PRESIDENTS REPORT – JULY 2010

Well it has been a relatively quiet month without any racing to speak off. Although I did go to Winton and help a friend of mine Matt Chick in a Commodore Cup car….man do those guys need a panel beater for a best friend! They rub panels like there is no tomorrow. Good racing but abit slow for yours truly.

Our round of the VSRC at Sandown is next weekend 23-25 July. As I have outlined before, this event is by far and away the most important event on our calendar…well outside of when we race our cars of course! So please I urge you to give up some time and come along and give us a hand. We need as many volunteers as possible so we can keep the meeting ticking along smoothly. Please give myself or Annie a call if able to come along.

Due to the Sandown meeting next weekend the General Meeting scheduled for next Wed 21st July will not be held. I am afraid your committee will be up to there ears in meetings and organising the event. However by all means feel free to come along the Emerald and have a meal anyway and have chat to some of your fellow members.

Talking about General Meetings the next road trip will be in either Sept or Oct. We are currently negotiating with a high profile Performance Manufacturer to conduct a tour of there premises. Keep your ears open for the date because you won’t want to miss it!

I cannot write a Presidents report without a mention of my mate Robbo! His engine bits have all arrived and our engine guru Neil Burns has started to bolt his engine back together again….Robbo is hoping to make the trip to the National round in QLD. Good luck mate. Whilst I am chatting about the next National round at Morgan Park the following Victorians are also making the trip….Graeme Gilliland, Damien Johnson, Dean Camm, Darren Hossack and James Sera….great to see so many Victorians making the trip to fly the flag….well done guys and apologies if I have missed anyone!

Well that’s about it for another month except to say that I will not be standing for re-election as President of ASSA (Vic) again this November. So if you are interested in taking it on get your hands out of your pockets and put your hands up. You will find it extremely rewarding working with some fantastic committed individuals

See you all soon

Cheers Mark #14

Presidents Report – May 2010

Hello Again

It never seems to get any easier does it! Late nights, early mornings and long weekends. It has been a very busy month for your Pres trying to get the Saab finished ready for Sandown! New under trays, front spoiler, front suspension, radiator, exhaust….the list just goes on…..but I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel even if the paint will still be drying as we unload the car on Friday.

It looks like another terrific field at Sandown with 25+ plus cars. A strong field with Chris Muscat, Cammy, Luke Chambers, Chas and a few other looking to take the win for the weekend.  This is absolutely fantastic after a strong first round entry at Phillip Island. Congratulations to both Luke Chambers and Chris Muscat as the rotaries took a clean sweep of wins at PI.  Also some great results for Neil Bryson, Graeme Gilliland, Damian Johnson and Mark Seamons who all had strong weekends

My poor mate Robbo had another tough weekend with some engine problems on the Friday which meant he couldn’t race. The good news is that our V8 guru engine builder Neil Burns is on the job and Robbo will be back on the track soon faster then ever!

Our round of the VSCRC is only a couple of months away on the 23-25 July so don’t forget we need as many volunteers as possible to run the weekend. Please put that weekend aside and come along and give us a hand. This is the single biggest event of the year for our club and we have to keep our reputation of conducting the best round of the VSCRC year in tact.

A quick couple of notes on the rules and eligibility. After requests from both ASSA(Vic) and ASSA(NSW) to freeze the current set of 2010 Sports Sedan Technical regulations the NSSC passed the motion unanimously that they will be frozen until the end of 2012.  In addition there was an approach made to the NSSC on the eligibility of the current model Nascar Chev R07 engine. It was deemed that this engine is not eligible under the current technical regulations. The Chev Sb2.2, Dodge R5 and the Ford Dart Iron Eagle are the only three Nascar engines that are eligible

Well that’s enough for me. I have to get back to putting the car together. See you at Sandown!

Cheers Mark #14

March 2010 Presidents Report

Hi All

Well how times fly. The first round of the Vict State Series at Phillip Island is only a few weeks away and the first round of the National series has been run and won by the old silver fox Kerrie Baily!

