Vintage Car Club of New Zealand - Southland Branch Inc.

PW, P60’s, P80’s Rally 20 May 2023

24 cars gathered at the Southland clubrooms on a cold and wet Saturday morning for the rally briefing at 10:15. Gerrry Pethic outlined the day’s events as drivers and navigators warmed themselves with very welcome tea, coffee, cakes and scones (thank you ladies). Gerry explained the rally was trialling an electronic timing system* alongside the usual manual system at the end of the timed section. It is hoped that it will eventually replace the manual recording of times, reducing the need for marshals and improving accuracy. Drivers were given an electronic tag to be stuck, with suction cups, on the left-hand rear window. The entries were split along fairly predictable lines with: 3 Post-War, 15 Post-60 and 6 Post-80 cars and 3 no-shows. The oldest was Owen Davis’ 1947 Buick Super and the youngest was Angus Petrie”s 1991 Rover Mini Cooper S. The most popular car was the 1970s Triumph 2.5. The first car left at 10:30 the route went out through: Wallacetown, Ohai, Nightcaps, Otautau before turning to Tuatapere for the lunchtime stop at the rugby club. The predicted light showers were actually heavy squalls that made driving interesting! It also waterlogged the rugby pitch so the field tests were hastily reorganised on the very wet outfield. As the first arrivals were driving back around the perimeter track to the re-sited field tests most of the other cars arrived at the main entrance to the Rugby Ground creating a traffic jam which was eventually sorted out. The long-suffering marshals herded the vehicles into some kind of order in the pouring rain and got them to complete the three tests. Some entrants made use of the BBQ at the Rugby ground to cook lunch whilst some others sought the warmth, comfort and food selection of the local cafes. There was a return route but most drivers took the shortest route back to the clubhouse. The awards were given out by Gerry Pethic and Howard Kingsford-Smith before an excellent Pea Pie & Pud supper. Overall winner was Aidan Weaver in his 1988 Suzuki Swift. *The electronic timing system had some problems with a software glitch which hopefully has now been solved. We hope to have an article about the timing system works in the next edition.

Results:

Aidan Weaver - 1988 Suzuki Swift - Overall Winner Of Rally - Willis Trophy

Owen Davies - 1947 Buick Super - Post War Time Trial 1st

Dale Simmons- 1958 Morris Isis - Post War Field Test 1st

Neil Kidd - 1966 Plymouth Belvedere - Post 1960’s Time Trial 1st

Stewart Russell - 1972 MGB GT - Post 1960’s Field Test First Equal, with Bruce Marshall  - 1975 Ford Escort Mk2

Aidan Weaver - 1988 Suzuki Swift Post 1980’s Time Trial 1st 

Ian Chynoweth -  1982 Fiat 131 2000  - Post 1980’s Field Test 1st

PW, P60’s, P80’s Rally 21 May 2022

With the rally not starting until midday it was nice to have a lie in particularly on such a miserable, wet and windy day. The late start was to fit in with the opening hours of the Fiordland Military Vehicle Museum which was the afternoon destination. Twenty-two vehicles had entered but only twenty left the clubhouse. Whilst there were two PW entries; due to the weather, one didn’t come and the other changed to a different vehicle.

Unusually there was no designated start times (based on nominated average speed), we were told to start when we liked. Howard later revealed our speeds had been checked on Steel Road, how he actually did is still a mystery. The route was fairly simple and I was lucky to have two experienced navigators (one of whom claimed he had helped lay out the course), however we came to one junction, everybody in front of us was turning right but we turned left. It all seemed to sort itself out about 5kms later when we all finished up on the same road.

The Fiordland Military Vehicle Museum is an extensive private collection located on the Te Anau - Mossburn highway about 15kms before Te Anau. We arrived just before 2pm and were warmly welcomed by Duncan and Tina McGregor the owners. The museum is housed in two large halls jam packed with military vehicles, equipment and a couple of dioramas illustrating what life was like in the front line. Most of the vehicles will run and the Italian 5inch howitzer fires blanks (it is used on ANZAC day). The visit was topped off with scones, pikelets, tea and coffee, courtesy of Tina.

The run back was fairly uneventful, but it was clear the weather was deteriorating with bouts of heavy rain and strong gusty crosswinds. The Merc took it in its stride however the return to the warmth and comfort of the clubhouse was much appreciated.

The Pea Pie & Pud and pudding went down a treat on this wintry evening. Thank you to Howard and his team for such a good event.

