy 4 times now and while it isn't the Indy 500 or Bathurst 1000 trophy it still holds a high place in the rich history of Auckland Car Club. It would be great to have your name etched on this trophy alongside some of the great members who have battled for this trophy over the past 52 years. The series starts again in October and is open to any race car with the exception of open wheelers. It is exciting, close racing, but to finish first, first you have to finish. Words by Mike Dias

7 Here are the results from our Rallysprint that was held recently at Hampton Downs. Below are the class results and to the right are the overall results. More information can be found on our website: 1 st Carol Liston 2 nd Carl Davis 3 rd Gary Wainwright 4 th Grant Agnew 5 th Christo Strydom 1 st Gary Wainwright I 2 nd Andrew Leech I 3 rd Ian Parker I 4 th Bronwynne Leech I 1 st Ross Unkovich H 1 st Grant Patrick G 1 st Graham Featherstone E 2 nd Warwick Redfern E 3 rd Grant Agnew E 4 th Carl Davis E 5 th Shane England E 1 st Carol Liston C 1 st Christo Strydom B 2 nd David Ralph B 3 rd Mike Phear B 4 th Scott Harrison B 5 th Corey Lawton B 6 th Rhodes Allan B 7 th Mark Neilson B 8 th Brendan Wilson B 9 th Anna Hansen B 1 st Mark Bradley A 2 nd Garry Trayes A 3 rd Sam Stubbs A 4 th Bruce Crockett A 5 th Leon England A 6 th Ross Unkovich 7 th David Ralph 8 th Grant Patrick 9 th Scott Harrison 10 th Mike Phear 11 th Andrew Leech 12 th Mark Bradley 13 th Corey Lawton 14 th Rhodes Allan 15 th Graham Featherstone 16 th Ian Parker 17 th Warwick Redfern 18 th Sam Stubbs 19 th Mark Neilson 20 th Shane England 21 st Brendan Wilson 22 nd Garry Trayes 23 rd Bruce Crockett 24 th Leon England 25 th Bronwynne Leech 26 th Anna Hansen

8 Production Muscle Cars recently held their prizegiving with guest speaker Mike Loder. It was a great night, filled with many laughs and the results from this night can be seen below. Congratulations to all of the award winners! PMC Overall 1 st John Sampson 2 nd Russell Thomas 3 rd Mike Oldham 6 Cylidner 1 st John Sampson 2 nd Brittany Sheweiry 3 rd Warren Betts Performance Road 1 st Russell Thomas 2 nd Stuart Preston Rookie John Sampson Piston Cup Mark Kiely Highest Placed Female Brittany Sheweiry Merit Award Mike Oldham Dipstick Award Mike Oldham & Craig Grammer Best Presented Car George Sheweiry Jnr Recognition Awards: Natalie Waite Russell Thomas Sandra Grammer Rally of the North October 15, 2011 With only a month to go until the kick off for the Valvoline Rally of the North, event organisers are gearing up for what is set to be a fun event. Event organiser Simon Bell says the Valvoline Rally of the North will be an adventure and an excuse for a family weekend away in Paihia, a popular family holiday destination. The Valvoline Rally of the North consists of over (insert kms) kilometres of competitive special stages and will be based in idyllic Paihia with the lunch service in Kaitaia. The event was lucky to have Valvoline come on board as new sponsors which has meant the event has been able to make a number of changes; including new awards that some cheeky competitors will not be able to hide from. Event organisers said the Valvoline Rally of the North coincides with the school holidays so make the trip to Paihia and get valuable family and rally time while away on holiday in the picturesque north View their website for more dteails: and get your entries in! (Can you tell your editor is a rally nut? Ha-ha)

