Classics on show down under
As many of you will recall, I’m a member of the Triumph Sports Owners’ Association, Queensland branch ( TSOAQ). Each of Australia’s major States has its own branch of the club and takes turns to organise an annual get together of members from all States. 2018 was Queensland’s turn and our organising committee selected a resort just beyond the State’s southern border into New South Wales to reduce the travel distance from those driving from the south.
It was a beautiful resort in a spectacular location but we laughed at the frequent notices around the lush grounds warning guests to be aware of the possibility of snakes, which were on the move at the time. Whilst such warnings are pretty standard for locals, we thought the signs could be a bit disconcerting for any overseas tourists.
The resort was about 100 miles from home, much of which was motorway with either 100kph or 110kph speed limits, which relate to about 65 and 70mph. So I allowed three hours for the journey, two hours for travel and a stop plus one hour for the time difference. This is because NSW has daylight saving time, whereas Queensland does not. Traffic for the journey was reasonable with no major delays, so we made good time sitting on the maximum speed limit for much of the trip.
Main road speed limits in Australia are strictly enforced with minimal leeway. There are frequent fixed and mobile speed cameras and the latest mobile speed cameras are trailer mounted, so they are almost invisible when placed behind a highway Armco barrier. The weather was hot, temperatures mid to high 30’s so I was pleased that on the motorway the Stag’s engine temperature remained normal without any fan assistance. When we had the odd slow moving queue of traffic, I manually switched the engine fan to its low setting before the radiator coolant temperature rose sufficiently to activate the thermostatic switch. I’d left the hood up to provide some shade from the sun but we still got pretty hot inside even though I’d fitted Dynamat insulation matting to the Stag’s hot spots. However, after realising the effectiveness of Dynamat plus Dynaliner in the E-Type, I’ll now consider covering the Stag floors and bulkhead with Dynaliner over the Dynamat to improve the heat soak from engine and exhaust. This has also spurned me on to getting
the air conditioning operational.
After checking- in we had a meet and greet time around the resort followed by a welcome dinner. The second day consisted of a car display and ‘Melbourne Cup’ lunch and social afternoon. The display incorporated a ‘show and shine’ where participants could enter their cars for judging on condition and presentation. We no longer run a concours, as there are invariably differences of opinion between entrants and judges on originality or specification changes undertaken during a restoration.
I was one of the judges and we were amazed at the quality of the cars in this sector of the event. We were all agreed on the winner, an immaculate TR5 that had recently undergone a complete nut and bolt restoration.
The Melbourne Cup is the horse race that stops the nation here in Australia. Many companies traditionally make arrangements for staff to stop work to view the running of the cup, so after the ‘show and shine’ delegates enjoyed lunch in a specifically decorated room followed by watching the race on a big screen TV.
The following day was a choice between a track day at a small local driver-training complex at Norwell or an organised bus tour to Byron Bay Lighthouse and Bangalow. I went as a visitor to Norwell and it was an enjoyable day. Those taking part were split into groups for timed laps on the track, followed by a timed run through cones on the skidpan.
For the following days the delegates were split into two groups for organised drives around the winding and hilly roads in the hinterland. Arrangements had been made with cafes, pubs and restaurants so we could stop for morning tea, lunch or in one case evening dinner, which was in the Margaret Olley Gallery at Murwillumbah. Margaret Olley is one of Australia’s the most significant painters of still life and interior scenes, she was born in the area later moving to a studio in Sydney.
After she died in 2011 the local council did an excellent job in extending the local gallery to incorporate a section commemorating Margaret Olley. Many parts of her Sydney Studio were relocated to the gallery making a spectacular exhibition, the restaurant also provided a meal to equal the high standard set by the gallery.
The Stag performed faultlessly throughout the trip; with no sign of overheating on the long steep climbs and no hint of the earlier brake fade on the downward stretches. Although in the interests of bedding in the new front pads and in deference to my wife in the passenger seat, I was driving less enthusiastically and on long downhill sections, manually selecting lower ratios in the ZF automatic. I measured my fuel consumption over the complete trip of around 1000km to be 10.3 l/100km which equates to about 27.5 mpg, which I am happy with given the frequent twisty climbs and descents, consumption is obviously assisted by the fourthh ratio in the ZF automatic.
There are frequent fixed and mobile speed cameras in Australia and the latest mobile ones are trailer mounted