HMCCQ Rally
HMCCQ Centenary Veteran Rally 15-21 June, 2018 – SE Queensland
The idea for this rally came about after HMCCQ (Historic Motorcycle Club of Qld) members Dave Dettmar and Ian Rennie thought was there should be at least a badge struck celebrating 100 years of Veteran motorcycles (1918-2018). Doug Jolliffe suggested a special rally would be even better, in the wonderful Scenic Rim area with its quiet roads, views and friendly people. We found our preferred September date had been taken by another rally so we chose a new date in June. A meeting was held at Doug’s and an action group formed with Rob Blackmore and John Deeth doing the routes suitable for single speed direct drive veterans. Ian did the fund raising and sponsorship, Doug did all the paperwork and my wife Jenny Rook the food organising. The Flinders Peak Winery venue was great, providing everything we asked for and more. Entries came from as far south as Victoria with 52 riders and nearly 60 bikes plus supporters. The rally was fully marshalled by girder-forked bikes to keep it in period. There really were some outstanding bikes but Ian Mould’s 1912 Zenith Gradua was a stand-out. The oldest bike was Steve Shepherd’s 1906 Lewis Minerva. Mention must also be made of Laurie Dellar’s exBrooklands, single speed direct drive 1911 Norton. Laurie always stopped to help anyone broken down. Dave Dettmar very kindly lent Bailey Rowe and me his 1917 GCS and his 1937 Cammy Velocette while he rode a really nice 1914 MAG engined Rover. We had ‘Smoko’ at two schools organised by their P & Cs and seeing the joy on the children’s faces was for me one of the highlights, along with the wonderful views of the area. One day we stopped at Roadvale Motorcycle Museum while most days lunch was had at various pubs in the area. A public display was held at Lobley Park, Ipswich on the first day and it was very well attended.
All in all, 607km were covered in six days ending with a fully catered celebration dinner at the Winery where our club president Brian Holzigal, his wife Judith and Doug hosted our guest of honour Mark Bailey, the Queensland Minister of Transport. Thanks must go to our major sponsors (Penrite, Indian Polaris & Engineering Tooling Supplies) along with fourteen other generous souls who made the event possible. Thanks also to Ian who ran raffles and the auction, Doug who was the go-to man, my wife Jenny who ran the tea, coffee and meals, the winery for the excellent wines and the people of the Scenic Rim for hosting our rally. A DVD of the rally and a special commemorative badge are available for $10 and $5 respectively plus postage. They can be ordered through Ian Rennie... (rennie_ian@hotmail.com)