9 On Sunday, I spent the day working as a volunteer at round 3 of the Auckland Car Club and Historic Racing Club's winter series at Hampton Down. The weather was bleak, to say the least and while it didn t rain all the time, when it did it was absolutely freezing. We even got hail the size of golf balls at times. We had a reasonable number of good hardy race car drivers out there who enjoyed the qualifying and four races and we were all on our way home by 1.30pm, a truly amazing feat. However what was even more amazing was that 60 volunteers turned up to make this all happen on a cold and bleak day. So why the hell would they do it? Why do any of us compete in sport? Is it the sense of belonging, the sense of enjoyment, something to do on the weekends, or simply a way to get away from the family? For different people it is different reasons. The one thing that is for sure just as many of you reading this go to the track to race your car, to most of these people, volunteering is their sport. Sure some used to race, and some will race again in the future, hopefully including me. But motor racing isn t like most other sports in that we don t simply need one referee for 90 minutes to make it all happen. Typically we have a ratio of volunteers to competitors of one to one or thereabouts, and for 8, 10 or even 12 hours and over one to four days. I have talked before about the fact that volunteers are something that is a scarce commodity and we desperately need more. Over the last few months the Auckland Car Club, the Motor Sport Club (which is a club where volunteers involved in motor sport can belong), myself, Shayne Harris the president of Motor Sport New Zealand, his executive and the CEO of Motor Sport New Zealand Brian Budd have all been working towards recognising the role of volunteers in motor sport and encouraging more people to participate as volunteers. As I have said, we desperately need more volunteers in the sport. I was invited to Wellington along with Deborah Day of the Motor Sport Club to meet with Shayne and Brian and to talk about how we could grow motor sport volunteers in New Zealand. The first and most obvious answer is that volunteers aren t actually recognised as a separate body within motor sport itself. Some motor sport clubs are for volunteers and are affiliated to Motor Sport New Zealand, but they pay the same capitation fees as do clubs with active racers in them yet they don t actually get represented well. While there is a safety and training commission, this doesn t specifically target volunteers (Continued in full report on under Race Reports)

10 Hayden Paddon wins the Production World Rally Championship! New Zealand's top rally driver Hayden Paddon created motorsport history today in becoming the 2011 FIA Production World Rally Champion after winning the production category at Rally Australia. Paddon becomes the first person in the Southern Hemisphere to ever win a world rally championship, taking the 2011 PWRC title with four consecutive category wins - another new record set by the talented Kiwi in his second PWRC season. He still has two PWRC events to contest this season but, with a perfect score of 100 points to his credit, the Subaru driver can't be beaten. "I can't believe it, it's incredible!" Paddon said at the prize-giving. "Rally Australia wasn't an easy rally at all for us, but we made it. Twelve months ago I was back home in New Zealand with no money, no sponsors and we didn't even think we would be able to do the PWRC. We found the sponsors, we found a car and a team and now we're here after a stunning year. And for sure there's still a lot to come. We'll try as hard as we can to come back next year in something bigger and better." The 24-year-old's successful weekend in the forests and gravel roads around Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales coast was topped off by scooping eight WRC points for finishing sixth overall, a phenomenal feat in a Group N production car. Paddon and co-driver John Kennard, from Geraldine and Blenheim respectively, started Rally Australia with 75 points on the championship points-table. His closest rival, Czech Martin Semerad, has 50 points, but didn't nominate Australia as one of his six PWRC events. Swedish driver Patrik Flodin was third on the leader-board with 34 points, but also skipped Australia. This left Polish driver Michel Kosciuszko as the competitor most likely to challenge Paddon for PWRC points. Paddon was also awarded the Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally for his record-breaking achievements. When asked how hard was it (sic) for him, as a young Kiwi driver, to make his way into the World Rally Championship, Paddon replied: "It has definitely been hard. Possum Bourne was a rally legend

