HRA June Meeting – Wednesday June 8, 8:00 pm Come for a meal and stay for the meeting, “For Tonight We Ride…”
Come along this Wednesday and catch up with other HRA rally tragics and maybe have a laugh.
We are fortunate to have Bruce Keys as our guest speaker. He will be giving us a behind the scenes look at the making of the book on Geoff Portman, “For Tonight We Ride” and possibly relating a few stories that just could not be put down in writing! It’s a terrific read and Bruce is excited to share the experience with us in the HRA.
If you left the car in the shed, here’s what you missed
The Marysville Stages on 7 May was the biggest rally since the last report with VRC, VCRS and the Camcrusher Regularity Rally all starting from Gallipoli Park on another cold, wet day.
Whilst the VRC probably had the worst of the weather, they did it all in daylight whereas the VCRS and Camcrusher had night running in some pretty thick fog. The fog led to the cancellation of one stage which unfortunately reduced the competitive distance of both events by 11km and the Camcrusher from an originally advised 90km to just 63.4km.
Originally published with the Supp Regs for the 2022 Experts Trial Re-Visited Navigational Tour
The first Experts Trial was run in July 1947. It was the brainchild of Alan Watkin, an experienced trials competitor who suggested to anyone who was interested “that a really hard trial should be staged”. He was as good as his word and started a traditional event that became the Experts Trial and has always challenged competitors to the full. Those who entered Experts Trials expected no mercy from the Director and received none.
Having long spoken of the importance of steering the HRA in a relevant direction for the next 10 years or so, sadly conditions worked against me with continual lockdowns, 5 Km restrictions, limits on indoor gatherings etc. to conduct this important meeting.
Some very entertaining events in the next few months, so a clean of the headlamps and windscreen is in order.
Autocross 17 April – maybe?
In the Autocross series there is a round scheduled for April 17. However, this is still not confirmed. All those registered for the Series will receive confirmation one way or the other very soon.
Camcrusher Regularity Rally, 7 May
Entries are now open for our next regularity rally on Saturday May 7th: the Camcrusher Regularity Rally run out of Marysville by FFCC.
Following two years without enough events to mount a championship, it is all-change this year. Your committee has nominated plenty of events to count and three rally events have already been run.
The Organising Committee for the HRA 30th Anniversary Dinner have announced details for this fabulous celebration and you are invited to celebrate with us.
It will be held on Saturday 30th April, 2022 from 6:30 pm, at the Albert Park Yachting and Angling Club, 129 Beaconsfield Parade, Albert Park. Complementary pre dinner drinks followed by a formal dinner and a very special guest speaker.
Matt Bryson, pictured here with his Father, the late John Bryson.
The organising Committee of the HRA 30th Anniversary Dinner have just confirmed that Matt Bryson will be our Guest Speaker.
Matt is an endurance rally champion, winning three Peking to Paris rallies (2010, 2013, 2019), coming second by narrow margins on the Trans-American Challenge (2012), the Road to Mandalay (2015) and the Road to Saigon (2018).
Matt is inextricably linked to the Leyland P-76.
Yes, it was his late Father John Bryson that co-drove with Evan Green in a P-76 in the 1974 World Cup Rally, also the subject of the popular book “A boot full of right arms”. Two of Matt’s three Peking-Paris wins were in a P-76 in tribute livery of the Green/Bryson 1974 car.
Matt is a popular and sought after guest speaker at many international and local sporting clubs, with many amusing and hair-raising stories of rallying through remote and wild country, some friendly and some less so.
L, Matt Bryson and the P76 at the HRAs Rally Retro Festival. R, Matt and the late Gerry Crown celebrate the win in the 2019 Peking to Paris. Pics from Rally Retro Festival by B Team Rally Media. (Click for larger images.)
This event will be run as a Touring Road Event. Saturday will consist of a very low key tour across the border into NSW . There will be no timing or even an official starting time, the only constraint will be that you will have to arrive at the lunch spot within a prescribed time window.
The plan is simply to enjoy the drive and the map reading, you are free to use any aids that you want to, yes we will have some cleansheets but we can sort out the placings on the following day. We would be happy for you to use your tow car on this day, easier for you and less of an impact on the local residents.
Sunday will consist of Closed Road Sections and Autocross runs at the Swan Hill Motorsport Complex. We are looking at runs on the Speedway as well.
You will need to stay overnight on the Friday but won’t be a late finish on the Sunday so you get home at a reasonable time.
Lunch on Saturday is included in the entry fee.
You don’t need a rally car for this event, just basic safety gear.
Graham Wallis and his crew of great volunteers put on an interesting event to open the competition for this year. Crews had 3 runs over each of 2 different stages using the MADCC hill climb circuit to start both stages and then different arrangements of tracks out in the back of the reserve. The hill climb was slippery to start with but improved a little by day’s end whilst the back tracks were tight and twisty to keep everyone concentrating.
Thank you for taking an interest in the 2022 George Woods Rally.
This is the 42nd anniversary of the George Woods Rally. It was established in 1980 following George’s untimely death in 1979. Apart from two or three years where conditions conspired against us, it has run every year since.
