2022

Calendar 2022

29th January, Track Day, Pheasant Wood.

January 2022, All Historic Racing, Track Day, Pheasant Wood Circuit. A Health size field of Historic racing cars and bikes gathered at Pheasant Wood for a track day event on Saturday the 29th of January 2022.  A good cross section of makes and modals were represented from Bugatti to Riley and lots more were on the track making noise. The Pheasant Wood Circuit is located about 20 KM (give or take) north of Goulburn in the southern highlands of NSW near Marulan, Australia. It is a tight little club level motorsport track with good amenities and well run and maintained by the owners, who have plans to extend the track soon. Everyone was divided into groups of similar types before each group had its time on the track. The sights and sounds of history then thundered around the track like moving history. Later in the year on the 9-10-11 of September 2022 Pheasant Wood will be hosting a meeting for All Historic Racing which should be a great sight of history in motion.

For video of this event go to Links, drop down menu, Event Reports, then Reports 2022.

For interview with some of the drivers about their cars go to interviews, drop down menu, click on race cars.

Jim Pope

The Triumph MK I at Pheasant Wood.  

  

17th, 18th, 19th February, Tour North, Historic Rally Club

For video of this event go to Links, drop down menu, event reports, reports 2022

The Old MK I at the start.

6th March, Minis Down Under, Mini Car Club

Minis Down Under March 2022.

Celebrating 60 years of Minis in Australia this event gathered a large number of Minis in one place at one time. Rosehill Racecourse proved to be an ideal venue for the biggest number of Minis seen in one place for a very long time. With the weather not cooperating Rosehill Racecourse turned out to be ideal as it was all under cover. Due to the virus the event had been postponed a number of times meaning it was one year late but it still turned out to be an outstanding event. Minis of all types were on display, everything from Mini 850’s to Mini Cooper S’s and everything in between. Not to mention BMW Mini’s. A Group C race car, an Appendix J race car and a replica of the Bathurst winning car were the high lights for me. The Mini Car Club should be very proud of this event and the organizers should be congratulated.

For video of this event go to Links, drop down menu, click on Event Reports, then Reports 2022.

Jim Pope

12th March, Hawks Nest car show, Tea Gardens. – Cancelled, Flooding.

19th March, Fluffy Duck Rally, AHRG – Postponed, bad weather.

27th March to 2nd April, Classic Outback Trial, Parks, Orange, Bathurst

Survey to Coffs Harbour for Rally Roads to Raleigh

Australian Historic Rally Group, Rally Roads to Raleigh, 2022

Survey Report

I just got back from surveying the route and, ‘my goodness what an adventure.’ Starting at Raymond Terrace the route travels through Karuah, Bulahdelah, Gloucester, Nowendoc, Walcha, Uralla and Armidale for an overnight stop. 

The second day follows a route through Ebor, Dorrigo, Ulong, Coramba, Coffs Harbour and Sawtell for another overnight stop. Day three will be at Raleigh Raceway for some laps of the track.

Starting at Kloster Ford, Raymond Terrace the route follows the freeway to Karuah and then the first of many km’s of dirt road. From Bulahdelah to Gloucester is mostly on dirt road, so far the dirt roads were in good condition except for the odd pot hole here and there but it did get a bit bony towards the end.

From Gloucester its up the Thunderbolt Way to Nowendoc, it started to rain at Gloucester and would rain for the rest of the weekend. I had never driven along this road and my goodness it is steep, the poor old Triumph was down to third gear for many km’s. As I climbed higher the poor old Triumph became very asthmatic, it was like me if I tried to run the hundred metres. From Nowendoc to Walcha the road was mostly dirt, very typical high country roads, smooth and fast. With the rain and low cloud which was like driving in fog.

Way back in the distant past (late 70’s I think) I competed in a rally in Armidale driving a Mini Cooper S and these roads reminded me of that event. We failed to finish, stuck in the middle of a creek, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of winter, in the middle of the night. I remember trying to start the Mini in the pitch black night and the engine bay lighting up with sparks bouncing all over the place. The story of my rallying life.  (Go to The Adventures of a Rally Driver for more) At Walcha I stoped to visit an old school friend who as it happens navigated for me in that Armidale event.

From Walcha it was through Uralla and on to Armidale and the welcome sight of the Motel. The Motel I stayed at was the Moore Park Inn which is about 5km’s out of Armidale. The rooms are typical motel rooms, there is a restaurant but I did not try it (restaurants are not really my thing), it was very quiet and picturesque as the motel is located in sheep paddocks.

