Calendar 2024
17th February, Rally Resto Festival, Historic Rally Ass Vic
9th March, Motorfest Tea Gardens.
Somewhere around 400 classic cars were on display at this years Motorfest on what was a very hot day. A good cross section of classic cars were on display, all parked on the local foot ball field. For video of this event go to Event Report, drop down menu, click on Reports 2024.
The Triumph 2500 MK I was the only Triumph there
14th April, Fluffy Duck Rally, AHRG.
Ron Frazer Memorial Fluffy Duck Rally 2024
Perfect weather greeted the 17 competitors entered in this years Fluffy Duck Historic Rally. The event started at the Motto Farm Motel car park at Heatherbrae and travelled in a northerly direction through Karuah, Stroud and on to the lunch break at Dungog. From lunch competitors headed south to the finish at Paterson. This years Fluffy Duck contained a good amount of dirt road just north of Karuah and again north of Dungog. One competitor driving a Volvo had some mechanical problems resulting in them having to withdraw from the event and a few others found the dirt roads not to their liking and also withdraw. One competitor driving a modern 4 wheel drive had a flat tyre just north of Dungog. By the time competitors got to the lunch break they were spread out with there being a large gap between the first and the last car. Not that long ago lunch in a town like Dungog would involve something like Fish and chips, or a meat pie but times have changed. Not a meat pie or chip in sight, rabbit food was all that was on offer, green and red things covered in some sort of muck. I must be getting old. After lunch competitors headed south to the finish at Paterson. The next event in the AHRG calendar is the Des West Rally on 22nd of June. For video of the Fluffy Duck go youtube@jimpope9410 or click on the Rallies page.
Jim Pope
The MK I at the finish of the Fluffy Duck
27th April, Newcastle All British Day, Jaguar Drivers Club Hunter Region
Newcastle All British Day 2024
Organized by the Jaguar Drivers Club Hunter Region this years Newcastle All British Day was held on the Fourshore Park, Newcastle, just next to the Hunter River. This year the event was held in April instead of its usual July, which turned out very good with great weather and it is now a bit further away from the Euro Day. A good number of British cars were on display with quite a cross section of makes, from Morris to Jaguar. As always it was a good day out talking to like minded people about classic cars.
Jim Pope
The old MK I at the Newcastle All British Day
4th May, Bulahdelah Rally, AMSAG, Cancelled – Bad weather
25th May, Coffs Harbour Rally, CHDSCC.
15th, 16th June, Hidden Gems Tout, CRC
22nd June, Des West Rally, AHRG.
Des West Memorial Rally 2024
Another year and another Des West Rally, a touring style event for classic cars. The event started at Morisset Show Ground where two notable cars were in attendance. Des West’s old XF Holden race car and Colin Bond’s A9X Tarana rally car. It is a bit of a miracle that these two cars still exist given the hard treatment handed out to them during their motorsport use. From the start competitors travelled through Wyee, Tuggerah, Ourimbah, Somersby, Kulnura, Yarramalong, Dooralong, Cooranbong (my goodness there are some good ozzy town names there) and then on to the lunch break at Freemans Waterholes. Twenty three entries made up the field with a good cross section of classic cars as well as few modern cars. After lunch the crews headed to Wollombi via Kitchener and Ellalong. The weather was a bit of a mixed bag with light rain in places but fine at the finish. Most crews headed to the Wollombi pub after the finish to tell long tall tails of their rallying past. So ends another Wes West Rally, the next AHRG event will be the Heart of the Hunter in August.
Jim Pope
The old MK I at the finish Wollombi
10th August, Heart of the Hunter, AHRG.
Heart of the Hunter Historic Rally 2024
Another year and another Heart of the Hunter Historic Rally, started as usual from Freeman’s Water Holes and finishing at Potters Brewery near Cessnock, this year with a lunch break at East Gresford. The Heart of the Hunter is a tour style navigation event for classic cars using only bitumen roads. A good size field of 26 cars entered with most being classic cars. An unusual number of cars failed to finish for many different reason, but some were due mechanical failure. The next even on the Australian Historic Rally Groups calendar is the Even Green Rally.
