Well, here we are in November. How on earth? But then I wonder that pretty much every year at this time. Something about the definition of stupidity perhaps?

Anyway, It is November, and the start of the party season, and all those good things! Before we get to what’s upcoming, I did just want to reflect again on how much fun it is to get a car out with the purpose of joining friends for a few hours, enjoying some great roads, and even avoiding getting wet!

Such was the fun last weekend when with Graham and Margarita’s excellent organisation, about 25 of us and 15 cars met from all points of the compass at Berowra Waters. The stories of the drives in alone made it worthwhile – seeing the smiling faces of friends who had rediscovered the roads we used to enjoy so often, and the animated chatter over lunch was brilliant. And very grateful thanks (and a warm welcome to the club) to Damien for his excellent photos of the day which Seth is putting up for us to enjoy.

So it should come as no surprise that I’m going to try to reinstate the day-runs we used to enjoy before COVID and wet weather spoiled our fun!

It should be recorded that this initiative was also inspired by chatting to Vicky and Eddie Lankhorst during their visit to Sydney recently, and hearing of the great times they continue to enjoy on weekend runs in the Victoria countryside, and then reinforced by a recent visit to Wollombi (for work sadly), and then Zed’s experience driving in last weekend via Mangrove Mountain.

So on Member Jungle there is a registration page (which I am delighted to see has already started to be populated) for lunch at a winery in the Hunter Valley yet to be confirmed….which should explain the name for those not familiar with the series of runs we had BC (before COVID) – Go for Broke, Run for the Sun etc. Please click and register now, before you forget, so that we have an idea of numbers. Yes, you know you will. So do I.

Shortly thereafter (the next weekend in fact, on 7th December) we have the AGM and CLA Christmas Lunch, also on Member Jungle, and this time you MUST register and pay for lunch otherwise you will go hungry on the day. So do it now, before you forget that one too!

Alright, enough of me bullying you into diary management!

In other news, there are some truly fabulous cars and interesting accessories, memorabilia and parts currently for sale on the Club website. If you don’t already visit it, it continues to delight me the quality of the ‘For Sale’ section. Currently we have fantastic examples of the Esprit S4, Elan S1, S3 and S4, and even a very unusual Sunbeam Lotus – one of the most unknown and underrated hot hatches of the ’80s, boasting 130rwhp. What’s not to like?!

At last I have got to facing the work needed on Gidget to bring her back to a semblance of presentability and rally-worthiness. After five hard endurance rallies and more than 70,000km, numerous dings and dents from rocks, and an encounter with a large red roo on the last rally, she was starting to look less patinated, and more shabby.
So, with help from the wizard-known-as-Garth, she’s engine-out and off to the body shop for some serious love, while Garth sets to to rebuild the engine following the head gasket failure (and, we discovered, some significant wear in the valvegear mechanism caused by poor design of the oiling systems internally). I’m delighted to report that the graphite thrust bearing which let us down in Kazakhstan on P2P is finally getting consigned to the bin in favour of a bearing which might even outlast me, hopefully!

While on the subject of car maintenance, a reminder (from personal experience) that DOT 3 and 4 hydraulic fluid is hydroscopic, so you owe it to yourself to bleed the brake and clutch systems at least annually, particularly given how wet it has been here in the last few years. Just saying! I had the clutch slave cylinder out of the Elite recently, and it was full of orange gunk!

Wishing you all a most enjoyable month, and looking forward to seeing you at Auto Brunch this weekend, or the Tyre Kick and Coffee either next weekend at Carrs Park or the following one at Gough Whitlam Park (where you’ll be pleased to know the cafe has finally reopened).

Meanwhile, keep it safe, upright and on the black stuff (mostly).

Pip pip,
Ashton