After settling in to the Motel I drove into Armidale to find something to eat, all I could find was Kentucky Chicken, the last time I had Kentucky Chicken would have been during my last road trip, it would have to do. I came back from buying the chicken, got in the car, started it, turned on the head lights, but no head lights. (For the story about this go to Break Down Story number 18.)

Now if we go back to the Even Green Rally the same problem happened then, which turned out to be the switch. Head light switches for old MK I Triumphs are no longer available so I rewired the lights through another switch that I think was for a rear heated window. This had long ago stoped working so no great loss. To make sure I didn’t over power the switch I wired it through a relay and all has been good since.

Luckily the car was parked under a street light but it was raining so I gave up on trying to find the problem and just hot wired the lights. This involved taking a head light out, running a wire from power to the head light and then gaffa taping the light back in place. By the time I got back to the Motel the chicken was cold and I was a bit wet.

Day two started out fine but the rain soon started to fall. The route took me towards Dorrigo but not on the main road, mostly bitumen with some dirt before rejoining the main road near Ebor. Somewhere near here was where I got stuck in the middle of a creek, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of winter, in the middle of the night all those years ago.

Only a few km’s on the main road before a SO towards Grafton. This road eventually took me into the back of Dorrigo. A quick trip to the Dorrigo lookout to admire the view over the Bellingen Valley but all I could see was about two metres due to the cloud.

Back into Dorrigo and the route took me towards Ulong, Coramba and Coffs Harbour. After a few km’s of bitumen road I turned onto a road that was used in many rallies back in time, in fact I rallied on this road in I think the early 80’s. Driving a Leyland Marina I, ‘wait for it, wait for it,’  got stuck in the middle of a creek, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of winter, in the middle of the night.

I started Cautioning the hairpin bends but soon relied that this road is nothing but hairpin bends so I renamed it, ‘the road of a thousand bends’.

This road is very narrow with a lot of blind bends and I invented a new game to play while driving along this road, call ‘dodge the pot hole’. There is no avoiding these pot holes, you can’t straddle them, you can’t drive around them, you have to drive through them. At one point I was travelling at walking pace driving through some pot holes and it was like someone was jacking the car up in each corner in turn.

Once past Ulong the road became bitumen, which it wasn’t way back, but it is still very windy. Eventually coming into the back of Coffs Harbour and on to the Motel at Sawtell. This Motel is the one we stayed at last time, Sawtell Motor Inn and is pretty good as Motels go. Both Motels I stayed at have not watched the ‘how to manage a Motel instructional video called, Faulty Towers. So the service was quite good.

As I drove out of Armidale all the Motels I pasted had ‘No Vacancy’ signs out and the Motel in Sawtell indicated that we would need to book soon, so if you’re planning to come along to this event it might be a good idea to book soon.

The next day was a bit of a free day, I drove down to Raleigh Raceway to write a route chart so everyone can find their way there. I visited another old school friend and drove along the road where I lived in the 70’s. My goodness I wish I had inherited my parent’s property as it is covered in houses now.

The last day of this road trip was spent grinding away the km’s on the freeway from Coffs Harbour to Gosford in the poor old Triumph. Now it’s just a matter of writing up the route chart, hopefully I will be able to read my own writing. And I will have to fix those head lights before the event.

For video of this trip go to Links, drop down menu, click on Bloggs, then Blogg March 2022 and April 2022.

Jim Pope     

The MK I at a lookout near Gloucester on day one.

13th 14th 15th May, Rally Roads to Raleigh, Raleigh Raceway, AHRG

Rally Roads to Raleigh 2022

Rain greeted the small field of six who turned out for the start at Raymond Terrace of the 2022 Rally Roads to Raleigh. The route travelled through Karuah, Bulahdelah, Gloucester, Nowendoc, Walcha, Uralla and Armidale for an overnight stop. 

The second day followed a route through Ebor, Dorrigo, Ulong, Coramba, Coffs Harbour and Sawtell for another overnight stop. Day three was a day at Raleigh Raceway for some laps of the track.