Jim Pope
Below; The Subaru on the side of the road while filming the Heart of the Hunter
14th – 17th August, Tour of the Sunshine State, HRC
Day 3 of the epic road trip and day 1 of the Tour of the Sun Shine State August 14th Murwillumbah to Lismore
Day one of the Tour of the Sunshine State (but day three of the epic trip) started in Murwillumbah and finish in Lismore via Nimbin for a lunch break. A total of 246 km’s, using $90.00 of petrol and 6 cameras. The weather was rain, rain and more rain, but not very heavy, just enough to keep the wipers going. Thirty three cars have entered the Tour of the Sunshine State with about half being classic cars and the rest being modern. There are two Triumph entered, mine as well as Geoff and Phil in a MK II 2500, both running well at this time. Well sort of, Geoff and Phil were having wiper problems (would not turn off) and I had some problem with the head lights, they did not work. I am hoping its just a fuse, will have a look tomorrow. As I don’t have a navigator, I was going to use a Garman Satnav thingy which had been pre- programmed with the route, and that was no easy task, it took days as it just did not want me to go on dirt roads or secondary roads, it just kept wanting me to go by main roads. But with the rain the dirt road route was cancelled so I had to follow the tar road route so I just followed Geoff and Phil. So all that programming was a bit of a waist of time. I only have the first two days programmed so after that I will be going via main roads so I can film the event or may be I will keep following Geoff and Phil. Because of the rain and following Geoff, I didn’t stop to film the cars go by. Nimbin was a bit of an eye opener. Lots of down loading and charging to do so that the cameras will be ready for tomorrow. The Triumph is still running fine (except for the head lights) but the driver is feeling a bit second hand. Tomorrows destination is Toowoomba in Queensland.
Jim Pope
youtube@jimpope9410
Day 4. of this epic trip and day 2. of the Tour of the Sun Shine State,
August 15th Lismore to Toowoomba
Day two of the Tour of the Sun Shine State but day four of this epic trip. So far so good, the old Triumph is running fine, well sort of, had a flat tyre over night so I filmed the start and then found a tyre company who fixed it. And then a bit latter in the day the overdrive stopped working, it stayed in overdrive, which is really bad as you can’t drive in reverse as that will bugger the overdrive. The problem was electrical so once I disconnected the electrics all was good, just no overdrive. Still no head lights, I did spend some time trying to fix them but without success, will live with the problem. With the time lost fixing the tyre I had to short cut the morning and go straight the lunch. The poor old driver is not much better, he is in need of a full restoration. I think I have been to Lismore before, once, but I don’t remember any thing about it and I have never been to Toowoomba so that is a first. Today the route took me through Kyogle and Woodenbong with a percentage after lunch being dirt roads. The Triumph has no problem with dirt roads, just cruses along, but it was a bit muddy. Managed to film a few of the other cars at the start, lunch and at the finish. The weather is better, no real rain just a few drops now and again. I thought it would be cooler in Toowoomba as its a fair way inland. Used 6 cameras today, travelled 320 km’s in 6 hours, using $120 of petrol. There are a number of interesting cars taking part in this event, a very nice Ford Escort and an Austin 1800 from the 1969 Southern Cross as well as a Peugeot driven by someone who competed in the 1969 event. Tomorrow is a loop from Toowoomba to Toowoomba via Texas, Stanthorpe, Killarney and Warwick which will be a long day. The other Triumph of Geoff and Phil might not be taking part tomorrow so no one to follow. I was planing to film tomorrow so I might go back to that plan.