11 in New Zealand for a long time and along with a lot of other people, I looked up to him and when he passed away rallying took a bit of a hit back home. There has never been a set pathway for Kiwi drivers to make their way to the WRC, so that has been the hardest thing. Also finding the budget has always been an issue, there are some big companies in New Zealand but with the global crisis it is hard to find financial back-up. "Having said that, the team at Subaru has been really supportive to us and they helped us to make the move from our long-time association with Mitsubishi to drive a Subaru this season. They make a big effort in the PWRC backing up teams and drivers. The Belgian team that is working with us - Symtech Racing - is very passionate and enthusiastic and they did a fantastic job this year, as has the loyal Kiwi crew who are here with me this weekend to run our New Zealand-owned CR Properties/Placemakers Subaru." Paddon and Kennard head back to Europe late in October to contest Rally Spain in the Symtech Racing-built Subaru before wrapping up their current season at Rally Great Britain in November. Plans for 2012 are still to be decided as Paddon and his New Zealand World Rally Team continue to seek commercial partners and the right deal to progress Paddon's stellar career.

12 This is a reminder to all of our trophy winners listed below to pop into the clubrooms on a Thursday night to collect your trophies. We would love to see you at the clubrooms! Royal George Inn Cup Production Muscle Cars 1 st Place John Sampson 2 nd Place Russell Thomas 3 rd Place Glen Humphries Auckland Car Club Standard Production Saloons 1 st Place Ross Henderson 2 nd Place Aaron Clark 3 rd Place William Yu Brady Engineering Services Cup Modified Saloons 1 st Place Dennis McConell 2 nd Place Aaron Yarral Lodge Cup Northern Muscle 1 st Place Tony Van Tiel 2 nd Place Ron Findley 3 rd Place Steve Swann Auckland Car Club Modified Saloons st Place Phil Schubert 2 nd Place Mike Dias 3 rd Place Bruce Kett 1 st Place Glen Gordon Auckland Car Club Modified Saloons cc Des Gulland Cup Standard Production Saloons cc 1 st Place Gavin Boyne 2 nd Place Mike Brownlie 3 rd Place Kevin Varney & Mandy New & Bert Quin Bruce McLaren Trophy for Racing Endeavour Mitch Evans Dennis Hulme Trophy for Racing Achievement Shane Van Gisbergen Michael McHugh Memorial Cup Brittany Schewery Exide Trophy Ross Henderon Mainarc Engineering Services for Club Champion Ross Henderson Horace Robinson Trophy Natalie Waite

13 Auckland Car Club is on Facebook LIKE our page and see our updates! We are also now on Facebook! This is our only official Facebook page so be sure to check us out! You are welcome to upload your own videos, photos, race reports and so on here; we would love to see them. We will also update the page as things happen so be sure to join us and keep up to date with what is going on! More Content Needed! I am still on the lookout for more photographs, reports, articles, events and so on to put in the magazine! So if you come across anything interesting, or write something please let me know and I will pop it in the magazine. We would love to see more content from more of our members clubnews@aucklandcarclub.co.nz

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15 AUCKLAND CAR CLUB INC. P O Box 27063, Mt Roskill, Auckland 1440 Phone (09) Fax (09) APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP I, (First Names) (Surname) and (First Names Spouse/Partner) (Surname Spouse/Partner) of (Full Postal Address, Including Postal Code) hereby apply to become member(s) of the Auckland Car Club Inc. If elected to membership, I/we will adhere to the Rules of the Club. I consent to the Club retaining my details for membership purposes and disclosure to MotorSport New Zealand. I acknowledge my right to access and correction of this information Phone Number Residence Phone Number Mobile (Signature) Phone Number Business Address (Signature Spouse/Partner) Occupation Make and Model of Car Date of Birth Please indicate if you or one of your family or team is willing to help at events in one of these roles: Other car clubs of which you are a member (if any) Ordinary full membership, single, including $15.00 joining fee $ Family membership (spouse/partner) (add) $10.00 Youth/Student/Teenage membership, including $15.00 joining fee $60.00 In anticipation of my application being accepted, I enclose the sum of $ Fees include 15% Goods and Services Tax. Membership valid through to 31 March GST Reg Name of Cardholder Signature * Please include Card Security Code. This is the 3 digit number appearing on the back of your credit card. Direct credits to account accepted. Please include your name in payment reference. Meeting Date Approved Membership Card Number

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