Dirt road made up a good percentage of the first day with dirt road after Karuah and again between Bulahdelah and Gloucester and Nowendoc and Walcha. The rain made some of the roads a bit greasy but for the most part they were in good condition except for some pot hole here and there. The Thunderbolt Way was a very steep road with all the crews having to change down gears to get up it. Low cloud or was it fog made visibility a bit of a problem along the Thunderbolt Way. All crews arrived at the overnight Motel without problems but the cars were a bit dirty thanks to all the dirt road.

Fine weather greeted the crews for the start of day two but it would not last long as not that far out of Armidale it started to rain again. Only a small amount of dirt road between Armidale and Ebor where some crews stoped to look at the Ebor Falls before continuing on the Dorrigo. Some of the roads between Ebor and Dorrigo had broken up badly since the route was surveyed. At Dorrigo the crews stoped at the Dorrigo lookout to look at the view out over the Bellingen Valley and as luck would have it the weather broke for the time they were there with some short lived blue sky. From Dorrigo two of the crews took the safe route through Bellingen, one with an alternator problem and the other just fancied lunch in Bellingen. The other four crews took on the challenge of the ‘road of a thousand bends’ that took crews past Ulong, through Coramba and on to Coffs Harbour and then to the overnight stop at Sawtell.

Day three dawned fine as crews travelled the short distance to Raleigh Raceway for laps of the track. The last two years of rain and floods had taken their toll on Raleigh Raceway with the track surface breaking up in many places. The track owners had placed barriers on the track over the areas where the track had broken up which tightened up some of the corners. With double entries and three more cars travelling via the freeway to the track, this brought the total number of drivers to eleven.  With such a small field there was plenty of track time for all the competitors. Due to the wet weather the original plan of both laps of the track and laps of the rally sprint track had to abandoned and so only laps of the track were possible.

So ended Rally Roads to Raleigh.

Jim Pope

For video of this event click on Rallies, drop down menu, click on Rallies 2022   

Below, the MK I at Armidale

19th June, Des West Rally, AHRG

Des West Memorial Rally 2022

Organized by the Australian Historic Rally Group the event starting at Motto Farm Motel, Heatherbrae the competitors travelled via Willamtown, Karuah, Booral and on to Dungog for Lunch. After lunch crews continued via Wirragulla, Martins Creek, Tocal, Maitland Vale, Luskintyre and then on to the finish at Pokolpin. A field of thirteen or was it fourteen turned out for this 300 km (give or take a few km’s) event in overcast weather with rain clearing during the day. A good mix of classic cars was on hand including Triumph, Alfa Romeo, Escort, Volvo, Datsun and others. Most of the route was bitumen with only one section of dirt road near Karuah which was wet and muddy but other wise in good condition. Major road works near Luskintyre, which involved traffic lights, made for some delays and bunching of the field.

After a long break between events due to the virus and bad weather it was nice to get the classic car out for a drive around the Hunter Valley. The next event is the Heart of the Hunter in August.

Jim Pope

For video of this event go to Rallies, drop down menu, then click on Rallies 2022. 

26th June, Euro Motorfest, MG Car Club Hunter

Euro Day 2022

It’s been a few years since the last Euro Day due to bad weather and the virus so it was great to be back at the Foreshore Park on a sunny winter’s day to walk around looking at all the classic cars on display. A good cross section of European Classic Car were on show including cars from, France, Briton, Italy, Sweden, Germany and others. Some exotic super cars like Ferrari and Mclaren were on display with some very nice Magnum Ferrari’s that men of a certain age would have been drooling over. The MG Car Club Hunter Region should be congratulated for putting of a well organized event, looking forward to next year.

Jim Pope

The Triumph 2500 MK I at the Euro Day

For video of this event go to links, click on Event Reports, drop down menu, click on Reports 2022.   

23rd 24th July, Taree Rally, AMSAG, Cancelled.

24th July, All Ford Day

All Ford Day 2022.

After weeks of rain the weather cleared for the All Ford Day held in the pit area of Eastern Creek Drag strip. A very large number of Ford of all sorts were on display but mostly the popular models of Falcons, Mustangs, Escorts, Cortinas and Capris. There were a number of tribute cars painted in the colours of well known race cars from the passed. My theory that classic car owners come in three types, one; the car is kept in ‘how it came out of the factory’, condition, two; the car is slightly modified, eg, different wheels, fuel pump, electric ignition, thing to keep it running, and three; very modified, eg, it might look like a Ford Escort, but there is no Ford Escort there. This theory was on show as I walked around looking at all the beautiful examples of Fords through the years. I wonder how much money was tired up in all the cars on display. In some ways it is a pity that classic cars have increased in value as this changes how people use and treat them, instead of a thing of fun and joy they become an investment. Oh well.