I am looking forward to Phillip Island to start of the season with a few of our members making noises that they are the team to beat in 2010. Robbo, Chas, Cammy and Chris Muscat all have eyes on the title. Or could it be another dark horse with Gary Roberts and “Kermit” taking the crown. Lets keep our fingers crossed that the rain stays away and we have a fine weekend for the first time in a long time down at PI. If you haven’t put your entry in as yet get your scats on it and get it happening

For those that don’t know Rod Smith has retired the championship winning falcon and will not be seen in 2010. The hard charger from Seymour will be sorely missed!

The ASSA website is the place to keep up to date with all the Sports Sedan news.  The club has also printed a new 2010 poster of which we have enclosed a copy in the current magazine. They will be available at all of our meetings to hand out to help promote Sports Sedans in Victoria. So tap a committee member on the shoulder and get a handful.

Our first General meeting road trip for 2010 was held this month at GMP’s new premises in Huntingdale. It was an enjoyable night for the small amount of members that made the effort to come along. Thanks to Grant Munday and Luke Ellery from GMP for inviting us along. 

While on the subject of General meetings the attendance at both the February and March meetings was poor. If we took out the committee then there would lucky to be 10 club members attending. Considering some of the committee meets three times per month to keep the club ticking over it is extremely disappointing to see such low attendances. Come on everyone please make the effort to come along and have a chat and support your club! If not I see no choice but to make a change to hold our general meetings every second month or even quarterly!

Easter is only a week away and sees the last Speedway meeting at Avalon speedway for the year. Gary Roberts is organising a promotion and will have his own car and a couple of other sports sedans on display at Avalon to show of our category at a venue and crowd that would not normally get exposure to our class. So if you have the time, take the short drive down to Avalon and give Gary some support. Well done Gaz!

One of the most important dates of 2010 for our club is 23-25 July when we host our round of the Victorian State series at Sandown. So keep that weekend free as we will need as many volunteers as we can get our hands on to help run the event which is the single most important fund raiser for our club.

Well that about it for this month. As you can see the committee continues to work hard to promote the category so do your bit and come along to the general meetings each month, dust your cars off and put them on the track.

See you all at PI

Cheers Mark Nelson #14

Presidents Report – October 2009

Hi All

Another busy month passes us by! A wet and wild Phillip Island, the AFL Grand Final and of course Bathurst.

Phillip Island was wet and wild all weekend including Friday when yours truly ran out of talent very quickly and bent the front of the Saab during the last session of Fridays practice. The damage is not too bad but it will keep me out of the 50k plate, roll on 2010 and some driving lessons for you know who!

Congratulations to Dean Camm and Rod Smith for their respective race wins with Cammy taking the points for the weekend. With one round to go in the club championship Rod Smith is leading with Ken House and Dean Camm chasing hard.

I cannot write a presidents report without a mention of the flying real estate agent from Wesburn. After qualifying on pole Robbo’s engine dropped a valve during the first race of the weekend and he joined me watching from the sidelines. Just as well Robbo has got a good sponsor because the valve didn’t enjoy it’s ride inside the engine…..With a bit of luck he should have it going again for the 50k plate…after all he needs to defend his 50k plate trophy against Hossack, Ricciardello and Baily!

Get your entry in for the 50k plate at PI in November. Entries close at the end of October and it should be an awesome meeting with a number of National cars running as well as the cream of the NSW & QLD state guys making the trip. If you want a garage give me call ASAP as there is only a couple left. The club has block booked 20 spaces and they are going fast!

Last months general meeting at Dean Randle’s workshop was a great success. Members and others flocked from everywhere to see Dean’s new rocket ship. It was great to see so many people enjoy the night. A big thank you to Dean and his team, Joe Pirotta for bringing along his Cortina drag car and waking up the entire Huntingdale neighbourhood and also to Tiger Rees for slaving over the hot bbq and providing a great feed for everyone…awesome job!