With no PW entries the prize giving was one of the shortest on record with only 3 awards being handed out:  P60 - Ian McKenzie 1966 Mercedes Benz, P80 - Angus Petrie 1991 Mini Cooper and Overall winner - Ian McKenzie 1966 Mercedes Benz 

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​PW P60’s P80’s Rally 2021

Saturday 15 May dawned surprisingly fine, but by the time the rally departed the weather had deteriorated to unpleasant. The format of the rally was rather different form the past. There were 2 pages of directions interspersed with questions to answer. The questions were interesting and ranged from easy to downright difficult. There was also a verbal question prior to departure. It was more like a car trial format than a conventional SVCC rally.

I have to admit to being rather dubious about this format, but we found it to be a very pleasant change. The route took us from the club rooms across to SH 99 via West Plains, and then on to Riverton, recording answers to questions on the way. There was a little round trip to the rocks and the end of the road before continuing on the state highway to Tuatapere, all the while recording more answers. The weather was very patchy with some people experiencing hail. It was pretty late in the season to expect to have a picnic lunch. But we did in the car park beside the old railway station. It was cold and seemed more like a Boot Lunch rather than a picnic. There was a lot of the usual chat and public viewing.

The return trip was though Otautau, Orawia and a visit to Les & Flora Andrews collection. Thanks to the organisers. It was good to see they were able to participate too. The Pea, Pie and Spud tea was a really good way to end the day. Thanks to all those who did the work.

The winners were:

Owen Davies Post war section.

Rae Wilson Post 60 section.

David North Post 80 section.

Owen Davies and Rae Wilson Overall winners.

The 2020 PW, P60's, P80's rally was cancelled due to Covid-19 Lockown.

PW P60’s P80’s Rally 2019

18th May dawned wet and windy, at the Clubrooms 36 brave and hearty members with their vehicles parked sedately, gathered prior to the start ofthe PW, P60’s, P80’s, Rally. After a quick cuppa and briefing the first vehicle left at 10am with others following at minute intervals. They followed a small time section then, travelling on in their own fashion to the destination which was the Waikawa Domain.

Actually sitting at the end of the time section we were parked beside a compulsory stop which turned into an interesting exercise – those who completely stopped, those who pulled up then pulled away, also seeing those that indicated or not!!

At the domain we had the use of the community hall, which allowed us to eat our lunch in the warmth. We had a quick whip around with a bucket to help pay for the use of the hall and were able to donate to the hall committee the amount of $94.40, thank you for emptying the shrapnel from your pockets, well done guys and from the committee many thanks.

On leaving Waikawa, we headed back home via Fortrose into Curio Bay where we stopped and visited the Information Centre – well worth a visit – very interesting display of history, petrified wood, etc. From here we headed back towards Fortrose then turning off at the Waimahaka turnoff following thru Waimahaka on to Wyndham, Seaward Downs eventually coming out at Tweed St where we continued on towards the Clubrooms for tea.

After prizegiving we all sat down to a meal of Pea, Pie and Spud, then desert which was very ably cooked, served by the Otatara PTA girls.  They did a brilliant job and everyone thanked them for their time. After tea we were able to sit and turn the world to rights amongst ourselves.

We had quite a bit of feedback regards the Otatara PTA cooking, serving the meal with everyone saying it was lovely to be able to sit back and relax and not have the worry of helping with the meal, cleanup etc.

Results:

1st PW Time Section Dale Simmons 1958 Morris Isis

1st P60’s Time Section Bill Ainge 1976 MGB GT

1st P80’s Time Section Jim McFadzien 1981 BMW

Overall Winner Dale Simmons 1958 Morris Isis

2017 Post War, Post 60's & Post 80's Results:

Post War Owen Davies 1947 Buick

Post 60 Stuart Francis 1978 BMW R100/7 & sidecar

Post 80 David North 1986 Toyota Corolla.

Overall Owen Davies 1947 Buick

2016 Post War, Post 60’s & Post 80’s Rally Results:

Overall – Willis Trophy  1st Barry Keen   1970 Triumph Herald 13/60  

2nd Brian Stroud   1961 Morgan Plus 4  

Post War 1st = Malcolm McDonald 1953 Jowett Javelin 1st = Allan Martin  1959 Bedford DIC2

Post 60 1st  Barry Keen    1970 Triumph Herald 13/60 

2nd Brian Stroud    1961 Morgan Plus 4  Club