Jim Pope

For video of this event go to Links, drop down menu, click on event reports, then click on reports 2022.

30th July, Newcastle All British Day, Jaguar Drivers Club Hunter

Newcastle All British Day 2022

An overcast winter’s day greeted British classic cars owners for the 2022 Newcastle All British Day held as usual at the Foreshore Park, Newcastle. Numbers seemed to be slightly down on past years but it was still a great showing of classic British cars. Organized by the Hunter Region Jaguar Drivers Club who as usual put on a great display of Jaguars down through time. Many other marques where represented, MG, Mini, Triumph and many more were on display.

For video of this event go to Links, drop down menu, click on Event Reports, then click on Reports 2022.

Jim Pope

The Triumph 2500 MK I at The Newcastle All British Day.       

7th August, All Holden Day, Cancelled.

14th August, Shannons Eastern Creek

Shannon’s Day, Eastern Creek, 2022.

Like so many events it’s been a while since the last Shannon’s Day due to, you guessed it, the virus. Not being a member of any of the Car Club attending the day I had no car on display so found myself in a traffic jam getting into the spectator parking area.

“Danger, Danger, Will Roberson, Whinge alert.”

This traffic jam was due to spectators having to pay at the entrance to the parking area instead of the entrance to the venue. I saw one young family being turned away from entering the venue on foot, they were told to walk the half KM to the car park entrance and then the half KM back. And don’t get me started on the “no cash’ policy.

I think this has been my last Shannon’s Day. Whinge over.

It took some time to walk around looking at all the cars, in fact I didn’t get all the way around (knees gave out) as the event has outgrown the venue with cars on display in the pit area of the south circuit and in the adjacent car park which was to far away for my knees.

The Shannon’s Day caters for a large cross section of cars making up the classic car movement. Everything from America Mussel cars to European finesse to vintage and even a tractor, so there were plenty to look at for any car enthusiast. For a gold coin donation you could take a lap of the track on an old Double Decker bus and the car clubs got to drive around the track for a parade lap.

The Shannon’s Day is always a good day out if you like old cars.

Jim Pope

For video of this event go to Links, drop down menu, click on Event Reports, then on Reports 2022.  

20th August, Heart of the Hunter, AHRG

Heart of the Hunter Rally 2022

Like most events the Heart of the Hunter was not held last year due to, wait for it, wait for it, yes your right, the virus, as a result a big turn out was expected. And a big turn out it was with somewhere between forty and fifty classic cars turning out on a fine and sunny winters day to drive around the roads of the Hunter Valley. Starting at Freeman’s Waterholes competitors headed towards a lunch break at Bulahdelah. After lunch everyone travelled along the old Pacific Highway (Wooten Way) before returning to Bulahdelah and the finish. As always the Heart of the Hunter was enjoyed by all and thanks must go to the organizers for putting on a great event.

Jim Pope

For video of this event go to Rallies, drop down menu, click on Rallies 2022.

The MK I at a control point on the Wooten Way.  

11th September, All British Day, Sydney, Kings School, Cancelled.

9th, 10th & 11th September, All Historic Racing, Pheasant Wood

2nd October, Toyota Fest. For video of this event, go to Links, drop down menu, click on Event Reports, then click on Reports 2022.

8th October, Walcha Rally, AMSAG, Cancelled.

16th October, Evern Green Rally, AHRG

Even Green Rally 2022

A small field of classic cars assembled at Booragul for the start of this years Even Green Rally, an event organized by the Australian Historic Rally Group. The weather was kind to the organizers with fine sunny skies with no threat of rain. The route took competitors from the start at Booragul to the finish at Hunter Valley Resort, Pokolbin. With the virus taking a back seat this year things should have been back to normal but the weather had other ideas with a number of car events being cancelled. For the Australian Historic Rally Group only the Fluffy Duck Rally had to be cancelled due to bad weather.

Jim Pope

For video of this event go to the Rally page, click on Rallies 2022.

The MK I at a filming location along the route.

5th November to 27th November, Coffs Coast Festival of Motorsport. www.coffscoastmotorsport.com

26th November, Christmas Run, AHRG

For video of this event go to, Links, drop down menu, Event Reports, then click on Reports 2022

1st to 4th December,  Alpine Rally, Historic Rally Association, Vic