Jim Pope
youtube@jimpope9410
Day 5. of this epic road trip and day 3 of The Tour of the Sun Shine State
August 16th Toowoomba to Toowoomba
Day five of this epic trip and day three of the event. Today I filmed the event so I travelled by main roads trying to keep ahead of everyone, just stopping now and then to film. I was forced into this as the navman thingy which would not take me along the event route, I think it couldn’t recognise that the roads were through roads so it kept wanting me to turn around. I could not follow Geoff and Phil today as the Triumph was giving trouble so they had a day off to fix it but it turned out to be a blown head gasket so they are going to put some additive come sealant in it and try to drive it home tomorrow. The route had a stop at the Leyburn Sprints which starts tomorrow but I did have time to have a short look around the set up and some of the cars. So I filmed at Leyburn and again on a dirt road north of Texas. The participants had lots of dirt road running today in open sort off country some what like Armidale. The old Triumph is still running fine except for no head light and no overdrive, but it needs to be driven, everything is heavy, steering, gear change but I would rather drive a Triumph in an event like this than some bland modern car. I am getting through each day with the help of pain killers and a fare amount of determination. Used 8 cameras today, travelled 366 km’s in 9 hours, which includes stops for filming, using $130 petrol (no overdrive means the engine is working harder). I flow the drone for only my second time today, but it has only got about half an hour in the battery and it took to long to get in the air if I waited for a car to come along. So I just had it hover after the first car went by, problem was the next car did not come for about another 25 minutes so I only got one car on film. The down loading of video and charging cameras keeps me busy at the end of each day but I’m not sure just how much will be usable footage. The weather was fine and sunny but there was a heavy fog till about 10.00 in the morning. Tomorrow is the final day of this event and travels via Kumbia, Kilcoy and finishes at Kallangur (north of Brisbane).
Jim Pope
youtube@jimpope9410
Day 6. of this epic road trip and day 4 and final day of the Tour of the Sun Shine State. August 17th Toowoomba to Kallangur
Day six of the epic trip and the last day of the Tour of the Sun Shine State and a route via Kumbia, Nanango, Colinton and Kilcoy with a finish at Kallangur just north of Brisbane. The weather was fine and hot, a bit too hot for me. The Triumph is still running fine but continues to loose things, while going around a roundabout something fell of and a pedestrian picked it so I went around the round about again and he gave it to me, if was a sway bar link. Geoff and Phil’s Triumph has a blown head gasket, so they are trying to get it home. I used 5 cameras today, travelled 319 km’s, in 8 hours, with stops to film, using $100 of petrol. Another day of leap frogging around filming the cars which was again a bit difficult as the cars were spread out and the travel time by the main road was not much quicker then the event route, in the morning any way. The satnav thingys gave me a lot of grief today, they kept telling me to go different ways. Hopefully I will end up with enough video to make some sort of film about this adventure. Tomorrow I will start the trip home going to Sawtell. Might be a bit of fun getting around Brisbane, will have to rely on the navman.
Jim Pope
youtube@jimpope9410
25th August, Euro Motorfest, MG Hunter.
Euro Day 2024
The weather had a big part to play in this years Euro Day with the event postponed a number of time before finally taking place but the weather had the last laugh as it rained. Around 150 cars braved the wet weather to park their cars on the Foreshore Park in the hope that the rain would clear up but it was still raining at 10.30. It was great to see that some classic car owners were not frightened to take their cars out in the rain.
Jim Pope
Below; The old MK I at a very wet Euro Day
31st August, Bago Rally, AMSAG
26th October, Bulahdelah Rally, AMSAG
The poor old MK I Triumph at Bulahdelah Show Ground which was the service park for the Amsag Rally. Go to Rally page for video of this event.
27th October, Even Green Rally, AHRG.
Even Green Rally 2024
Another year and another Even Green Rally, starting this year at Harrigans Hotel, Pokolpin and travelling via Singleton, Muswellbrook and Aberdeen to the finish at the Royal Hotel, Branxton.
Seventeen entries started in fine sunny weather for a tour style event using route chart navigation. All but one being classic cars, French cars, Renault, Peugeot, Italian cars, Alfa, Japanese cars, Toyota, Datsun, Mitsubishi, British cars, MG, Lotus, Scandinavian cars, Volvo and then there was the modern car, German, Mercedes. The Lotus developed oil pressure problems and had to withdraw.
I was on a dirt road near Aberdeen called Wells Gully road to film the cars go by. Flow the drone and got some film of the car from above which will be in the event report on you tube.
The next Australian Historic Rally Group event is the Christmas Run on the 30th of November.
Jim Pope
For video of this event go to the Rally page, then Rallies 2024
The poor old MK I Triumph near Aberdeen on Wells Gully Road, while out filming the Even Green Rally
30th November, Christmas Run, AHRG.
30th November, Taree Rally, AMSAG. – Cancelled